BACKGROUND: In this study we have taken an interest in systemic exposure to nickel in patients with delayed hypersensitivity to nickel. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to more closely investigate the importance of factors such as ingested nickel dose, time interval between nickel patch testing and oral nickel challenge as well as degree of nickel hypersensitivity in relation to flare-up reacti

Objective: To analyse the influence of socio-demographic characteristics and environmental factors on self-reported somatic and psychological symptoms among middle-aged Swedish women. Methods: A total of 6917 women living in the Lund area of southern Sweden were participates of this study. They completed a generic questionnaire pertaining to socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and

We investigate the hardness of approximating the longest path and the longest cycle in directed graphs on n vertices. We show that neither of these two problems can be polynomial time approximated within n(1-epsilon)for any epsilon > 0 unless P = NP. In particular, the result holds for digraphs of constant bounded outdegree that contain a Hamiltonian cycle. Assuming the stronger complexity conject

The relation between supraphysiologic circulating testosterone levels and prostatic diseases is unclear and difficult to study in men. Animal models may be advantageous. Based on a pilot study, testosterone enantate 50 mg (n=12) or 25 mg (n=12) was administered to guinea-pigs intramuscularly every 3 weeks, for either 7 or 14 months. The histopathology of the prostate was described. Epithelial hype

Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) suffers from inherent ill-posedness due to the vast number of possible solutions to the reconstruction problem. To increase the robustness of such a problem one need prior information. We present here a method for rendering a priori information of the position of a fluorescent inclusion inside turbid media. The method utilizes solely two spectral bands withi

Purpose: To compare, absolute cerebral blood flow (CBF) estimates obtained by dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC-MRI) and Xe-133 SPECT. Materials and Methods: CBF was measured in 20 healthy volunteers using DSC-MRI at 3T and Xe-133 SPECT. DSC- MRI was accomplished by gradient-echo EPI and CBF was calculated using a time-shift-insenisitive deconvolution algorithm and regional arterial input f

The synthesis of multilayered magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for use as a support in solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) is described. Silanization of magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate introduced polymerizable groups on the surface. Polymerization with allylamine, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, and trimethylolpropane ethoxylate (14/3 EO/OH) triacrylat

Background. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease where thickening of the skin can lead to reduced body function and limitations in activities. Severe forms can also affect and seriously damage inner organs. Patient-centred rehabilitation emphasises considerations of patients' background, experience and behavior which highlights the need to know if patient-reported outcome measures (PR

The ubiquitin-proteasome system targets numerous cellular proteins for degradation. In addition, modifications by ubiquitin-like proteins as well as proteins containing ubiquitin-interacting and -associated motifs modulate many others. This tightly controlled process involves multiple specific and general enzymes of the system as well as many modifying and ancillary proteins. Thus, it is not surpr

Simultaneous videoradiography and solid-state manometry (videomanometry) was performed in 8 patients (4 women, 4 men; age range = 46-81 years, mean age = 70 years) with pharyngeal dysfunction. Five patients had severe pharyngeal dysfunction with frequent misdirected swallows. Three patients had moderate pharyngeal dysfunction with delayed initiation of pharyngeal swallow. Three different swallowin

Autonomic nervous function was evaluated by deep breathing [expiration/inspiration (E/I) ratio] and tilt table tests [acceleration (AI) and brake indices (BI)] in 19 patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) and in 56 age matched controls. The E/I-ratio and systolic blood pressure (at rest, 1, and 8 min after tilt) were found to be significantly reduced (p < 0.001, p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.0

The study explored the utility of four-point preprandial glucose self-monitoring to calculate several indices of glycemic control and variability in a study adding the DPP-4 inhibitor vildagliptin to ongoing insulin therapy. This analysis utilized data from a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study in 29 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with vildagliptin or placebo on top

Insights from prospective, longitudinal studies of individuals at risk for developing type 1 diabetes have demonstrated that the disease is a continuum that progresses sequentially at variable but predictable rates through distinct identifiable stages prior to the onset of symptoms. Stage 1 is defined as the presence of β-cell autoimmunity as evidenced by the presence of two or more islet autoanti

We have examined the effect of geometry optimisation on energies calculated with the quantum-mechanical (QM) cluster, the combined QM and molecular-mechanics (QM/MM), the big-QM approaches (very large single-point QM calculations taken from QM/MM-optimised structures, including all atoms within 4.5 Å of the minimal active site, all buried charged groups in the protein, and truncations moved at lea

(23) Na magnetic resonance imaging and the delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging methods to investigate cartilage can be used to determine the fixed charge density of cartilage. The methods give results that differ by a factor of 2. In this study, we use Monte Carlo simulations on a model system of cartilage and find that the difference originates from the Coulombic intermolecular

Abstract in UndeterminedSporangia, with their in situ cryptospores, spore masses, and a possible axis were identified in marginal marine Ludlovian deposits from Gotland. Sweden by means of light- and scanning electron microscopy.The sporangia identified are elongate, with fragments of the sporangia covering preserved, and contain well-preserved in situ embryophyte cryptospores identified as Laevol

Quantitative perfusion MRI based on arterial spin labeling (ASL) is hampered by partial volume effects (PVEs), arising due to voxel signal cross-contamination between different compartments. To address this issue, several partial volume correction (PVC) methods have been presented. Most previous methods rely on segmentation of a high-resolution T1 -weighted morphological image volume that is coreg