Atherosclerosis, the underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke, is characterized by chronic inflammation. T cells are present in atherosclerotic plaques and have been implicated in its pathogenesis. This thesis describes studies exploring both the regulation of T cells in atherosclerosis as well as immunomodulatory therapeutics. To study the

OBJECTIVES: To investigate hip dysplasia as a risk factor for clinically relevant and incident radiographic hip OA.METHODS: From a prospective cohort (CHECK) of 1002 middle-aged, new consulters for hip and/or knee pain, 468 hips (251 individuals) were selected based on hip pain, available lateral center edge angle (LCEA) and absence of definite radiographic hip OA (Kellgren and Lawrence [KL] grade

Background: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are often interested in dietary interventions as a means of managing their symptoms. However, the relative efficacy of available diets for the management of IBS is unclear. We aimed to examine the relative efficacy of various dietary interventions in IBS. Methods: For this systematic review and network meta-analysis we searched MEDLINE, EMBA

OBJECTIVE: Age adjusted incidence of myocardial infarction has been found to vary substantially between the residential areas of the city of Malmo. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which major biological risk factors and socio-economic circumstances account for the differences in incidence of and mortality from myocardial infarction. DESIGN: Ecological study of risk factor p

Reduced capacity to produce ROS increases the severity of T cell-dependent arthritis in both mice and rats with polymorphisms in neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 (Ncf1) (p47phox). Since T cells cannot exert oxidative burst, we hypothesized that T cell responsiveness is downregulated by ROS produced by APCs. Macrophages have the highest burst capacity among APCs, so to study the effect of macrophage R

Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) has demonstrated immunological effects. The proposed cytotoxic lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) involvement, together with forkhead box P3 (FoxP3) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta are associated with regulatory T cell activity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the regulatory T cell-associated effect of ECP in recent onset type 1 diabetic (T1D) child

In order to investigate potential selection bias in population-based cohort studies, participants (n = 28098) and non-participants (n = 40807) in the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study (MDCS) were compared with regard to cancer incidence and mortality. MDCS participants were also compared with participants in a mailed health survey with regard to subjective health, socio-demographic characteristics and l

Alternative and effective methods for controlling powered wheelchairs are important to individuals with tetraplegia and similar impairments whom are unable to use the standard joystick. This paper describes a system where tongue movements are used to control a powered wheelchair thus providing users, with high level spinal cord injuries, full control of their wheelchair. The system is based on an

Background Primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune rheumatic disease mainly characterised by focal mononuclear cell infiltration in the salivary and lacrimal glands, and by the symptoms xerostomia and keratoconjunctivitis sicca. Germinal centre-like structures (GC) are found in the minor salivary glands of approximately 25% of patients. In this study, we aimed to assess genetic variation

Gaia will observe huge numbers of binaries with a large range of periods. The present contribution tries to present some estimates of the expected number of detections and/or orbit determinations, based on simplified but large-scale simulations. The simulations have to model both a Galaxy with binaries, the instrument and observations, and the reduction programs. As in previous studies, there are

Digital forensic investigators experience a need for support in their everyday struggle to overcome boundary problems associated with cyber crime inves-tigations. Traditional methods are socio-culturally and physically localised and dependent on strict and historically prescriptive political management. The new internet-worked cyber-world creates unprecedented difficulties for digital forensic inv

This paper shows a novel methodology to reduce the complexity in unrolled CORDIC architectures. The methodology is based on eliminating the CORDIC stages starting from the first stage. As an example, a six stage CORDIC is used but the methodology is applicable on CORDICs with an arbitrary number of stages. The paper shows that the complexity can be reduced by 25%.

Economies in Transition (EiTs) exemplified by countries such as Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova etc. face many socio-economic and environmental challenges – energy security, high unemployment, poor transportation and municipal service infrastructure, and rural depopulation are common themes. Agricultural biofuel production offers a number of socio-economic co-benefits that can contribute to the

The main aim of the present thesis is to demonstrate the efficient quantum memories for light employing coherent processes in rare-earth-ion-doped crystals. Rare-earth (RE) ions between lanthanum, with atomic number 57, and lutetium, with atomic number 71, have a partly filled 4f shell, which is spatially inside the full shells 5s, 5p, and 6s. Therefore, 4f-4f transitions are shielded from environ