____________ _ Complement activation induced by latex, polyvinylchloride, and silicone tubings for extracorporeal circulation was studied in 2 in vitro situations: Fresh whole human blood mixed with priming solution was circulated through 1 00 em tubing lengths for 1 hour, and small tubing pieces were incubated in fresh human serum for 7 hours. Activation of C3 and of the terminal pathway (C5-C...

There is great therapeutic interest in manipulating (either enhancing or suppressing) G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signal transduction. However, most current strategies are limited to pharmacological activation or blockade of receptors. Human gene therapy, including both overexpression and antisense approaches, may allow manipulation of GPCR signaling at steps distal to receptors. To fully...

Termination analysis tools strive to find proofs of termination for as wide a class of (terminating) programs as possible. Though several tools exist which are able to prove termination of non-trivial programs, when one tries to apply them to realistic programs, there are still a number of open problems. In the case of Java-like languages, one of such problems is to find a practical solution to...

I first summarize Baltag and Smets’ contribution to this volume, and praise their work. Then I compare the anti-lexicographic plausibility update that they propose to a proposal by Aucher, as an illustration of the difference between a qualitative and a quantitive formulation of updates. I quote Spohn’s original work that is at the root of research in plausibility updates and of the notion of a...

Aim: We aim to evaluate the effects of biphasic insulin compared with a basal bolus insulin regimen on glycaemic control, total daily insulin requirements, risk of hypoglycaemia, weight and quality of life in patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed and Scopus databases were searched for studies up to November 2013. Interventions that lasted for more than four weeks and...