The adsorption of l-alanine on Ni{111} has been studied as a model of enantioselective heterogeneous catalysts. Synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy were used to determine the chemical state, bond coordination, and out-of-plane orientation of the molecule on the surface. Alanine adsorbs in anionic and zwitterionic fo

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) training in individuals after stroke. DESIGN: A double-blind randomized controlled study with assessments pre- and posttraining. SETTING: A university hospital rehabilitation department. PARTICIPANTS: Participants (N=31; mean age ± SD, 62±7y; 6-101mo poststroke) were randomized to an intervention group or a control group. INTERVE

In the production of ethanol from lignocellulosic material, pretreatment of the raw material before enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation is essential to obtain high overall yields of sugar and ethanol. Two-step steam pretreatment results in higher ethanol yields from softwood than the standard one-step pretreatment process. However, the difficulty with separation and washing of the material at hi

Intensive land use reduces the diversity and abundance of many soil biota, with consequences for the processes that they govern and the ecosystem services that these processes underpin. Relationships between soil biota and ecosystem processes have mostly been found in laboratory experiments and rarely are found in the field. Here, we quantified, across four countries of contrasting climatic and so

Background. Studies on perceived discrimination of people with mental illness are largely lacking. The purpose of the study was to investigate perceived discrimination in a sample of users in contact with mental health services in Sweden. Methods. Interviews were conducted with 156 users, asking for perceived and anticipated discrimination during the last 2 years. Background characteristics were a

We present a method to deposit Pd nanoparticles with a very small size distribution by an aerosol process onto oxide substrates for the creation of model systems in catalytic research. The Pd nanoparticles are characterized by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. We confirm the small size dispersion from the desire

Water-soluble aggregates based on two polyion-surfactant ion "complex salts", consisting of hexadecyltrimethylammonium (C16TA(+)) and polyacrylate (PA(-)) with either 25 or 6000 repeating units, with added nonionic surfactant octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12E8) have been investigated. A previous phase study has shown that added C12E5 or C12E8 can solubilize complex salts in aqueous syste

Anthocyanidins are bioactive flavonoids with potential health-promoting effects. These may vary among single anthocyanidins considering differences in their bioavailability and some of the mechanisms involved. The aim of the present study was to estimate the dietary intake of anthocyanidins, their food sources and the lifestyle factors (sex, age, BMI, smoking status, educational level and physisic

This paper reviews the performance of MBR in treating high strength industrial wastewater. The scope covers the operation, constraints and mitigation of the system in general views. High strength wastewater can be successfully treated by using membrane bioreactor (MBR) in different conditions according to the types and characteristics of wastewater and also MBR parameters operational control. High

Carriers of severe and moderate haemophilia A and B are expected to have approximately 50% of the normal level of factors VIII and IX. However, due to X chromosome inactivation in early embryonic life, factor levels can vary considerably. This can lead to increased bleeding tendency, which may in turn impact on health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Epidemiology, results of treatment, impact on activity of daily living (ADL), and costs for treatment of digital nerve injuries have not been considered consistently. Case notes of patients of 0-99 years of age living in Malmö municipality, Sweden, who presented with a digital nerve injury and were referred to the Department of Hand Surgery in 1995-2005 were analysed retrospectively. The incidence

A practical inversion method to calculate the size distribution of colloidal homogeneous particles from small-angle scattering experiments is presented. It is based on the analysis of the deviations of the scattering signal from the Porod law. The resulting inversion formula provides a reliable way to assess complex size distributions such as power-law, multimodal or very broad distributions. It i

Migrating desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, are able to use the skylight polarization pattern for navigation. They detect polarized light with a specialized dorsal rim area in their compound eye. After multistage processing, polarization signals are transferred to the central complex, a midline-spanning brain area involved in locomotor control. Polarization-sensitive tangential neurons (TB-ne

There is concern over the high risk of cardiovascular complications, hypertensive disorders, and other adverse obstetric outcomes among pregnant women with Turner syndrome (TS). A diagnosis of TS is made in some women late in life or not at all. Spontaneous pregnancies are rare in women with TS and are associated with a high rate of complications, especially miscarriage. The use of assisted reprod

We randomised 46 newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (median age 56) to receive dasatinib 100mg QD or imatinib 400mg QD and report outcome as an intention-to-treat analysis with 36months follow-up. Early cytogenetic and molecular responses were superior in the dasatinib group, with a tendency that imatinib patients caught up with time. For instance, MR3.0 was reached at 3months

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are dominant seed cell sources for bone regeneration. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) initiate cartilage and bone formation in a sequential cascade. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an essential coordinator of extracellular matrix remodeling, angiogenesis and bone formation. In the present study, the effects of the vascular endotheli

Optimal foraging theory predicts that predators are selective when faced with abundant prey, but become less picky when prey gets sparse. Insectivorous bats in temperate regions are faced with the challenge of building up fat reserves vital for hibernation during a period of decreasing arthropod abundances. According to optimal foraging theory, pre-hibernating bats should adopt a less selective fe

Background: We analyzed the hypoallergenic potential of a recently bred apple selection with unusually low content of Mal d 1, using an oral challenge model with three additional apple cultivars for comparison. Methods: Sixty-six birch pollen-allergic individuals with a history of oral allergy syndrome after apple intake were subjected to a double-blind oral provocation with two apple cultivars (B

The fight between a human host and a bacterial pathogen is highly complicated; each party tries to outshine the other in the race for survival. In humans, the innate immune system-in particular the complement system-functions as the first line of defence against invading pathogens. During the course of evolution, however, pathogens, in order to survive and perpetuate within a host, developed multi

High-resolution spectral estimation techniques are of notable interest for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging. Several sparse estimation techniques have been shown to provide significant performance gains as compared to conventional approaches. We consider efficient implementation of the recent iterative sparse maximum likelihood-based approaches (SMLAs). Furthermore, we present approximative