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Abstract Aim: Compared to neutral globular proteins, neutral polysaccharides, such as dextran, pullulan and Ficoll, appear hyperpermeable across the glomerular filtration barrier. This has been attributed to an increased flexibility and/or asymmetry of polysaccharides. The present study investigates whether polysaccharides are hyperpermeable also across the continuous capillaries in the rat perito
A new mechanistic model of drug release during the lag phase from coated pellets undergoing cracking in the coating due to the hydrostatic pressure built up inside the pellet has been developed. The model describes dynamically all the main release processes occurring during the lag phase in pellets coated with a semi-permeable membrane, i.e. the influx of solvent driven by the difference in osmoti
BACKGROUND: Host-related and environment-related factors have been shown to play a role in the development of tuberculosis (TB), but few studies were carried out to identify their respective roles in resource-poor countries. METHODS: A multicentre case-control study was conducted in Guinee, Guinea Bissau, and The Gambia, from January 1999 to March 2001. Cases were newly detected smear positive TB
A species-wide phylogeographical study of the root vole (Microtus oeconomus ) was performed using the whole 1140 base pair mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b gene. We examined 83 specimens from 52 localities resulting in 65 unique haplotypes. Our results demonstrate that the root vole is divided into four main mtDNA phylogenetic lineages that seem to have largely allopatric distributions. Net diverge
Collagen induced arthritis (CIA) is a common mouse model for rheumatoid arthritis. Two sets of truncated peptides derived from type II collagen have been prepared and tested for binding to A(q), a MHC-II molecule associated with development of CIA. Binding to A(q) correlated well with predictions from a computer-based model. T-cell hybridomas, obtained in CIA, were also used to study the ability o
Although the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series data, derived from NOAA/AVFIRR, SPOT/VEGETATION, TERRA or AQUA/MODIS, has been successfully used in research regarding global environmental change, residual noise in the NDVI time-series data, even after applying strict pre-processing, impedes further analysis and risks generating erroneous results. Based on the assumptions tha
The formation of inhibitory alloantibodies is, in the postinfectious era, the most severe and costly complication of replacement therapy in patients with haemophilia. The complexity of the immune response to the infused factor becomes more and more obvious as knowledge in the area increases. Antibodies develop as a result of a complex multi-factorial interaction between antigen-presenting cells, T
Fifteen polymorphic markers were developed from a microsatellite-enriched library for the lizard Podarcis gaigeae. The loci were checked for variability in 68 individuals from a population on the island of Skyros, Greece. The number of alleles ranged from 3 to 23 per locus and expected heterozygosity from 0.29 and 0.94. Most markers were also polymorphic in three closely related Podarcis species,
This paper presents the coupled cluster/molecular mechanics (CC/MM) and self-consistent field/molecular mechanics (SCF/MM) approaches for wavefunctions, energies and response properties. Two physically different theories are derived, the mean-field and the direct-field interaction approaches, together with expressions for the optimization condition of both variational and non-variational wavefunct
Aims/hypothesis Post-translational modifications, such as isomerisation of native proteins, may create new antigenic epitopes and play a role in the development of the autoimmune response. Protein-L-isoaspartate (D-aspartate) O-methyltransferase (PIMT), encoded by the gene PCMT1, is an enzyme that recognises and repairs isomerised Asn and Asp residues in proteins. The aim of this study was to asse
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of stent-graft design and operator skills on outcomes after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. STUDY DESIGN: One hundred sixty-four patients (mean age 71 years) underwent stent-graft repair. Patients were treated with four different types of stent-graft: first-generation (n = 58) and second-generation (n = 17) Ivancev-Malm
A method is presented on how to quantify the moisture conditions of nuclear concrete containment walls. The method is based on first quantifying the boundary conditions at the outer and inner surfaces and then describing the moisture fixation and moisture transport within the concrete wall. The temperature and humidity conditions of the outdoor air and of the air close to the wall surfaces are mon
The detection of contamination such as salt in outdoor high-voltage insulator systems and its subsequent removal are vital for a reliable transmission of electric power. Remote detection of salt on a copper metal surface was carried out by using a mobile laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) Lidar system with a laser wavelength of 355 nm. Detection of salt on a polymeric high-voltage insulat
A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the qualitative and quantitative assay of cyproheptadine (CP) in pharmaceutical samples. Diphenylpyraline hydrochloride (DPP) was used as an internal standard (IS). Two multiple reaction-monitoring (MRM) transitions for each analyte were observed: 288.1/96.1 and 288.1/191.2 for
