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Body-mass index (BMI) has become the standard proxy for obesity in social science research. This study deals with the potential problems related to, first, relying on self-reported weight and height to calculate BMI (misreporting), and, second, the concern that BMI is a deficient measure of body fat (misclassification). Using a regional Swedish sample, we analyze whether socioeconomic disparities
Shipment consolidation has been advocated by researchers and politicians as a means to reduce cost and improve environmental performance of logistics activities. This paper investigates consolidated transport solutions with a common shipment frequency. When a service provider designs such a solution for its customers, she faces a trade-off: to have the most time-sensitive customers join the consol
Cerebellar learning requires context information from mossy fibers and a teaching signal through the climbing fibers from the inferior olive. Although the inferior olive fires in bursts, virtually all studies have used a teaching signal consisting of a single pulse. Following a number of failed attempts to induce cerebellar learning in decerebrate ferrets with a nonburst signal, we tested the effe
Migratory birds are predicted to adapt their departure to wind, changing their threshold of departure and selectivity of the most favourable winds in relation to the mean, scatter and skewness of the wind regime. The optimal departure behaviour depends also on the importance of time and energy minimization during migration and on the ratio of cost of flight to cost of resting and waiting for more
A novel potentiometric sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for propranolol, an adrenergic-blocking drug, was designed. The influence of molecularly imprinted polymer particle content and sodium tetraphenylborate additives in polyvinylchloride membrane was shown. The electrodes show near-Nernstian responses down to 10(-4)-10(-5) M propranolol concentration. The potentiometric respon
Nutrient over-enrichment is one of the classic triggering mechanisms for the occurrence of cyanobacteria blooms in aquatic ecosystems. In the Baltic Sea, cyanobacteria regularly occur in the late summer months and form nuisance accumulations in surface waters and their abundance has intensified significantly in the past 50 years attributed to human-induced eutrophication. However, the natural occu
Glucokinase (GK) plays a key role in maintaining glucose homeostasis by promoting insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells and increasing hepatic glucose uptake. Here we investigate the effects of acute and chronic GK activation on glucose tolerance and insulin secretion in mice with diet-induced insulin resistance. In the acute study, a small molecule GK activator (GKA71) was administered to
Polymorphisms of the FA desaturase (FADS) gene cluster have been associated with LDL, HDL, and triglyceride concentrations. Because FADS converts alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid into PUFAs, we investigated the interaction between different PUFA intakes and the FADS polymorphism rs174547 (T>C) on fasting blood lipid and lipoprotein concentrations. We included 4,635 individuals (60% fem
Hydrated, but water-insoluble, “complex salts” (CS) composed of alkyltrimethylammonium surfactant ions with polyacrylate counterions are known to exhibit a rich phase behavior in bulk mixtures with water and have recently been shown to act as water-responsive surface coatings. Here it is shown, by SAXS measurements, that surface coatings of CS also respond to various added solutes in a surrounding
Birds have impressive physiological adaptations for colour vision, including tetrachromacy and coloured oil droplets, yet it is not clear exactly how well birds can discriminate the reflecting object colours that they encounter in nature. With behavioural experiments, we determined colour discrimination thresholds of chickens in bright and dim light. We performed the experiments with two colour se
Using a genome-wide screen of 9.6 million genetic variants achieved through 1000 Genomes Project imputation in 62,166 samples, we identify association to lipid traits in 93 loci, including 79 previously identified loci with new lead SNPs and 10 new loci, 15 loci with a low-frequency lead SNP and 10 loci with a missense lead SNP, and 2 loci with an accumulation of rare variants. In six loci, SNPs w
Evasion of killing by the complement system, a crucial part of innate immunity, is a key evolutionary strategy of many human pathogens. A major etiological agent of chronic periodontitis, the Gram-negative bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis produces a vast arsenal of virulence factors that compromise human defense mechanisms. One of these is peptidylarginine deiminase (PPAD), an enzyme unique to P
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 194-205 (C) 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation (C) 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Within the context of a randomized trial, this study assessed the costs of treating conduct disorder with multisystemic therapy (MST) or treatment as usual (TAU) for 156 youth in Sweden. From the perspective of the municipal Social Welfa
OBJECTIVE: To outline serum estradiol levels in perimenopausal women with stress, mixed or urge incontinence. We believe the majority of urgency symptoms in perimenopausal women to be caused by a pelvic floor dysfunction and a hypermobility of the bladder neck. If this is the case, there would be no difference in estradiol levels between the groups. STUDY DESIGN: Setting: University hospital. In t
AIM: To examine whether rendezvous endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is associated with less pancreatic damage, measured as leakage of proenzymes, than conventional ERCP. METHODS: Patients (n = 122) with symptomatic gallstone disease, intact papilla and no ongoing inflammation, were prospectively enrolled in this case-control designed study. Eighty-one patients were subjected t
Alkaline sphingomyelinase (alk-SMase) hydrolyses sphingomyelin (SM) to ceramide in the gut. To evaluate physiological importance of the enzyme, we generated alk-SMase knockout (KO) mice by Cre-LoxP system and studied SM digestion. Both wild type (WT) and the KO mice were fed 3H-palmitic acid labeled SM together with milk SM by gavage. The lipids in intestinal content, intestinal tissues, serum and
Airborne dispersal of microalgae has largely been a blind spot in environmental biological studies because of their low concentration in the atmosphere and the technical limitations in investigating microalgae from air samples. Recent studies show that airborne microalgae can survive air transportation and interact with the environment, possibly influencing their deposition rates. This minireview
One of the most frequently applied methods for integrating controls on primary production through satellite data is the light use efficiency (LUE) approach, which links vegetation gross or net primary productivity (GPP or NPP) to remotely-sensed estimates of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR). Eddy covariance towers provide continuous measurements of carbon flux, presenting an opp
The etiology of idiopathic scoliosis remains unknown, but growth is a risk factor for progression. Growth pattern differs in children with and without scoliosis. Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) may be associated with scoliosis and growth. We, therefore, studied COMP in children with and without idiopathic scoliosis. We included 105 children, with mean age 14.4 years (range 10-16), under
The Archaean block of southern Greenland constitutes the core of the North Atlantic craton (NAC) and is host to a large number of Precambrian mafic intrusions and dyke swarms, many of which are regionally extensive but poorly dated. For southern West Greenland, we present a U-Pb zircon age of 2990 +/- 13 Ma for the Amikoq mafic-ultramafic layered intrusion (Fiskefjord area) and four baddeleyite U-
