The aims of this thesis were to investigate whether chest tomosynthesis might be used in pulmonary cystic fibrosis, to design and validate a tomosynthesis scoring system, and to determine the effective dose from chest tomosynthesis in children. In a prospective study starting in 2008 clinical chest radiography or computed tomography (CT) were supplemented with a tomosynthesis examination of the l

One of the generic learning outcomes to be achieved by science students at Lund University is the ability to communicate science also to a non-specialist audience. In this report we analyze popular science papers written by undergraduate students of biology. The aim is to investigate the quality of the observed learning outcomes of a course in communicating with the general public. Through textual

Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer in women globally, with approximately 240,000 new cases annually. Although a rare disease, it is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. Unspecific symptoms result in late diagnosis and a generally poor prognosis. However, ovarian cancer is a heterogeneous disease comprising different disease entities, which is of importance in clinical decision-mak

There is an intensive interest in characterising the structure and function of galectins, which is not surprising given their many important cellular functions and strong implications in human disease. Understanding the mechanisms involved in galectin functions will help to find selective and novel strategies for disease treatment and diagnosis. A key to this lies in their carbohydrate binding spe

In the blood system, knowledge on the regulation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their immature progeny has provided roadmaps of differentiation. Such information can also have a value to understand the etiology of hematological cancers, since clinical heterogeneity and prognostic therapeutic outcomes have been proposed to associate with the specific developmental stage from which the trans

Forest soil carbon (C) pools may act as sinks for, or sources of, atmospheric carbon dioxide, while nitrogen (N) fertilization may affect the net exchange of C in forest ecosystems. Since all major C and N processes in soil are driven by soil microorganisms, we evaluated the effects of N fertilization on biomass and bacterial and fungal activity in soils from three Norway spruce forests with diffe

Androgens regulate male reproductive function and their effects are mediated through the androgen receptor (AR). The AR gene contains a polymorphic CAG repeat, encoding a stretch of glutamines, affecting the transcriptional activity of the AR. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a downstream target and is commonly used in the screening of prostate cancer. The relationship between CAG number and mal

Abstract Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and serious complication after cardiothoracic surgery and is associated with increased short- and long-term mortality risk. Despite extensive studies in the field, a comprehensive understanding of this syndrome has remained elusive, partly due to divergent definitions of AKI and partly due to the limitations of available routine biomarkers to predict,

BACKGROUND: The clinical assessment of axillary lymph nodes status and tumor size is important for the management of patients with breast cancer. The first goal of this study was to determine the accuracy of axillary lymph node status in relation to the presence of metastases as revealed by histopathological examination. The second goal was to compare the tumor size as assessed by physical examina

Background and objective: General anaesthesia impairs respiratory function. The present studies were performed to compare arterial concentration of sevoflurane, oxygen and carbon dioxide in normal and overweight patients ventilated with increased tidal volume (VT), or normal tidal volume with and without PEEP. Methods: Prospective, randomised, clinical studies. ASA І and II abdominal surgery patie

The objective of this study was to evaluate the current utilization, the level of endorsement by professional societies, and health technology assessment bodies, as well as the reimbursement levels for bariatric surgery in European countries. We performed an analysis of the indications for bariatric surgery based on national clinical and commissioning guidelines, current utilization of surgery, ch

Abstract in UndeterminedMany species of birds show evidence of secondary contact zones and subspeciation in their Scandinavian distribution range, presumably resulting from different post-glacial recolonization routes. We investigated whether this is the case also in the Scandinavian bluethroat Luscinia svecica, a species that has been suggested to consist of two separate populations: one SW-migra

There is considerable enthusiasm for the prospect of using common polymorphisms (primarily single nucleotide polymorphisms; SNPs) in candidate genes to unravel the genetics of complex disease. This approach has generated a number of findings of loci which are significantly associated with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present study, a total of 15 genes of interest were chosen from amon

In various inflammatory conditions a close interplay between inflammation and coagulation is known to exist, where coagulation factor VII (FVII) and tissue factor (TF) are considered to be pivotal players. In this thesis the crosstalk between inflammation and coagulation in acute pancreatitis (AP) has been investigated. The results from the first paper, where active site inactivated FVII (FVIIai)

Determination of the design conditions for moisture resistance requires in a Moisture Design number of different moisture calculations to be made in order to determine the moisture status within, or on the surface of, a structure. The objective of this work has been to ascertain how to allow for variations in climate data in order to be able to determine the most unfavourable moisture status likel