INTRODUCTION The vertebrate inner ear mediates hearing and balance through a complex arrangement of mechanosensory hair cells, nonsensory supporting cells and sensory neurons. All of these cell types derive from the otic placode, a transient ectodermal thickening adjacent to the developing hindbrain (Barald and Kelley, 2004; Fritzsch et al., 2006). Otic placode formation is a multistep process ...

Purpose of Paper This article investigates components/factors that influence stakeholders’ perception of a professional sports team brand and how these components can generate brand equity for a professional sports team. Theoretical Background Utilising the work of Gladden et al. (1998) and their initial conceptual framework, the paper develops a brand equity conceptual framework applicable to ...

The rationale of this study is to look at the association between services quality of Pakistani hotel and to scrutinize cause on customer satisfaction, brand image and customer loyalty. The primary data was collected from 5 and 8 star hotels of Pakistan. The response rate was 86%. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to analyze the data. The findings suggested that high quality...

STATEMENT OF INTEREST A statement of interest for P.L.P. Brand can be found at www.erj.ersjournals.com/misc/statements.shtml REFERENCES 1 Brand PLP, Baraldi E, Bisgaard H, et al. Definition, assessment and treatment of wheezing disorders in preschool children: an evidence-based approach. Eur Respir J 2008; 32: 1096–1110. 2 Lehtinen P, Ruohola A, Vanto T, Vuorinen T, Ruuskanen O, Jartti T. Predn...

The discovery of confined traveling waves in convection in binary fluids [Heinrichs et al., 1987; Kolodner et al., 1987; Kolodner et al., 1988; Niemela et al., 1990; Moses et al., 1987] has been a motivation for theoretical work on localized solutions of amplitude equations [Afanasjev et al., 1996; Akhmediev et al., 1996; Deissler & Brand, 1990, 1994, 1995; Fauve & Thual, 1990; Hakim & Pomeau, ...

In addition to buprenorphine monotherapy tablets, film and tablets combining 4 parts buprenorphine and 1 part naloxone (a mu opioid antagonist) are also being used in maintenance treatment for opioid dependence (Chiang and Hawks, 2003). (The original manufacturer of the combination tablets stopped supplying them but generic versions and new brand, Zubsolv®*, are now available.) In fact, the bup...

The basic lesion leading to the high morbidity and mortality in diabetes is atherosclerosis. The histological picture of atherosclerosis in the diabetic is similar to that found in the non-diabetic, yet atherosclerosis is more frequent and more severe in diabetes (West, 1978; Krolewski et al. 1987a,h). Gangrene of the foot is five times more common and myocardial infarction and strokes are also...

Interspecific interactions between insect herbivores can be either negative (competitive) or positive (facilitative) (Damman 1993, Denno et al. 1995). In the context of traditional community ecology, however, negative interactions have received the most attention (e.g., Lawton and Strong 1981, Schoener 1982, Strong et al. 1984, Denno et al. 1995) until quite recently (e.g., Lill and Marquis 200...

Fungi play important and diverse roles in soil ecosystems. They act as plant pathogens, mycorrhizal symbionts and most importantly, as the principal decomposers of organic materials (Christensen, 1989; Thorn, 1997). Fungi also represent a dominant component of the soil microflora in terms of biomass (Thorn, 1997). Compared with bacterial communities, however, knowledge regarding the diversity a...