PURPOSE. To compare a fundus image-analysis algorithm for automated detection of hemorrhages and microaneurysms with visual detection of retinopathy in patients with diabetes. METHODS. Four hundred fundus photographs (35-mm color transparencies) were obtained in 200 eyes of 100 patients with diabetes who were randomly selected from the Welsh Community Diabetic Retinopathy Study. A gold standard re

Ca2+ sensitization of smooth muscle contraction involves the small GTPase RhoA, inhibition of myosin light chain phosphatase (MLCP) and enhanced myosin regulatory light chain (LC20) phosphorylation. A potential effector of RhoA is Rho-associated kinase (ROK). The role of ROK in Ca2+ sensitization was investigated in guinea-pig ileum. Contraction of permeabilized muscle strips induced by GTPgammaS

Real world systems are normally considered as hierarchically organized, for example, we see those as hierarchies of systems including subsystems. Examples on this can be seen in organizations where people act in environments and carry within themselves their own internal subsystem of thinking processes. Another example relates to robotics where robots may be seen as hierarchical constructions, bot

Simultaneous measurements of early flame speed and local measurements of the major parameters controlling the process are presented. The early flame growth rate was captured with heat release analysis of the cylinder pressure. The local concentration of fuel or residual gas were measured with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on isooctane/3-pentanone or water. Local velocity measurements were perfo

Popular Abstract in Swedish Schizofreni är en kronisk och handikappande sjukdom som karakteriseras av allvarliga men fluktuerande symtom, med återkommande akuta episoder. Sjukdomen är förknippad med reducerad kognitiv och social funktionsförmåga. Patienterna vilka i regel insjuknar i unga år, bibehåller vanligtvis kvarstående restsymtom och därmed associerade stigma fram till ålderdomen. Det överObjective: To explore the long-term course and to study factors of potential relevance for the treatment and rehabilitation process of patients with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like disorders. Specific issues concerned cognitive reduction, tardive dyskinesia (TD), prolactin-induced side effects, remission and lack of insight. Method: A naturalistic multicenter study of 225 patients, diagnosed

Abstract is not available.

In the article a simulation model of pricing behaviour on the gasoline market in Sweden is reported. First a brief review of price-changes during a historical period is provided. Next the model is presented in three steps with increasing level of detail for each step. The companies in the model are assumed to have three goals but only one variable for action

In this paper, the further development of a silicon flowthrough microdispenser is described. Previously reported designs of the dispenser used bimorph, and later multilayered, piezoelectric actuator elements for the generation of droplets. The introduction of a multilayered actuator significantly reduced the voltage amplitude needed to dispense droplets. Dispenser properties relevant for chemical

OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to investigate whether outcome in extremely low birth weight infants changes over time in Finland. PATIENTS AND METHODS. All infants with a birth weight < 1000 g born in Finland in 1996 - 1997 and 1999 - 2000 were included in the study. Perinatal and follow-up data were collected in a national extremely low birth weight infant research register. Data concerning cerebral pal

Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonizes 20-30% of all venous leg ulcers. Hypothetically, P. aeraginosa could release proteases and cytotoxic substances in the environment of chronic ulcers, thus negatively affecting the wound-healing activity in this patient group. Here we show that P. aeruginosa isolates from leg ulcers exhibit a highly variable expression of the proteinases elastase and alkaline protei

The high-spin structure of Er-157 has been greatly expanded using the Gammasphere spectrometer to investigate the Cd-114(Ca-48,5n) reaction at 215 MeV. Many new transitions have been placed in a greatly augmented level scheme up to spin 40h with many collective rotational sequences established. With increasing angular momentum, this nucleus undergoes a Coriolis-induced shape transition from a defo

Popular Abstract in Swedish I september 1989 kom det till kanadensiska mi’kmaqindianers kännedom att ett enormt granitbrott (ett av de tre största i världen) planerades att öppnas vid Kellys Mountain på ön Cape Breton i östra Kanada. Mi’kmaqtraditionalister organiserade genast en fredlig trumceremoni på berget och en talesman deklarerade att det planerade granitbrottet var en förolämpning mot bådeThis dissertation seeks to explore historical changes in the lifeworld of the Mi’kmaq Indians of Eastern Canada. The Mi’kmaq culture hero Kluskap here serves as a key persona in discussing issues such as traditions, changing conceptions of land, and human-environmental relations. In order not to depict Mi’kmaq culture as timeless, two important periods in its history are examined. The first study

If stylistic fronting is analyzed as feature-driven movement into an articulated CP-domain, in particular FocusP in the sense of Rizzi (1997), it is possible to account for two facts about stylistic fronting that so far have received little attention, namely that stylistic fronting has semantic effects and that there are differences in stylistic fronting in subordinate clauses with no overt subjec

That sexual selection can be an active force in plant evolution is still under debate. When the number of pollen grains deposited onto a stigma exceeds the number of available ovules, competition among pollen grains for fertilizations will result in selection on traits that increase siring ability (e.g. pollen tube growth rate). The pistil can be regarded as an arena for pollen competition, where

BACKGROUND: Defecography is considered to be an essential investigation in the evaluation of functional anorectal disorders, but the agreement between observers from different clinical centers has never been evaluated. METHODS: 14 defecographic studies were selected aimed to cover the most relevant defecographic findings responsible for disordered defecation. Eight studies were considered unequivo

BACKGROUND: Glucose degradation products (GDPs) are cytotoxic in vitro and potentially toxic in vivo during peritoneal dialysis (PD). We are presenting the results of a two-year randomized clinical trial of a new PD fluid, produced in a two-compartment bag and designed to minimize heat-induced glucose degradation while producing a near neutral pH. The effects of the new fluid over two years of tre

This paper is devoted to an extension of Burchnall-Chaundy theory on the interplay between algebraic geometry and commuting differential operators to the case of q-difference operators.