Chemical sensitization is an adverse immunologic response to chemical substances, inducing hypersensitivity in exposed individuals. Identifying chemical sensitizers is of great importance for chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, in order to prevent the use of sensitizers in consumer products. Historically, chemical sensitizers have been assessed mainly by in vivo methods, however, recen

We present the first ratio-based image segmentation method that allows imposing curvature regularity of the region boundary. Our approach is a generalization of the ratio framework pioneered by Jermyn and Ishikawa so as to allow penalty functions that take into account the local curvature of the curve. The key idea is to cast the segmentation problem as one of finding cyclic paths of minimal ratio

The effect of various nitrogen (N) sources, including riverine dissolved organic matter (DOM), nitrate, ammonium, and urea, on the growth and physiology of the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum was compared in a batch culture experiment. P. minimum grew equally well in the presence of identical amounts of nitrate, ammonium, and urea. Approximately 18 to 20% of organic N bound to the DOM was bioa

Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate)/organically modified clay nanocomposites were prepared using different clay loadings and by varying the amount of organic modifier. The morphology of the nanocomposites was investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SAXS results displayed intercalation of polymeric chains be

Bortezomib is a highly selective inhibitor of the 26S proteasome and has been approved for clinical use in the treatment of relapsing and refractory multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. Clinical trials are also underway to assess the role of bortezomib in several other human malignancies, including leukemia. However, the mechanism(s) by which bortezomib acts remain to be fully understood. He

Background: Major depression has traditionally been regarded as a neurochemical disease, but findings of a decreased hippocampal volume in patients with depression have turned the pathophysiological focus toward impairments in structural plasticity. The mechanisms of action of the most effective antidepressive treatment, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), still remains elusive, but recent animal res

A short sediment core from a local depression forming an intra basin on the Lomonosov Ridge, was retrieved during the Healy-Oden Trans-Arctic Expedition 2005 (HOTRAX). It contains a record of the Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1-3 showing exceptionally high abundances of calcareous microfossils during parts of MIS 3. Based on radiocarbon dating, linear sedimentation rates of 7-9 cm/ka persist during

This article investigates the extent to which merger and acquisition (M&A) activity contributed to the spatial clustering of the Dutch banking industry in Amsterdam. This analysis is based on a unique database of all banks in the Netherlands that existed in the period 1850-1993. We found that spatial clustering of the Dutch banking industry was not driven by the fact that banks performed bette

We show that, if a groupoid graded ring has a grading satisfying a certain nondegeneracy property, then the commutant of the center of the principal component of the ring has the ideal intersection property, that is it intersects nontrivially every nonzero ideal of the ring. Furthermore, we show that for skew groupoid algebras with commutative principal component, the principal component is maxima

The purpose of this investigation was to describe the clinical spectrum of invasive Fusobacterium necrophorum infections and Lemièrre's syndrome, to examine the role of underlying thrombophilia and concomitant mononucleosis in Lemièrre's syndrome, and to describe thromboembolic complications. Patients with invasive F. necrophorum infections were identified either prospectively or retrospectively t

The purpose of this paper is to provide a research outlook on the concept of decentralized freight intelligence, i.e. autonomous freight making localized routing decisions. A review of research literature on decentralized intelligence in freight transport serves as the foundation of the analysis. The analysis reveals a scarcity of scientific evidence to suggest a successful introduction of decentr

Data on allergic conditions as risk or protective factors for cancer are controversial probably because most studies have used self-reported data on mixed groups of allergies in a case-control setting. We define cancer risks in medically diagnosed hay fever/allergic rhinitis patients in a nationwide cohort study. A total of 138,723 hay fever/allergic rhinitis patients were identified from three Sw

Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) improves the survival time in hypoxemic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Despite warnings about potential dangers, a considerable number of patients continue to smoke while on LTOT. The incidence of burn injuries related to LTOT is unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the rate of burn injury requiring health care contact during LTOT.

The aim of the study was to determine whether genetically raised fasting glucose (FG) levels are associated with blood pressure (BP) in healthy children and adolescents. We used 11 common genetic variants of FG discovered in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including the rs560887 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the G6PC2 locus found to be robustly associated with FG in child

Zoonotic pathogens often infect several animal species, and gene flow among populations infecting different host species may affect the biological traits of the pathogen including host specificity, transmissibility and virulence. The bacterium Campylobacter jejuni is a widespread zoonotic multihost pathogen, which frequently causes gastroenteritis in humans. Poultry products are important transmis

The auditory brain-stem response (ABR) waveform comprises a set of waves (labeled I-VII) recorded with scalp electrodes over 10 ms after an auditory stimulation with a brief click sound. Quite often, the waves are fused (confluent) and baseline-irregular and sloped, making wave latencies and wave amplitudes difficult to establish. In the present paper, we describe a method, labeled moving-minimum

This article is an attempt to provide a very rough outline of the historical interaction between punk rock and the Muslim world. For the most part, the antino- mian youth culture of punk rock was relatively slow to reach Muslims outside of Europe and North America. When it did reach Muslim youth (from Europe to Asia to the Middle East), it tended to initially manifest in secular and antireligious

Novel formaldehyde-sensitive conductometric biosensors have been developed that are based on commercial bacterial formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FDH) from Pseudomonas putida and recombinant formaldehyde dehydrogenase (rFDH) from the yeast Hansenula polymorpha as the bio-recognition elements. The bio-recognition membranes have mono-layer architecture and consist of enzyme cross-linked with albumin and

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficiency of different methods of reading breast tomosynthesis (BT) image volumes. METHODS: All viewing procedures consisted of free scroll volume browsing and three were combined with initial cine loops at three different frame rates (9, 14 and 25 fps). The presentation modes consisted of vertically and horizontally orientated BT image volumes. Fifty-five normal BT im