Prostate specific antigen (PSA) and human glandular kallikrein 2 (hK2), produced essentially by the prostate gland, are 237-amino acid monomeric proteins, with 79% identity in primary structure. Twenty-five anti-PSA monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) were studied for binding to a large array of synthetic linear peptides selected from computer models of PSA and hK2, as well as to biotinylated peptides co

The net primary productivity (NPP) of tropical forests is one of the most important and least quantified components of the global carbon cycle. Most relevant studies have focused particularly on the quantification of the above-ground coarse wood productivity, and little is known about the carbon fluxes involved in other elements of the NPP, the partitioning of total NPP between its above- and belo

We examined aerobic and anaerobic microbial carbon dioxide (C02) and methane (CH4) exchange in peat samples representing different profiles at natural, mined, mined-abandoned, and restored northern peatlands and characterized the nutrient and substrate chemistry and microbial biomass of these soils. Mining and abandonment led to reduced nutrient and substrate availability and occasionally drier co

This article represents the proceedings of a symposium at the 2002 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in San Francisco, CA, organized and cochaired by Mats Berglund and Sten Thelander. The presentations were (1) Preventive interventions against hazardous consumption of alcohol, by Mikko Salaspuro; (2) Treatment of alcohol withdrawal, by Johan Franck; (3) Psychosocial treatment fo

A tree t-spanner T of a graph G is a spanning tree of G whose max-stretch is t, i.e., the distance between any two vertices in T is at most t times their distance in G. If G has a tree t-spanner but not a tree (t - 1)-spanner, then G is said to have max-stretch of t. In this paper, we study the Max-Stretch Reduction Problem: for an unweighted graph G = (V, E), find a set of edges not in E original

In TSP with neighborhoods (TSPN) we are given a collection S of regions in the plane, called neighborhoods, and we seek the shortest tour that visits all neighborhoods. Until now constant-factor approximation algorithms have been known only for cases where the neighborhoods are of approximately the same size. In this paper we present the first polynomial-time constant-factor approximation algorith

A synthetic fluorapatite was prepared that undergoes a phase transformation generated during a dialysis step. A surface layer with the composition Ca(9)(HPO(4))(2)(PO(4))(4)F(2) is formed, which is suggested to form as one calcium atom is replaced by two protons. A surface complexation model, based upon XPS measurements, potentiometric titration data, batch experiments, and zeta-potential measurem

Pinocytosis induced by Na+ was assayed by phase contrast microscopy in 8–12 days starvedAmoeba proteus. These cultures were inactive with respect to calcium-dependent Na+-induced pinocytosis, but treatment with amino acid methyl and ethyl esters increased their capacity for pinocytosis. Besides promoting pinocytosis these compounds also stimulated calcium-sensitive secretion of lysosomal enzymes f

X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is an immunodeficiency caused by mutations in the gene coding for Bruton's agammaglobulinemia tyrosine kinase (BTK). A database (BTKbase) of BTK mutations has been compiled and the recent update lists 225 entries from 189 unrelated families showing 148 unique molecular events. Each patient is given a unique patient identity number (PIN). Information is included re

1. We examined the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of zooplankton in lake surface waters during the spring of 3 years in Lake Washington, U.S.A., a large lake with a high production of sockeye salmon fry. 2. We show large within-season and among-year variation in the horizontal distribution of temperature, chlorophyll a concentration, and zooplankton in the lake. The main pattern, a delay in zo

Background: Many studies have been conducted on the accuracy of prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of foetal CNS-malformations. These studies were mostly hospital-based or, sometimes, multicentre studies. We present here a population-based study of the prenatal diagnosis of spina bifida in Sweden over a period of 31 years. Methods: We compared the number of newborns with spina bifida and the elective t

Objective: To investigate the effects of treatment with paraffin bath in patients with systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Methods: In 17 patients with scleroderma one hand was treated daily with paraffin bath in combination with hand exercise. The other hand was treated with exercise only and was considered a control. Hand function was estimated before treatment and after 1 month of treatment, conc

Previous work has demonstrated that most strains of the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes bind kininogens through M protein, a fibrous surface protein and virulence determinant. Here we find that strains of several other pathogenic bacterial species, both Gram-positive and Gram-negative, isolated from patients with sepsis, also bind kininogens, especially kininogen (HK). The most pronounced in

The present study is one of a few that have used "sense of coherence" (SOC) as a dependent variable in an explanatory model. After studying three different samples - 680 students, 180 parents and 315 couples - we conclude that family relational and psychopathological variables contribute significantly to the explanation of SOC (explained variance between 10-27 and 26-50 per cent). In total, we obt

We derive a new model for the description of large amplitude internal waves in a two-fluid system. The displacement of the interface between the two fluids is assumed to be of small slope, but no smallness assumption is made on the wave amplitude. The derivation of the model is based on the perturbation theory for Hamiltonian systems. In the case of a single fluid layer, the model reduces to the c