We present a review of elemental abundances in the Milky Way stellar disk, bulge, and halo with a focus on data derived from high-resolution stellar spectra. These data are fundamental in disentangling the formation history and subsequent evolution of the Milky Way. Information from such data is still limited and confined to narrowly defined stellar samples. The astrometric Gala satellite will soo

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder for which there is presently no cure. Pharmacological remedies targeting the dopaminergic network are relatively effective at ameliorating motor deficits, especially in the early stages of the disease, but none of these therapies are curative and many generate their own problems. Recent advances in PD researc

In Europe, 6,000 young people die of cancer yearly, the commonest disease causing death beyond the age of 1 year. In addition, 300,000-500,000 European citizens are survivors of a childhood cancer and up to 30% of them have severe long-term sequelae of their treatment. Increasing both cure and quality of cure are the two goals of the European paediatric haematology/oncology community. SIOPE coordi

In nearly all domains of Global Change Research (GCR), the role of humans is a key factor as a driving force, a subject of impacts, or an agent in mitigating impacts and adapting to change. While advances have been made in the conceptualisation and practice of interdisciplinary Global Change Research in fields such as climate change and sustainability, approaches have tended to frame interdiscipli

We study the resilience of cities by analysing the relative capacity to sustain their production of technological knowledge in the face of adverse events. Using patent applications in 366 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the USA from 1975 to 2002, we analyse the vulnerability and response of cities to technological crises, defined as periods of sustained negative growth in patenting activity. We

This paper presents an overview of the conclusions from an international conference convened to address current issues related to the provision of Cystic Fibrosis carrier screening within Europe. Consensus was not aimed at stating whether such a programme should be implemented. Instead the focus was to provide a framework for countries and agencies who are considering or planning its establishment

The present study assessed the rate of depressive personality (DP), as measured by the self-report instrument Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory (DPDI), among 159 clients entering psychotherapy at an outpatient University clinic. The presenting clinical profile was evaluated for those with and without DP, including levels of depression, other psychological symptoms, and global severity of p

Mixed phase (rutile/anatase)TiO2 nanorods have been synthesized using an anionic surfactant template. Nanorod synthesis has been achieved using mild reaction conditions and without using any rod-shaped template. The shape and crystallinity of the TiO2 nanomaterials can be modulated by careful control of the surfactant concentration. The novelty of the present work is that the anatase/rutile mixed

The separation of one weakly and one strongly binding impurity from a therapeutic protein by ion-exchange chromatography was studied with a mechanistic model. The effect of disturbances in eight potentially critical process parameters on two critical quality attributes was evaluated. It was found that the outgoing concentration of the weakly binding impurity was only affected by the ingoing concen

This short communication addresses a numerical investigation of the thermal behavior of an electronic unit. The unit consists of several parallel planes and on the top and bottom planes heat is generated by a number of electronic chips. The heat is transported by conduction through plastic and copper-invar layers. Finally, the heat is rejected by a forced air stream in the center of the unit. The

The assembly of proteins into amyloid fibrils, a phenomenon central to several currently incurable human diseases, is a process of high specificity that commonly tolerates only a low level of sequence mismatch in the component polypeptides. However, in many cases aggregation-prone polypeptides exist as mixtures with variations in sequence length or post-translational modifications; in particular a

Implant topography is critical to the clinical Success of bone-anchored implants, yet little is known how nano-modified implant topography affects osseointegration. We investigate the in vivo bone bonding of two titanium implant surface: titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes and TiO2 gritblasted surfaces. In previous in vitro studies, the topography of the TiO2 nanotubes improved osteoblast proliferat

Two differently charged polypeptides, α-poly-L-lysine and poly-L-glutamate, have previ- ously been shown to effectively reduce postoperative intraabdominal adhesions. Though α-poly-L-lysine showed toxicity in doses too close to the lowest the-rapeutic dose, the aim in the present study was to investigate the possible antiadhesive effect of another four cationic polypeptides.

The Ag-TCNQ (TCNQ = tetracyanoquinodimethane) nanowires synthesized by a vapor transport reaction exhibit promising field emission properties. Their effective work function at high applied electric field was estimated to be about 1.70 eV according to the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) theory. In this work, we directly measured the intrinsic work function of Ag-TCNQ nanowires via the ultraviolet photoemissi

Recent climate change predictions suggest altered patterns of winter precipitation across the Arctic. It has been suggested that the presence, timing and quantity of snow all affect microbial activity, thus influencing CO2 production in soil. In this study annual and seasonal emissions of CO2 were estimated in High-Arctic Adventdalen, Svalbard, and sub-Arctic Latnjajaure, Sweden, using a new trace

The milk metabolomes of 407 individual Swedish Red dairy cows were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as part of the Danish-Swedish Milk Genomics Initiative. By relating these metabolite profiles to total milk protein concentration and rheological measurements of rennet-induced milk coagulation together using multivariate data analysis techniques, we were able to identify several

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is, in contrast to non-b H. influenzae, associated with severe invasive disease such as meningitis and epiglottitis in small children. To date accurate H. influenzae capsule typing requires PCR, a time-consuming and cumbersome method. MALDI-TOF MS provides rapid bacterial diagnostics and is increasingly used in clinical microbiology laboratories. Here MALDI-TOF

We study a recursion that generates real sequences depending on a parameter x. Given a negative x the growth of the sequence is very difficult to estimate due to canceling terms. We reduce the study of the recursion to a problem about a family of integral operators, and prove that for every parameter value except -1, the growth of the sequence is factorial. In the combinatorial part of the proof w