The dopamine (DA) precursor l-DOPA has been the most effective treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) for over 40 years. However, the response to this treatment changes with disease progression, and most patients develop dyskinesias (abnormal involuntary movements) and motor fluctuations within a few years of l-DOPA therapy. There is wide consensus that these motor complications depend on both pre

Transverse momentum spectra of electrons (p(T)(e)) from semileptonic weak decays of heavy-flavor mesons in the range of 0.3 < p(T)(e) < 9.0 GeV/c have been measured at midrapidity (|y| < 0.35) by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in p + p and Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. In addition, the azimuthal anisotropy parameter v(2) has been measured for 0.3 < p(T)(

This review article focuses on advances and technical developments of the realm of membrane extraction techniques for the analytes that are (made) amenable to gas chromatographic analysis, and sheds light on the analytical applications to biological and environmental samples. In this review, the state of the art in this growing area of membrane extraction for gas chromatography is presented and se

The Lamperti transformation of a self-similar process is a stationary process. In particular, the fractional Brownian motion transforms to the second order stationary Gaussian process. This process is represented as a series of independent processes. The terms of this series are Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes if H < 1/2, and linear combinations of two dependent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes whose two

This thesis is based on five studies. It includes the characterization of lipid micro emboli in shed mediastinal blood during cardiac surgery. The reuse of blood directly by cardiotomy suction is a common practice in order to reduce the need of blood transfusions. In shed mediastinal blood we showed that there is an abundance of lipid particles in the size range of 10-60μm. These lipid particles a

Even though the mammalian heart has been investigated for many years, there are still uncertainties in the fields of cardiac cell biology and regeneration with regard to exact fractions of cardiomyocytes (CMs) at different developmental stages, their plasticity after cardiac lesion and also their basal turnover rate. A main shortcoming is the accurate identification of CM and the demonstration of

The text-critical problem in the very beginning of the Gospel of Mark is both crucial and much debated. The main question is whether the phrase ‘Son of God’ was accidentally omitted from an original or added by some scribes in order to expand the divine name or the title of the book. The disputed words are enclosed in square brackets in UBS4 and NA27 but omitted in the recent SBLGNT edition. Where

Aim. The aim was to explore opinions on individual needs and other factors that may influence nursing staff turnover. Background. High staff turnover is a great problem for many hospitals. It is shown to have a negative effect on the quality of nursing care and to increase hospital costs. Design. In 2004 in a large university hospital in Sweden five focus group discussions (FGDs) including departm

A search for top quark pair resonances in final states containing at least one electron or muon has been performed with the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb(-1), which was recorded in 2011 at a proton-proton centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No evidence for a resonance is found and limits are set on

Emissions of greenhouse gases in many European countries are declining, and the European Union (EU) believes it is on track in achieving emission reductions as agreed upon in the Kyoto Agreement and the EU's more ambitious post-Kyoto climate policy. However, a number of recent publications indicate that emission reductions may also have been achieved because production has been shifted to other co

We compare different preference restrictions that ensure the existence of a stable roommate matching. Some of these restrictions are generalized to allow for indifferences as well as incomplete preference lists, in the sense that an agent may prefer remaining single to matching with some agents. We also introduce a new type of cycles and in greater detail investigate the domain of preferences that

Infections frequently consist of more than one strain of a given pathogen. Experiments have shown that co-infecting strains often compete, so that the infection intensity of each strain in mixed infections is lower than in single strain infections. Such within-host competition can have important epidemiological and evolutionary consequences. However, the extent of competition has rarely been inves

Nonlamellar lipid liquid crystalline (LC) bulk phases and dispersions show promise as functional nanostructured materials for potential use as controlled release matrices e. g. in pharmaceuticals. Herein, methods for preparing and characterizing thin films of lipid liquid crystalline phases on solid surfaces are presented. The thickness, hydration phase structure and surface topography of spin-coa

Background - There are numbers of persons living in the community with late effects of polio, of which many develop new symptoms, but the course of progression is unclear. Objectives - To assess changes after 4 years in ability and perceived difficulty in persons with late effects of polio. Material and methods - Community dwelling persons from a polio clinic. Information was gathered by questionn

Web-based civic participation in democracies, especially in the sprawling domain of alternative politics, continues to grow. In this paper I explore the intersection of two trajectories of such participation: one that takes the form of journalism (broadly understood) and the other that is transnational in character. Participatory journalism unavoidably evokes normative issues that professional jou