Capital assets in local infrastructure constitute an overbearing concern for society, with the generation of benefits for the population being its prime purpose. Nevertheless, the conditions for the capital investment activities within local governments are diffuse. Which different kinds of investment goals actually exist? How to explain the priority of different capital investment goals? What exp

Today, innovation is a key word for many universities, as it constitutes an important part of most universities’ public and scientific interaction with society. Many universities are striving to increase the number of innovations spun out. At many universities, innovations are thought of as being sprung from research projects and generated by researchers. However, Sandström (2014) claims that whil

The aims of the present thesis were to explore and describe elderly people’s morbidity and experience of symptoms in relation to life satisfaction, personality and mortality. (I, II and III) To learn from the individuals who have high life satisfaction in spite of the fact that they have concurrent medical diagnoses and conditions. (I and III) To reason how positive factors and strengths might hel

Insulin secretion is enhanced upon the binding of Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) to its receptor (GLP1R) in pancreatic β cells. Although a reduced expression of GLP1R in pancreatic islets from type 2 diabetic patients and hyperglycaemic rats has been established, it is still unknown if this is caused by differential DNA methylation of GLP1R in pancreatic islets of type 2 diabetic patients.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains a controversial entity. Specific clusters of MetS components - rather than MetS per se - are associated with accelerated arterial ageing and with cardiovascular (CV) events. To investigate whether the distribution of clusters of MetS components differed cross-culturally, we studied 34,821 subjects from 12 cohorts from 10 European countries and one coho

A dysregulation in the metabolism of lipids may be an early marker of autoimmunity in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). It would be of general importance to identify metabolic patterns that would predict the risk for T1D later in life. The aim of this study was to perform a prospective evaluation of glutamine and phospholipids levels in Brazilian first degree relatives (FDR) of patients with T1D in a mean in

Background: Physical activity on prescription (PAP) is a successful intervention for increasing physical activity among patients with a sedentary lifestyle. The method seems to be sparsely used by general practitioners (GPs) and there is limited information about GPs' attitudes to counselling using PAP as a tool. The aim of the study was to explore and understand the meaning of prescribing physica

Denna studie behandlar fuktförhållandena i regnexponerade träkonstruktioner, d.v.s. träkonstruktioner som når höga fuktkvoter. Särskilt fokus var på mikroklimatet (klimatet på träets yta) och materialklimatet (träets fuktkvot) i anslutningar. Metoder för att mäta mikroklimatet, d.v.s. våttider på en träyta och varaktighet av vatten i spalter, utvecklades liksom en metod för att mäta fuktkvot nära This thesis concerns the moisture conditions in rain exposed wood structures, i.e. wood exposed to high moisture levels. The focus was on the microclimate (the climate at the wood surface) and the material climate (the wood moisture content) in joints. Methods for determination of microclimate, i.e. the duration of moisture on a wooden surface and the duration of water trapped in gaps between two

Regime shifts in lake ecosystems can occur in response to both abrupt and continuous climate change, and the imprints they leave in palaeolimnological records allow us to investigate and better understand patterns and processes governing ecological changes on geological time scales. This thesis aims at investigating palaeolimnological records of regime shifts in lakes during the Holocene to explor

The immune system is a promising target for novel therapies that are aiming at reducing cardiovascular diseases. Autoimmune responses against modified low density lipoprotein (LDL) are believed to promote development of atherosclerosis. Proinflammatory immune responses can be counterbalanced by immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs). Immunizations of hypercholesterolemic mice with oxidized L