Vitellogenin (VTG) is a well known protein biomarker for exposure to environmental estrogens and possible endocrine disruption in fish. VTG is very dominant in plasma after the onset of vitellogenesis and the protein is heavily phosphorylated. This enables indirect quantification through measurement of alkali-labile protein bound phosphate (ALP) as an alternative to the more expensive enzyme linke

Let S be a set of points in the plane. What is the minimum possible dilation of all plane graphs that contain S? Even for a set S as simple as five points evenly placed on the circle, this question seems hard to answer; it is not even clear if there exists a lower bound >1. In this paper we provide the first upper and lower bounds for the embedding problem. 1. Each finite point set can be embedded

Screen-printing technology for electrode fabrication enables construction of amperometric devices suitable for combination of several enzyme electrodes. To develop a biosensor array for characterisation of wastewaters, tyrosinase and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or cholinesterase-modified electrodes were combined on the same array. The behaviour of the tyrosinase-modified electrode in the presence

Calbindin D-28k, a highly conserved protein with Ca2+-sensing and Ca2+-buffering capabilities, is abundant in brain and sensory neurons. This protein contains six EF-hand subdomains, four of which bind Call with high affinity. Calbindin D28k can be reconstituted from six synthetic peptides corresponding to the six EF-hands, indicating a single-domain structure with multiple interactions between th

Repeated immunization of mice with bacterial superantigens induces extensive deletion and anergy of reactive CD4 T cells. Here we report that the in vitro proliferation anergy of CD4 T cells from TCR transgenic mice immunized three times with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) (3x SEB) is partially due to an increased frequency of Foxp3(+) CD4 T cells. Importantly, reduced number of conventional C

Our aim was to test the hypothesis that breastfeeding may reduce development of inhibitors in male infants with haemophilia by inducing an oral immune tolerance to factor VIII. To achieve that goal, we performed a structured epidemiological survey comprising all males born with severe haemophilia A (in all 100 patients, 19 with inhibitors) or haemophilia B (in all 16 patients, six with inhibitors)

The article provides an analysis of the discussions on bilingualism in Post-Soviet Ukrainian discourse on language and national identity

The electronic structure and low-lying electronic states of a Co-III(diiminato)(NPh) complex have been studied using mulficonfigurational wave function theory (CASSCF/CASPT2) The results have been compared to those obtained with density functional theory. The best agreement with ab initio results is obtained with a modified B3LYP functional containing a reduced amount (15%) of Hartree-Fock exchang

The transcription factor PAX5 is a critical regulator of B-cell commitment and development. Although normally not expressed in myeloid progenitors, PAX5 has recently been shown to be frequently expressed in myeloid malignancies and to suppress expression of myeloid differentiation genes, compatible with an effect on the differentiation or maintenance of myeloid progenitors. However, previous studi

Background: Vibration to the head or neck excites vestibular and neck muscle spindle afferents. Can such vibrations improve the sensitivity of the subjective visual horizontal (SVH) test to chronic unilateral deficit of the vestibular system? Design: Controlled experimental study. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Patients and Controls: Thirteen healthy subjects and 23 patients with chronic unila

It has been suggested that nestlings use begging to increase their share of parental resources at the expense of current or future siblings. There is ample evidence that siblings compete over food with nestmates by begging, but only short-term effects of begging on parental provisioning rates have been shown. In this study, we use a new experimental design to demonstrate that pied flycatcher (Fice

Abstract in UndeterminedBackground: The long-term experience of living with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and the durability of improvements after revascularisation are sparsely described in the literature. The primary goals of medical treatment and nursing care for PAD are to provide relief of symptoms, improve quality of life, and prevent the progression of arterial disease and cardiovascula

The prediction of impurity peaking in future fusion devices such as ITER necessitates the study of the dependence on Z of the impurity transport in present devices. In this paper we describe a novel technique to determine the transport of impurities with different atomic numbers independently. A technique has been developed that allows simultaneously the measurement of the transport of Ne and Ar i

It is plausible that polymorph isms in the estrogen receptor alpha and beta genes (ESR1 and ESR2) may modulate the association between enterolactone and breast cancer. Seven polymorph isms in ESR1 (rs827422, rs1709184, rs2347867, rs3020328, rs72207, rs2982896, and rs2234693) and 5 polymorphisms in ESR2 (rs915057, rs1269056, rs1256033, rs3020450, and rs3020443) were selected. The risk of breast can

A selective and sensitive method is presented for biogenic amines (BA) determination. The novelty consists in coupling a highly selective electrochemical biosensor to a weak acid cation-exchange column for online detection of amines. A bienzyme design, based on a recently isolated amine oxidase from grass pea and commercial horseradish peroxidase, was used for the biosensor construction. The enzym

A continuous supermacroporous monolithic chromatographic matrix has been characterized using a capillary model, experimental breakthrough curves, and pressure drop experiments. The model describes the convective flow and its dispersive mixing effects, mass transfer resistance, pore size distribution, and the adsorption behavior of the monolithic matrix. It is possible to determine an effective por

Hordeins from H. vulgare, H. murinum, H. pusillum, H. bulbosum, and H. brevisubulatum were probed with five monoclonal antibodies raised against different hordein polypeptides from Hordeum vulgare cv. ‘Bomi’. The response pattern differed widely among species. One of the antibodies, CMpBChorl, was found to react with hordein from every tested species, and all of the antibodies reacted with at leas