Objectives To determine whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor (s-VEGF) levels and VEGF gene expression in tumor tissue predict survival of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy. Methods VEGF levels were measured in serum samples from 102 patients

In 2D electronic spectroscopy, oscillatory signals have recently received increased attention. The key issue is the origin of such beating-whether it is vibrational or electronic. In analogy to the distinction between rephasing and nonrephasing contributions to 2D spectra, we separate signal components with positive and negative coherence beating frequency via a third Fourier transformation and co

Licensed human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, based on virus-like particles (VLPs) self-assembled from major capsid protein L1, afford type-restricted protection against HPV types 16/18/6/11 (or 16/18 for the bivalent vaccine), which cause 70% of cervical cancers (CxCas) and 90% of genital warts. However, they do not protect against less prevalent high-risk (HR) types causing 30% of CxCa, or cutan

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are dominant seed cell sources for bone regeneration. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) initiate cartilage and bone formation in a sequential cascade. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an essential coordinator of extracellular matrix remodeling, angiogenesis and bone formation. In the present study, the effects of the vascular endotheli

Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptive colouration serves critical functions ranging from inconspicuous camouflage to ostentatious sexual display, and can provide important information about the environment and biology of a particular organism. The most ubiquitous and abundant pigment, melanin, also has a diverse range of non-visual roles, including thermoregulation in ectotherms. However, little

Optimal foraging theory predicts that predators are selective when faced with abundant prey, but become less picky when prey gets sparse. Insectivorous bats in temperate regions are faced with the challenge of building up fat reserves vital for hibernation during a period of decreasing arthropod abundances. According to optimal foraging theory, pre-hibernating bats should adopt a less selective fe

We study several models of random geometric subdivisions arising from the model of Diaconis and Miclo (Combin Probab Comput 20 (2011) 213–237). In particular, we show that the limiting shape of an indefinite subdivision of a quadrilateral is a.s. a parallelogram. We also show that the geometric subdivisions of a triangle by angle bisectors converge (only weakly) to a non-atomic distribution, and t

In the present paper we apply a new neurophysiological technique to make single-electrode, dual loose-patch recordings from pairs of neuronal elements in the cerebellar cortex in vivo. The analyzed cell pairs consisted of an inhibitory molecular layer interneuron and a Purkinje cell (PC) or a Golgi cell and a granule cell, respectively. To detect the magnitude of the unitary inhibitory synaptic in

Orbiliomycetes is one of the earliest diverging branches of the filamentous ascomycetes. The class contains nematode-trapping fungi that form unique infection structures, called traps, to capture and kill free-living nematodes. The traps have evolved differently along several lineages and include adhesive traps (knobs, nets or branches) and constricting rings. We show, by genome sequencing of the

Background: We analyzed the hypoallergenic potential of a recently bred apple selection with unusually low content of Mal d 1, using an oral challenge model with three additional apple cultivars for comparison. Methods: Sixty-six birch pollen-allergic individuals with a history of oral allergy syndrome after apple intake were subjected to a double-blind oral provocation with two apple cultivars (B

The fight between a human host and a bacterial pathogen is highly complicated; each party tries to outshine the other in the race for survival. In humans, the innate immune system-in particular the complement system-functions as the first line of defence against invading pathogens. During the course of evolution, however, pathogens, in order to survive and perpetuate within a host, developed multi

This paper presents a flexible architecture suitable for concurrent processing of multiple radio standards. The proposed architecture is based on a coarse-grained reconfigurable cell array, consisting of distinct processing and memory cells. Flexibility of the architecture is demonstrated by performing a coarse time synchronization and fractional frequency offset estimation for multiple OFDM stand

High-resolution spectral estimation techniques are of notable interest for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging. Several sparse estimation techniques have been shown to provide significant performance gains as compared to conventional approaches. We consider efficient implementation of the recent iterative sparse maximum likelihood-based approaches (SMLAs). Furthermore, we present approximative

SUMMARY: Parasite prevalence is an important variable in many evolutionary and ecological studies. In birds, haemosporidian blood parasites have been in focus of many comparative analyses. Because low prevalence is difficult to estimate precisely and that studies finding low prevalence are more likely to remain unpublished, our knowledge of parasite prevalence is biased towards highly infected tax

Parkinson's disease patients exhibit progressive spreading of aggregated α-synuclein in the nervous system. This slow process follows a specific pattern in an inflamed tissue environment. Recent research suggests that prion-like mechanisms contribute to the propagation of α-synuclein pathology. Little is known about factors that might affect the prion-like behavior of misfolded α-synuclein. In thi

An association between low serum vitamin D levels and poorer melanoma survival has been reported. We have studied inheritance of a polymorphism of the GC gene, rs2282679, coding for the vitamin D-binding protein, which is associated with lower serum levels of vitamin D, in a meta-analysis of 3137 melanoma patients. The aim was to investigate evidence for a causal relationship between vitamin D and

INTRODUCTION: Children and adolescents are encouraged to maintain a habitually active lifestyle because of the known health benefits associated with regular physical activity, but there are some reports that a high level of activity may be associated with increased fracture risk. This prospective controlled exercise intervention study in pre-pubertal children evaluated if a school-based exercise i

The yeast pathogen Candida glabrata is the second most frequent cause of Candida infections. However, from the phylogenetic point of view, C. glabrata is much closer to Saccharomyces cerevisiae than to Candida albicans. Apparently, this yeast has relatively recently changed its life style and become a successful opportunistic pathogen. Recently, several C. glabrata sister-species, among them clini

Between X-ray tubes and large-scale synchrotron sources, a large gap in performance exists with respect to the monochromaticity and brilliance of the X-ray beam. However, due to their size and cost, large-scale synchrotrons are not available for more routine applications in small and medium-sized academic or industrial laboratories. This gap could be closed by laser-driven compact synchrotron ligh