Aims: To investigate factors associated with health care utilisation in ambulatory diabetes care in relation to complications attributable to diabetes mellitus in an adult diabetic population. Methods: A cross-sectional study; standardised interview, physical examination, and an evaluation of medical records, comprising all known diabetic subjects living in six primary health care districts in sou

The F-FCSR stream cipher family has been presented a few years ago. Apart from some flaws in the initial propositions, corrected in a later stage, there are no known weaknesses of the core of these algorithms. The hardware oriented version, called FCSR-H, is one of the ciphers selected for the eSTREAM portfolio. In this paper we present a new and severe cryptanalytic attack on the F-FCSR stream

Progenitor and stem cell transplantation represent therapeutic strategies for retinal disorders that are accompanied by photoreceptor degeneration. The transplanted cells may either replace degenerating photoreceptors or secrete beneficial factors that halt the processes of photoreceptor degeneration. The present study analyzes whether rat retinal progenitor cells differentiated into photoreceptor

We present a measurement of the double longitudinal spin asymmetry in inclusive pi(0) production in polarized proton-proton collisions at roots=200 GeV. The data were taken at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider with average beam polarizations of 0.27. The measurements are the first in a program to study the longitudinal spin structure of the proton, using strongly interacting probes, at collider

BACKGROUND: Cardiac surgery places extensive stress on spouses who often are more worried than the patients themselves. Spouses can experience difficult and demanding situations when the partner becomes critically ill. OBJECTIVES: To identify, describe, and conceptualize the individual needs of spouses of patients with complications of heart failure after cardiac surgery. METHODS: Grounded theory

Background: A European concerted action (the EuroNatal study) investigated differences in perinatal mortality between countries of Europe. This report describes the methods used in the EuroNatal international audit and discusses the validity of the results. Methods: Perinatal deaths between 1993 and 1998 in regions of ten European countries were identified. The categories of death chosen for the s

In this paper, we present the development of a new potential blood pool contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging applications (MRA/MRI) based on gadolinium complexes containing amphiphilic supramolecular aggregates. A novel amphiphilic unimer, containing the DTPAGlu chelating agent covalently bound to two C18 alkylic chains, has been synthesized. DTPAGlu is a well-known chelating agent for a

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signalling molecule that has been suggested to be a key molecule for induction and maintenance of migraine attacks based on clinical studies, animal experimental studies and the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) immuno reactivity within the trigeminovascular system. Sensitisation of the trigeminal system including the trigeminal ganglia neurones is believe

A previously developed biosensor for fast estimation of short-term biochemical oxygen demand (BODst) was used for off-line monitoring of intermediate products from the initial step of an anaerobic process in laboratory scale. Good agreement was generally achieved between the results from the biosensor method and the conventional 5-day test except for samples with high content of organic polymers.

BACKGROUND: Sperm DNA integrity is an important factor in the prognosis of male fertility. In this study, we investigated intra-individual variation of sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) parameters in infertility patients undergoing assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs). METHODS: Retrospective study of 282 consecutive patients referred for ART [intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF or ICSI] w

Increased morbidity among teenage smokers has been reported, but specific current health problems and medication use other than of alcohol and narcotics have received less attention. The aim of this study was to examine the association between health problems and daily smoking in teenagers. Ninety percent of all teenagers attending junior high or high schools participated in a cross-sectional stud

Background & Aims: A 30-year-old woman, treated with buserelin, an analogue of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) (also called luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, LH-RH), developed chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO). The sudden onset of this disease in a previously healthy woman perplexed us. CIPO refers to a gastrointestinal disorder that can have a variety of causes, such as

BACKGROUND: In assisting the nurse's counselling on lifestyle changes in hypertension care a behaviour model can be used. AIM: To analyse the effects of nurses' training on the use of the stages of change model when counselling hypertensive patients to perform lifestyle changes. METHODS: As part of a randomised, controlled trial, 19 nurses belonging to the intervention group took part in video-rec

A method to separate suspended particles from their medium in a continuous mode at microchip level is described. The method combines an ultrasonic standing wave field with the extreme laminar flow properties obtained in a silicon micro channel. The channel was 750 mum wide and 250 mum deep with vertical side walls defined by anisotropic wet etching. The suspension comprised "Orgasol 5mum" polyamid

LTRs of endogenous retroviruses are known to affect expression of several human genes, typically as a relatively minor alternative promoter. Here, we report that an endogenous retrovirus LTR acts as one of at least two alternative promoters for the human beta1,3-galactosyltransferase 5 gene, involved in type 1 Lewis antigen synthesis, and show that the LTR promoter is most active in the gastrointe