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Five laboratory experiments were conducted to study solute transport in the capillary fringe in a sand filled glass tank containing an artificial groundwater zone, an unsaturated zone, and a capillary fringe in between. Dye stained water, applied at the soil surface, moved downwards through the unsaturated zone and then horizontally in the capillary fringe. The horizontal velocity of the dye plume
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy in most parts of the world. It is an Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancy with an unusual racial and geographical distribution. The host innate immune sensor genes play an important role in infection recognition and immune response against viruses. Therefore, we examined the association between polymorphisms in genes within a group of pattern
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We tested the hypothesis that higher proportions of patients with minor stroke being treated with thrombolysis contribute to increasing overall rates of thrombolysis. METHODS: We included 1743 ischemic stroke patients (age 18-80 years) treated with thrombolysis, recorded in the Swedish stroke register Riks-Stroke between 2007 and 2010. Minor stroke was defined as National I
Superantigens (SAgs) are bacterial toxins that interact with immunoreceptors, T cell receptor (TCR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II, conventionally through the variable beta-domain of TCR (TCRV beta). They induce a massive release of cytokines, which can lead to diseases such as food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome. In this study, we report the X-ray structure of the ternary
Background: Performance of migrating birds can be affected by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors like morphology, meteorological conditions and migration strategies. We compared travel speeds of four raptor species during their crossing of the Sahara desert. Focusing the analyses on this region allows us to compare different species under equivalent conditions in order to disentangle whic
Postmenopausal women consistently have higher phosphorus levels than similarly aged men. As it is known that estradiol induces phosphaturia in rodents, we evaluated the cross-sectional association of sex hormones with serum phosphorus in 1346 community-living older men (mean age 76) of which 18% had moderate (stage 3) kidney disease. Using linear regression with serum phosphorus levels as the depe
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has caused concern from many sectors of society due to its growing quantity and potential toxicity. The situation is particularly worrisome in some non-OECD countries, such as India and China, where acute health and environmental hazards have resulted from a combination of a lack of proper WEEE management systems and the domination of a large backya
Background/Objectives: The hallmark of cystic fibrosis (CF) is chronic lung inflammation. The severity of lung disease is closely correlated with immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels. Beyond its contribution to the bone health, the importance of vitamin D has not been fully recognized owing to the lack of human studies providing evidence of its benefit. In the context of the recently described immunomodu
Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is associated with changes in dorsal striatal parts of the basal ganglia (caudate nucleus and putamen), related to dysfunction in the cortico-striato-thalamic circuits which help mediate executive and motor functions. We aimed to determine whether the size and shape of striatal structures correlated with diagnosis of bvFTD, and measures of clinic
Findings from studies that evaluated the effect of antiretroviral drug use on the development of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion differed in their conclusions. This study investigated the association between HIV infection, antiretroviral drug use and cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion in a high HIV and cervical cancer burden setting- Nigeria.
Objectives To assess the prevalence of HIV and related risk behaviours among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Iran. Methods We conducted a national cross-sectional bio-behavioural surveillance survey between March and July 2010, interviewing male PWID from a geographically dispersed sample through a facility-based sampling method. Results We recruited 2480, and tested 2290 PWID. The overall preva
A first comparison has been made between the pulse-shape discrimination characteristics of a novel He-4-based pressurized scintillation detector and a NE-213 liquicl-scintillator reference detector using an Am/Be mixed-field neutron and gamma-ray source and a high-resolution scintillation-pulse digitizer. In particular, the capabilities of the two fast neutron detectors to discriminate between neu
The global speed of change within the manufacturing industry forces companies to constantly improve production performance. In that effort, performance measures are critical for driving and managing production improvements. Two of the most commonly used measures in operations are productivity and overall equipment efficiency (OEE). However, the potential of using these measures as improvement driv
Using a novel dataset of regional GDP per worker from 1860 to 2009, this paper analyzes communalities in regional long-term growth trajectories for 24 Swedish regions. Wavelet Analysis and Principal Component Analysis are used to decompose regional growth trajectories and assess the extent that regional growth patterns share common trends and cyclical properties. The study found that regional grow
There is growing evidence of the importance of extramatrical mycelium (EMM) of mycorrhizal fungi in carbon (C) cycling in ecosystems. However, our understanding has until recently been mainly based on laboratory experiments, and knowledge of such basic parameters as variations in mycelial production, standing biomass and turnover as well as the regulatory mechanisms behind such variations in fores
The recently isolated anaerobic bacterium Caloramator boliviensis with an optimum growth temperature of 60°C can efficiently convert hexoses and pentoses into ethanol. When fermentations of pure sugars and a pentose-rich sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate were carried out in a packed bed reactor with immobilized cells of C. boliviensis, more than 98% of substrates were converted. Ethanol yields of 0.40
Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning: Under alla tider har planeten Jorden genomgått en naturlig klimat variation. Utöver denna naturliga variation i klimatet, så har människan, under det senaste århundradet, medverkat till en ökning av växthusgaser i atmosfären. Detta kan innebära att växthuseffekten intensifieras och Jorden bli utsatt för onaturliga temperaturökningar. Koldioxid (CO2), från bland In the context of climate change, it is important to understand how the terrestrial carbon cycle is interacting with the anthropogenic increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. Boreal and subarctic regions in the northern hemisphere are great carbon pools, as well as they are subject to predicted warming. These facts place them in the absolute frontline of ecosystems that are to
