Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major health burden among the middle aged and elderly. Partial meniscectomy, the most common orthopedic surgical intervention, is recognized as a strong risk factor for knee OA. Loss of the main meniscal functions, load distribution and shock absorption, are often critical steps in knee OA development. This review outlines the concept of a dual relationship between menisce

The aim of this thesis is to study four important determinants for the prognosis of prosthodontic treatment, namely the patients expectations, personality traits, and satisfaction with treatment. The fourth aim is to relate the technical quality of the treatment to the patient's opinion about it. A specially designed questionnaire to explore expectations of treatment was sent to 489 patients await

We report a study on anhydrobiotic survival in the eutardigrades Richtersius coronifer and Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri. In each of these species, we investigated the anhydrobiotic survival of two populations, one from Sweden and one from Italy. We found that anhydrobiotic survival was similar in the Swedish and the Italian populations in both species, indicating no divergence with respect to anhydro

A plane wave impinges on a laterally double-periodic inhomogeneous lossy dielectric structure. Using a wave splitting approach, and an expansion of the fields and permittivity in entire domain basis functions, the scattered fields are determined via a propagator. The formulation is originally intended for constitutive parameters which vary continuously but is here applied to structures with an abr

A health care reform for senior citizens took effect in 1992 in Sweden. Shortcomings as regards geriatric rehabilitation were identified and, in 1995, governmental grants were assigned to local developmental projects. The aim of this study was to report the staff and administration perspectives in a geriatric rehabilitation developmental process over a 1-year period. In all, 782 staff and 45 admin

Background Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) diagnosis is challenging because of a multitude of histopathological subtypes, different genetic characteristics, and frequent intratumoral pleomorphism. One-third of STS metastasize and current risk-stratification is suboptimal, therefore, novel diagnostic and prognostic markers would be clinically valuable. We assessed the diagnostic and prognostic value of

Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRGP), an abundant heparin-binding protein found in plasma and thrombocytes, exerts antibacterial effects against Gram-positive bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Fluorescence studies and electron microscopy to assess membrane permeation showed that HRGP induces lysis of E

Tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) is a marker of mucinous ovarian carcinoma, but it is also widely expressed in other malignant tumors and normal human tissues. Elevated serum concentrations of TATI are of prognostic value in ovarian, kidney, and bladder cancer. Tumor-associated trypsin is co-expressed with TATI in many malignancies and is thought to be involved in tumor invasion. TATI mRN

The association between urinary albumin concentration (UAC) in a morning urine sample and medical risk factors was evaluated in a cross-sectional study of 451 type II (noninsulin-dependent) diabetic patients. The following four groups of patients were created according to their urinary albumin levels: A) normal (less than 12.5 mg/L); B) high normal (12.5-30 mg/L); C) microalbuminuria, ie, incipien

The electrochemical behavior and the electrocatalytic activity for the NADH oxidation at glassy carbon paste electrodes (GCPEs) modified with Meldola Blue (MB) adsorbed onto acidic cc-zirconium phosphate (ZP*) have been investigated. Cyclic voltammetry and rotating disc electrode measurements, performed in Tris buffer solution (pH 7) in absence and in presence of different NADH concentrations, sho

Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidianus brierleyi were capable of oxidizing pure pyrite as well as oxidizing sulfur in coal. First order reactions were assumed in the kinetic analysis performed. For oxidation of pure pyrite the rate constant was higher for A. brierleyi than for T. ferrooxidans. For sulfur removal from coal the values of the rate constants were comparable far the two microorganisms

Background: Only limited information is available on healthy young women's perspective of their own lifestyle behaviours. By lifestyle behaviours, e.g. smoking and physical activity, individuals have the possibility to influence bone mineral density (BMD). The aim of this study was to generate a theoretical model of lifestyle behaviours among young women with different BMD changes. Methods: Dat

Near-infrared dispersed fluorescence measurements of 13 different atomic multiplets of neutral atomic fragments from photon induced neutral dissociation processes in NO are reported. For excitation of the molecules narrow band synchrotron photons of energy 17.2-25.8 eV were used. Neither Rydberg series nor other molecular states in NO known so far can account for the collected data. From ab initio

Objectives To describe the endosonographic image of the anal sphincter 2-7 days after delivery in women who had undergone a primary repair of an obstetric sphincter tear. Methods Forty-eight women who had suffered a third- or fourth-degree sphincter tear at delivery and had undergone primary sphincter repair were examined with endoanal sonography 2-7 days after delivery. A score from 0 to 16 was