Asthma is an inflammatory disorder in which the small airways of the lung play an important role. There is also evidence for the systemic nature of asthma. No current method adequately measures small airways function alone. Therefore, a combination of functional and clinical parameters should be used to ensure that patients with asthma are adequately treated with due consideration of the small air

A model is presented for calculating the minimum amount of blow-through steam for condensate drainage in paper drying cylinders. Two criteria for cylinder flooding are given. First, the condensate must be lifted from the inner cylinder wall by the decrease in pressure in the siphon inlet. Secondly, the drag force on the drops in the siphon tube must be higher than the centrifugal force acting in t

Mammalian members of the cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) family are expressed predominantly in the male reproductive tract and are implicated in the process of reproduction from spermiogenesis, posttesticular sperm maturation, and capacitation to oocyte-sperm fusion, and possibly also penetration of the zona pellucida. Rodents express only 2 CRISPs (CRISP-1 and CRISP-2) in their male repro

Source-sorted municipal organic waste collected from different dwelling types in five Danish cities and pre-treated at three different plants was sampled and characterized several times during one year to investigate the origin of any differences in composition of the pre-treated waste introduced by city, pre-treatment technology, dwelling type or annual season. The investigated pre-treatment tech

1 Recent studies have indicated that mast cells play an intermediate role in chemokine-induced neutrophil recruitment in vivo. 2 The aim of the present investigation was to determine the role of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in neutrophil recruitment provoked by the CXC chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2). For this purpose, we used mast cell- and TNF-alpha-deficient mice

The results of a theoretical study of the ground state, 1(1)A(g), and of the lowest B-1(u) states of trans-stilbene are presented. The vertical and adiabatic excitation energies of the lowest B-1(u) states have been computed using multiconfigurational SCF theory, followed by second-order perturbation. theory. It is shown that the two lowest excited states are separated by a small energy gap in the

Understanding the population highs and lows of periodic outbreaks of insect pests should contribute to more efficient control measures. As Ranta and colleagues discuss in their Perspective, a new modeling approach (Bjørnstad et al.) has accurately predicted the direction and speed of traveling waves of larch budmoth outbreaks, which have defoliated large areas of larch forest in the European Alps.

Mechanisms of bacterial resistance to fluoroquinolones may be grouped into three principal categories: gene mutations of DNA topoisomerase II (GyrA or GyrB), DNA topoisomerase IV (ParC or ParE), decrease of outer membrane permeation and upregulation of multi-drug efflux pump (active efflux system).(1) Efflux pumps are transport proteins removing toxic substrates ( including virtually all classes o

Simulated solar UV/TiO2 photocatalysis was efficient to detoxify a mixture of 100 mg phenol l(-1) and 50 mgp-nitrophenol (PNP) l(-1) and allow the subsequent biodegradation of the remaining pollutants and their photocatalytic products under photosynthetic aeration with Chlorella vulgaris. Photocatalytic degradation of phenol and PNP was well described by pseudo-first order kinetics (r(2) >0.98) wi

A new twin heat conduction microcalorimeter for the study of vapour sorption isotherms, sorption enthalpies and the kinetics of sorption has been developed. Each calorimeter has two calorimetric vessels which are connected by a steel tube. The upper vessel (a vaporization chamber) is charged with a vapour forming liquid and the lower vessel (a sorption chamber) contains the sorbent sample. An iden

Most computers today are embedded, i.e. they are built into some products or system that is not perceived as a computer. It is highly desirable to use modern safe object-oriented software techniques for a rapid development of reliable systems. However, languages and run-time platforms for embedded systems have not kept up with the front line of language development. Reasons include complex and, in

Amperometric biosensors for glucose, ethanol, and biogenic amines (putrescine) were constructed using oxidase/peroxidase bienzyme systems. The H2O2 produced by the oxidase in reaction with its substrate is converted into a measurable signal via a novel peroxidase purified from sweet potato peels. All developed biosensors are based on redox hydrogels formed of oxidases (glucose oxidase, alcohol oxi

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We have studied the use of complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) among 233 consecutive breast cancer patients operated on at the Lund University Hospital, Sweden between 2002 and 2004. Questionnaires were administered preoperatively (n = 233), and again 3-6 months post-operatively (n = 167) and one year after surgery (n = 88). At baseline, 14,5% used CAM, 3-6 months post-operatively 14,4% used Bruket av naturläkemedel och andra faktorer som kan interagera med behandling av bröstcancer kartläggs i en pågående studie hos bröstcancerpatienter i Lund; i artikeln redovisas basdata för 233 patienter. Vid inskrivningen använde totalt 14,5 procent av patienterna naturläkemedel, vid 1-årskontrollen 18,2 procent. Sammanlagt 35 olika preparat användes, varav soja och övriga fytoöstrogener, vitlök,

An important question in human genetics is the extent to which genes causing monogenic forms of disease harbor common variants that may contribute to the more typical form of that disease. We aimed to comprehensively evaluate the extent to which common variation irk the six known maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) genes, which cause a monogenic form of type 2 diabetes, is associated with

Popular Abstract in Swedish Denna avhandling tillhör området professions- och skolutvecklingsforskning. Avhandlingen tar upp hur förskolepersonal konstruerar sig som professionella subjekt, dvs hur förskolepersonal skapar sitt professionella jag, sin identitet, utifrån individuella såväl som kollektiva erfarenheter. Avhandlingen tar också upp på vilket sätt reflekterande samtal bidrar till denna sA major aim initially was to create a forum for reflective dialogue on the preschool professions and how it is experienced on a daily basis, so as to be able to investigate how members of the preschool staff construct their professional subject. The following are major questions that were posed: How do preschool staff members talk about themselves, their profession and their work? In what way does