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Arctic waders are well known for their impressive long-distance migrations between their high northerly breeding grounds and wintering areas in the Southern hemisphere. Performing such long migrations requires precise orientation mechanisms. We conducted orientation cage experiments with juvenile sharp-tailed sandpipers (Calidris acuminata) to investigate what cues they rely on when departing from

By growth of Si on substrates that have been pre-patterned by electron-beam induced carbon nano-growth masks, nano-holes form at the Si surface. We have grown self-assembled Ge quantum dots in these holes by ultra high vacuum chemical vapour phase deposition (UHV-CVD). We usually find four dots in each hole. By varying the amount of deposited Ge, we can obtain either four dome-shaped or four pyram

Phthalic anhydride (PA) is a reactive low molecular weight compound used in the chemical industry. The exposure of PA may lead to work-related airway diseases such as rhinitis, chronic bronchitis, and asthma. The exposure gives rise to an increase in hapten-specific IgG antibodies in workers but with a low presence of specific IgE antibodies. In this study, the binding of PA to human hemoglobin (H

The semiconductor technology development makes it possible to fabricate increasingly advanced integrated circuits (ICs). However, because of imperfections at manufacturing, each individual IC must be tested. A major problem at IC manufacturing test is the increasing test data volume as it leads to high automatic test equipment (ATE) memory requirement, long test application time and low throughput

Intramyocellular triglyceride is an important energy store which is related to insulin resistance. Mobilization of fatty acids from this pool is probably regulated by hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which has recently been shown to exist in muscle and to be activated by epinephrine via PKA and by contractions via PKC and ERK. 5' AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an intracellular fuel gauge wh

M1 aminopeptidases comprise a large family of biologically important zinc enzymes. We show that peptide turnover by the M1 prototype, leukotriene A4 hydrolase/aminopeptidase, involves a shift in substrate position associated with exchange of zinc coordinating groups, while maintaining the overall coordination geometry. The transition state is stabilized by residues conserved among M1 members and i

Nitric oxide (NO) can modulate both tumor growth and antitumor immune responses. In order to elucidate the mechanism of curative therapeutic immunization with IFNgamma-producing glioma cells, we examined the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in tissue sections from immunized animals. There was a significantly enhanced iNOS expression both intratumorally and at the immunization s

Calbindin D-28k, a highly conserved protein with Ca2+-sensing and Ca2+-buffering capabilities, is abundant in brain and sensory neurons. This protein contains six EF-hand subdomains, four of which bind Call with high affinity. Calbindin D28k can be reconstituted from six synthetic peptides corresponding to the six EF-hands, indicating a single-domain structure with multiple interactions between th

The use of algae as a feedstock for the production of advanced biofuels has tremendous potential because of its short growth cycle, high productivity, lack of competition for agricultural lands, ability to use a variety of water sources and recycle CO2 and nutrient emissions, and compatibility with existing fuels chains with minimum process changes. However, to make significant contributions to bi

Only 40% of the total CO2 emitted by human activities and natural sources remain in the atmosphere, since the rest is taken up by plants and oceans. In particular temperate and boreal forests are usually significant sinks of carbon, even if they are very susceptible ecosystems and they might turn into sources in consequence of the predicted temperature increase. That is one of the reasons why a ne