A parallel, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effect of SagaPro on nocturia in men.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of SagaPro, a product derived from Angelica archangelica leaf, on nocturia.

Material And Methods: Sixty-nine male patients 45 years or older with at least two nocturnal voids were randomized to receive SagaPro or placebo in a double-blind design for 8 weeks. Voiding diaries were assessed before and after the treatment.

The risk allele of SNP rs3803662 and the mRNA level of its closest genes TOX3 and LOC643714 predict adverse outcome for breast cancer patients.

Background: The minor allele of SNP rs3803662 has been shown to correlate with increased breast cancer risk and with lower expression of TOX3. The SNP is closely located to TOX3 residing within an uncharacterised gene LOC643714. The aim of the study was to examine the association of the risk allele with expression of TOX3 and LOC643714, and of mRNA levels and genotype with clinical and pathological characteristics.

Hypertension in women: latest findings and clinical implications.

Cardiovascular disease claims more women's lives than any other disease. Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women but is often underestimated and undiagnosed and there is an ongoing misperception that women are at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than men. The attainment of clinical blood pressure goals can markedly reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, yet approximately two-thirds of treated hypertensive women have uncontrolled blood pressure.

Local density of states analysis using Bader decomposition for N2 and CO2 adsorbed on Pt(110)-(1 × 2) electrodes.

Local density of states and electric charge in regions defined for individual atoms and molecules using grid based Bader analysis is presented for N(2) and CO(2) adsorbed on a platinum electrode in the presence of an applied electric field. When the density of states is projected onto Bader regions, the partial density of states for the various subregions correctly sums up to the total density of states for the whole system, unlike the commonly used projection onto spheres which results in missing contributions from some regions while others are over counted, depending on the radius chosen. The electrode is represented by a slab with a missing row reconstructed Pt(110)-(1 × 2) surface to model an edge between micro-facets on the surface of a nano-particle catalyst.

Personality, physical activity, and symptoms of anxiety and depression: the HUNT study.

Purpose: To analyze the association between physical activity (PA), symptoms of depression and anxiety, and personality traits.

Methods: Cross-sectional study from a Norwegian population-based survey conducted in the period 2006-2008. The sample consisted of a total of 38,743 subjects aged ≥ 19 years, 56.

Toxoid construction of AsaP1, a lethal toxic aspzincin metalloendopeptidase of Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. achromogenes, and studies of its activity and processing.

AsaP1 is a toxic aspzincin metalloendopeptidase secreted by the fish pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. achromogenes. The protease is highly immunogenic and antibodies against AsaP1 evoke a passive protection against infection with A.

Effects of two different types of fast food on postprandial metabolism in normal and overweight subjects.

Background/objectives: The aim was to investigate the effects of a conventional and an unconventional fast-food meal on postprandial metabolism in normal and in overweight subjects.

Subjects/methods: Twenty-five healthy normal (n = 12) and overweight (n = 13) volunteers (21-39 years) participated in this randomized, dietary cross-over study and received two test meals (matched in energy and energy giving nutrients) after an overnight fast with 1 week between test days. The conventional fast-food meal was a hamburger meal (hamburger, bacon, cola drink, calculated glycemic load = 48.

Blood selenium levels and contribution of food groups to selenium intake in adolescent girls in Iceland.

Background/objectives: Significant changes have been reported in dietary habits and food availability in Iceland that would be expected to compromise selenium intake and status, especially among young people. These include substantial decreases in the consumption of fish and milk, as well as the selenium content of imported wheat. The aim of this study was to assess selenium in the diet and whole blood of adolescent girls, as well as define the most important foods contributing to intake and blood concentrations of selenium.

Negative-pressure wound therapy for deep sternal wound infections reduces the rate of surgical interventions for early re-infections.

Objectives: To evaluate the outcome of treatment for deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) in a nationwide patient cohort, before and after the introduction of negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT).

Methods: This was a population-based cohort of all patients treated for DSWI in Iceland out of 2446 open heart operations performed between 2000 and 2010. Length of hospital stay, survival and reoperations were compared in (i) 23 patients treated with open and/or closed irrigation before August 2005 (conventional treatment, CvT group) and in (ii) 20 patients treated after this time with NPWT as a first-line therapy (NPWT group).

[Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV. Case study and clinical findings].

We describe Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV in adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis and a systematic review of expected clinical findings in the disease. Serious complications were found in four individuals, two with gastrointestinal perforation at the age of 32 years, two had died from an aortic rupture (34 and 44 years old) and one has been diagnosed with aortic root dilatation. Most had also less severe clinical features such as varicose veins, easy bruising, thin and translucent skin, chronic joint subluxation or dislocation or pes planus.

Screening for anemia in patients on warfarin facilitates diagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancies and pre-malignant lesions.

Introduction: The prevalence and etiology of occult bleeding among patients on warfarin who are screened systematically for new anemia is largely unknown. We aimed to estimate the usefulness of following hemoglobin and mean red cell volume (MCV) with INR in order to screen for developing anemia as an indicator of occult bleeding.

Material And Methods: All patients on warfarin controlled at our institution had measurements of complete blood count (CBC) with INR during 18 months.

Reentrant mechanism for associative desorption: H2/Pt(110)-(1×2).

Calculations of the desorption of hydrogen from Pt(110)-(1×2), a surface used to model nanoparticle edge sites, show the activation energy varying strongly with hydrogen coverage, from 0.8 to 0.3 eV.

'Chaos, restitution and quest': one woman's journey through menopause.

Menopause, a natural stage in a woman's reproductive life, is not an illness; yet some women experience severe enough symptoms to cause a breakdown in the body similar to illness or other major health disruptions. As part of a larger narrative analysis investigation of distress during menopause, this case study presents one woman's transformational journey through menopause, analysed through Frank's health and illness narratives - chaos, restitution and quest. The narratives were retranscribed using Labov's elements of a true story and Gee's poetic restructuring.

[Negative pressure wound therapy in Iceland - indication and outcome].

Introduction: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a recent therapeutic option in wound healing, where a vacuum source is used to create sub-atmospheric pressure in the wound bed with airtight dressings. The aims were to study the indications for the use of NPWT in a whole country and evaluate the outcome of treatment.

Material And Methods: This was a retrospective study that included all patients that were treated with NPWT in Iceland between January and December 2008.

Identification of type VI secretion systems in Moritella viscosa.

The study describes the identification of type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) in Moritella viscosa, the aetiological agent of winter ulcer disease. Despite the availability of commercial vaccines, M. viscosa causes significant financial losses in salmonid farming.

The effects of H-bonding and sterics on the photoreactivity of a trimethyl butyrophenone derivative.

The irradiation of ester 1 in methanol and chloroform does not yield any photoproducts, whereas the photolysis of 1 in dry argon-saturated benzene produces cyclobutanol 4, which is converted to lactone 5 by the addition of HCl. Laser-flash photolysis of ester 1 demonstrates that 1 undergoes intramolecular H-atom abstraction to form the biradical 2 (λ(max)∼ 310 nm, τ = 200 ns, benzene), which intersystem crosses to photoenols, Z-3 (λ(max)∼ 380 nm, τ = 30-60 μs, benzene) and E-3 (λ(max)∼ 380 nm, τ = 11 ms, benzene). Density functional theory calculations were performed to support the proposed mechanism for forming cyclobutanol 4 and to explain how steric demand facilitates photoenol E-3 to form cyclobutanol 4 rather than lactone 5.

Physical activity and age at menopause: the Nord-Trøndelag population-based health study.

Background: Age at menopause may affect women's subsequent morbidity and mortality. In contrast to numerous other health outcomes, little is known about the possible effects of physical activity on age at menopause.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and age at menopause.

Critical role of factors II and X during coumarin anticoagulation and their combined measurement with a new Fiix-prothrombin time.

Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are monitored with prothrombin time (PT) based assays that are equally sensitive to reductions in factors II, VII or X. We compared the effect of vitamin K dependent (VKD) coagulation factors on PT and also on rotational thromboelastometric (ROTEM) parameters. The PT was equally sensitive to reductions in factors II, VII or X but ROTEM parameters correlated poorly with the PT in anticoagulated patients´ plasmas.

A theoretical evaluation of possible transition metal electro-catalysts for N2 reduction.

Theoretical studies of the possibility of forming ammonia electrochemically at ambient temperature and pressure are presented. Density functional theory calculations were used in combination with the computational standard hydrogen electrode to calculate the free energy profile for the reduction of N(2) admolecules and N adatoms on several close-packed and stepped transition metal surfaces in contact with an acidic electrolyte. Trends in the catalytic activity were calculated for a range of transition metal surfaces and applied potentials under the assumption that the activation energy barrier scales with the free energy difference in each elementary step.

Solar hydrogen production with semiconductor metal oxides: new directions in experiment and theory.

An overview of a collaborative experimental and theoretical effort toward efficient hydrogen production via photoelectrochemical splitting of water into di-hydrogen and di-oxygen is presented here. We present state-of-the-art experimental studies using hematite and TiO(2) functionalized with gold nanoparticles as photoanode materials, and theoretical studies on electro and photo-catalysis of water on a range of metal oxide semiconductor materials, including recently developed implementation of self-interaction corrected energy functionals.

[Quality indicators of drug therapy at hospital admission among elderly patients].

Objective: Increased morbidity and higher prevalence of medication use commonly coexists among the elderly. When managed appropriately, older patients can benefit from drug therapy. However, drug related problems are more frequent and more serious in the elderly.

Functional characterization of codCath, the mature cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

Cathelicidins are among the best characterized antimicrobial peptides and have been shown to have an important role in mammalian innate immunity. We recently isolated a novel mature cathelicidin peptide (codCath) from Atlantic cod and in the present study we functionally characterized codCath. The peptide demonstrated salt sensitivity with abrogation of activity at physiological salt concentrations.

Increased attendance rates and altered characteristics of sexual violence.

Objective: To study the attendance rates and characteristics of sexual violence presented at emergency services for rape victims, over a 10-year period.

Design: Incidence study.

Setting: Rape Trauma Service, within an emergency department at a tertiary referral university hospital.

Triplet-sensitized photoreactivity of a geminal diazidoalkane.

Photolysis of 1 in chloroform yielded 2 as the major product and a small quantity of 3. Laser flash photolysis demonstrated that upon irradiation, the first excited triplet state of the ketone (T(1K)) of 1 is formed and decayed to form radical 4, which has a λ(max) at 380 nm (τ = 2 μs). Radical 4 expelled a nitrogen molecule to yield imine radical 5 (λ(max) at 300 nm).