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A growing public awareness of the potential negative impacts of corporate activities on the natural environment and society compels large companies to invest increasing resources in the communication of their responsible conduct. This article employs Appraisal theory in a comparative analysis of BP’s and IKEA’s 2009 social reports, each company’s record of their non-financial performance. The main
OBJECTIVE:: To evaluate the prognostic implication of changes in postoperative B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass for cardiac surgery. DESIGN:: A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected clinical data. SETTING:: Cardiothoracic surgery and an intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS:: The present study inclu
PURPOSE: To report an alternative to the fenestrated stent-graft for preserving blood flow to side branches in the sealing zones of aortic stent-grafts. TECHNIQUE: A covered stent is deployed parallel to the main aortic stent-graft, protruding somewhat proximally, like a chimney, to preserve flow to a vital side branch covered by the aortic stent-graft. Use of a chimney graft makes it possible to
A method to evaluate and recondition lungs ex vivo has been tested on donor lungs that have been rejected for transplantation. In the present paper, we compare early postoperative course between the six patients who received reconditioned lungs and the patients who received conventional donor lungs during the same period of time. During 2006 and 2007, a total of 21 patients underwent double sequen
Background: A moderate elevation of plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is considered a potential risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: We have investigated the main determinants (age, renal impairment, cobalamin/folate status and the presence of vascular disease) of plasma tHcy in 326 patients with AD, and also in 281 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), since about half of th
In the method of exterior complex scaling the coordinates of the Hamilton operator are scaled by a constant factor starting at a radius R≠0. We show that this procedure induces a singularity in the kinetic-energy term which must be interpreted as the derivative of a δ function.
Arm lymphedema is a well-known side effect of breast cancer treatment. Studies of the effect of physical exercise on arm lymphedema are very rare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of pole walking on breast cancer-related arm lymphedema when using a compression sleeve. Twenty-six women with unilateral arm lymphedema took part in a clinical study of pole walking on one occa
Purpose We investigated whether active video gaming (AVG) could bring about regular, enjoyable, physical exercise in children treated for brain tumours, what level of physical activity could be reached and if the children's physical functioning improved. Methods Thirteen children, aged 7-17 years, were randomised to either AVG or waiting-list. After 10-12 weeks they crossed-over. Weekly Internet c
Well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may resemble benign liver lesions on initial diagnostic work-up. The validity of surgical resection for preoperatively unclear liver lesions was investigated in this study.
Objective: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and premature death but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate if adrenergic dysfunction may be a contributing factor. Patients and methods: Forty-nine patients with mild PHPT (serum calcium 2.7 ± 0.1 mmol/L) and 48 control subjects, matched for age an
We report on a forward RNAi screen in primary human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, using pooled lentiviral shRNA libraries deconvoluted by next generation sequencing. We identify MAPK14/p38α as a modulator of ex vivo stem cell proliferation and show that pharmacological inhibition of p38 dramatically enhances the stem cell activity of cultured umbilical cord blood derived hematopoietic c
More knowledge concerning the association between physical activity and objectively measured attributes of the built environment is needed. Previous studies on the association between objectively measured neighborhood walkability, physical activity, and walking have been conducted in the U.S. or Australia and research findings are available from only one country in Europe - Belgium. The first aim
Absorption (mu (a)) and reduced scattering (mu (s)') spectra of turbid media were quanti fied with a noncontact imaging approach based on a Fourier-transform interferometric imaging system (FTIIS). The FTIIS was used to collect hyperspectral images of the steady-state diffuse reflectance from turbid media. Spatially resolved reflectance data from Monte Carlo simulations were fitted to the recorded
This paper presents a systematic approach to robust preconditioning for gradient-based nonlinear inverse scattering algorithms. In particular, one- and two-dimensional inverse problems are considered where the permittivity and conductivity profiles are unknown and the input data consist of the scattered field over a certain bandwidth. A time-domain least-squares formulation is employed and the inv
Objectives: The aim of the study was to further psychometrically evaluate the instrument "Pain Impact Inventory" (PII) in various subgroups. Methods: The sample comprised 384 persons (aged between 18 and 102 years) who reported chronic pain. The instrument PII was evaluated in terms of construct validity as well as reliability. The instrument's validity was investigated through corrected item-tota
Lack of or dysfunction in osteoclasts result in osteopetrosis, a group of rare but often severe, genetic disorders affecting skeletal tissue. Increase in bone mass results in skeletal malformation and bone marrow failure that may be fatal. Many of the underlying defects have lately been characterized in humans and in animal models of the disease. In humans, these defects often involve mutations in
Mitochondrial metabolism controls insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta-cell. Type 2 Diabetes evolves when the beta-cells fail to release appropriate amounts of insulin, causing metabolic dysregulation and hyperglycemia. It is attractive to assume that mitochondrial dysfunction plays a decisive role in these processes. Indeed, while being a rare condition, genetically determined dysfunction o
