Background and aims Metabolic syndrome has been reported to have adverse effects on cognition although the results are conflicting. We investigated the association between metabolic syndrome and cognitive function in a population sample of middle-aged and older European men and whether any observed association could be explained by lifestyle or other confounding factors. Methods A total of 3369 me

Purpose Cigarette smoking is the major pathogenic factor for lung cancer. The precise mechanisms of tobacco-related carcinogenesis, and its effect on the genomic and transcriptional landscape in lung cancer are not fully understood. Experimental Design 1398 (277 never-smokers, 1121 smokers) genomic and 1449 (370 never-smokers, 1079 smokers) transcriptional profiles were assembled from public lung

Faunal communities have been shaped in different ways by past climatic change. The impact of the termination of the last Glacial and the onset of the present (Holocene) Interglacial on large-scale faunal shifts, extinction dynamics and gene pools of species are of special interest in natural sciences. A general pattern of climate-triggered range expansion and local extinction of vertebrate species

Clinical and neuropathological similarities between Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), ParkinsonÕs and AlzheimerÕs diseases (PD and AD, respectively) suggest that these disorders may share etiology. To test this hypothesis we have performed an association study of 54 genomic regions, previously implicated in PD or AD, in a large cohort of DLB cases and controls. The cohort comprised 788 DLB cases an

Aim We analysed whether total body fat, abdominal fat and body fat distribution are associated with higher composite risk factor scores for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in young children. Methods Cross-sectional study of 238 children aged 8-11 years. Total body fat (TBF) and abdominal fat mass (AFM) were measured by DXA. TBF was expressed as a percentage of body weight (BF%). Body fat distribution

Low-frequency coding DNA sequence variants in the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 gene (PCSK9) lower plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), protect against risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), and have prompted the development of a new class of therapeutics. It is uncertain whether the PCSK9 example represents a paradigm or an isolated exception. We used the "Exome Arra

Risk-taking can be either adaptive or maladaptive depending on the context, but maladaptive risk-taking sometimes has serious consequences. Understanding how self-control and other aspects of personality are related to risk-taking is important, as self-control can be improved through training. We examined how the regulative temperamental trait Activation control interacts with the reactive traits

The aim was to determine whether the relationship between personality traits and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) differs when the affective component of SWB is measured in terms of frequency or intensity. Extraversion and Neuroticism were expected to show significant but different associations to SWB depending on the dimension of the affective component. Swedish undergraduate students (N = 153) self-r

We investigated possible hemispheric differences in the processing of four different lexical semantic categories: SPECIFIC (e.g. bird), GENERAL (e.g. animal), ABSTRACT (e.g. advice), and EMOTIONAL (e.g. love). These wordtypes were compared using a dichotic listening paradigm and a semantic category classification task. Response times (RTs) were measured when participants classified testwords as co

To accurately examine associations of physical activity (PA) with disease outcomes, a valid method of assessing free-living activity is required. We examined the validity of a brief PA questionnaire (PAQ) used in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). PA energy expenditure (PAEE) and time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured in 1,94

Current optical space telescopes rely upon silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to detect and image the incoming photons. The performance of a CCD detector depends on its ability to transfer electrons through the silicon efficiently, so that the signal from every pixel may be read out through a single amplifier. This process of electron transfer is highly susceptible to the effects of solar proto

We develop a set of nonparametric rank tests for non-stationary panels based on multivariate variance ratios which use untruncated kernels. As such, the tests do not require the choice of tuning parameters associated with bandwidth or lag length and also do not require choices with respect to numbers of common factors. The tests allow for unrestricted cross-sectional dependence and dynamic heterog

Temperature variations due to climate changes are a major cause of movements in a concrete structure, both in the longitudinal and transversal directions and between different parts of the structure. If these movements are restrained, stresses will be induced which may contribute to cracking. The movements are caused by complex interactions of several factors such as solar radiation, air temperatu

The current economic crisis has so far mostly triggered short-term responses like corporate bailouts and rescue packages for ailing industries. This indicates that the crisis has been constructed as an event, a "great recession", primarily caused by governance failures in the financial sector. However, it may also be interpreted as a more fundamental crisis of the economic growth model as such, ca

Biotic homogenization (BH) is a process whereby some species (losers) are systematically replaced by others (winners). While this process has been related to the effects of anthropogenic activities, whether and how BH is occurring across regions and the role of native species as a driver of BH has hardly been investigated. Here, we examine the trend in the community specialization index (CSI) for

Platelet-derived growth factor A-chain (PDGF-A) exists in two evolutionarily conserved isoforms, PDGF-Along and PDGF-Ashort, generated by alternative RNA splicing. They differ by the presence (in PDGF-Along) or absence (in PDGF-Ashort) of a carboxyterminal heparin/heparan sulfate proteoglycan-binding motif. In mice, similar motifs present in other members of the PDGF and vascular endothelial growt