Flight feather moult in small passerines is realized in several ways. Some species moult once after breeding or once on their wintering grounds; others even moult twice. The adaptive significance of this diversity is still largely unknown. We compared the resistance to mechanical fatigue of flight feathers from the chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita, a migratory species moulting once on its breedin

Objective - To screen risk groups for low bone mineral density by quantitative ultrasound in primary health care. Design - Cross-sectional. Intervention - None. Subjects - Risk categories for osteoporosis (a fragility fracture, malabsorption, immobilisation, inflammatory joint disease, glucocorticoid, fenantoin or thyroxin treatment, renal insufficiency or "miscellaneous"), 775 women and 179 men a

Genetic variation resulting from changes during somatic development in modular organisms may be inherited by subsequent generations due to the late development of their germ line. As a consequence, both sexually and asexually produced offspring may be genetically variable. The presence of heritable intraclonal variation and the great life history variation among modular organisms requires that evo

House dust mite allergens express protease activity and it has been suggested that this property has pathogenic effects by increasing airway absorption. In accordance, house dust mite allergens may increase mucosal permeability in vitro. The objective of the present study was to examine nasal absorption of desmopressin (1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin) in patients with perennial house dust mite

Several human histo-blood groups are glycosphingolipids, including P/P1/P-k. Glycosphingolipids are implicated in HIV-host-cell-fusion and some bind to HIV-gp120 in vitro. Based on our previous studies on Fabry disease, where P-k accumulates and reduces infection, and a soluble P-k analog that inhibits infection, we investigated cell surface-expressed P-k in HIV infection. HIV-1 infection of perip

Advances in minimally invasive surgery have made laparoscopy and full-thickness bowel biopsy possible in the investigation of patients with suspected gastrointestinal neuromuscular disorders. The safety and diagnostic yield of this investigation have not been formally reported. A prospective study was undertaken of 124 patients with clinico-physiological diagnoses of chronic intestinal pseudo-obst

CD4(+) and CD8(+) lymphocytes are mobilized in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the CD8(+) cytokine interleukin (IL)-16 is believed to be important in regulating the recruitment and activity of CD4(+) lymphocytes. In the current study, we examined whether tobacco smoke exerts an impact not only on IL-16 in the lower airways but also in CD4(+) or CD8(+) lymphocytes or in lymp

For proteomic monitoring of processes such as allergy or inflammation an efficient pre-fractionation strategy is required. We isolated plasma membranes from human peripheral blood mononuclear (PBM) cells by aqueous two-phase partitioning. After 1DE combined with LC-MS/MS, several cell surface marker proteins and in total 60 different plasma membrane proteins (out of 84 identified proteins, i.e., 7

The outdoor-to-indoor wireless propagation channel is of interest for cellular and wireless LAN applications. This paper presents measurement results and analysis based on our multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) measurement campaign, which is one of the first to characterize the outdoor-to-indoor channel. Measurements were performed at 5.2 GHz; the receiver was placed indoors at 53 different loc

Numerous case-control studies suggest dietary fiber may reduce risk of gastric cancer, but this has not been confirmed prospectively. A previous case-control study reported reduced risk of gastric cardia adenocarcinomas associated with cereal fiber, but not with fruit or vegetable fiber. To date, different food sources of fiber have not been examined with respect to noncardia tumors or diverse his

A rotational band with seven gamma -ray transitions between states with spin 2 (h) over bar and 16 (h) over bar has been observed in the doubly magic, self-conjugate nucleus Ca-40(20)20. The measured transition quadrupole moment of 1.80(-0.29)(+0.39)eb indicates a superdeformed shape with a deformation beta (2) = 0.59(-0.07)(+0.11). The features of this band are explained by cranked relativistic m

If present in large numbers, as during migration, herbivorous waterfowlmay reduce the amount of submerged vegetation. Because the vegetation is a keyfactor in shallow eutrophic lakes, removal of the green biomass can be expectedto affect also other biota that depend on the vegetation. We conducted anexperiment to determine how the abundance of chironomids andPisidium sp. were affected by intense f

Dietary sphingomyelin (SM) is hydrolyzed by intestinal alkaline sphingomyelinase and neutral ceramidase to sphingosine, which is absorbed and converted to palmitic acid and acylated into chylomicron triglycerides (TGs). SM digestion is slow and is affected by luminal factors such as bile salt, cholesterol, and other lipids. In the gut, SM and its metabolites may influence TG hydrolysis, cholestero