AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: To date, the molecular function of most of the reported type 2 diabetes-associated loci remains unknown. The introduction or removal of cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) dinucleotides, which are possible sites of DNA methylation, has been suggested as a potential mechanism through which single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect gene function via epigenetics. The aim of this

We describe the spectrum of certain integration operators acting on generalized Fock spaces.

The use of medical equipment is growing in healthcare, resulting in an increased need for resources to educate users in how to manage the various devices. Learning the practical operation of a device is one thing, but learning how to work with the device in the actual clinical context is more challenging. This paper presents a computer-based simulation prototype for learning medical technology in

Density functional theory calculations are often used to interpret experimental shifts in core level binding energies. Calculations based on gradient-corrected (GC) exchange-correlation functionals are known to reproduce measured core level shifts (CLS) of isolated molecules and metal surfaces with reasonable accuracy. In the present study, we discuss a series of examples where the shifts calculat

Tiotropium + olodaterol improves lung function and symptoms compared to monotherapies in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The OTEMTO 1 and 2 studies investigated the effects of tiotropium + olodaterol on lung function and health-related quality of life compared to placebo in patients with moderate to severe COPD.

Apoptotic nucleosomes are structurally and immunologically involved in lupus nephritis. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression and function of laminins and their interactions with nucleosomes in the kidneys of patients with lupus nephritis, using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis.

We present a parsimonious agricultural land-use model that is designed to replicate global land-use change while allowing the exploration of uncertainties in input parameters. At the global scale, the modelled uncertainty range of agricultural land-use change covers observed land-use change. Spatial patterns of cropland change at the country level are simulated less satisfactorily, but temporal tr

to evaluate the clinical outcomes after fenestrated endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (F-EVAR) in octogenarians.

In this paper, the controllability and admissibility of perturbed semigroup systems are studied, using tools from the theory of interpolation and Carleson measures. In addition, there are new results on the perturbation of Carleson measures and on the weighted interpolation of functions and their derivatives in Hardy spaces, which are of interest in their own right.

Arterial partial-volume effects (PVEs) often hamper reproducible absolute quantification of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) obtained by dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC-MRI). The aim of this study was to examine whether arterial PVEs in DSC-MRI data can be minimized by rescaling the arterial input function (AIF) using a sagittal-sinus venous output function obtain

This paper applies the GARCH-MIDAS (Mixed Data Sampling) model to examine whether information contained in macroeconomic variables can help to predict short-term and long-term components of the return variance. A principal component analysis is used to incorporate the information contained in various variables. Our results show that including low-frequency macroeconomic information in the GARCH-MI

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure is the main risk factor for cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), but its specific effect in infancy is unknown. We examined whether season of birth, a proxy for solar UVR exposure in the first few months of life, is associated with CMM in childhood through young adulthood.

Two male patients, 75 and 53 years old, with totally occluded esophagus were treated. Sharp recanalization was performed using a combined radiologic and endoscopic technique. Following successful penetration with the needle through the occluded segment and balloon dilation, the created channel was stabilized with esophageal stent, with subsequent palliative effect.

The relationship between climatic variations, vegetation dynamics and early human activity between c. 4150-2860 BC was reconstructed from a high-resolution pollen and geochemical record obtained from a small lake located in County Sligo, Ireland. The proxy record suggests the existence of a woodland with a largely closed canopy at the start of the fourth millennium BC. Only minor human disturbance

The contribution of cell generation to physiological heart growth and maintenance in humans has been difficult to establish and has remained controversial. We report that the full complement of cardiomyocytes is established perinataly and remains stable over the human lifespan, whereas the numbers of both endothelial and mesenchymal cells increase substantially from birth to early adulthood. Analy

The properties of ions confined within spherical dielectric cavities are examined by a splitting field-theory and Monte Carlo simulations. Three types of cavities are considered: one possessing a uniform surface charge density, one with a uniform volume charge density, and one containing mobile ions. In all cases, mobile counterions are present within the dielectric sphere. The splitting theory is

The aim of this study was to use the Swedish National Registry of Urinary Bladder Cancer (SNRUBC) to investigate changes in patient and tumour characteristics, management and survival in bladder cancer cases over a period of 15 years.