Context: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are becoming increasingly popular yet their effects on health remain unknown. Objective: To conduct the first comprehensive and standardized assessment of the acute impact of active and passive e-cigarette smoking on serum cotinine and lung function, as compared to active and passive tobacco cigarette smoking. Materials and methods: Fifteen smokers ...

Solid surfaces generally respond sensitively to their environment. Gas phase or liquid phase species may adsorb and react with individual surface atoms altering the solid-gas and solid-liquid electronic and chemical properties of the interface. A comprehensive understanding of chemical and electrochemical interfaces with respect to their responses to external stimuli is still missing. The evolu...

Anthropogenic climate change will affect the distribution and urgency of health risks around the world. However, the majority of adverse health impacts of climate change can be avoided by implementing suitable adaptation policies. Planned adaptation to the health impacts of climate change comprises a broad range of public health interventions. Most of these measures are not only effective in a ...

In the germarium of the Drosophila ovary, germline cysts are encapsulated one at a time by a follicular epithelium derived from two follicle stem cells (FSCs). Ovaries in flies mutant for the serine/ threonine kinase Pak exhibit a novel phenotype, in which two side-byside cysts are encapsulated at a time, generating pairedegg chambers. This striking phenotype originates in the pupal ovary, wher...

The SAPHIRE project aims to develop an intelligent healthcare monitoring and decision support system on a platform integrating the wireless medical sensor data with hospital information systems. In the SAPHIRE project, patient monitoring will be achieved by using agent technology where the "agent behaviour" will be supported by intelligent clinical decision support systems which will be based o...