The commercially available preparation of beta-galactosidase from Bacillus circulans, known as Biolacta FN5, has been extensively used in the production of prebiotic galactooligosaccharides (GOS). This study focuses on characterizing the production of GOS in two reaction systems: 10% lactose (w/v) in buffer and skim milk. Analysis of the temperature dependence of the GOS yield along with the relat

Carbon fluxes between natural ecosystems and the atmosphere have received increased attention in recent years due to the impact they have on climate. In order to investigate independently how soil moisture and temperature control carbon fluxes into and out of a dry subarctic dwarf shrub dominated heath, monoliths containing soil and plants were incubated at three different moisture levels and subj

Transportation of yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi Valenciennes) juveniles from hatchery to on-growing operations in New Zealand exposes the fish to significantly elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Experiments were undertaken to assess metabolic and haematological stress responses after a 5 h period of hypercapnia followed by recovery in normocapnia. Mortality was low (0.5%) and sec

BACKGROUND: Asthma guidelines recommend that long-acting inhaled beta-agonists should be used as maintenance therapy for patients with asthma inadequately controlled on an inhaled corticosteroid. We studied the safety and efficacy of the long-acting beta-agonist formoterol compared with terbutaline, each taken as needed, in patients with moderate to severe asthma. METHODS: Patients were taking an

PRR recognize conserved structures on pathogenic microbes and are important for the defense against invading microorganisms. However, accumulating evidence indicates that many pathogens have evolved mechanisms to avoid recognition by PRR. One type of PRR is the macrophage scavenger receptor A (SR-A), which has been shown to play an important role in recognition and non-opsonic phagocytosis of path

In an earlier study, we found that Swedish-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) differ from younger normally developing compatriots on only a subset of verb morphemes characteristically problematic for children with this type of disorder. In the present study, this finding was replicated, using a carefully devised set of tasks to elicit attempts at the target morphemes. The ch

PURPOSE: This study of patients with minor head injury was designed to investigate the relation of S-100 protein measurements to computed tomograpy (CT) findings and patients outcomes. Increased serum levels of this protein were hypothetized to predict intracranial pathology and increased frequency of post-concussion symptoms. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-two patients were studied with Glasgow

Objective. The P190 and P210 BCR/ABL1 fusion genes are mainly associated with different types of hematologic malignancies, but it is presently unclear whether they are functionally different following expression in primitive human hematopoietic cells. Materials and Methods. We investigated and systematically compared the effects of retroviral P190 BCR/ABL1 and P210 BCR/ABL1 expression on cell prol

Ensuring fatherhood is an important issue in polygamous species. In many lepidopteran species, the male inserts a large package (spermatophore) consisting of sperm, accessory gland fluids and nutrients into the female's bursa copulatrix during copulation. In most species it has been shown that a large mate donation causes females either to stop calling, or to prolong the time until re-mating, here

The aim of this work was to show the applicability of light diffraction tomography on airborne ultrasound. Different air-coupled transducers in the frequency range 40 kHz - 2 MHz were measured to show the method's performance. A calibrated microphone and the pulse-echo method were used to evaluate the results. The absolute measurements agreed within the calibrated microphone's uncertainty range. P

Growing of vegetables in the field, harvesting, handling in the packing house and storage are events in the lifetime of vegetables that arc analysed from the point of view of the complex series of physiological transitions taking place in each of these events. Water is the major factor limiting plant metabolism and plants have developed fascinating mechanisms to cope with this limiting factor. The

The design of PI controllers for systems with interacting loops is discussed. It is advantageous to deal with the interaction at the loop level, because supervisory control seldom has sufficient bandwidth. A new scheme based on modified scalar PI design and static decoupling is developed, in which the frequency characteristic of the coupling between the lower-level loops is taken into account. Thi

Swedish cross-sectional survey data on young individuals aged 12-18-year-old was used to analyse school-class based peer effects in binge drinking, smoking and illicit-drug use. Significant and positive peer effects were found for all three activities. By introducing school/grade fixed effects, the estimated peer effects were identified by variation in peer behaviour across school-classes within s