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Immunotherapy is a new promising approach in cancer treatment. In the future, it will hopefully offer an alternative to existing brain tumors treatments, which are unable to cure. We have established an experimental, low immunogenic, brain tumor model in the rat. We have increased tumor cell immunogenicity with mutagen treatment or transfection of IFN-g. Mutagen treated glioma cells (tum-) could c
Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of a CAG repeat in the HD gene, that leads to dysfunction and death of striatal neurons. The pathogenetic mechanisms underlying HD are not known, but excitotoxicity and dopamine (DA) have been suggested to play a role. In this thesis, the effects of excitotoxicity and DA have been studied in striatal in vit
Chromosomal translocations commonly result in the production of fusion genes and the fusion genes are often tumor-type specific. In myxoid and round cell liposarcomas (MLS/RCLS), almost 95% of the cases carry a t(12;16)(q13;p11). In the remaining 5% of the MLS/RCLS tumors, another translocation and fusion gene can be found, i.e. the t(12;22)(q13;q12). These translocations fuse CHOP on chromosome 1
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and severely affects about one in a hundred persons over the age of fifty years. In PD, there is a reduced striatal concentration of the neurotransmittor dopamine, mainly caused by a degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Transplantation of embryonic dopamine neurons has been developed as an al
The soil bacterial community is under the constant influence of its environment. Changing any of the factors affecting the bacterial community will induce a selection pressure which, with time, will change the community. In this work the effect of changing the temperature or pH on the soil bacterial community was studied. Measurements using the [3H]-thymidine incorporation technique showed that th
Protein S functions as a cofactor to activated protein C (APC) in the degradation of factors Va and VIIIa. In plasma protein S circulates in two forms; 30-40 % circulates as free protein S molecules while the remaining 60-70 % exists in a 1:1 complex with C4b-binding protein (C4BP). Only the free form of protein S functions as a cofactor to APC. Protein S is a mosaic protein composed of four discr
Children of immigrants inherit human capital attainment from their parents that impact on their innovative performance. Some of this stem from their migrant parents’ positive and negative selection traits, part from their physical or cognitive proximity of country of origin to the host society. In this paper, I examine how second-generation immigrants (with at least one foreign-born parent), takin
This paper argues that there is reason to be skeptical about the idea that the transition to a service economy will bring about dematerialization of production and consequent environmental improvement. This is because the shift to a service economy is an illusion in terms of real production, but is instead generated by the fall in the price of manufacturing goods relative to services, which is in
The aim of this research was to clinically and experimentally evaluate the use of vacuum-assisted closure in poststernotomy mediastinitis after cardiac surgery. Vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) is a new wound-healing therapy based on the application of a local negative pressure to the wound. New techniques for treating poststernotomy mediastinitis are needed since conventional techniques have an unsa
Sediment sequences from five lakes on the Skagi peninsula, northern Iceland, were subjected to mineral magnetic analysis, carbon analysis, pollen analysis, plant macrofossil analysis, diatom analysis, radiocarbon dating and tephra analysis in order to make detailed reconstructions of vegetation, climate and sea level during the Late Weichselian and Early Holocene. The main purpose was to investiga
The aim of this thesis was to reconstruct the glaciodynamics, deglacial landforms, isostatic uplift and to date the deglaciation. Glaciodynamics and deglacial landforms were focused on to provide a process and depositional model for De Geer moraine and Niemisel moraine and to reveal their internal and spatial relationship, based on detailed sedimentological and structural investigations. The isost
Randomized studies of various support programs for spouses and children of alcoholics are few in the international literature. This thesis comprises two randomized controlled studies of intervention programs for two family groups: spouses living with an alcoholics partner (paper I and II) and university students who have grown up with at least one parents with alcohol problems (paper III and IV).
The worldwide prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly. Both disorders depend on genetic and environmental factors. The studies included in this thesis investigated the possible association of the FOXC2 and CAPN10 genes with obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and related phenotypes. FOXC2 encodes a forkhead transcription factor, which was identified as a key regul
