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We follow the near radial infall of a prolate cloud on to a 4 x 10(6) M-circle dot supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre using smoothed particle hydrodynamics. We show that a prolate cloud oriented perpendicular to its orbital plane naturally produces a spread in angular momenta in the gas which can translate into misaligned discs as is seen in the young stars orbiting Sagittarius A*. A t
Since a tightly regulated complement system is needed for a successful pregnancy, we hypothesized that alterations in complement inhibitors may be associated with idiopathic, recurrent miscarriage. We sequenced all exons coding for three complement inhibitors: C4b-binding protein (C4BP), CD46 and CD55 in 384 childless women with at least two miscarriages that could not be explained by known risk f
Variation of mechanical properties in materials can be detected non-destructively using ultrasonic measurements. In particular, changes in elastic wave velocity can occur due to damage, i.e., micro-cracking and particles debonding. Here the challenge of characterizing damage in geomaterials, i.e., rocks and soils, is addressed. Geomaterials are naturally heterogeneous media in which the deformatio
There is no clinically useful score to predict chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. We aimed to derive this by analyzing data from three existing COPD clinical trials of budesonide/formoterol, formoterol, or placebo in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD and a history of exacerbations in the previous year.
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a major human pathogen, which evolved numerous successful strategies to colonize the host. In this study, we report a novel mechanism of pneumococcal-host interaction, whereby pneumococci use a host complement protein C1q, primarily involved in the host-defense mechanism, for colonization and subsequent dissemination. Using cell-culture infection assays a
During B lymphocyte development, the transcriptional activity of the IgH locus is subject to spatial and temporal changes. The 3' enhancer (3'E) has been suggested to play an important role in regulation of immunoglobulin gene expression late in B cell development. We have investigated, using transgenic mice, the role of the 3'E in regulating Ig gene expression. Mice harbouring a rearranged IgH ge
A computational algorithm for the full information H∞ control problem for multi-delayed LTI systems is derived. The algorithm is based on a general operator approach in the spectral domain developed for finite-dimensional LTI plants. The simplicity of spectral operations and explicit formulas for computation make it possible to generalize it to infinite-dimensional plants. In the paper, a complete
Despite rigorous efforts to improve the construction working environment in the European Union, the fatal accident rate is approximately 13 workers per 100,000 as against 5 per 100,000 for the all sectors average. Although the accident rates have declined steadily and steeply since 1994, it still remains unacceptably high. Thousands of construction workers still suffer severe injury and even death
Purpose of this paper: Logisticians propose changes to improve supply chains, and legal practitioners are doing likewise, but from a tax perspective. Proposals from one domain increasingly have an impact on the other due to e.g. globalisation – but cross-disciplinary knowledge often seems small. Our purpose is to facilitate interaction between the domains by increasing joint understanding o
PURPOSE: To compare the clinical outcome after carpal tunnel release in diabetic and nondiabetic patients. METHODS: We evaluated a prospective, consecutive series of 35 diabetic patients (median age, 54 years; 15 with type 1 and 20 with type 2 diabetes) with carpal tunnel syndrome, who were age- and gender-matched with 31 nondiabetic patients (median age, 51 years) having idiopathic carpal tunnel
We have addressed the importance of B cell tolerance to collagen type II, a matrix protein, which is a target in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its mouse models. We generated a germline-encoded anti-collagen type II (CII) IgH replacement anti-C1 B cell mouse strain (ACB) to investigate how B cell tolerance to CII, a matrix protein, is subverted and to further understand pathogenesis of RA. Phenotyp
That a load balancing strategy using stale information care lessly will incur system performance degradation is easy to verify. However it is not so obvious that routing a customer to the expected shortest queue has the same problem when information for decision is stale. We consider a queueing system with a load balancer and a pool of identical FCFS queues in parallel. The arrival process is assu
Sterile liver inflammation and fibrosis are associated with many liver disorders of different etiologies. Both type 1 and type 2 inflammatory responses have been reported to contribute to liver pathology. However, the mechanisms controlling the balance between these responses are largely unknown. Natural killer T (NKT) cells can be activated to rapidly secrete cytokines and chemokines associated w
Sexual selection hypotheses stipulate that the major histocompatibility complex genes (MHC) constitute a key molecular underpinning for mate choice in vertebrates. The last four decades saw growing empirical literature on the role of MHC diversity and dissimilarity in mate choice for a wide range of vertebrate animals, but with mixed support for its significance in natural populations. Using forma
As a group of stars having high luminosity and thus being able to be detected to great distances, massive M supergiants are extremely helpful to the study of the kinematics of the Milky Way. They are also partly responsible for the creation of post iron-group elements through the weak s-process of nucleosynthesis. As there are relatively few classified M supergiants, owing to their rapid pace of e
The driving force behind oncoproteomics is to identify protein signatures that are associated with a particular malignancy. Here, we have used a recombinant scFv antibody microarray in an attempt to classify sera derived from pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients versus healthy subjects. Based on analysis of nonfractionated, directly labeled, whole human serum proteomes we have identified a protein s
