In silico, we identified fusA (2,067 bp) in Clostridium difficile 630. Sequencing of fusA in posttherapy fusidic acid-resistant C. difficile isolates from 12 patients with C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) identified fusA mutations, one or two nonsynonymous substitutions, or in one case a deletion of one codon associated with resistance. Five of these mutations have previously been described

When coupling a model of the biological reactor to a model of the settler, difficulties appear because of the different representations used for the particulate material. A combined model of the entire activated sludge process needs to include an algorithm for the dynamic propagation of the biological components of the particulate material through the secondary clarifier. In particular, this is of

The balance between exploration and exploitation is one of the key problems of action selection in Q-learning. Pure exploitation causes the agent to reach the locally optimal policies quickly, whereas excessive exploration degrades the performance of the Q-learning algorithm even if it may accelerate the learning process and allow avoiding the locally optimal policies. In this paper, finding the o

The development of antioxidant enzymes in rat brain and reaggregation cultures of fetal brain cells was studied from embryonic day 15 to postnatal day 45. Both in vivo and in culture, the copper-zinc superoxide dismutase activity first increased and then decreased with age, whereas the manganese superoxide dismutase activity increased throughout the period. Catalase showed a maximum activity at da

Caloplaca fuscorufa H. Magn. is a poorly known species that for a long time was known only from a single locality in Jämtland, northern Sweden, where it was collected in 1910. It has been suggested to be synonymous with C. crenularia (With.) J. R. Laundon, but has also been confused with C. exsecuta (Nyl.) Dalla Torre & Sarnth. We have compared the isotype of C. fuscorufa and material collecte

Both practitioners and research scientists have noted a number of problems regarding measurement activities during the past decade. The problems reported suggest that measurement activities are fragmented both within and across organizations. This article expands on a systems perspective on supply chain measurements and describes how problems can be communicated, understood and managed by developi

Microbial growth in coal slurries can be detected if surfactant is present in the samples by analysing the protein concentration after disintegration of the cells. Without surfactant present in the samples, the proteins are readily adsorbed on the coal surfaces. A suitable surfactant is sodium dodecyl sulphate at 0.5 to 1% of the sample volume

The acromioclavicular joint space in standard antero-posterior images of 151 normal subjects was measured. The joint space was significantly wider in men. There was a highly significant reduction of the joint space with age in both men and women and in persons past 60 a joint space of 0.5 mm or less is not pathological. A joint space wider than 7 mm in men and 6 mm in women is abnormal. The measur

Magnesium chelatase (EC 6.6.1.1) catalyses the insertion of magnesium into protoporphyrin IX, the first unique step of the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway. The enzyme is composed of three different subunits of approximately 40, 70 and 140 kDa. In barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) the subunits are encoded by the genes Xantha-h, Xantha-g and Xantha-f. In the 1950s, eight induced xantha-f mutants were iso

This paper compares the extraction effectiveness of six different commonly applied extraction techniques for the determination of PCBs in soil. The techniques included are Soxhlet, Soxtec, ultrasonication extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction and accelerated solvent extraction. For none of the techniques were the extraction conditions optimized, but instead the

Flow cytometric assessments of DNA ploidy status and the S-phase fraction (SPF) have been shown to yield prognostic information in breast cancer. The aim of the present investigation was to elucidate the reproducibility of results with regard to tumor DNA heterogeneity, and to ascertain whether the prognostic value of DNA measurements might be enhanced by analyzing two pieces of a tumor instead of

Background: During the last 20 years both in vitro and in vivo models have been developed for studies of the cell killing characteristics of low energy electrons, e.g. Auger electrons. This thesis deals with radiobiological effects of radiation from indium isotopes in V79 cells in vitro (Paper I-III) and the rat testis in vivo (Paper IVV). The focus has mainly been on studies of the accuracy and

We have investigated the Au-catalyzed GaAs B whisker growth under low-pressure metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy conditions. By varying the growth temperature we found a maximum in the whisker growth rate at about 450-475degreesC. With increasing temperature the growth rate decreases due to competing growth at the (111) substrate surface and at the {I 101 whisker side facets, which leads to sign

The aim of the study was to establish the influence of dexamethasone and/or alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) on the growth, mineralization, geometric and mechanical properties of ribs as a methodological model. The experiment was conducted during the final 24 days of prenatal life and first 14 days of neonatal life. The volumetric bone density of the trabecular and cortical bone was determined separately