Population-based surveys have shown that health-related quality of life (HRQL) is influenced by patients' characteristics such as age, gender, living situation and diagnoses. The present study explores the impact of such factors on the HRQL of severely ill cancer patients. The study sample included 395 cancer patients who participated in a cluster randomised trial of palliative care. Median surviv

Precipitation is often the sole source of water replenishment in arid and semi-arid areas and, thus, plays a pertinent role in sustaining desert ecosystems. Revegetation over 40 years using mainly Artemisia ordosica and Caragana korshinskii at Shapotou Desert Experimental Research Station near Lanzhou, China, has established a dwarf-shrub and microbiotic soil crust cover on the stabilized sand dun

Hurlbutite has been identified as the first Be mineral from the Vastan (a) over circle iron mine, Sk (a) over circle ne, Sweden. The mineral is yellowish to whitish and its microscopic habit is platy and porous. Associated minerals are pinkish apatite, hematite, quartz and svanbergite. The unit cell dimensions calculated from powder X-ray diffraction data are: a = 8.321(8) Angstrom, b = 8.834(8) A

The airway resistance, compliance of the respiratory system, transfer factor, and alveolar volume of 33 healthy rabbits were studied before and after exposure to diluted diesel exhaust generated in an experimental motor. Three diesel fuels and two particle traps were tested. Subsequent to the post-exposure lung function measurements, the animals were sacrificed and the lungs were processed for mor

A new 13-item version of the Impact of Event Scale (Horowitz, Wilner, & Alvarez, 1979) was adminstered to 2976 9–14 year old children from Bosnia as part of a large epidemiological screening survey. The IES-13 consists of four intrusion items, four avoidance items, and five new arousal items. Factor analyses showed the scale to have an identical underlying factor structure as when it was used

Exogenous soluble human alpha 3 noncollagenous (NC1) domain of collagen IV inhibits angiogenesis and tumor growth. These biological functions are attributed to the binding of alpha 3NC1 to integrin alpha v beta 3. However, in some tumor cells that express integrin alpha v beta 3, the alpha 3NC1 domain does not inhibit proliferation, suggesting that integrin alpha v beta 3 expression is not suffici

In the spectrum of an emission-line region ejected from the massive star Eta Carinae, called the strontium filament (SrF), forbidden lines from many elements, in particular [Sr II] and [Ti II], are observed. These lines are strong in this specific region and valuable for plasma diagnostics. Forbidden lines are not easily produced in laboratory light sources and the atomic parameters for these line

Six tydeid mite species assigned to two genera are described and illustrated: Metalorryia anchisi n. sp. and Tydeus onestiae n. sp. from mosses, lichens and decaying wood; Tydeus belfiori n. sp. and T. armindae n. sp. from lichens and bark of old apple trees; Tydeus ramiri n. sp. from lichens and mosses of Pinus and Sphagnum moss on the ground; and Tydeus serpettae n. sp. from mosses on stones nea

The method of moments is used to solve electromagenetic boundary value problems numerically. It is known that the choice of basis functions is crucial for the numerical efficiency. Fast convergence is achieved provided the basis functions efficiently approximate the unknown function. In this paper the far field (incl. RCS) of a thin square conducting plate is calculated. Basis functions with corre

Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) is toxic to multidrug-resistant neuroblastoma cells in vivo and in vitro. In neuroblastoma, As2O3 does not exert its cell death-promoting effects via a classical apoptotic pathway. A death mechanism involving proteolytic cleavage of Bax to a p18 form seems to be of importance, because inhibition of Bax cleavage coincides with diminished cell death. As existing models of ce

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify clinical characteristics of depression in elderly people that could be useful for case finding in general practice. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study of clinical characteristics through review of medical records. SETTING: Herrhagen health centre, Karlstad, Sweden. SUBJECTS: Seventy-one persons with a high depressive score in a screening of depressive

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Background & Aims: Gastrin deficiency and proton pump inhibitor treatment cause achlorhydria, which predisposes to disease. To elucidate the underlying molecular biology, we examined the changes in gastric gene expression in both types of achlorhydria. We also explored the associated changes in the gastric microflora and the long-term consequences of gastrin-deficient achlorhydria. Methods: Ex

The Euro50 is a proposed 50m extremely large telescope for optical and infrared wavelengths. To study and predict the performance of the complete telescope system, an integrated model combining the structural model of the telescope, optics models, the control systems and the adaptive optics has been established. Wind and atmospheric disturbances are also included in the model. The model is written

Antibody-based microarray is a novel technology with great promise within high-throughput proteomics. The tremendous complexity of all proteomes will, however, pose major technological challenges, especially when targeting low-abundant analytes that remains to be resolved. In this paper, we have shown that antibody microarrays readily could be used for screening of low-abundant low molecular weigh

Individuals are often restricted to indirect cues when assessing the mate value of a potential partner. Females of some species have been shown to copy each other’s choice; in other words, the probability of a female choosing a particular male increases if he has already been chosen by other females. Recently it has been suggested that mate-choice copying could be an important aspect of human mate

Here, the problem of the classical chaos effect on dissipation in nuclear many-body systems is addressed. To investigate this problem, the energy response on parametric driving of external confinement of the simplest interacting many-body system is studied: two identical like-charged particles moving on the plane in the field of a deformed harmonic oscillator, which shows a rich structure of the c

The free energy of binding between avidin and seven biotin analogues has been calculated with the molecular mechanics Poisson- Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) method. We have studied how the force field and the method to generate geometries affect the calculated binding free energies. Four different force fields were compared, but we saw no significant difference in the results. However, mixing t

The synthesis of a C-2-symmetric cleft molecule 2 based on the fused framework between bicyclo-[3.3. 1] nonane and 4-oxo-5-azaindole, incorporating a self-complementary hydrogen-bonding motif, in both racemic and enantiomerically pure forms is reported. This cleft molecule is reminiscent of analogues of Troger's base though with different cleft dimensions and tilt angles. The framework of 2 provid

Dampness in indoor environments may cause various health problems. The specific causative agent(s) are unknown but may originate from degradation processes in damp materials, microbial growth, or a combination of these phenomena. The health impact of dampness in buildings is a politically, legally, and economically important question. Scientists at the U.S. EPA and Lawrence Berkeley National Labor