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Estrogen receptor (ER) status can define breast cancer patients who would benefit from adjuvant tamoxifen therapy. However, resistance to tamoxifen is often observed and possible mechanisms may be loss or reduction of ER, dysfunctional ER- signaling and ligand independent activation of the receptor. Hypoxia and hypoxia inducible factor-1? (HIF-1) expression has been correlated to loss of ER in bre

“Cutaneous melanoma is a most unpredictable lesion” wrote Alexander Breslow in 1970. He was one of the first to predict outcome in melanoma patients, based on the thickness of the primary tumor, and today this parameter bears his name and remains the main prognostic factor in melanoma. The aim of this thesis has been to contribute to the understanding of melanoma biology in order to make this canc

This thesis addressed the diagnosis, pathogenesis and clinical course of specific renal diseases hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and dense deposit disease (DDD). HUS may be associated with infection caused by Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) or with complement dysfunction due to complement mutations or auto-antibodies (atypical HUS, aHUS). EHEC is a non-invasive highly virulent bacterium

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is a growing concern. As the life expectancy increases across the globe, the number of affected people is estimated to reach 100 million by 2050. Efforts to develop effective treatments for humans have mostly been based on the assumption that a faulty homeostasis of beta amyloid (Aβ) is the triggering or the driving factor behind this co

Objectives: To study: (I) the impact on cost-utility analyses of applying different national EuroQol 5-Dimensions (EQ-5D) preference sets; (II and III) whether, in methotrexate-refractory, early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the addition of infliximab results in superior health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and may be considered cost-effective, as compared to adding sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroq

Abstract Population movements are more substantial today than at any other point in human history. If managed effectively, migration can be beneficial for all aspects of social and economic life. This thesis contains four papers, all of which are related to the economic consequences and determinants of migration, within and across countries. The first paper employs a household survey to explore

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate healthcare utilisation patterns and to explore the effects of a case management intervention for frail older people on healthcare utilisation and costs in relation to utility. A further aim was to explore the older people’s and case managers’ experiences of the intervention. Study I was a quantitative study comprising ten age cohorts aged between 6

Normal tissue is tightly controlled to keep a balance between reproduction and elimination of cells. In cancer, these regulated processes are disrupted, resulting in uncontrolled cell growth. Regulation of RNA stability and turnover is important to maintain cellular homeostasis and can be controlled by various mechanisms. During stress, the cell can form cytoplasmic complexes of proteins and RNAs,

In order to reduce comsumption of inhalational anaesthetsics during high flow anaesthesia a system open in regard to oxygen, nitogen and nitrous oxide, but closed to inhalational anaesthetics, was developed. This was achieved by a reflecting filter for inhalational anaesthetics made of active carbon. The principle has been developed into the commersially available Anesthetic Conserving Device (ACD

Every day we encounter many potentially harmful microbes in our environment. The epithelial linings constitute an anatomical barrier protecting us and they also produce antimicrobial polypeptides (AMPs) that act as a chemical barrier. These AMPs are small and positively charged, killing a broad range of microbes rapidly. They can either be constitutively produced or rapidly induced when epithelial

Background: Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death. Only about 6% of patients are alive 5 years after diagnosis. One reason for this low survival rate is that most patients are diagnosed at a late stage, when the tumor has spread to surrounding tissues or distant organs. Less than 20% of cases are diagnosed at an early stage that allows them to undergo potentially cu

Hereditary breast cancer constitutes a considerable fraction of the total number of breast cancer cases occurring each year. Up until recently very few breast cancer predisposing genes were known, but many new common polymorphisms contributing to increased cancer susceptibility are continuously being identified. This thesis has focused on familial breast cancer and identifying as well as investi

The aim of this dissertation is to show some cryptanalytical results on a selection of stream ciphers. We have grouped theory and results into three main parts. The first part focuses on the FCSR-based constructions X-FCSR and F-FCSR-H v3. For the X-FCSR family of stream ciphers we perform a severe state recovery attack. This attack works for both X-FCSR-128 and X-FCSR-256. We then develop a gen

The transition from normal into malignant cells with acquired uncontrolled growth is a process where cancer cells viciously develop adaptive strategies to overcome microenvironmental and metabolic stress. Hypoxia, or deficient oxygen supply, is a common feature of the expanding tumor which alters cell metabolism and consecutively causes lowered intracellular pH. To alleviate hypoxic and acidotic s

After transient global cerebral ischemia, selected populations of neurons in the brain will die after a period of 2-3 days, a phenomenon termed delayed neuronal death. This is of clinical importance as delayed neuronal death has been found to occur in humans as well. The mechanism that kills a neuron 2-3 days after the initial insult is unclear, but transcriptional steps have been implicated. The

The sensory neuropeptides substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) are present in human cerebral, meningeal and temporal arteries, as are peptides associated with the sympathetic (neuropeptide Y, NPY) and parasympathetic (vasoactive intestinal peptide, VIP) nervous system. NPY is a vasoconstrictor in cerebral and meningeal arteries and potentiates noradrenaline (NA) as a vasocon

In this study we demonstrated the production of SLPI (Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor) in serous glands in the nasal mucosa. We have shown that the pattern of the expression of mRNA corresponds to the encoded protein. The encoded protein was detected by immunohistochemical methods and mRNA was discovered by in situ hybridisation. Nasal mucosa from 11 test subjects without atopic disposition

This dissertation deals with the geometric and electronic structure of surfaces on III–V semiconductor nanowires (NWs). NWs made of InAs, GaAs, and InP have been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S), low energy electron microscopy (LEEM), photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). All of the mentioned techniques have been devel

Persons are not just mechanical systems of instinctual animalistic proclivities, but also language-producing, existentially aware creatures, whose experiences and actions are drenched in subjective meaning. To understand a human being as a person is to understand him or her as a rational system that wants, fears, hopes, believes, and in other ways imbues the world with meaning, rather than just a

Hematopoiesis is a highly complex process by which a range of specialized blood cells are generated from a small pool of multipotent stem cells in the bone marrow. The survival, proliferation, and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells are tightly regulated by both soluble and membrane-bound cytokines produced within the bone marrow microenvironment. Kit Ligand (KL) and Flt3 Ligand (FL) are t