BACKGROUND: Questions have been asked about whether the process of obtaining informed consent from parents to clinical trials on neonates leads to valid consent. We undertook a study in nine European countries to assess this issue and to seek any practical improvements. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of 200 babies who had been asked for consent to neonatal trials a

Tissue-based diagnostics and research is incessantly evolving with the development of new molecular tools. It has long been realized that immunohistochemistry can add an important new level of information on top of morphology and that protein expression patterns in a cancer may yield crucial diagnostic and prognostic information. We have generated an immunohistochemistry-based map of protein expre

OBJECTIVE: Pressure-volume (PV) curves are recorded after induction of complete muscle paralysis, which may limit their clinical use. The feasibility of recording PV curves without paralysis has not been tested. In 19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and no hemodynamic instability we prospectively evaluated whether PV curves can be safely and reliably recorded under deep se

In protein chromatography large molecules have to diffuse into the stationary phase. The molecular sizes of the proteins make the diffusion rates low or very low and the separation can be assumed to be mass transfer limited. In this study three different prepacked columns, with different bead sizes, are used for the separation of IgG and BSA to confirm or reject this assumption in an ion-exchange

The measures needed for the protection of the layer are decided regularly by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, now consisting of 188 countries. The Parties are advised on knowledge relevant to this task by three panels of experts: the Scientific, Environmental Effects, and Technology and Economic Assessment Panels. These panels produce an assessment every four years. The Environmental Effects

We consider a Fermi pencil-beam model in two-space dimensions (x,y), where x is aligned with the beam’s penetration direction and y together with the scaled angular variable z correspond to a, bounded symmetric, transversal cross-section. The model corresponds to a forward–backward degenerate, convection dominated, convection–diffusion problem. For this problem we study some fully discrete numeric

The optimal division of resources into offspring size vs. number is one of the classic problems in life-history evolution. Importantly, models that take into account the discrete nature of resource division at low clutch sizes suggest that the variance in offspring size should decline with increasing clutch size according to an invariant relationship. We tested this prediction in 12 species of liz

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by an unstable CAG repeat. For patients at risk, participating in predictive testing and learning of having CAG expansion, a major unanswered question shifts from "Will I get HD?" to "When will it manifest?" Using the largest cohort of HD patients analyzed to date (2913 individuals from 40 centers worldwide), we developed a parametri

A high respiratory rate associated with the use of small tidal volumes, recommended for acute lung injury (ALI), shortens time for gas diffusion in the alveoli. This may decrease CO2 elimination. We hypothesized that a postinspiratory pause could enhance CO2 elimination and reduce PaCO2 by reducing dead space in ALI. In 15 mechanically ventilated patients with ALI and hypercapnia, a 20% postinspir

X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy spectra were collected for three brominated persistent pollutants: 6-bromo-2,4,5-trichlorophenol (BrTriClP), pentabromophenol (PentaBrP) and 3,3',5,5'-tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBA). The substances were selected to be symmetrical (BrTriClP and TBBA) or asymmetrical (PentaBrP) with respect to the atomic Br positions and to differ in the number of b

Variable time-step methods, with general step-size control objectives, are developed within the framework of variational integrators. This is accomplished by introducing discrete transformations similar to Poincares time transformation. While gaining from adaptive time-steps, the resulting integrators preserve the structural advantages of variational integrators, i.e., they are symplectic and mome

The human anaphylatoxin peptide C3a, generated during complement activation, exerts antimicrobial effects. Phylogenetic analysis, sequence analyses, and structural modeling studies paired with antimicrobial assays of peptides from known C3a sequences showed that, in particular in vertebrate C3a, crucial structural determinants governing antimicrobial activity have been conserved during the evoluti