Regulation of serine protease activity is considered to be the sole mechanism for the function of alpha(1)-antitrypsin (AAT). However, recent reports of the anti-inflammatory effects of AAT are hard to reconcile with this classical mechanism. We discovered that two key activities of AAT in vitro, namely inhibition of endotoxin-stimulated tumor necrosis factor-a and enhancement of interleukin-10 in

The rheological behavior of amylopectin-beta-lactoglobulin-water system in the region of incompatibility was studied by performing constant shear rate and oscillatory measurements. Phase-segregated samples were prepared at concentrations that laid over the binodal and tie-lines. The results were interpreted in terms of the isostress and isostrain blending laws. For this purpose the bases of Takaya

Anaesthesia systems that minimize the use of volatile anaesthetics to reduce cost and pollution are of interest. Closed circuit anaesthesia is the ideal solution, but requires continuous adjustment of fresh gas flow and composition and thus is demanding in routine practice. We describe an alternative system, the Reflector system, which is open in regard to oxygen, nitrogen and N2O, and semiclosed

Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) are a chief uncertainty in calculating the burdens of important atmospheric compounds like tropospheric ozone or secondary organic aerosol, reflecting either imperfect chemical oxidation mechanisms or unreliable emission estimates, or both. To provide a starting point for a more systematic discussion we review here global isoprene and monoter

Traffic flow states are described as resulting from a stochastically driven system. Vehicles advance based on the energy profile of their surrounding traffic. We create a stochastic process generated from an ergodicity satisfying Markov chain whose system dynamics sample from the Gibbs distribution. Specifically, we employ Arrhenius microscopic dynamics in order to also capture non-equilibrium be

We analyzed the concentration of I-129 in the water of 26 rivers covering most of the runoff from Sweden, with the aim of assessing current contamination levels, distribution patterns and potential sources in freshwater systems of northern Europe. The results show relatively high values (up to 1.4 x 10(9) atoms 1(-1)), steeply decreasing levels with increasing latitude and a positive correlation w

Poorly oxygenated ( hypoxic) tumors are frequently more aggressive compared to corresponding tumors that are better oxygenated. Adaptation to hypoxia is primarily mediated by two closely related hypoxia inducible transcription factor complexes, HIF-1 and HIF-2, which become stabilized and activated at low oxygen levels. Whether HIF-1 and HIF-2 have different roles in tumorigenesis is an open quest

This study analyses the associations between sense of coherence and health and between stress and health in adolescents. In addition, this study tests whether a high sense of coherence could modify the health effects of stress. The study was a Danish cross-sectional analysis of 3258 adolescents from school classes in a national representative sample. The child, the main teacher and the school doct

The aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of topical cooling as the only viable lung preservation method using the most challenging evaluation method, namely single-lung transplantation followed by immediate contralateral pneumonectomy. Ten domestic pigs (5 donors and 5 recipients) with a mean body weight of 57 kg (range, 53 to 59 kg) were used. After we administered systemic heparin (

AimTo investigate agreement between: (1) expected reasons and actual reasons for admission of people with dementia according to informal caregivers; (2) scores on measurement instruments prior to admission and the actual reasons for admission according to informal caregivers. BackgroundTimely admission of people with dementia is a crucial issue. Information is highly warranted on whether informal

Synergies between large-scale environmental changes, such as climate change(1) and increased humic content (brownification)(2), will have a considerable impact on future aquatic ecosystems. On the basis of modelling, monitoring and experimental data, we demonstrate that community responses to global change are determined by food-chain length and that the top trophic level, and every second level b

Circular orientation cages have been used for several decades to record the migratory orientation of passerine migrants, and have been central to the investigation of the functional characteristics of the biological compasses used for orientation. The use of these cages offers unique possibilities to study the migratory behaviour of songbirds, but suffers from statistical limitations in evaluating

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are widely studied for their advantages especially at high temperatures. However, operating at high temperatures represents a high cost due to the strict requirements the materials are expected to fulfill. Thus, the main goal in SOFC research has been to decrease the operating temperature so that the range of available materials is widened and hence, the operating co

Time-resolved medical data has important applications in a large variety of medical applications. In this paper we study automatic analysis of dynamical renal scintigraphies. The traditional analysis pipeline for dynamical renal scintigraphies is to use manual or semiautomatic methods for segmentation of pixels into physical compartments, extract their corresponding time-activity curves and then c

The objective of the study was to evaluate the intestinal tolerance of a newly developed food containing Lactobacillus plantarum 299v, in children. The effects of consumption of the product on the children's nutrient intake were also followed, in a separate study. The tolerance study was parallel, double-blind, and included 69 children between 6 months and 3 years of age, randomized into two group

This article presents a stress analysis of a saw tooth. The analysis aims to determine the stress distribution for various egde load and varying microgeometry. The analysis is performed on a three-dimensional finite element model representing the tip of a saw tooth. The 3D model makes it possible to model the load distribution and study stress distributions across the width of the teeth with a suf

We have studied the ultrafast dissociation of the H2S molecule upon S 2p(3/2)-> 6a(1) inner-shell excitation by combining high-resolution resonant Auger spectroscopy and energy-selected Auger electron-ion coincidence measurements. Auger final states have been correlated to the different fragmentation pathways (S+, HS+, and H2S+ ions). As an original result, we evidence a three-step mechanism to de