This thesis focuses on molecular changes occuring during terminal B cell differentiation as well as on somatic hypermutation and the generation and maintenance of B cell memory. During T cell dependent immune responses the average affinity for the eliciting antigen increases with time. This affinity maturation is generated by somatic hypermutation and selection for B cells carrying a high-affinty

In plants, 14-3-3 proteins are key regulators of primary metabolism and membrane transport. It was previously thought that the 14-3-3 isoforms were not very specific with regard to target proteins, but more recent data suggest that the specificity may be high. Therefore, identification, localization, and characterization of all 14-3-3 isoforms in the model plant Arabidopsis are important. We ident

A gait re-education programme, combining physiotherapy with a psychologically conscious therapeutic approach, was applied to nine unilateral transfemoral amputees, whose amputation was caused by trauma or tumour. The participants trained once a week for a mean 10 months. The median age was 33 years (range 16– 51). They had worn a prosthesis for more than 18 months and had completed conventional re

The new generation of high resolution astronomical instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) or the Very Large Telescope (VLT) has renewed the demand for accurate atomic parameters like wavelengths, oscillator strengths and line profiles accompanied by reliable uncertainty estimates. Fourier transform spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful tool when measuring these parameters. In this

Estrogen receptors (ER) are expressed not only in classical target organs for estrogen like breast and uterus, but also in male reproductive system as well as in non-reproductive organs such as brain, liver and bone. The functions of ER are quite well known in reproductive organs but less information is available regarding their function in vascular tissue. The objective of this thesis was to inve

Regulation of blood flow involves several endogenous substances and mechanisms, and exogenous substances may also affect the blood flow. In the present thesis, human omental blood vessels were investigated in vitro concerning (i) characteristics of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors; (ii) mediators of substance P (SP)-induced relaxation; (iii) direct and indirect (via effects on sympathetic neur

Immunological self-tolerance is a state of the whole organism where deleterious responses are either avoided or regulated. Breaking of immunological tolerance will lead to autoimmune disease or chronic inflammatory conditions. T cell maturation in the thymus generates a peripheral T cell pool with an enormous TCR repertoire, from which specific T cells are selected and activated upon encounters wi

This thesis addresses solving elliptic partial differential equation using integral equation methods, with emphasis on accuracy, speed and stability. Of particular interest are such equations on non-smooth domains, and several different elliptic problems such as electrostatic and elastostatic ones are treated and solved in this setting.

Rare-earth ions doped into a transparent crystal can have optically excited states with coherence times of milliseconds and hyperfine levels with coherence times of hours when cooled down to liquid helium temperatures. This makes them attractive for developing quantum computing hardware. A quantum transistor can be implemented in a rare-earth-ion-doped crystal by utilizing a dipole blockade effe

Angiotensin II (Ang II) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) induce strong vasoconstriction via activation of receptors on vascular smooth muscle cells. In this thesis, the contractile Ang II and endothelin receptors were examined in endothelium-denuded human coronary arteries and in bypass grafts (the left internal mammary artery and the saphenous vein), with focus on receptor alterations in cardiovascular di

In this thesis, I have investigated conflicts of interest in the facultatively polygynous European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) with a focus on female reproductive strategies. The extent to which males provided parental care was a key issue in understanding the mating system of the starling. The amount of male parental care affected the quality of offspring. Polygynous males did not invest more in

Attosecond science refers to physical processes that occur on the natural timescale of electron motion in atomic and molecular systems. Attosecond time resolution can be obtained experimentally through a process called high-order harmonic generation where sharp attosecond pulses are formed in the time domain. Attosecond pulse trains contain many attosecond pulses with a constant pulse-to-pulse s

Most organisms on Earth live a life where they are exposed to multiple and variable threats. In order to maximise survival they need to be able to perceive and respond to these threats. Two common threats that crustacean zooplankton are faced with are predation and ultraviolet radiation (UVR). To cope with these threats zooplankton use different strategies such as diel vertical migration and the a

Left atrioventricular plane displacement (AVPD) has been shown to correlate well with left ventricular (LV) systolic function measured as ejection fraction (EF). AVPD has also been shown to be related to diastolic performance. Other factors related to AVPD include age, heart rate, LV and atrial dimensions, myocardial thickness, bodysurface, and afterload. In this thesis the left AVPD was studied i

The growth of short fatigue cracks deviates from the behaviour of long fatigue cracks even if subjected to the same nominal driving force. The influence from the microstructure is pronounced, while crack closure effects may not be that important as for longer cracks. The objective of this thesis is to study the local conditions for crack growth for two different short crack problems, and to develo

This thesis evaluates alterations in lipid metabolism and Kupffer cell morphology seen during total parenteral nutrition in healthy rats. During infusion of lipid emulsions, cholesterol and phospholipids accumulated in non-high density lipoproteins, while high density lipoproteins were enriched in triglycerides. Triglycerides also accumulated in hepatic tissue, and the activity of hepatic lipase

Despite the availability of antibiotics and modern health care, infectious diseases continue to cause great suffering and costs. Bacterial surface proteins are important for the interaction between host and pathogen. This thesis gives an overview of the importance of bacterial surface proteins in Gram-positive bacteria, particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes. A novel cont

This thesis describes inter and intramolecular dynamics in porphyrin molecules. To create a basis for understanding the energy and electron transfer processes in photosynthesis, the ultrafast dynamics of monomeric chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and bacteriochlorophyll a were studied with ultrashort laser pulses. The transient absorption spectra of all three molecules were found to have pronounced co

As a cancer grows it will, at a certain stage of disease progression, start spreading in the body. For several types of cancer this spreading will first occur through the lymphatic system and the first place where metastatic cell will be encountered is the first lymph node that drains the area where the tumor is located. This lymph node is defined as the sentinel lymph node (SLN). By analyzing the

This thesis deals with Lennart Hellsing's works, and especially his texts for small children, from 1945 to 2000. In an introductory survey the oral transmission of literature is discussed in relation to orality and literacy. The presupposition is that there are similarities between oral culture and texts for the very young. Hellsing's production is surveyed along with his position as a poet, his i