Search results for "construct"

mRNA-Based Vaccines

2021

Increases in the world’s population and population density promote the spread of emerging pathogens. Vaccines are the most cost-effective means of preventing this spread. Traditional methods used to identify and produce new vaccines are not adequate, in most instances, to ensure global protection. New technologies are urgently needed to expedite large scale vaccine development. mRNA-based vaccines promise to meet this need. mRNA-based vaccines exhibit a number of potential advantages relative to conventional vaccines, namely they (1) involve neither infectious elements nor a risk of stable integration into the host cell genome; (2) generate humoral and cell-mediated immunity; (3) are well-t…

Addressing ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems to improve protection of the environment against radiation: Agreed statement…

2016

AbstractThis paper reports the output of a consensus symposium organized by the International Union of Radioecology in November 2015. The symposium gathered an academically diverse group of 30 scientists to consider the still debated ecological impact of radiation on populations and ecosystems. Stimulated by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters' accidental contamination of the environment, there is increasing interest in developing environmental radiation protection frameworks. Scientific research conducted in a variety of laboratory and field settings has improved our knowledge of the effects of ionizing radiation on the environment. However, the results from such studies sometimes appear…

ISL1 is a major susceptibility gene for classic bladder exstrophy and a regulator of urinary tract development

2017

AbstractPreviously genome-wide association methods in patients with classic bladder exstrophy (CBE) found association with ISL1, a master control gene expressed in pericloacal mesenchyme. This study sought to further explore the genetics in a larger set of patients following-up on the most promising genomic regions previously reported. Genotypes of 12 markers obtained from 268 CBE patients of Australian, British, German Italian, Spanish and Swedish origin and 1,354 ethnically matched controls and from 92 CBE case-parent trios from North America were analysed. Only marker rs6874700 at the ISL1 locus showed association (p = 2.22 × 10−08). A meta-analysis of rs6874700 of our previous and prese…

2016

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire is an internationally widely used instrument assessing different eating styles that may contribute to weight gain and overweight: emotional eating, external eating, and restraint. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 30-item German version of the DEBQ including its measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status in a representative German population sample. Furthermore, we examined the distribution of eating styles in the general population and provide population-based norms for DEBQ scales. A representative sample of the German general population (N = 2513, age ≥ 14 years) was assessed with the German version of t…

Seeding nerve sutures with minced nerve-graft (MINE-G): a simple method to improve nerve regeneration in rats

2017

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of seeding the distal nerve suture with nerve fragments in rats. Methods: On 20 rats, a 15 mm sciatic nerve defect was reconstructed with a nerve autograft. In the Study Group (10 rats), a minced 1 mm nerve segment was seeded around the nerve suture. In the Control Group (10 rats), a nerve graft alone was used. At 4 and 12 weeks, a walking track analysis with open field test (WTA), hystomorphometry (number of myelinated fibers (n), fiber density (FD) and fiber area (FA) and soleus and gastrocnemius muscle weight ratios (MWR) were evaluated. The Student t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: At 4 and 12 weeks the Study Gr…

Microwear and isotopic analyses on cave bear remains from Toll Cave reveal both short-term and long-term dietary habits

2019

Dietary habits of the extinct Ursus spelaeus have always been a controversial topic in paleontological studies. In this work, we investigate carbon and nitrogen values in the bone collagen and dental microwear of U. spelaeus specimens recovered in Level 4 from Toll Cave (Moia, Catalonia, NE Iberian Peninsula). These remains have been dated to > 49,000 C-14 BP. The ability of both proxies to provide data on the diet of U. spelaeus at different times in the life-history (isotopes: average diet of life; microwear: last days/weeks before death), allows us to generate high-resolution and complementary data. Our results show lower values (delta C-13 & delta N-15) in cave bears than in strict herb…

The structural validity of the Finnish version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand: A Rasch model analysis

2020

Introduction The construct validity of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH) has previously been questioned. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the measurement properties of the Finnish version of the DASH for assessing disability in patients with hand complaints using Rasch Measurement Theory. Methods A cohort of 193 patients with typical hand and wrist complaints were recruited at a surgery outpatient clinic. The DASH scores were analysed using the Rasch model for differential item functioning, unidimensionality, fit statistics, item residual correlation, coverage/targeting and reliability. Results In the original DASH questionnaire, the item response …

Discursive framing and organizational venues: mechanisms of artificial intelligence policy adoption

2021

The purpose of this article is twofold: to theoretically assess ideational and organizational explanatory factors in the adoption of artificial intelligence policies; and to examine the extent to which the European Union has managed to facilitate a coordinated artificial intelligence policy in the Nordic countries. The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach based on systematic web searching, systematic policy document analysis and key informant semi-structured interviews. The study finds that the European Union has utilized framing-based strategies to set an agenda for a coordinated European artificial intelligence policy. Moreover, the strategy has affected member-state artificial intell…

The Development and Initial Validation of a Short, Self-Report Measure on Social Inclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities-A Transnational …

2021

Sport has been promoted as a means of increasing the social inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities. Suitable tools for evaluating this claim are not readily available. The aim of this study was to develop a self-report tool for use by people with intellectual disabilities regarding the social inclusion they experience in sport and in the community. A three-phase process was used. In the first phase an item bank of questionnaire items was created and field-tested with 111 participants. Initial factor analysis identified 42 items which were further evaluated in Phase 2 with 941 participants from six European countries. Construct validity was established first through Exploratory …

Evaluation of geomorphometric characteristics and soil properties after a wildfire using Sentinel-2 MSI imagery for future fire-safe forest

2021

Abstract Understanding spatiotemporal geomorphological and pedological changes as a consequence of wildfires can allow stakeholders, land planners, and policymakers to design efficient fire safety-based afforestation and restoration programs of forest lands. The use of remote sensing techniques is a key tool to achieve this goal. The suitable combination of Sentinel-2 MSI data for mapping of different spectral indices related to burn severity and their relationship with other morphometric and soil properties can contribute to a better understanding of the impact of fire, and this is relevant in regions where is still scarce fire-related research such as Turkey. In this investigation, the us…