PURPOSE: To investigate whether TT virus (TTV) viral load may be used as a surrogate marker for functional immune reconstitution in HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).METHOD: Fifteen protease inhibitor-naïve HIV-infected patients were included in a longitudinal study. From each patient, three serum samples taken before HAART initiation and three samples ta

Arsenic, a carcinogen with immunotoxic effects, is a common contaminant of drinking water and certain food worldwide. We hypothesized that chronic arsenic exposure alters gene expression, potentially by altering DNA methylation of genes encoding central components of the immune system. We therefore analyzed the transcriptomes (by RNA sequencing) and methylomes (by target-enrichment next-generation

We have created devices that are extremely simple to fabricate, function without pumps, are reusable and capable of dealing with very large differences in particle sizes without clogging. Our new approach to microfluidic particle sorting is precise enough for applications in blood fractionation, cancer cell sorting, parasite detection and sample decomplexing in general. We achieve this using Deter

Flexible multibody dynamics (FMD) has found many applications in control, analysis and design of mechanical systems. FMD together with the theory of structural optimization can be used for designing multibody systems with bodies which are lighter, but stronger. Topology optimization of static structures is an active research topic in structural mechanics. However, the extension to the dynamic case

Conditional knockout mice are commonly used to study the function of specific genes in hematopoiesis. Different promoters that drive Cre expression have been utilized, with the interferon-inducible Mx1-Cre still being the most commonly used “deleter strain” in experimental hematology. However, different pitfalls associated with this system could lead to misinterpretation in functional studies. We

The last decade has witnessed a revolution in genetic technology, where genome-wide analyses, covering the majority of genetic variation, were thought to explain disease-causing mechanisms in common metabolic disorders. However, these genetic data only explain a modest proportion of the estimated heritability of type 2 diabetes and obesity and hence suggest a potential role for epigenetic variatio

The aim of this study was to determine how self-presentation is formulated in victim supporters’ narratives of their interactions with crime victims, and identify the function of the presentation of the crime victim in this self-presentation. This was done through a narrative analysis of material from 12 focus groups in which representatives of Victim Support Sweden discussed their work. A master

French is characterized by major differences between phonology and orthography. Consequently, learning the deep orthography of written French is a challenge to both first (L1) and second (L2) language learners. This empirical study focuses on the production of silent number morphology in written French and illustrates that a group of L2 learners, exposed to limited amounts of spoken French in a ty

Textile craft and textile design have always had an important social, cultural and economic impact on both individuals and societies. The cultural heritage of textiles does not end with the preservation and collection of costumes and other textiles in museums. It also includes living traditions inherited from our ancestors. Furthermore, understanding craft and craft processes are crucial when cons

Because of the vital roles of industry in sustainable development, it is essentialthat environmental management is effective in preventing pollution. To this end,environmental management systems have been implemented to a growing extent inindustry. Moreover, this Ph.D. research has demonstrated that environmentalmanagement efforts must be systematic to use environmental performanceindicators effec

In this work, we consider the problem of multi-pitch estimation using sparse heuristics and convex modeling. In general, this is a difficult non-linear optimization problem, as the frequencies belonging to one pitch often overlap the frequencies belonging to other pitches, thereby causing ambiguity between pitches with similar frequency content. The problem is further complicated by the fact that

Half the global soil carbon (C) is held in high-latitude systems. Climate change will expose these to warming and a shift towards plant communities with more labile C input. Labile C can also increase the rate of loss of native soil organic matter (SOM); a phenomenon termed ‘priming’. We investigated how warming (+1.1 °C over ambient using open top chambers) and litter addition (90 g m−2 yr−1) tre

The aggregating proteoglycans of the lectican family are important components of extracellular matrices. Aggrecan is the most well studied of these and is central to cartilage biomechanical properties and skeletal development. Key to its biological function is the fixed charge of the many glycosaminoglycan chains, that provide the basis for the viscoelastic properties necessary for load distributi

BACKGROUND: The urokinase receptor (uPAR/CD87) is highly expressed in malignant tumours. uPAR, as a GPI anchored protein, is preferentially located at the cell surface, where it interacts with its ligands urokinase (uPA) and the extracellular matrix protein vitronectin, thus promoting plasmin generation, cell-matrix interactions and intracellular signalling events. Interaction with a complex forme

What does it mean to be close to nature? This question is examined in this video work based on 9 short clips. The first clip of a woody landscape was recorded outside of Taivalkoski, Koillismaa, Finland using an Intenso Viddy, a cheap Video Messenger.The clip, 30 seconds in duration, of the landscape was transferred from the Viddy to a laptop. When played on the laptop the screen was filmed with t

Each of the approximately 500 ommatidia in the compound eye of the cladoceran crustacean Leptodora kindtii has a crystalline cone consisting of five cells. Five retinula cells are also present, one of which contributes to the distal 1–2 μm of the rhabdom only; the other four retinula cells form a continuous rhabdom. Throughout the rhabdom its cross section displays two separate halves with the axi