Vietnam's increased integration into the global market economy entails rapid and dynamic changes that foster new ways of acting, interacting and rendering the world meaningful. This article addresses the ways in which an ongoing process of transformation in contemporary Vietnam is epitomised by the ambivalence and ambiguity with which female sexuality is imbued. Female sexuality is ideally restric

Platelet-derived growth factors (PDGFs) are important in many types of mesenchymal cell. Here we identify a new PDGF, PDGF-C, which binds to and activates the PDGF alpha-receptor. PDGF-C is activated by proteolysis and induces proliferation of fibroblasts when overexpressed in transgenic mice. In situ hybridization analysis in the murine embryonic kidney shows preferential expression of PDGF-C mes

Objectives. The prevalence of obesity is increasing. Overweight and obese people have increased mortality compared with normal weight people. We investigated the effect of weight change on mortality. Design. Prospective population study. Setting. We utilized data from two large population-based health studies conducted in 1984-86 and 1995-97 respectively. Cox proportional hazards models were used

Typical bogs in boreal forest zone can be characterized by hummock and hollow micro-topography and sparsely vegetated surfaces, thus, are quite distinct from other types of wetlands. Micrometeorological measurements were carried out in central Sweden at two bogs in different summer seasons. The data analysis aimed at obtaining good estimates for the roughness length z(ou) and the kB(-1) factor. Th

Infrared spectra from 25 to 4000 cm(-1) have been recorded of water (H2O, D2O and (H2O)-O-18) matrix isolated in neon, argon, and krypton matrices. Intermolecular absorption bands of different isotopologues of the water trimer and tetramer have been assigned from concentration dependencies and diffusion behavior, using the well-known mid-infrared trimer and tetramer absorption bands as measures of

Due to our own preference for bright light, we tend to forget that many insects are active in very dim light. Nocturnal insects possess in general superposition compound eyes. This eye design is truly optimized for dim light as photons can be gathered through large apertures comprised of hundreds of lenses. In apposition eyes, on the other hand, the aperture consists of a single lens resulting in

Background and Purpose— Although stroke is strongly associated with hypertension, some individuals with normal blood pressure (BP) experience a stroke. This prospective study explored risk factors for stroke in subjects with normal BP. Methods— A total of 11 228 men and 17 174 women, 45 to 73 years old, were examined in a population-based cohort study. Normal BP was defined as BP

An autoregressive process with Markov regime is an autoregressive process for which the regression function at each time point is given by a nonobservable Markov chain. In this paper we consider the asymptotic properties of the maximum likelihood estimator in a possibly nonstationary process of this kind for which the hidden state space is compact but not necessarily finite. Consistency and asympt

This study was designed to investigate the motives patients give for attempting suicide and the associations between these motives and diagnosis, various psychiatric features, suicidal intent and socio-demographic characteristics. The Motives for Parasuicide Questionnaire (MPQ), comprising 14 suggested motives, was presented to 53 patients at a psychiatric ward that specialized in suicide attempte

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Objectives. To evaluate the incidence of coronary events (CE) and case fatality in relation to common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and carotid plaque over a median follow up of 7 years. Subjects. A total of 5163 Swedish middle-aged men and women with no prior myocardial infarction and/or stroke. Methods and results. The associations amongst B-mode ultrasound determined common carotid IMT

The solution properties of two water-soluble polymers, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), covalently labeled with the fluorescent hydrophobic dye naphthalene (Np), have been investigated in water:organic solvent mixtures. The naphthalene chromophores have been randomly attached, onto the polymer, with two different degrees of labeling. Fluorescence measurements (steady-state and time-resolved) have been us

The first odor-processing neuropils of insects comprise glomeruli, islets of neuropil, that are supplied by olfactory receptor neurons and give rise to efferent axons to higher brain centers. Glomeruli size and organization varies in a taxon-specific manner across the Insecta, suggesting possible correlates between their organization and chemosensory behaviors in different insect groups. Comparati

The present status of experimental approach to Sn-100 in the spectroscopy of excited states is landmarked by the T-z = 3/2 nuclei between (95)pd and In-101 and the T-z = 1 nuclei Pd-94 and Cd-98. The detection limits with Pre-EUROBALL gamma-arrays and ancillary detectors are below the 10(-5) level of the total fusion- evaporation residue cross section. A large scale shell model analysis of the exi

The rat stomach is rich in endocrine cells. The acid-producing (oxyntic) mucosa contains ECL cells, A-like cells, and somatostatin (D) cells, and the antrum harbours gastrin (G) cells, enterochromaffin (EC) cells and D cells. Although chromogranin A (CgA) occurs in all these cells, its processing appears to differ from one cell type to another. Eleven antisera generated to different regions of rat

The reactions between three sphalerite samples and ethyl- and n-decylxanthate ions have been studied in aqueous and acetone solutions. Qualitative analysis of the species present on the sphalerite surfaces before and after treatment with these ions have been performed by means of diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry has been used to deter