Optogenetic techniques provide powerful tools for bidirectional control of neuronal activity and investigating alterations occurring in excitability disorders, such as epilepsy. In particular, the possibility to specifically activate by light-determined interneuron populations expressing channelrhodopsin-2 provides an unprecedented opportunity of exploring their contribution to physiological and p

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) regulate hormone secretion from islets of Langerhans, and recently developed therapies for type-2 diabetes target islet GLP-1 receptors. However, the total number of GPCRs expressed by human islets, as well as their function and interactions with drugs, is poorly understood. In this review we have constructed an atlas of all GPCRs expressed by human islets: the

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) and arterial thrombosis have been thought to result from two different mechanisms. Recent data indicate that the two diseases may share some common risk factors, such as the activity of inflammation on haemostasis. In this population-based study we explored whether raised levels of inflammation-sensitive plasma markers (ISPs) increase the risk for venous thromboembolis

Despite the constant improvement of algorithms for automated brain tissue classification, the accurate delineation of subcortical structures using magnetic resonance images (MRI) data remains challenging. The main difficulties arise from the low gray-white matter contrast of iron rich areas in T1-weighted (T1w) MRI data and from the lack of adequate priors for basal ganglia and thalamus. The most

In this paper, we present a simple and rapid method for monitoring bisphenol A (BPA) and its biodegradation in environmental water using a fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer chemosensor (fMIPcs). A fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (fMIP) was first synthesized by precipitation polymerization method using BPA as template, dansyl methacrylate as functional monomer. Then a fMIPcs was c

Waterborne carbon (C) export from terrestrial ecosystems is a potentially important flux for the net catchment C balance and links the biogeochemical C cycling of terrestrial ecosystems to their downstream aquatic ecosystems. We have monitored hydrology and stream chemistry over 3 years in ten nested catchments (0.6–15.1 km2) with variable peatland cover (0%–22%) and groundwater influence in subar

At the beginning of June 2010, the conference 'Health. Happiness. Inequality. Modelling the Pathways between Income Inequality and Health' was held in Darmstadt, Germany. Invited speakers and presenters traveled from all over the world; and researchers from several different subdisciplines were represented at the conference. The common denominator of participants was an interest in how societal in

Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (RVA) are performed on many levels of society by many different organisations. In the present paper we discuss how one can investigate if a system for RVA used in a country or a region fulfils its intended purpose. We show how the purpose of the Swedish system can be related to the actual form of the individual RVA documents. This is followed by a content analysi

Since the fall of the communism, many heated debates about the past took place in Poland, with the stormiest among them concerning not the communist crimes, as one might expect, but the Polish-Jewish relations during the Holocaust and in the immediate post-war years. The most discussed history books in post-communist Poland - “Neighbours” (2000) and “Fear” (2008) by Jan T. Gross dealt with anti-Se

Contact allergy to fragrances is mostly assessed in clinical populations of patients. Studies in the general population are scarce and vary in their methodology across countries.

Development of long-lived humoral immunity is dependent on CXCR5-expressing T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, which develop concomitantly to effector Th cells that support cellular immunity. Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) are critical APCs for initial priming of naive CD4(+) T cells but, importantly, also provide accessory signals that govern effector Th cell commitment. To define the accessor

The main objective was to study the effect on progression-free survival (PFS) of adding erlotinib to bevacizumab as maintenance treatment following chemotherapy and bevacizumab as first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

In this paper we consider the classical problem of finding a low rank approximation of a given matrix. In a least squares sense a closed form solution is available via factorization. However, with additional constraints, or in the presence of missing data, the problem becomes much more difficult. In this paper we show how to efficiently compute the convex envelopes of a class of rank minimization

Humidified gas turbines (HGT) offer the attractive possibility of increasing plant efficiency without the cost of an additional steam turbine as is the case for a combined gas-steam cycle. In addition to efficiency gains, adding steam into the combustion process reduces NOx emissions. It increases the specific heat capacity (hence, lowering possible temperature peaks) and reduces the oxygen concen

This article aims to analyse how innovative, individual actions influence the evolution of local industries according to three stages. When discussing the evolution of industries or economies, the concept of path dependency is often a central element. Its vague nature makes it however difficult to be used as an interpretative lens when studying the evolution of local industries. In order to limit

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is potentially life-threatening as it may deteriorate into ventricular fibrillation. The aim of this study was to assess whether the emergency medical team members are able to diagnose AF with a rapid ventricular response due to the presence of atrioventricular bypass tract in WPW syndrome. Methods: The stud

This paper presents an area/energy efficient soft-output MIMO detector that supports the detection of spatial-multiplexing (SM), spatial-diversity (SD), and space-division-multiple-access (SDMA)signals. The developed near-optimal detection algorithms for these tree modes share most of the mathematical operations to enable extensive hardware reuse. A unified VLSI architecture is accordingly designe

This article calls for the recognition of a subsector of the informal economy, which is conceptualized as the survival sector. Based on empirical evidence from Antananarivo, Madagascar it is suggested that beggars, street children and other marginalized people constitute a separate, non-productive subsector of the economy, which is also distinguishable from formal and informal economies because of