Background: Whether correction of anemia in patients with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease improves cardiovascular outcomes is not established. Methods: We randomly assigned 603 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 15.0 to 35.0 ml per minute per 1.73 m(sup 2) of body-surface area and mild-to-moderate anemia (hemoglobin level, 11.0 to 12.5 g per deciliter) to a target h

We studied correlation between crown conditions and tree-ring widths in 260 trees of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) growing on 33 sites in southern Sweden. The tree-ring increment over 1998-2002 was highest in trees with healthy crowns, intermediate in trees with moderately declined crowns, and lowest in trees with heavily declining crowns. The time period with significant correlation between

Purpose: Although there is a need to enhance the therapeutic efficiency in cancer by combining immunotherapeutic procedures with other therapy, combination with chemotherapy is complicated due to immunosuppressive effects of most chemotherapeutic drugs. The purpose of this investigation was to study whether combining tumor cell immunization with the vascular targeting drug combretastatin A4 phosph

Malignant melanoma is an aggressive, heterogeneous disease where new biomarkers for diagnosis and clinical outcome are needed. We searched for chromosomal aberrations that characterize its pathogenesis using 47 different melanoma cell lines and tiling-resolution bacterial artificial chromosome-arrays for comparative genomic hybridization. Major melanoma genes, including BRAF, NRAS, CDKN2A, TP53, C

Although a number of cytokines have been demonstrated to be critical regulators of development of multiple blood cell lineages, it remains disputed to what degree they act through instructive or permissive mechanisms. Signaling through the FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) receptor and the hematopoietin IL-7 receptor alpha (IL-7Ralpha) have been demonstrated to be of critical importance for sustai

Social workers in child welfare often feel that they have to take unfair criticism from the mass media. This article analyses their views of media coverage, the effect on the general public, the local politicians and their own self-image. The method used is focus group interviews.

Orientation experiments were performed with first-year snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) during their autumn migration in a natural near-vertical geomagnetic field approximately 400 km away from the magnetic north pole. Migratory orientation of snow buntings was recorded using two different techniques: orientation cage tests and freeflight release experiments. Experiments were performed under

Mucosal hyperplasia is a characteristic component of otitis media. The present study investigated the participation of signaling via the Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) mitogen-activated protein kinase in middle ear mucosal hyperplasia in animal models of bacterial otitis media. Otitis media was induced by the inoculation of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae into the middle ear cavity. Wester

Mast cells are strategically localized along the microvasculature in tissues in close contact with the external environment, such as the skin, lung and intestines. By releasing a multi-faceted spectrum of proinflammatory mediators, such as cytokines and chemokines, mast cells have the capacity to coordinate trafficking of leukocytes. Mast cells play a pathophysiological role in numerous inflammato

A series of triclinic Fe1−xAlxVO4 phases with 0

Gene expression profiling is a powerful technique for classifying hematologic malignancies. Its clinical use is, however, currently hindered by the need to collect large sets of expression profiles at each diagnostic facility. To overcome this limitation, we introduced cross-platform classification, allowing classifier construction using pre-existing microarray datasets. As proof-of-principle, we

The mitochondrial protein frataxin plays a central role in mitochondrial iron homeostasis, and frataxin deficiency is responsible for Friedreich ataxia, a neurodegenerative and cardiac disease that affects 1 in 40000 children. Here we present a single-particle reconstruction from cryoelectron microscopic images of iron-loaded 24-subunit oligomeric frataxin particles at 13 and 17 angstrom resolutio

Background: The mechanisms underlying high-frequency QRS components (HF-QRS) are incompletely understood. One theory is that HF-QRS are related to the conduction velocity of the heart. The purpose was to test this hypothesis by comparing HF-QRS in patients with left or right bundle branch block (LBBB and RBBB, respectively) to those in healthy subjects and in patients with ischemic heart disease (

This study reports on the molecular phylogenetics of ground squirrels, genus Spermophilus, in Turkey using cytochrome b (1140 bp), part of the D-loop and flanking tRNAs (572 bp), X chromosome (867-1051 bp) and Y chromosome (983-989 bp) DNA sequences. Individuals also were characterized by karyotype and with geometric morphometric analyses of mandibles and skulls. Two hundred fourteen individuals f

The simulated moving bed (SMB) concept of chromatography was applied to treat potato juice from production of starch. The aim was to harvest proteins. SMB offers possibilities to operate with different process strategies and in this study it was shown possible to harvest up to 80% of the protein in a process utilizing very little extra water besides that already present in the juice. After depleti

A virtual haptic-audio drawing program prototype designed for visually impaired children, has been gradually developed in a design-evaluation loop involving users in four stages. Three qualitative evaluations focused on recognizing drawn shapes and creating drawings have been conducted together with a reference group of 5 visually impaired children. Additionally, one formal pilot test involving I