OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is less common among men than women, and sex hormones have been suggested to play a part in the pathogenesis. Lower levels of testosterone have been demonstrated in men with RA, but it is not known if these changes precede the disease. METHODS: In a nested case-control study, using information and blood samples from a population-based health survey, we identif

We use a combination of simulations and a simple theoretical approach to investigate interactions between neutral conducting surfaces, immersed in an electrolyte solution. The study is conducted at the primitive model level, which necessitates the use of multiple image reflections. Our approximate theory is based on a classical density functional formulation of Poisson-Boltzmann theory. The same a

Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) causes respiratory tract infections and is also considered as a commensal, particularly in pre-school children. Tonsils from patients (n=617) undergoing tonsillectomy due to chronical infection or hypertrophy were examined. We found that 51 % of tonsils were positive for Hi, and in 95 % of cases analysed in detail (n=39) Hi resided intracellularly in the core tonsillar

Aortic stenosis (AS) shares risk factors with atherosclerotic vascular disease. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaque may reflect the cumulative damage from exposure to different atherosclerotic risk factors. We examined the relationship of carotid IMT and plaque with incident AS in a prospective population-based study.

Motivation: The requirements engineering (RE) research community is aware of the importance of performing feasibility studies before starting requirements elicitation. Unfortunately, projects still frequently fail to achieve commercial success, responsibility is often unknown, and requirements engineers may be deemed responsible for mistakes made by others. Problem: There is neither empirical evid

Evidence is provided from studies on natural and artificial biofluids that the sequestration of amorphous calcium phosphate by peptides or proteins to form nanocluster complexes is of general importance in the control of physiological calcification. A naturally occurring mixture of osteopontin peptides was shown, by light and neutron scattering, to form calcium phosphate nanoclusters with a core-s

Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that cardiovascular risk factors increase the likelihood of future osteoarthritis (OA)-related arthroplasty in adult men and women. Methods: Baseline cohort data on cardiovascular risk factors [age, socio-economic class, family history, obesity, smoking, glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, and early cardiovascular disease (CVD) history] were linked to cli

Objective. To compare results of obese patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) who, after an intensive weight loss regimen, received 1 year of either dietary support (D), a knee-exercise program (E), or "no attention" (C; control group). Methods. We conducted a randomized, 2-phase, parallel-group trial. A total of 192 obese participants with knee OA were enrolled; the mean age was 62.5 years and 81

In speech and audio applications, short-term signal spectrum is often represented using mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) computed from a windowed discrete Fourier transform (DFT). Windowing reduces spectral leakage but variance of the spectrum estimate remains high. An elegant extension to windowed DFT is the so-called multitaper method which uses multiple time-domain windows (tapers) w

Fish waste is a potentially valuable resource from which high-value products can be obtained. Anaerobic digestion of the original fish waste and the fish sludge remaining after enzymatic pre-treatment to extract fish oil and fish protein hydrolysate was evaluated regarding the potential for methane production. The results showed high biodegradability of both fish sludge and fish waste, giving spec

Color patterns play central roles in the behavior of insects, and are important traits for taxonomic studies. Here we report striking and stable structural color patterns—wing interference patterns (WIPs) —in the transparent wings of small Hymenoptera and Diptera, patterns that have been largely overlooked by biologists. These extremely thin wings reflect vivid color patterns caused by thin film i

Walking and participating in activities outdoors in old age can be restricted both by the physical capacity of the individual and by the maintenance and/or the design of the outdoor environment. The purpose of this paper is to compare frequency of walking and frequency of activity outside the home, reported environmental barriers and valuation of the outdoor environment between two areas, in one o

Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Possible predictors for CVD are early changes in body composition. We therefore evaluated changes in lean body mass (LBM), lean mass of arms and legs (LMAL), total body fat mass (BFM), and truncal fat distribution (FD) after 2 years with RA and possible predictors. Methods: We registered 63 (45 women) RA patient

ScopeIn this study, food is suggested as a major source of human exposure to perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAA). We investigated relations between serum levels of PFAA in adults and diet/lifestyle factors nationwide in Sweden. Methods and resultsIn 2010-2011, adults (18-80 years, N = 270) recorded their diet for 4 days and answered a food frequency questionnaire. PFAA were measured in blood serum a

The transient receptor potential (TRP) melastin 8 ion channel (TRPM8) is implicated in bladder sensing but limited information on TRPM8 antagonists in bladder overactivity (BO) is available. This study characterizes a new TRPM8-selective antagonist (DFL23448) and evaluates it in cold-induced behavioral tests and on bladder function and experimental BO in vivo in rats. DFL23448 displayed IC50 value

PurposeA segmented inversion-recovery module combined with the 2D ultrashort echo time radial technique is proposed that allows accurate pixel level T-1 mapping of mouse lung in vivo. MethodsNumerical simulations were performed to estimate T-1 measurement accuracy and precision versus flip angle and signal-to-noise ratio. Phantom measurements were used for protocol validation, where the segmented

We present a comparison of chemistry-transport models (TransCom-N2O) to examine the importance of atmospheric transport and surface fluxes on the variability of N2O mixing ratios in the troposphere. Six different models and two model variants participated in the inter-comparison and simulations were made for the period 2006 to 2009. In addition to N2O, simulations of CFC-12 and SF6 were made by a

Abstract in UndeterminedWe introduce a new method for prestack depth migration of seismic common-shot gathers.The computational procedure follows standard steps of the reverse-time migration, i.e.,downward continuation of the `source' and the `receiver' waveelds, followed by applicationof an imaging condition (e.g. zero-lag cross-correlation of these elds). In our method werst nd a sparse data rep

Iran has the highest rate of road traffic accidents (RTAs) worldwide. Iranian studies of the growing levels of RTAs are often conducted by medical doctors, who view them in light of the increase in the production and ownership of cars and the changed lifestyle of many Iranians, and discuss them in terms of pathology, morbidity and epidemiology. This paper argues that although the high levels of RT