Numerical simulation models are frequently applied to assess the impact of climate change on hydrology and agriculture. A common hypothesis is that unavoidable model errors are reflected in the reference situation as well as in the climate change situation so that by comparing reference to scenario model errors will level out. For a polder in The Netherlands an innovative procedure has been int...

A minor population of wild strains of Escherichia coli contains a retron, a retroelement responsible for the synthesis of multicopy single-stranded DNA (msDNA). The retron is a genetic element consisting of the gene for reverse transcriptase (RT) and the msr-msd region under a single promoter. A single RNA transcript from the msr-msd region serves not only as a template but also as a primer for...

Alpha-2A adrenergic receptor (AR) subtype plays an important role in the analgesic effect of α2-AR agonists. Here, we examined the effects of α2-AR agonists, dexmedetomidine and xylazine, on spinal synaptic transmission in newborn C57BL/6J and α2A-AR mutant mice. Spinal reflex potentials, the monosynaptic reflex potential (MSR) and the slow ventral root potential (sVRP), were measured in isolat...

The class B type I scavenger receptor, SR-BI, binds HDL, mediates selective uptake of HDL cholesteryl esters by cultured cells, and its expression is coordinately regulated with steroidogenesis in several endocrine tissues (adrenal, ovary, testes). SR-BI can also bind LDL and anionic phospholipids, which raised the possibility that HDL apolipoproteins might not participate directly in HDL bindi...

We aimed to assess whether movement of the interatrial septum predicts change in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP). In 71 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, the interatrial septum was categorised by its shape and movement using transesophageal echocardiography. Fixed curvature (FC) was identified by bowing of the interatrial septum from left to right throughout the cardiac cycle, mid-...

هدف: کارآفرینی یکی از عوامل کلیدی در توسعه اقتصادی و شاخص اساسی جوامع روبه‌رشد است. آنچه که کارآفرین را به آغاز فعالیت ترغیب می‌کند، انگیزه فرایند تبدیل یک فرد عادی است می‌تواند فرصت‌هایی ایجاد کند حداکثر رساندن ثروت کمک کند. هدف این پژوهش شناسایی طبقه‌بندی انگیزه‌های کارآفرینان می­باشد.طراحی/ روش‌شناسی/ رویکرد: با رویکرد مرور نظام­مند استفاده ماتریس شش سلولی دو مؤلفه جهت (کشش یا فشار) منبع (اق...

BACKGROUND Macrophage scavenger receptors (MSRs) play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Therefore, local modulation of MSR activity could have a beneficial effect on atherogenesis. METHODS AND RESULTS We cloned a secreted "decoy" MSR (sMSR) that contains an extracellular portion of the human MSR type AI and constructed an adenoviral vector that directs high-level expre...

Catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) plays a key role in the degradation of brain dopamine (DA). Specifically, low COMT activity results in higher DA levels in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), thereby reducing the vulnerability for attentional and cognitive deficits in both psychotic and healthy individuals. COMT activity is markedly reduced by a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the reciprocal inhibition of the ankle-flexor motoneuron by the ankle-extensor spindle afferents is altered during cortically-induced rhythmical jaw movement (RJM) in urethane-anesthetized rabbit. The monosynaptic reflex (MSR) was induced by test shock of the common peroneal nerve (CPN) and recorded from a distal point of the nerve. The condition...

Macrophage or macrophage-derived foam cell death is one of the characteristic events in the development of cell-poor lipid-rich cores of the advanced atherosclerotic plaques. Although the in vivo mechanism for the death of macrophages is unclear, one possible candidate for the agent which induces macrophage cell death is oxidized low density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL). To investigate the mechanism of...