Pancreatitis-associated lung injury (PALI) is one of the earliest organ dysfunctions occurring in patients with severe acute pancreatitis. In this review we explore potential mechanisms of endothelial barrier dysfunction, neutrophil and monocyte/macrophage activation, adhesion molecule expression, initial factors, mast cell involvement and intracellular signaling in PALI. Different regulatory mech

It has been questioned recently whether populated intermediates are important for the protein folding process or are artefacts trapped in nonproductive pathways. We report here that the rapidly formed intermediate of the spliceosomal protein U1A is an off-pathway artefact caused by transient aggregation of denatured protein under native conditions. Transient aggregates are easily mistaken for stru

The development of new drugs against cancer requires established cell lines. They are needed for in vitro studies to identify candidate drugs and in xenograft models to measure drug efficacy in vivo. Specific criteria need to be fulfilled by cell lines used in the evaluation of potential novel therapeutic agents. It is imperative that they display the features of the particular cancer under invest

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I chain related gene-A (MIC-A) is associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in other populations. We tested the association of MIC-A gene polymorphism with T1DM in Swedish Caucasians; if it has an age-dependent association; and if the association has an effect on gender. We studied 635 T1DM patients and 503 matched controls in the age group of 0-3

This paper reports on a cross-national study of the activity patterns of 50-90 year old adults in six European countries, namely Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It analyses patterns of activity involvement and the resulting expression of satisfaction. Involvement and satisfaction levels are in turn measured against a number of personal characteristics. T

During the latest several decades, there has been considerable interest in revealing the relationship between El Nino-southern oscillation (ENSO) and hydro-meteorological variables. The oscillation is characterized by a simple index, the southern oscillation index (SOI). However, thus far, there is little evidence for the influence of ENSO in Korea and Japan. The influence of ENSO has also been st

A sediment core from a lake in the Kap Farvel area on South Greenland was analysed with respect to pollen and microfossil content, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and radiocarbon age. The aim was to reconstruct the limnic arid terrestrial changes taking place at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. Organic sedimentation started between 12 200 and 12 800 cal yr B.P. Break-up of sea-ice arou

ln this article, we analyze fertility control in a rural population characterized by natural fertility, using survival analysis on a longitudinal data set at the individual level combined with food prices. Landless and semilandless families responded strongly to short-term economic stress stemming from changes in prices. The fertility response, both to moderate and large changes in food prices, wa

Chronic hypoxia is a clinically important condition known to cause vascular abnormalities. To investigate the cellular mechanisms involved, we kept rings of a rat tail artery for 4 days in hypoxic culture (HC) or normoxic culture (NC) (PO(2) = 14 vs. 110 mmHg) and then measured contractility, oxygen consumption (JO(2)), and lactate production (J(lac)) in oxygenated medium. Compared with fresh ring

Previous studies have shown that intrastriatal transplants of dopamine (DA)-rich fetal ventral mesencephalic (VM) tissue can correct denervation-induced changes in the cellular expression of neuropeptide and receptor mRNAs in the rat Parkinson model. However, with the standard transplantation approach normalization of all cellular parameters has not been obtained. This may be due either to the inc

We report on high resolution photoelectron core level spectroscopy (HRCLS) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) measurements of the decomposition of lysine adsorbed on InP(001) substrates. We find that components from the lysine can be present on the InP surface even after annealing to 600 degrees C and desorption of the native surface oxide. We further observe that while a crystalline surface

The major theme underlying this symposium is the development and growth of many new forms of business associations over the last few decades. These new forms are characterized by a combination of personal freedom from partner/owner liability and far-reaching freedom of contract for partner/owners. The question thus becomes whether this development of new business associations amounts to an extensi

The control of systems with long delays, by considering the option of stable/unstable and minimum/non-minimum-phase processes, is a challenging one. Most of the existing solutions do not cover all the situations and, in any case, they lead to complex controllers. Simple controllers, easy to design and tune, are very important in the process industry. In this paper, some control schemes based on a

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with certain MHC class II alleles and is characterized by a chronic autoimmune response in the joints. Using transgenic mice expressing human DR4 (DRB1*0401) and human CD4, but lacking endogenous MHC class II, we show that posttranslational glycosylation of type II collagen (CII) influences the level of T cell tolerance to this candidate cartilage-specific a

Significant rate acceleration of metal-catalyzed Michael addition reactions in water was observed upon addition of small, dibasic ligands. Ytterbium triflate and TMEDA was the most effective combination leading to a nearly 20-fold faster reaction than in the absence of ligand.