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AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Protein kinase C (PKC) regulates exocytosis in various secretory cells. Here we studied intracellular translocation of the PKC isoenzymes PKCalpha and PKCdelta, and investigated how activation of PKC influences glucagon secretion in mouse and human pancreatic alpha cells. METHODS: Glucagon release from intact islets was measured in static incubations, and the amounts released were
Purpose: To compare the outcome of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) versus conventional open repair (OR) in patients with a short, angulated or otherwise challenging proximal neck. Methods: The definition of a challenging proximal neck was based on diameter (>= 28 mm), length (<= 115 mm), angulation (>= 60 degrees), shape (reverse tapered or bulging), and thrombus lining (>50%). Between January
Multiple levels of earthquake-induced soft-sediment deformations (seismites) are concentrated in the end-Triassic mass extinction interval across Europe. The repetitive nature of the seismites rules out an origin by an extraterrestrial impact. Instead, this intense seismic activity is linked to the formation of the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP). By the earliest Jurassic the seismic act
Objectives To determine the ability of Bishop score and sonographic cervical length to predict time to spontaneous onset of labor and time to delivery in prolonged pregnancy. Methods Ninety-seven women underwent transvaginal ultrasound examination and palpation of the cervix at 291-296 days' gestation according to ultrasound fetometry at 12-20 weeks' gestation. Sonographic cervical length and Bis
Energy correlations between gamma -ray transitions and the prompt proton decay line in Cu-58 were studied by means of the fusion-evaporation reaction Ca-40(Mg-24,1 alpha 1p1n) using the EUROBALL spectrometer coupled to ancillary detector devices. A lifetime of 0.06 < tau < 0.58 ps for the 8915 keV proton-decaying state in Cu-58 is deduced. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Purpose Postmenopausal women treated with corticosteroids are regarded as a high-risk group due to the effect of both natural bone loss and possible adverse effects of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (IC). Objective To compare bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women exposed only to IC (IC group, n = 106) with that of BMD in women not exposed to corticosteroids (n = 124) and women
We report the case of a patient with mild haemophilia A, due to a Tyr2105Cys mutation in exon 22 of the C1 domain, who developed a high-titre factor VIII inhibitor (maximum titre 1600 BU) with recurrent severe haemorrhages and fatal intracranial bleeding. Based on published data, it appears that although this mutation occurs rarely in patients with mild or moderate haemophilia A, it is frequently
Background Postoperative policies of "wait-and-see" and radiotherapy for low-grade glioma are poorly defined. A trial in the mid 1980s established the radiation dose. In 1986 the EORTC Radiotherapy and Brain Tumor Groups initiated a prospective trial to compare early radiotherapy with delayed radiotherapy. An interim analysis has been reported. We now present the long-term results. Methods After s
A series of resonant Auger-electron spectra excited at selected photon energies across the O 1s -> Rydberg resonances in O-2 has been measured. Applying a spectator-electron shake relaxation model originally introduced for atomic resonant Auger-electron spectra, and using, to a large extent, the assignments for the core-excited resonances available from the literature, many of the observed spectat
Background and purpose: The purpose of this work was a comparison of realistic IMRT plans based on the same CT-image data set and a common predefined set of dose objectives for the planning target volume and the organs at risk. This work was part of the larger European QUASIMODO IMRT verification project. Materials and methods: Eleven IMRT. plans were produced by nine different European groups, ea
Gender inequality in human capital has been shown to be an important indicator of economic development, but has remained unexplored in a European history perspective. Using a new and large historical database on male and female literacy rates, new evidence is presented on the distribution of gender inequality in human capital in European regions in 1900 and 1960. An analysis is made of the distrib
Over the past 50 years, 210Pb, 137Cs and 241Am have been abundantly used in reconstructing recent sediment and peat chronologies. The study of global aerosol-climate interaction is also partially depending on our understanding of 222Rn-210Pb cycling, as radionuclides are useful aerosol tracers. However, in comparison with the Northern Hemisphere, few data are available for these radionuclides in t
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship of hospital admissions due to unexplained syncope and orthostatic hypotension (OH) with subsequent cardiovascular events and mortality.METHODS: We analysed a population-based prospective cohort of 30 528 middle-aged individuals (age 58±8 years; males, 40%). Adjusted Cox regression models were applied to assess the impact of unexplained syncope/OH hospital
Streptococcus suis is an important cause of different pathologies in pigs and humans, most importantly fibrinosuppurative meningitis. Tissue infected with this pathogen is substantially infiltrated with neutrophils, but the function of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) - a more recently discovered antimicrobial strategy of neutrophils - in host defence against Strep. suis has not been investig
Somatic cells can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by overexpressing combinations of factors such as Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. Reprogramming is slow and stochastic, suggesting the existence of barriers limiting its efficiency. Here we identify senescence as one such barrier. Expression of the four reprogramming factors triggers senescence by up-regulating p53, p16INK4a,
Children spend a considerable part of their day in preschool, where they may be exposed to hazardous chemicals in indoor dust. In this study, brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and organophosphate esters (OPEs) were analyzed in preschool dust (n = 100) and children's hand wipe samples (n = 100), and diphenyl phosphate (DPHP) was analyzed in urine (n = 113). Here we assessed children's exposure via
Background. Arterial spin labeling is an MR imaging technique that measures cerebral blood flow (CBF) noninvasively. The aim of the study is to assess the diagnostic performance of arterial spin labeling (ASL) MR imaging for differentiation between high-grade glioma and low-grade glioma. Methods. Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched. Study selection e
The IEEE 1687 standard describes reconfigurable structures allowing to flexibly access the instruments existing within devices (e.g., to support test, debug, calibration, etc.), by the use of configurable modules acting as controllable switches. The increasing adoption of this standard requires the availability of algorithms and tools to automate its usage. Since the resulting networks could inevi
In the paper we address an important problem in minimum cost design of Elastic Optical Networks (EON), namely the problem of optimizing the configurations of Sliceable-Bandwidth Variable Transceivers (S-BVT) at the EON nodes. We first show how this optimization problem can be viewed and modeled as a combination of three bin-packing subproblems, with additional constraints ensuring feasibility of t
