The international science community stresses the importance of the local perspective in the context of dryland degradation. This paper explores changes in management and attitudes in a mixed farming system in northern China, since the introduction of the economic reforms in the early 1980s, and the following changes in land-use rights. The area encompasses a dune landscape scattered with crop-land

The relationships among nine different isolates of Penicillium crustosum were studied by pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC) coupled with a pattern recognition analysis (PR). The results obtained were compared to mycotoxin production profiles of the isolates. Based on the Py-GC analyses the isolates could be divided into two well-differentiated groups, and one of these groups could be further sub

High-spin states of the mass A = 39 mirror pair K-39 and Ca-39 were investigated via the fusion-evaporation reaction Si-28+O-16 at 125 MeV beam energy. The GAMMASPHERE array in conjunction with the 4 pi charged-particle detector array MICROBALL and neutron detectors was used to detect gamma rays in coincidence with evaporated light particles. The results of the first high-spin study of the T-z = -

Repair and reconstruction of major nerve trunks in the upper extremity is a very challenging surgical problem. Today, there is no surgical repair technique that can assure recovery of tactile discrimination in the hand of an adult patient following nerve repair. In contrast, young individuals usually attain a complete recovery of functional sensibility. The outcome from nerve repair depends mainly

There is growing awareness that the profound changes in the environment (eg, in diet and other lifestyle conditions) that began with the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry approximate to10 000 y ago occurred too recently on an evolutionary time scale for the human genome to adjust. In conjunction with this discordance between our ancient, genetically determined biology and the nutrit

Squamarina scopulorum, until now only known from Norway, is reported from one locality in Padjelanta National Park in northern Sweden. It was found growing on a S-facing rock surface in the low alpine zone on the mountain Unna Djidder near Staloluokta.

Investigations of variations in metabolic efficiency and thermogenesis have a short and turbulent history. In small animals, non-shivering thermogenesis and diet-induced thermogenesis have a great impact on overall body weight, and the question is whether mechanisms to waste energy have evolved also in human energy metabolism. The candidate molecules for this adaptive thermogenesis are the uncoupl

Reactions of trans and cis isomers of the Ru-II complex [RuCl2(DMSO)(4)] with single-stranded hexanucleotide d(T(2)GGT(2)) were studied in aqueous solutions in the absence and presence of excess chloride by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Despite the different reactive species formed from

To determine the variability in fibre areas in the human vastus lateralis muscle, cross-sections (15 microns) of whole autopsied muscles from eight young men have been prepared, and the cross-sectional area (CSA) of 375 type 1 and 375 type 2 fibres has been measured in five different regions throughout each muscle. The CSA of both fibre types varied significantly within all muscle cross-sections.

In chlorophyll biosynthesis, insertion of Mg2+ into protoporphyrin IX is catalysed in an ATP-dependent reaction by a three-subunit (BchI, BchD and BchH) enzyme magnesium chelatase. In this work we present the three-dimensional structure of the ATP-binding subunit BchI. The structure has been solved by the multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion method and refined at 2.1 A resolution to the crysta

An investigation of the influence of five DNA polymerase-buffer systems on real-time PCR showed that the choice of both DNA polymerase and the buffer system affected the amplification efficiency as well as the detection window. The analytical repeatability of the data for different systems changed clearly, leading us to conclude that basing quantitative measurements on single-data-set standard cur

Background: Stimulation of the immune system by gut microbes might prevent allergy development. Objective: The present study examined the hypothesis that sensitization to food allergens and atopic eczema are influenced by the infantile intestinal colonization pattern. Methods: Infants were recruited perinatally in Goteborg (n = 116), London (n = 108), and Rome (n = 100). Commensal bacteria were id

This paper is a reply to a recent paper on the isomers of trisulfur oxides (Chem. Commun., 2005, 3712) where the accuracy of the CASPT2 method is called in question. We illustrate that their results are due to an inadequate choice of active orbitals. Some results for related O and S containing molecules are also presented to strengthen the argumentation. It is concluded that the CASPT2 method is a

The influence of electron doping, via deposition of small amounts of Cs, on the electronic structure of has been studied by high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), utilizing synchrotron radiation. The changes in the electronic structure were monitored by PES of the valence band and of the O 1s, Bi 4f, Bi 5d, Ca 2p and Sr 3d core levels, and by XAS

As part of a search for suitable materials for coherent quantum operations, relaxation times and hyperfine structure of the D-1(2)(1)-H-3(4)(1) transition in Pr3+:KY(WO4)(2) (0.29 at. %) at 4 K have been obtained using photon-echo and spectral hole burning techniques. The homogeneous linewidth and the effect of excitation-induced dephasing were measured using two-pulse photon-echo techniques. Line