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The utilisation of energy in the form of biogas is one of the environmentally sound alternatives available using renewable energy sources. Biogas is formed by anaerobic degradation of organic material, the main consistuent being energy-rich methane. There is a large unused potential of organic waste that is suitable for biogas production and the anaerobic digestion process has the potential of bec
Different methods are proposed to assess the aerobic capacity. A novel scale, rating of perceived capacity (RPC) based on metabolic equivalents (METs) from 1 to 20, is presented. Selected MET values are linked to physical activities. Comparison of the rating with an exercise test in a group of women revealed that a correction based on age more accurately predicted the maximal exercise capacity. An
Mortality after severe head injury can be considerably reduce with a therapy using physiological principles for brain volume regulation and preserved microcirculation, with the main purpose of restricting the rise in ICP to reasonable levels simultaneously with preservation of adequate blood supply. This study shows that the ?Lund Concept? can reduce mortality in patients with severe traumatic bra
Disturbances in microvascular function may be important for tissue damage in many disease states. Prostacyclin, a substance produced by endothelial cells, is important for the maintenance of normal vascular homeostasis and is a potential drug for treatment of microvascular dysfunction, but indications and optimal dosage remains to be established. In the present thesis we evaluated the capillary fi
Over the last two decades, educational reforms have stimulated an enormous growth in innovative school thinking, effecting both independent schools and mainstream education. Parents and interest groups, previously excluded from general pedagogic practice and planning, are now faced with new opportunities and responsibilities. Parents “invest” in these newly won options in very different ways. Fail
Premature atherosclerosis, cardiovascular risk factors and increased cardiovascular mortality have been shown in patients with hypopituitarism on conventional hormone treatment, but without growth hormone (GH) replacement. The aims of paper I-III were to investigate separately the risks for cerebrovascular and cardiac mortality as well as the incidence of cardiovascular disease in patients with hy
This thesis is a part of a prospective multi-centre study concerning psychosocial aspects of importance for the onset and course of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). The investigated population was all children with onset of IDDM in the participating clinics during 1988 and 1989. Of 79 diseased children, 67 participated in the study. To each child a healthy control child was chosen, 61 a
In this work, various aspects of multivariate monitoring and control of wastewater treatment operation are discussed. A number of important difficulties face operators and process engineers when handling online measurements from wastewater treatment processes. These include, for instance, a high number of correlated measurement variables, non-stationarities, nonlinearities and multiscale process b
Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression is associated with various pathophysiological conditions in the lower urinary tract. The aims of this thesis have been to investigate the regulation of iNOS in bladder smooth muscle cells and the consequences on neuromuscular regulation, cell growth and differentiation. Primary cultures of rat bladder smooth muscle cells (BSMC) expressed iNOS mRNA
Information about extracellular proteolytic activity is transduced to the cell by a transmembrane G-protein coupled receptor subfamily. These receptors are activated by proteolytic cleavage in the extracellular amino-terminal domain and are thus termed proteinase-activated receptors (PARs). The second member of this subfamily, PAR-2, is activated by trypsin-like proteinases, however the physiologi
ABSTRACT Streptococci constitute a heterogeneous group of Gram-positive bacteria, divided into different serological groups on the basis of antigenic differences in a cell wall-associated carbohydrate. This thesis describes related surface proteins expressed by bacteria in two of these groups, the group B streptococcus (GBS) and the group A streptococcus (GAS). GBS is an encapsulated bacterium th
The different steps in the dissolution process of polydisperse polymers in water have been studied. To that end, poly(ethylene oxide), dextran and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose tablets varying widely in polydispersity have been produced by mixing low molecular weight and high molecular weight samples in different proportions. The individual release of the low and high molecular weight fractions ha
Many wader (Charadrii) populations are declining throughout in Europe, but the underlying causes are often poorly known and diverse. To fully grasp the reasons behind declines in vulnerable wader populations, it is crucial to understand the demography. In my thesis, I have focused on the viability and management of waders occurring on coastal meadows in the Baltic Sea using redshank (Tringa totanu
It has previously been shown that the cerebellum is critical for classical conditioning. The experiments presented in this thesis aimed to study how the cerebellum controls conditioned eyeblink responses (CRs) and specifically the efferent path from the cerebellar cortex to the muscles. Ferrets, decerebrated rostral to the superior colliculus and the red nucleus, were trained in a classical condit
This work demonstrates the determination of absolute stellar radial velocities from geometrical principles, i.e. using astrometry. Such `astrometric radial velocities' are obtained independently of spectroscopic information. While spectroscopic radial velocities are affected by line shifts from astrophysical processes on the stellar surfaces, by gravitational redshift and various other effects, as
In order to identify integral and peripheral proteins associated with the plasma membrane (PM), highly purified Arabidopsis PMs were analyzed by mass spectrometry. In total, 238 putative PM proteins were identified, of which 114 were predicted to have transmembrane domains or to be PM-anchored. Identified proteins were involved in transport, signal transduction, membrane trafficking and stress res
The kinetics and mechanism for interactions of the anticancer active platinum(II) complexes cis-[PtCl2(NH3)2)], cis-[PtCl2(NH3)(c-C6H11NH2)], and trans-[PtCl2-(NH3)(quinoline)] with DNA have been studied using a combination of HPLC, circular dichroism (CD), UV/vis spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Reactions of the monoaqua forms (charge = +1) of these complexes with single
To ensure the beam with an ultralow emittance and high current the possible effects deteriorating the beam stability must be investigated. When ultrarelativistic particles travel in the vacuum chamber they induce electromagnetic fields which can act back on them and the following particles. The interaction of the beam with the surrounding environment can be described by wakefields in time domain a
Aim: To non-invasively detect and explore the changes in atrial fibrillatory cycle length (i.e. changes in the atrial refractory period) in humans with chronic atrial fibrillation (CAF) following autonomic modulation and pharmacological intervention. Furthermore we investigated if the value of the atrial fibrillatory cycle length could predict outcome following DC-cardioversion. Methods: The stud
This thesis deals with the haemorheological aspects of cardiovascular diseases. The resistance of blood to flow is determined by the rheological properties of blood as well as by organic stenoses and regulatory tonus changes in the vessels. Three idiopathic cardiovascular diseases with a reduced ability to increase blood flow in response to demand were studied. Blood rheology was impaired in a wa
