While the international community debates the desirability and possible content of a new global instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, alternative approaches to improving the application and implementation of existing agreements for the protection of biodiversity appear to have fallen off the agenda. Recent practice under e

The Fontan procedure has improved survival in children with functionally univentricular hearts. With time, however, complications such as reduced exercise capacity are seen more frequently. Exercise intolerance is multifactorial, but pulmonary vascular resistance probably plays a crucial role. Elevated pulmonary vascular resistance has been associated with raised levels of endothelin-1, which are

We report on the first in situ synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction study (SR-PXD) of the ammonolysis reaction of selected alkaline and alkaline earth metal hydrides (i.e., LiH, NaH, KH, MgH2, and CaH2). The investigation was performed using an in situ SR-PXD pressure cell at an initial NH3 pressure of 6.5 bar in a range of temperature between room temperature (RT) and 350 degrees C. The

In this study, a new cell immobilization technique is presented. Cells of Clostridium acetobutylicum DSM 792 form a macroporous aggregate through cryogelation with concomitant crosslinking together with activated polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The cell based cryogel presents a highly porous, elastic structure with walls consisting of densely packed crosslinked cells. The im

Objective: Radiographic damage is an important outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The disease course varies considerably, and there is a need for simple and reliable prognostic markers. The aim of the study was to determine the utility of early signs of extra-articular disease, manifested as rheumatoid nodules (RN), in predicting radiographic outcome. Methods: In a cohort (n = 1589) of consecut

Results are presented on the production of jets of particles in association with a Z/gamma* boson, in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. The analysis includes the full 2010 data set, collected with a low rate of multiple proton-proton collisions in the accelerator, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb(-1). Inclusive jet cross sections in Z/gamma* even

The role of endogenous androgens and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in ovarian carcinogenesis is poorly understood. Epithelial invasive ovarian cancer (EOC) is a heterogeneous disease and there are no prospective data on endogenous androgens and EOC risk by tumor characteristics (histology, grade, stage) or the dualistic model of ovarian carcinogenesis (i.e. type I vs. type II, leading to les

The Nhandugue River flows over the western margin of the Urema Rift, the southernmost extension of the East African Rift System, and marks the north-western border of Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. It constitutes one of the major indispensable water resources for the ecosystem that the park protects. Our study focused on the hydrogeological conditions at the western rift margin by resistivit

Subjective quality of life (SQOL) is an important outcome in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. However, there is only limited evidence on factors influencing SQOL, and little is known about whether the same factors influence SQOL in patients with schizophrenia and other mental disorders. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with SQOL and test whether these factors are eq

The formation of titanium aluminides in Ti–Al elemental powder mixtures containing 25, 50 and 75 at.% Al, has been studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Phase evolution in the mixture was followed by heating the compacted samples up to 1273 K at 7.5 and 15 K min−1. The cooled samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spe

We study changes in the steady-state absorption and ultrafast transient absorption kinetics of the photoirradiated CdSe quantum dotZnO system. The changes enable us to reconstruct kinetics of trap creation, which are analyzed with respect to three possible models: trap creation without recovery, trap creation and recovery, and trap creation with an upper limit for trap number accommodated on a qua

We show conditional lower bounds for well-studied #P-hard problems: -The number of satisfying assignments of a 2-CNF formula with n variables cannot be computed in time exp(o(n)), and the same is true for computing the number of all independent sets in an n-vertex graph. -The permanent of an n x n matrix with entries 0 and 1 cannot be computed in time exp(o(n)). -The Tutte polynomial of an n-verte

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has long been known as the most common and aggressive form of brain malignancy. The morphological similarities of the malignant and surrounding tissue cause difficulties to distinct the tumors during surgery. In order to achieve better results in resecting malignant brain tumors, a fiber based optical system which can be used intraoperative is developed in this projec

We investigate the Derjaguin approximation by explicitly determining the interactions between two spherical colloids using density functional theory solved in cylindrical coordinates. The colloids are composed of close-packed Lennard-Jones particles. The solvent particles are also modeled via Lennard-Jones interactions. Cross interactions are assumed to follow the commonly used Lorentz-Berthelot (

Context-aware computing applications dynamically change their behaviors based on the context data and services provided by multiple physical spaces in the real world, such as persons, shops, homes and offices. In this paper, we propose a generic context gateway framework to manage these heterogeneous physical spaces of context sources. The framework forms a key enabling component of a scalable con

Pancreatic cancer is commonly detected at advanced stages when the tumor is no longer amenable to surgical resection. Therefore, finding biomarkers for early stage disease is urgent. Here, we show that high-definition mass spectrometry (HDMS(E)) can be used to identify serum protein alterations associated with early stage pancreatic cancer.

Background. Globally, general practitioners (GPs) write more than 90% of all antibiotic prescriptions. This study examines the experiences of Lithuanian and Russian GPs in antibiotic prescription for upper respiratory tract infections, including their perceptions of when it is not indicated clinically or pharmacologically. Methods. 22 Lithuanian and 29 Russian GPs participated in five focus group

AimTo present the protocol of a two-group quasi-experimental study of spouses' involvement through case management (The SICAM-trial) in older patients' fast-track programmes during total hip replacement. BackgroundPatients in fast-track programmes are required to take an active part in their treatment and rehabilitation. Spouses of older patients can often provide valued practical and emotional su

The aim of present study is to inverstigate the association between antibody levels after vaccination with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) and subsequent serious pneumococcal infections in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondylarthropathy (SpA) patients.

BACKGROUND: Enterocytes are exposed to antigens present in the intestinal lumen, like beta-glucans that are carbohydrate structures present not only in the cell wall of yeast and fungi but also in cereals. Beta-glucans are known for their immune modulating properties and we have earlier reported an increased immune response by enterocytes after addition of fecal water prepared from ileostomic cont