BACKGROUND Comparability of health data is a major challenge within the context of the Health Monitoring Programme of the European Commission. A common problem in surveys is that many variations of essentially the same question exist. METHODS Response conversion is a new method for improving comparability by scaling the data onto a common scale. Comparisons between member states can then be m...

This article examines the theories of the power of ancient music and the superiority of the sense of hearing proposed by Girolamo Cardano in his De subtilitate and Julius Caesar Scaliger's critique of these views in his Exercitationes exotericae de subtilitate. Despite Scaliger's rejection of Cardano's claim that he had successfully revealed the "subtle" nature of the sense of hearing and the i...

The magnetic activity of the Sun, as manifested in the sunspot cycle, originates deep within its convection zone through a dynamo mechanism which involves non-trivial interactions between the plasma and magnetic field in the solar interior. Recent advances in magnetohydrodynamic dynamo theory have led us closer towards a better understanding of the physics of the solar magnetic cycle. In conjun...

The membrane bilayer delimits the interior of individual cells and provides them with the ability to survive and function properly. However, the crossing of cellular membranes constitutes the principal impediment to gaining entry into cells, and the potential therapeutic application of many drugs is predominantly dependent on the development of delivery tools that should take the drug to target...

BACKGROUND Adolf Kussmaul was born in Graben, close to Karlsruhe, Germany, on February 22,1822. He graduated at Heidelberg University in 1845 and he received his medical degree in 1855. He made original descriptions, such as the ophthalmoscope, the gastroscope or endoscope, and Kussmaul signs, besides the respiration named after him. He was the first to perform a thoracocenteses, peritoneal and...

of VCOT in 2013. To be eligible for the award, the senior author of the paper must have been enrolled in an accredited residency program at the time of original submission of the paper to the journal. Only papers that were published under the classification of Original Research or Clinical Communication will be considered for the award. The winner of this new award will be announced in the firs...