Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize specific pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which subsequently trigger innate immunity. Recent data also suggest a role for TLRs in the direct activation of adaptive immune cells. In the present study, the expression and function of TLR1-TLR10 were characterized in purified human tonsillar B cells, focusing on differences among CD19(+) CD38(-) CD27

Background— The extent to which differences in cardiovascular risk between smokers with similar daily tobacco consumption may be related to plasma levels of inflammation-sensitive proteins (ISP) and whether these proteins are associated with levels of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb%) have not been clarified. Methods and Results— In a population-based cohort of 1489 never smokers, 1685 former smokers, an

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the qualitative and quantitative assay of cyproheptadine (CP) in pharmaceutical samples. Diphenylpyraline hydrochloride (DPP) was used as an internal standard (IS). Two multiple reaction-monitoring (MRM) transitions for each analyte were observed: 288.1/96.1 and 288.1/191.2 for

Migration of 65 Charnley stems implanted with modern cementing techniques was studied by roentgen stereophotogrammetry. There were 25 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 40 with osteoarthritis (OA) followed up for two years. In 43 cases a bone sample for histomorphometric analysis was obtained from the femur during the operation. In 22 cases the mean subsidence of the prosthetic head was 0

Men with prostate cancer initiating androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) may have multiple factors that threaten their skeletal health, including increased fracture risk from bone loss during ADT and the propensity to develop bone metastases, which may lead to skeletal-related events (SREs). Bisphosphonates have utility in oncology for patients with bone metastases to prevent bone loss during hormon

This special issue presents the results of a European research project on the creative class in European city regions. In this introduction, the need for contextualizing the approach is underlined, taking into account the differences between the United States, where Richard Florida's ideas were developed, and Europe. In modifying the approach to suit European conditions, varieties of capitalism an

BACKGROUND: Approximately 570 patients are diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) in Sweden each year. Few studies have estimated the cost of treatment for these patients. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively investigate the direct hospital resource utilization and costs associated with the treatment of patients with MM in southwest Sweden. METHODS: Patients aged > or =18 year

This paper presents a method of optimal coordination of load shedding, capacitor switching and tap changer operation using a dynamic system model in order to preserve or retain long-term voltage stability. The method is based on model predictive control and tree search. A model of the controlled system, including the network and load dynamics, is used to predict the future system behaviour based o

Background Low competence levels among nursing staff have been associated with lower quality of elderly care. However, interventions aimed at improving nursing staff competence have not always been evaluated for their possible impact on the quality of elderly care. An educational intervention in the form of a workplace “toolbox” was shown to have positive effects on nursing staff competence and wo

A technique to determine which nutrients limit bacterial growth in soil was developed. The method was based on measuring the thymidine incorporation rate of bacteria after the addition of C, N, and P in different combinations to soil samples. First, the thymidine incorporation method was tested in two different soils: an agricultural soil and a forest humus soil. Carbon (as glucose) was found to b

Solution properties of ethyl(hydroxyethyl)cellulose (EHEC) and a hydrophobically modified analogue (HM-EHEC) in water in the presence of various amounts of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) have been investigated by cloud point (CP) measurements, titration microcalorimetry, and static light scattering. The CP experiments revealed that the hydrophobically modified polymer is less soluble than the unmodi

Nanowires in the InAs/InP material system are grown with catalyst-assisted chemical beam epitaxy. Ohmic contacts are then fabricated to selected wires, allowing electron transport measurements to be carried out at room-temperature as well as at low T. InAs nanowires show strong quantum confinement effects, where thin wires (

In this study, we present a novel method to isolate and enrich low concentrations of Campylobacter pathogens. This method, Acanthamoeba-Campylobacter coculture (ACC), is based on the intracellular survival and multiplication of Campylobacter species in the free-living protozoan Acanthamoeba polyphaga. Four of the Campylobacter species relevant to humans and livestock, Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli

We find explicit solutions of type IIB string theory on R-4/Z(2) corresponding to the classical geometry of fractional D1-branes. From the supergravity solution obtained, we capture perturbative information about the running of the coupling constant and the metric on the moduli space of N = 4, D = 2 super Yang-Mills.

Wilm's Tumor gene 1 (WT1) encodes a zinc finger protein with four distinct splice isoforms. WT1 has a critical role in genesis of various cancer types both at the DNA/RNA and the protein level. The zinc-finger DNA-binding capacity of the protein is located in the C-terminal domain. Two recombinant proteins, 6HIS-ZN-(wt1) and 6HIS-ZN+(wt1), corresponding to two alternative splice variants of the C-