Glacier Bay National Park had one of the largest breeding aggregations of harbor seals in Alaska, and it is functionally the only marine reserve for harbor seals in Alaska; yet, numbers of seals in the Bay are declining rapidly. Understanding why seals in Glacier Bay are declining may clarify their minimal habitat needs. We estimated population trends using models that controlled for environmen...

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of a tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in a Korean population. METHODS We included 134 patients (mean age, 52.3+/-9.3 yr) who underwent the TVT procedure for SUI in three institutions and followed for 5 yr (mean, 67.0 mo; range, 60-76 mo) postoperatively. We analysed...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a multi-functional cytokine involved in inflammation, repair and angiogenesis in asthmatic airway. This study aimed to evaluate the role of VEGF in immediate bronchoconstriction induced by TDI inhalation, and in chronic TDI-asthma patients. 11 newly diagnosed TDI-asthma patients (group I), 12 chronic TDI-asthma patients with persistent asthma symptom...

The progressivity of central precocious puberty (CPP) seemed to depend on the age at presentation. We investigated the clinical courses between the early onset and late onset groups. One hundred thirty five girls with central precocious puberty diagnosed between Jan. 2003 and Dec. 2009 were included. Among 135 patients, 123 were idiopathic CPP (91.1%) and twelve (8.89%) had neurogenic problems,...

Premature thelarche in later childhood (such as at 5-7 yr of age) is not always easy to distinguish from GnRH-dependent precocious puberty. In this study, a GnRH stimulation test was performed on 21 girls from 5 to 7.5 yr of age with early breast development. In 8 of 11 girls within 1 yr after thelarche, i.e., breast development, the GnRH stimulation test showed a prepubertal response, and in a...

This article reports the first discovery of middle Holocene cryptotephra from a peat sequence in Estonia, eastern Baltic. Two sequences, Mustjärve and Parika (located 110 km apart), were chosen for a pilot study aimed at finding traces of tephra fallout during the middle Holocene. Peat accumulation at both sites started in the early Holocene (c. 9500 9000 C yr BP; c. 11 000 10 000 cal. yr BP) a...

the present study was conducted to estimate genetic parameters and genetic, environmental and phenotypic trends of milk production traits in holstein cattle of hamedan province. in this study 11986 305-d records of first three parities of hamedan province holstein cattle, which were gathered during 1990-2011, were used. variance-covariance components and breeding values were estimated using ani...