Effective attractions between colloidal particles bearing a grafted poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) layer in water have been studied and quantified by measurements of the collective diffusion coefficient and by quantitative analysis of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data. Results for the collective diffusion coefficient in the dilute limit indicate that effective attractions develop gradually a

The studies in this thesis are based on questions raised in the clinical setting. Perioperative myocardial ischemia occurs more often than recognized. This may lead to myocardial infarction, increased morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. In the first study, myocardial metabolism was investigated before, during, and after 30 min of regional coronary artery occlusion, utilizing the microdi

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) results from a chromosomal translocation that gives rise to the leukemogenic fusion protein PML-RAR alpha (promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid alpha receptor). Differentiation of leukemic cells and complete remission of APL are achieved by treatment of patients with pharmacological doses of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), making APL a model disease for different

When significant communication costs arise in the solution of multidimensional problems on parallel computers, optimal performance cannot always be achieved by perfectly balancing the computational load across cores. Modest sacrifices in the computational load balance may facilitate substantial overall performance improvements by achieving large savings in the costs associated with communications.

Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in males in Western countries. Radical prostatectomy serves as the first line of treatment for patients with localised prostate cancer. However, in many cases the cancer will recur. It is currently difficult to identify those patients at a high risk of tumour recurrence. Therefore, molecular markers associated with and predicting disease recurren

Mutations in the CETP gene resulting in defective CETP activity have been shown to cause remarkable elevations of plasma HDL-C levels, with the accumulation in plasma of large, buoyant HDL particles enriched in apolipoprotein E. Genetic CETP deficiency thus represents a unique tool to evaluate how structural alterations of HDL impact on HDL atheroprotective functions. Aim of the present study was

Escherichia coli flavohemoglobin (HMP), which contains one heme and one FAD as prosthetic groups and is capable of reducing O-2 by its heme at the expense of NADH oxidized at its FAD site, was electrochemically studied at graphite (Gr) electrodes. Two signals were observed in voltammograms of HMP adsorbed on Gr, at -477 and -171 mV vs. Ag vertical bar AgCl, at pH 7.4, correlating with electrochemi

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the accuracy of endometrial thickness measurement in the detection of endometrial cancer among women with postmenopausal bleeding with individual patient data using different meta-analytic strategies. DATA SOURCES: Original data sets of studies detected after reviewing the included studies of three previous reviews on this subject. An additional literature search of publishe

Context: Nonfasting (postprandial) triglyceride concentrations have emerged as a clinically significant cardiovascular disease risk factor that results from accumulation of remnant triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs) in the circulation. The remnant TRLs are cleared from the circulation by hepatic uptake, but the specific mechanisms involved are unclear. The syndecan-1 heparan sulfate proteoglyca

Plants can influence methane emissions from wetland ecosystems by altering its production, consumption and transport in the soil. The aim of this study was to investigate how eight vascular plant species from mesotrophic to eutrophic wetlands vary in their influence on CH4 emissions from peat cores, under low and high N supply. Additionally, we measured the production of low-molecular-weight organ

In order to understand exciton migration and fluorescence intensity fluctuation mechanisms in conjugated polymer single molecules, we studied fluorescence decay dynamics at "on" and "off" fluorescence intensity levels with 20 ps time resolution using MEH-PPV [poly(2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] dispersed in PMMA. Two types of intensity fluctuations were distinguished for sin

The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to illustrate and explain the connections between the establishment of new cults of Saints and the formation of an ecclesiastical organization in Scandinavia. Its main conclusion is that "the creation of new cults of native saints was not necessary for the establishment of ecclesiastical institutions" (p. 255), but that such cults in many cases helped g

Bioavailable phosphorus (BAP) concentrations were determined nine times between April and October 2010 in two humic boreal headwater streams draining forest-and mire-dominated catchments. BAP was analyzed in a bioassay in which natural P-limited bacterioplankton grew with natural P as the sole P source. In both streams, approximately 90% of the BAP occurred as dissolved species (passing a 0.2-mu m

The radioactive isotope In-107 was studied using sub-barrier Coulomb excitation at the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. Two gamma rays were observed during the experiment, corresponding to the low-lying 11/2(+) and 3/2(-)states. The reduced transition probability of the 11/2(+) state was determined with the semiclassical Coulomb excitation code GOSIA2. The result is discussed in comparison to large-sc