1. High breeding density can cause elevated plasma androgen levels in adult birds. Since maternal androgens are deposited into egg yolk, high breeding density may result in elevated yolk androgen levels as well. 2. The relationship between breeding density and yolk androgen levels was examined in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris. The concentration and total content of yolk androstenedione a

Nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) is a solid-state radio frequency (RF) spectroscopic technique that allows for the detection of many narcotics and highly explosive substances. Unfortunately, the practical use of NQR is often restricted by the presence of strong RF interference (RFI). In this letter, extending our recent work on stochastic NQR (sNQR), we propose acquiring signal-of-interest free

Constitutive activation of tyrosine kinases as a consequence of chromosomal translocations, forming fusion genes, plays an important role in the development of hematologic malignancies, in particular, myeloproliferative syndromes (MPSs). In this respect, the t(9;22)(q34;q11) that results in the BCR/ABL fusion gene in chronic myeloid leukemia is one of the best-studied examples. The fibroblast grow

Antibodies directed against a pathogenic microorganism may recognize either protective or non-protective epitopes. Because antibodies elicited by a vaccine must be directed against protective epitopes, it is essential to understand the molecular properties that distinguish the two types of epitope. Here we analyse this problem for the antiphagocytic M protein of Streptococcus pyogenes, using the o

The Ncf1 gene was recently identified as a strong regulator of severe arthritis in rat. This finding was surprising, because the disease-promoting allele mediated a lower level of reactive oxygen species in NADPH oxidase-expressing cells. We have now investigated a splice mutation of the Ncf1 gene in B10.Q mice, causing a truncated and nonfunctional Ncf1 protein. We found that the mutated Ncf1 led

The properties of jets produced in p+p collisions at root s=200 GeV are measured using the method of two-particle correlations. The trigger particle is a leading particle from a large transverse momentum jet while the associated particle comes from either the same jet or the away-side jet. Analysis of the angular width of the near-side peak in the correlation function determines the jet-fragmentat

The direct effects of CO2 level changes on plant water availability are usually ignored in plant habitat models. We compare traditional proxies for water availability with changes in soil water (fAWC) predicted by a process-based ecosystem model, which simulates changes in vegetation structure and functioning, including CO2 physiological effects. We modelled current and future habitats of 108 Euro

All colonies of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis studied so far are associated with a single genetically variable lineage of Termitomyces symbionts. Such limited genetic variation of symbionts and the absence of sexual fruiting bodies (mushrooms) on M. natalensis mounds would be compatible with clonal vertical transmission, as is known to occur in Macrotermes bellicosus. We invest

Tree-ring widths from 880 living, dry dead, and subfossil northern Swedish pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) have been assembled into a continuous and precisely dated chronology (the Tornetrask chronology) covering the period 5407 BC to AD 1997. Biological trends in the data were removed with autoregressive standardization (ARS) to emphasize year-to-year variability, and with regional curve standardizat

Cells in mitosis were harvested from exponentially growing Chinese hamster ovary cells by the mitotic detachment technique. Immediately after harvesting, the mitotic cells were seeded in tissue culture flasks and incubated at 37 degrees C in a CO2 incubator. Care was taken not to perturb the progression of cells through the cell cycle. At every hour after seeding for 14 h, cells were collected for

We evaluated a biotin-glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B-ELISA) to detect GAD65 autoantibodies (GAD65Ab) in 78 sera from individuals with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. The GAD65Ab index of patients with type 1 diabetes (mean value of GAD65Ab index of 1.891) was significantly higher than those in 50 sera from healthy control group (mean value of 0.0

Tissue factor (TF) has been implicated in the thrombotic complications seen during vascular rejection of allografts and may contribute to intimal hyperplasia in chronic allograft vasculopathy. Downregulation of endothelial TF expression post-transplantation could therefore be of therapeutic value. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference was used in primary endothelial cells (EC) to investigate its ef

Objective: To assess the value and adverse effects of an ultrasound -guided renal biopsy technique in women with normal and pathotogic pregnancies. Method: Biopsy samples were taken from 36 women with hypertensive disease (28 with pre-eclampsia) and 18 healthy pregnant women using a thin needle and an ultrasound -guided biopsy device. Results: Gtomerutar endotheliosis, a structural change typical