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This paper assesses the democratic value brought to the European Union through the effect of the Lisbon Treaty. In doing so, it especially looks at how tendencies and theories presented in this Treaty can address criticism of a lacking EU democracy. The paper first details the so called democratic deficit debate, highlighting the five pillars in which the EU is often considered inadequate. Drawing
To specify the incidence and risk factors for secondary autoimmune diseases (ADs) after HSCT for a primary AD, we retrospectively analyzed AD patients treated by HSCT reported to EBMT from 1995 to 2009 with at least 1 secondary AD (cases) and those without (controls). After autologous HSCT, 29 of 347 patients developed at least 1 secondary AD within 21.9 (0.6-49) months and after allogeneic HSCT,
Objective: To evaluate the precision of the predictive cost-effectiveness assessment based on a phase 3 clinical trial with infliximab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in Swedish clinical practice. Methods: Three patient cohorts were identified: the patients included in the infliximab trial (ATTRACT), patients initially treated with infliximab from a Swedish registry (STURE), a subset of
We used allozymes to investigate the structure of genetic variation in populations of the perennial herb Silene nutans at local (Denmark), regional (Nordic area) and wide (over a 19A degrees latitudinal gradient) geographic scales in north-western Europe. New data from Denmark were combined with data from previously studied Fennoscandian and western populations. We related patterns of nuclear vari
Background: Dead biomass, including woody debris (WD), is an important component of the carbon cycle in tropical forests. Aims: This study analyses WD (>2 cm) and other above-ground fluxes in mature tropical forest plots along an elevational gradient (210-3025 m above sea level) in southern Peru. Methods: This work was based on inventories of fine and coarse WD (FWD and CWD, respectively), above-g
ABSTRACT Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) constitutes a spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders associated with degeneration of, predominantly, the frontal and temporal lobes. The clinical heterogeneity is evident, and early diagnosis is a challenge. The primary objectives were to characterize psychotic symptoms, initial clinical diagnoses and family history in neuropathologically verifie
Patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML) often escape inclusion in clinical trials and thus, population-based studies are crucial for its accurate characterization. In this first large population-based study on secondary AML, we studied AML with an antecedent hematological disease (AHD-AML) or therapy-related AML (t-AML) in the population-based Swedish Acute Leukemia Registry. The stud
The influential scholar Ulrich Luz rejects the view of the Gospel of Matthew as an ancient biography, since he does not find any information about the education or the development of Jesus in the narrative from chapter 3. This conclusion does not give a fair description of neither ancient biographies in general nor the Gospel of Matthew in particular. Matthew actually picks up important themes in
The aspartic protease cathepsin D, a poor prognostic indicator of breast cancer, is abundantly secreted as procathepsin D by human breast cancer cells and self-activates at low pH in vitro, giving rise to catalytically active cathepsin D. Due to a lower extracellular pH in tumor microenvironments compared to normal tissues, cathepsin D may cleave pathophysiological substrates contributing to cance
Objective. This study investigated whether metabolic derangement at diagnosis of diabetes mellitus affects the function of the basement membrane and the excretion of several components and whether insulin treatment can normalize this. It was designed to evaluate urinary excretion rates of transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-1), the carboxy-terminal domain of collagen IV (NC1) and albumin in children
The myeloid translocation gene 16 product MTG16 is found in multiple transcription factor-containing complexes as a regulator of gene expression implicated in development and tumorigenesis. A stable Tet-On system for doxycycline-dependent expression of MTG16 was established in B-lymphoblastoid Raji cells to unravel its molecular functions in transformed cells. A noticeable finding was that express
Objective: To evaluate the results of the expanded National Venous Screening Program (NVSP) as administered by the American Venous Forum. Methods. Eighty-three physicians across 40 states participated in screening Americans for venous disease. The NVSP instrument included demographics, venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment, quality-of-life (QOL) assessment, duplex ultrasound scan for reflux
Objectives: To determine whether among middle-aged and elderly men there is evidence of international differences in the prevalence of chronic widespread pain (CWP) and whether any such differences could be explained by psychological, psychosocial factors or differences in physical health status. Methods: The European Male Ageing Study (EMAS) sampled from population registers in cities ( centres)
Experimental models implicate protease activated receptors (PARs) as important sensors of the proteolytic tumor microenvironment during breast cancer development. However, the role of the major PARs, PAR-1 and PAR-2, in human breast tumors remains to be elucidated. Here, we have investigated how PAR-1 and PAR-2 protein expression correlate with established clinicopathological variables and patient
Objective To document the frequency and causes of maternal mortality and severe (near-miss) morbidity in metropolitan La Paz, Bolivia. Design Facility-based cross-sectional study. Setting Four maternity hospitals in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia, where free maternal health care is provided through a government-subsidised programme. Population All maternal deaths and women with near-miss morbidity. M
Although climate is known to be one of the key factors determining animal species distributions amongst others, projections of global change impacts on their distributions often rely on bioclimatic envelope models. Vegetation structure and landscape configuration are also key determinants of distributions, but they are rarely considered in such assessments. We explore the consequences of using sim
How can the low representation of women in politics in Bosnia-Herzegovina be understood and what can a different approach add to already existing approaches to make Bosnia-Herzegovina more gender equal in terms of political representation of the genders? There has been established a Gender Equality Law that demands a 40% gender quota of political representation, but the gender representation has o
