P>At least one climate model predicts severe reductions of rainfall over Amazonia during this century. Long-term throughfall exclusion (TFE) experiments represent the best available means to investigate the resilience of the Amazon rainforest to such droughts. Results are presented from a 7 yr TFE study at Caxiuana National Forest, eastern Amazonia. We focus on the impacts of the drought on tree m

Introduction: The purpose of this research was to study the influence of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on immune response to heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, immunoglobulin levels (Ig) and markers of systemic inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or spondylarthropathy (SpA). Methods: In total, 505 patients were vaccinated. Six pre-specified groups were enro

To circumvent antiandrogen resistance in prostate cancer, antiandrogens effective for both the androgen receptor (AR) and AR mutants are required. The AR antagonists in this study originate from previous findings, which showed that subtle differences in substitution pattern lead to a conformational change that alters the ligand activity, rendering an agonist to an antagonist. We have identified sm

Risk factors for breast cancer vary according to breast cancer subtype. This study analyzes the impact of potential risk factors in breast cancer by androgen receptor (AR) status.

The Triassic-Jurassic (Tr-J) boundary marks a major extinction event, which (similar to 200 Ma) resulted in global extinctions of fauna and flora both in the marine and terrestrial realms. There prevail great challenges in determining the exact location of the terrestrial Tr-J boundary, because of endemism of. : and the scarcity of fossils in terrestrial settings leading to difficulties in linking

Uncertainty, insufficient information or information of poor quality, limited cognitive capacity and time, along with value conflicts and ethical considerations, are all aspects that make risk management and risk communication difficult. This paper provides a review of different risk concepts and describes how these influence risk management, communication, and planning in relation to forest ecosy

In clinical practice as well as research situations, it is of great importance to get reliable information about a patient's alcohol consumption. The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation of alcohol biomarkers (phosphatidylethanol [PEth], carbohydrate-deficient transferrin [CDT], γ-glutamyltransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase) to retrospective as well

Perceptual decision-making performance depends on several cognitive and neural processes. Here, we fit Ratcliff's diffusion model to accuracy data and reaction-time distributions from one numerical and one verbal two-choice perceptual-decision task to deconstruct these performance measures into the rate of evidence accumulation (i.e., drift rate), response criterion setting (i.e., boundary separat

This study explores the relationship between land-use and floristic diversity between 600 BC and AD 2008 in the uplands of southern Sweden. We use fossil pollen assemblages and the Regional Estimates of Vegetation Abundance from Large Sites (REVEALS) model to quantitatively reconstruct land cover at a regional scale. Floristic richness and evenness are estimated using palynological richness and RE

One of the largest sources of uncertainties in modelling of the future global climate is the response of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Studies have shown that it is likely that the extant land sink of carbon will weaken in a warming climate. Should this happen, a larger portion of the annual carbon dioxide emissions will remain in the atmosphere, and further increase global warming, which in turn

To evaluate drug adherence, clinical response and predictors thereof for tocilizumab in patients with RA in routine care based on prospectively collected data from the Swedish biologics register, Anti-Rheumatic Therapies in Sweden.

Background. Caries risk assessment is an important tool in clinical decision making. Aim. To evaluate longitudinal changes in caries risk profiles in a group of schoolchildren in relation to caries development. Design. The Cariogram model was used to create caries risk profiles and to identify risk factors in 438 children being 10-11 years at baseline. The assessment was repeated after 2 years and

Background: Stroke in the young has not been thoroughly investigated with most previous studies based on a small number of patients from single centers. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that Fabry disease may be a significant cause for young stroke. The primary aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of Fabry disease in young stroke patients, while the secondary aim was to describe pa

In I-123-IBZM brainSPECT, the main interest is the activity uptake in the striatum relative to the background, and semi-quantitative techniques using regions of interest are typically used for this purpose. Uncertainties in the measured uptakes can however be a problem due to low contrasts and high noise levels. Like SPECT in general, IBZM SPECT should benefit from reconstruction methods that incl

To evaluate the feasibility and incremental value of using an integrated bullseye model for presenting data from cardiac computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in combination with echocardiography evaluation of segmental mechanical delay for guiding optimal left ventricular lead placement in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Background: The Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) has been used in various studies to evaluate the educational environment. However, psychometric evaluations of the instrument seem sparse, for all known versions of the instrument. Aim: The aim was to psychometrically evaluate the Swedish version of the DREEM instrument. Method: A total of 503 students (undergraduate medicine), a

Production of propionic acid by fermentation of glycerol as a renewable resource has been suggested as a means for developing an environmentally-friendly route for this commodity chemical. However, in order to quantify the environmental benefits, life cycle assessment of the production, including raw materials, fermentation, upstream and downstream processing is required. The economic viability of