The technique in Fontan surgery has developed from the lateral tunnel (LT) toward the extracardiac conduit (EC) used to reduce long-term complications such as atrial arrhythmia and sinus node dysfunction. Heart rate variability (HRV) examines cardiac nervous activity controlling the sinus node. This study aimed to investigate HRV in a cohort of children with univentricular hearts, focusing on the

A personal assistant has to promote equality in living conditions for persons with severe disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore how personal assistants experience their work and what strategies they employ to alleviate work-related stress. Thirty personal assistants were interviewed and latent content analysis was performed. The findings regarding the experiences of work-related stres

Host specificity is a fundamental property of parasites. Whereas most studies focus on measures of specificity on host range, only few studies have considered quantitative aspects such as infection intensity or prevalence. The relative importance of these quantitative aspects is still unclear, mainly because of methodological constraints, yet central to a precise assessment of host specificity. He

In the present work we suggest an efficient method, using the whole time course of the reaction, whereby parameters kcat, Km and product KI for the hydrolysis of a p-nitrophenyl glycoside by an exo-acting glycoside hydrolase can be estimated in a single experiment. Its applicability was demonstrated for three retaining exo-glycoside hydrolases, β-xylosidase from Aspergillus awamori, β-galactosidas

The southernmost Baltic Shield exposes polymetamorphic continental crust that was largely formed and accreted during a series of 1.92-1.66 Ga Paleoproterozoic orogenic events and later reworked during the 1.14-0.90 Ga Sveconorwegian orogeny. An intermediate period of metamorphism, deformation and magmatism at 1.47-1.38 Ga has been attributed to the Hallandian orogeny, but due to overprinting by Sv

The decision to relocate in old age is intricately linked to thoughts and desires to stay put. However, most research focuses either on strategies that allow people to age in place or on their reasons for relocation. There is a need for more knowledge on very old peoples' residential reasoning, including thoughts about aging in place and thoughts about relocation as one intertwined process evolvin

Single and double quantum dot devices are realized in InGaAs/InP heterostructures by top gating technology with incorporated High-kappa HfO2 gate dielectric layers. At 300 mK, Coulomb blockade effects are observed in as-fabricated devices, and the charge states can be measured by the integrated quantum point contacts. The developed technology should stimulate the research on quantum devices made f

A new read-out method for antibody arrays using laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is presented. Small, photocleavable reporter molecules with a defined mass called "mass-tags" are used for detection of immunocaptured proteins from human plasma. Using prostate specific antigen (PSA), a biomarker for prostate cancer, as a model antigen, a high sensitivity generic detection metho

Conjugated polymers (CPs) are promising materials for fluorescence imaging application. However, a significant problem in this field is the unexplained abnormally low fluorescence brightness (or number of fluorescence photons detected per one excitation photon) exhibited by most of CP single chains in solid polymer hosts. Here it is shown that this detrimental effect can be fully avoided for short

CONTEXT The number of women in the United States exposed to restrictive abortion policies has increased substantially over the past decade. It is not well understood whether and how women adjust their contraceptive behavior when faced with restrictive abortion contexts. METHODS Data from 14,523 women aged 15–44 were drawn from the 1995 and 2010 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth. A di

With a prevalence of 2.6-4.5 %, infantile haemangiomas (IH) represent the most common tumour of infancy. While the majority of IH does not require therapy and regresses spontaneously, about 10 % of IH exhibit complications such as obstruction, ulceration or disfigurement. With the advent of oral propranolol, many conventional treatment options have become obsolete. This paper summarizes current re

Using a spectral vegetation index (VI) is an efficient approach for monitoring plant phenology from remotely-sensed data. However, the quantitative biophysical meaning of most VIs is still unclear, and, particularly at high northern latitudes characterized by low green biomass renewal rate and snow-affected VI signals, it is difficult to use them for tracking seasonal vegetation growth and retriev

Whether cancer predisposing familial factors are associated with childhood tumors is unclear. The purpose was to study the incidence of childhood and adult tumors in extended families of children with cancer. Family history of cancer was obtained through questionnaires, and the Swedish Population-, and Cancer Registries for 194 childhood cancer patients aged ≤18 years, diagnosed 1972-2009. Standar

Taking the exhibition "Art in the Streets", which was shown at The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles from 17 April to 8 August, 2011, as its main point of departure, the present article discusses street art's association with the institutions of the art world. "Art in the Streets" sparked a lot of debate before, while and after it took place. The article primarily

Agile practices have received attention from industry as an alternative to plan-driven software development approaches. Agile encourages, for example, small self-organized collocated teams, whereas global software engineering (GSE) implies distribution across cultural, temporal, and geographical boundaries. Hence, combining them is a challenge. A systematic review was conducted to capture the stat

Apheresis with different procedures and devices are used for a variety of indications that may have different adverse events (AEs). The aim of this study was to clarify the extent and possible reasons of various side effects based on data from a multinational registry. The WAA-apheresis registry data focus on adverse events in a total of 50846 procedures in 7142 patients (42% women). AEs were grad

Patients with adult acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD) due to posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD) may require surgery but few reports have evaluated the outcome.

Surgeons and anesthetists must respond to the perioperative mortality associated with general anesthesia in developing countries. The safety of performing major neonatal surgery under local anesthesia is one pragmatic response. This study describes and evaluates such practice in a tertiary pediatric surgery center in Bangladesh.