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This thesis concerns how people with stroke describe their experiences of life with stroke and how they learn to live with stroke. In the western world the interest for research in lived experiences has increased. This might be due to the higher rate of people with illness and lifelong diseases. The aim of the study is to analyze stories from persons with stroke of their lived experiences of life
There is an ongoing controversy regarding how to take care of patients with mild primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Some recommend surgical treatment at diagnosis, others just follow-up as long as there is no evidence of disease progression. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate cardiac and skeletal risk factors related to the duration of mild PHPT. Fifty patients with mild PHPT were randomized
The aims of this research was to compare different risk score algorithms with regard to their validity to predict 30-day and one-year mortality after open-heart surgery, to evaluate if the preoperative risk stratification model EuroSCORE predicts the different components of resource utilization in cardiac surgery, and to systematically evaluate the accuracy and performance of artificial neural net
Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a congenital erythroid aplasia that usually presents as macrocytic anemia during infancy. Linkage analysis suggests that at least four genes are associated with DBA of which two have been identified so far. The known DBA genes encode the ribosomal proteins S19 and S24 accounting for 25% and 2% of the patients respectively. This study shows that RPS19 gene transfer
The aim of this thesis is to describe and explain independent declarative clauses in German which have the finite verb in absolute clause-initial position. They are called verb-first declarative clauses. It is shown that this type of clause can be found in a variety of Germanic languages. There is evidence suggesting that this is a very old type with roots in ancient Indo-European. It has thus ex
In many developing tropical countries, rapid urban growth leads to several problems, including increased thermal stress. This has negative consequences for people's health and well-being, and affects social and commercial outdoor activities negatively. Consequently, the creation of thermally comfortable microclimates in urban environments is highly important. The main aim of this thesis is to dee
Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common disorder where underlying mechanisms for the local initiating events in the pancreas, the systemic dissemination of the inflammatory response and the remote organ dysfunction still are unclear. The aim of the present study was to further characterize the dynamics and sequence of the immune response in AP, and to determine the cellular origin of the initiating ev
Two putative cyclodextrinases (CDases) were amplified from two moderate thermophiles isolated in Iceland: Anoxybacillus flavithermus and Laceyella sacchari. They were cloned, expressed and characterized. The expression of the former was optimized in E. coli by using a solubility-enhancing tag, NusA, and tuning of inducer concentration in the expression strain Tuner(DE3). The CDases were optimally
A probabilistic framework used in studying collective decision making is the uncertain dichotomous choice model. The model is essentially characterized by two components: the organizational structure and the voting process. By organizational structure, we refer to a group composed of members with common objectives and who are tasked to choose one of the two given alternatives, one of which is assu
The influence of alcohol on bone metabolism, fracture and fracture healing was evaluated in men and male rats by measurements of bone mineral density (BMD), biochemical markers and biomechanical testings. Retrospectively, 199 male patients hospitalized for tibia shaft fractures were studied. Forty-nine were judged as problem drinkers. Abusers were more prone to sustain oblique fractures. The heal
In many species of birds juveniles migrate independently of experienced adults and thus have to rely on innate information about migratory routes and wintering area. This information is encoded as a set of inherited migratory directions and a timing schedule that provides information on when and how far to migrate. Apart from these remarkable behavioral adaptations, migration also requires several
The CD4+ T cells have an important role in inflammation. Based on the local cytokine milieu, these cells can differentiate into either a Th1 population promoting cellular immunity or Th2 population involved in humoral immunity. Th2 cells produce the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10, which might have a protective role in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple scle
Translation is a central biological process, that is catalysed by a machinery consisting of RNA and protein. In this thesis three different protein components of the bacterial protein synthesis system have been structurally studied. Ribosome recycling factor (RRF) is essential for the recycling step of the translation cycle, elongation factor SelB is a specialised elongation factor needed for co-t
Overall the aim has been to characterise the in vitro upregulation of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 1B/1D (5-HT(1B/1D)) and endothelin (ET) receptors in the cerebral circulation as well as demonstrating phenotypic changes in a pathophysiological model mimicking subarachnoid haemorrhage. The first part describes receptor upregulation using organ culture of whole vessel segments from both rat and man. The
Natural disturbance is an important driving force of community dynamics in many forest types around the globe. Understanding spatial and temporal properties of disturbance events in the present and in the past is important in formulating the nature conservation strategies as well as for the modeling of climate and human impacts on forest vegetation. In this thesis I studied wind and fire disturban
The immune pathology and MHC association of chronic arthritis was studied in three rat models for reumatoid arthritis (RA). Susceptible rat strains develop a T cell dependent chronic disease after immunization with rat collagen type II (CII). The LEW rat does not develop arthritis after immunization with rat CII, but a heterologous immune response to pepsin can break the tolerance to CII and rende
A considerable part of all chemistry in nature and in industry occurs in solvents. Sol- vents affect both the interactions and the reactions of the particles immersed in them. The work in this thesis concerns the properties of ionic and polar solvents, as well as the interactions between solutes and/or dispersed particles. Molecular simulations and simple approximate theories were used to study th
The aim of this thesis is to study the life-changing processes necessary when a person is faced with the demands caused by chronic illness or disability. As subjects for the study, women with chronic pain (fibromyalgi and myofascial pain syndrome), were chosen. Eighteen women active in working life were interviewed on two occasions, with an interval of two months. The women have been living with t
Plant phenology exerts major influences on carbon, water, and energy exchanges between atmosphere and ecosystems, provides feedbacks to climate, and affects ecosystem functioning and services. Great efforts have been spent in studying plant phenology over the past decades, but there are still large uncertainties and disputations in phenology estimation, trends, and its climate sensitivities. This
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease with a highly variable prognosis. Since new treatment strategies are emerging, there is a need for prognostic markers in order to help allocate patients to the optimal treatment. When comparison is made to the general population, there is an increased mortality rate in this study, both in the series as a whole and in the subgroups of men and
