We read, with very much interest, the publication by AKKERMANS et al. [1] in the European Respiratory Journal. In this study they reanalysed data from the first Lung Health Study by forming four groups, based on the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ,0.70 or ,5th percentile, according to the LMS (lambda, mu, sigma) approach. However, we do have some remarks conc...

PURPOSE IgA1 aberrant O-glycosylation is one of the main pathogenetic features of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). This study attempted to determine the role of C1GALT1C1 in aberrant IgA1 O-glycosylation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and identify potential therapeutic targets in IgAN. METHODS Lymphocytes isolated from 22 patients with IgAN and 17 normal controls were cultured for 3 to 7 days wit...

This study aimed to develop a 12-item version of the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (the 5th stage) (EPSI (5th)) and examine its reliability and validity. University students (N = 545) participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a two-factor model provided a better fit than alternative one-factor models. An analysis of Cronbach's α coefficients and the test-rete...

Krx-20, a zinc finger protein, plays an essential role in hindbrain segmentation of vertebrates. Zebrafish gene frb35 encodes a novel zinc finger protein that shares a high homology with Krx-20. The expression domains of frb35 overlap those of krx-20. The expression of frb35 first occurs in the 3rd rhombomere primordium at the onset of segmentation, which is soon followed by expression in the 5...

Recovery from the transient pulmonary reaction which accompanies the nasal instillation of variola virus in mice was followed by a measurable protection against the homologous virus and also against vaccinia. Variola virus which regularly survived in the lung of normally susceptible mice through the 5th day was noticeably reduced in titer on the 3rd day in the lung of recovered animals, and usu...

The article, “Constructing receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) with experimental animals: Cautionary Notes” offered by Wixted and Squire (2008, this issue) attempts to dismiss our observation of linear ROC functions in rats performing recognition tasks in two recent reports (Fortin et al. 2004; Sauvage et al. 2008). The motive for their effort is that the model of recognition memory they ...

Body movements require the activity of muscles fired by their motor neurons, controlled and coordinated according to central motor patterns modulated by the sensory feedback. The direct analysis of movements and forces produced by muscular activity can provide useful information into anatomical details of difficult observation. For instance, the analysis of movement trajectories can be used to ...

background:  patients undergoing cemented hip hemiarthroplasty may develop bone cement implantation syndrome (bcis) which is a leading cause of intraoperative complications. the purpose of this study was to evaluate cardiovascular changes during cemented hip hemiarthroplasty in elderly patients.   methods:  cemented hip hemiarthroplasty was performed on 72 patients with femoral neck fracture. a...