Polyamine analogue treatment results in growth inhibition and sometimes in cell death. Therefore, polyamine analogues are considered in the treatment of cancer; however, the cellular properties that govern sensitivity are not known. The objective of this study was to elucidate molecular mechanisms behind apoptosis induced by the polyamine analogue N, N-diethylnorspermine (DENSPM). Four different b

Background: Levosimendan and volatile anesthetics have myocardial pre-conditioning effects. beta-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists may inhibit the protective effect of volatile anesthetics. No information exists as to whether this also applies to the pre-conditioning effect of levosimendan. We therefore investigated whether levosimendan added to metoprolol would demonstrate a cardioprotective effe

There is currently a challenge to produce an electrocardiogram (ECG) recording of waveforms that are "standard" and also achieve the "noise immunity" required for continuous monitoring. The potential solutions that have been considered are to label each torso-recorded ECG as "nonstandard, torso-recorded," designate torso placement as "standard," or to reconstruct the "equivalent distally recorded

Complement activation and resulting opsonisation with C3b form key arms of the innate immune defense against infections. However, a wide variety of pathogens subvert complement attack by binding host complement inhibitors, which results in diminished opsonophagocytosis and killing of bacteria by lysis. Human C4b-binding protein (C4BP) binds Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Streptococcus pyogenes, both un

BACKGROUND: Lung transplantation (LTx) is established as a life-saving treatment in end-stage lung disease. However, long-term survival is hampered by the development of chronic rejection, almost synonymous with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS). The rejection is characterized by deposition of extracellular matrix in small airways. Fibroblasts/myofibroblasts are the main producers of extrace

Diagnosis of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at early stages has obviously been improved since determination of serum levels of free alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was implemented. AFP has been considered as the standard tumor marker of primary HCC, although certain patients have very low serum free AFP levels. In the present study, clinical application of measuring serum AFP-IgM immune complexes

PURPOSE Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is diagnosed at the metastatic stage, and despite extensive diagnostic work-up, the primary tumor often remains unidentified. No data are available on familial clustering of CUP. We hypothesize that familial clustering of CUP with other cancers may be informative of the primary sites. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 35,168 patients with CUP were identified i

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether features of radiographic hand osteoarthritis (OA) are associated with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-defined knee cartilage thickness, radiographic knee OA, and 1-year structural progression. METHODS: A total of 765 participants in Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI; 455 women, mean age 62.5 yrs, SD 9.4) obtained hand radiographs (at baseline), knee radi

Summary The serum resistance of the common respiratory pathogen Moraxella catarrhalis is mainly dependent on ubiquitous surface proteins (Usp) A1 and A2 that interact with complement factor 3 (C3) and complement inhibitor C4b binding protein (C4BP) preventing the alternative and classical pathways of the complement system respectively. UspA2 also has the capacity to attract vitronectin that in tur

A well functioning societal response to crises is benefited by individuals having adequate skills and knowledge. From a municipal perspective this requires the creation of a learning organization. The objective of this study is to determine whether individual municipal employees, who have the responsibility for preparedness planning, reason and act in ways that promote learning about crises and pr

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease caused by the T cell-mediated destruction of the pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells. Currently there are no widely accepted and standardized assays available to analyse the function of autoreactive T cells involved in T1D. The development of such an assay would greatly aid efforts to understand the pathogenesis of T1D and is also urgently require

ABSTRACT Reports of three cases in which patients' pain was previously inadequately treated prior to referral and how it was addressed in a pain clinic are presented. The impact of polypharmacy on medication adherence, fear of opioids among patients and staff, and of stoicism in pain patients is discussed.

Dyslexia has been shown to affect postural control. The aim of the present study was to investigate the difference in postural stability measured as torque variance in an adult dyslexic group (n=14, determined using the Adult Dyslexia Checklist (ADCL) and nonsense word repetition test) and an adult non-dyslexic group (n=39) on a firm surface and on a foam block and with eyes open and eyes closed.

The increasing test application times required for testing system-on-chips (SOCs) is a problem that leads to higher costs. For modular core based SOCs it is possibly to employ a concurrent test scheme in order to lower the test application times. To allow each core to be tested as a separate unit, a wrapper is inserted for each core, the scan chains at each core are configured into a fixed number

Mercury concentrations in air and in condensed steam coming from fumarolic activity at the Solfatara crater (Phlegraean Fields - Italy) were determined. In the condensed steam, mercury was found mainly associated as Hg-S complexes and showed a flux in the range from 0.9 to 4.5 g day(-1). Using the point monitor technique, high values (up to 690 ng m(-3)) of atmospheric mercury levels were observed