Search results

It is well established that female choice may lead to sexual selection on quality-revealing ornaments in males. However, in many species, both sexes display conspicuous characters, which may reflect individual quality and condition. We examined the correlations between measures of individual condition, reproductive performance and variation in size and whiteness of white wing patches in both sexes

The Streptococcus pyogenes cysteine protease SpeB (streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B) is important for the invasive potential of the bacteria, but its production is down-regulated following systemic infection. This prompted us to investigate if SpeB potentiated the host immune response after systemic spreading. Addition of Spa to human plasma increased plasma-mediated bacterial killing and prolon

The osteoclast is vital for establishment of normal hematopoiesis in the developing animal. However, its role for maintenance of hematopoiesis in adulthood is more controversial. To shed more light on this process, we transplanted hematopoietic stem cells from two osteopetrotic mouse models, with lack of osteoclasts or defective osteoclast function, to normal adult mice and examined the bone pheno

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common malignancy, and the third leading cancer-related cause of death among men of the Western world. Upon PCa progression into metastatic disease, androgen deprivation therapy is applied as the first-line treatment, and has been shown to be effective in most patients, leading to a decrease in serum prostate-specific antigen and relief of disease-related symptoms

Popular Abstract in Swedish Det finns ett starkt samband mellan kronisk inflammation och cancer. Ett av de mer etablerade sambanden är den mellan kronisk inflammation i tarmen och den i Sverige tredje vanligaste cancersjukdomen, nämligen tjocktarmscancer. Risken för tjocktarmscancer korrelerar med inflammationsutbredning, varaktighet och svårighetsgrad. Den inflammatoriska processen regleras av reCysteinyl leukotrienes (LTC4, LTD4 and LTE4) are potent pro-inflammatory lipids derived from arachidonic acid and mediate their effect through CysLT1R and CysLT2R. There is a strong correlation between long-standing inflammatory bowel disease where these pro-inflammatory mediators are abundant and colorectal cancer. We have shown that LTD4 via its receptor CysLT1 induces expression of proteins ass

Type 2 diabetes is marked by deterioration in pancreatic β-cell function. SNARE-proteins are crucial for the fusion of insulin granules with the plasma membrane, a prerequisite for insulin secretion. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate the exocytotic process in β-cells with a specific focus on the function and significance of the two SNARE-proteins SNAP-25 and syntaxin 1. SNAP-25 and sy

The B(E2; I-i -> I-f) values for transitions in Ga-71(31)40 and Ga-73(31)42 were deduced from a Coulomb excitation experiment at the safe energy of 2.95 MeV/nucleon using post-accelerated beams of Ga-71,Ga-73 at the REX-ISOLDE on-line isotope mass separator facility. The emitted gamma rays were detected by the MINIBALL gamma-detector array, and B(E2; I-i -> I-f) values were obtained from the yield

In N2O a detailed study of the vibrational distribution of the (X) over tilde state reached after decay of core-to-pi* excitation of N terminal, N central and 0 1s core levels is reported. We observe a change in the relative intensity of bending versus stretching modes while scanning the photon energy across all three resonances. While this effect is known to be due to the Renner-Teller splitting

Increased expression of endothelin receptor type B (ETBR), a vasoactive receptor, has recently been implied in the reduced cerebral blood flow and exacerbated neuronal damage after ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). The study explores the regulatory mechanisms of ETBR to identify drug targets to restore normal cerebral artery contractile function as part of successful neuroprotective therapy.

Background: Weight loss is a common problem in patients with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck (SCCHN) treated with radiotherapy (RT). The aims of the present study were to determine if treated volume (TV), as a measure of the radiation dose burden, can predict weight loss in patients with oropharyngeal cancer and to analyze weight loss and body mass index (BMI) in the same patient grou

A new type of treatment planning system called SHAREPLAN has been studied, which enables the transfer of treatment plans generated for helical tomotherapy delivery to plans that can be delivered on C-arm linacs. The purpose is to ensure continuous patient treatment during periods of unscheduled downtime for the TomoTherapy unit, particularly in clinics without a backup unit. The purpose of this wo

We show here, by using surface biotinylation, followed by Western blotting or surface plasmon resonance analysis, that very low levels of S100A8 and/or S100A9 can be detected on the surface of THP-1 cells or freshly isolated human monocytes. This was supported by immune-electron microscopy where we observed membrane-associated expression of the proteins restricted to small patches. By using confoc

The ternary Zintl phase Ca3Ag1+xGe3x (x = 1/3) was synthesized by the high-temperature solid-state technique and its crystal structure was refined from single-crystal diffraction data. The compound Ca3Ag1.32Ge2.68(1) adopts the Sc3NiSi3 type structure, crystal data: space group C2/m, a = 10.813(1) angstrom, b = 4.5346(4) angstrom, c = 14.3391(7) angstrom, beta = 110.05(1)degrees and V = 660.48(10)

Två helt olika alternativa möjligheter att förkorta torktiderna för byggfukt i betonggolv har undersökts. Den ena möjligheten var att försöka utnyttja de resultat som erhållits i ett antal tidigare projekt där det visat sig att fuktbelastningen på ett mer eller mindre tätt ytskikt under vissa förhållanden varit mycket lägre efter omfördelning av kvarvarande byggfukt än vad man kunde förvänta sig

Microscopic colitis (MC) is a disease with intestinal mucosal inflammation causing diarrhea, affecting predominantly middle-aged women. The etiology is unknown, but increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases in these patients has been described, although not compared with controls or adjusted for confounding factors. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of common diseases in patien