PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation of estrogen receptor (ER) gene polymorphism to dry eye syndrome in postmenopausal women. METHODS: Xba I and Pvu II polymorphism of ER gene were studied by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 65 patients with dry eye syndrome and 73 with controls in postmenopausal women. RESULTS: There was a significant difference

The main objective of this PhD thesis, "An Aesthetics of Sexual Difference? On Art and Artistry in Swedish Handicraft of the 1920s and 1990s", is to investigate the field of handicraft in relation to a wider field of cultural production. Its aim is to contribute to a mapping of interrelated outlines of handicraft and art based on empirical studies of artistic creation in two local Swedish handicra

Popular Abstract in SwedishAvhandlingen syftar till att studera svenska föreställningar om USA och det amerikanska och genom dem den svenska självbilden och olika visioner om den svenska framtiden i den offentliga debatten under perioden c:a 1900-1939, då USA var omdiskuterat som en mycket betydelsefull ny nation men ännu inte erkänt som en obestridlig supermakt. Den söker visa hur föreställningarThe aim of this thesis is to study Swedish notions of the USA and of things American and through them the Swedish self-image and the ideas about the Swedish future as seen in public debate in the period c. 1900-1939, when the USA was the subject of a good deal of discussion as an up-and-coming nation of great importance but was not yet recognized as an indisputable super power. It tries to demonst

The phylogenetic relationships of the lichenised ascomycete family Stereocaulaceae were investigated with partial beta-tubulin, partial glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and SSU rDNA sequence data. Due to the marked length variation in the SSU rDNA sequences, the analyses were performed with direct optimization. The combined analysis of the beta-tubulin, GAPDH and SSU rDNA sequences

Popular Abstract in Swedish Syftet med denna studie är att förbättra den nuvarande svenska konflikttekniken [TCT] inom området fordon - fotgängarekonflikter. Den nuvarande definitionen av konflikters allvarlighetsgrad verkar ge färre allvarliga konflikter än den borde, särskilt när den relevanta trafikanten (RRU) är en fotgängare. Ett annat mål är att tillämpa den svenska konflikttekniken i JordanThis study is aimed at improving the current Swedish Traffic conflicts Technique [TCT] in relation to vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. The present definition of conflict severity appears to produce less severe conflicts than they might be, particularly if the relevant road user (RRU) is the pedestrian. Another aim is to apply the Swedish TCT in Jordan as a method for evaluating safety conditions at j

We present and analyze low-rank channel estimators for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems using the frequency correlation of the channel. Low-rank approximations based on the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) have been proposed, but these suffer from poor performance when the channel is not sample spaced. We apply the theory of optimal rank-reduction to linear minimum mean-sq

This paper reports on a novel design for a high-brightness quantum-well AlGaInP laser-diode system operating at 635 nm. The spatial coherence of two broad area laser diodes is improved using spatial filtering and optical feedback from a narrow mirror stripe on each laser. To increase power, the outputs from the two systems are passively combined using a polarizing beam splitter. The result is a co

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the HD gene. Both excitotoxicity and oxidative stress have been proposed to play important roles in the pathogenesis of HD. Since no effective treatment is available, this study was designed to explore the therapeutic potential of erythropoietin (EPO), a cytokine that has been found

We present an investigation of the quasibinary systems CoIn3-xZnx and CoGa3-xZnx which were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction experiments and, in the case of CoGa3-xZnx, additionally by neutron powder diffraction experiments. The limiting compositions were found to be x=0.81(2) and x=0.73(2) for COIn3-xZnx and CoGa3-xZnx, respectively. The isotypic binary compounds CoIn3 and CoGa3 cr

Directed and elliptic flow of pi(0) - decay photons in 158 A GeV Pb+Pb collisions has been studied near midrapidity in an analysis of data obtained with the photon spectrometer LEDA of the WA98 experiment at the CERN SPS. Preliminary results on the rapidity and transverse momentum dependence of the flow have been obtained for various centrality classes for p(T) > 0.2 GeV/c and 2.3 < y < 2.9. The r

A systems analysis approach was used to assess farmscale nutrient and trace element sustainability by combining full-scale field experiments with specific studies of nutrient release from mineral weathering and trace-element cycling. At the Ojebyn dairy farm in northern Sweden, a farm-scale case study including phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn) was run to compare organic and conventiona

Neutrophils migrate to infected mucosal sites that they protect against invading pathogens. Their interaction with the epithelial barrier is controlled by CXC chemokines and by their receptors. This study examined the change in susceptibility to urinary tract infection (UTI) after deletion of the murine interleukin 8 receptor homologue (mIL-8Rh). Experimental UTIs in control mice stimulated an epi

This paper presents global high-level synthesis (HLS) approach which addresses the problem of synthesis of conditional behaviors under resource constraints. In proposed methodology, the conditional behaviors are represented by hierarchical conditional dependency graphs (HCDG) and synthesized using derived constraints programming (CP) models. Our synthesis methods exploit multicycle operations and

Direct electron transfer (DET) was shown between the heme containing enzyme theophylline oxidase (ThO) and the surface of both graphite and gold electrodes. As proof on graphite a steady state current for theophylline was recorded using the electrode modified with adsorbed ThO. The electrode showed a Michaelis–Menten-like response to theophylline with a detection limit of 0.2 mM and a Michaelis–Me

Road roughness is a major source of vehicle fatigue. To improve the understanding of vehicle durability, statistical methods are applied to characterise measured road profiles. Different statistical road models are used to generate corresponding synthetic road profiles. Vehicle fatigue is assessed utilising a simple quarter-vehicle model in combination with the Palmgren-Miner damage hypothesis, Ba