Hyperresponsiveness to bronchoconstrictor stimuli is a major pathophysiologic feature of asthma, but the molecular mechanisms behind this are not fully understood. The release of TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta during the inflammatory process is believed to play an important role in airway hyperresponsiveness. We have previously demonstrated, using a murine in vitro model of chronic airway inflammation, t

Characterizing population fluctuations and their causes is a major theme in population ecology. The debate is on the relative merits of density-dependent and density-independent effects. One paradigm (revived by the research on global warming and its relation to long-term population data) states that fluctuations in population densities can often be accounted for by external noise. Several empiric

We examined the proximal conformation of three commonly used self-expanding stents when the stents were deployed adjacent to one another in a tubular model, simulating a "kissing" stent technique. The stent pairs were evaluated by computed tomogrphy to determine the cross-sectional area excluded by the stents within the model. The mean areas associated with each stent pair were compared and signif

The targeted killing judgment of the Israeli Supreme Court has, since it was handed down in December 2006, received a significant amount of attention: praise as well as criticism. Offering neither praise nor criticism, the present article is instead an attempt at a ‘critique’ of the judgment drawing on the German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin’s famous essay from 1921, ‘Critique of Violence’.

The Stress Barometer, which includes stress symptoms, stress types, relationship stress and time stress, was developed as an easy-to-use instrument which provides a visual representation of the stress an individual is experiencing. The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability, validity and usefulness of the Stress Barometer. Reliability was tested using a test-retest procedure on 23 pai

BACKGROUND: The plasma level of endothelin-1 is locally increased during cooling but the net vasoconstrictor effect will be dependent on temperature effects on the vascular smooth muscle reactivity in response to the polypeptide. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cooling on the vascular smooth muscle response to endothelin-1 in human and rat veins. METHODS: Registration of vas

Fungal laccases from Trametes hirsuta and Cerrena unicolor were immobilized on spectroscopic graphite electrodes using physical absorption. The laccase-modified graphite electrodes were mounted as the working electrodes into a wall jet flow through an electrochemical cell and then used for flow injection amperometric determination of different phenolic compounds of relevance both for environmental

The relationship between monthly sea-surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Pacific and the Indian Ocean and monthly precipitation over the Vietnamese central highlands (VCH) has been investigated by means of singular value decomposition. The seasonal variation of SST plays a critical role in the onset of the monsoon season and convective rain band movement in the inter-tropical convergence zon

HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells) interacts with multiple tumor cell compartments, affecting cell morphology, metabolism, proteasome function, chromatin structure and viability. This study investigated if these diverse effects of HAMLET might be caused, in part, by a direct effect on the ATP synthase and a resulting reduction in cellular ATP levels. A dose-dependent reduc

There is a need for an alternative method to conventional pumping tests that is logistically easier and faster to use and which can be handled by only one person. The well known slug test fulfils those requirements if the equipment is properly designed. The applicability of small-diameter slug-test equipment using pneumatic initiation in large-diameter wells, up to 12aEuro(3) (0.3 m), is discussed

In this paper we demonstrate that the Monte Carlo simulation package McStas is a useful tool, not only for instrument design, but also for resolution function calculation. It has been possible to determine analytically the 4 dimensional resolution function of both a direct geometry time of flight neutron spectrometer and a triple axis spectrometer. The obtained resolution functions are directly co

Background:To evaluate the relationships between postnatal change in circulatory insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations, brain volumes, and developmental outcome at 2 years of age in very preterm infants.Methods:IGF-I was measured weekly and nutritional intake was calculated daily from birth until a postmenstrual age (PMA) of 35 weeks. Individual beta coefficients for IGF-I, IGF-I(B)

The scholarship on Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) is divided concerning her views on women’s role in public life, property rights and distribution of wealth. Her critique of inequality of wealth is undisputed, but is it a complaint only of inequality or does it strike more forcefully at the institution of property? The argument in this article is that Wollstonecraft’s feminism is partly defined b

Chromosome banding analyses reveal secondary chromosome abnormalities in addition to the MYC translocations t(8;14)(q24;q32), t(8;22)(q24;q11), and t(2;8)(p11;q24) in 60%-80% of Burkitt lymphomas/leukemias (BL). The high incidence of such aberrations indicates that additional changes are important, perhaps necessary, for malignant transformation, i.e., the 8q24/MYC rearrangements may not be suffic

Various mechanisms have hitherto been suggested to explain the formation of the Kundan (Middle Ordovician) Osmussaar Breccia in northwestern Estonia. Following the recent discovery of L-chondritic chromite in these peculiar, sand-penetrated strata, it seems plausible that the breccia is impact-related. Herein, the conodont faunas of three thin limestone intervals overlying the breccia at Osmussaar

A brief overview of hexagonal superstructures with a periodicity of similar to 3 nm formed on Ru(0001) and Ge(111) by graphene or hexagonal boron nitride with a thickness of just a single atomic layer is given. A periodic height corrugation of such layers due to the lattice mismatch with the substrate material is of the order of 0.1 nm. Selected examples of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and

Recursively compressed inverse preconditioning (RCIP) is a numerical method for obtaining highly accurate solutions to integral equations on piecewise smooth surfaces. The method originated in 2008 as a technique within a scheme for solving Laplace’s equation in two-dimensional domains with corners. In a series of subsequent papers, the technique was then refined and extended as to apply to integr

The aim of this review is to examine recent advances in experimental and clinical research relevant to the pathogenesis of diarrhea-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome with special reference to histopathologic findings, virulence factors of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, the host response, and the prothrombotic state. Despite significant advances during the past decade, the exact mechani