Enzymes that affect glycoproteins of the human immune system, and thereby modulate defense responses, are abundant among bacterial pathogens. Two endoglycosidases from the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, EndoS and EndoS2, have recently been shown to hydrolyze N-linked glycans of human IgG. However, detailed characterization and comparison of the hydrolyzing activities have not been performe

The abundant serine proteinase inhibitor heparin cofactor II (HCII) has been proposed to inhibit extravascular thrombin. However, the exact physiological role of this plasma protein remains enigmatic. In this study, we demonstrate a previously unknown role for HCII in host defense. Proteolytic cleavage of the molecule induced a conformational change, thereby inducing endotoxin-binding and antimicr

This is a study of the intersubjective recognizability of the “proper” accomplishment of children’s actions, and in particular of how the status of actions as properly completed is often actively made recognizable through speech and various modulations of bodily movement. In addition to analyzing how children do this in a number of cases, it is also argued that these manifestations of action compl

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are thought to be pathogenic in ANCA associated vasculitis (AAV) by stimulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) to degranulate and produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). The aim of this study was to investigate if PMNs from AAV patients are more readily stimulated by ANCA compared with PMNs from healthy controls (HCs). Differences in ANCA character

A new combined molecular and morphological phylogeny of the Eulophidae is presented with special reference to the subfamily Entedoninae. We examined 28S D2D5 and CO1 gene regions with parsimony and partitioned Bayesian analyses, and examined the impact of a small set of historically recognized morphological characters on combined analyses. Eulophidae was strongly supported as monophyletic only aft

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and a residue from dry olive cake (DOC) supplemented with rock phosphate (RP) and treated with either Aspergillus niger (DOC-A) or Phanerochaete chrysosporium (DOC-P), were assayed in a natural, semi-arid soil using Trifolium repens or Dorycnium pentaphyllum plants. The effects of the AM fungi and/or DOC-A were compared with P-fertilisation (P) over eleven success

Purpose: This study, based on data from an empirical investigation, combines quantitative and qualitative approaches in a mixed-method design to explore dependency in elderly people newly diagnosed with cancer. Methods and sample: 101 elderly people newly diagnosed with cancer were included in the quantitative part, with 16 in the qualitative part. A questionnaire concerning quality of life and de

Stem cell-based approaches for the treatment of stroke have been the subject of intensive research over the past decade. Based on accumulated experimental evidence, stem cell-based therapy is a very promising prospect for the development of a novel treatment to restore stroke-damaged brain and impaired neurological function. Studies performed on experimental animal models of stroke employed a vari

Background and purpose - The incidence and annual number of hip fractures have increased worldwide during the past 50 years, and projections have indicated a further increase. During the last decade, however, a down-turn in the incidence of hip fracture has been seen in the western world. We predicted the development of hip fractures in Sweden until the year 2050. Methods - We reviewed surgical re

Wall-collision broadening of near-infrared absorption lines of molecular oxygen confined in nanoporous zirconia is studied by employing high-resolution diode-laser spectroscopy. The broadening is studied for pores of different sizes under a range of pressures, providing new insights on how wall collisions and intermolecular collisions influence the total spectroscopic line profile. The pressure se

Despite the proven efficacy of acyclovir therapy, herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) continues to cause substantial morbidity and mortality. Among patients with HSE treated with acyclovir (ACV), the mortality rate is approximately 14-19%. Among survivors, 45-60% have neuropsychological sequelae at 1 year. Thus, improving therapeutic approaches to HSE remains a high priority.

Eye tracking was used to investigate the task of assessing how likely it is that one would be able to rest and recover in small urban spaces and how it affects the view pattern. We assess which environmental components, for example, flowers and trees, participants look at when evaluating restoration likelihood. Further, we compare number of fixations in restorative and non-restorative park photos.

The ageing of the vascular tree is a fundamental reflection of biological ageing in general and a determinant of organ function. In the arterial wall this is characterized by a reduction in the elastin content, as well as by an increased content of collagen and its cross-linkages, leading to increased arterial stiffness and elevated central as well as brachial blood pressure, accompanied by increa

This paper looks at trust as an object of historical analysis in micro-credit exchanges at the village level before the advent of capitalism. Based on the examination of loans recorded by the notary over the course of the eighteenth century, this paper seeks to shed light not only on the mechanisms of norms of cooperation and trust but also, and more importantly, on the paradigm of trust over time

This chapter describes the architecture of a middleware layer between low-level sensing devices and higher level software layers, to support the requirements of a software infrastructure for networked enterprises. The development of such middleware layer is an important problem, as demonstrated by the number or research papers and the variety of approaches that can be found in literature. The main

Background Achievement of global health goals will require assessment of progress not only nationally but also for population subgroups. We aimed to assess how the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in health changes in relation to different rates of national progress in coverage of interventions for the health of mothers and children. Methods We assessed coverage in low-income and middle-inc

Motivated by the previously documented discrepancy between actual and predicted power, the present paper provides new tools for analyzing the local asymptotic power of panel unit root tests. These tools are appropriate in general when considering panel data with a dominant autoregressive root of the form ρi = 1 + ciN−κT−τ, where i = 1, ..., N indexes the cross-sectional units, T is the number of t

Objective: Since it is difficult to identify women at increased risk of fetal brachial plexus birth palsy (BPBP) during labor and delivery, we aimed to construct and validate a risk score. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was undertaken in 2001 and 2006 in an urban context in Malmo, Sweden. A risk score was constructed for all women who had received routine municipal maternal health car

To develop a whole joint scoring system, the Anterior Cruciate Ligament OsteoArthritis Score (ACLOAS), for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based assessment of acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and follow-up of structural sequelae, and to assess its reliability.