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A substantial part of nuclear containments in US and Europe are designed with an outer bearing concrete structure and an inner sealing consisting of a tight-welded steel liner. The liner constitutes the ultimate leak-barrier, which prevents leakage at high internal pressure loads. The purpose of this paper is to show which influence a through-wall concrete crack may have on the strain level in the
This study describes a new method for the fixation of titanium hip stem prostheses based on interdigitation of irregularly shaped porous titanium granules onto bone tissue. The granules were distributed into the prepared femoral cavity using a vibrating tool, and the stem was vibrated and tapped into the bed of granules. In this pilot study, 5 patients were followed between 9 and 15 years. The cli
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are extremely polymorphic and this variation is assumed to be maintained by balancing selection. Cyclic interactions between pathogens and their hosts could generate such selection, and specific MHC alleles or heterozygosity at certain MHC loci have been shown to confer resistance against particular pathogens. Here we compare the temporal variation
The core protein of glypican-1, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked heparan sulfate proteoglycan, can bind Cu(II) or Zn(II) ions and undergo S-nitrosylation in the presence of nitric oxide. Cu(II)-to-Cu(I)-reduction supports extensive and permanent nitrosothiol formation, whereas Zn(II) ions appear to support a more limited, possibly transient one. Ascorbate induces release of nitric oxide, whic
Familial defective apolipoprotein B100 (FDB) is a genetic disorder in which low density lipoproteins (LDL) bind defectively to the LDL receptor, resulting in hypercholesterolemia and premature atherosclerosis. FDB is caused by a mutation (R3500Q) that changes the conformation of apolipoprotein (apo) B100 near the receptor-binding site. We previously showed that arginine, not simply a positive char
For dealing with various societal problems, 'political'/'ethical'/'responsible' consumerism is often discussed as an effective democratic and participatory tool. However, political consumerism – along with its tools, such as product labelling – is often conceived and discussed in oversimplified ways. Instead, the tension between scientific complexity, knowledge uncertainty and a codified, standard
The neuronal soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex is essential for synaptic vesicle exocytosis, but its study has been limited by the neonatal lethality of murine SNARE knockouts. Here, we describe a viable mouse line carrying a mutation in the b-isoform of neuronal SNARE synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25) The causative I67T missens
The relationship between leukocyte migration and parenchymal cell death in vivo remains poorly documented. Accordingly, cell killing in the rat mesentery, as recorded by propidium iodide staining, was investigated with an intravital approach. Superfusion of platelet-activating factor (PAF, 10(-8) M) or N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP, 10(-8) M) led to extensive leukocyte extravasatio
Liver plays a vital role in the production and catabolism of plasma lipoproteins. It depends on the integrity of cellular function of liver, which ensures homeostasis of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. When liver cancer occurs these processes are impaired and high-density lipoproteins are changed. (C) 2007 The WJG Press. All rights reserved.
PURPOSE: Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) has been regarded as the most common soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in adults. Yet its true nature and the validity of this diagnostic concept have increasingly been questioned. Available data suggest that most patients with MFH can be subclassified into specific STS types, but the clinical relevance of such categorization has been argued. In a retrospectiv
beta-Cell-specific gene targeting is a widely used tool when studying genes involved in beta-cell function. For this purpose, several conditional beta-cell knockouts have been generated using the rat insulin promoter 2-Cre recombinase (RIP2-Cre) mouse. However, it was recently observed that expression of Cre alone in P-cells may affect whole body glucose homeostasis. Therefore, we investigated glu
Antiviral therapy in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is limited by haematological side-effects, especially thrombocytopenia and leucopenia. The pancytopenia associated with liver cirrhosis has multifactorial causes, but hypersplenism seems to be a major contributor, especially regarding thrombocytopenia. The use of PSE as a 'Pretreatment' in order to make more patients with HCV-induced cirrhosis
The mechanism of ascorbate oxidation was studied in rat liver microsomes. A continuous consumption of the added ascorbate was observed, which was accompanied with a prompt appearance of ascorbyl free radical and dehydroascorbate. Microsomes sustained steady-state level of ascorbyl free radical and dehydroascorbate till ascorbate was present in the medium. Ascorbyl free radical formation was dimini
Construction industries, especially those in developing countries, face the problems of low productivity. It comes about partly due to organizational ineffectiveness. The major attributes of organizational effectiveness are identified from literature. Means to achieving greater organization effectiveness and higher productivity are identified under the major headings of cohesion and morale of work
A double-blind, randomised, parallel group, multicentre, multinational study compared the effects of 12 months' treatment with lisinopril (10-20 mg once daily) or nifedipine retard tablets (20-40 mg twice daily) in 239 males (aged 18-75 years) and 96 post-menopausal females (aged 40-75 years). They all had a history of clinically stable type II diabetes > 3 months, microalbuminuria and early diabe
Ion-ion correlations play an important role in liquid dispersion with, strong eleetrostatic inlet-actions. Examples can be found in very diverse areas with the setting of cement paste as one extreme and the compactation, of DNA as another. One particularly spectacular effect of ion-ion correlations is that the traditional double layer repulsion sometimes can be converted into a net attraction. Thi
We discuss the recent discovery by Oppenheimer et al. of old, cool white dwarf stars, which may be the first direct detection of Galactic halo dark matter. We argue here that the contribution of more mundane white dwarfs of the stellar halo and thick disc would contribute sufficiently to explain the new high velocity white dwarfs without invoking putative white dwarfs of the dark halo. This by no
An efficient method to compute analytical energy derivatives for local second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation energy is presented. Density fitting approximations are employed for all 4-index integrals and their derivatives. Using local fitting approximations, quadratic scaling with molecular size and cubic scaling with basis set size for a given molecule is achieved. The density fitting approxim
The ability of the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) proteins biglycan, decorin and chondroadherin to interact with collagen VI and influence its assembly to supramolecular structures was studied by electron microscopy and surface plasmon resonance measurements in the BIAcore 2000 system. Biglycan showed a unique ability to organize collagen VI into extensive hexagonal-like networks over a time period of
