The overall daily rainfall pattern of Ceará for 19 years, 1974-1992, was analyzed in terms of physiography and atmospheric circulation. This information was used to suggest a regionalization of the state's rainfall into homogeneous areas. The three large-scale precipitation mechanisms (Intertropical Convergence Zone, cold fronts, and upper air vortices) interact and create a certain rainfall patte

Lactic acid bacteria constitute a diverse group of industrially significant, safe microorganisms that are primarily used as starter cultures and probiotics, and are also being developed as production systems in industrial biotechnology for biocatalysis and transformation of renewable feedstocks to commodity- and high-value chemicals, and health products. Development of strains, which was initially

Crop harvesting and residue removal from croplands often result in imbalanced biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands, putting forward an austere challenge to sustainable agricultural production. As a beneficial element, silicon (Si) has multiple eco-physiological functions, which could help crops to acclimatize their unfavorable habitats. Although many studies have reported tha

Amyloid peptides are the main component of one of the characteristic pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD): senile plaques. According to the amyloid cascade hypothesis, amyloid peptides may play a central role in the sequence of events that leads to neurodegeneration. However, there are other factors, such as oxidative stress, that may be crucial for the development of the disease. In

The nocebo effect is defined as the incitement or the worsening of symptoms induced by any negative attitude from non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention, sham, or active therapies. When a patient anticipates a negative effect associated with an intervention, medication or change in medication, they may then experience either an increase in this effect or experience it de novo. Although less

Poly(propylene imine) (PPI) glycodendrimers are promising candidates as drug carriers and antiamyloidogenic and antiprionic agents. In this study the anti-β-amyloid capacity of PPI glycodendrimers of the fourth and fifth generations was investigated in vitro and in vivo. We assessed distinct PPI glycodendrimers including G4mDS and G5mDS, with electroneutral maltose shell, and G4mOS and G4m-IIIOS,

Dendrimers have been proved to interact with amyloids, although most of dendrimers assayed in amyloidogenic systems are toxic to cells. The development of glycodendrimers, poly(propyleneimine) (PPI) dendrimers decorated with maltose (Mal), represents the possibility of using dendrimers with a low intrinsic toxicity. In the present paper we show that fourth (PPI-G4-Mal) and fifth (PPI-G5-Mal) gener

Granular non-fibrillar aggregates (GNAs) are identified as possible toxic species in Alzheimer's disease. GNAs form on the surface of negatively charged biological membranes and as a consequence of an acidic environment, off the polymerization pathway at neutral pH. Aβ (1-40) GNAs disturb the bilayer structure of model membranes and seem to be more toxic to cells with negatively charged membranes

En kartläggning av stentrycksteknikens första decennium i Sverige.

The effect of cimetidine on survival was investigated in 181 patients with gastric cancer. Immediately after operation or the decision not to operate, the patients were randomised in double-blind fashion to placebo or cimetidine 400 mg twice daily for two years or until death, with review every three months. Median survival in the cimetidine group was 450 days (range 1-1826) and in the placebo gro

Introduction: The relative importance of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tau positron emission tomography (PET) to predict diagnosis and cognition in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is unclear. Methods: We tested 56 cognitively unimpaired controls (including 27 preclinical AD), 32 patients with prodromal AD, and 39 patients with AD dementia. Optimal classifiers were constructed using the

Background: In a previous smaller study, we found evidence of a diminished global coagulation capacity after maximal exercise in patients with severe haemophilia A (HA). Aim: To validate these results, we repeated the study in a larger cohort. We also examined if the exercise-induced increased levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF) might prolong the effect of factor concentrate administered just be

Purpose: To investigate the inflammatory response of current and future potential vitreous substitutes in an experimental in vivo vitrectomy model. Methods: Twenty-five gauge pars plana vitrectomy was performed in the right eye of 60 pigmented rabbits, with subsequent injection of 0.5–1.0 ml of Healaflow® (cross-linked hyaluronic acid, n = 12), Bio-Alcamid® (polyalkylimide, n = 8), silicone oil (n

Objective: (1) To estimate the life-time genetic contribution for knee osteoarthritis (OA) surgery and (2) to explore any differences in the genetic contribution across age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Methods: We studied the sex-specific genetic contribution to knee OA surgery in a prospective cohort study of 62,490 twins aged 35 years or older with a follow-up period of up to 47 years (10,092

Neural crest cells have broad migratory and differentiative ability that differs according to their axial level of origin. However, their transient nature has limited understanding of their stem cell and self-renewal properties. While an in vitro culture method has made it possible to maintain cranial neural crest cells as self-renewing multipotent crestospheres (Kerosuo et al., 2015), these same