Att färdas i mörker: insekters lösningar, vinster och kostnaderIn sin ständiga jakt på mat måste många insekter undvika att krocka med grenar, stenar och blad, samt färdas i en lämplig kompassriktning. Åtskilliga insekter använder sin syn för att kontrollera detta. En nektarsökande humla, till exempel, reglerar sin flyghastighet efter hur snabbt föremål i omgivningen rör sig över dess ögon. Denna Flying, as well as walking insects rely on vision to regulate locomotion, even in the dark when the visual system is much less reliable. To manage visual control of these behaviours at low light intensities, many insects have evolved optical adaptations, such as larger facet lenses and wider rhabdoms, and neural adaptations, such as spatial and temporal summation, to increase their visual sensitiv

The mRNA of human platelets has been extensively studied and it is generally appreciated that platelets contain mRNA transcripts derived from the megakaryocytes, and they have the ability to translate it into proteins. Additionally, platelets contain microRNA (miRNA) that has been shown to potentially regulate the translation of certain proteins. When quantifying gene expression by quantitative re

Background: As survival of children with CHD needing surgery has improved significantly, the need for follow-up in terms of health-related quality of life has become increasingly important. In this study, we sought to describe health-related quality of life in children with CHD in relation to cardiac surgery. Methods: A retrospective Swedish National Registry for Congenital Heart Disease survey me

Background: Placental malaria occurs when Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes sequester in the placenta. Placental parasite isolates bind to chondroitin sulphate A (CSA) by expression of VAR2CSA on the surface of infected erythrocytes, but may sequester by other VAR2CSA mediated mechanisms, such as binding to immunoglobulins. Furthermore, other parasite antigens have been associated with p

Galactoglucomannan is the major hemicellulose in process water from thermomechanical pulping of spruce. The recovery of hemicelluloses from this process water would both reduce the load on pulp mill water treatment plants and yield a biopolymer suitable as a raw material for renewable products. One method of recovering these hemicelluloses is two-stage filtration employing microfiltration to remov

Objectives: Study formal and informal care of community-living older people in the Swedish National study of Aging and Care (SNAC). Design: Cross-sectional, population based cohort. Setting: Three areas in Sweden: Municipality of Nordanstig, Stockholm and Skåne County. Participants: 3,338 persons ≥72 years. Measurements: Patterns and amounts of informal and formal care by cognition and area of res

Objective: To investigate changes in maternal ECG ST index, blood pressure (BP), cardiac left ventricular (LV) ejection function and vascular tone/stiffness in large and small arteries occurring during elective cesarean section (CS) in spinal anesthesia. Material and methods: Twenty-six women were monitored with photoplethysmographic digital pulse wave (PW) analysis (DPA) before and after spinal a

Still, the building sector in Sweden repeatedly fails in using experiences from both fulfilled projects through feedback and existing research information. The use of earlier results would be beneficial for the process of developing appropriate and competing product and services, and would help avoiding crucial mistakes that risk the functionality of constructed buildings. It is also important to

Background: The relationship between severe mental illness, poverty and social isolation has been explored in a number of studies. Aim: The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between financial strain and social isolation. Methods: Sixteen persons with severe mental illness were interviewed about their experience of having a severe mental illness, living in poverty and the effect

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is common after general anaesthesia, and corticosteroids are used in many protocols for enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS). However, surgical techniques are developing, and ERAS protocols need to be reevaluated from time to time. Patients and method: In this study, we compared the effects of oral vs. parenteral corticosteroid administration

Purpose: To quantify fixation stability in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) at baseline, 3 and 6 months after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment and furthermore asses the implications of an unsteady fixation for multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) measurements. Methods: Fifty eyes of 50 nAMD patients receiving intravitreal anti-VEGF tr

Background: We have previously shown that a Palaeolithic diet consisting of the typical food groups that our ancestors ate during the Palaeolithic era, improves cardiovascular disease risk factors and glucose control compared to the currently recommended diabetes diet in patients with type 2 diabetes. To elucidate the mechanisms behind these effects, we evaluated fasting plasma concentrations of g

Background: Transient tachypnea of the newborn is characterized by tachypnea and signs of respiratory distress. Transient tachypnea typically appears within the first two hours of life in term and late preterm newborns. Although transient tachypnea of the newborn is usually a self limited condition, it is associated with wheezing syndromes in late childhood. The rationale for the use of salbutamol

Aminoguanidine (AMG) was prepared more than 100 years ago. During the last 10 years two important effects of AMG have been discovered which have made this molecule attract a lot of interest. Firstly, AMG inhibits, in vitro and in vivo, formation of highly reactive advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) associated with pathogenesis of secondary complications to diabetes and with cardiovascular

The role of oestrogen receptor (ER) beta in vascular function remains unclear. With the use of a specific ERbeta antibody we have now, using immunocytochemistry, visualized ERbeta in different parts of the vascular tree. In about 70% of medial smooth muscle cells of female rat aorta, tail artery and uterine artery, nuclear immunoreactivity to ERbeta was observed. In these vessels endothelial cells

OBJECTIVE: To determine if putrescine and the higher polyamines spermidine and spermine are released from cultured vascular smooth muscle cells.MATERIAL: Vascular smooth muscle cell line A7r5.TREATMENT: Cells were treated with aminoguanidine (10 or 100 microM) for 1 to 24 h with or without fetal calf serum (10%) present in the culture medium.METHODS: Cellular and medium concentrations of polyamine

In blood from the portal vein of anaesthetized rats the levels of histamine and putrescine were 2-3-fold lower compared to arterial blood. Putrescine concentration was increased severalfold and the difference between portal and arterial blood abolished in animals pretreated with the specific diamine oxidase inhibitor aminoguanidine. Histamine concentration was 40% lower in portal compared to arter

Effects of the naturally occurring polyamine spermine on electrical and contractile properties of the rat portal vein were studied. 1 mM spermine nearly abolished spike activity and spontaneous contractions and decreased the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i). The phasic force responses to 0.1 and 1 microM phenylephrine were partially inhibited, but not the sustain plateau contraction caus

Background: Transient tachypnea of the newborn is characterized by tachypnea and signs of respiratory distress. Transient tachypnea typically appears within the first two hours of life in term and late preterm newborns. Although transient tachypnea of the newborn is usually a self limited condition, it is associated with wheezing syndromes in late childhood. The rationale for the use of epinephrin