BACKGROUND The present study was conducted to assess the nature of sympathovagal imbalance (SVI) in prehypertensives by short-term analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) to understand the alteration in autonomic modulation and the contribution of BMI to SVI in the genesis of prehypertension. METHODS Body mass index (BMI), basal heart rate (BHR), blood pressure (BP), rate pressure product (R...

Microbial communities can play important role in arsenic release in groundwater aquifers. To investigate the microbial communities in high arsenic groundwater aquifers in agricultural irrigation area, 17 groundwater samples with different arsenic concentrations were collected along the agricultural drainage channels of Hangjinhouqi County, Inner Mongolia and examined by illumina MiSeq sequencin...

In the present study we have estimated the serum levels of early, middle, and distal complement components, e.g., Clq, C3, C4, C5, C8, and C9 along with C1-inactivator and CH50 in patients with tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy and have compared these results with the levels in healthy subjects as well as with levels in patients with other immune complex diseases. We have also analyzed the cr...

Whereas linear electron flow (LEF) in photosynthesis produces both ATP and NADPH, the cyclic electron flow (CEF) around photosystem I has been shown to produce only ATP. Two alternative routes have been shown for CEF; NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH)- and ferredoxin:plastoquinone oxidoreductase (FQR)-dependent flows, but their physiological relevance has not been elucidated in detail. Meanwhile, bec...

Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung, Mascheroder Weg, D-3300 Braunschweig-Stöckheim, Bundesrepublik Deutschland Z. Naturforsch. 42c, 69—72 (1987); received August 21/September 22, 1986 Agrobacterium rhizogenes, Alkaloids, Nicotine, Cytisine, Nicotiana, Spartium The growth of root hairs from stems of Nicotiana tabacum and Spartium junceum was induced by Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Stem ro...

Objectives. A pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) following total laryngectomy is associated with increased morbidity and severe life threatening complications. We aimed to review our experience with the PCF following total laryngectomy and determine the impact of previously reported risk factors on the development of PCF in our patients. Methods. The medical records of 20 patients who had a total ...

An interpolation oriented adaptive down-sampling algorithm is proposed for low bit-rate image coding in this paper. Given an image, the proposed algorithm is able to obtain a low resolution image, from which a high quality image with the same resolution as the input image can be interpolated. Different from the traditional down-sampling algorithms, which are independent from the interpolation p...

OBJECTIVES To clarify clinical manifestations, association with disease activity, and prognostic impact of thrombocytopenia using simple and reliable indices. METHODS 632 patients were reviewed retrospectively. Fifty patients with thrombocytopenia were included as cases and matched with 100 control patients. Clinical manifestations at first thrombocytopenic episode were recorded. Classificati...

The response of two patients with autoantibody-mediated Clinhibitor (Cl-INH) deficiency to replacement therapy with Cl-INH was studied over a period of 3 d. In patient 1 an acute attack of angioedema was successfully managed by infusion of 1,000 U ofC1-INH concentrate. C1-INH function returned to normal levels within 30 min., while CH50 and C4 peaked after 6-7 h and Cl hemolytic activity reache...

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) of excellent quality for intravenous use was obtained from the cryosupernatant of human plasma by a chromatographic method based on a mixture of ion-exchange, DEAE-Sepharose FF and arginine Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography and a final purification step by Sephacryl S-300 HR gel filtration. The yield of 10 experimental batches produced was 3.5 g IgG per liter of plasma...