Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) is a potential efficacious and safe treatment option for patients with respiratory, IgE-mediated allergic diseases. A combined tolerability, dose finding study with a sublingual liquid birch pollen preparation (SB) was conducted.

Using a sample of dilepton top-quark pair ((tt) over bar) candidate events, a study is performed of the production of top-quark pairs together with heavy-flavor (HF) quarks, the sum of (tt) over bar + b + X and (tt) over bar + c + X, collectively referred to as (tt) over bar + HF. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mas

Twentieth-century massification of higher education and academic research led to mission diversification and structural diversification of national higher education systems (HESs), but also a tendency of non-university colleges to seek to develop into full-scale universities by the emulation of practices of established academic organizations, a tendency that has been called academic drift. The dri

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission provides multi-angular, dual-polarised brightness temperatures at 1.4 GHz, from which global soil moisture and vegetation optical depth (tau) products are retrieved. This paper presents a study of SMOS' tau product in 2010 and 2011 for crop zones of the USA. Retrieved tau values for 504 crop nodes were compared to optical/IR vegetation indices fr

A novel 2 pi detector geometry for small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) applications is presented and its theoretical performance evaluated. Such a novel geometry is ideally suited for a SANS instrument at the European Spallation Source (ESS). Motivated by the low availability and high price of 3 He, the new concept utilizes gaseous detectors with B-10 as the neutron converter. The shape of the d

Compression anastomotic ring-locking procedure (CARP) is a novel procedure for creating colonic anastomoses. The surgical procedure allows perioperative quantification of the compression pressure between the intestinal ends within the anastomosis and postoperative monitoring of the anastomotic integrity. We have recently shown that CARP is a safe and effective method for colonic anastomoses in pig

Decrease of the human brain temperature was induced by intranasal cooling. The main purpose of this study was to compare the two magnetic resonance methods for monitoring brain temperature changes during cooling: phase-difference and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with high spatial resolution. Ten healthy volunteers were measured. Selective brain cooling was performed through nasa

Use of nutritional components from the milk and eventually from the solid feed relates to the growth and development of gastrointestinal tract (GIT). We studied the effect of pancreatic-like enzymes [porcine pancreatic enzymes (Creon) or microbial-derived amylase, protease, and lipase] on GIT morphology and lipid absorption in suckling piglets. Both enzyme preparations, in low or high dose, were f

The hyperfine interaction constants of the 2p(4)(P-3)3p D-2(3/2,5/2)o, D-4(1/2-7/2)o, and P-4(1/2-5/2)o levels in neutral fluorine are investigated theoretically. Large-scale calculations are carried out using the multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock (MCHF) and Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) methods. In the framework of the MCHF approach, the relativistic effects are taken into account in the Breit-Pauli a

The concept of Mode 2 was developed in order to further our understanding of processes of knowledge production taking place between and beyond disciplinary structures (inter- and transdisciplinary processes) and “in a context of application”. The concept has often been seen as especially applicable to fields addressing grand challenges, such as cli- mate change, poverty eradication, and global hea

Parasites and infectious diseases represent ecological forces shaping animal social evolution. Although empirical studies supporting this link abound in various vertebrate orders, both the study of the dynamics and impact of parasite infections and infectious diseases in strepsirrhine primates have received little empirical attention. We conducted a longitudinal parasitological study on four group

Optimization models related to designing and operating complex systems are mainly focused on some efficiency metrics such as response time, queue length, throughput, and cost. However, in systems which serve many entities there is also a need for respecting fairness: each system entity ought to be provided with an adequate share of the system's services. Still, due to system operations-dependant c

Despite the widely held belief that Parkinson's disease is caused by both underlying genetics and exposure to environmental risk factors, it is still widely modelled in preclinical models using a single genetic or neurotoxic insult. This single-insult approach has resulted in a variety of models that are limited with respect to their aetiological, construct, face and/or predictive validity. Thus,

The effect of two model adjuvants (benzyl benzoate and benzyl alcohol) on the structure and dynamics of three Pluronic triblock copolymers (P85, P105 and F127) was studied using small-angle neutron scattering and pulsed-field gradient NMR. The two adjuvants studied have different aqueous solubilities. It was found that both adjuvants promoted the micellisation of the Pluronic block copolymers. In

Objective: This randomized methodologic study sought to test the reliability of an Internet questionnaire and investigate the differences in response rates between traditional pen-and-paper questionnaires and Internet questionnaires for measuring patient-reported outcome after total hip replacement surgery. Methods: From the Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Register, 2400 patients were chosen at random bu

Urothelial carcinoma (UC) aggressiveness is determined by tumor inherent molecular characteristics, such as molecular subtypes, as well as by host reactions directed toward the tumor. Cell types responsible for the host׳s response include tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). The aim of the present investigation was to explore the immunological response in

Preterm birth is associated with increased rates of neonatal and infant mortality. It has been hypothesized that gestational age at birth may also be associated with increased mortality rates in adulthood, but to date, no studies have demonstrated this relationship. This national cohort study investigated the association between gestational age at birth and mortality in young adulthood. Data obtai