[0.1] Questions about integers and primes It is easy to formulate questions about integers and primes, though not easy to distinguish those questions that have deeper meanings. More than 2000 years ago, contemporaries of Euclid knew that there are infinitely-many prime numbers. Quantifying the distribution of primes is still essentially an open question! Chebyshev (1848-50), Riemann (1857-8), H...

Attractions between like-charged polyelectrolytes have been observed in a variety of systems (W.M. Gelbart, R.F. Bruinsma, P.A. Pincus, V.A. Parsegian, Phys. Today 53, September issue, 38 (2000)). Recent biological examples include DNA, filamentous viruses, and F-actin. Theoretical investigations on idealized systems indicate that counterion correlations play a central role, but no experiments ...

BACKGROUND The short-term infusion of levosimendan (Levo) improves hemodynamic function in patients with decompensated heart failure. The metabolites of Levo have a prolonged half-life, and one is hemodynamically active. The goal of this study was to determine whether the hemodynamic effects of Levo are sustained during a long-term infusion and beyond the discontinuation of drug infusion. MET...

This article focuses on Mehmet Tahir Münif Paşa’s second ambassadorship to Iran (1896–1897) in the aftermath of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar’s assassination May 1896. It argues that Shah’s death brought about a turning point Perso-Ottoman diplomatic relations and Sultan Abdülhamid’s decision assign as his representative Tehran was an affirmation new age Ottoman foreign policy. In what follows, will ...

Spore-bearing aerobic bacteria' capable of producing striking black pigments have been known since the early reports of Gorini (1896) on "Bacillus lactis-niger" and of Biel (1896) and Lunt (1896) on "Bacillus mesentericus-niger." Although these types have become established in the bacteriological literature under the respective binomial designations of Bacillus niger (Migula, 1900) and Bacillus...

BACKGROUND The 1896 and 1996 populations of North West Wales are similar in number, ethnic and social mix and rurality, enabling a study of the comparative incidence and prevalence of service utilization over the course of a century. METHODS We collected records on all psychiatric admissions from North-West Wales in 1894-1896 and 1996. These were assessed and diagnosed by the responsible sect...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes may differ in pathogenicity. However, the interplay between different virus characteristics such as genotypes, mutants and virus loads has not been well studied . We investigated the association between HBV genotype, presence of 1896 precore mutation and HBV viral loads in patients with HBV-related liver disease. METHODS One hundred and ...

Maintaining adequate quality of life (QoL) is an important therapeutic objective for patients with advanced heart failure and, for some patients, may take precedence over prolonging life. Achieving good QoL in this context may involve aspects of patient care that lie outside the familiar limits of heart failure treatment. The inodilator levosimendan may be advantageous in this setting, not leas...

To investigate the role of mutant hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 20 patients with HCC were studied for precore and core promoter mutations in tumorous and nontumorous tissues. The precore and core promoter region was amplified and analyzed by direct sequencing. Among the 20 tumorous and nontumorous tissues, precore mutant HBV was found in 12 (60%) ...