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Background: The risk for coronary events may rise during acute infection. Perturbation in coronary endothelial function emerges as one important link. We investigated whether simvastatin could protect the coronary arterial function from the adverse effects of acute infection in swine. Methods: Coronary endothelium-dependent and -independent vasomotor responses were assessed by Doppler velocimetry

Mycorrhizal symbioses -- the union of roots and soil fungi -- are universal in terrestrial ecosystems and may have been fundamental to land colonization by plants1,2. Boreal, temperate, and montane forests all depend upon ectomycorrhizae1. Identification of the primary factors that regulate symbiotic development and metabolic activity will therefore open the door to understanding the role of 2 ect

The recognition of a strong etiological relationship between infection with high-risk human papillomavirusses and cervical cancer has prompted research to develop and evaluate prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. One prophylactic quadrivalent vaccine using L1 virus-like particles (VLP) of HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 is available on the European market since the end of 2006 and it is expected that a sec

Pallets are the most common tertiary packaging solution with over 80% the world trade currently being carried out using pallets. The most widely used pallet type is the four-way wood pallet which accounts for 86% of the pallet production worldwide and the most common pallet size is the Euro Pallet. A department at Tetra Pak called Additional Materials (AddMat) is mainly using Euro Pallets, which h

There is an ongoing discussion in information retrieval research regarding the merits of subject indexing with controlled vocabularies as opposed to relying on free-text descriptions. Earlier research has compared subject headings with other metadata, such as document titles or tables of contents, to determine the relative value of subject headings as subject access points in an information search

Det här examensarbetet är inspirerat av den samhällsutvecklingen som sker framför våra ögon, där alltfler samkönade relationer tillkommer men lämnas fortfarande utanför på grund av deras begränsade rättigheter i den fria rörligheten. Den fria rörligheten för personer och deras familjemedlemmar är en av EU:s grundläggande principer, rättigheten måste därmed vara omfattande genom att ge alla unionsmThis thesis is inspired by the societal development that is taking place before our eyes where, more and more same-sex relationships are added but are still left out due to their limited rights in free movement. The free movement of persons and their family members is one of the fundamental principles of the EU, and the right must therefore be comprehensive by giving all Union citizens and their f

Background: Evolutionary biologists are often misled by convergence of morphology and this has been common in the study of bird evolution. However, the use of molecular data sets have their own problems and phylogenies based on short DNA sequences have the potential to mislead us too. The relationships among clades and timing of the evolution of modern birds (Neoaves) has not yet been well resolve

Although positive in terms of patient trauma and recovery time, minimally invasive surgery has several technical drawbacks compared with open surgery. The new da Vinci® Surgical System from Intuitive Surgical® offers technical innovations aiming at overcoming these drawbacks and at improving the surgeon’s operating skills, such as the improved 3-D vision, tremor reduction and flexible instruments

Investigations on exposure to electromagnetic have generated conflicting results both in epidemiological and laboratory studies, leaving their possible health consequences largely inconclusive. One of the well-reported reasons for the discrepancies is that there is no generally accepted theory to describe the interactions between the very weak electromagnetic fields and the living cells. This work

Pt-TiO2-C composites with different titanium oxide loading were synthesized by photo-deposition and chemical vapor deposition methods. The changes in their electronic properties improve the electrochemical activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared to the Pt-C catalyst synthesized at the same conditions. The platinum samples were physically characterized by means of Transmission

Myoepithelioma, mixed tumor and parachordoma are uncommon soft tissue tumors thought to represent morphological variants of a single tumor type. The genetic basis of these neoplasms is poorly understood. However, they morphologically resemble mixed tumor of the salivary glands (also known as pleomorphic adenoma), a tumor characterized by deregulated expression of PLAG1 or HMGA2. To evaluate a poss

Semantic roles, logical relations such as Agent or Instrument that hold between events and their participants and circumstances, need to be determined automatically by several types of applications in natural language processing. This process is referred to as semantic role labeling. This dissertation describes how to construct statistical models for semantic role labeling of English text, and how

A particle-based transported probability density function (PDF) method with a novel chemistry acceleration technique is developed in this work. The technique is based on the chemistry coordinate mapping (CCM) approach that was proposed in our previous works for accelerating direct numerical simulations (DNS) of partially premixed combustion. The method is first validated using Sandia flames D and

Flow injection analysis provides a convenient platform for the use of biosensors in the monitoring of bio-processes. A major requirement in bioprocess monitoring is real time information about various process parameters like concentration of products and substrates, flow rates, and injection volumes. Depending on the application, the monitoring requirements vary and this results in a need for diff

Background: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has gained acceptance among surgeons, for the treatment of open abdomen, since very high closure rates have been reported with this method, compared to other kinds of wound management for the open abdomen. However, the method has occasionally been associated with increased development of fistulae. We have previously shown that NPWT induces ischemi

Pulsating flow through bifurcations are of general interest. In the human body such flows are also very common; for example in blood vessels and the respiratory tract. The characteristics of the flow in arteries have been related to the process of atherogenesis, based on the observation that the initial manifestation of the process is observed at certain common locations, i.e., near bifurcations i

OBJECTIVE: Preterm birth is associated with asthma-like symptoms in childhood and possibly in adolescence, but the longer-term risk of asthma is unknown and increasingly relevant as larger numbers of these individuals enter adulthood. Our objective was to evaluate whether those who were born preterm are more likely to be prescribed asthma medications in young adulthood than those who were born ter