We propose that the mechanical property of the interface between an implant and its surrounding tissues is critical for the host response and the performance of the device. The interfacial mechanics depends on several different factors related to the physical shape of the device and its surface as well as properties of the host tissue and the loading conditions of the device and surrounding tissue

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus ( T2DM) is characterized by defects in insulin secretion and action. Impaired glucose uptake in skeletal muscle is believed to be one of the earliest features in the natural history of T2DM, although underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Methods and Findings We combined human insulin/glucose clamp physiological studies with genome-wide expression profiling to id

A new, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) from an alkaliphilic B. agaradhaerens strain LS-3C, isolated front an Ethiopian soda lake. was purified up to 43-fold by starch adsorption with a yield of 50%. The enzyme was a monomer with an estimated molecular weight of 110 kDa, representing the largest Bacillus CGTase reported so far. The isoelectric point (pI) of the enzyme was 6.9. The CGTase

INTRODUCTION: Patients with ulcerative colitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis have an increased risk of developing carcinoma both in the bile ducts and in the colon. PURPOSE: To investigate whether this patient group also has an increased risk of developing atrophy and neoplasia in the deal pouch mucosa after construction of a pelvic pouch with an ileoanal anastomosis or a continent Kock ileos

The exploding progress in genomic technology and knowledge now opens the possibility to actually identify the molecular mechanisms in disease. However, inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS), are complex and polygenic and remain a challenge. One possible shortcut could be the use of inbred animals as models for RA and MS for the genetic analysis. These

OBJECTIVE: Previous experiments have shown that addition of fragmented fibronectin can induce cartilage chondrolysis. In this study we investigated the fate of the collagen- and cell-binding molecules Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and chondroadherin. DESIGN: Equine articular cartilage explants were stimulated with the C-terminal and the N-terminal heparin-binding fragments of fibronec

Major practical constraints on neural grafting in Parkinson's disease are the shortage of human donor tissue and the great loss of dopamine neurons during the grafting procedure. The vast majority of implanted embryonic dopamine neurons are believed to die within a few days of transplantation surgery, at least in part through apoptosis. We have previously found that survival of nigral grafts in ro

High-resolution palaeoecological proxies of pollen, macrofossils and diatoms from an isolation lake provide a long-term record of the Holocene landscape history and shoreline displacement on the Biskopsmala Peninsula in central Blekinge, SE Sweden. During the Preboreal/Boreal transition, the peninsula was sparsely vegetated by woodlands, along with lateglacial dwarf shrub/steppe communities. The l

I give a very short introduction to chiral perturbation theory and an overview of the next-to-next-to-leading order three-flavour calculations done. I discuss those relevant for an improvement in the accuracy of the measurement of Vus in more detail. One major conclusion is that all needed p6 low energy constants can be obtained from experiment via the scalar form-factor in Kl3 decays

Most of the Nordic region was ice-covered during the last (Weichselian) glaciation. During the postglacial period, plant and animal species recolonized the region from several directions and the geographic structuring of genetic variation within Nordic species may still contain a historic component that reflects patterns of postglacial immigration. The present investigation of 69 populations of Si

Interleukin-6 (IL6) is a growth and survival factor in human prostate cancer (PCa) cells with aggressive phenotypes and has been implicated in the progression of hormone refractory PCas. In the present study, we characterized the IL6-triggered PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk signaling. We identified the A-type cyclin, cyclin A1 as an important downstream target of PI3K/Akt. Treatment of cells with PI3K inhi

Sulfate adsorption is an important process when modeling the dynamics of recovery from acidification. In the dynamic soil chemistry model SAFE sulfate adsorption is modeled by a pH and sulfate concentration dependent isotherm. This isotherm has been parameterized by fitting it to data from batch experiments on soil samples using multiple linear regression. The soil samples were from the B-horizon

The Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland - have developed a particular model of welfare, employment and economic governance. It is based on universal access to tax-financed social services and social insurance, full employment secured by expansive macro-economic policies and active labour market policies, highly organized labour markets, corporatist interest mediation, and

Background: The nephrotoxic potential of anti-glomerular-basement-membrane (GBM) antibodies has been demonstrated in numerous animal experiments. However, it is not known to what extent the properties of circulating anti-GBM antibodies in human disease reflect the severity of the disease and predict the outcome. Methods: Clinical data were collected for 79 Swedish patients for whom a positive resu