Background It is known that narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) radiation and oral vitamin D-3 supplementation can both improve serum levels of vitamin D, expressed as 25-hydroxyvitamin D-3 [25(OH)D-3]. However, surprisingly few studies have compared the effects of the two interventions in treating vitamin D deficiency. Objectives To compare the effect of NB-UVB exposure with oral vitamin D-3 supple

Reproductive factors influence the risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), but little is known about their association with survival. We tested whether prediagnostic reproductive factors influenced EOC-specific survival among 1025 invasive EOC cases identified in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which included 521 330 total participants (ap

Given the anthropometric differences between men and women and previous evidence of sex-difference in genetic effects, we conducted a genome-wide search for sexually dimorphic associations with height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip-ratio (133,723 individuals) and took forward 348 SNPs into follow-up (additional 137,052 individuals) in a total of

This paper aims to develop a framework for an integrated empirical and normative policy analysis practicable for evaluating environmental and forest sub-policies regarding their contribution to democratic policy-making. For this reason Habermas meta-model on deliberative democracy is translated to the policy level by merging it with the Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA) of Arts and Van Tatenhove.

Background The zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) was recently identified as a common autoantigen in type 1 diabetes (T1D) and inclusion of ZnT8 autoantibodies (ZnT8Ab) was found to increase the diagnostic specificity of T1D. Objectives The main aims were to determine whether ZnT8Ab vary during follow-up 1 year after diagnosis, and to relate the reactivity of three types of ZnT8Ab to the residual stimulate

Since cancer continues to plague humanity there is large need for development of modalities for both diagnosis and therapy. Most of the currently available methods suffer from serious disadvantages. The treatments, e.g. ionising radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, may themselves induce malignancies or the patient may be physically impaired for a longer period of time. The work presented aims at dev

An ABO genotype screening method discriminating the common alleles A1, A2, B, O1 and O2 at the ABO locus was made possible by the discovery of a novel nucleotide substitution (G1096A) present only in B and O2 alleles. A rapid and reliable single-tube approach using multiplex PCR with four primers amplifying exons 6 and 7 of the ABO genes followed by simultaneous addition of two restriction enzymes

RDW is a new and easily available risk marker for adverse cardiovascular outcomes and we agree that this may encourage a wider use in clinical practice. As pointed out by Balta et al [2], the underlying causal links are unclear. The causal links could hypothetically involve some of the factors mentioned by Balta et al [2], but also properties of the red cells per se. This article is protected by c

In this issue of Journal of Endocrinology, Dr Han and colleagues report a protective effect of the glutamate dehydrogenase-activator BCH under diabetes-like conditions that impair β-cell function in both a pancreatic β-cell line and in db/db mice. Based on these observations, the authors suggest that BCH could serve as novel treatment modality in Type 2 Diabetes. The present commentary discusses t

Obesity is increasing worldwide and is associated with increased risk of developing metabolic diseases. One of the factors that have been demonstrated to influence the regulation of appetite and food intake is the different sex hormones, one of these being progesterone that in humans increase food intake (Hirschberg, 2012). In this issue of Acta Physiologica, Holmberg and colleagues present their

The investigation of memory distortions provides insights into how memory normally works. Adopting a cognitive neuroscience perspective, the present thesis aimed at investigating memory distortions and the neural correlates of processes contributing to successful control of memory interference in healthy participants. All studies employed variations of the modified continuous recognition task. In

In Scandinavian, nominal phrases can contain constituents that look like possessors without having a possessor theta role. These constituents, which I call pseudopossessors, come in three types: swearword pseudopossessors, measure pseudopossessors, and characterising pseudopossessors. I argue in this paper that pseudopossessors are -s-marked constituents that are located in the adjectival field in