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Mucosal pathogens use diverse and highly specific molecular mechanisms to activate mucosal inflammation. It may even be argued that their virulence depends on the inflammatory response that they induce. Some bacteria target epithelial cells and trigger them to produce inflammatory mediators but others cross the mucosa and activate macrophages or dendritic cells. Although systemic release of inflam
One of the major histopathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is redundant senile plaques mainly composed of beta-amyloid (Abeta) aggregates. Alternative cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), occurring in both normal and AD subjects, results in the generation and secretion of soluble APP (sAPP) and Abeta. We examined the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for alpha- and beta-secretase
We present a theory of very long waves propagating on the surface of water. The waves evolve slowly, both on the scale e (weak nonlinearity), and on the scale, a, of the depth variation. In our model, dispersion does not affect the evolution of the wave even over the large distances that tsunamis may travel. We allow a distribution of vorticity, in addition to variable depth. Our solution is not v
How can we reconcile the conception of language as a conventional-normative semiotic system with a perception/action-based account of its structure and meaning? And why should linguistic meaning - as opposed to linguistic expression - be so closely related to motor activity and its neural underpinnings, as suggested by recent findings? A conceptual framework and evolutionary scenario building on t
During the last half century, a dramatic downscaling of electronics has taken place, a miniaturization that the industry expects to continue for at least a decade. We present efforts to use the self-assembly of one-dimensional semiconductor nanowires(1) in order to bring new, high-performance nanowire devices as an add-on to mainstream Si technology. The nanowire approach offers a coaxial gate-die
This paper concerns voting with logical consequences, which means that anybody voting for an alternative x should vote for the logical consequences of x as well. Similarly, the social choice set is also supposed to be closed under logical consequences. The central result of the paper is that, given a set of fairly natural conditions, the only social choice functions that satisfy social logical clo
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of selective denervation of the rat pancreas on hormone secretion and on peripheral insulin sensitivity. Thirteen rats, 7 denervated and 6 sham operated, received an intravenous glucose challenge for 30 min. The basal plasma levels of insulin, glucagon and glucose did not differ between the two groups. An augmented insulin response to gluc
The white-rot fungus Bjerkandera sp. BOL-13 was evaluated regarding decolorization of four textile dyes Reactive blue 21, Reactive black 5, Reactive orange 13 and Reactive yellow 206. Experiments were performed in batch and continuous modes. The total dye concentration in all experiments was 100 mg l(-1). The results of the batch experiments showed that the fungus decolorized all dyes but at diffe
Objectives: To compare personality features of fibromyalgia patients with those of a disease control group with regional pain. Methods: A group of 33 women with fibromyalgia [FMS-group] was compared on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [MMPI] and the Defense Mechanism Technique modified [DMTm] with 31 women [C-group] without this diagnosis who had localized chronic pain in their neck
We consider the problem of minimizing the number of multiplications in computing f(x)=x n , where n is an integer and x is an element of any ring. We present new methods which reduce the average number of multiplications comparing with well-known methods, such as the binary method and the q-ary method. We do not compare our approach with algorithms based on addition chains since our approach is in
BACKGROUND: Despite screening of blood donors, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can occur in patients who receive multiple transfusions. OBJECTIVE: To clarify mechanisms of nosocomial transmission of HCV. DESIGN: Epidemiologic and molecular analyses of hepatitis C outbreaks. SETTING: Pediatric oncology ward. PATIENTS: Children with cancer. MEASUREMENTS: Epidemiologic analysis, HCV RNA detection,
The spatial and temporal pattern of land degradation in northeastern Iceland during the Holocene is analysed in relation to climatic fluctuations. Tephrochronology is used to date the infer-red terrestrial changes. and remote sensing and geographical information systems to assess the dynamic relationships between topographic relief. geomorphic processes and soil structure. Changes in vegetation an
The survival of the probiotic strains Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 55730, Lactobacillus acidophilus DSM 20079 and Bifidobacterium bifidum DSM 20456, all of human origin, were investigated in three different oat-based, non-dairy products (Adavena M40, MG20 and G40). The products were fermented by the three strains with and without the presence of a commercial yoghurt culture (V2). Samples were stored
The aims of the study were to verify the longterm effect of time on viral clearance in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients and to find out factors possibly associated with disease progression. A total of 1641 patients recruited from eight European centres in 1996-1.997 were re-analysed 5-7 years after inclusion. The occurrence of decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver trans
Background: Endogenous retroviruses ( ERVs) and solitary long terminal repeats ( LTRs) have a significant antisense bias when located in gene introns, suggesting strong negative selective pressure on such elements oriented in the same transcriptional direction as the enclosing gene. It has been assumed that this bias reflects the presence of strong transcriptional regulatory signals within LTRs bu
Astroglial cells in primary culture possess receptors with cyclic AMP and inositol phosphates (IP) as second messengers. The beta-receptor agonist, isoproterenol induces an increase in the accumulation of cyclic AMP, the alpha 2-receptor agonist clonidine inhibits the isoproterenol-induced accumulation of cyclic AMP, while the alpha 1-receptor agonist phenylephrine acts only on the inositol phosph
DNA microarrays have the potential to classify tumors according to their transcriptome. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) facilitate the validation of biomarkers by offering a high-throughput approach to sample analysis. We reanalyzed a high profile breast cancer DNA microarray dataset containing 96 tumor samples using a powerful statistical approach, between group analyses. Among the genes we identified
We examined the hypothesis that recording multiple elastic pressure-volume (Pel/V) curves and calculating alveolar derecruitment (V(DER)) induced by decreasing positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) may allow determination of alveolar closing pressures, thus helping to select the optimal PEEP level. V(DER) measured in 16 patients with acute lung injury (ALI) was compared with the lower inflection
