Microbial exposure has been indicated as significant in the development of asthma and allergy among children. The aim of the study was to test whether microbial exposure and allergens in the school environment are associated with asthmatic symptoms in pupils. Data on asthmatic symptoms and respiratory infections were collected through a questionnaire survey among 1993 pupils aged 11-15 yr in 10 ra

Using classical design optimization methods for implant-bone studies does not completely guarantee a safety and satisfactory performance, due in part to the randomness of bone properties and loading. Here, the material properties of the different bone layers are considered as uncertain parameters. So their corresponding yield stress values will not be deterministic, that leads to integrate variabl

Brown C, Hasson H, Thyselius V, Almborg A-H. Post-stroke depression and functional independence: a conundrum. Acta Neurol Scand: DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2011.01595.x. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives - People who suffer a stroke are at risk of developing post-stroke depression (PSD). Not only does this lower their quality of life but it also increases their risk of another stroke or d

HIV-1 evolves constantly within an infected individual, due to its mutation-prone viral enzyme, high viral turnover and pressure from the host immune system. Therefore, viruses isolated at different time points from the same individual are never exactly the same and, accordingly, rarely function the same way. However, if we can understand how HIV-1 phenotypically evolves in the newly infected host

We extend Mazo's concept of faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling to pulse trains that modulate a bank of subcarriers, a method called two dimensional FTN signaling. The signal processing is similar to orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) transmission but the subchannels are not orthogonal. Despite nonorthogonal pulses and subcarriers, the method achieves the isolated-pulse error perfor

Whey proteins have insulinogenic properties and the effect appears to originate from a specific postprandial plasma amino acid pattern. The insulinogenic effect can be mimicked by a specific mixture of the five amino acids iso, leu, lys, thr and val.

The use of gluten-free products is increasing since an increasing number of people (1-2 %) are suffering from Celiac disease and thereby need a gluten-free diet. Gluten-free bread tends to have shorter shelf life and quality compared with white wheat bread. In this study, 3 % (flour basis) of pre-gelatinized oat and barley flour as well as an emulsifier were added to a gluten-free mix to increase

Here, we tested for an ecologically valid cost to secondary sexual trait expression in the male great tit (Parus major). We compared the breast stripe area of a sample of males who survived extremely low night time temperatures with a sample who did not survive. Breast stripe area was significantly smaller in surviving males, suggesting a real cost of signalling in terms of survival. The relations

Many preterm infants are not capable of exclusive breastfeeding from birth. To guide mothers in breastfeeding, it is important to know when preterm infants can initiate breastfeeding and progress. The aim was to analyse postmenstrual age (PMA) at breastfeeding milestones in different preterm gestational age (GA) groups, to describe rates of breastfeeding duration at pre-defined times, as well as a

Selection pressure induced by simultaneously occurring environmental threats is a major evolutionary driver for organisms in terrestrial, as well as in aquatic ecosystems. For example, protection against ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and predation include both morphological and behavioral components. Here we address those selective pressures on zooplankton by performing a latitudinal monitoring, com

OBJECTIVE: Patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer are traditionally followed by repeat cystoscopy and urine cytology. A fluorescence in situ hybridisation technique called UroVysion((R)) (UV) is now available for clinical diagnosis of urothelial cancer cells. The aim of the present study was to compare UV analysis with routine follow-up methods. METHODS: We studied an unselected cohort o

Denna avhandlings syfte är att öka kunskapen om riskbruk och ett möjligt skadligt bruk eller beroende av alkohol, narkotika och tobak bland personer med psykossjukdom. Syftet är vidare att fördjupa förståelsen av deras erfarenheter av alkoholens och narkotikans roll i sitt liv samt återhämtningsfrämjande mål för rehabilitering och självhjälp. Avhandlingen baseras på data insamlade med hjälp av str

Background. Otitis media (OM) is the most common childhood bacterial infection and also the leading cause of conductive hearing loss in children. Currently, there is an urgent need for developing novel therapeutic agents for treating OM based on full understanding of molecular pathogenesis in the areas of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and animal model studies in OM. Objective. To prov

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) 'pain sensitivity' haplotypes and chronic widespread pain (CWP) in two distinct cohorts. Methods Cases of CWP and controls free of pain were selected from two population-based studies: the Epidemiology of Functional Disorders study (EPIFUND) (UK) and the European Male Ageing Study (E

Objective Neuropsychiatric events occur unpredictably in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and most biomarker associations remain to be prospectively validated. This study examined a disease inception cohort of 1047 SLE patients to determine which autoantibodies at enrolment predicted subsequent neuropsychiatric events. Methods Patients with a recent SLE diagnosis were assessed prospectively for