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Background: Dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells central to the immune system. They activate and orchestrate the innate and the adaptive immune systems. This phenotypically diverse group can be further divided into 2 subsets, the CD11c(+) myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and the CD123(+) plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of allergen expos

To be able to evaluate recovery, effects of rehabilitation interventions and changes over time, reliable and valid outcome measures are needed. The ABILHAND Questionnaire is a measure of self-reported ability to perform complex daily hand activities. It is commonly used in stroke rehabilitation, but data about the measurement variability are missing.

Lanthanum orthovanadate (LaVO4) is the only stable monazite-type rare-earth orthovanadate. In the present paper the equation of state of LaVO4 is studied using in situ high-pressure powder diffraction at room temperature, and ab initio calculations within the framework of the density functional theory. The parameters of a second-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state, i.e. those fitted to the exp

This article is based on an evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers (CAC) in six municipalities in Sweden 2006-2007. The study concerned cooperation between different authorities (police, social services, public prosecutor, forensic medicine, pediatrics and child psychiatry) responsible for children who were suspected of being exposed to sexual or physical abuse. It is anticipated that use of CA

Interactions between species can promote evolutionary divergence of ecological traits and social signals, a process widely assumed to generate species differences in adaptive radiation. However, an alternative view is that lineages typically interact when relatively old, by which time selection for divergence is weak and potentially exceeded by convergent selection acting on traits mediating inter

Enterococcus faecium is an important pathogen that is resistant to many antibiotics and is able to form biofilms on implanted medical devices. In this study, the efficacy of rifampicin-containing antibiotic regimens against biofilms of E. faecium in vitro was investigated by determination of the minimum biofilm eradication concentration and by time-kill experiments of bacteria in biofilms formed o

This study assesses the environmental effects of brine discharge into the Arabian/Persian Gulf and the option of mixing with wastewater to reduce the salt content in the discharge. The Arabian Gulf region occupies about 3.3% of the world area and has 1.0, 2.0 and 2.2% of the total world population in the years 1950, 2008 and 2050 (prognosis) respectively. The study area desalination capacities wer

Background Current guidelines recommend tailoring of asthma management according to disease control, which is largely defined by increased symptoms and deterioration in lung function. These features do not reflect the severity nor the type of the asthmatic airway inflammation. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) is a simple, non-invasive and cost-effective online test applicable in both adults

Group G streptococcus (GGS) is a human bacterial pathogen expressing surface proteins FOG and protein G (PG) which interact with several host defense systems, including the complement and contact systems. Selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, and protein binding assays were used to follow the amounts of FOG and PG intracellularly and on the bacterial surface during d

The spatial control of molecular motor function, using nanostructured surfaces, is of great interest for the development of commercial devices for diagnostics and high-throughput drug screening with molecular motors as targets. In the present study we have fabricated 100-300 nm wide nanochannels, completely subsurfaced on fused silica chips, with the aim to interface them with a microfluidic syste

Gastrectomy (Gx) leads to osteopenia/osteoporosis in humans and animals. However, little is known about the influence of Gx on the cartilage in this regard. Recent studies have demonstrated a protective effect of 2-oxoglutaric acid (2-Ox) on bone and cartilage. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether 2-Ox can mitigate eventual Gx-induced cartilage impairment. Twenty female Spra

We isolated and characterised 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci for the blue-tailed damselfly Ischnura elegans by screening a genomic library enriched for microsatellite motifs. The loci showed high variability for the number of alleles, and the expected and observed heterozygosities, and thus will be useful for future molecular studies. Cross-amplification in I. graellsii, I. ramburii and I. pum

Two of the most important ways of reducing the production cost of lignocellulosic ethanol are to increase the ethanol yield and the concentration in the fermentation broth. This can be facilitated by co-fermentation of glucose and xylose from agricultural residues such as wheat straw, due to the high amount of xylose in the hemicelluloses in these materials. Simultaneous saccharification and co-fe

Objectives. Previous research has demonstrated mortality differences between immigrants and natives living in Sweden. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of early life conditions in the country of birth and current socio-economic conditions in adult life in Sweden on cardiovascular, cancer, all other cause and total mortality among immigrants and natives in Sweden. Design. The coho

In a middle-aged population, it was recently shown that the stable vasopressin marker plasma copeptin (copeptin) predicts development of diabetes mellitus, diabetic heart disease and death. Here, it was hypothesised whether copeptin predicts a risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), and cardiovascular mortality in an older population.

Many elderly men with high-risk nonmetastatic prostate cancer (HRnMPCa) do not receive radical treatment, despite the high mortality associated with conservative management.

In telecommunication networks based on the current Ethernet technology, routing of traffic demands is based on multiple spanning trees: the network operator configures different routing spanning trees and assigns each demand to be routed in one of the selected spanning trees. A major optimization issue in this solution is the combined determination of (i) a set of appropriate spanning trees, and (

Diet may have a role in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease. In previous studies, the associations between increased intakes of carbohydrates, sugar, starch, and inflammatory bowel disease are inconsistent. However, few prospective studies have investigated the associations between these macronutrients and incident Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC).