Filtyp
The rise in the average temperature of earth has been described as global warming which is mainly attributed to the increasing phenomenon of the greenhouse effect. It is believed that global warming can have several harmful effects on human health, both directly and indirectly. Since malaria is greatly influenced by climatic conditions because of its direct relationship with the mosquito populatio
Background & Aims: Gastrin stimulation of the type 2 cholecystokinin (CCK2) receptor results in ECL cell proliferation and histamine secretion. This report describes the effects of targeted disruption of the CCK2 receptor gene on ECL cell morphology and function. Methods: The ECL cells in the oxyntic mucosa of CCK2 receptor-deficient (knockout [KO]) vs. wild-type (WT) mice were investigated by
Limited responsiveness to inflammatory cytokines is a feature of adult hematopoietic stem cells and contributes to the relative quiescence and durability of the stem cell population in vivo. Here we report that the executioner Caspase, Caspase-3, unexpectedly participates in that process. Mice deficient in Caspase-3 had increased numbers of immunophenotypic long-term repopulating stem cells in ass
Because of the extreme ecological and environmental changes along an urban-rural gradient, it has been proposed that urbanised and non-urbanised populations of the same species may be distinctly isolated. There is evidence that urban populations have become significantly different from the original forest populations in several aspects. However, little is known about the extent to which urban and
The Icelandic highlands are one of the few places left in Europe where tourists can experience pristine wilderness. During the past decades the highlands have, however, witnessed a rapid expansion in natural resource exploitation. This study attempts to evaluate the pristine condition of Icelandic wilderness by testing different methods of identifying and analysing wilderness with respect to natur
Contingent self-esteem, where one’s self-value is staked on success and competence, is a particularly vulnerable disposition with impact on well-being. This study compared physiological and behavioral reactivity between individuals self-rated as high and low in competence based self-esteem (N = 61), in a performance situation. To assess reactivity we used a traditional overt measure of blood press
We show that a maximum-weight triangle in an undirected graph with n vertices and real weights assigned to vertices can be found in time O(n(omega) + n(2+o(1))), where omega is the exponent of the fastest matrix multiplication algorithm. By the currently best bound on omega, the running time of our algorithm is O(n(2.376)). Our algorithm substantially improves the previous time-bounds for this pro
Background: Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a post-transcriptional RNA surveillance process that facilitates the recognition and destruction of mRNAs bearing premature terminations codons (PTCs). Such PTC-containing (PTC+) mRNAs may arise from different processes, including erroneous processing and expression of pseudogenes, but also from more regulated events such as alternative splicing co
The recent growth in research on "good governance" and the quality of government institutions has been propelled by empirical findings that show that such institutions may hold the key to understanding economic growth and social welfare in developing and transition countries. We argue, however, that a key issue has not been addressed, namely, what quality of government (QoG) actually means at the
Aim: To assess the development of preterm infants from 40 weeks gestational age to 18 months corrected age in order to identify early predictors of later development. Methods: Fifty-one infants were involved. Infant development was assessed at 40 and 44 weeks gestational age with the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and a Self-Regulation Scale and at 3, 6, 10, 18 months corrected age
Aim: To characterize postnatal changes in serum IGF-I in relation to development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very preterm infants. Methods: Longitudinal study of 108 infants with mean (SD) gestational age 27.2 (2.2) weeks. Weekly serum samples of IGF-I were analyzed from birth until postmenstrual age 36 weeks. Multivariate models were developed to identify independent predictors of
The association of Helicobacter pylori with gastroduodenal diseases is well established. The mode of transmission of the organism is still unclear, although the faecal-oral route has been proposed. H. pylori has been detected in gastric antrum, dental plaques, faeces and water. In the light of these studies we attempted to detect H. pylori in antral biopsies, dental plaques, and stool specimens of
For most neurodegenerative diseases the precise duration of an individual cell's death is unknown, which is an obstacle when counteractive measures are being considered. To address this, we used the rd1 mouse model for retinal neurodegeneration, characterized by phosphodiesterase-6 (PDE6) dysfunction and photoreceptor death triggered by high cyclic guanosinemono-phosphate (cGMP) levels. Using cell
We identified the gene encoding chondroitin-glucuronate C5-epimerase (EC 5.1.3.19 [EC] ) that converts D-glucuronic acid to L-iduronic acid residues in dermatan sulfate biosynthesis. The enzyme was solubilized from bovine spleen, and an ~43,000-fold purified preparation containing a major 89-kDa candidate component was subjected to mass spectrometry analysis of tryptic peptides. SART2 (squamous ce
The objective of this article is to review guidelines that address counselling in the context of genetic testing in order to summarise what aspects of counselling they consider most important, and to examine how they construct the ideal of genetic counselling. Guidelines were collected by examining the websites of different international professional, political, ethical and patient organisations,
Aim: To evaluate survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in relation to sex. Methods: All patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest included in the Swedish Cardiac Arrest Registry between 1990 and 2000 in whom cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was attempted and who did not have a crew witnessed arrest were included. The registry covers 85% of the inhabitants of Sweden (approximately 8 m
Cholestasis is a major complication in sepsis although the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of P-selectin and leukocyte recruitment in endotoxemia- associated cholestasis. C57BL/6 mice were challenged intraperitoneally with endotoxin ( 0.4 mg/ kg), and 6 h later the common bile duct was cannulated for determination of bile flow and biliary excret
Eosinophil granulocytes are characterized by large crystalloid-containing granules whose major contents of highly cationic proteins may play a role in allergic reactions and parasitic infections. Human eosinophils are also rich in arylsulfatase B whose enzymatic activity is localized to a population of small type cytoplasmic granules and used as a marker for such organelles. We utilized immunoelec
Decreased information processing speed (mental slowing) is a known sequelae of many brain disorders, and can be assessed by continuous naming tasks. Functional imaging studies have shown that pause and articulation times in continuous speech are normally associated with different brain regions, but knowledge about such association in dementia is lacking. We therefore tested the hypothesis that per
