Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) targeting proteinase 3 (PR3) have a high specifity for Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), and their role in activating leukocytes is well appreciated. In this study, we investigated the influence of PR3-ANCA and murine monoclonal antibodies on human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). Priming of HUVECs with tumor necrosis factor alpha induce...

The size, complexity and long 1 ife-time of telecommunications software, e.g. the programs for store program control (SPC) telephone exchanges, call for an increased software productivi ty and maintainability other than an improved qua1 ity. The availability of programming support environments based on standardized specification and programming languages greatly improves the software developmen...

We propose and evaluate a query expansion mechanism that supports searching and browsing in collections of annotated documents. Based on generative language models, our feedback mechanism uses document-level annotations to bias the generation of expansion terms and to generate browsing suggestions in the form of concepts selected from a controlled vocabulary (as typically used in digital librar...

Background The role of D-dimer as a diagnostic marker in myocardial infarction (MI) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is still a question. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of D-dimer in the diagnosis of AMI in patients suspected with ACS. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients suspected with ACS. Serial standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), ...

Introduction: [Cu]diacetyl-bis(N-methylthiosemicarbazone) ([Cu]ATSM) is a well-established hypoxia imaging tracer with reproducible production and significant specifity. In this work the high yield production and quality control as well as imaging studies in healthy rabbits is reported. Methods: Copper-64 produced via the Zn(p,n)Cu nuclear reaction (30 MeV protons at 180 μA) was used for the p...

In this study, we focused on an analysis of biguanides effects on mitochondrial enzyme activities, mitochondrial membrane potential and membrane permeability transition pore function. We used phenformin, which is more efficient than metformin, and evaluated its effect on rat liver mitochondria and isolated hepatocytes. In contrast to previously published data, we found that phenformin, after a ...

In this work a new MRI modality entitled Relaxation Along a Fictitious Field in the rotating frame of rank 4 (RAFF4) was evaluated in its ability to detect lower myelin content in lysophosphatidyl choline (LPC)-induced demyelinating lesions. The lesions were induced in two areas of the rat brain with either uniform or complex fiber orientations, i.e., in the corpus callosum (cc) and dorsal tegm...

AIM In children, screening for haemorrhagic disorders is further complicated by the fact that infants and young children with mild disease in many cases most likely will not have a significant history of easy bruising or bleeding making the efficacy of a questionnaire even more questionable. PATIENTS, METHODS We compared the questionnaires of a group of 88 children in whom a haemorrhagic diso...