Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress might be considered the key mechanisms of aging. Insulin resistance (IR) is a phenomenon related to inflammatory and oxidative stress. We tested the hypothesis that IR may be associated with cellular senescence, as measured by leukocyte telomere length (LTL), and arterial stiffness (core feature of arterial aging), as measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave

This licentiate thesis focuses on clustered parametric models for estimation of line spectra, when the spectral content of a signal source is assumed to exhibit some form of grouping. Different from previous parametric approaches, which generally require explicit knowledge of the model orders, this thesis exploits sparse modeling, where the orders are implicitly chosen. For line spectra, the non-l

In this study, we quantify the effect of uncertainties in climate projections on an impact model (IPS) that describes the temperature-dependent swarming and development of Ips typographus. Three forcing climate data sets (ensembles) were used: (1) E-Obs gridded observations, (2) ERA-40 reanalysis data downscaled by eight regional climate models (RCMs) and (3) regional scenarios from one RCM forced

We report on a study on controlled injection of electrons into the accelerating phase of a plasma wakefield accelerator by tailoring the target density distribution using two independent sources of gas. The tailored density distribution is achieved experimentally by inserting a narrow nozzle, with an orifice diameter of only 400 mu m, into a jet of gas supplied from a 2 mm diameter nozzle. The com

In this paper we present a model of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and fluxes in mire water based on the convection-dispersion equation. The dynamics of sorbed, potentially soluble organic carbon (SPSOC) in the peat matrix are simulated in parallel with DOC. First, the model is applied solely to stagnant water conditions in order to interpret the results of laboratory peat incub

Partitioning and mapping are important design decisions in exploiting the parallelism of programs that are to be run on systems with multiple processing elements. In this paper we introduce a fast, incremental approach for mapping dynamic dataflow programs to multiprocessor systems. We use causation traces and architecture descriptions as input for the mapping process that devises several heuristi

Union density remains very high in Sweden. The significantly raised fees for union unemployment funds in January 2007 were followed by an unprecedented decline in the number of union members in modern Swedish history. In the course of two years union density dropped by 6 percentage points: from 77% in 2006 to 71% in 2008. As a result, the density of employers’ associations today is much higher tha

The suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) are well-known negative regulators of cytokine receptor signaling. SOCS6 is one of eight members of the SOCS family of proteins. Similar to other SOCS proteins, SOCS6 consists of an uncharacterized extended N-terminal region followed by an SH2 domain and a SOCS box. Unlike other SOCS proteins, SOCS6 is mainly involved in negative regulation of receptor

In many countries, current research policy is dominated by managerialism and excellence, manifesting the aim of making universities into national strategic assets in the globally competitive knowledge economy. This article discusses these policy trends and their mirror in recent developments in public funding for academic research, with special attention to Sweden. A review of the language in thre

Resilience of ecological communities to perturbation is important in the face of increased global change from anthropogenic stressors. Monitoring is required to detect the impact of, and recovery from, perturbations, and before-after-control-impact (BACI) analysis provides a powerful framework in this regard. However, species in a community are not observed with perfect detection, and occupancy an

The influence on the fatigue crack growth behaviour of a short edge crack due to different configurations of a nearby located low angle grain boundary is investigated under quasi-static and plane strain conditions. The geometry is modelled by dislocation dipole elements in a boundary element approach, and the plasticity is modelled by discrete dislocations. The crack is assumed to grow in a single

OBJECTIVE Patients with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) express autoantibodies against the 65-kDa isoform of GAD (GADA). Intervention with recombinant human GAD65 formulated with aluminium hydroxide (GAD-alum) given twice subcutaneously to LADA patients at intervals of 4 weeks was safe and did not compromise beta-cell function in a Phase II clinical trial. GADA affinity has been shown

The dynamic mechanical properties and acoustic damping of polyurethane (PU) foams loaded with a hyperbranched polymer (HBP) have been studied. The results show a significant modulus enhancement parallel to an increased vibration damping in the low frequency range of approximate to 1 Hz with increased amount of HBP. Furthermore, an increased acoustic damping in the frequency interval of 500-1600 Hz

Suicide is a major global health problem imposing a considerable burden on populations in terms of disability-adjusted life years. There has been an increasing trend in fatal and attempted suicide in Iran over the past few decades. The aim of the current study was to assess overall, gender and social inequalities across Iran's provinces during 2006-2010.

Complex health systems make it difficult for older persons (75+) with multi-morbidity to achieve continuity of care. Case management could be one way to address this difficulty. Currently, there is a need to extend the knowledge regarding case management as experienced by those utilising the services, namely older persons (75+) with multi-morbidity. The study aimed to explore older persons' (75+)

Background: In the everyday surgical life, staff may experience that patients with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) seem reluctant to participate in alcohol intervention programs. The objective was therefore to assess acceptance of screening and intervention as well as adherence to the intervention program among emergency department (ED) and surgical patients with AUDs. Methods: A systematic literatur

Granular sands are characterized and modeled here by explicitly exploiting the discrete-continuum duality of granular matter. Grain-scale kinematics, obtained by shearing a sample under triaxial compression, are coupled with a recently proposed multiscale computational framework to model the behavior of the material without resorting to phenomenological evolution (hardening) laws. By doing this, c

With the European Commission making global leadership claims in the field of audit regulation, the content of its 2010 Green Paper on 'Audit Policy: Lessons from the Crisis' warrants careful scrutiny. Important issues raised in the Green Paper include regulatory oversight, competition in the audit market, the dangers of having very few firms with the capacity to audit global transnational corporat