Early age at first birth and multiparity have been associated with a decrease in the risk of breast cancer in women in the general population. We examined whether this relationship is also present in women at high risk of breast cancer due to the presence of a mutation in either of the 2 breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 or BRCA2. We performed a matched case-control study of 1,260 pairs of

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), optical microscopy and turbidity measurements were used to define experimental conditions (time, temperature and shearing) for dissolving high amylopectin potato starch (HAPP) granules. A simple, less time consuming and non-chemical method for preparing starch samples was established. Small-amplitude oscillation measurements were used to characterise the be

Objective To evaluate the impact of demographic and psychosocial background factors and psychiatric and functional status before and at admission on the patients' satisfaction with care (PSC) among first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients. Method One year after entering the Parachute Project, 134 FEP patients completed a patient satisfaction questionnaire. The association with demographic and psycho

Foraging range, an important component of bee ecology, is of considerable interest for insect-pollinated plants because it determines the potential for outcrossing among individuals. However, long-distance pollen flow is difficuit to assess, especially when the plant also relies on self-pollination. Pollen movement can be estimated indirectly through population genetic data, but complementary data

Endo-1,4-beta-mannanases (beta-mannanases) randomly hydrolyse the mannosidic bonds within the main chain of various mannans and heteromannans. Some of these polysaccharides are hemicelluloses, a major part of the plant cell-wall. The beta-mannanases have been assigned to family 5 and 26 of the glycoside hydrolase clan A. This work presents a detailed kinetic analysis of the family 26 beta-mannanas

The analysis of chromosomal imbalances in solid tumors using comparative genetic hybridization (CGH) has gained much attention. A survey of the literature suggests that CGH is more sensitive in detecting copy number aberrations than is karyotyping, although careful comparisons between CGH and cytogenetics have not been performed. Here, we compared cytogenetics and CGH in 29 invasive breast cancers

OBJECTIVES. To evaluate the long-term influence of different types of intestinal urinary diversion on skeletal bone and its mineral content. METHODS. Densitometry was used to estimate bone mineral content, and bone biopsies were analyzed with histomorphometric technique. The study comprised 20 patients with conduit urinary diversion and 19 with cecal continent reservoir, all followed up for more t

Multiconfigurational quantum chemical calculations on the R-diimines dichromium compound confirm that the Cr-Cr bond, 1.80 angstrom, is among the shortest Cr-I-Cr-I bonds. However, the bond between the two Cr atoms is only a quadruple bond rather than a quintuple bond. The reason why the bond is so short has to be attributed to the strain in the NCCN ligand moieties.

In a single-blind, randomised series of knee replacements in 116 patients, we used radiostereometric analysis (RSA) to measure micromotion in three types of tibial implant fixation for two years after knee replacement. We compared hydroxyapatite-augmented porous coating, porous coating, and cemented fixation of the same design of tibial component. At one to two years, porous-coated implants migrat

Activated fibroblasts are suggested to be involved in the deposition of extracellular matrix in the formation of peribronchial fibrosis in asthma. We report the novel finding of activated elongated fibroblasts accompanied by elevated numbers of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from 5 out of 12 patients with mild asthma (= 42%), whereas no fibroblasts were observed in the control subject

Coordinated transcription factor networks have emerged as the master regulatory mechanisms of stem cell pluripotency and differentiation. Many stem cell-specific transcription factors, including the pluripotency transcription factors, OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 function in combinatorial complexes to regulate the expression of loci, which are involved in embryonic stem (ES) cell pluripotency and cellula

Introduction: Different sources of variations, such as electrogoniometer characteristics and procedures, may affect the accuracy and precision of movement measurements during gait. Objective: To quantify the variations and compare the effects produced by different sources of variation in electrogoniometric gait recordings: the sensors, procedures (trials) and the knee joint. Methods: Knee flexion/

This paper presents a simple argument against definitions of the death of a human being in terms of death, or the cessation of functioning, of its brain: a human being is alive, and is capable of dying, before it acquires a brain. Although a more accurate definition is sketched, it is stressed that it should not be taken for granted that it is ethically urgent to work out such a definition. What m

Defective assembly of alpha 3 alpha 4 alpha 5(IV) collagen in the glomerular basement membrane causes Alport syndrome, a hereditary glomerulonephritis progressing to end-stage kidney failure. Assembly of collagen IV chains into heterotrimeric molecules and networks is driven by their noncollagenous (NC1) domains, but the sites encoding the specificity of these interactions are not known. To identi

A decision support system (DSS) is developed and applied to assess the susceptibility of water supply systems to droughts, and to aid decision-makers in determining optimal supply strategies. The DSS integrates three fundamental modules for water resources management: (1) a real time rainfall-runoff forecasting model enhanced by Kalman filtering; (2) a water demand forecast model; and (3) a reserv

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to compare management algorithms that base treatment with loop electrosurgical excision procedure on human papillomavirus and/or repeat Papanicolaou test smear results. STUDY DESIGN: A randomized trial that referred 674 women with either atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions cytology results, detected

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (MPNSTs) are a malignancy occurring with increased frequency in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). In contrast to the well-known spectrum of germline NF1 mutations, the information on somatic mutations in MPNSTs is limited. In this study, we screened NF1, KRAS, and BRAF in 47 MPNSTs from patients with (n = 25) and without (n = 22) NF1. In additi

Inherited breast cancer is a heterogenous group of diseases. We examined this heterogeneity in a prospective series of inherited breast and ovarian cancers, previously demonstrated to include 84% of inherited cancers. Ninety-two tumours (65 breast and 27 ovarian) in 82 patients from 70 kindreds were prospectively diagnosed. Fifteen of the breast cancers were in situ, 50 were infiltrating. 40 (49%)