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A fully three-dimensional anisotropic elastic model for vascular tissue modelling is here presented. The underlying strain energy density function is assumed to additively decouple into volumetric and deviatoric contributions. A straightforward isotropic neo-Hooke-type law is used to model the deviatoric response of the ground substance, whereas a micro-structurally or rather micro-sphere-based ap

Some key political challenges today, e.g. climate change, are future oriented. The intergenerational setting differs in some notable ways from the intragenerational one, creating obstacles to theorizing about intergenerational justice. One concern is that as the circumstances of justice do not pertain intergenerationally, intergenerational justice is not meaningful. In this paper, I scrutinize thi

This paper addresses an important but so far neglected episode in the post-1949 history of China – the impact of the so-called 'Cultural Revolution' on the country's ethnic minority populations. Specifically, it attempts to deal with the movement as it unfolded in the province of Yunnan where, at one stage, it became an attempt by a political leadership in the provincial capital, dominated by mili

A cubic liquid crystalline phase forming system based on the phospholipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) which is fortified with small amounts of PEGylated (poly(ethylene) glycol) glycerol monooleate (PEG(660)-GMO) is characterized. The cubic phase formed by the DOPE/PEG(660)-GMO/water system coexists with water in the dilute part of the phase diagram and can be fragmented into colloidal

Numerous microscopic studies of coccidian oocysts from avian feces have become the basis for species identification. In contrast, molecular studies of wild birds' Coccidia are still in their infancy and are mostly based on DNA extracted from the blood stages of these parasites. Linking microscopic and molecular data requires a method that reliably extracts DNA from single oocysts with parallel det

Dendritic cells (DCs) operate as the link between innate and adaptive immunity. Their expression of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), such as TLRs and CLRs, enable antigen recognition and mediate appropriate immune responses. Distinct subsets of human DCs have been identified; however their PRRs expressions are not fully clarified. Especially, expressions of CLRs by DC subpopulations remain el

It is well-known that the participation in a design process can be experienced as being so meaningful that the participation in itself overshadows even the result of that process. The participants in this design project represent a user group that often use products in which functional value is pre-eminent: people with disabilities. Thereby special attention has been given to the concepts of stigm

In a number of autoimmune diseases, for example, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, it is known that autoantibodies are present before the clinical onset. Recently we have shown that autoantibodies can be found many years before symptom onset in primary Sjögren's syndrome. This implies that screening for autoantibodies may be used to identify individuals at risk of developing s

Many bacterial pathogens have developed methods to overcome the defences of the host innate immune system. One such defence is the release of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Histones have been found to function as AMPs, in addition to their main biological function of packaging and organising DNA into nucleosomes. In this study, the Gram-positive anaerobic coccus Finegoldia magna was found to bind

Many bird species host several lineages of apicomplexan blood parasites (Protista spp., Haemosporida spp.), some of which are shared across different host species. To understand such complex systems, it is essential to consider the fact that different lineages, species, and families of parasites can occur in the same population, as well as in the same individual bird, and that these parasites may

M. A. Persinger (2002) claimed that transcranial magnetic stimulation with weak, complex magnetic fields evokes mystical experiences. However, in a double-blind experiment, P. Granqvist, M. Fredrikson, P. Unge, A. Hagenfeldt, S. Valind., et al. (2005) found no effects of field exposure on mystical experiences (N = 89), though a minority of participants reported spontaneous mystical experiences. Fo

Interactions between amphiphilic alpha-helical human apolipoprotein CI (APO CI) adsorbed on hydrophilic and on hydrophobic surfaces were studied using an interferometric surface force apparatus in an effort to understand the surface conformation and the binding activity of this protein. We used mica as the hydrophilic substrate and polymerized octadecyltriethoxysilane (OTE)-covered mica as the hyd

An algorithm for multiple sequence comparison was implemented in FORTRAN 77 for VAX/VMS in GCG-compatible format. The MULTICOMP program package includes several procedures with which one query sequence can be compared simultaneously to several DNA, RNA or amino acid sequences. The same technique was also introduced for comparing propensities of secondary structural features, which can be predicted