As a redhead I have had a personal interest in red hair, freckles and sunburns since childhood. An observation of a formaldehyde-induced fluorescence in human epidermal melanocytes initiated my scientific interest in these cells. Prota and Nicolaus demonstrated that oxidation products of cysteinyldopas are the main components of pheomelanin. Our identification of 5-S-cysteinyldopa as the source of

We present an analysis of the cooling of a micromechanical resonator by means of measurement and feedback. The measurements are performed via the coupling to a Cooper-pair box, and although the coupling does not lead to net cooling, the extraction of information and hence entropy from the system leads to a pure quantum state. Under suitable circumstances, the states become very close to coherent s

OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of antihistamine use in early pregnancy on delivery outcome. METHODS: Using prospectively collected information on drug use in early pregnancy, delivery outcome was studied among 17 266 women with 17 776 deliveries and 18 197 infants. The analysis was performed according to the main reason for antihistamine use: nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and allergy. RESULTS:

Background: In Malmo approximately 250 000 citizens live in 17 administrative areas with substantial socioeconomic differences. At the single centre for arterial reconstruction, Malmo University Hospital, all procedures are registered prospectively. Methods: Between 1987 and 2002, 1832 Malmo citizens underwent reconstruction for peripheral arterial disease, either intermittent claudication (IQ or

Process-based models can be classified into: (a) terrestrial biogeochemical models (TBMs), which simulate fluxes of carbon, water and nitrogen coupled within terrestrial ecosystems, and (b) dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs), which further couple these processes interactively with changes in slow ecosystem processes depending on resource competition, establishment, growth and mortality of di

Hundreds of technical, special interest Internet weblogs are already generating thousands of niche articles worldwide, and many institutions are starting to create internal blogs for team collaboration. As this style of communication becomes more pervasive in the lives of employees and researchers, the difficulty of finding relevant information only grows with the number of authors and articles. T

Galectins are a family of beta-galactoside binding proteins that have been proposed as host receptors for bacteria because beta-galactoside carbohydrates are common in bacterial membrane glycolipid lipooligosaccharides (LOS) and lipopolysaccharides. We investigated the interaction of galectin-3 with gonococcal LOS that make lactosyl (Lc(2) or Lac), paraglobosyl (nLc(4) ; LNnT; lacto-N -neotetraose

The saline lakes of the Vestfold Hills in Antarctica offer a remarkable natural laboratory where the adaptation of planktonic protists to a range of evolving physiochemical conditions can be investigated. This study illustrates how an ancestral marine community has undergone radical simplification leaving a small number of well-adapted species. Our objective was to investigate the species composit

The Yersinia protein kinase A (YpkA) is injected into host cells by the yersinial type three secretion system (TTSS). YpkA is widely believed to function within the host cell based on the fact that its kinase domain is clearly homologous to eukaryotic Ser/Thr kinases and that its enzymatic activity, when assayed in vitro, is dependent on eukaryotic-derived host factors. Whether this activity is re

It is established that the glomerular filter sieves macromolecules based on their size, shape, and charge. Anionic proteins are thus retarded compared with their neutral or cationic counterparts. However, recent studies have indicated that charge effects are small, or even "anomalous," for polysaccharides. We therefore investigated the impact of charge on the glomerular permeability to polysacchar

Fourier transform spectroscopy has proven to be a useful toot when measuring wavelengths and branching fractions. The high spectral resolution makes it possible to extend and improve term analyses of complex spectra. We present an overview of our measurements with the Fourier transform spectrometer at Lund Observatory. Much of our work is motivated by astrophysical problems, and we show an applica

A technique for extracorporeal immunoadsorption of circulating specific antibodies from the plasma of rats is described. Catheterization of rats was performed using the carotid and the jugular blood vessels. The rats were treated non-anaesthetized. Blood was pumped continuously through a hollow-fibre plasma filter at a rate of 1.5 ml/min and plasma was separated and passed through an adsorbent col

We compared the Q10 relationship for root-derived respiration (including respiration due to the root, external mycorrhizal mycelium and rhizosphere microorganisms) with that of mainly external ectomycorrhizal mycelium and that of bulk soil microorganisms without any roots present. This was studied in a microcosm consisting of an ectomycorrhizal Pinus muricata seedling growing in a sandy soil, and

The influence of salt, temperature, and deuterium oxide on the self-aggregation of n-nonyl-beta-D-glucoside (beta-C(9)G(1)) in dilute solution has been investigated by static and dynamic light scattering, neutron scattering, and tensiometry. Scattering data show that the micelles can be described as relatively stiff, elongated structures with a circular cross section. With a decrease of temperatur

The Drosophila gene ten-m/odz is the only pair rule gene identified to date which is not a transcription factor. In an attempt to analyze the structure and the function of ten-m/odz in mouse, we isolated four murine ten-m cDNAs which code for proteins of 2,700-2, 800 amino acids. All four proteins (Ten-m1-4) lack signal peptides at the NH2 terminus, but contain a short hydrophobic domain character