Agricultural overproduction has led the European Union to encourage long-term abandonment of agricultural land and the adoption of management practices which enhance transition to semi-natural grassland or forest. This paper reports the results of a field study conducted in newly abandoned agricultural land where the development of the mycorrhizal community was investigated in response to manipula

Efficient xylose utilisation by microorganisms is of importance to the lignocellulose fermentation industry. The aim of this work was to develop constitutive catabolite repression mutants in a xylose-utilising recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain and evaluate the differences in xylose consumption under fermentation conditions. S. cerevisiae YUSM was constitutively catabolite repressed throu

Patients with chronic hepatic encephalopathy (HE) may present affective symptoms and antidepressant drug treatment in this condition is not uncommon. The present microdialysis study investigated treatment with the chronic antidepressant venlafaxine (VEN) in experimental HE with regard to tentative changes in pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic parameters. Three weeks after portacaval shunt (PCS

Naked DNA plasmid represents the simplest vehicle for gene therapy and DNA-based vaccination purposes; however, the, molecular mechanisms of DNA uptake in mammalian cells are poorly understood. Here, we show that naked DNA uptake occurs via proteoglycan-dependent macropinocytosis, thus challenging the concept of a specific DNA-internalizing receptor. Cells genetically deficient in proteoglycans, w

Empirical and theoretical research on the demand for health inputs has been, and still is, extensive. However, it is not only important to analyse how household choice is affected by alternative and household specific attributes. but it is equally important to analyse the welfare implications of, for example, a change in the price of different inputs. Policyrnakers and donor agencies involved in s

Background and Purpose - Warfarin prevents stroke in atrial fibrillation (AF); however, concerns regarding international normalized ratio control and hemorrhage limit its use in the elderly. The oral direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs) are potential alternatives to warfarin, offering fixed dosing without drug and dietary interactions and the need for international normalized ratio monitoring. Althou

Molecular techniques were used to investigate the composition and ontogenetic development of the intestinal bacterial community in the marine herbivorous fish Kyphosus sydneyanus from the north eastern coast of New Zealand. Previous work showed that K. sydneyanus maintains an exclusively algivorous diet throughout post-settlement life and passes through an ontogenetic diet shift from a juvenile di

We present a fast fabrication technique to achieve SU-8 structures with sloped side walls. We investigate the method of ‘Step-and-Flash’ which combines hot embossing with UV sensitive materials. The stamps are fabricated in Si by KOH etching to achieve mesa structures with side walls at a 54.7° angle to the bottom. These stamps are imprinted into SU-8-coated Pyrex wafers during the soft bake step

In three field seasons, 2003-2005. bumble bees were collected in southern Sweden and eastern Denmark in search of microsporidian parasites. Of file 16 bumble bee species studied, microsporidia were found in Bomhus hortorum, Bomhus hypnorum, Bombas lapidarius, Bomus lucorum, Bombus pascuorum, Bombus pratorum, Bombus ruderarius, and Bombus terrestris. Only one micro-sporidian species, Nosema bombi,

In this study, corn stover with a dry matter content of 20% was impregnated with SO2 and then steam pretreated for various times at various temperatures. The pretreatment was evaluated by enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid material and analysis of the sugar content in the liquid. The maximum overall yield of glucose, 89% of the theoretical based on the glucan in the raw material, was achieved when

BACKGROUND: The possible excess of congenital malformations in infants born after in vitro fertilization (IVF) has been much discussed in the literature, with controversial conclusions. This population based study is aimed at analyzing the presence of congenital malformations in a large group of infants born after IVF and to compare malformation risk both with that of all infants born and accordin

The aim of this study was to illuminate the pattern of confusional episodes with regard to the content of elderly patients' actions and speech. Fifty-one (11.2%) out of 457 people admitted to an orthopaedic clinic developed acute confusional state. Non-participant direct observations and daily clinical bedside follow-up observations were made during the confusional episodes, focusing on the patien

BACKGROUND: Central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) and oxygen tension (PcvO2), obtained from the superior vena cava, correlate well with mixed venous (pulmonary arterial) oxygen saturation (SvO2) and tension (pvO2) when the hematocrit is normal. The present study was undertaken to assess whether extreme hemodilution affects this relation. METHODS: We compared mixed and central venous blood durin

In this study the effect of different times of exposure to ethanol (1-7 days, 100 mM) on bradykinin and GTP(S)-stimulated activation of phospholipase C in NG 108-15 cells and on the binding of [3H]bradykinin to its receptors was investigated. Ethanol attenuated both agonist and GTP-analogue-induced hydrolysis of phosphoinositides for a period of up to 4 days of treatment, while exerting no effect

The 7-10 November 2004 period contains two events for which the local ground magnetic field was severely disturbed and simultaneously, the solar wind displayed several shocks and negative B-z periods. Using empirical models the 10-min RMS Delta X and Delta Y at Brorfelde (BFE, 11.67 degrees E, 55.63 degrees N), Denmark, are predicted. The models are recurrent neural networks with 10-min solar wind