Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant and a synchronizer of many physiological processes. Alteration in melatonin signaling has been reported in a broad range of diseases, but little is known about the genetic variability of this pathway in humans. Here, we sequenced all the genes of the melatonin pathway -AA-NAT, ASMT, MTNR1A, MTNR1B and GPR50 - in 321 individuals from Sweden including 101 patients

Hybrid finite element formulations in combination with Voronoi-cell-based discretisation methods can efficiently be used to model the behaviour of polycrystalline materials. Randomly generated three-dimensional Voronoi polygonal elements with varying numbers of surfaces and corners in general better approximate the geometry of polycrystalline micro- or rather grain-structures than the standard tet

The purpose of this study was to examine if psychosocial intervention for family caregivers made any differences in describing symptoms of dementia in the persons they cared for. The study population comprised family caregivers of persons aged 70 years and older receiving social services and diagnosed with dementia disorders. A group of 129 family caregivers underwent psychosocial intervention inc

In the two recent issues of Cell Stem Cell, Rossant and colleagues (Seguin et al., 2008) produced expandable endoderm from hESCs by constitutive expression of Sox transcription factors, while Brickman and associates (Morrison et al., 2008) used a reporter gene strategy to isolate replicating anterior definitive endoderm from mESCs.

PURPOSE From 1995 to 2003, 603 adult patients from Sweden and Norway with metastatic testicular nonseminomatous germ cell tumor (NSGCT) were included prospectively in a population-based protocol with strict guidelines for staging, treatment, and follow-up. Patients with extragonadal primary tumor or previous treatment for contralateral testicular tumor were excluded. The basic strategy was to indi

While a dominant inheritance of breast cancer (vertical inheritance) is well known, less is known about a possible recessive inheritance (horizontal inheritance). In a clinical series of 1676 breast cancer patient's family history was scored as vertical (grandmother-aunt-mother-sister-daughter) or horizontal (sister-sister) and related to histopathological tumor type, presence of germline mutation

BACKGROUND: The recently introduced use of robotic surgery in minimally invasive surgery procedures facilitates several steps in the operative procedure. We report the first case of a robot-assisted laparoscopic repair of a Morgagni hernia using the da Vinci(R) Surgical System from Intuitive Surgical(R) (Sunnyvale, CA, USA) in a 7.8 kg 18-month-old child. METHODS: Four trocars were used to gain ac

BACKGROUND Surgical site infections (SSIs) after dermatologic surgery cause pain, prolong healing, result in unaesthetic complications, and lead to excessive use of antibiotics. The pathogenesis of wound infections is complex and is dependent on bacterial load and diversity, among several factors. OBJECTIVE To investigate bacterial dynamics at dermatosurgical sites at different time intervals and

Background/Aims: Little is known about risk factors for acute pancreatitis other than gallstones and alcohol consumption. The aim of this study was to investigate if smoking or body mass index (BMI) are associated with acute pancreatitis and to determine relative risks (RR) for acute pancreatitis related to smoking, BMI, and alcohol consumption. Methods: From 1974 to 1992, selected birth-year coho

Malignant melanoma (MM) is increasing rapidly in Northern Europe. To reduce incidence and mortality through earlier diagnosis, public awareness of MM is important. Thus, we aim to examine awareness of risk factors and a symptom of MM, and how awareness varies by country and socio-demographic factors in Denmark, Northern Ireland (NI), Norway and Sweden.

It is of obvious clinical importance to monitor cerebral metabolism-in particular, cerebral energy metabolism and indicators of cellular damage-online at the bedside. The technique of cerebral microdialysis provides the opportunity for continuous monitoring of metabolic changes in the tissue before they are reflected in peripheral blood chemistry or in systemic physiological parameters. The basic

Haemophilia B is caused by a heterogeneous spectrum of mutations. Mutation characterization is important in genetic counselling, prenatal diagnosis and to predict risk of inhibitor development.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of exercise on cardio-respiratory fitness and insulin sensitivity in sedentary, overweight Arabian and Swedish women with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Eighteen Arabian and 14 Swedish women participated in a supervised 6-month resistance training and aerobic program of moderate intensity. Insulin sensitivity and VO(2max) were measured at entr

BACKGROUND: Although inflammation has been associated with different cardiovascular diseases, the relationships with future heart failure (HF) are unclear. This population-based study explored whether elevated plasma levels of inflammatory proteins are associated with incidence of HF. METHODS: Five inflammation-sensitive plasma proteins (ISPs, fibrinogen, ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin, orosomucoid, a

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of age on outcome and to analyze the projected years of life lost in patients with multiple myeloma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ten thousand five hundred forty-nine patients were evaluated; 6,996 patients were treated with conventional chemotherapy, and 3,553 patients were treated with high-dose therapy with autologous stem-cell transplantation. RESULTS: Mean observed and

It is well established that physical inactivity in adults is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Whether daily physical activity level is related to risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in children has been debated. Furthermore, objective data on the habitual daily physical activity in children have at large been scarce in the literature. The main reason for this is the fac