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The quality of the working environment affects the health status of a population. In the absence of government intervention this quality would be determined by market forces, but the market outcome is generally not accepted. Instead public policy attempts to carefully monitor the level of occupational hazards, which are invariably subject to regulation in industrialized countries. However, this st
The performance of an explicit algebraic stress model with a cubic equation for closure constants is assessed in predicting the turbulent flow dynamics of ducts relevant for heat exchangers. The use of a cubic equation allows elimination of any damping functions in the tensor representation for the Reynolds stresses and thereby improves prediction of turbulent stresses theoretically. The methodolo
Stochastic leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuronal models are common theoretical tools for studying properties of real neuronal systems. Experimental data of frequently sampled membrane potential measurements between spikes show that the assumption of constant parameter values is not realistic and that some (random) fluctuations are occurring. In this article, we extend the stochastic LIF model, a
A continuous supermacroporous monolithic chromatographic matrix has been characterized using a capillary model, experimental breakthrough curves, and pressure drop experiments. The model describes the convective flow and its dispersive mixing effects, mass transfer resistance, pore size distribution, and the adsorption behavior of the monolithic matrix. It is possible to determine an effective por
BACKGROUND: The primary systemic vasculitides usually associated with autoantibodies to neutrophil cytoplasmic antigens include Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis. We investigated whether exposure to cyclophosphamide in patients with generalized vasculitis could be reduced by substitution of azathioprine at remission. METHODS: We studied patients with a new diagnosis of generali
A cell-based biosensor system was designed for monitoring an anaerobic process for treatment of high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels in wastewater samples from a factory processing concentrated rubber latex. The BOD biosensor used immobilized mixed culture of microorganisms as the biological sensing element and an oxygen electrode as the transducer. The assay principle is based on the deter
In order to produce CO2 for stable isotope analyses (delta(18)O and delta(13)C), carbonate samples are commonly digested in phosphoric acid. The acid recipe here presented is based on phase shifting crystalline orthophosphoric acid of pro-analysis quality to a liquid state through heating, followed by pre-vacuum treatment during a start-up procedure before mass analyses for common acid bath prepar
Nuclear microscopy is a technique based on a focused beam of accelerated particles that has the ability of imaging the morphology of the tissue in vivo and of producing the correspondent elemental maps, whether in major, minor, or trace concentrations. These characteristics constitute a strong advantage in studying the morphology of human skin, its elemental distributions and the permeation mechan
The evolution of cooperation requires benefits of group living to exceed costs. Hence, some components of fitness are expected to increase with increasing group size, whereas others may decrease because of competition among group members. The social spiders provide an excellent system to investigate the costs and benefits of group living: they occur in groups of various sizes and individuals are r
To improve image quality in the upper thoracic spine, an anatomically shaped copper wire loop coil, made to fit over the patient's shoulders, was constructed. The coil was permanently mounted on a foam-rubber vest to facilitate attachment to the patient. Phantom and in vivo studies of the performance of the coil in healthy volunteers showed as much as a two times greater signal-to-noise ratio rela
Reduction of bicyclo[2.2.2]octane-2,6-dione to (1R, 4S, 6S)-6-hydroxy-bicyclo[2.2.2]octane-2-one by whole cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was improved using an engineered recombinant strain and process design. The substrate inhibition followed a Han-Levenspiel model showing an effective concentration window between 12 and 22 g/l, in which the activity was kept above 95%. Yeast growth stage, subs
Motivation: The most common approach to estimate microbial diversity is based on the analysis of DNA sequences of specific target genes including ribosomal genes. Commonly, the sequences are grouped into operational taxonomic units based on genetic distance (sequence similarity) instead of genetic change (patristic distance). This method may fail to adequately identify clusters of evolutionary rel
In the present study a HPAEC-PAD method is described that was developed for monitoring the consistency of N-glycosylation during the production and purification of recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies. The method successfully separated 18 neutral and sialylated oligosaccharides. Results obtained were compared with MALDI-TOF MS and it was shown that both methods gave similar results. in a
This study is a long-term follow-up of a previously published study that used the internet in the rehabilitation of people on long-term sick leave owing to chronic pain and/or burnout. The follow-up was to assess the effects over time of this kind of rehabilitation. The goals of the first study were to improve the participants' health and work capacity. Sixty people were randomly assigned to eithe
The influence on the crack growth rate for a short edge crack under fatigue loading due to changes in crack length, grain size, load range and grain boundary configuration, is investigated under quasi-static and plane strain conditions. The geometry is modelled by distributed dislocation dipole elements in a boundary element method approach and the plasticity is described by discrete dislocations.
BACKGROUND: Asthma guidelines recommend that long-acting inhaled beta-agonists should be used as maintenance therapy for patients with asthma inadequately controlled on an inhaled corticosteroid. We studied the safety and efficacy of the long-acting beta-agonist formoterol compared with terbutaline, each taken as needed, in patients with moderate to severe asthma. METHODS: Patients were taking an
