Neurocan is a component of the extracellular matrix in brain. Due to its inhibition of neuronal adhesion and outgrowth in vitro and its expression pattern in vivo it was suggested to play an important role in axon guidance and neurite growth. To study the role of neurocan in brain development we generated neurocan-deficient mice by targeted disruption of the neurocan gene. These mice are viable an

The general anesthetics halothane and chloroform are capable of binding to synthetic water-soluble four--helix bundles, which model the putative in vivo receptors. In this study, we investigate the binding of these anesthetics to synthetic water-soluble three--helix bundles. A series of variants containing up to four X-to-Ala and up to four X-to-Met substitutions was made; and the effect of these

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 signalling mediates communication between growth factor receptors and the cell nucleus and has been linked to several key events in the transformation process such as proliferation and invasion. We therefore sought to delineate the degree of phosphorylated ERK1/2 in breast cancer and potential links to upstream receptors such as VEGFR2, ErbB2, downst

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a phospholipid inflammatory mediator which is synthesized by a variety of cells, including monocytes, endothelial cells, mast cells and neutrophils. PAF acts via a recently cloned PAF receptor, present on monocytes and endothelial cells, but not on non-activated lymphocytes. IL-4 is mainly produced by T lymphocytes, and belongs to the Th2 subset of T helper cell

Introduction Human breast tumors are heterogeneous and consist of phenotypically diverse cells. Breast cancer cells with a CD44(+)/CD24(-) phenotype have been suggested to have tumor-initiating properties with stem cell-like and invasive features, although it is unclear whether their presence within a tumor has clinical implications. There is also a large heterogeneity between tumors, illustrated

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prognostic value for patient survival of different forms of PSA and ratios thereof, before treatment for prostate cancer, by considering the forms and ratios both as independent markers and by comparing them with other commonly used prognostic markers, e.g. tumour grade, local stage (T-stage) and absence or presence of skeletal metastases (M-stage). PATIENTS AND METHODS: B

A population-based study from Sweden identified 711 patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma diagnosed in 1965, 1975, 1985 and 1989. Prognostic factors were evaluated and a review of the literature was performed. On univariate analysis, thick tumours (> 0.8 mm) (odds ratio [OR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6-2.1), increasing Clark level (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.6-2.0), ulceration (OR 1.8, 95% CI

The evolutionary divergence of a single species into two has never been directly observed in nature, primarily because speciation can take a long time to occur. A ring species, in which a chain of intergrading populations encircles a barrier and the terminal forms coexist without interbreeding, provides a situation in which variation in space can be used to infer variation in time(1-3). Here we re

The cosmogenic radionuclides 14C, 10Be and 36Cl allow us to trace solar variability several tens of millennia back in time. Different methods of reconstructing past solar variability based on radionuclide concentrations measured in ice cores will be discussed. The similarity in the variability of measurements of solar magnetic activity and solar irradiance over the last 20 years makes cosmogenic r

Thoracic cirripedes are sessile crustaceans that use six pairs of thoracic appendages (the cirri) to catch and handle food. We used scanning electron microscopy to examine the cirri, which include one to three pairs of maxillipeds in six species of thoracican barnacles, in search of correlations between cirral setation and feeding mode. The species studied comprise both pedunculate and sessile for

Deuteron-gold (d+Au) collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider provide ideal platforms for testing QCD theories in dense nuclear matter at high energy. In particular, models suggesting strong saturation effects for partons carrying small nucleon momentum fraction (x) predict modifications to jet production at forward rapidity (deuteron-going direction) in d+Au collisions. We report on two-

Objective: To evaluate the modification of lipid and lipoprotein by use of low doses of continuous-combined formulations of 17beta-estradiol (E-2) and norethisterone acetate (NETA) in healthy postmenopausal women. Design: The study was designed as a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. A total of 120 healthy postmenopausal women were randomized to one of three treatment arms: (1) pl

Complexation of o-phthalate (1,2-benzenedicarboxylate) at the water-boehmite (gamma-AlOOH) interface has been studied in 0.1 N NaCl media at 298.2 K within the range 4.0 < pH < 10.0. Equilibrium measurements were performed as potentiometric titrations and adsorption measurements. Attenuated total reflectance IR spectra were recorded to obtain structural information of the phthalate surface complex

An efficient method to compute analytical energy derivatives for local second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation energy is presented. Density fitting approximations are employed for all 4-index integrals and their derivatives. Using local fitting approximations, quadratic scaling with molecular size and cubic scaling with basis set size for a given molecule is achieved. The density fitting approxim

Precipitates formed due to Fe(II)-oxidation catalysed by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans between pH 1.6 and 3.2 have been studied by powder X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The precipitates consist of well crystalline, ammonium-containing jarosite at pH 1.6, and mixtures of jarosite and poorly crystalline schwertmannite at pH 2.5 and 3.2. At low temperatures ( 10

This article presents some critical comments on the use of Rogers' innovation-diffusion model, which is often referred to in health promotion research as an explanation of how behavioural changes occur over time. The analytical focus is on the belief that there is a social pattern in the process of diffusion, so that higher socioeconomic groups lead the way in adopting ‘preventive innovations’, an

The structure of palladium(II) ethylenediaminetetraacetate (edta) in aqueous solutions and its adsorption on the surface of goethite (alpha-FeOOH) were studied using extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The obtained results show that in aqueous solutions, Pd-edta exists as a 1:1 complex, [P(edta)](2-), with e

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) have been acquired using a compact handheld probe with an integrated video camera allowing the OCT images to be correlated to a skin surface image. In general the healthy tissue of the skin has an obvious stratified structure, whereas the cancerous tissue shows a more homogenous structure. Thus it was demonstrated that it is