The main tenet of immunoecology is that individual variation in immune responsiveness is caused by the costs of immune responses to the hosts. Oxidative damage resulting from the excessive production of reactive oxygen species during immune response is hypothesized to form one of such costs. We tested this hypothesis in experimental coccidian infection model in greenfinches Carduelis chloris. Admi

Gaucher disease (GD) patients cannot metabolize glycosphingolipids properly due to deficiency of the enzyme glucosylceramidase (GCase). The lack of animal model for GD has hindered comprehensive investigation of disease mechanisms and also the development of curative treatment strategies such as hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) targeted gene therapy. Previous GCase deficient mice have either been let

Key stereoelectronic properties of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans [FeFe]-hydrogenase (DdH) were investigated by quantum mechanical description of its complete inorganic core, which includes a Fe6S6 active site (the H-cluster), as well as two ancillary Fe4S4 assemblies (the F and F' clusters). The partially oxidized, active-ready form of DdH is able to efficiently bind dihydrogen, thus starting H-2 ox

A nonionic lamellar phase was prepared using C10E3 in buffer solution at pH = 7.6. A suitable T4DNA concentration around 5 wt % was immobilized in a lamellar phase with 40 wt % C10E3. The mixed system was investigated at two temperatures, 25 and 5 degrees C by using cryo-fracture TEM direct imaging, fluorescence microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. The surprising results where obtained sho

The formation of planets depends on the underlying protoplanetary disc structure, which in turn influences both the accretion and migration rates of embedded planets. The disc itself evolves on time scales of several Myr, during which both temperature and density profiles change as matter accretes onto the central star. Here we used a detailed model of an evolving disc to determine the growth of p

The Integrated Design Process (IDP) was developed to streamline the design process of (solar integrated) low-energy buildings. One of the biggest differences with the traditional design process is the involvement of engineers and other consultants right from the early design stage. Although the IDP has been fully developed in theory with clear and general descriptions, the practical application of

We present an extensive rheology study of the wormlike micelle system lecithin-water-cyclohexane. In this system the micelles are really wormlike, meaning that there are no signs of micellar branching, as it has previously been demonstrated by NMR self-diffusion experiments (R. Angelico, U. Olsson, G. Palazzo and A. Ceglie, Phys. Rev. Lett., 1998, 81, 2823). Wormlike micelles break and recombine,

Abstract in UndeterminedWe present a Monte Carlo algorithm for Hamiltonicity detection in an n-vertex undirected graph running in O*(1.657(n)) time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first superpolynomial improvement on the worst case runtime for the problem since the O*(2(n)) bound established for TSP almost fifty years ago (Bellman 1962, Held and Karp 1962). It answers in part the first

Age and sex are of importance in the development of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), and the disease is most common in postmenopausal women. Skeletal complications are well known at an advanced stage of PHPT, although the impact on bone mineral density (BMD) is evident in patients with mild disease. This study examines the prevalence of PHPT in elderly men and its impact on BMD. Calcium homeost

Popular Abstract in Swedish Teamarbete är en populär arbetsform inom hälso- och sjukvården och teamarbete anses kunna göra sjukvården både effektivare och säkrare. Detta gäller inte minst för arbete med kirurgi på operationssal. På operationssalen möts narkosläkare, narkossjuksköterskor, kirurger, operationssjuksköterskor och undersköterskor i olika konstellationer för att tillsammans behandla patThe topic of this thesis is teamwork in healthcare. Healthcare is often described as complex. This description is more appropriate now than ever with the extensive specialization that has taken place in recent decades resulting in increasingly specialized physicians and nurses. While this specialization has made it possible to cure even sicker patients, it has also resulted in less overlapping kno

In dim light, scarcity of photons typically leads to poor vision. Nonetheless, many animals show visually guided behavior with dim environments. We investigated the signaling properties of photoreceptors of the dark active cockroach (Periplaneta americana) using intracellular and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to determine whether they show selective functional adaptations to dark. Expectedly,

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common, dangerous and interesting. This review includes a general background on UTIs and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis. In addition, we discuss UTI susceptibility and especially the effect of genetic variation on innate immunity. The symptoms of acute pyelonephritis are caused by the innate immune response and inflammation in the urinary tract decreases re

Background: A unique feature of alveolar mast cells is their low high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) expression. Recent discoveries in uncontrolled asthma suggest that the appearance of FcεRI-expressing alveolar mast cells may be a novel disease-specific feature of allergic asthma. This study investigates whether increased FcεRI-expressing alveolar mast cells are present in patients with mild aller

A series of photosensitizers for NiO-based dye-sensitized solar cells is presented. Three model compounds containing a triphenylamine donor appended to a boron dipyrromethene (bodipy) chromophore have been successfully prepared and characterised using emission spectroscopy, electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry, to ultimately direct the design of dyes with more complex structures. Carboxyli

Mosasaurs are secondarily aquatic squamates that became the dominant marine reptiles in the Late Cretaceous about 98-66 million years ago. Although early members of the group possessed body shapes similar to extant monitor lizards, derived forms have traditionally been portrayed as long, sleek animals with broadened, yet ultimately tapering tails. Here we report an extraordinary mosasaur fossil fr

Extracellular High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) has been associated with acute and chronic inflammatory conditions. However, little is known about HMGB1 in necrotizing bacterial infections. We hypothesized that the local HMGB1 response is excessive in severe soft tissue infections (STIs), which are characterized by necrosis and hyperinflammation. To explore this, tissue biopsies were collected fro

We show theoretically that the poor can benefit from price changes induced by higher income inequality. As the number of poor increases, the market for products aimed toward the poor grows, and such products become more profitable. As a result, there are circumstances where an increase in income inequality associates with higher purchasing power of the poor. Using cross-country data on the price o