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The aim was to investigate quality of life (QoL) in elderly persons newly diagnosed with cancer (65+ years) in relation to age, contact with the health-care system, ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL), hope, social network and support, and to identify which factors were associated with low QoL. The sample consisted of 101 patients (75 women and 26 men) newly diagnosed with cancer.
Purpose: To provide a guideline curriculum covering theoretical and practical aspects of education and training for medical physicists in radiotherapy within Europe. Material and methods: Guidelines have been developed for the specialist theoretical knowledge and practical experience required to practice as a medical physicist in radiotherapy. It is assumed that the typical entrant into training w
A simple method is tested for scaling climate-extreme results from high resolution regional climate models (RCMs) to time-periods and emission scenarios for which the RCMs have not been run. The 30 yr mean relationships between indicators of extremes (IoEs) and annual mean daily maximum temperature (T-xa) are investigated. Such relationships from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre RCM HadRM3P, along
This work describes a novel approach to detoxify lignocellulosic hydrolysates and facilitate the analysis of inhibitory compounds, namely supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). The efficiency of the fermentation of lignocellulosic dilute-acid hydrolysates depends upon the composition of the hydrolysate and the organism used. Furthermore, it has been shown that inhibitors in the hydrolysate reduce t
Adverse and analgesic effects of acupuncture during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy were studied retrospectively in an observational study including 167 consecutive patients with lower back pain, pelvic pain, or both. In each patient acupuncture was given on at least two different occasions by three manual stimulations of two or more acupuncture or tender points, mainly LR-3 and LI-4
The plasma membrane H+-ATPase is activated by binding of 14-3-3 protein to the phosphorylated C terminus. Considering the large number of 14-3-3 and H+-ATPase isoforms in Arabidopsis (13 and 11 expressed genes, respectively), specificity in binding may exist between 14-3-3 and H+-ATPase isoforms. We now show that the H'-ATPase is the main target for 14-3-3 binding at the plasma membrane, and that
The effectiveness of extracting p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE from aged contaminated soil samples by means of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) was evaluated. Two soil samples, which were contaminated more than 10 years ago, were used in the investigation. The static extraction time was optimised and then validated against the total sum of target analytes obtained from multiple sequential extractions. T
Mucosal Toll-like receptors (TLRs) respond to pathogens, but remain inert to the indigenous flora, suggesting that the TLRs can receive pathogen-specific signals. For example, TLR4 signalling is activated in CD14-negative epithelial cells by P-fimbriated, uropathogenic Escherichia coli, but not by lipopolysaccharide. The fimbriae use glycosphingolipids as recognition receptors and there is release
The main concern about the technology for the production of hydrogen and transport fuels by biomass gasification is the presence of contaminants (H2S, tars, fly ash, alkali, and heavy metals, ammonia) that are poisonous for the catalysts used for upgrading the biomass-generated gas. The impact of the main contaminants on a Ni/MgAl(O) reforming catalyst was studied in a laboratory environment, by e
We compare different procedures for combining fixed-order tree-level matrix-element generators with parton showers. We use the case of W-production at the Tevatron and the LHC to compare different implementations of the so-called CKKW and MLM schemes using different matrix-element generators and different parton cascades. We find that although similar results are obtained in all cases, there are i
Up-regulation of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) plays key roles in renal hypertension and cardiovascular disease pathogenesis. The present study was designed to examine if lipid-soluble cigarette smoking particles (DSP), nicotine and endotoxin (LPS), induce GPCR up-regulation for thromboxane A(2) (TP), endothelin type A (ETA) and type B (ETB) receptors in renal artery, and if intracellular sig
We report on the versatile design and operation of a two-sided spectrometer for the imaging of charged-particle momenta in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D). The benefits of 3D detection are to discern particles of different mass and to study correlations between fragments from multi-ionization processes, while 2D detectors are more efficient for single-ionization applications. Combini
Aim. The interaction between vitamin D deficiency and primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is not fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with PHPT from Spain and Sweden differed in vitamin D status and PHPT disease activity before and after surgery. Methods. We compared two cohorts of postmenopausal women from Spain (n = 126) and Sweden (n = 128) that had first-t
Arranging organisms into functional groups aids ecological research by grouping organisms (irrespective of phylogenetic origin) that interact with environmental factors in similar ways. Planktonic protists traditionally have been split between photoautotrophic "phytoplankton" and phagotrophic "microzooplankton". However, there is a growing recognition of the importance of mixotrophy in euphotic aq
Serglycin (SG) is a proteoglycan expressed by hematopoietic cells and is constitutively secreted by multiple myeloma (MM) cells. SG participates in the regulation of various inflammatory events. We found that SG secreted by human MM cell lines inhibits both the classical and lectin pathways of complement, without influencing alternative pathway activity. The inhibitory effect of SG is due to direc
The Ki67 labelling index (LI - proportion of staining cells) is widely used to reflect proliferation in breast carcinomas. Several cut-off values have been suggested to distinguish between tumours with low and high proliferative activity. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the distribution of Ki67 LIs in breast carcinomas diagnosed at different institutions by different pathologists usin
Structural failure and collapse of thoracic stent grafts may cause fatal complications that are easily overlooked on follow-up imaging. A young man with multiple injuries from a motorcycle crash was treated with endografting for an aortic transection. The clinical course was initially satisfactory but deteriorated one week after the injury and the patient died two weeks later. Autopsy and retrospe
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is prevalent and there is a clinical need for biomarkers to identify individuals at higher risk for AF. Fixed throughout a life course and assayable early in life, genetic biomarkers may meet this need. Here, we investigate whether multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms together as an AF genetic risk score (AF-GRS) can improve prediction of one's risk for AF.
The antibody microarrays have become widespread, but their use for quantitative analyses in clinical samples has not yet been established. We investigated an immunoassay based on nanoporous silicon antibody microarrays for quantification of total prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) in 80 clinical plasma samples, and provide quantitative data from a duplex microarray assay that simultaneously quantifie
