The M protein of Streptococcus pyogenes, a major bacterial virulence factor, has an amino-terminal hypervariable region (HVR) that is a target for type-specific protective antibodies. Intriguingly, the HVR elicits a weak antibody response, indicating that it escapes host immunity by two mechanisms, sequence variability and weak immunogenicity. However, the properties influencing the immunogenicity

A simple and accurate method of differentiating ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is potentially useful to facilitate acute therapeutic management. Blood measurements of biomarkers of brain damage and activation of the coagulation system may potentially serve as novel diagnostic tools for stroke subtypes. Ninety-seven stroke patients were prospectively investigated in a multicente

Background. The ability to predict clinical function of a specific islet batch released for clinical transplantation using standardized variables remains an elusive goal. Methods. Analysis of 10 donor, 7 islet isolation, 3 quality control, and 6 recipient variables was undertaken in 110 islet-after-kidney transplants and correlated to the pre- to 28-day posttransplant change in C-peptide to glucos

An investigation of how electron/photon beam exposures affect the intercalation rate of Na deposited on graphene prepared on Si-face SiC is presented. Focused radiation from a storage ring is used for soft X-ray exposures while the electron beam in a low energy electron microscope is utilized for electron exposures. The microscopy and core level spectroscopy data presented clearly show that the ef

Popular Abstract in Swedish I gruppen huvudhalscancer ingår tumörer i övre luftvägar och svalg. Riskfaktorer för huvudhalscancer är rökning och alkoholöverkonsumtion. Under de senaste 20-30 åren har det skett en påtaglig ökning av insjuknandet, 4-5% per år, i det som kallas orofaryngeal cancer. Orofaryngeal cancer utgår från mellansvalget; mandlar, tungbas och mjuka gommen. Ökningen sammanfaller mThe treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is surgery or (chemo)radiotherapy +/- surgery. Side effects related to therapy are long lasting and adversely affects quality of life. The incidence of oropharyngeal cancer is increasing and patients commonly present an advanced tumour stage with neck metastases at the time of diagnosis. The treatment protocol previously comprised rad

This paper presents the solution for optimization of the ALICE TPC readout for running at full energy in the Run2 period after 2014. For the data taking with heavy ion beams an event readout rate of 400 Hz with a low dead time is envisaged for the ALICE central barrel detectors during these three years. A new component, the Readout Control Unit 2 (RCU2), is being designed to increase the present r

A key structure in so-called metamaterial mediums is the elementary split-ring resonator. We consider in this paper the low-frequency electromagnetic scattering by a split-ring particle modelled as a perfectly conducting wire ring, furnished with a narrow gap, and derive analytical solutions for the electric and magnetic dipole moments for different kinds of incidence and polarisation in the quasi

The population dynamics of organisms living in short-lived habitats will largely depend on the turnover of habitat patches. It has been suggested that epiphytes, whose host plants can be regarded as habitat patches, often form such patch-tracking populations. However, very little is known about the long-term fate of epiphyte individuals and populations. We estimated life span and assessed environm

Abstract in Undetermined The importance of ideation in the conceptual design phase has been widely accepted. Shah et al. (2003) developed four key metrics for evaluating a designer’s exploration and expansion of design space. The four metrics are: novelty, variety, quality, and quantity of designs. The mean of novelty scores of ideas in a set (i.e. Average Novelty - AN) has also been used in some

Based on revision of c. 200 collections of Schistidium made during the ongoing survey of the bryophyte flora of the province of Skåne, it is concluded that although S. apocarpum (s.str.) and S. crassipilum are by far the most frequent species a fair number of other taxa occure in the province. Thus, single collections of four species not previously documented from the province, viz. S. boreale, S.

Today incentives for an increased use of biofuels exist, one being the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED). In this article the environmental performance of biogas systems using industrial residues from biofuel and food industries as substrates are analysed using a life-cycle perspective. These substrates are interesting since they do not compete directly with agricultural land for food production

Abstract in Undetermined Few countries have increased their expenditure on R&D as rapidly as has China in recent years. However, so far, little academic attention has been paid to how decisions are taken and priorities set in Chinese research policy. This paper analyzes priority-setting in China's recent research policy. We find that China's research policy is driven by a variety of different,

We present an approach for electrode modification by using the oxidoreductase cellobiose dehydrogenase from the ascomycete Corynascus thermophilus (CtCDH). CtCDH is a two-domain enzyme, in which the catalytic dehydrogenase domain (DHCDH) hosts flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as cofactor and is connected through a flexible linker to a small cytochrome domain with a heme b cofactor (CYTCDH). This