Filtyp
Plant phenology exerts major influences on carbon, water, and energy exchanges between atmosphere and ecosystems, provides feedbacks to climate, and affects ecosystem functioning and services. Great efforts have been spent in studying plant phenology over the past decades, but there are still large uncertainties and disputations in phenology estimation, trends, and its climate sensitivities. This
Fine airborne particles are associated with adverse health effects in the human population. The aim of this research was to develop and evaluate methods for in-situ characterisation of fine and ultrafine particles and to determine their deposition in the human airways. The aim was also to increase knowledge about health and environmentally relevant properties of aerosols from biomass combustion an
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) as a cancer treatment modality relies on the simultaneous presence of three components; light, photosensitiser and oxygen. Once excited by the light, the photosensitiser can interact with oxygen, leading to the formation of toxic oxygen species. These reactive substances induce cellular damage within the irradiated tissue volume. PDT has been investigated for treating ma
The goal in this thesis is development of gene therapy for malignant infantile osteopetrosis (IMO), a rare but severe genetic bone disease. The concept of osteopetrosis implies dysfunction or lack of osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells in our body, resulting in failure of normal bone breakdown. Although involved in bone remodeling, osteoclasts are of hematopoietic origin and may potentially be t
The standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most commonly used methods for diagnosing heart disease. Standard ECG is not always optimal, however, and new ECG methods can provide additional information. Analysis of high-frequency QRS components (HF-QRS) has been shown to increase the diagnostic performance of the ECG. Since the amplitudes of the HF-QRS are low compared with those vis
The main aim of this work, was to lay the foundations for the experimental realisation of a quantum mechanical controlled NOT gate in rare-earth-metal-ion-doped crystals. Small amounts of rare-earth elements, added during the growth of some inorganic crystals, will become substituted into the crystal lattice as trivalent ions. The trivalent rare-earth-metal ions between cerium, with atomic number
Asthma is a chronic disorder of the lower airways, characterized by inflammation and hyperreactivity. Pro-inflammatory cytokines like tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) are known to play important roles in the pathogenesis, but our knowledge how these cytokines contribute to the development of airway hyperreactivity is limited. The aims of the present study
The adult brain constantly produces new neurons from endogenous neural progenitor cells located in at least two regions, the subgranular zone (SGZ) in dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, and the subventricular zone (SVZ). Major efforts are underway to discover the functional significance of new neurons in the adult brain. Several studies have indicated a relationship exists between newborn hippoca
This thesis contains four separate papers in the field of monetary economics. The common basis for all the papers is that they deal with money and network effects in one way or another. Although the common basis is the same in all the articles, different approaches are used: theory, econometrics and history of economic thought. This first essay focuses on the network effect in the use of money an
This study treats the textual tradition of the Epistle of Jude. After an introductory survey of earlier text-critical research, the two main purposes of this investigation are formulated: to gather and to analyze the complete textual evidence of the Epistle of Jude. The first task, to gather the evidence, involves the collation of all Greek continuous text MSS of the Epistle of Jude. The evidence
Until recently, the islets of Langerhans were thought to harbour four main cell types characterised with respect to principal hormone product. Here we show that the novel hormone ghrelin is expressed in a fifth islet cell type, the islet ghrelin cell, in humans and rodents. The cells are developmentally regulated in that they are numerous around birth and fewer in the adult. The islet ghrelin cell
High body mass index (BMI) is associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Obesity is also an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) and can cause structural as well as functional changes in the heart. High BMI is associated with increased mortality in the population. Weight-loss from a state of overweight or obesity may
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The new WHO criteria for classification of diabetes takes into account also clinical stages dividing the diabetic patients into noninsulin requiring (NIR), insulin requiring for control (IRC) and insulin requiring for survival (IRS) subgroups. Diab
This thesis concerns how people with stroke describe their experiences of life with stroke and how they learn to live with stroke. In the western world the interest for research in lived experiences has increased. This might be due to the higher rate of people with illness and lifelong diseases. The aim of the study is to analyze stories from persons with stroke of their lived experiences of life
There is an ongoing controversy regarding how to take care of patients with mild primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Some recommend surgical treatment at diagnosis, others just follow-up as long as there is no evidence of disease progression. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate cardiac and skeletal risk factors related to the duration of mild PHPT. Fifty patients with mild PHPT were randomized
The aims of this research was to compare different risk score algorithms with regard to their validity to predict 30-day and one-year mortality after open-heart surgery, to evaluate if the preoperative risk stratification model EuroSCORE predicts the different components of resource utilization in cardiac surgery, and to systematically evaluate the accuracy and performance of artificial neural net
Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a congenital erythroid aplasia that usually presents as macrocytic anemia during infancy. Linkage analysis suggests that at least four genes are associated with DBA of which two have been identified so far. The known DBA genes encode the ribosomal proteins S19 and S24 accounting for 25% and 2% of the patients respectively. This study shows that RPS19 gene transfer
The aim of this thesis is to describe and explain independent declarative clauses in German which have the finite verb in absolute clause-initial position. They are called verb-first declarative clauses. It is shown that this type of clause can be found in a variety of Germanic languages. There is evidence suggesting that this is a very old type with roots in ancient Indo-European. It has thus ex
In many developing tropical countries, rapid urban growth leads to several problems, including increased thermal stress. This has negative consequences for people's health and well-being, and affects social and commercial outdoor activities negatively. Consequently, the creation of thermally comfortable microclimates in urban environments is highly important. The main aim of this thesis is to dee
