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Breast tumours harbour a large amount of genetic and epigenetic alterations, which are associated with e.g. tumour aggressiveness, prognosis, and response to therapy. The heterogeneity of breast tumours is reflected in the identification of at least five molecular subtypes named basal-like, luminal A, luminal B, HER2-enriched and normal-like, which are believed to originate from different cell typ
It is well-known that a majority of breast cancers are hormone-dependent, making endocrine therapy an important adjuvant treatment after surgery. Susceptibility to endocrine treatment is determined by the presence of estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) in the tumors. Tamoxifen is the most well-established endocrine treatment available, inhibiting tumor growth and improving surv
NPWT has recently been associated with severe complications and bleeding when used in wounds with exposed blood vessels. The aims of this work were to investigate the mechanisms of action of NPWT and to explore the possibility of using thin plastic discs to protect exposed blood vessels in the wound bed during NPWT. Three different kinds of wounds were created in pigs: 6 cm and 10 cm diameter circ
Atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries are common in a middle-aged population. When a carotid plaque ruptures it may result in a cerebrovascular event. However, only a minor part of carotid plaques will eventually rupture. Finding those plaques is essential to decide the most appropriate treatment strategy. With non-invasive ultrasound the carotid plaques can be visualized for assessment
In linkage analysis or, in a wider sense, gene mapping one searches for disease loci along a genome. This is done by observing so called marker genotypes (alleles) and phenotypes (affecteds/unaffecteds) of a pedigree set, i.e. a set of multigenerational families, in order to locate the loci corresponding to the underlying disease genes or, at least, to narrow down the interesting genome regions. I
In this thesis we explore and further develop several techniques used in the animal laboratory as well as in the clinical setting. In particular, we expand the understanding and usefulness of plethysmographic techniques in small rodents. Study I shows that the pressure signal from an un-restrained plethysmograph (UP) depends largely on heating and humidification of the inhaled air. This brings int
Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, characterized by the accumulation of lipids and fibrous tissue in the wall of medium and large-sized arteries. The characteristic culprit of the disease is the atheroma, or atherosclerotic plaque, a patchy thickening of the arterial wall which affects the lumen, inducing various degrees of stenosis. The rupture of the atherosclerotic plaques, foll
In this thesis, I have studied nitrogen turnover processes in watermeadows. A watermeadow is a wetland where water infiltrates through the soil of a grassland field. It is hypothesized that infiltration of water through the soil matrix promotes nutrient transformations compared to surface flow of water, by increasing the contact between water, nutrients, soil organic matter and bacteria. I have st
Objectives: To investigate whether KALRN gene variation is associated with ischemic stroke (IS). Design and methods: Associations to overall IS and IS subtypes were investigated in SAHLSIS, which comprises 844 patients with IS and 668 controls. Results: Associations between KALRN SNPs and overall IS and cardioembolic stroke were detected. Associations for overall IS were investigated in two additi
Sphenothallus, a Palaeozoic genus of uncertain affinity, possibly a hydrozoan, is reported from the Furongian (Cambrian) of Scandinavia. This is the only known occurrence of the genus in Cambrian rocks outside of China, western North America and Bohemia, and also the first report of Sphenothallus in the Cambrian-Ordovician of Baltica. The material is from the upper Furongian (upper Protopeltura an
This thesis presents experimental results related to laser plasma accelerators. These rely on very different principles from conventional particle accelerators. They are able to accelerate particles over a very short distance and produce synchrotron x-rays at the same time, potentially providing a compact particle accelerator and x-ray source for many future applications. The laser pulses used in
Immunotherapy is a new promising approach in cancer treatment. In the future, it will hopefully offer an alternative to existing brain tumors treatments, which are unable to cure. We have established an experimental, low immunogenic, brain tumor model in the rat. We have increased tumor cell immunogenicity with mutagen treatment or transfection of IFN-g. Mutagen treated glioma cells (tum-) could c
Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of a CAG repeat in the HD gene, that leads to dysfunction and death of striatal neurons. The pathogenetic mechanisms underlying HD are not known, but excitotoxicity and dopamine (DA) have been suggested to play a role. In this thesis, the effects of excitotoxicity and DA have been studied in striatal in vit
Chromosomal translocations commonly result in the production of fusion genes and the fusion genes are often tumor-type specific. In myxoid and round cell liposarcomas (MLS/RCLS), almost 95% of the cases carry a t(12;16)(q13;p11). In the remaining 5% of the MLS/RCLS tumors, another translocation and fusion gene can be found, i.e. the t(12;22)(q13;q12). These translocations fuse CHOP on chromosome 1
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and severely affects about one in a hundred persons over the age of fifty years. In PD, there is a reduced striatal concentration of the neurotransmittor dopamine, mainly caused by a degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Transplantation of embryonic dopamine neurons has been developed as an al
The soil bacterial community is under the constant influence of its environment. Changing any of the factors affecting the bacterial community will induce a selection pressure which, with time, will change the community. In this work the effect of changing the temperature or pH on the soil bacterial community was studied. Measurements using the [3H]-thymidine incorporation technique showed that th
