Sphingolipids are abundant in the microvillar membrane of intestinal epithelial cells where they are essential for structural integrity and may act as receptors for toxins, virus and bacteria. Metabolism of dietary and membrane sphingolipids in the intestine generates ceramide, sphingosine, sphingosine-1-phosphate, and ceramide-1-phosphate, via the action of alkaline sphingomyelinase, neutral cera

Departing from a critical perspective on intellectual property rights, this article investigates the popular phenomenon of free online file-sharing beyond its hegemonic framing as piracy. The article focuses on the civic potentials entailed in free and participatory culture of new media and ICT. A “civic” focus, in the context of free sharing, aims at assessing the potential of a democratic cultur

Examining the coverage in seven major Japanese and Taiwanese daily newspapers of a selection of events involving both societies in the first decade of the twenty-first century, this paper investigates the phenomenon of rhetorical instrumentalization of the past for present ideological purposes. The concerns of this study are the processes of dehistorization in Japanese and Taiwanese news and publi

BACKGROUND: Illumina Infinium whole genome genotyping (WGG) arrays are increasingly being applied in cancer genomics to study gene copy number alterations and allele-specific aberrations such as loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH). Methods developed for normalization of WGG arrays have mostly focused on diploid, normal samples. However, for cancer samples genomic aberrations may confound normalization an

This article aims to highlight how literary value is constructed today: how it is created and negotiated. It seeks to develop a perspective that considers the manifold and complex value­negotiation process. In accordance with Barbara Herrnstein Smith, the article argues that literary value is generated by a constant and continuous series of negotiations between production and sale: the institution

We undertook a review of studies comparing complications of centrally or peripherally inserted central venous catheters. Twelve studies were included. Catheter tip malpositioning (9.3% vs 3.4%, p = 0.0007), thrombophlebitis (78 vs 7.5 per 10 000 indwelling days, p = 0.0001) and catheter dysfunction (78 vs 14 per 10 000 indwelling days, p = 0.04) were more common with peripherally inserted catheter

Interstitial lung disease often occurs as an early complication of systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim was to investigate whether impulse oscillometry (IOS) could be used to evaluate lung impairment in SSc.

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