The purpose of the study was to explore the possibilities of using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography (DTT) for the differential diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD), compared with the atypical parkinsonian disorders multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). A 3.0-T MR scanner was used. DTI was acquired u

Information on floral resource costs is fundamental for understanding how selection operates on floral morphology. In this study, I explored the cost of maturing flowers in a self-incompatible population of the ligulate composite Crepis tectorum L. by experimentally manipulating floral investment and then monitoring the response in reproductive effort. Plants on which the heads were removed during

The hydraulic conductivity of smectitic buffer clays is determined by the volume fraction and continuity of permeable parts of the microstructure, i.e., soft and medium-dense clay gels. The bulk conductivity calculated by use of microstructural parameters agrees well with experimental data except for soft Ca bentonite, which is significantly less permeable than predicted. The microstructural stabi

The role of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi in increasing apatite dissolution was tested in a pot system with Pinus sylvestris (L.) seedlings growing in a sand/peat mixture. Non-mycorrhizal seedlings and seedlings inoculated with one of three different isolates of EM fungi were grown for 210 days in pots divided into a root-containing and a root-free compartment. The EM mycelium was allowed to colonise

Bi-isonicotinic acid ~2,28-bipyridine–4,48-dicarboxylic acid! is the ligand of several organometallic dyes, used in photoelectrochemical applications. Therefore the atomic scale understanding of the bonding of this molecule to rutile TiO2(110) should give insight into the crucial dye–surface interaction. High resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ~XPS!, near edge x-ray absorption fine struct

Argon clusters have been doped with krypton atoms in a pick-up setup and investigated by means of ultraviolet and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS and XPS). The width of the krypton surface feature in the XPS spectra from mixed krypton/argon clusters has been studied and found to be narrower than in the case of homogeneous krypton clusters. By considering known spectral broadening mechanisms

A new approach to attack A5/1 is proposed. The proposed attack is a refinement of a previous attack by Ekdahl and Johansson. We make two important observations that lead to a new attack with improved performance

Purpose: Histologic grade, Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI), estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PSR) status, and tumor size have previously been shown to be important prognostic indicators for distant recurrence of breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to compare the prognostic value of these factors with flow cytometric S-phase fraction (SPF), urokinase plasminogen activato

Recent experiments and numerical studies have showed that piston geometry has a significant effect on the homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) process. There are two effects generated by the combustor geometry: the geometry affects the flow/turbulence in the cylinder; the geometry also affects the temperature stratification. The temperature stratification is more directly responsible for

The lecticans are a family of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans including aggrecan, versican, neurocan, and brevican. The C-terminal globular domains of lecticans are structurally related to selectins, consisting of a C-type lectin domain flanked by epidermal growth factor and complement regulatory protein domains. The C-type lectin domain of versican has been shown to bind tenascin-R, an extracel

The c-Myc and MYCN oncogenes strongly induce cell proliferation. Although a limited series of cell cycle genes were found to be induced by the myc transcription factors, it is still unclear how they mediate the proliferative phenotype. We therefore analysed a neuroblastoma cell line with inducible MYCN expression. We found that all members of the minichromosome maintenance complex (MCM2 - 7) and M

Background: Abdominal surgery for cancer carries a high risk of venous thromboembolism, but the optimal duration of postoperative thromboprophylaxis is unknown. Methods: We conducted a double-blind, multicenter trial in which patients undergoing planned curative open surgery for abdominal or pelvic cancer received enoxaparin (40 mg subcutaneously) daily for 6 to 10 days and were then randomly assi

Activated Factor V (FVa) functions as a membrane-bound cofactor to the enzyme factor Xa (FXa) in the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin, increasing the catalytic efficiency of FXa by several orders of magnitude. To map regions on FVa that are important for binding of FXa, site-directed mutagenesis resulting in novel potential glycosylation sites on FV was used as strategy. The consensus sequenc

Background— Inflammation is an important pathophysiological feature of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Whether elevated levels of inflammation-sensitive plasma proteins (ISPs) predict the long-term risk of fatal or repaired AAA is largely unknown. Methods and Results— Five ISPs (fibrinogen, orosomucoid, {alpha}1-antitrypsin, haptoglobin, and ceruloplasmin) were measured in 6075 healthy men, mea

The emergence of levodopa (l-DOPA)-induced dyskinesia and motor fluctuations represents a major clinical problem in Parkinson's disease (PD). While it has been suggested that the daily dose of l-DOPA can play a critical role, the mechanisms linking l-DOPA dosage to the occurrence of motor complications have not yet been explored. Using an experimental model of PD we have recently demonstrated that

The present investigation addresses mazes in Swedish pre-school children with specific language impairment (SLI). Spontaneous speech samples from 10 Swedish children were collected and analysed with respect to amount of mazes and their distributional patterns. The subjects consisted of five children with SLI and five MLU (mean length of utterance) matched controls with normal grammatical developme

Helicobacter bilis DNA has been detected in human tissue and is a candidate for etiologic investigations on the causes of hepatic and biliary tract diseases, but reliable serologic tests need to be developed in order to pursue such investigations. The scope of this study was to assess the specificity of two assays for H. bilis immune response allowing for H. pylori, and their cross-reactivity in a

We calculate level densities and pairing gaps for an ultracold dilute gas of fermionic atoms in harmonic traps under the influence of mean field and anharmonic quartic trap potentials. Supershell nodes, which were found in Hartree-Fock calculations, are calculated analytically within periodic orbit theory as well as from WKB calculations. For attractive interactions, the underlying level densities

Electrochemical studies of laccases from basidiomycetes, i.e., Trametes hirsuta, Trametes ochracea, Coriolopsis fulvocinerea, Cerrena maxima, and Cerrena unicolor, have been performed. Direct (mediatorless) electrochemistry of laccases on graphite electrodes has been investigated with cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry as well as potentiometry. For all mentioned high potential laccases di