In 2008 Bhutan inaugurated a written constitution thereby instituting the state as a constitutional monarchy. The constitution is almost unanimously described as democratic by international media and academics. The ease with which this apparent consensus on its democratic character has been achieved, however, raises the important question of how best to approach the theory of constitutional democr

AIM: The aim of this retrospective study is to illustrate clinical utility and impact of pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnostics of up to date Ventilation/Perfusion SPECT (V/P (SPECT)) applying holistic interpretation criteria. MATERIAL AND METHODS: During a 2-year period 2328 consecutive patients referred to V/P(SPECT) for clinically suspected PE were examined. Final diagnosis was established by phys

Abstract in UndeterminedThe verb láta ‘let/make’ in Icelandic provides a unique opportunity to understand the behavior symmetric versus asymmetric DAT-NOM constructions, as well as the nature of nominative-accusative case alternations. In this paper, we take a close look at láta and examinea set of cases where DAT-NOM verbs are embedded under láta, resulting in the otherwise nominative object beco

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a slowly progressive disease that can be postponed or even avoided through lifestyle changes. Recent data demonstrate highly significant correlations between DNA methylation and the most important risk factors of T2D, including age and body mass index, in blood and human tissues relevant to insulin resistance and T2D. Also, T2D patients and individuals with increa

Through the integrated framework of participation theory and political economy, this article analyzes participatory opportunities in the virtual world Habbo Hotel, and how participation is constrained and framed by the producer’s commercial strategies, which are based on advertising and sales of virtual goods. The study also looks into the ways in which the producer Sulake Corporation discursively

A new taxonomy of the Caloplaca citrina group in the Black Sea region is presented. It is based on the nrDNA ITS molecular data, chemistry (anthraquinone contents) and 20 morphological characters. Six species previously known in the region are accepted: Caloplaca arcis, C. calcitrapa, C. dichroa, C. flavocitrina, C. geleverjae, C. limonia. Five new species are described: Caloplaca arcisproxima, C.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are ancient effector molecules in the innate immune response of eukaryotes. These peptides are important for the antimicrobial efficacy of phagocytes and for the innate immune response mounted by epithelia of humans and other mammals. AMPs are generated either by de novo synthesis or by proteolytic cleavage from antimicrobially inactive proproteins. Studies of human d

We present the methods for phenotype evaluation, which give good chances to identify taxa larger according to the anatomical and morphological features. The basic idea is to evaluate characters having regard to completeness and reproducibility. We composed a list of about 100 basic characters and propose standardized ways of measuring them. We also present a list of morphological and anatomical te

Westergren R, Nilsson D, Heglind M, Arani Z, Grande M, Cederberg A, Ahren B, Enerback S. Overexpression of Foxf2 in adipose tissue is associated with lower levels of IRS1 and decreased glucose uptake in vivo. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 298: E548-E554, 2010. First published December 15, 2009; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00395.2009.-Many members of the forkhead genes family of transcription factors have

This article examines the way in which classification of financial instruments as debt or equity has developed in the Swedish income taxation system over the past 25 years. Although the structure of the tax system is based on the assumption that debt instruments are financial instruments with low risk, legal developments have not shared that assumption, resulting in several types of high-risk deri

Paleomagnetic data, although undeniably limited, have been used to constrain complex time-varying geomagnetic field models. Here we present four different versions of a time varying geocentric dipole model for the past approximately 9000 years based on a limited selection of sedimentary paleomagnetic data with good spatial coverage. The robustness of the modeling approach is evaluated using modern

Forward scattering of antennas is related to antenna performance via the forward scattering sum rule. The forward scattering sum rule is an integral identity that shows that a weighted integral of the extinction cross section over all spectrum is proportional to the static polarizabiliy of the antenna structure. Here, the forward scattering sum rule is experimentally verified for loaded, short cir

Background We evaluated the accuracy and repeatability of a 3D method for polyethylene acetabular cup wear measurements using computed tomography (CT). We propose that the method be used for clinical in vivo assessment of wear in acetabular cups. Material and methods Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene cups with a titanium mesh molded on the outside were subjected to wear using a hip simulato

Background: An increasing number of neo-adjuvant breast cancer studies are being conducted and a novel model for tumor biological studies, the "window-of-opportunity" model, has revealed several advantages. Change in tumor cell proliferation, estimated by Ki67-expression in pre-therapeutic core biopsies versus post-therapeutic surgical samples is often the primary end-point. The aim of the present

The most commonly used 3'-splice site on the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) genome named SA3358 is used to produce HPV-16 early mRNAs encoding E4, E5, E6 and E7, and late mRNAs encoding L1 and L2. We have previously shown that SA3358 is suboptimal and is totally dependent on a downstream splicing enhancer containingmultiple potential ASF/SF2 binding sites. Here weshow that only one of the p

Purpose: We compared the rates of febrile urinary tract infection, kidney damage and reflux resolution in children with vesicoureteral reflux treated in 3 ways, including antibiotic prophylaxis, endoscopic therapy and surveillance with antibiotics only for symptomatic urinary tract infection. Materials and Methods: Children 1 to younger than 2 years with grade reflux were recruited into this prosp

Building owners are encouraged to reduce energy use in order to both contribute to national energy-saving goals and reduce the costs of heating and operation. It is important to choose the most optimal renovation measures available so as to achieve cost-effective energy use while maintaining excellent indoor environments, without sacrificing architectural quality or negatively affecting the enviro

The ability to design and tailor-make antibodies to meet the biophysical demands required by the vast range of current and future antibody-based applications within biotechnology and biomedicine will be essential. In this proof-of-concept study, we have for the first time tailored human recombinant scFv antibodies for site-specific photocoupling through the use of an unnatural amino acid (UAA) and

The diagnostics of endometrial pathology can be done by obtaining information at the molecular level, e. g. using the autofluorescence-based technique. Thus, for the first time an experimental study was performed on waste material of uterine cavity washing specimens to evaluate suitability of the technique for diagnostics. The specimens were obtained from 32 patients who had a conventional uterine