Objectives: To develop European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of small and medium vessel vasculitis. Methods: An expert group ( consisting of 10 rheumatologists, 3 nephrologists, 2 immunologists, 2 internists representing 8 European countries and the USA, a clinical epidemiologist and a representative from a drug regulatory agency) identified 10 topics for a

Background: The objective was to investigate in a group of obese subjects the course in skeletal muscle phospholipid (SMPL) fatty acids (FA) during a 24-weeks weight maintenance program, which was preceded by a successful very low calorie dietary intervention (VLCD). Special focus was addressed to SMPL omega-3 FA, which is a lipid entity that influences insulin action. Methods: Nine obese subjects

Objective. The goal with this study was to evaluate the analytical performance of a new cystatin C immunoassay (Tina-quant (R) a Cystatin C, Roche Diagnostics GmbH). The evaluation was carried out at four centers according to a standardized protocol. Material and methods. The Tina-quant (R) a Cystatin C is a latex particle-enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay. Roche cobas (R) 6000, MODULAR ANALYTICS

The existing literature on eco-labeling and green consumerism has been framed within a classical market context where price and quality are the drivers of consumer choice. However, it seems possible that consumers are also concerned about the choices made by other consumers. In fact, it is unclear that people's consumption decisions are made independently of social context. For instance, under the

Abstract Treatment of chronic inflammatory arthritis has undergone major changes over the past years following introduction of targeted biological therapies. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blocking therapy has been the most important biological treatment of chronic arthritis to date. The overall objective of this thesis was to develop a new assessment method of efficacy of biological therapy in clin

Recent high-visibility disasters have fueled public and political awareness of the importance of managing and mitigating their consequences effectively. In response, various countries have enacted legislation that demands the evaluation of emergency responses so that lessons for improvement can be learned. A series of field and experimental studies were conducted from 2005 to 2007 to assess the ab

AimCurrent U.S. guidelines suggest that pregnant women should exercise regularly during pregnancy, and we examined the neurodevelopment of the children whose mothers had taken that advice. MethodsThis Norwegian study included 188 children whose mothers had followed a structured exercise protocol and 148 control children whose mothers had not. Their cognitive, language and motor skills were assesse

ABO is the clinically most important blood group system and its antigens are carbohydrate moieties present on the surface of the red blood cell (RBC) but also on other tissues throughout the body. The ABO gene encodes an enzyme, a glycosyltransferase (GT),that adds a terminal monosaccharide to the precursor structure, H antigen, to define the A or B antigens. Blood group O is due to a non-function

We consider a problem originating both from circle coverings and badly approximable numbers in the case of dyadic diophantine approximation. For the unit circle S we give an elementary proof that the set {x is an element of S : 2(n)x >= c (mod 1) n >= 0} is a fractal set whose Hausdorff dimension depends continuously on c and is constant on intervals which form a set of Lebesgue measure 1. Hence i

The spinocerebellar systems are essential for the brain in the performance of coordinated movements, but our knowledge about the spinocerebellar interactions is very limited. Recently, several crucial pieces of information have been acquired for the spinal border cell (SBC) component of the ventral spinocerebellar tract (VSCT), as well as the effects of SBC mossy fiber activation in granule cells

Foreword to the publication.

For most Thai people, Buddhism serves as a base for explanations about life and death. This article focuses on Buddhist practices and the importance of ceremonies in the recovery process after the 2004 tsunami in Southern Thailand. The tsunami had devastating consequences for most people in the coastal regions. First, through the loss of life, and second, through the damage to and loss of houses,

We have investigated the oxygen induced structures of the Pd(1 1 0) surface in the pressure range of 10(-5)-10(-3) mbar of oxygen, at a sample temperature of around 300 degrees C. These structures, denoted as "(7 x root 3)" and "(9 x root 3)", are studied in detail by the use of a combination of low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, high-resolution core level spectroscopy

The Vasalemma Formation (early Katian, Late Ordovician) of northern Estonia consists of a succession of biodetrital grainstones up to 15 m thick with numerous intercalated reef bodies, which reach diameters of more than 50 m. Four dominant facies types are distinguished within the reef core limestones: (1) a bryozoan framestone-bindstone, (2) an echinoderm bindstone, (3) a receptaculitid-bryozoan-

Stretch of vascular smooth muscle stimulates growth and proliferation as well as contraction and expression of contractile/cytoskeletal proteins, all of which are also regulated by calcium-dependent signals. We studied the role of the calcium- and integrin-activated proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (PYK2) in stretch-induced responses of the rat portal vein loaded by a hanging weight ex vivo. PYK2 ph

Aim: To investigate the therapeutic effects of fluorouracil (5-Fu) and octreotide (Oct) continuous regional arterial infusion (CRAI,) alone or in combination, was administered in a canine model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Materials and Methods: The animals were divided into five groups; group A (Sham), group B (SAP), group C (SAP and 5-Fu), group D (SAP and Oct), and group E (SAP and 5-Fu

We used molecular dynamics simulation to model the effect of urea and thiourea on the solvent quality of aqueous solutions with respect to cellulose. A model system consisting of a periodically replicated cellulose molecule of effectively infinite degree of polymerization immersed in aqueous (thio-)urea solution was considered. Kirkwood-Buff theory, which relates the pair distribution functions to

The 24th of April 2015 will mark the centennial commemoration of the Armenian genocide and is expected to be a worldwide ceremony. Hundred years will have passed since the start of the state orchestrated massacres and deportations in 1915 which emptied the majority of historical Armenia from its native population. A century has passed, but ironically, the Armenian genocide seems to become more top