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Purpose: Children’s results on school-related achievements tests, such as aspects of math, reading and writing, have been shown to decline following a lengthy summer vacation. Few studies have investigated whether this also applies to vocabulary skills. The purpose of this study is to investigate how lexical organization and retrieval, assessed by a semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task, develops dur

Objectives. To assess the prevalence of combined hormonal contraceptives (CHCs) in reproductive-age women with SLE with and without possible contraindications and to determine factors associated with their use in the presence of possible contraindications. Methods. This observational cohort study included premenopausal women ages 18-45 years enrolled in the SLICC Registry ≤15 months after SLE onse

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by expanded CAG repeats in the huntingtin gene (HTT). Although mutant HTT is expressed during embryonic development and throughout life, clinical HD usually manifests later in adulthood. A number of studies document neurodevelopmental changes associated with mutant HTT, but whether these are reversible under therapy

Introduction: It might in the future be valuable to screen for increased maternal arterial stiffness, i.e. low compliance, since it is associated with development of hypertensive complications in pregnancy. Digital pulse wave analysis (DPA) is an easy and manageable method for arterial stiffness assessment. We aimed to investigate gestational influence on DPA variables longitudinally, and establis

Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines may elicit a hyporesponse under certain conditions. There is limited knowledge, however, on the type of specific antibody response in individuals with invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The aim of this study was to investigate the functional antibody response in patients with IPD caused by different serotypes. Pre-immune and convalescent sera from 40 patients

Background and purpose Polymorphisms in coagulation genes have been associated with early-onset ischemic stroke. Here we pursue an a priori hypothesis that genetic variation in the endothelial-based receptors of the thrombomodulin-protein C system (THBD and PROCR) may similarly be associated with early-onset ischemic stroke. We explored this hypothesis utilizing a multistage design of discovery an

During the last decades, several research groups have used bisphosphonates for local application to counteract secondary bone resorption after bone grafting, to improve implant fixation or to control bone resorption caused by bone morphogenetic proteins (BMps). We focused on zoledronate (a bisphosphonate) due to its greater antiresorptive potential over other bisphosphonates. Recently, it has beco

Objective. In cross-sectional studies, elevated osteopontin (OPN) levels have been proposed to reflect, and/or precede, progressive organ damage and disease severity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We aimed, in a cohort of patients with recent-onset SLE, to determine whether raised serum OPN levels precede damage and/or are associated with disease activity or certain disease phenotypes. Met

In longitudinal studies, changes in participants’ cognitive performances can partly be attributed to variations in the testing situation (testing specific factors), such as, different test administrators or different testing environments. Focusing on test administrator influence, testing specific factors were examined in a Swedish longitudinal study of ageing. Test scores from 6,686 examinations r

Aim: To describe the Swedish Neonatal Quality Register (SNQ) and to determine its completeness and agreement with other registers. Methods: SNQ collects data for infants admitted to neonatal units during the first four postnatal weeks. Completeness and registers’ agreement were determined cross-linking SNQ data with Swedish population registers (the Inpatient, Medical Birth and Cause of Death Regi

Background and Objectives: Fetal RHD genotyping of cell-free fetal DNA from RhD-negative pregnant women can be used to guide targeted antenatal and postnatal anti-D prophylaxis for the prevention of RhD immunization. To assure the quality of clinical testing, we conducted an external quality assessment workshop with the participation of 28 laboratories. Materials and Methods: Aliquots of pooled ma

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and lung cancer represent progressive lung diseases with a poor prognosis. IPF represents a risk factor for the development of lung cancer, and the incidence of lung cancer is increased in patients with IPF. Disease pathogenesis of IPF and lung cancer involves common genetic alterations, dysregulated pathways, and the emergence of hyperplastic and metaplastic ep

Introduction: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have persistent platelet activation and an increased risk of thrombotic events, which cannot be accounted for by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Factor (F)XII has a potentially important role in thrombus formation and is triggered by activated platelets. We therefore asked whether the contact system is involved in inflammation

Dysregulation of lymphocyte function, accumulation of autoantibodies and defective clearance of circulating immune complexes and apoptotic cells are hallmarks of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Moreover, it is now evident that an intricate interplay between the adaptive and innate immune systems contributes to the pathogenesis of SLE, ultimately resulting in chronic inflammation and organ dama

Mutations in the PARK2 gene, which encodes PARKIN, are the most frequent cause of autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease (PD). We report the generation of an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line from a 78-year-old patient carrying a compound heterozygous mutation (c.823C > T and EX6del) in the PARK2 gene. Skin fibroblasts were reprogrammed using the non-integrating Sendai virus technology to

Violence against women is an increasing global phenomenon. Little is known about violence against foreign-born women, despite a possible increased concentration of risk factors in this group.

Characterization of directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells towards therapeutically relevant cell types, including pancreatic beta-cells and hepatocytes, depends on molecular markers and assays that resolve the signature of individual cells. Pancreas and liver both have a common origin of anterior definitive endoderm (DE). Here, we differentiated human embryonic stem cells towards DE us

Smoking is an important cardiovascular risk factor and smoking cessation should be a primary target in secondary prevention after a myocardial infarction (MI).