Cigarette smoke-induced emphysema is thought to involve reduction of antielastolytic capacity, resulting in elevated elastase activity and lung tissue damage. Peripheral lavage collected from ten asymptomatic subjects immediately before and 20 min after smoking two high tar cigarettes was analysed for neutrophil elastase (NE) inhibitory capacity (IC), alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor (PI) function,...

KEY WORDS Lipase B from Candida antarctica – Kinetics – transesterification – competitive inhibition – Ping Pong Bi Bi mechanism ABSTRACT The kinetics of alcoholysis of methylpropionate and n-propanol catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B supported onto silanized Chromosorb P was studied in a continuous solid/gas reactor. In this system the solid phase is composed of a packed enzymatic sampl...

In this study, we used immunoelectron microscopy to investigate the subcellular localization of scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) in the arterial walls of rats. The expression of SR-BI in cultured endothelial and smooth muscle cells of rat aorta after exposure to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was also investigated by immunofluorescence microscopy and immunoblotting analysis. A peptide ...

Background and Purpose—Robust measures of functional outcome are required to determine treatment effects in stroke trials. Of the various measures available, the Barthel index (BI) is one of the more prevalent. We aimed to describe validity, reliability, and responsiveness (clinimetric properties) of the BI in stroke trials. Methods—Narrative review of published articles describing clinimetric ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Robust measures of functional outcome are required to determine treatment effects in stroke trials. Of the various measures available, the Barthel index (BI) is one of the more prevalent. We aimed to describe validity, reliability, and responsiveness (clinimetric properties) of the BI in stroke trials. METHODS Narrative review of published articles describing clinimetri...

To some, business intelligence (BI) is a buzzword used in management circles to garner support for an IT project. To others, it may sound like a dressed-up way of saying data mining. BI is neither a product nor a system, but it is a method of collecting data from various sources and turning it into actionable information [4]. BI projects typically implement a decision-support system (DSS) that ...

In children, behavioral inhibition (BI) in response to potential threat predicts the development of anxiety and affective disorders, and primate lesion studies suggest involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in mediating BI. Lesion studies are essential for establishing causality in brain– behavior relationships, but should be interpreted cautiously because the impact of a discrete lesion...

Motivations: The Barbero–Immirzi (BI) parameter is a free constant that appears in the spectra of area and volume operators of LQG. Many authors have contributed to shed light on the origin of this ambiguity. a Here we present an extension of the idea originally proposed by Gambini, Obregon and Pullin. Idea: The BI parameter is a quantization ambiguity analogous to the θ-angle of Yang–Mills gau...

A handheld, portable cranial drilling tool for safely creating holes in the skull without damaging brain tissue is presented. Such a device is essential for neurosurgeons and mid-level practitioners treating patients with traumatic brain injury. A typical procedure creates a small hole for inserting sensors to monitor intra-cranial pressure measurements and/or removing excess fluid. Drilling ho...

Composition mechanisms are intended to build a target system out of many independent units. The paper presents how the aspect technology may leverage the hierarchical composition, by supporting two orthogonal mechanisms (vertical and horizontal) for composing completely autonomous parts. The vertical mechanism is in charge of coordinating heterogeneous components, tools or services at a high le...