BACKGROUND: Representing is about theories and theory formation. Philosophy of science has a long-standing interest in representing. At least since Ian Hacking's modern classic Representing and Intervening (1983) analytical philosophers have struggled to combine that interest with a study of the roles of intervention studies. With few exceptions this focus of philosophy of science has been on phys

We investigate the possibility to use coated metallic nanoparticles for single-molecule surface-enhanced spectroscopy by extending the Mie theory. The aggregates of metallodielectric spheres of Au and Ag show a strong local intensity enhancement in the cavity between particles, which can result in up to a 10(14)-fold increase for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. We also examine the thickness of

The European procedural guidelines for radionuclide imaging of myocardial perfusion and viability are presented in 13 sections covering patient information, radiopharmaceuticals, injected activities and dosimetry, stress tests, imaging protocols and acquisition, quality control and reconstruction methods, gated studies and attenuation-scatter compensation, data analysis, reports and image display,

Background: Soft-tissue injuries of the wrist are often not recognized in patients with distal radial fractures, yet scapholunate injuries have been reported to occur in association with as many as 54% of distal radial fractures. The true prevalence and natural history of intercarpal ligament injury are not known. Methods: This prospective observational study assessed the prevalence and one-year o

Severe alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency predisposes to emphysema development. Highly variable rates of decline in lung function are reported in PiZZ individuals. The annual decline in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1; delta FEV1) was analysed in relation to smoking status in a cohort of 608 adult PiZZ individuals included in the Swedish national AAT deficiency register. Delta FEV1 w

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal immunoadsorption (ECAT) is a method of reducing activity in radiosensitive organs by removing excess monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from the blood. Previously, the authors experimentally evaluated ECAT based on the avidin-biotin concept after intravenous administration of radioimmunoconjugates. The aim of the current study was to determine whether ECAT could be used to red

The increasing availability of human pluripotent stem cells provides new prospects for neural-replacement strategies and disease-related basic research. With almost unlimited potential for self-renewal, the use of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) bypasses the restricted supply and expandability of primary cells that has been a major bottleneck in previous neural transplantation approaches. Transl

Mammals have four deoxyribonucleoside kinases, the cytoplasmic (TK1) and mitochondrial (TK2) thymidine kinases, and the deoxycytidine (dCK) and deoxyguanosine (dGK) kinases, which salvage the precursors for nucleic acids synthesis. In addition to the native deoxyribonucleoside substrates, the kinases can phosphorylate and thereby activate a variety of anti-cancer and antiviral prodrugs. Recently,

Tendon injuries at the epicondyle can occur in athletes and workers whose job functions involve repetitive, high force hand activities, but the early pathophysiologic changes of tendon are not well known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate early tendon structural changes, specifically the formation of microtears, caused by cyclical loading. The Flexor Digitorum Profundus (FDP) muscle of nin

Protein S expresses cofactor activity for activated protein C (APC) by enhancing the APC-catalyzed proteolysis at R-306 in factor Va. It is generally accepted that only free protein S is active and that complex formation with C4b-binding protein (C4BP) inhibits the APC-cofactor activity of protein S. However, the present study shows that protein S-C4BP expresses APC-cofactor activity and stimulate

Fatigue damage due to a special class of non-Gaussian broadband loadings is considered. Specifically, the loadings are considered to be non-monotonic transformation of stationary, Gaussian random processes. A linear damage accumulation rule is assumed and the rain-flow cycle counting method is considered. Analytical expressions are developed for estimating the expected rain-flow fatigue damage. Ea

Bose-Einstein correlations of charged kaons are used to probe Au+Au collisions at s(NN)=200 GeV and are compared to charged pion probes, which have a larger hadronic scattering cross section. Three-dimensional Gaussian source radii are extracted, along with a one-dimensional kaon emission source function. The centrality dependences of the three Gaussian radii are well described by a single linear

OBJECTIVE: To investigate changes in regional blood flows (RBF) and vascular porosity during the early phase of the autologous collagen II induced arthritis model (CIA) in rats and the possible influence of indomethacin and nitric oxide (NO) synthase on these variables. METHODS: RBF was measured with the microsphere method and vascular porosity by determination of extravasation of radiolabeled alb

Molecular characterization of ten marine cyanobacterial isolates belonging to the order Oscillatoriales was carried out using the phycocyanin locus (cpcBA-IGS) and the 16S-23S internally transcribed spacer region. DNA sequences from the phycocyanin operon discriminated ten genotypes, which corresponded to seven morphotypes identified by traditional microscopic analysis. The cpcB coding region reve

We studied long-term trends and the yearly variation in mean spring passage time in 36 passerine bird species trapped at Ottenby Bird Observatory in south-eastern Sweden. Between the years 1952-2002, data were available for 22-45 years depending on species. Most long-distance migrant species passed progressively earlier over the study period (range: 2.5 days earlier to 0.7 days later per 10 years,

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the association between occupational and hobby exposure and the risk of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) while focusing on differential patterns of clonal chromosome aberrations and morphologic subgroups. METHODS: A case-referent study was conducted with 330 MDS patients investigated cytogenetically in 1976-1993 (cases) and matched referents. Telephone interviews

BACKGROUND: The Palliative Medicine Unit at University Hospital of Trondheim, Norway, started an intervention programme that aims to enable patients to spend more time at home and die there if they prefer. Close cooperation was needed with the community health-care professionals, who acted as the principal formal caregivers, and a multidisciplinary consultant team coordinated the care. We did a cl

Islet function is regulated by a number of different signals. A main signal is generated by glucose, which stimulates insulin secretion and inhibits glucagon secretion. The glucose effects are modulated by many factors, including hormones, neurotransmitters and nutrients. Several of these factors signal through guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptors (GPCR). Examples of is

A synthesis inversion based on the atmospheric zoom model TM5 is used to derive top-down estimates of CH4 emissions from individual European countries for the year 2001. We employ a model zoom over Europe with 1 degrees x 1 degrees resolution that is two-way nested into the global model domain (with resolution of 6 degrees x 4 degrees). This approach ensures consistent boundary conditions for the