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The complement system is a part of the innate immunity and is essential in the defence against microorganisms. Hereditary C2 deficiency (C2D) is one of the most common complement deficiency states with an estimated prevalence of 1:20,000 in persons of Western descent. In the present investigation, the identification of more than 40 C2D persons at a single centre combined with long observation peri

This dissertation in the field of Islamic studies offers a critical analysis of Nurcholish Madjid's attempt to interpret Islam within the framework of modern Indonesia. Nurcholish, who recently passed away at the age of sixty-six, had been active in the reform of Islamic thought for over thirty years, and while remaining deeply coloured by the local Indonesian context, was also part of a global an

This thesis consists of four essays on risky health behaviour among adolescents. In the first paper, Young people and alcohol: an econometric analysis, the purpose was to analyse the determinants of adolescent drinking behaviour within an economic-theoretical framework. The results showed that having parents willing to supply alcohol increased the frequency of beer-, wine-, and spirits-consumption

The aim of this prospective longitudinal multicenter study was to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with head and neck cancer at diagnosis, after one and five years in relation to tumour location, stage, sub site, treatment modality, gender and age. The first part of the study, lasting for one year, consisted of 357 patients (mean age 63 years; 72% males) that were in

The main pathological feature in Parkinson's disease is the progressive loss of dopamine neurons in the midbrain, which in turn leads to the appearance of motor deficits such as akinesia/bradykinesia (loss/slowness of movements), rigidity, postural imbalance and tremor. To this day, there is no cure for the disease, but there are medications to relieve the symptoms. The gold standard medication is

The primary aim of the present thesis is to increase understandig of the relationship between organisational structure, gender and power. Understanding of this relationship requires a closeness to the individual being studied as well to the content and consequences of that individuals´actions. The empirical object of study is a group of professional women at a somatic clinic. The problem investiga

Knowledge about lung mechanics is of interest in intensive care to adjust mechanical ventilation and in the lung laboratory for diagnostics and evaluation of patients with various kinds of respiratory diseases. In mechanical ventilation a single inspiratory elastic pressure-volume (Pel/V) curve is difficult to interpret due to continuing re-expansion of collapsed lung units over a large pressure

Hematopoiesis is the process of blood formation from a limited pool of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These rare stem cells can both self-renew to maintain the HSC pool, and differentiate to continuously replenish lost blood cells. The mechanisms of HSC regulation are not fully known. The aim of this thesis was to study the role of the Hippo signaling pathway in HSCs. The Hippo pathway is a newl

For the development of a Single–Ion Hit Facility (SIHF) for living cells irradiation at the Lund Ion Beam Analysis facility (LIBAF), newly developed pre-cell detectors have been investigated. These detectors can determine the number of ions reaching the sample. Central to the thesis is their fabrication and characterization. Two different detectors ’ Design A and Design B’ were fabricated with thi

The purpose of the thesis is to further understand key conceptual and operational challenges that international aid donors, and public and private institutions, face while designing and implementing alternative forms of social housing finance which aim to be inclusive for the urban poor. Based on an in-depth study of the work of the Foundation for the Promotion of Local Development (PRODEL) in thr

The study included 44 Scandinavian individuals with the autosomal recessive inherited Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome. Inclusion criteria were retinal dystrophy plus at least 2 more of the remaining traditional cardinal signs of the syndrome: obesity, polydactyly, hypogenitalism and mental retardation. The study showed that the patients had an early onset of night blindness and a poor visual p

Π-conjugated polymers are an important class of materials which can be used in e.g. photoelectric (solar cells) or electroluminescent (displays) devices. These materials are implemented in a number of applications these days since a lot is already known about them. There is, however, still a lot to learn in order to increase the efficiency and reduce the power consumption of devices. There are man

Today’s requirements of fast, reliable and selective analytical methods with minimal usage of organic solvents have accelerated the development of new, automated extraction techniques. In this thesis recent extraction techniques with emphasis on supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) were investigated. Different environmental and industrial applications such a

In total hip arthroplasty cemented fixation of the acetabular component is a generally successful concept, but the rate of aseptic loosening and consequent revision surgery is still too high. One of the crucial factors for longterm implant survival is the initial fixation and stability. This thesis comprises experimental and clinical studies, including radiostereometry (RSA) with up to 5 years fol

Seven-transmembrane, G-protein coupled receptors play a central role in physiology since they facilitate cell communication in multicellular organisms by recognition of a broad range of ligands. They also represent important drug targets. Unfortunately, for many of these receptors the endogenous ligands, and, hence, their physiological functions, remain to be identified. These receptors are usuall

Functional aspects of the large diversity of eye design in prosobranch molluscs was investigated using morphological and optical methods. Three species from different habitats were investigated. Littorina littorea from Scandinavian intertidal rock habitats, Strombus raninus and S. gigas from tropical sand-flats and Ampularia sp. from heavily vegetated habitats in tropical fresh-water. Littorina a

The dissertation deals with two part-studies. The main focus is a field study the purpose of which is to understand incurable disease and death as hands-on experiences at the player's level. With the aid of observations and interviews, nine dying people, relatives and community nurses are followed in the families? homes over time. The second part-study is a discourse analysis of Danish health-poli

Large herbivores are monitored for various reasons in many areas around the world. Data from such monitoring can be of varying degree of detail and extent. Several studies have shown that we need extensive amounts of data with a high degree of detail to be able to understand anything from it. Nevertheless, data in the less detailed form of annual censuses of large herbivore densities and weather i

Clays are the world’s most widely used natural material, however, little is known regarding the microstructure as well as the forces involved in clay-water interactions, and their influence on the swelling properties. The utilization of clay platelets is nowadays a key in a number of biological and industrial applications e.g. nuclear waste management. Bentonites from different natural sources an

This thesis focuses on different convolutional coding constructions for digital communication systems, and on methods to analyze these constructions. The work presented in the thesis can be divided into three main areas; error probability bounds for convolutional codes, analysis of multilevel modulation, and investigation of low-density parity-check convolutional codes. New bounds are developed f