Bladder exstrophy, a severe congenital urological malformation when a child is born with an open urinary bladder, is the most common form of bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex (BEEC) with an incidence of 1:30.000 children of Caucasian descent. Recent studies suggest that WNT genes may contribute to the etiology of bladder exstrophy. Here, we evaluated WNT pathway genes in 20 bladder exstrophy pa

Cytokines are implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the pattern of alterations in cytokine levels is still unclear. The current study investigated the plasma levels of a range of cytokines in a follow-up design, with the aim of determining their involvement in depression.

INTRODUCTION: After a hypnotic induction, medium and highly hypnotizable individuals often report spontaneous alterations in various dimensions of consciousness. Few studies investigating these experiences have controlled for the inherent demands of specific hypnotic suggestions and fewer still have considered their dynamic properties and neural correlates. METHODS: We adopted a neurophenomeno

Intracellular beta amyloid (Aβ) accumulation is a key feature of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) and precedes the appearance of Aβ in extracellular plaques. Aβ is generated through proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP), but the intracellular site of Aβ production is unclear. APP has been localized to multivesicular endosomes/bodies (MVBs) where sorting of APP onto ILVs could pro

The development of human pluripotent stem cells has opened up the possibility to analyse the function of human cells and tissues in animal hosts, thus generating chimeras. Although such lines of research have great potential for both basic and translational science, they also raise unique ethical issues that must be considered.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate self-reported hearing difficulties, uptake, and hearing-aid outcomes and their relationships to demographic, cognitive, psychosocial, and health variables in 85 year olds. Design and study sample: Three hundred and forty-six elderly adults participated in a survey that included questionnaires and home visits. Fifty-five percent of participants ad

Malaria parasites are highly virulent pathogens which infect a wide range of vertebrates. Despite their importance, the way different hosts control and suppress malaria infections remains poorly understood. With recent developments in next generation sequencing techniques, however, it is now possible to quantify the response of the entire transcriptome to infections. We experimentally infected Eur

Site selective chemical modification is a preferred method, employed to prolong the circulation half-life of biopharmaceuticals. Cysteines have been used as attachment point for such modification, however, to be susceptible for chemical modification the involved thiol must be in its reduced form. Proteins often contain disulfides, which aid to maintain their tertiary structure and therefore must r

Abstract in UndeterminedA line has been drawn between the dialects of Oman and those of the coastal Gulf states in classifications of the Arabic dialects of the Arabian Peninsula (Johnstone 1967; Holes 1989 Holes 1996). Most studies reporting on this divide have dealt with the phonology, morphology and, to some extent, lexis. Little is known, however, about the degree to which these dialectal grou

OBJECTIVE: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) protect against atherosclerosis in experimental models, but their association with cardiovascular disease in humans remains to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to determine whether circulating Tregs predict the development of acute cardiovascular events in humans. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study cohort consisted of a random sample of particip

Abstract in UndeterminedThe demand for wireless channel models including realistic user environments is increasing. This motivates work on more detailed models that are reasonably simple and tractable but with adequatestatistical performance. In this paper, we present an investigation of the spatial outdoor-to-in-car radio channel at 2.6 GHz. Specifically, we investigate the performance of a multi

The LUCAS 2 device stores technical data that documents the chest compression process. We analyzed chest wall dimensions and mechanics stored during chest compressions on humans using data gathered with the LUCAS 2 device.

Here we explore the potential power of denaturation mapping as a single-molecule technique. By partially denaturing YOYO (R)-1-labeled DNA in nanofluidic channels with a combination of formamide and local heating, we obtain a sequence-dependent "barcode" corresponding to a series of local dips and peaks in the intensity trace along the extended molecule. We demonstrate that this structure arises f

only using electric-dipole forbidden emission lines, in what we label forbidden-line spectroscopy, we identified several energy levels in cadmium-like tungsten, W26+. The spectrum was recorded at the Shanghai permanentmagnet electron beam ion trap in the visible region. The identifications were supported by large-scale multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock calculations which involved careful inves

Introduction: Assessing left ventricular (LV) systolic function in a rapid and reliable way can be challenging in the critically ill patient. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of, as well as the association between, commonly used LV systolic parameters, by using serial transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Methods: Fifty patients with shock and mechanical ve

In a warming climate, mercury (Hg) pathways in the Arctic can be expected to be affected. The Hg transport from the high arctic Zackenberg River Basin was assessed in 2009 in order to describe and estimate the mercury transported from land to the marine environment. A total of 95 water samples were acquired and filtered (0.4 mu m pore size), and Hg concentrations were determined in both the filter