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Alarming water shortage and increased water scarcity worldwide has led to increased interests in alternative water sources. Rainwater harvesting is one of them which is getting more and more attention. There is a huge potential for generalization and extension of rainwater harvesting system as an alternative water supply. This is especially important for arid and semi-arid regions where the water
The formation of complexes appearing in solutions containing oppositely charged polyelectrolytes has been investigated by Monte Carlo simulations using two different models. The polyions are described as flexible chains of 20 connected charged hard spheres immersed in a homogenous dielectric background representing water. The small ions are either explicitly included or their effect described by u
Bacterial vaginosis is a change in flora, the cause of which is still unknown in the vast majority of instances. Bacterial vaginosis has generally been used to represent any change in vaginal flora resulting in an assumed loss of lactobacilli. However, whether such a flora represents the genetically normal state of some women is poorly defined. The present 'crude' diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis
Food hoarding and memory have primarily been studied in two bird families, the Corvidae (crows, jays, nutcrackers, etc.) and the Paridae (tits, titmice and chickadees). In both families there are species that hoard large quantities of seeds and nuts in the autumn and depend on these stores during the winter. Caches are concealed or highly inconspicuous and the most efficient way to retrieve them i
This study investigated to what extent, and under what circumstances, pair collaboration influences the realism in eyewitness confidence in event memory. The participants first saw a short film clip and then confidence rated their answers to questions on its content. A condition (the Individual-Pair condition) where individual effort preceded pair collaboration showed better calibration compared w
Athernsclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS) may cause hypertension, progressive renal failure, and recurrent pulmonary edema. It typically occurs in high risk patients with coexistent vascular disease elsewhere. Most patients with ARAS are likely to die from coronary heart disease or stroke before end-stage renal failure occurs. Recent controlled trials have shown that most patients undergoing an
More aggressive therapy including cytotoxic drugs is increasingly used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and may confer increased susceptibility to infections. Septic arthritis is one infectious complication known to be overrepresented in RA. We studied the impact of disease severity and medication in a group of nine RA patients with proven septic arthritis, excluding those occurring
This study evaluates a novel method for extracting roots from soil samples and applies it to estimate standing crop root mass (+/- confidence intervals) in an eastern Amazon rainforest. Roots were manually extracted from soil cores over a period of 40 min, which was split into 10 min time intervals. The pattern of cumulative extraction over time was used to predict root extraction beyond 40 min. A
Background: As a part of a set of reforms launched in 1995, 10 pilot case management services were established in Sweden, which have been subject to an evaluation with regard to outcome and changes in use of services. The present study was designed to provide information about client outcomes over a 6-year follow-up period. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate changes during the follow-up
Significant soft-tissue trauma induces platelet activation, aggregation, and sequestration in the lungs. This pulmonary trapping is due either to the size of the platelet aggregates or to changes in the pulmonary microvasculature. To evaluate which one of these mechanisms is responsible for the trapping, we performed portacaval transposition in one group of pigs, making the liver the first receivi
It has long been known that rearrangements of chromosomes through breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycles may cause variability of phenotypic and genetic traits within a cell population. Because intercellular heterogeneity is often found in neoplastic tissues, we investigated the occurrence of BFB events in human solid tumors. Evidence of frequent BFB events was found in malignancies that showed unspe
The Iberian Slug, Arion lusitanicus Mabille (Stylomatophora: Arionidae), has developed into a destructive pest in Swedish gardens and orchards over the past 10-20 years. Many attempts to eradicate this pest have been made using a variety of different methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two different types of homemade traps made from simple, inexpensive materials
X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is an immunodeficiency caused by mutations in the gene coding for Bruton's agammaglobulinemia tyrosine kinase (BTK). A database (BTKbase) of BTK mutations has been compiled and the recent update lists 368 entries from 318 unrelated families showing 228 unique molecular events. In addition to mutations the database lists also some polymorphisms and site-directed mu
The glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)-family of neurotrophic factors consisted until recently of three members, GDNF, neurturin, and persephin. We describe here the cloning of a new GDNF-family member, neublastin (NBN), identical to artemin (ART), recently published (Baloh et al., 1998). Addition of NBN/ART to cultures of fetal mesencephalic dopamine (DA) neurons increased the num
The paper reports the results of lichenological investigations in Asveja Regional Park (eastern Lithuania). A large part of the study was performed during the joint 18th Symposium of Baltic Mycologists and Lichenologists (BMLS) and Nordic Lichen Society meeting (NLF), September 19–23, 2011. A list of 259 species is presented, 30 of them are new to Lithuania. Arthonia helvola, Bacidina sulphurella,
