Quantitative determination of staphylococcal protein A in plasma is often hampered by the interaction between protein A and immunoglobulins. In human plasma, these interactions may not only involve the non-immune binding to the Fc or Fab regions of Ig but also antigen/antibody interaction by specific antibodies directed against protein A. In this paper we describe a method which can be used to qua

Objective To detect possible sources of bias in ultrasound prediction of gestational age. Subjects and Methods Using the Swedish Medical Birth Registry, 571 617 women were identified who were delivered between 1990 and 1997 and who had obtainable information on last menstrual period and expected date of delivery according to ultrasound. Results Male fetuses were more likely than females to be judg

Background: Despite several decades of experience with atrial pacing, many centers do not apply this mode to any greater extent, mainly because of concerns for the development of future atrioventricular (AV) block or atrial fibrillation. Recent studies have emphasized possible negative effects of right ventricular stimulation, even when AV-synchrony is preserved, and have thus given rise to renewe

"The Second Mistake" (TSM) is to think that if an act is right or wrong because of its effects, the only relevant effects are the effects of this particular act. This is not (as some think) a truism, since "the effects of this particular act" and "its effects" need not co-refer. Derek Parfit's rejection of TSM is based mainly on intuitions concerning sets of acts that over-determine certain harms.

The ion photon emission microscope, or IPEM, is the first device that allows scientists to microscopically study the effects of single ions in air on semiconductors, microchips and even biological cells without having to focus the beam. Reported here is a prototype, the size of a conventional optical microscope, developed at Sandia. The alpha-IPEM, that employs alpha particles from a radioactive s

Approximately 30,000 spinal injuries occur in the United States every year. Injuries to the spine and its contents affect predominately young, healthy individuals and are a major cause of disability, with significant socioeconomic consequences. The main cause for spinal injuries is blunt trauma, most commonly caused by motor vehicle accidents, followed by falls and sport injuries. Already, in the

A single impurity inside a resonant tunneling diode is used to perform tunneling spectroscopy on an adjacent electrostatically defined vertical quantum dot. This results in tunneling between two zero-dimensional systems, measured as a set of sharp peaks in the current-voltage spectrum for finite bias. Magnetic-field-dependent measurements show that the angular momentum of the tunneling electrons i

In osteoarthritis (OA), cartilage and bone fragments have been described within the synovial tissue which are surrounded by synovial cells (i.e. detritus synovitis). These cells appear to attach actively to the cartilage and bone fragments. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), on the other hand, synovial fibroblasts (SF) have also been shown to be localized at sites of invasion into cartilage and bone an

OBJECTIVES: To increase the credibility of retrospective exposure assessments. documentation of the procedures and presentation of measures on quality control is recommended. The aim of this study was to present and evaluate the procedures used in a case-control study on leukaemia. METHODS: A series of 1,087 cases and matched controls were interviewed. Exposure assessments were performed for 13 oc

Popular Abstract in Swedish Avhandlingen är baserad på forskning rörande sambandet mellan omvändelsemotiv och Kristusbild bland unga konvertiter i Brazzaville, Republiken Kongo. Förf. visar att samband föreligger och att de vanligaste Kristusföreställningarna kan relateras till två arketyper i kongolesiska traditionella trosföreställningar: nämligen broder-anfadern (Yaya) och häxdoktorn (nganga). This study presents contextual conceptions of Christ among young urban converts, within the Evangelical Church of Congo (EEC). The basic data consists of interviews, conversion stories, gathered during fieldwork in 1995-1997. From the data explicit and implicit conceptions of Christ were deducted and accounted for in the study. The main analytical questions are: How do young people (aged 17-35) co

The incidence of prostate cancer has increased dramatically during the last 10-15 years and it is now the commonest cancer in males in developed countries. The increase is mainly caused by the increasing use of opportunistic screening or case-finding based on the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in serum. With this approach, prostate cancer is detected 5-10 years before giving rise t

Background: Perinatal asphyxia is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. To date there are no reliable methods to detect which infants will develop brain damage after asphyxia insult. We investigated whether measurements of urine levels of S100B in asphyxiated full-term newborns maybe a useful tool for early detection of post-asphyxia brain damage. Methods: A prospective study of 38 infants wit

PURPOSE: To describe the unusual appearance of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) in MR imaging. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An analysis was made of MR findings, histopathology and clinical course in the cases of two brothers with ALD. RESULTS: The older brother presented with frontal contrast-enhanced lesions, including a cyst. These were initially misinterpreted as a tumour at both radiology and pathology. Th