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"A Token of Gratitude"? A Morally Ambiguous Case of Bribery

The phenomenon of bribery is characterized by its elastic features, both morally and legally. This study sets out to investigate a court case of bribery: how the people involved construct and argue for their particular version. A single case of bribery is chosen in order to clarify the range and potential of various descriptions of the very same event. The material consists of interviews with the

Long-term vegetation history of a Picea abies stand in south-western Norway : implications for the conservation of biological values

The development of a forest stand in south-eastern Norway during the last 9000 years is investigated by pollen and charcoal analyses. The aims are to identify factors that have influenced current biodiversity, which includes the lichen Usnea longissima, and examine the immigration and establishment of the current dominant tree Picea abies. Fire has been a variable but major disturbance factor at t

Cutaneous Human Papillomaviruses Persist on Healthy Skin.

Cutaneous human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are frequently found in healthy skin and have also been implicated in non-melanoma skin cancer. For genital HPV types, a persistent infection with one of the high-risk types is a prerequisite for the development of cervical cancer. However, there is only limited data on whether infections with cutaneous HPV types persist over time. Serial forehead swab sampl

The STAT4 gene influences the genetic predisposition to systemic sclerosis phenotype

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of STAT4 gene in the genetic predisposition to systemic sclerosis (SSc) susceptibility or clinical phenotype. A total of 1317 SSc patients [896 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and 421 with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc)] and 3113 healthy controls, from an initial case-control set of Spanish Caucasian ancestry and five independent cohorts

Processing of seminal plasma hCAP-18 to ALL-38 by gastricsin - A novel mechanism of generating antimicrobial peptides in vagina

The human cathelicidin, hCAP-18, is expressed both in neutrophils and in epithelial cells. hCAP-18 is processed to the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 by proteinase 3 in neutrophils. hCAP-18 is highly expressed in the epididymis with a subsequent high concentration in seminal plasma where the protein is present in its unprocessed and antimicrobially inactive form. We report here that hCAP-18 in semina

Microfluidic biosensing systems - Part I. Development and optimisation of enzymatic chemiluminescent mu-biosensors based on silicon microchips

Chemiluminescent (CL) enzyme-based flow-through microchip biosensors (mu-biosensors) for detection of glucose and ethanol were developed for the purpose of monitoring real-time production and release of glucose and ethanol from microchip immobilised yeast cells. Part I of this study focuses on the development and optimisation of the mu-biosensors in a microfluidic sequential injection analysis (mu

Synovial fluid level of aggrecan ARGS fragments is a more sensitive marker of joint disease than glycosaminoglycan or aggrecan levels: a cross-sectional study

Introduction Aggrecanase cleavage at the (392)Glu-(393)Ala bond in the interglobular domain (IGD) of aggrecan, releasing N-terminal (393)ARGS fragments, is an early key event in arthritis and joint injuries. Here, we use a quantitative immunoassay of aggrecan ARGS neoepitope fragments in human synovial fluid to determine if this cleavage-site specific method better identifies joint pathology than

Intra- and inter-rater reliability of the Sollerman hand function test in patients with chronic stroke

Purpose. To examine whether the Sollerman hand function test is reliable in a test-retest situation in patients with chronic stroke. Method. Three independent examiners observed each patient at three experimental sessions; two days in week I (short-term test-retest) and one day in week 4 (long-term test-retest). A total of 24 patients with chronic stroke (mean age; 59.7 years, mean time since stro

Changes in structural attributes of plant communities along disturbance gradients in a dry deciduous forest of Western Ghats, India

Changes in tree and understory plant diversity and community composition in two sites at different disturbance levels were studied on the Anaikatty hills, Western Ghats. Systematic sampling using small scale permanent quadrates (50 x 20 m for trees, 5 x 5 m for shrubs/saplings, 1 x 1 m for herbs/seedlings) enumerated 3,376 individuals of trees (106 species), 8,599 of individuals shrubs (122 specie

Prompt Proton Decay in the Vicinity of 56Ni

A new decay mode, the so called prompt proton decay, was discovered in 1998. It has since proven to be an important decay mechanism for several neutron deficient nuclei in the A similar to 60 region. To measure with high accuracy the energies and angular distributions of these protons, a state-of-the-art charged particle detector - LuWuSiA - was developed. It was first utilized during a fusion-eva

Artificial selection for increased comb size and its effects on other sexual characters and viability in gallus-domesticus (the domestic chicken)

The expression of secondary ornaments is often positively correlated with the bearer's condition. So far no study has reported on consequences of directional selection on male sexual ornaments in birds, i.e. it is unknown to what extent male sexual traits are genetically correlated and whether selection for secondary ornaments affects viability. In this study we estimate phenotypic and genotypic p

Evolution of free, complexed, and total serum prostate-specific antigen and their ratios during 1 year of follow-up of men with febrile urinary tract infection

Objectives. To determine the serum values of free, complexed, and total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and their ratios in men with febrile urinary tract infection (UTI) during 1 year of follow-up. Methods. A total of 54 men were prospectively enrolled in the study, and serum samples were obtained at the acute stage of the UTI and after 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Results. Most men had a rise (median