The Ugandan Government has aimed at creating a needs-based and cost-effective health care system. The means to carry out this aim have been 1) a decentralization of the health sector in order to increase lower-level responsibility, accountability, and participation, and 2) a strong national policy formulation capacity, facilitating needs assessment and cost-effective prioritization. Aim The aim

In the present thesis, I investigated the inter- and intraspecific variation in the Silene vulgaris/uniflora species-complex (the bladder campions). I have focused on the effects of past and present hybridization both on a large scale ? over the whole of Europe ? and on a local scale. Silene vulgaris and S. uniflora are perennial herbs and they are interfertile. The results from my studies sugges

Food production and consumption are key drivers of environmental pressures and are essential factors in the promotion and maintenance of health. Production of food occupies more than one third of global land areas and is estimated to be responsible for some 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, we live in a world where nearly one billion people go hungry and even more people su

In this thesis, methods for automated analysis of myocardial perfusion single photon emission computer tomography (myocardial perfusion SPECT, MPS) images have been successfully developed and evaluated. MPS images show the perfusion of the myocardium and are used for diagnosing patients with suspected ischemic heart disease. The disease is characterized by reduced perfusion to a region of the myoc

A brief period of sublethal ischemia in the brain induces resistance to a subsequent, otherwise lethal ischemic insult. This phenomenon is known as ischemic tolerance or preconditioning. A model of ischemic preconditioning in the rat brain using the two-vessel occlusion model of global cerebral ischemia was established. Using this model we have demonstrated that ischemic preconditioning protects t

ABSTRACT Telomerase activity is a potential molecular marker for cancer and primitive cells in regenerative tissues. The most commonly used method to measure telomerase activity in cells is the telomerase reverse amplification protocol (TRAP) assay, where the protein extracts derived from homogenized cells are analysed. In this thesis we focused on developing a method where telomerase activity co

Malaria and tuberculosis are two of the most deadly infectious diseases that exist. Both diseases predominantly affect the most vunerable parts of society. Additionally the treatment of both diseases are complicated by growing and spreading resistance against the drugs used to treat them. Chloroquine was once described as a wonder drug for its combination of efficacy, low price and tolerable side

Osteotomy is used for correction of the altered load on the gonarthrotic knee joint. It can be performed above or below the knee. Clinical results depend on the correction after bone healing. By tibial closed wedge osteotomy (HTO), the deformity is corrected peroperatively in contrast to tibial hemicallotasis osteotomy (HCO) where the correction is performed after surgery. Comparing the two method

The Affects Towards And Perceptions Of The Self And Significant Others in Hemophiliacs and Diabetics The studies in this dissertation investigated the feelings towards and ways of perceiving the self and significant others in twenty-seven patients with hemophilia between the ages of 16-39 to discern how their perceptual-affect states are organized. Secondly, the relationship between bleeds and aff

This study has involved investigation of number of populations of the damselfly Ischnura elegans over several years, looking at frequency changes over time, morphological differences between the sexes and the morphs, differences in growth rate and development time, differences in fecundity between the morphs, and genetic differentiation between populations. I. elegans is a small annual damselfly w

The Rare Earth Elements are a group of metals, that are of growing technical and economical importance. Current separation techniques can be detrimental to the environment, and a clean technology for separation has been devised, based on analytical chromatography of the REEs. The thesis presents column preparation and impregnation to give desired properties of the separation system, experimental a

This thesis focuses on i) the effect of packing on the molecular geometry ii) packing arrangements of neutral Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes iii) the trans influence in Pt(II) complexes iv) the differences in bonding in corresponding Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes and v) the geometry of Pd(II) complexes with potential catalytic properties. Detailed three-dimensional structural information at the atomic

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

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The new WHO criteria for classification of diabetes takes into account also clinical stages dividing the diabetic patients into noninsulin requiring (NIR), insulin requiring for control (IRC) and insulin requiring for survival (IRS) subgroups. Diab

Asthma is a chronic disorder of the lower airways, characterized by inflammation and hyperreactivity. Pro-inflammatory cytokines like tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) are known to play important roles in the pathogenesis, but our knowledge how these cytokines contribute to the development of airway hyperreactivity is limited. The aims of the present study

The standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most commonly used methods for diagnosing heart disease. Standard ECG is not always optimal, however, and new ECG methods can provide additional information. Analysis of high-frequency QRS components (HF-QRS) has been shown to increase the diagnostic performance of the ECG. Since the amplitudes of the HF-QRS are low compared with those vis

The main aim of this work, was to lay the foundations for the experimental realisation of a quantum mechanical controlled NOT gate in rare-earth-metal-ion-doped crystals. Small amounts of rare-earth elements, added during the growth of some inorganic crystals, will become substituted into the crystal lattice as trivalent ions. The trivalent rare-earth-metal ions between cerium, with atomic number

This thesis contains four separate papers in the field of monetary economics. The common basis for all the papers is that they deal with money and network effects in one way or another. Although the common basis is the same in all the articles, different approaches are used: theory, econometrics and history of economic thought. This first essay focuses on the network effect in the use of money an

This study treats the textual tradition of the Epistle of Jude. After an introductory survey of earlier text-critical research, the two main purposes of this investigation are formulated: to gather and to analyze the complete textual evidence of the Epistle of Jude. The first task, to gather the evidence, involves the collation of all Greek continuous text MSS of the Epistle of Jude. The evidence

The adult brain constantly produces new neurons from endogenous neural progenitor cells located in at least two regions, the subgranular zone (SGZ) in dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, and the subventricular zone (SVZ). Major efforts are underway to discover the functional significance of new neurons in the adult brain. Several studies have indicated a relationship exists between newborn hippoca