Many enzymes of the bacteriochlorophyll and chlorophyll biosynthesis pathways have been conserved throughout evolution, but the molecular mechanisms of the key steps remain unclear. The magnesium chelatase reaction is one of these steps, and it requires the proteins BchI, BchD, and BchH to catalyze the insertion of Mg2+ into protoporphyrin IX upon ATP hydrolysis. Structural analyses have shown tha

Surfactant molecules are amphipathic and posses complicated solution chemistry and self-assembly properties. In addition to being of enormous practical significance, the physical characterization of surfactant systems presents a rich area of condensed matter physics. This article focuses on the application and interpretation of the commonly used NMR approaches for probing these systems. In particu

Fuel-cycle emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) carbon oxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), hydrocarbons (HC), methane (CH4), and particles are analysed from a life-cycle perspective for different biogas systems based oil six different raw materials. The gas is produced in large- or farm-scale biogas plants, and is used in boilers for heat production, in turbines for co-generatio

Mutations in the Aristaless related homeobox (ARX) gene are associated with a broad spectrum of disorders, including nonsyndromic X-linked mental retardation, sometimes associated with epilepsy, as well as syndromic forms with brain abnormalities and abnormal genitalia. Furthermore, ARX mutations have been described in a few patients with autism or autistic features. In this study, we screened the

Three studies investigated decision makers' memory representations of choice alternatives in most important real-life decisions. In Study 1, each participant recalled the most important decision that she or he had ever made and rated to what degree a number of characteristics could describe the decisions. In Study 2, the participants were asked to think about an important decision that they had ma

The development of fungal biomass and increase of amounts of N was studied in decomposing pine needle litter for about 3 yr. After a relatively rapid increase of the amount of mycelium the fungal biomass became rather constant after about 2 yr. The absolute amount of N in the needles increased between the 4th and the 16th months and this increase was correlated to the increase of fungal biomass in

The aim of this work was to characterize the effect of experimental diabetes on neurotransmission in rat vagina. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: non-diabetic controls (NDM, n=38) and diabetics (DM, n=38). DM was produced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Eight weeks later the animals were killed, the distal part of the vagina was removed, and smooth muscle st

Neuropathic pain is a common consequence of damage to the nervous system. We here report a genetic analysis of development of neuropathic pain-like behaviors after unilateral photochemically-induced ischemic sciatic nerve injury in a panel of inbred rat strains known to display different susceptibility to autoimmune neuroinflammation. Pain behavior was initially characterized in Dark-Agouti (DA; R

Objective: To develop a short measure of physical function for knee osteoarthritis (OA) using multi-national data from. individuals with varying degrees of severity of knee OA. Methods: Rasch analysis, based on the partial credit model, was conducted on Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score and Western Ontario McMaster Universities' Osteoarthritis Index data from individuals with knee OA, r

Birth characteristics and growth pattern in 76 children with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection were compared to Swedish reference data. Infection classification was based on maternal sera during pregnancy. In 31 children the infection was primary and 31 children had reactivated (recurrent or secondary) congenital CMV infection. Infection type could not be determined in 14 children. Transi

In a prospective study comprising 310 consecutive patients with carcinoma of the cervix, FIGO stages I-IV, the prognostic significance of clinical and flow cytometric variable was evaluated in a univariate and multivariate analysis. The parameters studied included stage according to FIGO, age, histopathologic grade according to Ackerman and MGS scores, DNA ploidy, S-phase fraction as well as treat

An investigation combining IR spectroscopy, potentiometric titrations, and adsorption experiments was carried out to study pyromellitate (1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylate) sorption at the goethite (alpha-FeOOH)/ water interface. The IR spectra show evidence of outer-sphere complexation throughout the pH range from 3 to 9. Below pH 6 additional IR spectroscopic features appear, which are tentatively

Diverticulitis causes recurrent abdominal pain associated with increased mucosal expression of mucosal galanin and substance P (SP). We studied changes in mucosal and myenteric plexus neuropeptides in adult rats using a model of colonic inflammation, trinitrobenzenesulphonic acid colitis. We assessed the effects on the pan-neuronal markers protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5) and neurofilament protei

objectives To assess effects of GH replacement therapy on cardiac structure and function, exercise capacity as well as serum lipids in elderly patients with GH deficiency (GHD). patients and methods Thirty-one patients (six females, 25 males), aged 60-79 years (mean 68 years) with GHD on stable cortisone and thyroxine substitution were studied. All men with gonadotropin deficiency had testosteron

We analyse time series data of 17 bird species trapped at Ottenby Bird Observatory, Sweden, during spring migration 1972-1999. The species have similar demography but respond differently to variation in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) - a strong determinant of winter climate in the northern Hemisphere. Species wintering in northern Europe, compared to species having winter quarters in the Med

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the cost-effectiveness of varenicline with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for smoking cessation in four European countries (Belgium, France, Sweden and the UK). METHODS: Markov simulations, using the Benefits of Smoking Cessation on Outcomes (BENESCO) model, were performed. We simulated the incidence of four smoking-related morbidit

We consider the problem of how to schedule t similar and independent tasks to be performed in a synchronous distributed system of p stations communicating via multiple-access channels. Stations are prone to crashes whose patterns of occurrence are specified by adversarial models. Work, defined as the number of the available processor steps, is the complexity measure. We consider only reliable algo

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy of men in Western countries. Patients with advanced prostate cancer suffer from incurable bone metastases. Recent data indicate that interactions between prostate cancer cells, osteoblasts, osteoclasts and the bone matrix are essential in the formation of bone metastases. FGF-8 is widely overexpressed in prostate cancer. Recently, FGF-8 has been found