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The work reported here includes experimental studies of lean premixed swirling flames. Various laser-based optical diagnostic techniques were used to collect information under different operational conditions. Combined flow- and scalar field measurements were performed at high repetition rates for detailed studies of the turbulent flames. A large part of the work presented concerns experimental
Normal tissue is tightly controlled to keep a balance between reproduction and elimination of cells. In cancer, these regulated processes are disrupted, resulting in uncontrolled cell growth. Regulation of RNA stability and turnover is important to maintain cellular homeostasis and can be controlled by various mechanisms. During stress, the cell can form cytoplasmic complexes of proteins and RNAs,
Aberrant protein kinase C (PKC) activity and expression is implicated in different malignancies. To study the role of different PKC isoforms in breast cancer the expression of PCKα, δ and ε was evaluated in breast cancer tumors. In addition the effect of siRNA-mediated knockdown of the isoforms was studied in a global gene expression analysis. We found that high PKCα levels correlate with poor pro
The background of this thesis is related to the steadily increasing demand of higher bandwidth and lower power consumption for transmitting data. The work aims at demonstrating how new types of structures, at the nanoscale, combined with what is referred to as exotic materials, can help benefit in electronics by lowering the consumed power, possibly by an order of magnitude, compared to the indust
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is 4-6 times more common in women than men during the fertile years. For women, the incidence peaks shortly after menopause, and for men the risk is greater with higher age, when androgen levels drops. Sex hormones have been suggested to play a part in the pathogenesis, since low testosterone levels have been noted in men with RA and pregnancy has an ameliorating effect o
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth cause of cancer-related death with a 5-year survival rate less than 5%. Two of the risk factors are chronic pancreatitis and type 2 diabetes (T2D), which are believed to promote the tumour progression. Pancreatic cancer and its tumour microenvironment is characterised by a dense stroma, immune cell infiltration and poor vascularisation. This creates a favourable env
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease with a wide range of disease manifestations with respect to severity and magnitude of organ involvement. An increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with the general population causes both morbidity and mortality in SLE patients. Consequently prevention, early detection and treatment of arteriosclerotic manifestations are of high
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of motor disability in children and adolescents with a prevalence of 2-3/1000. CP is characterized by disorders of posture and movement with impairments ranging from mild to severe. The ability to control posture is an important prerequisite for all voluntary movements. A sustained asymmetric posture predisposes to progressive deformities in people with
Childhood cancer (CC) survival rate has increased over the last couple of decades, today approaching 80%. Therefore more attention has been paid to late effects. One important issue for CC survivors (CCS) is impaired reproductive function. CC per se and/or its treatment can impair the reproductive ability by affecting sperm production, as well as by damaging sperm DNA. This is a matter of concern,
In sepsis, after major surgery or severe trauma, the human body may suffer from various degrees of generalized inflammation, a syndrome called Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS). One feature of SIRS is increased capillary permeability, caused by disruption of the capillary endothelium due to e.g. bacterial toxins, cytokines, pro-inflammatory hormones and free oxygen radicals. This will
Membrane proteins are particularly important to characterize, since they are involved in cellular processes of utmost importance in control and regulation of cells, such as transport across membranes, signal transduction and photosynthesis. The word "proteome" means all proteins expressed by a e.g. a cell or a tissue, at a certain time point and "proteomics" is the large scale study of these prote
Proteoglycans (PGs) is a class of highly anionic macromolecules that consist of one or more linear polysaccharide chains (glycosaminoglycans, GAGs) covalently attached to a core protein. The biological functions of PGs are mainly due to the interactions of GAG chains with various protein ligands and regulatory factors, such as cytokines and growth factors. PGs and GAGs are critical for a diverse s
Mucosal infections trigger an inflammatory response that includes the secretion of cytokines and the recruitment of neutrophils to the infected site. This thesis describes studies examining the molecular mechanisms of neutrophil migration to sites of mucosal bacterial infection. Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection of epithelial cell layers stimulates chemokine secretion and chemokine receptor ex
The aim of this thesis work was to study phase diagrams, microstructure and phase separation in alkylglucoside systems. Both alkyl glucoside/water systems and microemulsions with alkyl glucosides have been studied. The phase diagram of the ternary n -nonyl-beta-glucoside (C9G1)/ n -decyl-beta-glucoside (C10G1)/water system has been determined and is dis
In the studies of this thesis, a method for automated classification of myocardial perfusion images was successfully developed and evaluated. The results show that the method, based on artificial neural networks, was equally good, or even better than human experts. It was also found that physicians interpreting myocardial perfusion images benefit from the advice of the artificial neural networks.
TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine which binds to two cell surface receptors, TNF-R55 and TNF-R75. The receptors undergo proteolytic cleavage and release a fragment (soluble TNF-receptors or TNF-Binding Protein), TNF-R55-BP and TNF-R75-BP. Soluble TNF-receptors are able to bind and inactivate TNF. The release of soluble TNF-receptors was measured with ELISA. TNF binding cap
An introduction into the theory and experimental background of particle physics and the ATLAS detector is given. The transition radiation tracker (TRT) which is vital to the particle tracking and identification is then described giving particular creedence to the calibration. The automation of this calibration is explained. The second half of this thesis and the central part dwells on the analyses
