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PURPOSE: It is unclear whether plasma homocysteine (Hcy) has a direct noxious impact on the cardiovascular (CV) system or whether its association with cardiovascular events (CVEs) is mediated by established risk factors. To explore the role of Hcy in CV impairment, the study evaluated cross-sectional relationships between plasma Hcy and indices of CV organ damage together with the associations of

Olyckor vid vägarbetszoner är ett ihållande trafiksäkerhetsproblem i många europeiska länder. IRIS-projektet (Incursion Reduction to Increase Safety in road work zones) finansierat av CEDR samlade in information om bästa praxis inom trafikledning vid vägarbetsplatser. En analys av olyckor i arbetszonen och en översyn av bästa praxis gjordes. Psykologiska problem för att förbättra säkerheten i arbeAccidents nearby work zones are a persistent road safety problem in many European countries. The Conferenceof European Directors of Roads (CEDR) has initiated and finances the IRIS project (Incursion Reduction toIncrease Safety in road work zones) with the aim to collect and share information about best practices in temporarytraffic management at road works. An analysis of work zone accidents and

The mechanisms underlying M. fortuitum-induced pathogenesis remains elusive. Using headkidney macrophages (HKM) from Clarias gariepinus, we report that TLR-2-mediated internalization of M. fortuitum is imperative to the induction of pathogenic effects. Inhibiting TLR-2 signalling alleviated HKM apoptosis, thereby favouring bacterial survival. Additionally, TLR-2-mediated cytosolic calcium (Ca2+)c

Background Genome-wide association studies have identified >1000 genetic variants cross-sectionally associated with blood pressure variation and prevalent hypertension. These discoveries might aid the early identification of subpopulations at risk of developing hypertension or provide targets for drug development, amongst other applications. The aim of the present study was to analyze the associat

The presented work describes a computational method for carrying out a detailed and thorough examination of the flash temperature rise (i.e. the local’instantaneous’ temperature increase on a contact interface, due to frictional effects) present on the tooth flanks of a polymer gear pair, composed of a combination of POM and PA66 thermoplastics, during a given meshing cycle. The method involves a

The pharmaceutical approach to skin disease has been hugely successful, but despite effective drugs being available and used, there are still vast numbers of people who continue to have some level of persisting skin disease and continue to experience quality of life (QoL) impairment. So the question that needs to be answered, while we await further advances in our drug-based armamentarium, is how

Platelets are the primary cellular mediators of hemostasis and this function firmly acquaints them with a variety of inflammatory processes. For example, platelets can act as circulating sentinels by expressing Toll-like receptors (TLR) that bind pathogens and this allows platelets to effectively kill them or present them to cells of the immune system. Furthermore, activated platelets secrete and

Solar energy simulations are used to quantify the potential of the passive use (daylight, solar gains) and the active use (photovoltaics and solar thermal) of solar energy. The simulations can be performed at different scales e.g. buildings, neighbourhoods and cities, with different requirements on the data. For example, for the neighbourhood simulations we need simplified building geometries that

We report preliminary experimental and computational studies of the temporal evolution of the harmonics, generated in xenon, by 50-ps pulses from a Nd: YLF laser, amplified in Nd: glass amplifiers, and focused to produce intensities in the range 1013--5 {\texttimes} 1013 W cm{\textminus}2. Measurements were made of the temporal profiles of the seventh- and ninth-order harmonics using a specially m

Contextual Analysis through inquiries into Contextual Dependency is a way to specify and discuss more general issues of unequal distribution of power overall and the importance of gender issues as a specific example. This gives an Information Systems analyst an opportunity to ask some important questions. The sense making activities involved includes efforts to 'visualise' and communicate individu

A very large majority of the current product development process models put forward in textbooks present a homogenous structure, what Ulrich & Eppinger [1] call the market-pull model, presented as a generic one, while other possible product development process models are merely seen as variants. This paper focuses on the task clarification and derived activities (mainly the systematic search f

Recent observations by the Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph on the Rubble Space Telescope have dramatically improved our knowledge of the abundance of the heaviest elements in Mercury-Manganese (HgMn) stars (c.f. Leckrone et al. 1992 and Wahlgren et al. 1995). Explaining the observed abundance and isotope anomalies requires improved calculations of radiatively driven diffusion. We briefly revi

This article reports model experiments where vocal tract profiles of high and mid unrounded front and high rounded back vowels were systematically modified to simulate small constriction shifts along the hard or soft palate, in order to test A. M. Bell's century-old proposal that small shifts of tongue arch fronting or retraction would yield audible shifts of vowel timbre. Such differences were cl

Objective: Recent study showed high chemokine CXC ligand 5 (CXCL5) is thought to be associated with insulin resistance in humans. However, evidence from large-scale populations about the relationship between serum CXCL5 level and metabolic phenotypes is scarce. Here we sought to evaluate serum CXCL5 distribution and its association with metabolic phenotypes among middle-aged and older Chinese. Res

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the role of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori infections in patients with idiopathic permanent atrial fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Sera from 72 patients with permanent atrial fibrillation without structural heart disease (mean age 69.6 years, 23 women) were analysed for IgG antibodies against Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobact

Detectable debris discs are thought to require dynamical excitation (`stirring'), so that planetesimal collisions release large quantities of dust. We investigate the effects of the secular perturbations of a planet, which may lie at a significant distance from the planetesimal disc, to see if these perturbations can stir the disc, and if so over what time-scale. The secular perturbations cause or

This review discusses recent observations, in health and disease, on the release and distribution of plasma-derived molecules in the airway mucosa. Briefly, the new data on airway mucosal exudation mechanisms suggest that the protein systems of plasma contribute significantly to the mucosal biology, not only in injured airways but also in such mildly inflamed airways that lack oedema and exhibit n