Moraxella catarrhalis causes respiratory tract infections in children and in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is often isolated as a copathogen with Haemophilus influenzae. The underlying mechanism for this cohabitation is unclear. Here, in clinical specimens from a patient with M. catarrhalis infection, we document that outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) carrying ubiquitous surfa

Popular Abstract in Swedish I denna avhandling behandlas två delvis överlappande teman; inversa problem av tomografisk karaktär samt snabba och noggranna metoder för applicering av faltningsoperatorer. Inom det första temat så studeras det inversa problemet inom Dopplertomografi och för detta ändamål så introduceras Dopplermomenttransformen. Genom att undersöka egenskaperna hos denna transform såThere are two, partially interlaced, themes treated in this thesis; inverse problems of tomographic type and fast and accurate methods for the application of convolution operators. Regarding the first theme, the inverse problem of Doppler tomography is considered and the Doppler moment transform is introduced for that purpose. By investigating the properties of the transform, we prove results reg

A numerical model, called MsDiff (Multi-Species DIFFusion), based on a finite difference method and on the Nernst-Planck relation has been developed. The concentration profiles for several species (i.e., Cl-, Na+, K+ and OH-), the flux and the potential profile are computed. The simulations allow having a better understanding about the phenomena involved during the transport of different ions into

Popular Abstract in Swedish I denna avhandling studeras begravningsentreprenörernas arbete. Materialet är i första hand inhämtat genom intervjuer och observationer på begravningsbyråer som tillhör Sveriges Begravningsbyråers Förbund. Begravningsentreprenörer upplever att det finns en negativ bild av yrket, som är kopplad till hanteringen av avlidna. Samtidigt efterfrågas begravningsentreprenörernThis dissertation has a dual purpose. Firstly to describe what funeral directors do and how they experience their work. Secondly to see if, and in that case how, funeral directors influence rites around the deceased, both official as well as more private rites. The study is based on text analysis, interviews with 32 funeral directors and field studies on four funeral parlours. Only funeral directo

The enrichment of Fe relative to α-elements such as O and Mgrepresents a potential means to determine the age of quasars and probethe galaxy formation epoch. To explore how Fe II emission in quasars islinked to physical conditions and abundance, we have constructed an 830level Fe II model atom and investigated through photoionizationcalculations how Fe II emission strengths depend on nonabundancef

We show that the convex set that determines which n-particle densities can arise from an N-particle wavefunction becomes smaller when N increases. We also show that their boundaries have empty intersection for fermions (but not for bosons). The N-representability conditions thus become more constraining for more particles. Finally, we show that it is impossible, in a combinatorial way, to determin

The characteristics of aerosol particles formed during combustion of moist forest residue were studied as a function of load in a I MW moving grate boiler and at almost full load in a similar larger 6 MW boiler. The coarse (1 mum < d(ae) < 10 mum) particle number and mass concentration increased by more than one order of magnitude and the fine particle mean diameter, total volume and mass decrease

Genetic susceptibility to PBC can, at least in part, be ascribed to the major histocompatibility complex. The relevance of immunogenetic markers for the clinical presentation and course, however, is unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of HLA class II genes to susceptibility, clinical presentation and course of disease in PBC patients. HLA genotyping for HLA-DRB

The significance of lipid rafts in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) signaling in macrophages was studied through isolation of them by gradient centrifugation and subsequent visualization of signal molecules using antibodies. LPS signaling is initiated by binding to Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) and the co-receptor CD-14, leading to activation of downstream targets, such as MAP kinases. In this study, we sho

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether different tests of the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) reserve are influenced by diabetic state and metabolic control in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic patients. DESIGN AND METHODS: We evaluated the ACTH reserve in 10 patients with uncomplicated type 1 diabetes during periods of poor and improved metabolic control and in 10 healthy subjects. The ACTH-cortisol se

Most previous soft shadow algorithms have either suffered from aliasing, been too slow, or could only use a limited set of shadow casters and/or receivers. Therefore, we present a strengthened soft shadow volume algorithm that deals with these problems. Our critical improvements include robust penumbra wedge construction, geometry-based visibility computation, and also simplified computation throu

BACKGROUND: Oxygen free radicals (OFRs), platelet activating factor (PAF), cell adhesion molecules, and transmigration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes through the gut barrier are probably all essential in the development of gut barrier dysfunction following intestinal ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). Pretreatment and early treatment of I/R with the OFRs-scavenger (NAC), the PAF inhibitor lexipafant

The time tau(n) of first passage from queue length x to queue lengthn > x in a many-server queue with both the arrival process and service intensities governed by a finite Markov process is considered. The mean and the Laplace transform are computed as solutions of systems of linear equations coming out by optional stopping of a martingale obtained as a stochastic integral of the exponential Wald

It has been suggested that bone mineral density (BMD) measurements should be made at multiple sites, and that the lowest T-score should be taken for the purpose of diagnosing osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to examine the use of BMD measurements at the femoral neck and lumbar spine alone and in combination for fracture prediction. We studied 19,071 individuals (68% women) from six prospect

The glandular kallikrein family is composed of structurally related serine proteases. Studies show that the mouse family encompasses at least 14 highly conserved functional genes, but of these only the tissue kallikarein has a human ortholog. In man, the tissue kallikrein display high sequence similarity with prostate specific antigen and human glandular kallikrein 2, suggesting that they evolved

Smooth muscle is a slow and economical muscle with a large variability in contractile properties. This review describes results regarding the relation between expression of myosin isoforms and the contraction of smooth muscle. The focus of the review is on studies of the organised contractile system in the smooth muscle tissue. The role of the myosin heavy chain variants formed by alternative spli