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Migrating desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, are able to use the skylight polarization pattern for navigation. They detect polarized light with a specialized dorsal rim area in their compound eye. After multistage processing, polarization signals are transferred to the central complex, a midline-spanning brain area involved in locomotor control. Polarization-sensitive tangential neurons (TB-ne

Understanding the mechanism by which advanced materials assemble is essential for the design of new materials with desired properties. Here, we report a method to form chiral, potentially porous materials through spontaneous resolution of conformers of a PCP pincer palladium complex ({2,6-bis[(di-t-butylphosphino)methyl]phenyl}palladium(ii)halide). The crystallisation is controlled by weak hydroge

Color dispersion, i.e., the dependency of refractive index of any transparent material on the wavelength of light, has important consequences for the function of optical instruments and animal eyes. Using a multi-objective goal attainment optimization algorithm, a dispersion model was successfully fitted to measured refractive indices of various ocular media and the longitudinal chromatic aberrati

The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and distribution of membrane receptors after bladder outlet obstruction (BOO). Partial bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) was induced in female rats and bladders were harvested after either 10 days or 6 weeks of BOO. The expression of different receptors was surveyed by microarrays and corroborated by immunohistochemistry and western blo

There is concern over the high risk of cardiovascular complications, hypertensive disorders, and other adverse obstetric outcomes among pregnant women with Turner syndrome (TS). A diagnosis of TS is made in some women late in life or not at all. Spontaneous pregnancies are rare in women with TS and are associated with a high rate of complications, especially miscarriage. The use of assisted reprod

In this paper, we utilize bulk acoustic waves to control the position of microparticles inside droplets in two-phase microfluidic systems and demonstrate a method to enrich the microparticles. In droplet microfluidics, different unit operations are combined and integrated on-chip to miniaturize complex biochemical assays. We present a droplet unit operation capable of controlling the position of m

Background Evaluating the external validity of clinical trials requires knowledge not only of the study population but also of a relevant reference population. The main aim of this study was to present data from a large, contemporary, population-based cohort of patients with colonic cancer. Methods Data on patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2011 were extracted from the Swedish Colon Cancer Regist

We randomised 46 newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (median age 56) to receive dasatinib 100mg QD or imatinib 400mg QD and report outcome as an intention-to-treat analysis with 36months follow-up. Early cytogenetic and molecular responses were superior in the dasatinib group, with a tendency that imatinib patients caught up with time. For instance, MR3.0 was reached at 3months

Objectives To determine whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor (s-VEGF) levels and VEGF gene expression in tumor tissue predict survival of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy. Methods VEGF levels were measured in serum samples from 102 patients <65yrs with high-risk DLBCL using a quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique. Exon array da

In 2D electronic spectroscopy, oscillatory signals have recently received increased attention. The key issue is the origin of such beating-whether it is vibrational or electronic. In analogy to the distinction between rephasing and nonrephasing contributions to 2D spectra, we separate signal components with positive and negative coherence beating frequency via a third Fourier transformation and co

Licensed human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, based on virus-like particles (VLPs) self-assembled from major capsid protein L1, afford type-restricted protection against HPV types 16/18/6/11 (or 16/18 for the bivalent vaccine), which cause 70% of cervical cancers (CxCas) and 90% of genital warts. However, they do not protect against less prevalent high-risk (HR) types causing 30% of CxCa, or cutan

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are dominant seed cell sources for bone regeneration. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) initiate cartilage and bone formation in a sequential cascade. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an essential coordinator of extracellular matrix remodeling, angiogenesis and bone formation. In the present study, the effects of the vascular endotheli

Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptive colouration serves critical functions ranging from inconspicuous camouflage to ostentatious sexual display, and can provide important information about the environment and biology of a particular organism. The most ubiquitous and abundant pigment, melanin, also has a diverse range of non-visual roles, including thermoregulation in ectotherms. However, little

Optimal foraging theory predicts that predators are selective when faced with abundant prey, but become less picky when prey gets sparse. Insectivorous bats in temperate regions are faced with the challenge of building up fat reserves vital for hibernation during a period of decreasing arthropod abundances. According to optimal foraging theory, pre-hibernating bats should adopt a less selective fe

We study several models of random geometric subdivisions arising from the model of Diaconis and Miclo (Combin Probab Comput 20 (2011) 213–237). In particular, we show that the limiting shape of an indefinite subdivision of a quadrilateral is a.s. a parallelogram. We also show that the geometric subdivisions of a triangle by angle bisectors converge (only weakly) to a non-atomic distribution, and t

In the present paper we apply a new neurophysiological technique to make single-electrode, dual loose-patch recordings from pairs of neuronal elements in the cerebellar cortex in vivo. The analyzed cell pairs consisted of an inhibitory molecular layer interneuron and a Purkinje cell (PC) or a Golgi cell and a granule cell, respectively. To detect the magnitude of the unitary inhibitory synaptic in

Orbiliomycetes is one of the earliest diverging branches of the filamentous ascomycetes. The class contains nematode-trapping fungi that form unique infection structures, called traps, to capture and kill free-living nematodes. The traps have evolved differently along several lineages and include adhesive traps (knobs, nets or branches) and constricting rings. We show, by genome sequencing of the

Background: We analyzed the hypoallergenic potential of a recently bred apple selection with unusually low content of Mal d 1, using an oral challenge model with three additional apple cultivars for comparison. Methods: Sixty-six birch pollen-allergic individuals with a history of oral allergy syndrome after apple intake were subjected to a double-blind oral provocation with two apple cultivars (B