We review the effects of human impact on biodiversity of European forests in the light of recent views on disturbances and succession in ecosystems, and discuss recent ideas on how biodiversity affects ecosystem functions such as productivity and ecosystem stability. With this as a background we discuss how to better manage European forests for both production and biodiversity. We argue that the n

Previous studies of gender differences in maximum oxygen uptake have come to different conclusions. Limited data exists where the determinants of maximum oxygen uptake have been evaluated in a comprehensive manner. Thus, we examined 248 children (140 boys and 108 girls), aged 7.9-11.1 years. Body composition was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, measured variables were total body fat

Because low genetic diversity may threaten the viability of isolated populations, conservation biologists have devoted much effort to quantify genetic variation. Two techniques routinely used involve levels of mini- and microsatellite polymorphism, with the assumption that levels of variation at these parts of the genome will be reflected in levels of variation at other loci. Our data challenge th

Establishment of human embryonic stem cells (hES) from surplus human IVF embryos has been successful when both fresh and frozen-thawed cleavage stage embryos have been cultured to the blastocyst stage. This study reports the characteristics of the starting material, the blastocysts, for hES cell lines that were first derived at the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital in 1999.

Aim It has been proposed that the root vole subspecies, Microtus oeconomus finmarchicus, survived the last glacial period on islands on the north-west coast of Norway. The Norwegian island of Andoya may have constituted the only site with permanent ice-free conditions. Geological surveys and fossil finds from Andoya demonstrate that survival throughout the last glacial maximum was probably possibl

Smoking is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease that is a leading cause of death and disability in Western countries. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of lipid-soluble smoke particles (DSP) on alpha-adrenoceptor expression in organ culture of rat mesenteric arteries and human epiploon arteries. Myograph and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactio

Deletions and structural rearrangements of the long arm of chromosome 13 are frequently observed in benign and low-malignant lipomatous tumors, but nothing is known about their molecular genetic consequences. We assessed the karyotypes of 40 new and 22 previously published cases (35 ordinary lipomas, 15 spindle cell/pleomorphic lipomas, 2 myxolipomas, 1 angiomyxolipoma and 9 atypical lipomatous tu

In the present work we will demonstrate that the nuclear dynamics have a strong influence on the delocalization of an exciton in a dimer, even if they do not effect the excitonic interaction. It will be shown that the internal nuclear conformation of the molecules forming the dimer depends critically on the delocalization of the exciton state in the dimer and vice versa. The resulting closed loop

The question of whether very weak low frequency magnetic fields can affect biological systems, has attracted attention by many research groups for quite some time. Still, today, the theoretical possibility of such an interaction is often questioned and the site of interaction in the cell is unknown. In the present study, the influence of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields on the transpo

The feeding of the cladoceran Daphniopsis studeri on algae and bacteria was investigated under ice in an ultra-oligotrophic Antarctic lake from late autumn (May) to early spring (October) in 2004. D. studeri fed on both algae and bacteria with estimated filtering rates of 0.048 and 0.061 l ind(-1) day(-1)), respectively. Algae seemed to be the major food resource for the D. studeri population, how

Serious psychopathology in adulthood may be associated with disturbed foetal brain development, which potentially shows lingering “fossil marks” in the cranial and facial regions. Several methods exist for assessing external craniofacial and internal brain distances but, to our knowledge, no method yet provides simultaneous measurement of cranial, facial and brain dimensions in live subjects. In t

Wilms tumor is the most frequent renal neoplasm in children, but our understanding of its genetic basis is still limited. We performed cDNA microarray experiments using 63 primary Wilms tumors with the aim of detecting new candidate genes associated with malignancy grade and tumor progression. All tumors had received preoperative chemotherapy as mandated by the SIOP protocol, which sets this study

The aim is to study the effect of dimethylsulfoxide-soluble smoking particles (DSP) and nicotine on the contractility of rat mesenteric artery. The superior mesenteric artery segments were cultured with DSP or nicotine for 24 h. The vascular contractibility was recorded with myograph system. DSP 0.4 mL/L and nicotine 0.48 and 0.96 mg/L shifted the concentration-contractile curves induced by sarafo

Aims: To investigate the effects of inoculation strategy and cultivation approach on the performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC). Methods and Results: A dual-chamber sediment fuel cell was set up fed with glucose under batch condition. At day 30, the supernatant consortium was partly transferred and used as inoculum for the evaluation of cultivation approach. Power output gradually increased to 9

Background: Plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers are increased in response to the trauma of cardiac surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). It is, however, unknown whether the plasma cytokine levels and cytokine mRNA expression at organ level reflect each other. Methods: Twenty-six piglets (17–19 days) were allocated to the sham-group (sternotomy only, n = 13) or to the CPB-group (ster

This paper describes a new approach to achieve selectivity in an immunoassay by separating the signals given by two cross-reactive compounds present simultaneously in a complex sample matrix. The method is based on the sequential dilution of the sample containing a mixture of the two analytes, spiking each diluted sample with a reference compound, and the detection by enzyme-linked immunosorbent a

A study of past lake-level changes in Lake Xinias covering the last 40 000 years was presented in an earlier paper. In that paper.. changes during the Holocene were only briefly dealt with. because of poor sedimentary representation. In this paper a Supplementary transect of cores is described, in which Holocene lake-level changes are better recorded. The correlation of the cores was based on poll

Photoneutron production on the nuclei of high-Z components of medical accelerator heads can lead to a significant secondary dose during a course of bremsstrahlung radiotherapy, However, a quantitative evaluation of secondary neutron dose requires improved data on the photoreaction yields. These have been measured as a function of photon energy, neutron energy and neutron angle for W-nat, using tag