Worldwide programmes for the regulation of chemicals require an assessment of the risks of chemicals to human and environmental health based on three categories of concern: Persistence, Bioaccumulation and Toxicity (PBT). Among these three categories, bioaccumulation refers to the enrichment of environmental chemicals in organisms. It encompasses the absorption, distribution, metabolism and exc...

BACKGROUND In critically ill patients intravascular volume status and pulmonary edema need to be quantified as soon as possible. Many critically ill patients undergo a computed tomography (CT)-scan of the thorax after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). This study investigates whether CT-based estimation of cardiac preload and pulmonary hydration can accurately assess volume status and ...

We present a convergence analysis of a stochastic method for numerical modeling of complex fluids using Brownian configuration fields (BCF) for shear flows. The analysis takes into account the special structure of the stochastic partial differential equations for shear flows. We establish the optimal rate of convergence. We also analyze the nature of the error by providing its leading order asy...

OBJECTIVE Insulin resistance and disturbed glucose homeostasis are key characteristics of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The recent nonlinear computer version of homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)2 provides an appropriate and convenient assessment of glucose metabolism, enabling gene-mapping studies in large population samples. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Fasting i...

The aim of this study was to examine the contamination, accumulation, and distribution of mercury in fruiting bodies by Leccinum versipelle fungus collected from distant sites across Poland. Mercury was determined using validated method by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy after direct sample matrix combustion. A large set of data gained using 371 fruiting bodies and 204 soil samples re...

This work was designed to assess and compare the heavy metals accumulation phytoremediation ability of some allium species (Garlic; Allium sativum Onion; cepa) grown on two different soils (contaminated Control soils) using standard methods. Heavy (of Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) Concentrations (mg/Kg) were determined atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS Model: 210VGP). Plants growth biomass pro...

In patients with traumatic brain injury and fractures of long bones, it is often clinically observed that the rate of bone healing and extent of callus formation are increased. However, the evidence has been unconvincing and an association between such an injury and enhanced fracture healing remains unclear. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 74 young adult patients with a mean age of...

Since all domestic turkeys are produced through artificial insemination, a measurable sperm characteristic that would be predictive of fertility would allow for the culling of poor males, resulting in improved reproductive efficiency. The sperm mobility test (SMT), which quantifies sperm penetration into an Accudenz solution, has been shown to correlate highly with fertilization potential of in...

This work considers the rigorous derivation of continuummodels of step motion starting from a mesoscopic Burton-Cabrera-Frank (BCF) type model following the work [Xiang, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 2002]. We prove that as the lattice parameter goes to zero, for a finite time interval, a modified discrete model converges to the strong solution of the limiting PDE with first order convergence rate.