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Identification of the intracellular signal transduction pathways activated in retinal ischaemia may be important in revealing novel pharmacological targets. The retinal blood vessels are key organs in circulatory failure, and in this work the retinal vasculature was therefore examined separately from the neuroretina. The porcine eye has a typical primate-like architecture and is similar to the hum
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting women in the western countries. Today x-ray digital mammography (DM) of the breast is commonly used for early detection of breast cancer. However, the sensitivity of mammography is limited, mainly due to the fact that a 3D volume is projected down to a 2D image. This problem can be partially solved by a tomographic technique. Breast tomosyn
Laser-driven particle acceleration makes use of sub-picosecond, pulsed, high-power laser systems, capable of producing intensities ~10^{19} W/cm^2 at the laser focus to form plasmas, and use ultra-relativistic and nonlinear dynamics to produce quasistatic acceleration fields. This allows electrons to be accelerated to ~100 MeV over sub-centimetre distances, while protons may be accelerated to the
Non-motor symptoms and signs such as metabolic and psychiatric disturbances have been reported to occur early in Huntington’s disease (HD), a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. However, there is a lack of understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the early non-motor features. The hypothalamus has emerged as an
Human adenoviruses (Ads) are broadly used in cancer gene therapy, vaccine development and gene delivery. The modified Ad5 or Ad2 viruses have been successfully used as oncolytic agents in pre-clinical studies. However they could not be translated into clinic utility due to a number of limitations including inefficient Ad spread among tumor cells. The cancer cell killing capacity of oncolytic Ad is
Abstract Introduction: Validity is important at different levels in psychiatry. Valid structured instruments are important aids in screening and diagnostics, in both research and clinical practice. An aim of the diagnostic procedure is to yield valid diagnoses. Ultimately, the validity of structured instruments (non-empirical) and clinical diagnoses depends on the validity of the diagnostic class
In this thesis, the main focus has been on the childhood cancer neuroblastoma, one of the most common and lethal childhood tumours. Neuroblastoma has througout the years continued to be a clinical and biological enigma. Our first focus was on one of the most important biological risk factors in neuroblastoma -- amplification of the oncogene MYCN in the tumour cells. Because amplified MYCN typical
Cell behavior such as migration and proliferation, especially during cancer development, are balanced by the surrounding environment. Complex polysaccharides called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are part of this environment and they are known to modulate tumor development. One of these GAGs, dermatan/chondroitin sulfate (CS/DS), is attached to proteins either bound to the cell surface or secreted in t
The traffic in wireless networks has been showing an exponential growth over the last decade. In order to meet the demand, and support a continuation of this growth, the scarce radio resources need to be efficiently used. The use of multiple antenna (MIMO) systems and iterative (turbo) receivers has significantly improved the realizable system performance. Still, many challenges exist in the devel
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a well-established treatment for severe depressive disorder, but its clinical use has been limited by concerns about side effects such as memory disturbances. Despite over 70 years in clinical use, the exact mechanisms of action behind the therapeutic or adverse effects are not fully understood. Enhanced brain plasticity, including neurogenesis, angiogenesis and
Isocyanates are highly reactive compounds used in the production of polyurethane. Exposure to isocyanates is mainly associated with respiratory disorders, but may also result in allergic contact dermatitis. Reports describing contact allergy to isocyanates are few in number and it has been considered a rare phenomenon. In the present study it is shown that the low frequency of reported cases could
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
