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In the present work, we reexamined the gradient expansion of the exchange energy of an electron gas with a slowly varying charge density. We stay within the exchange-only approximation of Sharp, Horton, Talman, and Shadwick but go to second order in the deviation from the homogeneous limit. The coefficient of the lowest-order gradient correction is obtained analytically both for a bare and a scree

Our newly devised immunofluorometric sandwich assay for measuring plasma concentrations of activated protein C (APC) in complex with protein C inhibitor (PCI) was compared with testing for conventional markers of myocardial damage CKMB (creatine kinase MB), TNI (troponin I) and hypercoagulability (D-dimer, TAT) in 76 patients with suspected myocardial infarction (MI). APC-PCI complex levels in sam

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standard Reference Material (SRM) for seaweed was developed through an interlaboratory comparison with 24 participants from 16 countries. After evaluating different techniques to calculate certified values for the radionuclides, the median method was found to be the most representative technique. The certified values were provided for 13 ra

Fe-only hydrogenases are enzymes that catalyze dihydrogen production or oxidation, due to the presence of an unusual Fe6S6 cluster (the so-called H-cluster) in their active site, which is composed of a Fe2S2 subsite, directly involved in catalysis, and a classical Fe4S4 cubane cluster. Here, we present a hybrid quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) investigation of the Fe-only hydrog

Genomes of prokaryotes differ significantly in size and DNA composition. Escherichia coli is considered a model organism to analyze the processes involved in bacterial genome evolution, as the species comprises numerous pathogenic and commensal variants. Pathogenic and nonpathogenic E. coli strains differ in the presence and absence of additional DNA elements contributing to specific virulence tra

A combination of hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange and limited proteolysis experiments coupled to mass spectrometry analysis was used to depict the conformation in solution of HAMLET, the folding variant of human alpha-lactalbumin, complexed to oleic acid, that induces apoptosis in tumor and immature cells. Although near- and far-UV CD and fluorescence spectroscopy were not able to discriminate be

Hydrophobins are small, secreted proteins that play important roles in the development of pathogenic and symbiotic fungi. Evolutionary mechanisms generating sequence and expression divergence among members in hydrophobin gene families are largely unknown. Seven hydrophobin (hyd) genes and one hyd pseudogene were isolated from strains of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Paxillus involutus. Sequences wer

The oxyntic mucosa of the rat stomach is rich in ECL cells which produce and secrete histamine in response to gastrin. Histamine and the histamine-forming enzyme histidine decarboxylase (HDC) have been claimed to occur also in the gastrin-secreting G cells in the antrum. In the present study, we used a panel of five HDC antisera and one histamine antiserum to investigate whether histamine and HDC

AIMS: To demonstrate a possible inter-atrial conduction delay in patients with lone paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) using 'unfiltered' signal-averaged P-wave ECG (PSAECG) and compare these results with those obtained with conventional filter settings. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty one patients with lone PAF and 20 healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled in the study. An orthogonal lead

BACKGROUND: It is still controversial whether the spread of spinal anaesthesia in pregnancy is influenced by particular physique. Investigation was based on a clinical observation that parturients with a pronounced "pregnant" physique, e.g. generalised oedema and heavy abdomen, tended to develop more cephalad sensory blockades than parturients without these physical signs. Using weight gain during

Studies on geographical profiling have typically focused on crimes with physical crime sites. This study focused on crimes with no physical crimes sites (i.e., no physical contact occurred between the victim and offender). A single offender made obscene phone calls (OPC) to 86 children during the years 1999-2000 in the south of Sweden. The locations in which obscene phone calls were received were

The robber crab (Birgus latro), also known as the coconut crab, is the world's largest land-living arthropod, with a weight reaching 4 kg and a length of over half a meter [1]. Apart from the marine larval stage [2, 3], this crab is fully terrestrial, and will actually drown if submerged in water [4]. A transition from sea to land raises dramatically new demands on the sensory equipment of an anim

Bacillus subtilis is an endospore-forming bacterium. There are indications that protein disulfide linkages occur in spores, but the role of thiol-disulfide chemistry in spore synthesis is not understood. Thiol-disulfide oxidoreductases catalyze formation or breakage of disulfide bonds in proteins. CcdA is the only B. subtilis thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase that has previously been shown to play so

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Abdominal aortic aneurysm is regarded traditionally as a consequence of atherosclerosis. Several microorganisms have been suggested as possible contributing factors for the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The relevance of CMV in the processes underlying the development, expansion, and rupture of abdominal a

An abnormal nevus phenotype is associated with an increased risk of melanoma. We report a pooled analysis conducted using individual nevus data from 15 case-control studies (5,421 melanoma cases and 6,966 controls). The aims were to quantify the risk better and to determine whether relative risk is varied by latitude. Bayesian unconditional logistic random coefficients models were employed to stud