BACKGROUND: Decreased plasma levels of plasma-neuropeptide Y (NPY) and plasma-corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), and increased levels of plasma delta-sleep inducing peptide (DSIP) in suicide attempters with mood disorders have previously been observed. This study was performed in order to further understand the clinical relevance of these findings. METHODS: Examination of correlates between te

Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) is generally regarded as first choice for pharmacological prevention of osteoporosis in women. We reviewed recent studies of HRT regimens and selective oestrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), including controlled trials of at least one-year duration published since 1995 until February 2000 providing data on bone mineral density (BMD) or fractures. Natural and synt

Optimal migration theory predicts that birds minimizing the overall time of migration should adjust stopover duration with respect to the rate of fuel accumulation. Recent theoretical developments also take into account the wind situation and predict that there is a time window (a set of days) during which birds should depart when assisted by winds but will not do so if there are head winds. There

In this paper, start-up of a plate reactor with an exothermic reaction is considered. Dynamic optimization is used to obtain start-up trajectories, while a feedback control system is designed for on-line control. The problem is challenging, since the process model is highly nonlinear, and subject to uncertainty. Limited bandwidth of the feedback control system requires that the optimization gives

We present a practical algorithm for sampling the product of environment map lighting and surface reflectance. Our method builds on wavelet-based importance sampling, but has a number of important advantages over previous methods. Most importantly, we avoid using precomputed reflectance functions by sampling the BRDF on-the-fly. Hence, all types of materials can be handled, including anisotropic and

This work describes the development of a heavy-metal biosensor based on either recombinant 6His-Tag glutathione S-transferase (GST-(His)(6)) or glutathione S-transferase Theta 2-2 (GST-theta 2-2), and a capacitive transducer. The dynamic range of the pure bovine liver GST-Theta 2-2 biosensor was 1 fM to 1mM for Zn2+, and 10pM to 1mM for Cd2+. The GST-(His) 6 biosensor was able to detect Zn2+ and C

Expression microarray analysis identified CITED1 among a group of genes specifically upregulated in the pubertal mouse mammary gland. At puberty, CITED1 localizes to the luminal epithelial cell population of the mammary ducts and the body cells of the terminal end buds. Generation of CITED1 gene knockout mice showed that homozygous null mutants exhibit retarded mammary ductal growth at puberty and

Purpose - Considering the importance of supply chain integration (SCI) in literature and the increasing outsourcing of logistics, this paper aims to study the role of logistics service providers (LSPs) in supporting SCI and clients' performance. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on a two-step approach: a literature review on supply chain integration (SCI) and performance rega

Cellular replacement therapy has emerged as a novel strategy for the treatment of heart failure. The aim of our study was to determine the fate of injected mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and whole bone marrow (BM) cells in the infarcted heart. MSCs were purified from BM of transgenic mice and characterized using flow cytometry and in vitro differentiation assays. Myocardial infarctions were generat

Background: The tuberculin skin test is used for tracing of tuberculosis transmission and identifying individuals in need of prophylactic treatment. Methods: Using a case-control study design, we recruited 220 smear-positive tuberculosis cases and 223 randomly selected healthy community controls in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, during 1999-2000. Tuberculin skin tests were performed on family members of c

We use femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to study chlorophyll (Chl)-Chl energy transfer in the peridinin-chlorophyll protein (PCP) reconstituted with mixtures of either chlorophyll b (Chlb) and Chld or Chla and bacteriochlorophyll a (BChla). Analysis of absorption and transient absorption spectra demonstrated that reconstitution with chlorophyll mixtures produces a significant fraction

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease exhibit complex features of cell death reflecting both the primary lesion as well as surrounding interconnected events. Because Bcl-2 family members are intimately involved in cell death processes, the present Study used dopaminergic cultures from control, Bcl-2-overexpressing, or Bax-deficient genetically modified animals to determine the in

Increased mortality risks associated with smoking are well established among men. There are very few population-based studies comprising a sufficient number of heavily smoking women, measuring the direct effect of smoking on mortality risks. Between 1974 and 1992, 8,499 women and 13,888 men attended a health screening programme including reporting of smoking habits. Individuals were followed for t

Migration is a widespread phenomenon in many ecosystems. Most often, studies on migration have focused on how migration strategies are dependent on ecological parameters, but little attention has been paid to the top-down effect of migration on ecosystem processes. Cyprinid fish in many European lakes undergo partial migration, where a part of the population leaves the lake and enters streams for

This study systematically analyzes platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor expression in six types of common tumors as well as examines associations between PDGF beta-receptor status and clinicopathological characteristics in breast cancer. PDGF receptor expression was determined by immunohistochemistry on tumor tissue microarrays. Breast tumor data were combined with prognostic factors and

Ab initio calculations of low-lying electronic states of CrH are presented, including potential energies, dipole and transition dipole moment (TDM) functions, and radiative lifetimes for X (6)Sigma(+), A (6)Sigma(+), 3 (6)Sigma(+), 1 (6)Pi, 2 (6)Pi, 3 (6)Pi, and (6)Delta. Calculation of dynamic correlation effects was performed using the multistate complete active space second-order perturbation m

Various transport phenomena occurring in an anode duct of medium temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) have been simulated and analyzed by a fully three-dimensional calculation method. The considered composite duct consists of a thick porous layer, the gas flow duct and solid current interconnector. Unique fuel cell boundary and interfacial conditions, such as the combined thermal boundary cond