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Implementation of guidelines for coronary heart disease prevention is less optimal in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate if specific knowledge (patients' knowledge about their own coronary heart disease risk factors) would correlate to their adherence as measured by self-reported lifestyle changes, reaching defined treatment goals and adhering to treatment with prescribed
A crucial assumption in models of ecological speciation is that reproductive barriers evolve as a consequence of ecological divergence of populations, rather than geographical separation. To test the prediction that barriers between populations might evolve in the face of gene flow, we studied reproductive barriers between populations of two Swedish ecotypes of the marine snail Littorina saxatilis
In several twin studies the relative contribution of genetic factors for personality traits has amounted to figures between 40 and 60%. In the present study we investigated to which degree polymorphisms in the 5-HTT and AP-2 beta genes are implicated in the neural processes involved in the formation of Temperament and Character traits, as estimated by Cloninger's TCI. Considering the background of
During formation of polymorphonuclear neutrophils, proteins are synthesized for storage in granules. Whereas sorting of proteins into distinct subtypes of cytoplasmic granules may reflect the coordinated expression of the proteins contained in them, still the mechanism(s) for the retrieval of proteins from the constitutive secretion is unknown. To investigate the mechanisms of retrieval, nonmyeloi
Antithrombin (AT) is a serine protease inhibitor that has thrombin, factors IXa and Xa as target proteases. In addition to active native AT, two other forms have been identified in plasma: the reactive center loop inserted cleaved and latent, uncleaved forms. Both have been shown to be present in normal human blood. Latent AT forms a dimer with native AT in vitro, thus inactivating the native form
The purpose of the current study was to determine whether factor V Leiden and the prothrombin 20210A gene mutation are risk factors for osteonecrosis of the femoral head in different etiologic groups of osteonecrosis in adults and whether patients with idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head have a higher frequency of thromboembolic events compared with the general population. We investigated
Background: Serum IgA antibodies against tissue transglutaminase (tTG) are reliable markers for celiac disease (CD), still the diagnostic performance of anti-tTG immunoassays can be improved. A novel ELISA, using fibronectin (FN) as tTG binding protein, was evaluated for the detection of anti-tTG antibodies in CD. Methods: Sera from 173 children with untreated CD and 97 controls were analyzed for
Providing equitable access to highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) to injecting drug users (IDUs) is both feasible and desirable. Given the evidence that IDUs can adhere to HAART as well as non-IDUs and the imperative to provide universal and equitable access to HlV/AlDS treatment for all who need it, here we examine whether IDUs in the 52 countries in the WHO European Region have equita
Objective: To develop an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify the levels of specific aggrecan fragments generated by aggrecanase-mediated cleavage at the (373)Glu-(374)Ala bond within the aggrecan interglobular domain. Methods: The ELISA employs a commercially available monoclonal antibody to capture aggrecan fragments containing keratan sulfate (KS). Aggrecan fragments generated
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 21 patients with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) participating in a 5-year treatment study with the choline esterase inhibitor tacrin were retrospectively analyzed for the contents of beta-amyloid (Abeta42), total tau (T-tau) and phosphorylated tau (P-tau). A significant positive correlation between the level of P-tau and the number of sympto
The proper use and exchange of the right packaging-related information in a grocery supply chain is critical to achieve an efficient and responsive packaging logistics system. The use of well-defined packaging-related information that is available for all actors in the supply chain also facilitates an integrated and supply chain-orientated packaging development. The objective of this paper is to d
MreB forms a cytoskeleton in many rod-shaped bacteria which is involved in cell shape determination and chromosome segregation. PCR-based and Southern analysis of various actinomycetes, supported by analysis of genome sequences, revealed mreB homologues only in genera that form an aerial mycelium and sporulate. We analysed MreB in one such organism, Streptomyces coelicolor. Ectopic overexpression
In this first clinical trial liposome-encapsulated iodixanol, CT particles (CTP) were studied. The aims of the present trial were to assess the efficacy of CTP in CT and to determine the safety of different doses of CTP. A total of 47 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the present study. The CTP was administered at doses 10, 30, 70 and 100 mg encapsulated I/kg bw. Efficacy was assessed using sing
This study describes a novel isolation procedure for major glycolipids from Bifidobacterium adolescentis 94 BIM. The procedure consists of the use of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)) with hydro-methanolic solution as co-solvent. The major Glycolipids were isolated using the following operating conditions: pressure, 30 MPa, co-solvent concentration, 10% (9:1, methanol/water, v/v), CO2 flow ra
Critical load calculations in the Czech part of 'the Black Triangle' show exceedance of critical load in 75% of the forest area. A comparison with forest damage data shows an insignificant tendency toward more forest damage in areas with high exceedance. We conclude that high exceedance of critical load is a probable contributing factor to forest damage in the area.
A method for the determination of electron density using a narrow beam attenuation geometry is described. The method does not require that the elemental composition of the phantom materials is known. The Hounsfield numbers for the phantom materials used were determined using five different CT scanners. A relationship between Hounsfield number and electron density can thus be established, which is
The blood group ABO gene codes for a glycosyltransferase that adds the ultimate monosaccharide to a glycoconjugate and forms the A or B blood group specific antigen. The DNA structure of the three major alleles of the human blood group ABO system was first described in 1990. This review describes the subsequent developments, including the increasing number of variants of these common alleles and t
The incidence of moderate visual impairment and blindness due to diabetic retinopathy was studied 5 years after introducing a screening system for early detection of treatable retinopathy. Photocoagulation was performed in patients with clinically significant macular oedema, severe preproliferative, and proliferative retinopathy. Eighty-eight percent of 470 Type 1 and 88% of 388 Type 2 diabetic pa
I-131 radionuclide therapy studies have not shown a strong relationship between tumor absorbed dose and response, possibly due to inaccuracies in activity quantification and dose estimation. The goal of this work was to establish the accuracy of I-131 activity quantification and absorbed dose estimation when patient-specific, 3-dimensional (3D) methods are used for SPECT reconstruction and for abs
Human skin fibroblasts in different growth states were incubated with [3H]glucosamine and/or Na(2)35SO4 and extracted with Triton X-100 for various periods of time. Free heparan-sulphate oligosaccharides and protein-bound heparan-sulphate chains were separated by chromatography on octyl-Sepharose and analyzed. A pool of endogenously produced oligosaccharides, present in the cultured cells and isol
