Urban Water Storage Capacity Inferred From Observed Evapotranspiration Recession.

Water storage plays an important role in mitigating heat and flooding in urban areas. Assessment of the water storage capacity of cities remains challenging due to the inherent heterogeneity of the urban surface. Traditionally, effective storage has been estimated from runoff.

Exploration of basal immune parameters in healthy infants receiving an infant milk formula supplemented with prebiotics.

This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, aimed to explore the effect of an infant milk formula (IMF) with 6 g/l short-chain galacto- and long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scGOS/lcFOS, ratio 9:1) on basal immune parameters in 215 healthy, term infants during the first 26 wk of life. After birth, the infants received breast milk or were randomized to receive an IMF with or without scGOS/lcFOS. Blood samples were collected at the age of 8 wk and 26 wk for the analysis of serum immunoglobulins, lymphocyte subpopulations, and cytokines.

Human bone marrow stem cells co-cultured with neonatal rat cardiomyocytes display limited cardiomyogenic plasticity.

Background Aims: This study investigated whether neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCM), when co-cultured, can induce transdifferentiation of either human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) or hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) into cardiomyocytes. Stem cells were obtained from patients with ischemic heart disease.

Methods: Ex vivo-expanded MSC or freshly isolated HSC were used to set-up a co-culture system between NRCM and MSC or HSC.

Effect of prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharide, long-chain fructo-oligosaccharide infant formula on serum cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels.

Objective: Cholesterol is a nutrient of essential importance in infant feeding because it is necessary in membrane development. In adults with high lipid levels, high doses of inulin (oligofructose) inconsistently decreased levels of serum cholesterol. The aim of the present study was to evaluate cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels in infants receiving a formula with a specific mixture of 0.

Recovery of regional but not global contractile function by the direct intramyocardial autologous bone marrow transplantation: results from a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Background: Recent trials have shown that intracoronary infusion of bone marrow cells (BMCs) improves functional recovery after acute myocardial infarction. However, whether this treatment is effective in heart failure as a consequence of remodeling after organized infarcts remains unclear. In this randomized trial, we assessed the hypothesis that direct intramyocardial injection of autologous mononuclear bone marrow cells during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) could improve global and regional left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at 4-month follow-up.

Inhomogeneous activation of motoneurone pools as revealed by co-contraction of antagonistic human arm muscles.

There is now considerable evidence that motoneurone pools in several human arm muscles are activated inhomogeneously during isometric and reflex-induced contractions in different directions (van Zuylen et al. 1988; Gielen et al. 1988; ter Haar Romeny et al.

Activation of human arm muscles during flexion/extension and supination/pronation tasks: a theory on muscle coordination.

Generally the number of muscles acting across a joint exceeds the number of degrees of freedom available to the joint. This redundancy raises a problem regarding the ratio in which these muscles are activated during a particular motor task. In this paper we present a theory to explain the activation patterns of muscles used during voluntary and reflex induced contractions.

A general model for the absorption of ultrasound by biological tissues and experimental verification.

In this paper, a closed-form expression is derived for the absorption of ultrasound by biological tissues. In this expression, the viscothermal and viscoelastic theories of relaxation processes are combined. Three relaxation time distribution functions are introduced, and it is assumed that each of these distributions can be described by an identical and simple hyperbolic function.