1. Ageing is frequently claimed to result in an age-dependent deterioration in immune function. 2. Our results, however, based on 30 known-aged water pythons (Liasis fuscus; age ranging from

Background Comparison of patients with coronary heart disease and controls in genome-wide association studies has revealed several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with coronary heart disease. We aimed to establish the external validity of these findings and to obtain more precise risk estimates using a prospective cohort design. Methods We tested 13 recently discovered SNPs for a

We present X-ray scattering data from helical poly[9,9-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-fluorene-2,7-diyl] by mapping the sample with 10 mu m spatial resolution at pressures up to 31 GPa. Neon is used as pressure transmitting medium. Reduction of torsion angle between adjacent repeats is observed during compression and found to be reversible upon decompression. Chain conformation does not depend on lateral posit

The ability to control the movement of nanoparticles remotely and with high precision would have far-reaching implications in many areas of nanotechnology. We have designed a unique dynamic magnetic field (DMF) generator that can induce rotational movements of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). We examined whether the rotational nanoparticle movement could be used for remote indu

We first derive necessary and sufficient stiff order conditions, up to order four, for exponential splitting schemes applied to semilinear evolution equations. The main idea is to identify the local splitting error as a sum of quadrature errors. The order conditions of the quadrature rules then yield the stiff order conditions in an explicit fashion, similarly to that of Runge–Kutta schemes. Furth

The common bed bug Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera; Cimicidae) is a temporary ectoparasite on humans that is currently reinvading the developed countries. Like other haematophagous arthropods, host seeking and orientation in C. lectularius is partially mediated by olfaction. In this study, we reconfirmed the distribution of the 44 olfactory sensilla and identified 3 different sensillum types located

The following report provides an overview of the discussions and outcome of the EuPA General Council meeting that took place in Estoril 20-21 October 2010. During the annual meeting future policy and action plans in a variety of areas are decided. Several important points were decided upon during this meeting including the expansion of the EuPA Executive Committee by introducing a new EuPA committ

Circadian variation in atrial fibrillation (AF) frequency is explored in this paper by employing recent advances in signal processing. Once the AF frequency has been estimated and tracked by a hidden Markov model approach, the resulting trend is analyzed for the purpose of detecting and characterizing the presence of circadian variation. With cosinor analysis, the results show that the short-term

To analyze changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) after cataract surgery based on data from the Swedish National Cataract Register (NCR).

Excavated bentonite from two large iron-bentonite field experiments at Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden was investigated with respect to iron redox chemistry and mineralogy. The iron redox chemistry was studied by Fe K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy and the mineral phases were studied using X-ray diffraction. Bentonite is to be used as a buffer material in high-level rad

The formation of an unprecedented decameric capsule in carbon disulfide, held together by the combination of double and triple hydrogen bonds between isocytosine units embedded in an enantiomerically pure bicyclic framework is reported. The aggregation occurs via symmetry breaking of the enantiopure intrinsically C2-symmetric monomer brought about by solvent, induced tautomerization of the hydroge

Unraveling the genetic basis of organismal form and function remains one of the major goals of evolutionary biology. Theory has long supported a model of polygenic evolution in which quantitative traits are underpinned by many genes of small effect, but empirical methods have lacked the power to detect causative loci when effect sizes are small or moderate. We (i) review traditional approaches use

Although bone marrow (BM) is the main site of natural killer (NK)-cell development in adult mice, recent studies have identified a distinct thymic-dependent NK pathway, implicating a possible close link between NK- and T-cell development in adult hematopoiesis. To investigate whether a potential NK-/T-lineage restriction of multipotent progenitors might take place already in the BM, we tested the

The strong association between t(14;18) translocation and follicular lymphoma (FL) is well known. However, the determinants of this chromosomal aberration and their role in t(14;18) associated FL remain to be established.

Since the first heart transplantation (HT) in 1967, survival has steadily improved. Issues related to over- and under-immunosuppression are, however, still common following HT. Whereas under-immunosuppression may result in rejection, over-immunosuppression may render other medical problems, including infections, malignancies and chronic kidney disease (CKD). As such complications constitute major

This article critiques the notion of a cross-national convergence of institutional and policy responses to science-based technologies. The continued significance of institutional legacies is demonstrated through a comparative analysis of strategies for the biopharma industry in two radically different settings: India and the European Union (EU). Tensions are evident in both the EU 'high' route and

In this article, we continue our study of category dynamical systems, that is functors s from a category G to Top^{op}, and their corresponding skew category algebras. Suppose that the spaces s(e), for e∈ob(G), are compact Hausdorff. We show that if (i) the skew category algebra is simple, then (ii) G is inverse connected, (iii) s is minimal and (iv) s is faithful. We also show that if G is a loca

Objectives: To determine whether the 5HTTLPR serotonin transporter polymorphism is associated with delusions and hallucinations in people with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson disease dementia (PDD). Design: Prospective cohort study. Participants: A total of 187 individuals, recruited from centres in Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom were included in this study; 97 with clinicall