Background: Little is known about the causes of thyroid cancer, but insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) might play an important role in its development due to its mitogenic and antiapoptotic properties. Methods: This study prospectively investigated the association between serum IGF-I concentrations and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in a case-control study nested within the European Pr

The present study investigates the nature of the link between the staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) gene and the lifecycle of Siphoviridae bacteriophages, including the origin of strain variation regarding SEA production after prophage induction. Five strains representing three different genetic lines of the sea region were studied under optimal and prophage-induced growth conditions and the Siph

Abstract Objective. To examine pregnancy outcomes in relation to different categories of glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Design. Prospective observational cohort study. Setting. Patient recruitment and data collection were performed in four delivery departments in southern Sweden. Population. Women delivering during 2003-2005; 306 with gestational diabetes mellitus, 744 with gestational impair

Despite being the most effective treatment for Parkinson's disease, L-DOPA causes a development of dyskinetic movements in the majority of treated patients. L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia is attributed to a dysregulated dopamine transmission within the basal ganglia, but serotonergic and noradrenergic systems are believed to play an important modulatory role. In this study, we have addressed the role o

We sampled small (0.03 to 3.3 km(2) surface area) forest lakes in southern Sweden during two summers to investigate how concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and lake size influence epilimnion depth (z(e)) and light conditions in the epilimnion. z(e) increased with increasing fetch (square root of lake area) but did not decrease with increasing DOC concentration. This suggests greater im

Our continuously changing global environment requires continuous and detailed monitoring for us to understand how ecosystems are structured and function in response to climatic changes. Understanding the arctic ecosystems is of particular importance (Oechel et al., 1997). Indeed, rather than in boreal and temperate regions, the forecasted climatic changes will be first and most pronounced in the A

Background: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are early-onset, but often life-time impairing, neurodevelopmental disorders. They are highly overlapping and seem to carry considerable risks of negative outcomes, psychiatrically and psychosocially. Childhood hyperactivity is a known risk factor for early-onset conduct disorder (CD), but details con

This work assesses the ability of transradial amputees to discriminate multi-site tactile stimuli in sensory discrimination tasks. It compares different sensory feedback modalities using an artificial hand prosthesis in: 1) a modality matched paradigm where pressure recorded on the five fingertips of the hand was fed back as pressure stimulation on five target points on the residual limb; and 2) a

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is a holistic, integrated approach to managing a company’s risks, in contrast to the so-called “silo-approach” prevalent in many firms in which risks are managed independently of each other. Yet for all the risk exposures that are brought under the corporate umbrella in an ERM initiative, it may be inadequate for addressing the firm’s aggregate risk in terms of the

The mechanism for a new appetite suppressor named thylakoids (membrane proteins derived from spinach leaves) was examined in vivo in pigs. Thylakoids inhibit the lipase/colipase hydrolysis of triacylglycerols (TG) in vitro and suppress food intake, decrease body weight gain and raise the circulating satiety hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) in rats but its mechanism in vivo remains unclear. We hypothe

Heavy neutron-rich nuclei have been populated through the relativistic fragmentation of a Pb-208(82) beam at E/A = 1 GeV on a 2.5 g/cm(2) thick Be target. The synthesised nuclei were selected and identified in-flight using the fragment separator at GSI. Approximately 300 ns after production, the selected nuclei were implanted in an similar to 8 mm thick perspex stopper, positioned at the centre of

This document describes a new concept for assessing capacitance based on a constant current pulse to the biosensor transducer. The biosensor has a working electrode that is coated with an insulating molecular layer including a ligand which forms an affinity surface. A sensor electrode is brought into contact with electrolyte solution, and the new measuring principle then involves steps where three

As the title largely illustrates, this study seeks to investigate, from a diplomatic-history and geostrategic perspective, the key developments in Anglo-Iranian relations during what may best be dubbed their “formative years,” ranging from 1907 to 1953. Having thus provided a glimpse into pre-twentieth-century Persian–British relations, it moves to analyze the division of Persia into two spheres o

The association between a randomly pyrene labeled PAA polymer (PAAMePy55) and a PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymer (P123) in aqueous solutions of different NaCl concentrations and pHs has been studied by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS) and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy at 40 °C. At acidic pH values, in the low P123/PAAMePy55 molar ratio regime (i.e., at low P123 concentrations), the r

The present work aims at characterizing short-lived C1s((-1)) pi*((1)) core-excited states of the OCS molecule based on the analysis of the vibrational fine structure and lineshape profiles of the high-resolution resonant Auger decay spectra recorded at the excitation energies along the C1s -> pi* resonance in the binding energy region 15-19eV. Very different behavior in terms of lineshape and res

Objective Saline infusion sonohysterography has been reported to suppress the color signal within the endometrium at color or power Doppler evaluation. The aim of this study was to evaluate if gel-instillation sonography (GIS) affects the power Doppler signal in patients with endometrial polyps. Methods Ultrasound volumes of the uterus, obtained by three-dimensional ultrasound imaging of 25 women

The opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa controls host innate immune and complement attack. Here we identify Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (Lpd), a 57 kDa moonlighting protein, as the first P. aeruginosa protein that binds the two human terminal pathway inhibitors vitronectin and clusterin. Both human regulators when bound to the bacterium inhibited effector function of the termina

Context: Coping with rapid requirements change is crucial for staying competitive in the software business. Frequently changing customer needs and fierce competition are typical drivers of rapid requirements evolution resulting in requirements obsolescence even before project completion. Objective: Although the obsolete requirements phenomenon and the implications of not addressing them are known,

We consider the effect of signaling rate (baud rate) on the information rate of single carrier linear transmission systems with Gaussian inputs. Several different communication scenarios are investigated: correlated or uncorrelated symbols, a fixed modulation pulse or a modulation pulse varying with the signaling rate and frequency selective or flat channels. For uncorrelated symbols, we show that

If microbial degradation of carbon substrates in arctic soil is stimulated by climatic warming, this would be a significant positive feedback on global change. With data from a climate change experiment in Northern Sweden we show that warming and enhanced soil nutrient availability, which is a predicted long-term consequence of climatic warming and mimicked by fertilization, both increase soil mic