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Identifying genes involved in the disease pathways of complex diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been shown to be very difficult. Despite decades of research still only a handful of genes have been convincingly identified as risk genes. RA is a common autoimmune disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population and knowledge of the contributing genetic factors would greatly incr
The avian circadian and visual systems are integrally related and together influence many aspects of birds' behavior and physiology. Certainly, light cycles and their visual perception are the major zeitgebers for circadian rhythms, but do circadian rhythms affect vision? To assess whether visual func-tion is regulated on a circadian basis, flash-evoked electroretinograms (ERGs) and vision-evoked
Cystatin F is a recently discovered type II cystatin expressed almost exclusively in immune cells. It is present intracellularly in lysosome-like vesicles, which suggests a potential role in regulating papain-like cathepsins involved in antigen presentation. Therefore, interactions of cystatin F with several of its potential targets, cathepsins F, K, V, S, H, X and C, were studied in vitro. Cystat
BACKGROUND: Collagenous colitis is a disease characterized by chronic watery diarrhea, and on microscopic examination of colonic tissue, a typical thickening of the subepithelial collagen layer is seen. The etiology and pathophysiology behind this disease state are largely unknown. METHODS: We have used in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to study the expression of transforming growth f
The main concern of this thesis is to experimentally investigate the turbulent flow and heat transfer in a ribbed channel. Such flows are encountered in many engineering applications, e.g., gas turbine cooling. In order to highlight the physical mechanism of flow separation, only one wall of the channel is fitted with periodic ribs. The inter-rib spacing is set such that the reattachment is allowe
This article presents a study of the metaphor as instrument for the direct perception of events. Its major hypothesis refers to the event structure embedded in the ground of a metaphor. Since the ground is implicit in the linguistic manifestation, an invariant representation of textual movement patterns is assumed to capture the event structure. Experimentally, it is demonstrated that an event is
Carbon-14 levels in the vicinity of the Lithuanian nuclear power plant Ignalina have been investigated. During 2001-2004, approximately 70 samples were collected and analysed using accelerator mass spectrometry. The study included samples of leaves, grass, moss, soil and aquatic plants, covering a distance up to 32 km from the power plant. The highest C-14 specific activities were found in soil sa
Tadpole density dependence has repeatedly been studied in laboratories and mesocosms, but rarely in natural ponds. The present study manipulated density in three ponds; each pond was divided into one low density section and one high density section. The experiment was run for eight years, switching density treatments within ponds among years. This experimental design cannot definitively separate t
Flow cytometric (FCM) DNA analysis yields information on ploidy status and the S-phase fraction (SPF), variables of prognostic importance in breast cancer. The clinical value of the SPF is currently being evaluated in prospective randomized trials. The widespread use of FCM DNA analysis emphasizes the importance of reproducibility (both intra- and interlaboratory). In this study, 67 nuclear suspen
During hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, monomeric sugars and a broad range of inhibitory compounds are formed and released. These inhibitors, which can be organized around three main groups, furans, weak acids and phenolics, reduce ethanol yield and productivity by affecting the microorganism performance during the fermentation step. Among the microorganisms that have been evaluated for lign
Highly crosslinked synthetic polymers, selective for various Nα-protected amino acids and derivatives, were prepared by non-covalent molecular imprinting. Methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were copolymerized in the presence of the print molecules, which were subsequently extracted from the polymers. The recognition of the polymers for the print molecules and molecules of similar
The flow and thermal fields in a rectangular-sectioned 90 degrees bend with a cross-section aspect ratio of 6 were investigated using four turbulence models. All models managed to reproduce the general flow and thermal patterns. Chen's high-Re k-epsilon model and Suga's cubic low-Re k-epsilon model performed well. The V2F k-epsilon model was found to be the least diffusive model and delivered good
The role of various material fire properties in the model of fire growth developed by Magnusson and Karlsson [l] is examined in the context of the dimensionless variables containing them. It is shown that their successful representation of their calculations by power law (one for fires which do not flashover and one for those which do) permits one to devise weighting factors for the rate of heat r
Tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) is a marker of mucinous ovarian carcinoma, but it is also widely expressed in other malignant tumors and normal human tissues. Elevated serum concentrations of TATI are of prognostic value in ovarian, kidney, and bladder cancer. Tumor-associated trypsin is co-expressed with TATI in many malignancies and is thought to be involved in tumor invasion. TATI mRN
Conditions for predicting the effects of intervention with certainty are derived. An outside observer studies sequences of actions from a two-person repeated prisoners' dilemma. The sequences are generated by finite automata, which are optimal at each stage of the game and also minimize the number of states. An intervention is a change of action for one of the players and a prediction is a stateme
The use of short interfering RNAs (siRNA) for selective suppression of protein production has rapidly become a commonly used technique for transient modulation of protein levels. In the present paper, we investigate whether introduction of platinated bases in the sense strand can be used to modulate the efficacy of siRNAs. Four different siRNAs were studied, all targeting the initial AU-rich 3' UT
Expression of genes for respiratory chain dehydrogenases was investigated in potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Desiree) leaves. The recently characterized nda1 and ndb1 genes, homologues to genes encoding the non-proton pumping respiratory chain NADH-dehydrogenases of Escherichia coli and yeast, were compared to genes encoding catalytic subunits of the proton-pumping NADH dehydrogenase (complex I).
The NOPEX experimental campaigns dealt with the land-surface-atmosphere exchange of momentum, heat, water and CO2 on local and regional scales. In this paper emphasis is put on the NOPEX experiences with respect to the spatial integration of fluxes of momentum, heat, humidity and CO2 over the mosaic of forest, agricultural land, lakes and mires that make up the southern part of the NOPEX area. It
