Certain kidney diseases are associated with complement activation although a renal triggering factor has not been identified. Here we demonstrated that renin, a kidney-specific enzyme, cleaves C3 into C3b and C3a, in a manner identical to the C3 convertase. Cleavage was specifically blocked by the renin inhibitor aliskiren. Renin-mediated C3 cleavage and its inhibition by aliskiren also occurred i

Background/aim: Mesenteric venous thrombosis is a rare lethal disease. The main aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants and vitamin K antagonists in mesenteric venous thrombosis patients. Methods: Retrospective study of 102 mesenteric venous thrombosis patients treated between 2004 and 2017 at a center with a conservative medical first ap

Objective: The focus of this study was to determine if there is any significant difference in academic achievement for girls and boys with a cleft compared to the general population of Swedish students at graduation from compulsory school. Design: A retrospective population-based study using data obtained from the Swedish Medical Birth Register that was linked to the Swedish School–Grade Register.

Prolonged hyperglycemia in poorly controlled diabetes leads to an increase in reactive glucose metabolites that covalently modify proteins by non-enzymatic glycation reactions. Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is one of the proteins that becomes glycated in hyperglycemia. The impact of glycation on apoA-I protein structure and function in lipid and glucose metabolism w

Introduction: Endometriosis is a benign disease that affects women of reproductive age. Laparoscopic excision of endometriotic implants is considered one of the most effective therapeutic options. The disease and its treatment can have a major impact on psychosexual well-being but this is often overlooked as most studies focus on pain instead of sexuality in a holistic approach. The aim of this st

Imaging is an indispensable tool for brain tumour diagnosis, surgical planning, and follow-up. Definite diagnosis, however, often demands histopathological analysis of microscopic features of tissue samples, which have to be obtained by invasive means. A non-invasive alternative may be to probe corresponding microscopic tissue characteristics by MRI, or so called ‘microstructure imaging’. The prom

Objectives: Improved prediction modeling in osteoarthritis (OA) may encourage risk reduction through calculation of individual and population lifetime risks. There are currently no prediction models for hand OA. Thus, we aimed to 1) develop a prediction model for hand OA in men and 2) to contrast its discriminative performance to a prediction model for lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary

Some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are known carcinogens and workplace PAH exposure may increase the risk of cancer. Monitoring early cancer-related changes can indicate whether the exposure is carcinogenic. Here, we enrolled 151 chimney sweeps, 152 controls, and 19 creosote-exposed male workers from Sweden. We measured urinary PAH metabolites using LC/MS/MS, the cancer-related markers te

Phthalate esters, suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals, are used in a wide range of applications. Because phthalate esters are not covalently bound, they can easily leach into the indoor environment and associate to dust particles. Thus, exposure may occur through inhalation, ingestion, or contact with the skin. However, it is unclear to what degree indoor dust contributes to the daily intake

Denna rapport innehåller resultat från en enkät som i november 2016 skickadestill organisationer med social och omsorgsinriktning inom det civila samhället.Frågorna gällde hur dessa organisationer tar sig an frågor om uppföljning, kvalitetsmätningoch utvärdering, kort sagt: deras utvärderingspraktik. Utskicket tilldrygt 1200 adressater gav 416 svar.Sammanfattningsvis visar vår enkätstudie att utvä

This paper introduces the concept of aspirational talk to examine the constitutive features of place brand communication. Aspirational talk builds on a performative view of communication and is characterised by a gap between future-oriented visionary talk and concrete action. The study explores place brand communication as aspirational talk through a qualitative case study of how place branding is

Partially premixed combustion aims to reduce NOx and particulate matter emission without fuel consumption penalty. Low temperature reactions are important for the partially premixed combustion. In the current study, a self-adaptive strategy is introduced to predict the motoring pressure by means of an equivalent isentropic index. The start of the low temperature reactions is detected when the pres

Purpose: To investigate the outcome following adjuvant doxorubicin and ifosfamide in a prospective non-randomised study based on a soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patient subgroup defined by specific morphological characteristics previously shown to be at a high-risk of metastatic relapse. The expected 5-year cumulative incidence of metastases in patients with this risk profile has previously been repor

This Letter presents a search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of new (pseudo)scalar particles, H→aa, where the a particle has a mass in the range 20–60 GeV, and where one of the a bosons decays into a pair of photons and the other to a pair of gluons. The search is performed in event samples enhanced in vector-boson fusion Higgs boson production by requiring two jets with large inva

Objectives The aim of this study was to study intestinal fatty acid binding protein (i-FABP) as a potential biomarker in predicting severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods In a prospective multicenter cohort study, plasma levels of i-FABP were measured in 402 patients with AP. Severity of AP was determined based on the 1992 Atlanta Classification. Results Admission levels of plasma i-FABP wer

Objective: Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) commonly share hyperactive JAK-STAT signaling affecting hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and their progeny. The JAK1/2 inhibitor Ruxolitinib has remarkable clinical efficacy, including spleen reduction, improvement of constitutional symptoms, and bone marrow (BM) fibrosis reversal. Whether this is due to inhibition of JAK2-mutated