Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a devastating disease, in the majority of cases caused by a rupture of an arterial intracranial aneurysm. The effect of systemic low-grade inflammation on incidence of SAH is not known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between leukocyte count, a marker of systemic inflammation, and incidence of SAH in a large cohort study.

The present article discusses the Central Swedish word accents – Accent 1 and Accent 2 – and their productive association to suffixes from the point of view of prediction theories of speech processing. Based on recent neurophysiological findings, we propose that both word accents are used predictively, but that Accent 1 is more ‘predictively useful’ than Accent 2, due to the fact that Accent 1 ste

We demonstrate MOVPE-growth of InAs/AlAs0.16Sb0.84/GaSb and InAs/AlAs0.16Sb0.84/InAs heterostructures of excellent quality as observed by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction 2-theta-omega and rocking curve scans with full width at half maximum routinely below 100 arcsec. Key points regarding interface control for heteroepitaxial nucleation are reviewed and the choice of suitable

We report lifetime measurements of the 6 levels in the 3d(6)(5D)4d e(6)G term in Fe II at an energy of 10.4 eV, and f-values for 14 transitions from the investigated levels. The lifetimes were measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence on ions in a laser-produced plasma. The high excitation energy, and the fact that the levels have the same parity as the the low-lying states directly

This paper examines policy processes surrounding the rise and fall of the proposed EU-wide policy instrument designed to help achieve EU´s renewable energy targets – the trading of Guarantees of Origin (GO). It discusses its origins and examines factors in the policy processes over time leading first to its development and then to its rejection. A first analysis looks at the near-term policy-makin

In order to make the hydrogen economy fully sustainable, renewable resources have to be employed for its production. Simulation models, developed with Aspen Plus to calculate mass and energy balances, will be used to integrate the process steps necessary to produce pure hydrogen from biomass in a 2-stage fermentation process. The main challenge is the reduction of water and heat demand connected t

Cell-free foetal haemoglobin (HbF) has been shown to play a role in the pathology of preeclampsia (PE). In the present study, we aimed to further characterize the harmful effects of extracellular free haemoglobin (Hb) on the placenta. In particular, we investigated whether cell-free Hb affects the release of placental syncytiotrophoblast vesicles (STBMs) and their micro-RNA content.

Electrostatic repulsions can drive crystallization in many-particle systems. For charged colloidal systems, the phase boundaries as well as crystal structure are highly tunable by experimental parameters such as salt concentration and pH. By using projections of the colloid-ion mixture to a system of (soft) repulsive spheres and the one-component plasma (OCP), we study the hitherto unexplained exp

Telomeres are tandem repeats of TTAGGG at the end of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomeres play a key role in chromosome stability and regulation of the cellular lifespan. Telomeres are shortened during cell division, and probably, by not yet well characterised factors in the environment. Short telomeres in peripheral blood have repeatedly been associated with increased risk of various types of cancer

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) significantly reduces symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) such as bradykinesia, tremor and rigidity. It also reduces the need for anti-PD medication, and thereby potential side-effects of L-Dopa. Although DBS in the STN is a highly effective therapeutic intervention in PD, its mechanism and effects on oculomotor eye movement control an

An evacuation experiment was performed in a road tunnel in order to investigate how motorists behave and emotionally respond when exposed to a fire emergency, how information and wayfinding systems are perceived and whether green flashing lights can influence exit choice. The participants believed that they were taking part in a study about driving behaviour. Approximately I kill inside the tunnel

The article engages in the critical debates over the utopian aspects of the Western heritage that took place in the wake of the Second World War. A striking feature of these debates is how thinkers from the entire political spectra – from Georg Lukács to Isaiah Berlin and Eric Voegelin – made very similar analyses, although they draw quite different conclusions. Hence all of them blamed German Rom

The high spin states in the Ce-139 nucleus have been studied by in-beam gamma-spectroscopic techniques using the reaction Te-130(C-12,3n)Ce-139 at E-beam=65 MeV. A gamma detector array, consisting of five Compton-suppressed Clover detectors was used for coincidence measurements. 15 new levels have been proposed and 28 new gamma transitions have been assigned to Ce-139 on the basis of gamma gamma c

Fibrinogen is a key player in the blood coagulation system, and is upon activation with thrombin converted into fibrin that subsequently forms a fibrin clot. In the present study, we investigated the role of fibrinogen in the early innate immune response. Here we show that the viability of fibrinogen-binding bacteria is affected in human plasma activated with thrombin. Moreover, we found that the

In Skaraborg, Sweden, the economic responsibility for tax-financed prescription drug costs was transferred from the regional administrative level to the local level (health care centre; HCC) in 2003. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of this decentralization of economic responsibility on adherence to guidelines for prescribing lipid-lowering drugs. Data from all 24 public HCCs in

If we know that certain ways of making decisions are associated with real-life success, is this then how we should decide? In this paper the relationship between normative and descriptive theories of decision-making is examined. First, it is shown that the history of the decision sciences ensures that it is impossible to separate descriptive theories from normative ones. Second, recent psychologic

Background: Impaired hand function is common in patients with arthritis and it affects performance of daily activities; thus, hand exercises are recommended. There is little information on the extent to which the disease affects activation of the flexor and extensor muscles during these hand-dexterity tasks. The purpose of this study was to compare muscle activation during such tasks in subjects w

A prey species using crypsis to avoid predators has the opportunity to evolve polymorphic crypsis when it is being exposed to two (or more) habitats with different backgrounds. Here, we investigate when this phenomenon can occur, in a simulation study with a sexually reproducing prey and a predator that can learn to find hiding prey, represented by an artificial neural network. Initially, the prey

Sjögren's syndrome is a systemic autoimmune disease that frequently presents concomitantly with other systemic connective tissue or organ-specific autoimmune diseases. This association is well described for systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. The presence of Sjögren's syndrome influences the expression of the other autoimmune disease to some degree, for instance by increasing fa