OBJECTIVES: Exposing a hind leg of a rat to vibration induces an injury to the sciatic nerve--a so called conditioning lesion. After such injury induced by vibration the regenerative capacity of the nerve is improved and can be detected as an increased axonal outgrowth from a test crush lesion to the same nerve. The purpose was to study whether the effect of a conditioning lesion induced by vibrat

Human dendritic cells (DCs) are a distinct but heterogeneous lineage of APCs operating as the link between innate and adaptive immune responses, with the function to either maintain,tolerance or trigger immunity. The DC lineage consists of several subpopulations with unique phenotypes; however, their functional characteristics and transcriptional similarities remain largely unknown. To further cha

We apply the Fokker-Planck equation to analyze the stochastic behavior of a 1-micron diameter polystyrene bead trapped in water using an optical tweezer. Due to thermal noise, given enough time, a trapped particle will escape con nement from the trap. However, at biological temperatures, for laser powers of greater than approximately 5 milliwatts at the focus, the mean rst exit time in the lateral

Kommunernas resurser för trafiksäkerhetsarbete är starkt begränsade och de räcker bara till att åtgärda några enskilda ”olycksdrabbade” platser. Åtgärden blir oftast en kostsam ombyggnad av t.ex. en korsning och den totala effekten av sådana åtgärder för kommunen blir marginell. Om resurserna satsas istället på helhetslösningar med små, billiga hastighetsdämpande åtgärder, som t.ex. minirondeller

Since 1990, Merck, Sharpe & Dohme, Sweden, has created fellowships for physicians embarking upon a career in clinical pharmacology at Swedish medical schools. The fellowship has provided full salary at the level of a resident in clinical medicine for an average period of 1-2 years. Between 1992 and 2004, 22 fellows representing all six medical schools were selected for a fellowship. Of these,

In the course of an examination of some data on the burning of furnishings and bedding in compartments, the measured rates of fire development in polyurethane mattresses have been compared with one of the standard inputs used in fire modelling with the Harvard Code. An apparant discrepancy is discussed and an explanation offered in physical terms. The explanation is germane to a comparison between

The gene encoding an alkaline active cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) from the alkaliphilic B. agaradhaerens LS-3C was cloned and sequenced. It encodes a mature polypeptide of 679 amino acids with a molecular mass of 76 488 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence of the mature CGTase revealed 99 and 95% identity to the CGTase sequences from the other B. agaradhaerens strains, DSM 8721T and 99

Popular Abstract in Swedish Vårt immunförsvar är nödvändigt skydd mot de patogener (bakterier, virus, jäst och parasiter) som finns runtomkring oss. Patogener som kommer in i kroppen och infekterar den, gör att en inflammation bildas. En inflammation är kroppens svar på en infektion (eller skada). Inflammation är en process som gör att immunförsvarets celler ökar sin förmåga att oskadliggöra inkräMacrophages play an essential role in the defense against infection by phagocytosis and by production of inflammatory mediators. Such mediators are TNF? and eicosanoids. Many microbial agents elicit arachidonate release in macrophages that lead to the formation of eicosanoids. This thesis is based on studies performed with the use of microbial constituents which induce arachidonate release or/and

The effect of incorporating modified clay into a polyamide 6 (PA6) matrix, on the free volume cavity sizes and the thermal and viscoelastic properties of the resulting nanocomposite, was studied with positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. At low concentrations of clay the fraction of PA6 crystals melting close to 212 degrees

Evaluation of various methods in clinical practice is often based on interpretations by two or more observers. Such data need to be analysed with correct statistics, or the results and conclusions may be misleading. In this study, the use of measures of agreement for ordinal data in five international nursing journals is reviewed and various methods for measuring agreement are presented and discus

Type 2 diabetes is caused by a combination of environmental and inherited factors influencing the progression of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion leading to chronically elevated blood glucose levels. The aim of this thesis was to functionally and genetically characterise the species-conserved diabetes locus Niddm1i of the GK rat encoding hyperglycaemia and defect insulin secretion

Aims: A study was undertaken to examine whether poor self-rated health (SRH) can independently predict all-cause mortality during 22-year follow-up in middle-aged men and women. Subjects and methods: Data are derived from a population-based study in Malmo¨ , Sweden. This included baseline laboratory testing and a self-administered questionnaire. The question on global SRH was answered by 15,590 me

The paper examines how firms in three regional clusters in Norway dominated by shipbuilding, mechanical engineering and electronics industry, respectively exploit both place-specific local resources as well as external, world-class knowledge to strengthen their competitiveness. From these case-studies we make four points: (1) ideal-typical regional innovation systems, i.e., regional clusters "surr