Pollen productivity estimates (PPE) are one of the critical parameters for a quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation from fossil pollen records. Modern pollen and vegetation data were collected in traditional landscapes of southern Sweden to derive PPE for the most characteristic plant taxa. The 42 selected sites are assumed to be good analogues of historical to prehistorical grasslands. A

Background: Hyperlipidemia has been suggested as a risk factor for stenosis of the aortic valve, but lipid-lowering studies have had conflicting results. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial involving 1873 patients with mild-to-moderate, asymptomatic aortic stenosis. The patients received either 40 mg of simvastatin plus 10 mg of ezetimibe or placebo daily. The primary outcome wa

The ontogenetic development of size heterogeneity and aggression was monitored in commercial culture tanks of yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi Valenciennes). Size heterogeneity increased substantially with the introduction of Artemia as a food source at 12 days post-hatch (DPH), and was correlated with the appearance of aiming behaviour, a precursor to more direct aggressive interactions. Chas

Our objective was to assess clubfoot anatomy by US in newborn babies before and in the early phase of treatment. Reproducible US projections and measurements were carried out on 30 untreated clubfeet in 22 children, consecutively included in the study. The position of the navicular in relation to the head of the talus was visualised in all feet. The mean distance between the medial malleolus and t

Modes of propagation of electromagnetic pulses in closed, cylindric waveguides with bi-isotropic fillings are analyzed systematically using complex, time-varying electromagnetic fields. The emphasis is on the circular bi-isotropic waveguide and the bi-isotropic parallel-plate waveguide. For both geometries, seven Volterra integral equations of the second kind, which are to be solved simultaneously

Ethanol was produced from SO2-impregnated steam-pretreated willow by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). Experiments with SSF were performed in stirred 300-ml vessels and in a 3-1 fermenter. Commercial cellulases were used in combination with either Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Zymomonas mobilis. The amounts of substrate, enzymes, yeast, bacteria, and nutrients were varied. The te

In this paper, we studied the adsorption at emulsion droplets of potato starch, which was hydrophobically modified with octenyl succinate anhydride (OSA), a surface active macromolecule containing ultrahigh molar mass components. The results show that the substance works as an efficient emulsifier and that it can in some cases generate high surface loads (10 mg/m(2)). The results can be explained

Galanin, a recently discovered neuropeptide, was studied in the rat male and female reproductive tracts by immunocytochemistry and in vitro pharmacology. Nerve fibers containing galanin immunoreactivity were most abundant in the female paracervical tissue, where they surrounded non-immunoreactive ganglion cells. Galanin nerves were also found in the uterus and Fallopian tubes, as well as in the va

5-S-cysteinyldopa and 6-hydroxy-5-methoxyindole-2-carboxylic acid are important intermediate metabolites in the formation of cutaneous melanin pigment. Since they both are serious candidates as markers of melanoma progression, their stability in urine has been investigated during storage at various conditions. The results show that storage at -20 degrees C is necessary. Both compounds are nonstabl

Twenty-nine consecutive cases with a t(8;21)(q22;q22) in the bone marrow (BM) karyotype were retrospectively studied concerning clinical, morphological and cytogenetic data. All had been diagnosed as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), 27 FAB subtype M2 and two M1, comprising 5% of all cytogenetically analysed AML during 18 yr. Auer rods were the most consistent t(8;21)-associated morphological finding

Adsorption to microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel) of pure cellobiohydrolase I and II (CBH I and CBH II) from Trichoderma reesei has been studied. Adsorption isotherms of the enzymes were measured at 4 degrees C using CBH I and CBH II alone and in reconstituted equimolar mixtures. Several models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Jovanovic) were tested to describe the experimental adsorption isotherms.

Background: Social interaction is crucial for whether a person will successfully accomplish important life tasks. Aim and method: This study investigated the importance of sociodemographic, clinical and self-perceived health-related factors for social interaction among 103 individuals with persistent mental illness, mainly psychoses, visiting an outpatient unit. Results: Bivariate analyses pointed

In a genome-wide scan in Scandinavians, we found suggestive linkage between early-onset primary hypertension and a region on chromosome 2. The 2B-adrenoceptor gene, a candidate gene within this region, harbors a functional insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of three glutamate residues. The aim of this study was to investigate if the DD genotype is associated with hypertension in Swedes. We perf

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate histologically proved endometritis as a clinical syndrome that is distinct from laparoscopically confirmed salpingitis. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study of 152 women in an urban hospital with a suspected pelvic inflammatory disease. All women provided a standardized medical history and underwent physical examination, endometrial bi

OBJECTIVE: To compare effectiveness, complications, and cost of Amplatzer with surgical atrial septal defect (ASD) closure. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Tertiary cardiac referral centre. PATIENTS: 43 consecutive patients (excluding non-UK residents) aged between 2.1 and 56.8 years (median 7) undergoing ASD closure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Procedural success, complications, regression of righ

We investigate the Au-assisted growth of InAs nanowires on two different kinds of heterostructured substrates: GaAs/AlGaAs structures capped by a 50 nm thick InAs layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy and a 2 mu m thick InAs buffer layer on Si(111) obtained by vapor phase epitaxy. Morphological and structural properties of substrates and nanowires are analyzed by atomic force and transmission elec

In the present study, the turbulent heat transfer and fiction in a square duct roughened by continuous and truncated ribs on one wall has been investigated experimentally. The ribs are oriented transversely to the main stream in a periodic arrangement. For both cases, the rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio is 0.15, the rib pitch-to-height ratio is fixed at 12, and the Reynolds number varies fr

The present study investigated the brain mechanisms involved during young children's receptive familiarization with new words, and whether the dynamics of these mechanisms are related to the child's productive vocabulary size. To this end, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from 20-month-old children in a pseudoword repetition task. Results revealed distinct patterns of repetition effects

Optimum daily light-use efficiency (LUE) and normalized canopy photosynthesis (GEE*) rate, a proxy for LUE, have been derived from eddy covariance CO2 flux measurements obtained at a range of sites located in the mid to high latitudes. These two variables were analyzed with respect to environmental conditions, plant functional types (PFT) and leaf nitrogen concentration, in an attempt to character