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Massively parallel sequencing holds great promise for new possibilities in the field of forensic genetics, enabling simultaneous analysis of multiple markers as well as offering enhanced short tandem repeat allele resolution. A challenge in forensic DNA analysis is that the samples often contain low amounts of DNA in a background that may interfere with downstream analysis. PCR inhibition mechanis

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a significant risk factor for development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The S100A9-driven amyloid-neuroinflammatory cascade occurring during primary and secondary TBI events can serve as a mechanistic link between TBI and Alzheimer's as demonstrated recently in the human brain tissues. Here by using immunohistochemistry i

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has proven prognostic benefits in patients with heart failure (HF) with left bundle branch block (LBBB) QRS morphology. Electrocardiographic left atrial (LA) abnormality has been proposed as a noninvasive marker of atrial remodeling. We aimed to assess the impact of electrocardiographic LA abnormality for prognosis in patients with HF treated with CRT. Basel

The capacity to learn and reproduce vocal sounds has evolved in phylogenetically distant tetrapod lineages. Vocal learners in all these lineages express similar neural circuitry and genetic factors when perceiving, processing, and reproducing vocalization, suggesting that brain pathways for vocal learning evolved within strong constraints from a common ancestor, potentially fish. We hypothesize th

Background: A common complaint by people with tinnitus is that they experience that the tinnitus causes attention and concentration problems. Previous studies have examined how tinnitus influences cognitive performance on short and intensive cognitive tasks but without proper control of hearing status. Purpose: To examine the impact tinnitus and high-frequency hearing thresholds have on reading co

OBJECTIVES: To compare 6 minute walking distance (6MWD) in a population-based osteoarthritis (OA) cohort with matched peers from the general population, and to explore the associations between walking ability and CVD risk (arterial stiffness) in the OA cohort.DESIGN: This cross-sectional study included participants (40-80 years) who self-reported OA (n=500) in a population-based study and age- and

Green packaging development (GPD) involves the process of developing packaging with minimized environmental impact. Over the last decade, the GPD perspective has evolved from a traditionally packaging material-focused one to a holistic one. A holistic perspective on GPD means that the different environmental requirements on packaging have to be combined so that the overall environmental impact of

The German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is home to one of the most important industrial regions in Europe, and is the first German state to have adopted its own Climate Protection Law (CPL). This paper describes the long-term (up to 2050) mitigation scenarios for NRW's main energy-intensive industrial sub-sectors which served to support the implementation of the CPL. It also descr

Monoclonal antibodies ofatumumab (anti-CD20) and alemtuzumab (anti-CD52) which are approved for usage in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), efficiently activate the classical complement pathway. However complement is an exhaustible component and high doses of its activators may deplete complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) potential, thus reducing the effect of repeated mAb dosing

Background: Neuroblastoma is the commonest extracranial solid tumor of childhood, yet rare, and with poor survival before 1990, especially for high-risk disease; thus, information on late effects is sparse. With great advances in cancer treatment, survival has reached 80% in the Nordic countries. The aim of the study was to investigate the risk of developing neurologic disorders after neuroblastom

Purpose: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) varies by age, sex, and anatomical subsite. Few studies have examined the temporal trends of age-specific sex disparity in incidence and survival by age at diagnosis and anatomical site. Patients and Methods: The study was performed on all incident cases of CRC, using data derived from the nationwide Swedish Cancer Register between 1960 and 2014, i

We seek to identify factors that facilitate or inhibit transmission of drug abuse (DA) from high-risk parents to their children. In 44,250 offspring of these parents, ascertained from a Swedish national sample for having a mother and/or father with DA, we explored, using Cox models, how the prevalence of DA was predicted by potentially malleable risk factors in these high-risk parents, their spous

To date, there is no validated fluid biomarker for tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease, with contradictory results from studies evaluating the correlation between phosphorylated tau in CSF with tau PET imaging. Tau protein is subjected to proteolytic processing into fragments before being secreted to the CSF. A recent study suggested that tau cleavage after amino acid 368 by asparagine endopeptid

Purpose: Elevated copeptin, a vasopressin marker, is linked to metabolic disease, and obese rats with low-vasopressin concentration had a decreased risk of liver steatosis. We here investigated the association between copeptin and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and possible differences in copeptin concentration between ethnicities. Methods: In this cross-sectional study of 361 South Afri

Aim: Inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is proposed as a treatment option in several cancer types. However, in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), phase III trials have failed to demonstrate a benefit of adding COX-2 inhibitors to standard chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to analyze COX-2 expression in tumor and stromal cells as predictive biomarker for COX-2 inhibition. Methods: In a m

Neuro-electronic interfaces, which can be used for stable communication between neurons-computers over long periods of time, would be valuable for understanding and interacting with the nervous system. A major challenge has been to overcome the tissue reactions towards implanted electrodes. Flexible microelectrodes that cause less implantation injury and which can follow the micromotions of the br

Exhaled breath temperature has been suggested to reflect airway inflammation, and it would be plausible to measure the peripheral airway temperature as a correlate to peripheral airway inflammation. This study aims to explore the relative peripheral airway temperature in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or systemic sclerosis (SSc) compared to healthy controls, and

We have performed quantum mechanics (QM), molecular mechanics (MM) and hybrid QM/MM calculations to study the stereospecific proton exchange of glutathiohydroxyacetone (HOC-SG) by glyoxalase I (GlxI). We did the QM/MM calculations with a large QM system (246 atoms) to investigate the proton-exchange mechanism. Moreover, single-point big-QM energies with 1303 atoms in the big QM system and 22,412 a

Educational and income gradients in health are well established in the literature but there is need for a better understanding of how mental health inequalities change over time, and what drives the development. We aim to study how psychiatric diagnosis and its income-related inequality have changed over time in Sweden and to make a first attempt at disentangling the development by decomposing any

Breast cancer susceptibility variants frequently show heterogeneity in associations by tumor subtype1-3. To identify novel loci, we performed a genome-wide association study including 133,384 breast cancer cases and 113,789 controls, plus 18,908 BRCA1 mutation carriers (9,414 with breast cancer) of European ancestry, using both standard and novel methodologies that account for underlying tumor het