BACKGROUND In an effort to enhance accuracy of diagnosis of Schistosoma haematobium, this study explores day-to-day variability and diagnostic performance of real-time PCR for detection and quantification of Schistosoma DNA compared to other diagnostic tools in an endemic area before and after treatment. METHODOLOGY Previously collected urine samples (N = 390) from 114 preselected proven para...

Positing representations and operations on them as a way of explaining behavior was one of the major innovations of the cognitive revolution. Neuroscience and biology more generally also employ representations in explaining how organisms function and coordinate their behavior with the world around them. In discussions of the nature of representation, theorists commonly differentiate between the...

Daily rhythms of gene expression provide a benefit to most organisms by ensuring that biological processes are activated at the optimal time of day. Although temporal patterns of expression control plant traits of agricultural importance, how natural genetic variation modifies these patterns during the day and how precisely these patterns influence phenotypes is poorly understood. The circadian...

The purpose of the study was to investigate seasonal variation in mood and behavior among a group of office workers in Sweden (56°N). Thirty subjects participated in this longitudinal study. The subjects kept a weekly log that included questionnaires for ratings of psychological wellbeing and daily sleep-activity diaries where they also noted time spent outdoors. The lighting conditions in the ...

The circadian clock enables organisms to anticipate daily environmental cycles and drives corresponding changes in behavior [1, 2]. Such endogenous oscillators also enable animals to display time-specific memory [1, 3-5]. For instance, mice and honeybees associate the location of a stimulus (like food or mate) with a certain time of day (time-place learning) [6, 7]. However, the mechanism under...

UNLABELLED Surgical waiting time remains an important issue regarding access to health care provision. It is considered to be excessive in most OEDC countries (over twelve weeks or ninety days). The development of day surgery has been one of the strategies that proved effective in reducing surgical waiting time. This study aims to establish a correlation between surgical waiting time and the pe...

BACKGROUND Salivary mRNA biomarkers can exhibit significant variation over time. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pattern and magnitude of variation of salivary mRNA biomarkers and to explore the effect of performing replicate assays and multiple sampling on the dispersion of salivary biomarkers. METHODS Salivary interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNAs, developed...