alpha 1-Antitrypsin (AAT), a major endogenous inhibitor of serine proteases, plays an important role in minimizing proteolytic injury to host tissue at sites of infection and inflammation. There is now increasing evidence that AAT undergoes post-translational modifications to yield by-products With novel biological activity. One Such molecule, the C-terminal fragment of AAT, corresponding to resid

Objective: to describe the trends of self-reported past consumption of alcoholic beverages and ethanol intake from 1950. to 1995 within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Design: Data-on consumption of beer/cider, wine and liqueur/spirits were obtained age 20, 30 and 40 years to calculate average consumption and retrospectively at ethanol intake for the time p

Individual control and quantification of phosphate removal is desirable in dialysis treatment. Currently, no on-line method exists to quantify phosphate removal. We demonstrate that a multivariate calibration model based on infrared transmission spectra is capable of predicting phosphate, urea, and glucose concentrations at clinically relevant levels. The on-line monitoring of these components by

Parkinson's disease is a devastating neurological condition that affects at least four million people. A striking feature of this disorder is the preferential loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the midbrain. Several aetiological triggers have been linked to Parkinson's disease, including genetic mutations and environmental toxins, but the pathway that leads to cell death is unknown. Recent deve

The aim of this study is to examine the two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme in the light of the theory of 'triangular desire', elaborated by René Girard in Mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque (1961). According to this theory, desire in Stendhal's novels – that is desire in a very general sense – is not spontaneous, but derived from a third part, that Girard labels the 'm

Rare species with small population sizes are vulnerable to perturbations such as disease, inbreeding, or random events. The threat arising from microbial pathogens could be large and other species could act as reservoirs for pathogens. We report finding three enteric bacterial species, Salmonella Amager, Campylobacter jejuni, and urease-positive thermophilic Campylobacter, in nestling free-flying

Shock waves are discontinuous solutions to quasi-linear partial differential equations and can be studied through a singular perturbation known as the vanishing viscosity technique. The vanishing viscosity method is a means of smoothing the shock, which we use to study the case of electromagnetic waves in bianisotropic materials. We derive the conditions arising from this smoothing procedure for a

A near-natural coastal dune system in NW Jutland, Denmark was investigated. The area contains a gradient in natural soil mobility with the highest values in dynamic white dunes dominated by Ammophila arenaria, and low mobility in fixed decalcified dune heath with Empetrum nigrum and Calluna vulgaris. A total of 267 plots was investigated and presence of mosses and rooted vascular plants recorded.

The aims of this study were (i) to assess the differences between men and women in maximal activities of selected enzymes of aerobic and anaerobic pathways involved in skeletal muscle energy production, and (ii) to assess the relationships between maximal enzyme activities, body composition, muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) and fibre type composition. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the tibial

The location of lipoprotein lipase activity in rat adipose tissue was studied using intact epididymal fat pads, isolated adipocytes, and lipoprotein lipase activity secreted from adipocytes as enzyme sources. The enzyme activities of these preparations were characterized by gel filtration. The method used for isolation of adipocytes had been modified to minimize activation of lipoprotein lipase du