Objective: To characterize sociodemographic differences in semen parameters among US men undergoing a semen analysis. Materials and Methods: Men who provided a semen sample were identified from insurance claims between 2007 and 2016. Differences in semen parameters were characterized according to age, race, education, and region. Mean semen parameters and proportions of men with suboptimal paramet

Background:Developments in anaesthesia during the recent decades include new drugs with limited unwanted side effects and the need for anaesthesia in new interventions, together with new groups of patients that in the past were considered to be beyond help. Aims:Study I: To determine the bolus dose of remifentanil that depresses the ventilatory drive as deeply as 1 µg/kg of fentanyl.Study II: To t

Macroscopic dispersivity is the most important factor for analysing the convection-dispersion equation (CDE) at the field scale, and it is well known that macroscopic dispersivities vary with the scale of observation. In this study, artificial heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields were generated with the stochastic fractal model (fς model). Macroscopic dispersivities were evaluated for two-d

The hydrologic assessment of a lake water budget can be helpful in achieving proper water management and sustainable water use. A model to analyze a lake water budget was developed and verified for Lake Ikeda, Japan. Lake evaporation was estimated by numerical analyses of lake water temperature and the lake energy budget. Inflow from the lake catchment area and leakage from the lake bottom were es

Background: It is important to quantify a static posture to evaluate the need for and effectiveness of interventions such as physical management, physiotherapy, spinal orthosis or surgical treatment on the alignment of body segments. Motion analysis systems can be used for this purpose, but they are expensive, require a high degree of technical experience and are not easily accessible. A simpler m

Fishers are often perceived to be poor, and low income levels are used to justify subsidies and other types of direct and indirect income support to maintain coastal communities. In this study fishers’ income levels are investigated in four Nordic countries; Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for different types of fishers and vessels and in comparison to alternative occupations. The most importa

In this trans-ethnic multi-omic study, we reinterpret the genetic architecture of blood pressure to identify genes, tissues, phenomes and medication contexts of blood pressure homeostasis. We discovered 208 novel common blood pressure SNPs and 53 rare variants in genome-wide association studies of systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure in up to 776,078 participants from the Million Veteran Program

Background: Implementation of clinical health promotion (CHP) aiming at better health gain is slow despite its effect. CHP focuses on potentially modifiable lifestyle risks such as smoking, alcohol, diet, and physical inactivity. An operational program was created to improve implementation. It included patients, staff, and the organization, and it combined existing standards, indicators, documenta

[NiFe] hydrogenases catalyze the reversible conversion of molecular hydrogen to protons and electrons. This seemingly simple reaction has attracted much attention because of the prospective use of H2 as a clean fuel. In this paper, we have studied the full reaction mechanism of this enzyme with various computational methods. Geometries were obtained with combined quantum mechanical and molecular m

Flying animals need continual sensory feedback about their body position and orientation for flight control. The visual system provides essential but slow feedback. In contrast, mechanosensory channels can provide feedback at much shorter timescales. How the contributions from these two senses are integrated remains an open question in most insect groups. In Diptera, fast mechanosensory feedback i

Eyeblink conditioning is one of the most popular experimental paradigms for studying the neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory. A key parameter in eyeblink conditioning is the interstimulus interval (ISI), the time between the onset of the conditional stimulus (CS) and the onset of the unconditional stimulus (US). Though previous studies have examined how the ISI affects learning there

Objective: Homecare workers play a pivotal role in palliative care, but research on their experiences is limited. The aim of this study was to describe how homecare workers in Sweden experience their work in palliative homecare. Method: This qualitative study used open-ended interviews with a purposive sample of 15 homecare workers. The data was analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. R

This study investigates the scratch load effect, from 100 to 2000 mN, on micro-mechanisms involved during scratching. A pearlitic and three ferritic Compacted Graphite Irons (CGI) solution strengthened through addition of 3.66, 4.09, and 4.59 Si wt% were investigated. Good correlation was observed between hardness measurements, tensile testing, and scratch results explaining the influence of matri

Water oxygen-17 relaxation rates have been measured for aqueous solutions of micelles composed of ionic surfactants of varying alkyl chain length, head group, and counterion. The concentration of surfactant and salt was also varied. From these measurements, supplemented with relaxation data for short-chain molecules and with quadrupolar splittings from anisotropic mesophases, we derive structural

Groundwater contamination by nitrate from agricultural fields is a problem shared by many parts of the world. Kagoshima prefecture, Japan, is an important agricultural district experiencing this problem. In this study, laboratory column experiments were performed and a numerical model was developed to improve understanding of nitrate transport process through volcanic ash soils overlying the aquif

Column experiments using two Japanese volcanic ash soils (Akahoya and Kuroboku soils) were carried out to improve understanding of solute transport characteristics through volcanic ash soil. As the contaminant source, a mixed solution of KNO3 and K2SO4 was applied from the top of the column. Temporal changes of cations and anions in the effluent were measured at prescribed time intervals. Breakthr

In a costal aquifer, saltwater intrusion is frequently observed due to an excess exploitation. There are many researches focused on the saltwater intrusion. However, there are few researches, which take into consideration the mixing processes in a stratified heterogeneous aquifer. In the present study, a laboratory experiment and numerical simulation are made in order to understand the phenomena i

In general, a natural aquifer has a hydrogeologically non-uniform structure. The movement of pollutants in groundwater is affected by such structural properties during transport by local advection and microscopic dispersion. The macroscopic dispersion coefficient increases linearly with travel distance or travel time at the initial stage after the pollutant is released, and then converges asymptot