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In the present thesis normal kidney tissue and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were studied by cytogenetic and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) methods to investigate chromosomal aberrations. In the first study, 4 samples of nonneoplastic kidney tissue were cultured for cytogenetic analysis and trisomy 7 was found in all cases in 3-15% of the cells. In the second study, cytogenetic analysis o
The present thesis describes a number of aspects of modern electro-optical measurement technology also known as bio-photonics; this includes instrumentation, applications, sample interaction and data interpretation. The methods employed operate over several domains, and light measurements are discretized both in intensity, space, angle, time, polarization and energy. Mainly the spectral domain is
Submerged macrophytes are thought to stabilize clear-water states of shallow lakes. The aim of this thesis was to elucidate how waterfowl herbivory can affect abundance, distribution and species composition of submerged macrophytes in eutrophic lakes. I found that in a lake with sparse vegetation, which was in a colonization phase, small plants were uprooted and large plants were heavily grazed up
Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and laser Doppler imaging (LDI) are modern methods for non-invasive and continuous assessment of skin blood flow. The techniques are based on the phenomenon that monochromatic light transilluminating a perfused tissue is spectrally broadened owing to scattering by moving blood cells. In this study, methodological aspects of the two methods are presented. LDF was used
For more than a century, an immense interest has been devoted to the study of recognition memory, where a multitude of memory phenomena has been explained. Recognition memory is usually described with parsimonious measurement and statistical models, stemming from dual process theory and signal detection theory. In the present thesis, the most often used models of recognition memory are reviewed an
p-tert-Butylphenol-formaldehyde resin (PTBP-F-R) is used as a binder in many adhesive formulations and it consists of a complex mixture of substances, most of which are unknown. The resin has been reported to cause allergic contact dermatitis since the 1950s. The aim of the study was to investigate allergens in p-tert-butylphenol-formaldehyde resin (PTBP-F-R) and to isolate and identify sensitizer
Type-2 diabetes is characterized by impaired insulin secretion associated with excess glucagon release. Exocytosis of insulin- or glucagon-containing granules is initiated by Ca2+-influx through voltage-dependent Ca2+-channels and is modulated by the second messengers such as cAMP. Membrane capacitance measurements were used in this study to investigate the cellular mechanisms behind cAMP-regulate
This thesis deals with methods for extracting robust and relevant information from high-dimensional data sets, and statistically guided visualization methods for representing the data in an informative and easily accessible way. High-dimensional data sets are becoming increasingly prevalent in many different scientific disciplines. In this thesis, we focus particularly on so called "omics" data. T
The thesis deals with the further development of pure rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (RCARS) for improving the capabilities of gas phase thermometry. The main effort has been to make the technique more robust when employed under a wide range of temperatures and operational conditions. A primary aim has been to investigate the impact of collisional broadening on N2 RCARS thermom
The studies in this doctoral thesis report aspects of cognitive and socio emotional development in a group of teenagers and young adults with dyslexia. The 75 subjects, between 14 and 25 years of age, had been diagnosed in the latter half of the 1990s, and the collection of quantitative and qualitative data was performed in 2003-04. Study I investigated the stability of intelligence. Earlier rese
Sphingomyelin (SM) is a major component of mammalian cell membranes. Due to its widespread occurrence it is a dietary component, occurring mainly in milk, eggs, meat and fish. In the cell membrane SM was earlier considered to be only a structural element, which interacts with cholesterol and forms a system for bilayer stabilization. In the last decade there has been an increasing interest in sphin
Atherosclerosis is one of the major causes of death in the world. It is an inflammatory disease in the arteries which causes a gradual increase in arterial wall thickness and stiffness. Eventually a plaque could be formed, protruding into the artery and partially occluding the blood flow. Rupture of such a plaque could cause cardiac infarction or stroke. This dissertation revolves around finding b
The metabolic syndrome (type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, dyslipidaemia, and hyperinsulinaemia), is increasing in prevalence world-wide. The progression of this syndrome proceeds through a step-wise deterioration of metabolic events where deterioration of insulin sensitivity appears to have a key role in a ?vicious circle? of hyperinsulinaemia/hypergly
In this thesis four new algorithms are presented for automatic segmentation in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR); automatic segmentation of the left ventricle, myocardial infarction, and myocardium at risk in two different image types. All four algorithms were implemented in freely available software for image analysis and were validated against reference delineations with a low bias and hig
This thesis describes studies of the structure and tissue distribution of alpha-1-microglobulin (a1-m), a member of the lipocalin protein superfamily with immunosuppressive properies. It was shown that a1-m appears in human plasma in five major forms. These were identified as monomeric a1-m and covalent complexes between a1-m and IgA, prothrombin, albumin and a1-m. In addition to blood, both monom
The role of dietary fibre (DF) in disease prevention has been extensively investigated and prospective studies observed that increased DF intake decreased the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), reduced the risk of weight gain as well as the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Also a diet characterized by low glycaemic index (GI) has been shown to reduce the risk of T2D and CVD. More recently, eviden
Parkinson’s disease is characterized by progressive degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine system, which results in tremor, rigidity, akinesia and postural abnormalities. New therapeutic strategies are aimed at halting the neurodegenerative process or restoring the system by transplantation of fetal dopamine neurons. We have investigated the potential of the neurotrophic factors glial cell lin
The two most common autoimmune endocrine diseases in children are autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) and Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Autoantibodies (ab) can be found several years before clinical diagnosis in both diseases. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of thyroid ab in children with IDDM and in children with allergic diseases; to study islet ab and t
Moths use chemical signals emanating from food to find sites for oviposition and subsequent larval feeding. By identifying these odours, novel approaches to pest management can be developed, such as monitoring of females in pest populations. The pyralid moths studied in this thesis, the almond moth (Ephestia cautella), the Mediterranean flour moth (E. kuehniella) and the Indian meal moth (Plodia i
The reaction dynamics of several polyatomic systems have been investigated in solution by femtosecond spectroscopy. Tetranitromethane-naphtalene complexes excited in the charge-transfer band at 400 nm undergo dissociative electron transfer, resulting in three primary products: [naphthalene].+, NO2 and C(NO2)3-. It was shown that this triad is formed within 200 fs. The subsequent competing reaction
