Thymic expression of insulin has been suggested to play a major role in negative selection of autoreactive T cells and tolerance induction against pancreatic beta cells. Furthermore, the expression of insulin in peripheral antigen-presenting cells (APC) has been clearly demonstrated but whether thymic negative selection and tolerance induction also depends on peripheral influx of self-antigens (Ag

Recent research in the field of on-line handwriting recognition has been focused on statistical systems such as Hidden Markov Models, Neural Networks or a combination of these. There are however merits of employing an approach based on template matching. The first part of this thesis presents a new strategy for parameterization of on-line handwritten character samples. A novel efficient template m

Många studier har visat på svårigheten att hantera komplexa, gränsöverskridande problem i kortsiktig projektform; likväl fortsätter politikens projektifiering. I denna artikel genomförs en empirisk studie av Malmö stads projektverksamheter i syfte att undersöka förändrande och stabiliserande effekter av projekt. Ett vidare syfte är att utveckla den statsvetenskapliga förståelsen av den ökade använ

Mitochondrial dysfunction is an important cause for neonatal liver disease. Disruption of genes encoding oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) components usually causes embryonic lethality, and thus few disease models are available. We developed a mouse model for GRACILE syndrome, a neonatal mitochondrial disease with liver and kidney involvement, caused by a homozygous BCS1L mutation (232A>G). This

The observations that hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) is located in close association to insulin granules in beta-cells and that cholesterol ester hydrolase activity is completely blunted in islets of HSL null mice made us hypothesize that the role of HSL in beta-cells is to provide cholesterol for the exocytosis of insulin. To test this hypothesis, wild type (wt) and HSL null islets were depleted

The national Swedish policy on alcohol has been eroded since the country joined the European Union (EU) in 1996, leading to a steep increase in the private import of alcohol. The paper investigates the impact on drinking patterns of the greater availability of alcohol among adolescents. Two cross-sectional data sets, collected in 2003 (n = 2,760) and 2005 (n = 2,031) in schools in southern Sweden,

S100A8/A9, a pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic protein complex, is increased in several diseases and high levels predispose to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Recently, platelet S100A8/A9 synthesis was described in mouse and humans in relation to CVD. However, the role of platelet S100A8/A9 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease with markedly increased cardiovascular morbidity, as well a

Risk management is increasingly used in dam safety and includes risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk reduction. Structural Reliability Analysis (SRA) is a probabilistic methodology that may be used in the risk assessment process. SRA has been frequently used for calibration of partial factors in limit state design codes for structures (not dams). In a reliability analysis a mathematical descrip

The proper function of mammalian mitochondria necessitates a coordinated expression of both nuclear and mitochondrial genes, most likely due to the co-evolution of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. The non-protein coding regions of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) including the D-loop, tRNA and rRNA genes form a major component of this regulated expression unit. Here we present comparative analyses of t

Two previous clinical trials investigating hypothermia as an adjunct therapy for myocardial infarction have failed. Recently a pilot study has demonstrated a significant reduction in infarct size. The aims of this study were to elucidate the effects of hypothermia on reperfusion injury and to investigate the optimal hypothermia protocol for a future clinical trial. Pigs (40-50 kg) were anesthetize