Growth hormone (GH) has been used as anabolic therapy to treat catabolic patients. In a recent study, however, administration of high doses of GH to critically ill adults was associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality. Preponderance of septic shock and uncontrolled infections as causes of death in these patients suggests an immuno-modulatory effect of GH. Our hypothesis was that GH tre

The influence of molecular characteristics on the mutual interaction between peptides and nonionic surfactants has been investigated by studying the effects of surfactants on amphiphilic, random copolymers of alpha-L-amino acids containing lysine residues as the hydrophilic parts. The hydrophobic residues were either phenylalanine or tyrosine. The peptide-surfactant interactions were studied by me

The structure of calerythrin, a prokaryotic 20 kDa calcium-binding protein has been determined by solution NMR spectroscopy. Distance, dihedral angle, J coupling, secondary chemical shift, residual dipolar coupling and radius of gyration restraints reveal four EF-hand motifs arranged in a compact globular structure. A tight turn in the middle of the amino acid sequence brings the two halves, each

Aim: Obesity is associated with increased levels of inflammatory mediators. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the leucocyte derived inflammatory mediators tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and the isoprostane 8-epi-prostaglandin (PG) F2alpha during BMI lowering with orlistat (Xenical®, Roche) or placebo. Methods: TNF-alpha, IL-6, and 8-epi PGF2alp

Pictorial visualization is expected to facilitate communication between industrial professionals when planning working environments and production systems. This hypothesis was investigated by studying how 24 participants including managers, supervisors, machine operators, and occupational health and safety officials, judged three types of computer animated visualization varying in dimensional view

Nine species of hyoliths are described based on material collected in Skane, southern Sweden, during the first half of the last century. The material derives from the middle Cambrian (Cambrian provisional Series 3) Exsulans Limestone Bed at Almbacken east of Lund and the Upper Ordovician (Katian-Hirnantian) Lindegard Formation at Tommarp west of Simrishamn. The Almbacken assemblage consists of thr

Study objective: This didactical essay is directed to readers disposed to approach multilevel regression analysis (MLRA) in a more conceptual than mathematical way. However, it specifically develops an epidemiological vision on multilevel analysis with particular emphasis on measures of health variation (for example, intraclass correlation). Such measures have been underused in the literature as c

Study of the Swedish film Arn in relation to marketing, tourism and adaptation.

In this paper, which was prepared as part of IEA Bioenergy Task XV (“Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems”), we outline a standard methodology for comparing the greenhouse gas balances of bioenergy systems with those of fossil energy systems. Emphasis is on a careful definition of system boundaries. The following issues are dealt with in detail: time interval analysed and changes of carbon

The genus Helicobacter has expanded at a rapid pace and no fewer than 31 species have been named since the proposal of the genus in 1989. Of these 31 species, 22 are principally associated with extragastric niches and there is increasing interest in the role of these taxa in diseases of humans and animals. Substantial evidence attests to certain species playing a role in the pathogenesis of enteri

In this paper we consider a Black and Scholes economy and investigate two approaches to hedging contingent claims. We show that the general Malliavin calculus approach can generate the classical Delta-hedging formula under weaker conditions.

Here we present a study of the electronic structure of epitaxial ferromagnetic Mn5Ge3(0001) films on Ge(111) by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. Spin-polarization (P) value of +(15 +/- 5)% at the Fermi energy (E-F) is measured with a photon energy of h nu = 21.2 eV. Our findings are in contrast to recent band st

The effects of Collembola grazing activities on the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis were studied in laboratory microcosms. Pinus contorta seedlings in association with Paxillus involutus were grown in a sandy soil and the Collembola Onychiurus armatus was added in different densities. To study effects on nutrient uptake by the extramatrical mycorrhizal mycelium, cups containing 15NH4+ and phytin amended

To investigate the effect of exposure to tobacco smoke (TS) on the development of irradiation-induced pneumonitis in rats, five groups of animals were investigated including controls (C), tobacco smoke exposed (S), irradiated (RNS) and irradiated and tobacco smoke exposed (RS). An additional group (RS/NS) was exposed to tobacco before irradiation but not afterwards. Rats were exposed to diluted ma

The introduction of 'creativity' and the 'creative city' in imagineering Copenhagen and in strategies for developing its urban competitiveness is analysed from a perspective on relations between processes of globalization, developments in urban government/governance and social geographic change. This perspective problematizes what on the surface seems to be an unequivocally positive quality ('crea

Ultrasound examinations of 563 patients with right upper quadrant pain and a clinical suspicion of acute cholecystitis were reviewed. In 31 patients, a tender, dilated gall-bladder with a thick (more than 4 mm) partly hypoechoic wall without any detectable calculi was found on the emergency examination. This was interpreted as due to acute acalculous cholecystitis. None of the patients was critica

The effects of electrode thickness, electrolyte filling and current collector geometry on the performance of MCFC cathodes are investigated by using a steady state mathematical model. A two-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model for the three-phase system in the cathode is used, which includes the polarisation curves from the heterogeneous agglomerate model[1] as local source functions. The model ta

The compacting behavior of agglomerated aerosol nanoparticles in the size range between 7 and 150 nm was investigated using available literature data. We observed a characteristic behavior, which can be described by three separate steps. When comparing the first step, the compaction from agglomerates into spherules, differences could be observed for nanoparticles of different materials. It is seen