Among the Gram-positive anaerobic bacteria associated with clinical infections, the Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC) are the most prominent and account for approximately 25-30% of all isolated anaerobic bacteria from clinical specimens. Still, routine culture and identification of these slowly growing anaerobes to the species level has been limited in the diagnostic laboratory, mainly due to t

Objective. To explore experienced general practitioner (GP) tutor perceptions of a skilled GP tutor of medical students. Design. Interview study based on focus groups. Setting. Twenty GPs experienced in tutoring medical students at primary health care centres in two Swedish regions were interviewed. Method. Four focus-group interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Subjects. Twe

The study explored the utility of four-point preprandial glucose self-monitoring to calculate several indices of glycemic control and variability in a study adding the DPP-4 inhibitor vildagliptin to ongoing insulin therapy. This analysis utilized data from a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study in 29 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with vildagliptin or placebo on top

In South-East Asia, sedimentary basins displaying continental Permian and Triassic deposits have been poorly studied. Among these, the Luang Prabang Basin (North Laos) represents a potential key target to constrain the stratigraphic and structural evolutions of South-East Asia. A combined approach involving sedimentology, palaeontology, geochronology and structural analysis, was thus implemented t

Introduction: Early prognostication after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation is difficult, and there is a need for novel methods to estimate the extent of brain injury and predict outcome. In this study, we evaluated the impact of the cardiac arrest syndrome on the plasma levels of selected tissue-specific microRNAs (miRNAs) and assessed their ability to prognosticate death and neurological

The ground state of an impurity immersed in a Fermi sea changes from a polaron to a molecule as the interaction strength is increased. We show here that the coupling between these two states is strongly suppressed due to a combination of phase-space effects and Fermi statistics, and that it vanishes much faster than the energy difference between the two states, thereby confirming the first order n

Differential dynamic microscopy (DDM) is a low-cost, high-throughput technique recently developed for characterizing the isotropic diffusion of spherical colloids using white-light optical microscopy.(1) We develop the theory for applying DDM to probe the dynamics of anisotropic colloidal samples such as various ordered phases, or particles interacting with an external field. The q-dependent dynam

PURPOSE: Exposure to diisocyanates is a known occupational hazard. One method for monitoring occupational exposure is by analyzing biomarkers in hydrolyzed urine and plasma. The half-life of the biomarkers in plasma is about 3 weeks, and the urinary elimination is divided into one fast (hours) and one slow phases (weeks). Polymorphism in glutathione S-transferase enzymes (GST) is earlier shown to

BACKGROUND: Oral contraceptive use and reproductive factors may initiate long-term changes to the hormonal milieu and thereby, possibly influence colorectal cancer risk. METHODS: We examined the association of hormonal and reproductive factors with risk of colorectal cancer among 337 802 women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, of whom 1878 developed colorectal ca

Offline foveation is a technique to improve the compression efficiency of digitized video. The general idea behind offline foveation is to blur video regions where no or a small number of previewers look without decreasing the subjective quality for later viewers. It relies on the fact that peripheral vision is reduced compared to central vision, and the observation that during free-viewing humans

The study aimed to investigate (a) if women's perceptions of their work environment changed during a 16-week rehabilitation period and at a 12-month follow-up; (b) whether such changes were related to outcomes in terms of return to work, well-being and valued occupations.

Collateral damage caused by extracellular histones has an immediate impact on morbidity and mortality in many disease models. A significant increase in the levels of extracellular histones is seen in critically ill patients with trauma and sepsis. We showed that histones are released from necrotic cells in patients with invasive skin infections. Under in vitro conditions, endogenous p33, an endoth

Uridine phosphorylase (UP), a key enzyme in the pyrimidine salvage pathway catalyzes the reversible phosphorolysis of uridine or 2'-deoxyuridine to uracil and ribose 1-phosphate or 2'-deoxyribose 1-phosphate. This enzyme belongs to the nucleoside phosphorylase I superfamily whose members show diverse specificity for nucleoside substrates. Phylogenetic analysis shows Streptococcus pyogenes uridine

Insights from prospective, longitudinal studies of individuals at risk for developing type 1 diabetes have demonstrated that the disease is a continuum that progresses sequentially at variable but predictable rates through distinct identifiable stages prior to the onset of symptoms. Stage 1 is defined as the presence of β-cell autoimmunity as evidenced by the presence of two or more islet autoanti

A high level of exhaled nitric oxide (NO) is a marker for inflammation in the airways of asthmatic subjects. However, little is known about how NO and inducible nitric oxides synthase (iNOS) activity may affect remodelling in the distal lung. We hypothesized that there is a link between iNOS and ongoing remodelling processes in the distal lung of mild asthmatics.

Using the large N-C approximation we have constructed the most general chiral resonance Lagrangian in the odd-intrinsic parity sector that can generate low-energy chiral constants up to O(p(6)). Integrating out the resonance fields these O(p(6)) constants are expressed in terms of resonance couplings and masses. The role of eta' is discussed and its contribution is explicitly factorized. Using the

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are ligand-mediated transcription factors, which control both lipid and energy metabolism and inflammation pathways. PPAR agonists are effective in the treatment of metabolic diseases and, more recently, neurodegenerative diseases, in which they show promising neuroprotective effects. We studied the effects of the pan-PPAR agonist bezafibrate on

Genetic and non-genetic factors probably act together to initiate and accelerate development of type 1 diabetes [T1D]. One suggested risk factor contributing to development of T1D is air pollution.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze whether there is an association between neighborhood deprivation and cervical cancer morbidity and mortality, beyond individual level characteristics. DESIGN: The entire Swedish population aged 25 to 74, a total of 1.9million women, were followed from January 1, 1990, until hospital admission due to cervical cancer during the study period, or the end of the study on Dece