Children in a tribe of sea-gypsies from South-East Asia have been found to have superior underwater vision compared to European children. In this study, we show that the improved underwater vision of these Moken children is not due to better contrast sensitivity in general. We also show that European children can achieve the same underwater acuity as the Moken children. After I month of underwater

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, slow-growing, low-grade dermal tumor. Cytogenetic and FISH studies have revealed that the chromosomal rearrangements characteristic of DFSP tumors involve both translocations and the formation of a supernumerary ring derived from chromosomes 17 and 22. The t(17;22) (q22;q13.1) translocation generates a gene fusion between COL1A1 and PDGFB, which se

Models of optimal clutch size often implicitly assume a situation with uniparental care. However, the evolutionary conflict between males and females over the division of parental care will have a major influence on the evolution of clutch size. Since clutch size is a female trait, a male has little possibility of directly influencing it. However, the optimal clutch size from a female's perspectiv

At least 10% of all ovarian cancers are estimated to have a hereditary background. Hereditary breast-ovarian cancer (HBOC) due to mutations in the BRCA genes is a major cause of hereditary ovarian cancer, although its frequency and relationship to age and family history in unselected series of ovarian cancers is not completely known. We report here the results of a full mutational screening analys

Ultrafiltration failure ( UFF) is a common complication of long- term peritoneal dialysis ( PD). Functionally UFF is in most cases characterized by an enhanced peritoneal mass transfer area coefficient for glucose ( PSg) combined with a largely unchanged peritoneal glucose osmotic conductance ( LpS sigma(g)). Morphologically, marked UFF occurs with fibrosis of the submesothelial zone in the perito

This paper contributes to an ongoing debate on the syntactic status of oblique subject-like NPs in the ‘impersonal’ construction (of the type me-thinks) in Old Germanic. The debate is caused by the lack of canonical subject case marking in such NPs. It has been argued that these NPs are syntactic objects, but we provide evidence for their subject status, as in Modern Icelandic and Faroese. Thus, w

The general transcription factor IID (TFIID) is required for initiation of RNA polymerase II-dependent transcription at many eukaryotic promoters. TFIID comprises the TATA-binding protein (TBP) and several conserved TBP-associated factors (TAFs). Recognition of the core promoter by TFIID assists assembly of the preinitiation complex. Using cryo-electron microscopy in combination with methods for a

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus) causes a variety of diseases, including acute pharyngitis, impetigo, rheumatic fever and the streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Moreover, S. pyogenes was responsible for the classical example of a nosocomial infection, the epidemics of puerperal fever (childbed fever) that caused the death of numerous women in earlier centuries. The most extensively

Carbon sink strength differences are examined here between ectomycorrhizal fungi in interaction with additions of ammonium and apatite (a phosphorus- and calcium-containing mineral). Pinus muricata associated with Paxillus involutus and four suilloid isolates (Suillus pungens and members of three Rhizopogon section Amylopogon species groups) were used in microcosm nutrient addition experiments. Th

The aim of this study was to investigate if fetal circulation is affected by maternal anxiety. 37 nulliparous women were studied prospectively in the third trimester of pregnancy, with self-rate tests of anxiety (STAI). Doppler ultrasound examination of the umbilical artery and fetal middle cerebral artery was performed at 37-40 gestational weeks. The pulsatility index (PI) was calculated and corr

Mates and females are in conflict over parental care, as it would be favourable for one parent to shift labour to the other. Yolk hormones may offer a mechanism through which female birds could influence offspring traits in ways that increase the relative investment by the male. We studied the role of yolk androgens in mediating sexual conflict over parental care in the collared flycatcher (Ficedu

Botanical macrofassil analysis of a more than 9000 years old, radiocarbon dated peat sequence of a moss peat bank from South Georgia, shows a clear evolution in the vegetation. Seven ecological phases could be distinguished and they can be interpreted in terms of climate development during the Holocene. Until 2200 years ago, Warnstorfia fontinatiopsis was the dominant moss species pointing to a we

The flux and transmission of protein A during microfiltration have been studied. We studied the performance of two commercial membranes: one made of nylon (Pall Ultipore Nylon(66), 0.2 mum) and one of polyether sulfone (Pall Omega, 0.16 mum). The Nylon(66) membrane had by far the best transmission of protein A although a previous study showed that bovine serum albumin (BSA), often used to characte

Software Configuration, Management has been a big success in research and creation of tools. There are also many vendors in the market of selling courses to companies. However, in the education sector Software Configuration Management has still not quite made it - at least not into the university curriculum. It is either not taught at all or is just a minor part of a general course in software eng

An imbalance of the trace element status in human tissues and body fluids has been suggested as a contributing factor for the development of fibromyalgia (FM). The study comprised 38 females with defined fibrornyalgia (FM) according to generally accepted criteria from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). They were compared with 41 females matched for age and Geographic location. The concent

We demonstrate a quantum stroboscope based on a sequence of identical attosecond pulses that are used to release electrons into a strong infrared (IR) laser field exactly once per laser cycle. The resulting electron momentum distributions are recorded as a function of time delay between the IR laser and the attosecond pulse train using a velocity map imaging spectrometer. Because our train of atto

Aims/hypothesis. We assessed how the role of genes genetic causation in causing maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) alters the response to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Methods. We studied OGTT in 362 MODY subjects, from seven European centres; 245 had glucokinase gene mutations and 117 had Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor-1 alpha (HNF-1alpha) gene mutations. Results. BMI and age were si