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The two genetically related human lentiviruses known today, HIV-1 (which is pandemic) and HIV-2 (which mainly is confined to West Africa), are the causative agents of AIDS. Progressive immune dysfunction and AIDS develop in most cases of untreated HIV-1 infection, but only in approximately 25-30% of HIV-2 infected individuals. The V1-V3 region of the HIV-1 env gp120 is important for HIV-1 corecept

Background: A prognostic marker should provide information about course and outcome of disease, e.g. predict time to a given endpoint or rate of progression due to disease in patients or subgroups of patients. Prognostic markers could be targeted to apply during the entire clinical course or just during distinct stages of the disease. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to identify, review and qualif

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

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

Abstract The scaphoid is the most commonly fractured carpal bone. The diagnosis is difficult and untreated the long-term results are poor. Approximately 10% do not unite even if they are treated properly. The aim of this thesis was to study scaphoid fracture epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment. During a four-year period (2004-03-01 to 2008-02-28) all patients attending the Emergency Department 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

Extant research within the entrepreneurial marketing field has typically focused on the migration away from traditional marketing concepts while mostly ignoring the inclusion of branding as a fundamental principle of marketing. This paper is specifically interested in the often overlooked element of a young firm’s ability (or lack thereof) to control its brand and brand identity as perceived by it

This thesis includes two different parts: One focusing on how to induce human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to differentiate into insulin producing cells by following the normal pancreatic development pathway. These cells have then the potential to be an unlimited source for diabetes regenerative medicine. The second part of the thesis deals with how embryonic stem cells rid themselves of damaged p

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used to study the self-diffusion of water in porous systems that respond to a change in water content in order to elucidate the porous structure and the properties of the confined water. In the carbohydrate systems cellulose fibers and starch granules, water is free to move throughout the porous objects, albeit with a rate reduced from the value of the

Specific language impairment (SLI) is commonly described as a condition where a child with otherwise normal development and hearing does not acquire language as expected. Children with SLI often have a family history of language disorders. The aetiology is poorly understood. In the first two studies, event-related brain potentials(ERPs)evoked in response to tone- and to speech stimuli were record

Evaluation of long-term side effects of treatment is important due to the growing number of childhood cancer survivors. How kidney function is affected over time needs to be clarified. In the first article, we investigated 247 healthy infants and children and established upper reference limits for several proteins in urine, to be used as markers for glomerular and tubular proteinuria in children w

It is attractive to integrate a large deformable mirror for adaptive optics into an astronomical telescope rather than using relay optics within an auxiliary instrument. However, the resulting large deformable mirror can be expensive, particularly for extremely large telescopes. We have pursued a low-cost approach using force actuators connected to the back of the deformable mirror through suction

The overall aim of this thesis was to increase our knowledge of the relationship between structure and function of human skeletal muscle, and about factors affecting strength. The ankle dorsiflexor muscles (DF) were chosen as a representative model of human skeletal muscle, and because these muscles have important roles in gait and maintenance of balance. Specific aims in this thesis were: i) to d

Transplantation is the only cure for end-stage organ failure. With the transplantation follows the need for continuous treatment with immunosuppressive agents for as long as the graft functions, which entails major side effects. Less toxic treatments are therefore in great demand. Preferably, the treatment should also be limited in time. The ultimate solution would be induction of tolerance to t

HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumour cells), a protein-lipid complex originally isolated from human milk, induces programmed cell death selectively in tumour cells. It consists of partially unfolded alpha-lactalbumin in complex with oleic acid. It was previously not known if the unfolding of alpha-lactalbumin alone accounts for the activity of HAMLET or if the lipid adds biologica

The inhibitory neuromuscular control of the human and cat lower oesophagus was investigated by morphological, functional, and biochemical methods. A supply of nerve fibres and myenteric cell bodies, containing nitric oxide synthase (NOS), haem oxygenase (HO)-2, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) was observed. The highest density of nerve

Proteolytic enzymes are enzymes that hydrolyze peptide bonds in peptides and proteins. This ability to carry out protein degradation is essential for many cellular and extracellular processes that occur in all living organisms. Cysteine peptidases constitute a class of proteolytic enzymes. Among these, papain-like (C1) peptidases are the mostly studied ones. Inhibitors regulate proteolytic activit

This thesis concerns a numerical investigation on heat transfer in internal combustion engines, with the aim of increasing engine efficiency. The efficiency gains are to be extracted from reduced heat transfer losses, by increasing the knowledge on how the heat transfer process is affected by various hardware and operational parameters in the engine. The engines concerned are both conventional die

The interaction between an intense laser pulse and a gas medium leads to the emission of coherent bursts of light in the extreme ultraviolet range. This process, known as high-order harmonic generation, has today, almost three decades after its discovery, developed into a reliable source of extremely short (on the order of 100 as) pulses of electromagnetic radiation, with a wide range of applicati