Instability of the pre-ocular tear film causes symptoms of dry eyes. Tear film instability may be caused by exposure to air pollutants, but identification of causative agents is often difficult. We describe an in vitro technique for assessment of putative agents on the surface activity of Meibomian lipids. The lipids were obtained from bovine eyelids and dissolved in chloroform. Surface activity o

Leukotriene ( LT) A(4) hydrolase is a bifunctional zinc metalloenzyme, which converts LTA(4) into the neutrophil chemoattractant LTB4 and also exhibits an anion-dependent aminopeptidase activity. In the x-ray crystal structure of LTA(4) hydrolase, Arg(563) and Lys(565) are found at the entrance of the active center. Here we report that replacement of Arg(563), but not Lys(565), leads to complete a

Temperate and boreal forests in the Northern Hemisphere cover an area of about 2 times 107 square kilometres and act as a substantial carbon sink (0.6–0.7 petagrams of carbon per year)1. Although forest expansion following agricultural abandonment is certainly responsible for an important fraction of this carbon sink activity, the additional effects on the carbon balance of established forests of

A conjugated polymer with a low band gap of 1.21 eV, i.e., absorbing infrared light, is demonstrated as active material in field-effect transistors (FETs). The material consists of alternating fluorene units and low band gap segments with electron donor-acceptor-donor units composed of two electron-donating thiophene rings attached on both sides of a thiadiazolo-quinoxaline electron-acceptor group

The synthesis of the components of the dynamic supramolecular hydrogen-bonded catalytic system 2 + 3 is described. The catalytic performance and substrate- and enantioselectivity of Mn(salen) catalyst 2 were investigated in the presence and absence of the Zn(porphyrin) receptor unit 3. The effects of pyridine and pyridine N-oxide donor ligands were also studied. Some aspects on the mechanism of th

BACKGROUND. Radiotherapy is a known risk factor for sarcoma development. Postirradiation sarcomas arise within the radiation field after a latency period of several years and usually are highly malignant. Very little is yet known about their genetic changes. METHODS. Twenty-seven postirradiation sarcomas were analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization, which allows genome-wide screening of DNA

This paper shows that traditional methods for design of PID controllers can be related to robust H= control. In particular, it shows how the specifications in terms of maximum sensitivity and maximum complementary sensitivity are related to the weighted H= norm introduced by Glover and McFarlane [5]. The paper also shows how to use the Vinnicombe metric to classify those classes of systems which c

The authors are concerned with the invariant subspaces of $H^2(\Omega)$, where $\Omega$ is a bounded, finitely connected, planar domain with an analytic boundary. A subspace of $H^2(\Omega)$ is said to be invariant if it is invariant under multiplication by $z$, and fully invariant if it is invariant under multiplication by all rational functions with poles off the closure of $\Omega$. If $\Omeg

The diving response reduces the pulmonary O(2) uptake in exercising humans, but it has been debated whether this effect is present at rest. Therefore, respiratory and cardiovascular responses were recorded in 16 resting subjects, performing apnea in air and apnea with face immersion in cold water (10 degrees C). Duration of apneas were predetermined to be identical in both conditions (average: 145

In this paper we study the selective adsorption of a high molar mass polymer, OSA-starch, at the cyclohexane/water interface during emulsification. This was made possible through the use of AsFlFFF-MALS-RI which enables us to characterize the size and molar mass of polydisperse ultrahigh molar mass polymers. The results show that the high molar mass components in the molar mass distribution of the

Tobacco smoking is known to influence various inflammatory skin diseases and an association between tobacco smoking and hand eczema has been proposed in some studies. To examine a possible association between reported current tobacco smoking and the occurrence of hand eczema. Previously collected questionnaire data on the occurrence of hand eczema in three occupational cohorts and corresponding co

Background Respiratory tract infections are the most common reason for antibiotic prescription in Sweden as in other countries. The prescription rates vary markedly in different countries, counties and municipalities. The reasons for these variations in prescription rate are not obvious. Aim To find possible explanations for different antibiotic prescription rates in children. Design of study Pros

Predator and prey attack-escape performance is Likely to be the outcome of an evolutionary arms race, Predatory birds are typically larger than their prey suggesting different flight performances. We analyze three idealized attack-escape situations between predatory and prey birds: climbing flight escape, horizontal speeding, and turning and escape by diving. Generally a smaller bird will outclimb

The isotopically substituted nitrous oxide species (NNO)-N-14-N-14, (NNO)-N-15-N-14, (NNO)-N-14-N-15 and (NNO)-N-15-N-15 were investigated by ultra-violet (UV) absorption spectroscopy. High precision cross sections were obtained for the wavelength range 181 to 218 nm at temperatures of 233 and 283 K. These data are used to calculate photolytic isotopic fractionation constants as a function of wave

Palaeopalynological studies form an integral part of the geological investigation of the Late Paleozoic sedimentary history of Dronning Maud Land. During the examination of organic residues prepared from different localities at Heimefrontfjella, the freshwater green alga Botryococcus was found. Exceptionally well-preserved colonies of Botryococcus were recorded in several samples at two sections o

With the growing interest in clinical interventions that involve medical devices, the role for new biomaterials in modern medicine is currently expanding at a phenomenal rate. Failure of most implant materials stems from an inability to predict and control biological phenomena, such as protein adsorption and cell interaction, resulting in an inappropriate host response to the materials. Contempora

At first, it may seem as if the sustainable transition would force us to make a cynical trade-off between (a) the immediate needs of the global poor and (b) the future needs of the global rich. Crucial objectives, such as climate stability, are commonly held to be unattainable if the rest of the world would come to enjoy present Western living standards. Challenging this pessimistic analysis, this