Resistance to antibiotics is a major threat to the effectiveness of modern health care. This study examines if pay-for-performance (P4P) to care providers stimulates the appropriate use of antibiotics; in particular, if P4P can induce a substitution away from broad-spectrum antibiotics, which contribute more to the development of resistance, to less resistance-driving types. In the context of Swed

Increased blood glucose after a meal is countered by the subsequent increased release of the hypoglycemic hormone insulin from the pancreatic beta cells. The cascade of molecular events encompassing the initial sensing and transport of glucose into the beta cell, culminating with the exocytosis of the insulin large dense core granules (LDCVs) is termed "stimulus-secretion coupling." Impairment in

Potato is one of the world's most widely grown tuber crop, in which starch is the predominant form of carbohydrates. Potatoes can be prepared in many ways: boiled, fried or roasted. Frying and roasting potatoes at high temperatures result in an appetizing crust, but at the same time acrylamide can form. In this study, the concentrations of the acrylamide precursors, asparagine and sugars, were det

The rarefaction technique applied to fossil pollen sequences for analyzing palynological richness, interpreted as a signal of biological diversity of landscapes and vegetation, has been developed since 1988. Errors including population evenness and vegetation disturbance have been considered in this study. Information from two sites is discussed, one with a pollen diagram covering Late-Glacial (La

Since July 2007, the world economy has experienced a severe financial crisis that originated in the U.S. housing market. Subsequently, the crisis has spread to financial sectors in European and Asian economies and led to a severe worldwide recession. The existing literature on financial crises rarely distinguishes between factors that create the original strain on the financial sector and factors

Although phenological matching between two and three trophic interactions has received some attention, it has largely been disregarded in explaining the lack of strong cascade dynamics in terrestrial systems. We studied the response of the specialist seed predator, Paroxyna plantaginis (Tephritidae) and associated generalist parasitoids (Chalcidoidea) to controlled fertilisation of individuals of

Traditionally, multi-family houses have been constructed using heavy, homogenous materials like concrete and masonry. But as a consequence of the progress of lightweight building systems during the last decades, it has been questioned whether standardized sound insulation evaluation methods still are appropriate. An extensive measurement template has been applied in a field survey where several vi

Previous research has shown that wheelchair-seated passengers using special transportation services (STS) have been injured without being involved in a vehicle crash. In order to estimate incident rate and societal costs for these vehicle-related injuries, the focus needs to be adjusted towards a traveler/incident-oriented perspective. The aim of the project was to utilize such a perspective, rela

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to determine whether a series of needle acupuncture treatments produced long-term relief of chronic low back pain. DESIGN: A blinded placebo-controlled study with an independent observer. The patients were randomized to receive manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture, or active placebo (mock transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation). Subjects were examined and monit

Food-hoarding birds use memory to relocate caches, and species that store thousands of scattered food items must have an extraordinary memory capacity to be able to relocate them. Because the hippocampus is important in the functioning of spatial memory, it is logical to assume that the amount of food stored should correlate with hippocampal volume. Previously, food-hoarding capacity has been used