The safe and accurate delivery of the prescribed absorbed dose is the central function of the dose monitoring and beam stabilization system in a medical linear accelerator. The absorbed dose delivered to the patient during radiotherapy is often monitored by a transmission ionization chamber. Therefore it is of utmost importance that the chamber behaves correctly. We have noticed that the sensitivi

Many crustaceans use pheromones to find mates and induce mating behaviours. If pollutants impair the ability to detect chemosensory cues and respond to pheromone signals, they could profoundly affect mating. In a series of laboratory experiments, the effect of copper (0, 0.1 or 0.5 mg Cu(II) per litre for 5 days) on specific components of the mating behaviour of male shore crab Carcinus maenas was

Objectives. To study x-ray development and clinical effects, tolerability and safety after 2 years treatment of RA patients with Reumacon (CPH82) or methotrexate (MTX). Patients and methods. This study is a 74 week open continuation of a 24 week double blind comparison of 100 patients with early RA (disease duration less than 2 years) treated either with Reumacon or MTX. Results. The mean Larsen s

To study the effects of elevated ozone concentration on methane dynamics and a sedge species, Eriophorum vaginatum, we exposed peatland microcosms, isolated by coring from an oligotrophic pine fen, to double ambient ozone concentration in an open-air ozone exposure field for four growing seasons. The field consists of eight circular plots of which four were fumigated with elevated ozone concentrat

Gitelmans syndrome (GS) is an inherited recessive disorder caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous loss of function mutations of the NaCl cotransporter (NCCT) gene encoding the kidney-expressed NCCT, the pharmacological target of thiazide diuretics. An observational study estimated the prevalence of GS to 19/1 000 000, in Sweden, suggesting that similar to 1% of the population carries one mu

Operative treatment for distal radius fractures continues to evolve, but small-fragment fixation has some advantages compared with previous methods. We assessed two groups of patients. Group 1 was an initial series of patients treated with small-fragment fixation at a large institution in the United States, and Group 2 was a review of patients treated in Lund, Sweden. The first group was evaluated

The purpose of the present study is to assess QT-interval measurements from the EASI 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) as compared with the standard 12-lead ECG. The QT interval was automatically determined in simultaneously recorded standard and EASI 12-lead ECGs, using a validated wavelet-based delineator. The agreement between the 2 sets of measurements was quantified both on a lead-by-lead basis

We present the results from a thorough investigation of the bond strength between the photo-polymer SU-8 and Au. The data were obtained by pull-test experiments, below the glass transition temperature of the polymer. The different aspects that we investigated were: (i) the effect of using different adhesion promoters between the SU-8 and Au; (ii) the influence of the processing sequence, keeping e

Rogen moraine is widely distributed in the core areas of the former Scandinavian and Laurentide ice sheets. It is generally agreed upon that these gently arched, ice-How transverse ridges call be used in reconstructions of paleo-ice-flow patterns and that they indicate a melted-bed or poly-thermal basal ice regime. However, the processes of ridge generation have been contentious. This study propos

BACKGROUND: The house dust mite (HDM) Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus is an important source of allergens, which can cause allergic conditions. The cysteine protease activity of Der p 1 may enhance the potency of this major mite allergen through cleavage of CD23 and CD25 from the surface of immune cells, IgE independent mast cell activation, increases in epithelial cell permeability and inactivatio

The Chemotaxis Inhibitory Protein of Staphylococcus aureus (CHIPS) binds and blocks the C5a receptor (C5aR) and formyl-peptide receptor (FPR). This way, CHIPS is a potent inhibitor of the immune cell recruitment associated with inflammation. Truncation of the protein and the introduction of mutations, shifts the expression towards the insoluble fraction of Escherichia coli, whereas the wild-type p

Allergic rhinitis is a common disease characterized by the symptoms of pruritus, sneezing, hypersecretion and nasal blockage. Increased mucosal barrier permeability has been suggested to be an indicator for the severity of allergic rhinitis. This study investigates the passage of radiolabelled albumin from the nasal mucosal circulation into the lumen in guinea pigs intraperitoneally sensitized and

We studied the influence of shape and secondary, or intercellular, organization on the absorption and scattering properties of red blood cells to determine whether these properties are of any practical significance for optical evaluation of whole blood and its constituents. A series of measurements of transmittance and reflectance of light from bovine blood in a flow cuvette was conducted with a 6

The hypoxic zone in the Baltic Sea has increased in area about four times since 1960 and widespread oxygen deficiency has severely reduced macro benthic communities below the halocline in the Baltic Proper and the Gulf of Finland, which in turn has affected food chain dynamics, fish habitats and fisheries in the entire Baltic Sea. The cause of increased hypoxia is believed to be enhanced eutrophic

Blood group Duffy gene (FY) promoter in Duffy-negative individuals contains a point mutation in the GATA1 protein-binding motif, which was suggested to be responsible for erythroid suppression of FY. We developed two transgenic mouse lines with FY from both Duffy phenotypes. Transgenic mice with FY from Duffy-positive phenotype expressed Duffy protein both in red blood cells (RBCs) and non-erythro