Conflicting results have been reported of the long-term effects of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on bone. The objective of this study was to compare ICS users and non-users regarding bone mineral density (BMD) in a large population. A total of 65 225 adults participated in a cross-sectional study in the Nord-Trondelag Health Study 1995-1997. Those reporting asthma or asthma-related

The effects of autologous cytokine-induced killer (CIK) (CD3(+)CD56(+)) cells together with chemotherapy were investigated in patients who suffered from advanced gastric cancers (stage IV). Fifty-seven patients were divided into two groups: chemotherapy plus CIK biotherapy and chemotherapy alone. CIK cells were induced from autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro and separated by fl

Proghrelin, the precursor of the orexigenic and adipogenic peptide hormone ghrelin, is synthetized in endocrine (A-like) cells in the gastric mucosa. During its cellular processing, proghrelin gives rise to the 28-amino acid peptide desacyl ghrelin, which after octanoylation becomes active acyl ghrelin, and to the 23-amino acid peptide obestatin, claimed to be a physiological opponent of acyl ghre

Magnetic resonance imaging with chemical shift resolution is demonstrated to provide detailed information about molecular transport on the macroscopic scale in complex colloidal systems. The concentrations of species with distinct 1 H resonance lines can be quantified from spatially resolved, high-resolution, H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The method is demonstrated by experiments on thre

Aims: When analyzing P-wave morphology, the vectorcardiogram(VCG) has been shown useful to identify indicators of propensity to atrial fibrillation (AF). Since VCG is rarely used in the clinical routine, we wanted to investigate if these indicators could be accurately determined in VCG derived from standard 12-lead ECG (dVCG).Methods: ECG and VCG recordings from 21 healthy subjects and 20 patients

lThe antigen binding site of an antibody is made up of residues residing in six hypervariable loops of the heavy and light chains. In most cases several or all of these loops are required for the establishment of the antigen-binding surface. Five of these loops display a limited diversity in length and sequence while the third complementarity determining region (CDR) of the heavy chain is highly d

Inflammation in the intestine is a well-known risk factor for neoplastic changes in the mucosa. In fact, it has been shown that long-standing ulcerative colitis and colonic Crohn's disease have a significantly increased risk for developing colorectal cancer, although the estimates vary widely between studies. Conventional colonoscopy is effective in detecting polypoid changes in the mucosa. Howeve

Glaucoma is a common ophthalmic disease with multifactorial aetiology. There is growing evidence that glaucoma is a disease of the entire retina and not only the inner retina. Best vitelliform macular dystrophy (BVMD) affects the retinal pigment epithelium and is considered a model system for the more common blinding disease, age-related macular degeneration. The aim of the work presented in this

New measurements by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for. production at midrapidity as a function of transverse momentum ((PT)) and collision centrality in root s(NN) = 200 GeV Au + Au and p + p collisions are presented. They indicate nuclear modification factors (R-AA) which are similar in both magnitude and trend to those found in earlier pi(0) measurements. Linear fi

Cities of the future face challenges with respect to the quantity and quality of water resources, and multiple managerial options need to be considered in order to safeguard urban surface water quality. In a recently completed project on 'Source control options for reducing emissions of Priority Pollutants' (ScorePP), seven emission control strategies (ECSs) were developed and tested within a semi

Feminisation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is an important public health concern. Therefore, it is crucial that we understand the various risk factors that shape unsafe sexual behaviours among young people in Uganda. The overall aim of this thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of the various factors that have an association with risky sexual behaviours among Ugandan universit

So far, studies on dietary antioxidant intake, including beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E, and breast cancer risk are inconclusive. Thus, we addressed this question in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. During a median follow-up time of 8.8 years, 7,502 primary invasive breast cancer cases were identified. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate ha

The pine sawfly Neodiprion sertifer (Geoffroy) uses the acetate or propionate of (2S,3S,7S)-3,7-dimethyl-2-pentadecanol (diprionol) as pheromone components, with the (2S,3R,7R)-isomer being antagonistic, synergistic, or inactive according to the population tested. In this study, we tested the attraction of males to the acetates of three analogs of diprionol, each missing one methyl group, viz. (2S

Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. Non-motor symptoms and signs such as psychiatric disturbances, sleep problems and metabolic dysfunction are part of the disease manifestation. These aspects may relate to changes in the hypothalamus, an area of the brain involved in the regulation of emotion, sleep and metabolism.

Risk disclosure is generally regarded as crucial in order for investors to make informed decisions in the resource allocation process. Our study is the first to empirically investigate the value-relevance of corporate risk disclosure. We focus on the disclosure of foreign exchange (FX) risk, which is an activity notorious for its lack of transparency. Our empirical analysis involves a FX risk disc