The antitumor activity of the polysaccharide fraction (OPS) obtained by the acid hydrolysis of Klebsiella O3 lipopolysaccharide (KO3 LPS) isolated from the culture supernatant of the decapsulated mutant strain LEN-1 (03: K1-) against both allogeneic tumor and syngeneic tumor systems in mice was compared with that of KO3 LPS. OPS prolonged the life span of MM2-bearing C3H/He mice by intraperiton...

OBJECTIVES The competencies required of occupational physicians (OPs) and occupational health nurses (OHNs) separately have been studied in various countries but little research has made direct comparisons between these two key occupational health (OH) professional groups. The aim of this study was to compare current competency priorities between UK OPs and OHNs. METHODS A modified Delphi stu...

The levels, distribution, and possible sources of 12 organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers, some of which are reported to be toxic to aquatic organisms, were investigated in samples of influents, effluents, and sludge from 11 Swedish sewage treatment plants (STPs). The organophosphorus compounds (OPs) studied were poorly removed from the wastewater; especially the chlorinated OPs t...

BACKGROUND We assessed change in household catastrophic health care expenditures (CHE) and inequality in facing such expenditures in south-west Tehran. METHODS A cluster-sampled survey was conducted in 2003 using the World Health Survey questionnaire. We repeated the survey on the same sample in 2008 (635 and 603 households, respectively). We estimated the proportion of households facing CHE ...

Let (pn)n be a given monic orthogonal polynomial sequence (OPS) and k a fixed positive integer number such that k ≥ 2. We discuss conditions under which this OPS originates from a polynomial mapping in the following sense: to find another monic OPS (qn)n and two polynomials πk and θm , with degrees k and m (resp.), with 0 ≤ m ≤ k − 1, such that pnk+m(x) = θm(x)qn(πk(x)) (n = 0, 1, 2, . . .). In...

BACKGROUND Although practice guidelines are important tools to improve quality of care, implementation remains challenging. To improve adherence to an evidence-based guideline for the management of mental health problems, we developed a tailored implementation strategy targeting barriers perceived by occupational physicians (OPs). Feasibility and impact on OPs' barriers were evaluated. METHOD...

This paper presents the experimental results of an on-going research project on geopolymer lightweight concrete using two locally available waste materials--low calcium fly ash (FA) and oil palm shell (OPS)--as the binder and lightweight coarse aggregate, respectively. OPS was pretreated with three different alkaline solutions of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), potassium hydroxide, and sodium silicate...

Given a positive Borel measure whose support is an infinite set of points in the real line the problem of the construction of an orthogonal polynomial sequence (OPS) with respect to that measure is known as direct problem. An inverse problem (IP) consists in finding the orthogonality measure when only some information is known about a given OPS (e.g., via a three-term recurrence relation, or vi...

BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of neurological disability. In this retrospective study, serum total cholinesterase (ChE) activities were analyzed in 188 patients for diagnostic as well as predictive values for mortality. METHODS AND FINDINGS Within 72 hours after injury, serum ChE activities including both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase we...

The spectrophotometric method of Ellman was used to determine cholinesterase (ChE) levels in plasma and whole blood in elderly patients and umbilical cord blood of newborn infants. The mean +/- SD for plasma and whole blood ChE levels were 2.24 +/- 0.58 micromol/min/ml and 4.38 +/- 0.65 micromol/min/ml respectively in a group of healthy elderly patients (n = 25). The mean +/- SD for plasma and ...