A diagnosis-antibiotic prescribing study initiated by the Swedish Strategic Programme for the Rational Use of Antimicrobial Agents and Surveillance of Resistance was performed in 5 counties in Sweden (total 1,290,000 inhabitants) during 1 week in November 2000. The aims of the study were to analyse diagnoses and antibiotics prescribed for outpatients and to appraise the feasibility of the data col

A straightforward semi-implicit finite-difference method approximating a system of conservation laws including a stiff relaxation term is analyzed. We show that the error, measured in L-1, is bounded by O(root Delta t) independent of the stiffness, where the time step Delta t represents the mesh size. As a simple corollary we obtain that solutions of the stiff system converge toward the solution o

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The excitation-decay processes at the F 1s photoabsorption edge in LiF crystal are studied using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectroscopy. The Raman-type linear dispersion and the narrowing of the x-ray fluorescence peak are observed at resonant excitation. A theoretical model based on the Kramers-Heisenberg formula describes well the main features in fluorescence spectra and allows one to

Quantification of platelet-bound immunoglobulin is widely used in the evaluation of thrombocytopenia. Several methods have been devised among which labelled ligand-binding assays seem to be most appropriate. In series of adult patients such assays have been shown to be superior in separating immune-thrombocytopenia from thrombocytopenia of non-immune causes. We studied 62 children with thrombocyto

Well-ordered epitaxial V2O3(0 0 0 1) films (thickness > 80 Angstrom) have been prepared on the clean Rh(1 1 1) surface and investigated with scanning tunnelling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation. Atomically flat V2O3(0 0 0 1) surfaces, terminated by vanadyl (

In this study the effect of strontium substitution on the hydrolysis of alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP) toward the formation of calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) was investigated. For that purpose substituted alpha-TCP powders with 1, 5 and 10 mol% Sr substitution for Ca were synthesized by reacting at 1500 degrees C stoichiometric amounts of CaCO3, SrCO3, and Ca2P2O7, followed by rap

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of insulin processing to the improved meal-related B-cell function previously shown with the DPP-4 inhibitor vildagliptin. Fifty-five patients with type 2 diabetes (56.5 +/- 1.5 years; BMI=29.6 +/- 0.5kg/m(2); FPG = 9.9 +/- 0.2 mmol/l; HbA1c=7.7 +/- 0.1 %) were studied: 29 pateients were treated with vildagliptin and 26 patients with placebo,

The acromioclavicular joint space in standard antero-posterior images of 151 normal subjects was measured. The joint space was significantly wider in men. There was a highly significant reduction of the joint space with age in both men and women and in persons past 60 a joint space of 0.5 mm or less is not pathological. A joint space wider than 7 mm in men and 6 mm in women is abnormal. The measur

We consider the capacity of multiple-input multiple-output systems with. reduced complexity. One link-end uses all available antennas, while the other chooses the L out of N antennas that maximize capacity. We derive an upper bound on the capacity that can be expressed as the sum of the logarithms of ordered chi-square-distributed variables. This bound is then evaluated analytically and compared t

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules present antigenic peptides to CD8+ T cells, providing the basis for immune recognition of pathogen-infected cells. Peptides generated mainly by proteasomes in the cytosol are transported into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum by transporters associated with antigen processing (TAP). The maturation of MHC class I molecules is controlled

Hematopoiesis is a lifelong, dynamic process, originating from a low number of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) residing in the adult bone marrow with the ability to self-renew and generate all blood lineages throughout life. Recent findings have demonstrated that the Homeobox (Hox) transcription factors are important regulators of both normal and malignant hematopoiesis, controlling proliferation,

The ribonucleoprotein enzyme telomerase synthesizes telomeric DNA by copying an internal RNA template sequence. The telomerase activities of the yeasts Saccharomyces castellii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae-with regular and irregular telomeric sequences, respectively-have now been identified and characterized. The S. cerevisiae activity required the telomerase RNA gene TLC1 but not the EST1 gene, bo

We study a numerical method of calculating the near field of ensembles of arbitrary spheres by extending Mie theory. A recursive method based on the orders of scattering is presented. This method represents a concise way to calculate the near field of aggregates of any number of arbitrary spheres. Numerical examples are given to show its validity. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.