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Study objective: The principle of equity aims to guarantee allocation of healthcare resources on the basis of need. Therefore, people with a low income and persons living alone are expected to have higher healthcare expenditures. Besides these individual characteristics healthcare expenditure may be influenced by country of birth. This study therefore aimed to investigate the role of country of bi

Rationale Vitamin D has been shown to be involved in the host immune response toward Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Objectives: To test whether vitamin D supplementation of patients with tuberculosis (TB) improved clinical outcome and reduced mortality. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, place-bocontrolled trial in TB clinics at a demographic surveillance site in Guinea-Bissau. We incl

Neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial tumor of childhood, is derived from neural crest progenitor cells that fail to differentiate along their predefined route to sympathetic neurons or sympatho-adrenergic adrenal cells. Although expression of the high-affinity neurotrophin receptors, TrkA and TrkB, is of major importance in neuroblastoma, the significance of the expression of the low-affini

Background: Diabetes-prone (DP) congenic DR.lypllyp BioBreeding (BB) rats all develop Type I diabetes between 50 and 81 days of age, while DR. lyp/+ or DR.+/+ BB rats are diabetes resistant (DR). The DP rats display reduced weight gain prior to developing hyperglycemia, implying that metabolic events may precede diabetes onset. We tested the hypothesis that temperature measurements could serve as

A series of triclinic Fe1−xAlxVO4 phases with 0 <= x <= 1 were prepared and used in the oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde. The activity measurements revealed that both the activity and especially the selectivity to formaldehyde increased with time of operation for at least 16 h, indicating restructuring of the catalysts. Characterisation of the catalysts with XRD, XANES, and electron microscop

Nitric oxide (NO) is known to be an important relaxant of contractile activity in various muscles including the human uterine arteries. It has been suggested that NO plays a role in modulation of vascular action of arginin vasopressin (AVP), a strong vasoconstrictor of the human uterine arteries. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to investigate an involvement of endogenous NO in regulatio

The PDE3 enzymes or "low Kin cGMP-inhibited phosphodiesterases" have long been established as important mediators of cellular physiology, and synthetic PDE3 inhibitors have been critical to the delineation of the enzymes' roles. Yet despite decades of progress on the biology of these enzymes, the medicinal chemistry landscape relating to PDE3 inhibitors has remained essentially unchanged since the

Objective. C1q deficiency is the strongest risk factor known for the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), since almost all humans with a genetic deficiency of C1q develop this disease. Low C1q serum concentration is also a typical finding in SLE during flares, emphasizing the involvement of C1q in SLE pathogenesis. Recent studies have revealed that C1q has a regulatory effect on Toll

Ion microprobe U-Th-Pb analyses of zircons in variably metamorphosed and veined orthogneisses in the southern part of the parautochthonous Eastern Segment of the Sveconorwegian (1.20-0.90 Ga) orogen, SW Sweden, broadly define two age groups, oscillatory and sector zoned magmatic zircon cores yield 1.70-1.68 Ga while overgrowths, homogeneous crystals, and recrystallized domains in primary zircon yi

Airway reactivity to bronchoconstrictor mediators changes with age. We studied the effects of maturational change on airway responses induced by a thromboxane A2 mimetic, U-46619 (2, 6 and 20 nmol/kg; i.v.), leukotriene D4 (0.6 and 2 nmol/kg; i.v.) or vehicle (0.9% NaCl; i.v.) in immature (196 +/- 3 g: 2 weeks) and adult guinea pigs (512 +/- 5 g: 11 weeks). In the same animals, we measured both lu

Slipped-strand mispairing at sites containing so-called coding repeats (CRs) can lead to phase variation of surface proteins in Gram-negative bacteria. This mechanism, believed to contribute to virulence, has so far not been identified in a Gram-positive bacterium. In the genome of the Gram-positive human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, we identified pentanucleotide CRs within a putative signal s

The extant mammalian groups Monotremata, Marsupialia and Placentalia are, according to the ‘Theria’ hypothesis, traditionally classified into two subclasses. The subclass Prototheria includes the monotremes and subclass Theria marsupials and placental mammals. Based on some morphological and molecular data, an alternative proposition, the Marsupionta hypothesis, favours a sister group relationship

Objectives The aim of the present study was to test whether construction workers, who are known to have a relatively higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), had higher concentrations of cortisol in saliva and a lower relative variability when compared with white-collar workers. Methods Data from two groups of male construction workers with physically demanding job assignments, with either reg

Except for the scattered cephalopod conchs that have given the rock type its name, mollusk fossils are relatively rare in the Middle Ordovician 'orthoceratite limestone' of Sweden. However, an interval in the Darnwilian stands out as being unusually rich in various types of mollusks. Throughout southern Sweden, gastropods became relatively abundant close to the Volkhov-Kunda Baltoscandian Stage bo

In vitro mutagen binding ability of human Lactobacillus rhamnosus 231 (Lr 231) was evaluated against acridine orange (AO), N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), 2-amino-3, 8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]-quinoxaline (MeIQx) and 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine (NPD). Binding of AO by Lr 231 is due to adsorption, thereby leading to removal of mutagen in solution and is instantaneous, pH- and concentratio

CUB and Sushi multiple domains 1 (CSMD1) is a transmembrane protein containing 15 consecutive complement control protein (CCP) domains, which are characteristic for complement inhibitors. We expressed a membrane-bound fragment of human CSMD1 composed of the 15 C-terminal CCP domains and demonstrated that it inhibits deposition of C3b by the classical pathway on the surface of Chinese hamster ovary

Gene amplification is a common phenomenon in malignant neoplasms of all types. One mechanism behind increased gene copy number is the formation of ring chromosomes. Such structures are mitotically unstable and during tumor progression they accumulate material from many different parts of the genome. Hence, their content varies considerably between and within tumors. Partly due to this extensive va

Background: Postoperative radiotherapy decreases the risk for local and improves overall survival in women with breast cancer. We have limited information on radiotherapy-induced symptoms 10-17 years after therapy. Material and methods: Between 1997 and 1997, women with lymph node-negative breast cancer were randomised in a Swedish multi-institutional trial to breast conserving surgery with or wit

Background: Patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease(CCHD) have haemostatic abnormalities, which result in an increased risk of bleeding. The cause is unknown, but recent studies have indicated that an elevated haematocrit, which is present in cyanotic patients, could be an important factor. The aim of this study was to characterize the haemostatic profile, examine how changes in haematocri

Most bacteria with a rod-shape morphology contain an actin-like cytoskeleton consisting of MreB polymers which form helical spirals underneath the cytoplasmic membrane to direct peptidoglycan synthesis for elongation of the cell wall. In contrast MreB of Streptomyces coelicolor is not required for vegetative growth, but has a role in sporulation. Beside MreB, S. coelicolor encodes two further MreB