Acute otitis media (AOM), one of the most common childhood diseases, is associated with a substantial medical, social and economic burden. Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) and Streptococcus pneumoniae are the two main causes of bacterial OM. The 7-valent pneumococcal CRM197-conjugate vaccine (7vCRM, Prevnar (TM)/Prevenar (TM), Wyeth) demonstrated efficacy against AOM caused by vaccine pn

Sildenafil (Viagra((R))), a selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5), induces headache and migraine. Although previously supposed to be a "vascular" headache, no significant cerebral artery dilatation was found in vivo. Thus, we hypothesised that PDE5 may not be present or that sildenafil is less effective on the cGMP hydrolysis in cerebral arteries, and that sildenafil may not be an effe

This paper considers the problem of assigning a finite number of indivisible objects, like jobs, houses, positions, etc., to the same number of individuals. There is also a divisible good (money) and the individuals consume money and one object each. The class of fair allocation rules that are strategy-proof in the strong sense that no coalition of individuals can improve the allocation for all of

Abstract: The composition of the major storage protein, hordein, in wild barley species has been studied by using gel electrophoresis, Coomassie staining, and immunoblot assays. We have shown earlier that it is possible to obtain cross-reaction outside the cultivated barley, with monoclonal antibodies raised against hordeins from the barley cultivar Bomi. These antibodies have now been used to inv

Box jellyfish, cubomedusae, possess an impressive total of 24 eyes of four morphologically different types. Two of these eye types, called the upper and lower lens eyes, are camera-type eyes with spherical fish-like lenses. Compared with other cnidarians, cubomedusae also have an elaborate behavioral repertoire, which seems to be predominantly visually guided. Still, positive phototaxis is the onl

The work of mitochondria and chloroplasts is energy transduction in respiration and photosynthesis. The physico-chemical mechanisms of bioenergetics do not directly involve genes and heredity, and furthermore, redox chemistry is intrinsically mutagenic. Thus the small, functional genomes of mitochondria and chloroplasts are an oddity. Although extensively sequenced and catalogued, cytoplasmic geno

Radiative lifetime measurements were performed with time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence techniques for 24 levels of Nd II in the energy range 20 500- 32 500 cm(-1). For 17 levels, no previous experimental data exist. These results have allowed the testing of new theoretical calculations with the relativistic Hartree-Fock method taking configuration interactions and core-polarization effects i

The effects of acylation-stimulating protein (ASP) and insulin on free fatty acid (FFA) release from isolated human fat cells and the signal transduction pathways to induce these effects were studied. ASP and insulin inhibited basal and norepinephrine-induced FFA release by stimulating fractional FFA re-esterification (both to the same extent) and by inhibiting FFA produced during lipolysis (ASP t

Measurement of net ecosystem exchange was made using the eddy covariance method above three forests along a north-south climatic gradient in Sweden: Flakaliden in the north, Knottasen in central and Asa in south Sweden. Data were obtained for 2 years at Flakaliden and Knottasen and for one year at Asa. The net fluxes (N-ep) were separated into their main components, total ecosystem respiration (R-

The collection of shells is a popular tourist activity in coastal areas of tropical countries. Tourists also buy shells, particularly large gastropods, which may be important species in marine ecosystems. While some, though outdated, information exists on the magnitude of the international trade with ornamental shells, virtually nothing is known about the extent of the regional tourist-related cur

Differential elliptic flow (v(2)) for phi mesons and (anti)deuterons ((d) over bar )d is measured for Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. The v(2) for phi mesons follows the trend of lighter pi(+/-) and K-+/- mesons, suggesting that ordinary hadrons interacting with standard hadronic cross sections are not the primary driver for elliptic flow development. The v(2) values for ((d) over bar

Many insect species dependent on patchily distributed habitats have been shown to exist as metapopulations. Here I investigated the occurrence patterns of the butterfly Pyrgus armoricanus at its northern range margin in Sweden. This was done by mapping all potentially suitable habitat patches within the only area in Sweden where the species occurs (ca. 10 x 20 km), and thereafter checking for pres

Background: Chromosomal aberrations in breast tumors from BRCA1 and BRCA2 germ-line mutation carriers are considerably more frequent than what is seen in sporadic breast tumors. According to Comparative Genomic Hybridisation analysis (CGH), deletions on chromosome 4 are one of the most frequent events in BRCA1-associated tumors, suggesting inactivation of specific tumor suppressor genes. Materials

The structural development of apatite-type chlorellestadite was studied as a function of annealing time by Rietveld refinements based on X-ray powder diffraction data (Cu-K-alpha1). Annealing (900-1100 degreesC) in air of chlorellestadite with the unit cell content: Ca-9(SiO4)(3)(SO4)(3)-(1-x)CaC1(2) (x approximate to 0) produced a nonstoichiometric phase (0 less than or equal to x less than or eq

Objective. Infliximab, an anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF alpha) antibody, is effective in the treatment of several immunoinflammatory diseases. However, many patients experience primary or secondary response failure, suggesting that individualization of treatment regimens may be beneficial. This study was undertaken to investigate whether serologic monitoring of infliximab bioavailabil