Objective. To compare participants and non-participants early in the process of an audit on treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and to analyse any effect of the actual self-registration on the prescription of antibiotics in both groups. Design. All 80 general practitioners (GPs) at 14 health centres were invited to audit their use of antibiotics and 45 agreed to participate. There wer

Scattering of sunlight produces patterns of partially linearly polarized light in the sky throughout the day, and similar patterns appear at night when the Moon is bright. We studied celestial polarization patterns during the period of twilight, when the Sun is below the horizon, determining the degree and orientation of the polarized-light field and its changes before sunrise and after sunset. Du

BACKGROUND: The RSR ELISAs for GADAb and IA-2Ab are now widely used but due to a considerable number of falsely positive GADAb results obtained with EDTA plasma, it is recommended that only serum samples are run in these two assays. However, as EDTA plasma is often the preferred sample type in Europe we have assessed the possibility that adding Ca(2+) to plasma would reduce the number of falsely p

The synthesis and in vitro cytotoxicity toward various tumor cell lines of (+/-)-tridemethylisovelleral, an analogue of the bioactive fungal sesquiterpene (+)-isovelleral retaining the bicyclo[4,1,0]hept-2-en-1,2-dicarbaidehyde system but lacking the three methyl groups, is reported. The cytotoxicity of tridemethylisovelleral toward several tumor cell lines was found to be comparable with those of

Three issues characterise the background to the MECCA study: A) Throughout Europe, most patients with severe forms of psychotic disorders are cared for in the community. The challenge now is to make processes in community mental health care more effective. B) There are widespread calls to implement regular outcome measurement in routine settings. This, however, is more likely to happen, if it prov

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