Filetype
Background: The most common intrarenal cause for acute kidney injury/renal failure is tubular damage. The kidney tubules are arranged as compartments of cellular mosaics to perform their functions, and at rest almost a fifth of the human ATP consumption is allotted to the reabsorption of substances from the filtrate, rendering especially the proximal tubules highly sensitive to oxygen and/or nutri
On their route to tropical Africa, European trans-Saharan migrants must cross two major geographical barriers, the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, which necessitates the accumulation of large fuel loads. While northern Africa is the chief region where most migrants gain fuel for the Sahara crossing, Iberia is a target area to gain fuel before the sea crossing existing between Europe and A
Measurements of Cherenkov emission in tissue during radiation therapy are shown to enable estimation of hemoglobin oxygen saturation non-invasively, through spectral fitting of the spontaneous emissions from the treated tissue. Tissue oxygenation plays a critical role in the efficacy of radiation therapy to kill tumor tissue. Yet in-vivo measurement of this has remained elusive in routine use beca
This dissertation takes its point of departure in two questions about segregation and its implications for architectural research. The first question is whether examining segregation in terms of education is a fruitful tool for analyzing segregation in general. In answering that question, the dissertation describes how educational segregation relates to segregation by income, ethnicity and age. Th
Let A be the generalized Cartan matrix of rank 2 Kac-Moody algebra g. We write g = g(a, b) when A has non-diagonal entries −a and −b. To each such A, its Weyl group and corresponding root lattice, we associate a ‘Fibonacci type ’ integer sequence. These sequences are derived from the coordinates of the real root vectors in the root space. Each element of each sequence can be expressed as a polynom
Objective. This study investigated whether metabolic derangement at diagnosis of diabetes mellitus affects the function of the basement membrane and the excretion of several components and whether insulin treatment can normalize this. It was designed to evaluate urinary excretion rates of transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-1), the carboxy-terminal domain of collagen IV (NC1) and albumin in children
Obesity results from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors and is a growing health problem associated with development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This thesis has focused on investigating the genetic contribution in obesity and insulin resistance by both candidate and global gene approaches with focus on the adipose tissue. In the first thr
The recently suggested possibility that weak vibronic transitions can be excitonically enhanced in light-harvesting complexes is studied in detail. A vibronic exciton dimer model that includes ground-state vibrations is investigated using the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree method with a parameter set typical to photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes. The absorption spectra are discu
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex disease that is caused by a complex interplay between genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. While the major environmental factors, diet and activity level, are well known, identification of the genetic factors has been a challenge. However, recent years have seen an explosion of genetic variants in risk and protection of T2D due to the technical developm
Abstract in UndeterminedThis study investigates the determinants of transfer of waste between the affected areas and other municipalities that resulted from the Great East Japan Earthquake. In particular, we investigate to what extent economic factors, but also social factors such as reciprocity and pro-social concerns, affect municipalities’ decision to accept disaster waste. We find some evidenc
We report our observations of cross-modal interactions between sight and touch using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Experiments were devised to show that sight and touch are linked in a cross-modal arrangement, and two separate experiments were done in an MRI scanner. In the first, the subject's right hand was stimulated with a brush; in the second, a video sequence was presented to
Baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae rapidly converts sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide at both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The later phenomenon is called Crabtree effect and has been described in two forms, long-term and short-term effect. We have previously studied under fully controlled aerobic conditions forty yeast species for their central carbon metabolism and the presence of lon
Beyond the effects of temperature increase on local population trends and on species distribution shifts, how populations of a given species are affected by climate change along a species range is still unclear. We tested whether and how species responses to climate change are related to the populations locations within the species thermal range. We compared the average 20 year growth rates of 62
Vasculitis is a systemic autoimmune inflammatory disease, characterized by inflammation in and around vessel walls leading to perturbed vessel patency and tissue damage. Many different organs may be involved. In this review pathogenetic mechanisms of vasculitis are discussed, with special reference to activation of the kinin system. Mechanisms of kinin system activation are described ultimately le
Diversification has long been viewed as a risk minimization strategy in the face of increasing climatic and economic risks in developing countries. This paper examines the determinants of non-farm income diversification in rural Ethiopia for a four-wave panel of 1240 households from the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey over the period 1994–2009. The paper makes a conceptual distinction between non
