OBJECTIVE: To study the relationships between plasma insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentrations and birth weight, current weight and other constitutional factors among healthy, nulliparous women aged 19-25 years.DESIGN AND METHODS: Forty healthy female university students aged 19-25 years volunteered for this study. They had never been pregnant and were not using oral contraceptives (OCs)

Sufficient conditions for the existence of positive solutions to a class of quasilinear elliptic equations in two-dimensional exterior domains are given.

Aims/hypothesis We examined the school marks of diabetic children in Sweden at the time of leaving compulsory education. Marks were examined in comparison with non-diabetic children and with special regard to age at onset of diabetes. Subjects and methods The study involved 5,159 children who developed diabetes between 1 July 1977 and 1 July 2000, and 1,330,968 non-diabetic children. We linked the

The scalar form factors for the pions and kaons are calculated in SU(3) Chiral Perturbation Theory at order p(6), in the isospin limit m(u)=m(d)=(m) over cap. We find in general sizable corrections of O(p(6)). We use our results to obtain information on the 1/N-c suppressed low energy constants L-4(r) and L-6(r) as well as on two O(p(6)) low energy constants. We present some numerical results for

The human seminal vesicles secrete two proteins, semenogelin I and semenogelin II, at very high concentrations. It has previously been shown that the cotton-top tamarin (Sanguinus oedipus), a New World monkey, is lacking the semenogelin II gene. We have now determined the nucleotide sequence of DNA located 5--13 kilobases (kb) downstream of the tamarin semenogelin I gene---a region that in man is

Density functional calculations have been used to compare the geometric, electronic, and functional properties of the three important tetrapyrrole systems in biology, heme, coenzyme B12, and coenzyme F430, formed from iron porphyrin (Por), cobalt corrin (Cor), and nickel hydrocorphin (Hcor). The results show that the flexibility of the ring systems follows the trend Hcor > Cor > Por and that the s

Intrastriatal transplantation of dopaminergic neurones aims to repair the selective loss of nigrostriatal projections and the consequent dysfunction of striatocortical circuitries in Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we have studied the effects of bilateral human embryonic dopaminergic grafts on the movement-related activation of frontal cortical areas in 4 PD patients using H2 15O positron emission

Climate variability and climate change are of great concern to economists and energy producers as well as environmentalists as both affect the precipitation and temperature in many regions of the world. Among those affected by climate variability is the Scandinavian Peninsula. Particularly, its winter precipitation and temperature are affected by the variations of the so-called North Atlantic Osci

Between 1992 and 2004, 1,140 children (1 to < 15 years) were diagnosed with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the Nordic countries. Of these, 288 (25%) were positive for t(12; 21)(p 13;q22) [ETV6/RUNXI]. G-banding analyses were successful in 245 (85%); 43 (15%) were karyotypic failures. The modal chromosome numbers, incidence, types, and numbers of additional abnormalities, ge

The behavior of chiral-nematic and isotropic phases of helical kappa-carrageenan in aqueous solution of sodium iodide was compared with that of the anisotropic biphasic phase that contains both these phases. On the basis of birefringence, rheology, chemical analysis, average molecular weight, and polydispersity index measurements, we derived a number of characteristic differences as well as simila

The anaphylatoxin C3a is a proinflammatory mediator generated during complement activation. The tight control of C3a receptor (C3aR) expression is crucial for the regulation of anaphylatoxin-mediated effects. Key factors regulating constitutive expression of the C3aR in the mast cell line HMC-1 and receptor induction by dibutyryl-cAMP in monomyeloblastic U937 cells were determined by functional ch

We evaluated a biotin-glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B-ELISA) to detect GAD65 autoantibodies (GAD65Ab) in 78 sera from individuals with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. The GAD65Ab index of patients with type 1 diabetes (mean value of GAD65Ab index of 1.891) was significantly higher than those in 50 sera from healthy control group (mean value of 0.0

Aromatic amino acids play an important role in ultraviolet (UV)-induced photochemical reactions in proteins. In this work, we aim at gaining insight into the photochemical reactions induced by near-UV light excitation of aromatic residues that lead to breakage of disulfide bridges in our model enzyme, Fusarium solani pisi cutinase, a lipolytic enzyme. With this purpose, we acquired transient absor

OBJECTIVES: The aims were to study the toxicokinetics of 5-hydroxy-N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (5-HNMP) in blood and urine after exposure to N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and to study the suitability of 5-HNMP as a biomarker for assessing NMP exposure. METHODS: Six male volunteers were exposed for 8 hours to NMP concentrations of 0, 10, 25, and 50 mg/m3. Blood and urine were sampled before, during, and

Four sub-tropical white rot fungi, Trametes versicolor, Trametes pocas, Trametes cingulata and isolate DSPM95 were studied alongside the well studied white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, for their ability to remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from culture media. Both static shallow cultures and extracellular fluids were studied using media contaminated with a defined mixture

Tissue factor (TF) has been implicated in the thrombotic complications seen during vascular rejection of allografts and may contribute to intimal hyperplasia in chronic allograft vasculopathy. Downregulation of endothelial TF expression post-transplantation could therefore be of therapeutic value. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference was used in primary endothelial cells (EC) to investigate its ef

We consider the diffusive motion of a localised knot along a linear polymer chain. In particular, we derive the mean diffusion time of the knot before it escapes from the chain once it gets close to one of the chain ends. Self-reptation of the entire chain between either end and the knot position, during which the knot is provided with free volume, leads to an L-3 scaling of diffusion time; for su

Objective: To assess the value and adverse effects of an ultrasound -guided renal biopsy technique in women with normal and pathotogic pregnancies. Method: Biopsy samples were taken from 36 women with hypertensive disease (28 with pre-eclampsia) and 18 healthy pregnant women using a thin needle and an ultrasound -guided biopsy device. Results: Gtomerutar endotheliosis, a structural change typical

Objective: To investigate how persons with late effects of polio perceive their participation and problems with participation in life situations and to determine the association between perceived problems with participation and sex, age, marital status, use of mobility aids and access to instrumental support. Design: Cross-sectional. Subjects: A total of 160 persons with prior polio 6-30 months af