Androgens, including 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), are known to play a role for spermatogenesis and accessory sex gland function. The enzyme 5 alpha-reductase (SRD5A) catalyses the conversion of testosterone to DHT. Our objective was to investigate whether polymorphisms in the SRD5A2 gene influence semen parameters in the general population. DNA from 182 Swedish military conscripts was examin

A patient undergoing cytostatic therapy for osteosarcoma of the right humerus had bone scans at 2-mo intervals. A skeletal focus of increased radiotracer accumulation occurred and subsequently was confirmed by CT and MRI. A necrotic metastasis was found during biopsy. There were no remaining viable tumor cells. This finding confirms the presence of the flare phenomenon in skeletal metastases in pr

Low body mass index (BMI) is a well-documented risk factor for future fracture. The aim of this study was to quantify this effect and to explore the association of BMI with fracture risk in relation to age, gender and bone mineral density (BMD) from an international perspective using worldwide data. We studied individual participant data from almost 60,000 men and women from 12 prospective populat

Measurements of DNA ploidy can be performed either with image cytometry (ICM) or flow cytometry (FCM); both methods provide independent prognostic information in primary breast cancer. The aim of the present investigation was to compare the two methods and to relate the findings to prognosis (median follow-up 42 months). Concordance in ploidy status (diploid, tetraploid, aneuploid) was obtained in

OBJECTIVES: Exposing a hind leg of a rat to vibration induces an injury to the sciatic nerve--a so called conditioning lesion. After such injury induced by vibration the regenerative capacity of the nerve is improved and can be detected as an increased axonal outgrowth from a test crush lesion to the same nerve. The purpose was to study whether the effect of a conditioning lesion induced by vibrat

Analytical predictions of mechanical behaviour of fire-exposed steel structures are compared to experimental results obtained from three different research laboratories. Comparisons are made to axially free and restrained steel columns fire tested in Metz in France 1973-74, to simply supported steel beams fire tested in Germany and published in Stahlbau 1/1983 and to axially free and restrained st

Four juvenile Ross's gulls Rhodostethia rosea were trapped on the New Siberian Islands in the Laptev Sea in early August 1994, allowing data collection on body mass and morphometrics from a poorly known part of the species' annual cycle. The wings of juvenile birds were shorter than those previously reported for adults, but their bill length and tarsus length were similar. Their average body mass

There is a need for objective and quantitative methods for measuring posture and movement, so that, for instance, exposure-response relationships for work-related musculoskeletal disorders can be established. Inclinometry data have been obtained from triaxial accelerometers based on uniaxial solid-state accelerometers used in conjunction with a computer program to perform co-ordinate transformatio

The proper handling of alarms is crucial to any automated process control. In practice, many alarms are only distractive and do not represent a potentially dangerous situation. This paper presents a methodology and a computerized tool that aims to remove such nuisance alarms, a so-called alarm cleanup. This is a general, systematic approach that takes advantage of the control system's built-in fun

Electronic structure of two conjugated polymers, PPV and its derivative DIOXA-PPV, are studied by quantum-chemistry methods. Good agreement between the calculations and available experimental data validates the applied methods and enables us to draw conclusions about properties of excitons and polarons in these polymers. In particular, simultaneous use of different correlation plots in atomic site

The effect of incorporating modified clay into a polyamide 6 (PA6) matrix, on the free volume cavity sizes and the thermal and viscoelastic properties of the resulting nanocomposite, was studied with positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. At low concentrations of clay the fraction of PA6 crystals melting close to 212 degrees

Postmenopausal overweight women have an increased risk of breast cancer. The link between obesity and breast cancer could be mediated through hyperinsulinemia. Insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) stimulate mammary cell proliferation in vitro, and cell proliferation is directly linked to the risk of breast cancer. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between breast cancer

It has been proposed that impulse noise and continuous noise affect the inner ear differently and investigations have found impulse noise to be harmful to both the inner hair cells and the outer hair cells. Scanning electron microscopy and non-standard methods for statistical analysis have facilitated the evaluation of different types of morphological changes after exposure to various kinds of noi