The standardization and clinical validation of the measurement of beta-amyloid(1-42) (Abeta42) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), plasma and urine is described using a commercially available sandwich-type ELISA with 21F12 and 3D6 as monoclonal antibodies. The INNOTEST beta-amyloid(1-42) allows the specific and reliable measurement of(1-42) amyloid peptides in CSF and plasma. The Abeta42 concentrations

Different types of colonic dysganglionosis, and in particular intestinal neuronal dysplasia (IND) have been blamed for certain postoperative complications after surgery for Hirschsprung's disease (HD). We prospectively assessed colon innervation above the aganglionic zone (AZ) before proceeding to pull-through (PT) in order to rule-out IND as a cause of those complications. We first used a two-sta

Computer-level faults leading to data errors in computations arepredicted to occur increasingly frequent in future microprocessors.This work discusses the impact of such errors on closed-loopperformance in implementations of digital control systems. A method torender a control system more robust to data errors by introducingartificial signal limits and then combine them with an anti-windupscheme i

Objective: To compare the efficacy and side effects of intermittent pulse cyclophosphamide plus methylprednisolone with continuous oral cyclophosphamide plus prednisolone, followed by azathioprine, in patients with proliferative glomerulonephritis caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: A multicentre randomised controlled trial was conducted between June 1992 and May 1996 involving

This thesis deals with the empirical testing of trade theories, traditionally used to analyze international trade, using regional data on production and trade. This thesis consists of three main essays. In the first essay, we analyze Swedish regional production. In the first part, we focus on the effects of comparative advantage in predicting regional manufacturing production. In so doing, we use

We employ the density functional Kohn-Sham method in the local spin-density approximation to study the electronic structure and magnetism of quasi-one-dimensional periodic arrays of few-electron quantum dots. At small values of the lattice constant, the single dots overlap, forming a nonmagnetic quantum wire with nearly homogenous density. As the confinement perpendicular to the wire is increased,

In this correspondence, we examine a low-rate turbo coding. scheme based on superorthogonal convolutional encoders (SOCEs). The low-rate coding is suitable for code-division multiple-access (CDMA) applications. We use the property that the component encoders are equivalent to conventional convolutional encoders to analyze the asymptotic performance. We analyze the iterative decoding performance th

In an engineering treatment of the rotation of a layer or hot gas emerging from under a balcony Morgan and Marshall [l] introduced the concept of a horizontal Equivalent Gaussian Source for the resulting vertical plume. They found it necessary to suppose that in the rotation the entrainment was more than 5 times the amount to be expected using conventional entrainment coefficients for vertical plu

Objectives: Carotid stenosis is a crucial cause of ischemic stroke. Recent studies suggest that one of the most important effects of lipid-lowering statins is to stabilize vulnerable plaques. However, it remains to be determined if this effect is secondary to the lowering of plasma cholesterol levels or due to a direct effect of statins on plaques stability. Design and main outcome measures: In th

The present study is composed of a series of six independent yet related articles treating various aspects of international trade and economic growth. In Chapter two the effects of European Integration (EI) on long-run economic growth is studied. Contrary to earlier empirical results long-run effects of EI are identified. As a development Chapter three examines two potential channels linking EI to