BACKGROUND: To investigate the value of combined treatment with allopurinol and 5-aminosalicylic (5-ASA) based drugs as maintenance treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC).METHODS: 199 patients with UC in remission but with active disease during the preceding 3 years were included. Allopurinol 100 mg twice daily or placebo was added to the 5-ASA based maintenance treatment. Clinical and endoscopic f

Avhandlingen består av tre oberoende kapitel som alla är empiriska studier av forskare och den roll som olika typer av rörlighet spelar för att forma forskarnas vetenskapliga produktion och karriär.Kapitel 1 studerar effekterna av avregleringen av svensk arbetsmigration, 2008, på publiceringsproduktiviteten hos akademiker verksamma i Sverige. Reformen ledde till en kraftig ökning av antalet asiatiThe thesis consists of three independent chapters. The chapters are all empirical studies of scientists and the role that different types of mobility play in shaping researchers' scientific output and careers.Chapter 1, uses the liberalization of Swedish work migration, in 2008, to study the effect of immigration on the publishing productivity of incumbent academics in Sweden. The reform led to a

PURPOSE: To calculate the normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of late radiation effects on the rectum and bladder from repetitive CT scans during fractionated high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRB) and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) of the uterine cervix and compare the NTCP with the clinical frequency of late effects.METHODS AND MATERIALS: Fourteen patients with cancer of the uterine ce

Efficient, diode-pumped high energy femtosecond laser systems around 1 μm based on Yb-gain media are readily commercially available. However, owing to the gain bandwidth limitations, the pulses generated in such lasers are substantially longer than the ones generated in Ti:Sapphire systems. A simple, energy-scalable pulse self-compression scheme for the pulses around 1 μm thus would be of great in

It is essential to gain knowledge about the causes and extent of migratory connectivity between stationary periods of migrants to further the understanding of processes affecting populations, and to allow efficient implementation of conservation efforts throughout the annual cycle. Avian migrants likely use optimal routes with respect to mode of locomotion, orientation and migration strategy, infl

Climate changes induce warmer climate with stronger and more frequent extreme events. Due to the uncertain nature of climate, accurate simulation of future conditions is impossible and a major challenge is the selection of climate data in the impact assessment. This work compares application of three climate data sets in an energy simulation of the EPFL campus: i) Regional Climate Models (RCM data

Many everyday interactions with moving objects benefit from an accurate perception of their movement. Self-motion, however, complicates object motion perception because it generates a global pattern of motion on the observer's retina and radically influences an object's retinal motion. There is strong evidence that the brain compensates by suppressing the retinal motion due to self-motion, however

In a piloted jet flame, the pilot flame has an effect of stabilizing the main flame. Detailed mechanisms of pilot flame/main flame interaction are however not well studied. It is expected that the pilot flame affects the main flame through the following mechanisms: (a) the pilot flame provides the heat and radicals to the reaction zone of the main flame, (b) the pilot flame prevents the cold ambie

More and more people will experience thermal stress in the future as the global temperature is increasing at an alarming rate and the risk for extreme weather events is growing. The increased exposure to extreme weather events poses a challenge for societies around the world. This literature review investigates the feasibility of making advanced human thermal models in connection with meteorologic

BACKGROUND: The Nordic countries have commonalities in gender equality, economy, welfare, and health care, but differ in culture and lifestyle, which might create country-wise health differences. This study compared life expectancy, disease burden, and risk factors in the Nordic region.METHODS: Life expectancy in years and age-standardised rates of overall, cause-specific, and risk factor-specific

The murine embryonal stem (ES) cell virus (MESV) can express transgenes from the long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter/enhancer in undifferentiated ES cells, but expression is turned off upon differentiation to embryoid bodies (EBs) and hematopoietic cells in vitro. We examined whether a human immunodeficiency virus type 1-based lentivirus vector pseudotyped with the vesicular stomatitis virus G pro

BACKGROUND: Anti-D treatment is effective in increasing platelet (PLT) counts in patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (AITP); however, the exact mechanism of action is unknown. Previous results have suggested that anti-D-coated red blood cells (RBCs) affect reticuloendothelial system phagocytosis by stimulating agents (e.g., reactive oxygen species) that alter signaling pathways withi

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a critical role in stimulating innate immunity by recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on invading microorganisms. Platelets also play a role in innate immunity, and we studied whether they express TLR. Results show that human and murine platelets variably expressed TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9 by flow cytometry and Western blotting. TLR4 expression wa

It has previously been shown that sera from multiparous women have increased levels of anti-idiotypic antibodies specific for anti-HLA molecules. γ-Globulins prepared from these sera may be superior to commercial preparations of intravenous γ-globulin (IVIg) for inhibiting HLA alloimmunization. To test this, F(ab′)2 fragments prepared from either commercial IVIg or from the sera of men or multipar

Accurate assessment of in viva or in vitro platelet activation requires optimal preanalytical conditions to prevent artefactual in vitro activation of the platelets. The choice of anticoagulant is one of the critical preanalytical conditions as anticoagulants exert different effects on the activation of platelets ex vivo. We tested the effectiveness of Diatube-H (also known as CTAD; sodium citrate

Natural killer (NK) cell activity was studied in 17 patients with primary chronic idiopathic autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP). Fifteen of 17 patients had a significantly reduced NK cytotoxicity against 51chromium labeled K562 target cells (mean LU20% = 18 ± 20 in patients versus 65 = 2 5 in controls, P < 0.001). NK activity was also significantly reduced in all of six patients with second

The autonomic nerve supply of the guinea-pig ovary was investigated by a combination of light- and electron microscopy. At the light-microscopic level, adrenergic fibres were identified due to their formaldehyde-induced fluorescence. In addition, the ovary contained acetylcholinesterase-positive fibres. In all parts of the ovary, the adrenergic fibres were most numerous. At the ultrastructural lev

Consumption was one of the spheres of everyday life shaken and remoulded by the collapse of socialist regimes at the end of the 20th century. Especially in times of rapid change, a moral economies lens is a fruitful means to understand the contentious moral landscape and moral tensions that pervade consumption behaviour, norms and discourse. Important areas of consideration in post-socialist socie