Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity was studied in cytosolic and particulate fractions in reproductive organs from rabbit (uterus and vagina) and rat (uterus, vagina and cervix). NOS was found predominantly in cytosolic fractions in all tissues and the activity of NOS in both fractions was highly Ca2+ dependent. NOS activity in vagina and cervix were much higher (3-6-fold) than in the uterus. Est

The human genome contains genetic elements which are more or less similar to infectious retroviruses. These are called human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) and are thought to be remnants of infections in the primate lineage. Most of them have been inserted 10 to 60 million years ago but have at different time points spread in the genome via intracellular retrotransposition and make up as much as

This thesis deals with large eddy simulations (LES) of turbulent combustion processes in direct injection internal combustion (IC) engines. Modeling of direct injection IC engine combustion involves modeling of turbulent spray/gas two-phase flow, modeling of chemical reactions of large hydrocarbon fuels and coupling of chemistry with turbulent flows. LES is chosen in this thesis for it capability

Chlorinated fatty acids (ClFAs) are the major contributors of extractable, organically bound chlorine in fish lipids. A known anthropogenic source of ClFAs is chlorine bleached pulp production. Additional anthropogenic sources may exist, e.g., chlorine-containing discharge from industrial and house-hold waste and they may also occur naturally. ClFAs have a wide geographic distribution. They have,

Fire dynamics in multi-room compartments are explored in this thesis and new methods to study conditions in rooms adjacent to the room of fire origin are presented. Simple and transparent engineering methods can create good possibilities for understanding different complex phenomena present in fire science. Such methods can also be used in the design process in order to perform rough estimates bef

Amongst the various –omics sciences, proteomics has the highest potential for functional characterization and consequently can contribute significantly to the field of cancer research. In particular, the focus of this thesis is on breast cancer. Alas, since state-of-the-art technologies cannot meet the complexity of upper eukaryotic proteomes, a complete resolution of clinical samples is still una

Macroporous hydrogels are regarded as interesting materials both within biotechnology and biomedicine due to their properties. These materials can be prepared from a wide range of synthetic or naturally occurring compounds using a number of different techniques for their production. For this thesis, cryostructuring was used to prepare macroporous hydrogels, often named cryogels. The work utilized

Vision is an important source of information for many animals. The lens plays a central role in the visual pathway and hence the ecology of these animals. Fish have spherically shaped crystalline lenses that contain a gradient of refractive index. Like all refracting elements, lens performance depends on the wavelength of the refracted light. This wavelength dependent focusing leads to chromatic a

A sustainable treatment of organic wastes, generation of renewable energy, reduction of green house gas emissions, limiting the eutrophication and closing the nutrient cycles are several environmental challenges for which anaerobic digestion may be a suitable solution. There is today a large amount of available organic waste materials that could serve as potential feedstock for biogas production.

The purpose of this thesis was to increase the understanding of altered movement patterns in individuals with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in order to improve ACL rehabilitation, and to develop an observational instrument termed Test for Substitution Patterns (TSP) for standardized, quantifiable scoring of altered movement patterns in legs and trunk. In all, 142 participants, 93 with A

The incidence of overweight and obesity has reached alarming proportions. Today, overweight, obesity and the metabolic diseases cause more death than starvation. To counteract an increasing body weight gain, regulation of appetite and a controlled food intake is of greatest importance. Simply put, body weight is regulated by the amount of energy ingested, and the amount of energy expended. In toda

The thesis work, aimed at the development of laser-spectroscopic detection schemes, consists of three parts, concerned with the development and application of different techniques. The development of UV filtered Rayleigh scattering (FRS) for thermometry and fuel/air ratio measurements, using a frequency tripled, single-longitudinal-mode alexandrite laser at ~254 nm together with an isotopically en

L-DOPA pharmacotherapy in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with adverse effects occurring after a few years of treatment. Among these, dyskinesia (abnormal involuntary movements) is particularly common and potentially disabling. The causes behind dyskinesia are not completely understood, but intense research has identified a number of neuronal alterations associated with L-DOPA-induced dyski

Sum rules and physical limitations within electromagnetic theory and antenna theory have received significant attention in the last few years. However, the derivations are often relying on application specific and sometimes unsupported assumptions, and therefore a mathematically rigorous and generally applicable approach seems timely. Such an approach is presented in this thesis, along with exampl

In this thesis, the main focus has been on the childhood cancer neuroblastoma, one of the most common and lethal childhood tumours. Neuroblastoma has througout the years continued to be a clinical and biological enigma. Our first focus was on one of the most important biological risk factors in neuroblastoma -- amplification of the oncogene MYCN in the tumour cells. Because amplified MYCN typical

The aim of this dissertation was to examine whether the temporal distance of moral events affects the moral judgments and decisions people make in response to those events. Drawing upon Construal Level Theory (CLT; Trope & Liberman, 2003) which posits that the distant future is represented at a higher, more abstract level of mental construal than the near future, and that high-level mental con

Electrostatic interactions in bio-molecular systems are important not only in the living cell but also in more technical applications. Using molecular simulation as well as approximate theories the properties of a number of aqueous protein solutions have been studied. This includes interactions with other proteins, protons, charged membranes as well as flexible polyelectrolytes. The focus is on el

Aqueous mixtures of hydrophobically modified polymers (HMP) with amylose have been investigated by rheology and 1H NMR. Amylose can cross-link HMP chains by forming single-helical inclusion complexes with the hydrophobic side chains of the HMP, leading to thermoreversible, elastic, and thixotropic gels at ambient temperatures. The complexation ability, the strength of the association, and the visc

This thesis reports experimental studies performed with two advanced coherent XUV sources with ultrashort pulse duration, high-order harmonic generation and seeded-free electron laser. High-order harmonic generation (HHG) is the generation of overtones of a fundamental laser pulse in a medium, e.g. noble gases. The emitted radiation has a high degree of transverse coherence, and pulse lengths in t

Aggregation in protein-surfactant systems have been studied with the ambition of reaching a deeper understanding of the balance of the interaction forces involved. A pure system with maximized electrostatic interactions has been used. The approach has been to use a step-wise sample preparation where initially a stoichiometric protein-surfactant salt is precipitated and freeze-dried. Secondly, the