Adenosine triphosphatases (ATPases) of double-stranded (ds) DNA archaeal viruses are structurally related to the AAA+ hexameric helicases and translocases. These ATPases have been implicated in viral life cycle functions such as DNA entry into the host, and viral genome packaging into preformed procapsids. We summarize bioinformatical analyses of a wide range of archaeal ATPases, and review the bi

The quinoline-3-carboxamides (Q compounds) are a family of small molecules that ameliorate various types of murine inflammatory autoimmune disease. One such compound has also demonstrated anti-tumor effects in murine tumor models. Several Q compounds have reached clinical trials and one compound, laquinimod, is currently in phase III clinical trial for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The Q

We report on a single-molecule readout scheme on total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) demonstrating a detection limit in the low fM regime for short (30-mer) unlabeled DNA strands. Detection of unlabeled DNA targets is accomplished by letting them mediate the binding of suspended fluorescently labeled DNA-modified small unilamellar vesicles (Ø approximately 100 nm) to a DNA-mo

Abstract Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication that affects 3-8% of all pregnancies leading to maternal- and fetal morbidity and mortality. The etiology is still not known in detail. Previous findings have shown an up regulation of the genes coding for fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in preeclamptic placentas. The cell-free HbF protein was shown to be accumulating in the vascular lumen, to induc

Beamforming is an important feature of 60 GHz communications. We present an analysis of the influence of beamforming in indoor ultrawideband radio channels measured in the mm-wave 60 GHz band. The performance of narrowband and wideband direction-based beamformers is investigated in terms of improving channel metrics such as the delay spread, excess delay, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The p

A constitutive model for ductile porous material is formulated within the thermodynamic framework. A yield function based on the lower-bound solution for a cylindrical void model embedded in a plastic matrix is proposed. The new yield function is compared to the classical Gurson yield function using cell model calculations. The results reveal that the proposed yield function agreed well with the p

BackgroundRetinal ischemia results in a progressive degeneration of neurons and a pathological activation of glial cells, resulting in vision loss. In the brain, progressive damage after ischemic insult has been correlated to neuroinflammatory processes involving microglia. Galectin-3 has been shown to mediate microglial responses to ischemic injury in the brain. Therefore, we wanted to explore th

Regular physical activity is understood to be an essential prerequisite for human health for both psychological and physiological well-being. However, there are differences in participation in physical activity among different groups in society, and participation in physical activity can also change over a lifetime. The general aim of this thesis was to investigate how different life-change events

Probing molecules using perdeuteration (i.e deuteration in which all hydrogen atoms are replaced by deuterium) is extremely useful in a wide range of biophysical techniques. In the case of lipids, the synthesis of the biologically relevant unsaturated perdeuterated lipids is challenging and not usually pursued. In this work, perdeuterated phospholipids and sterols from the yeast Pichia pastoris gr

Water-soluble chlorophyll-binding proteins (WSCPs) are interesting model systems for the study of pigment-pigment and pigment-protein interactions. While class IIa WSCP has been extensively studied by spectroscopic and theoretical methods, a comprehensive spectroscopic study of class IIb WSCP was lacking so far despite the fact that its structure was determined by X-ray crystallography. In this pa

Silicon dimer-containing reconstructions on Si(100) can be induced by submonolayer amounts of rare earth (RE) metals. The tilt of dimer bonds in such reconstructions can be controlled by the coverage and electronic properties of RE adsorbates. In this study, we have utilized improved high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy with the synchrotron radiation and density functional theory (DFT) calcu

Background: We recently demonstrated that increased expression of the RNA-binding protein RBM3 is associated with a favourable prognosis in breast cancer. The aim of this study was to examine the prognostic value of RBM3 mRNA and protein expression in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and the cisplatin response upon RBM3 depletion in a cisplatin-sensitive ovarian cancer cell line. Methods: RBM3 mRNA

Abstract Disorders in mineral metabolism and secondary hyperparathyroidism (sHPT) are well known complications in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) persists in a majority of patients after kidney transplantation (KTx). Parathyroidec-tomy (PTX) is indicated in patients who are resistant to medical therapy both before and after KTx. Overall aims of this thesis we

Political candidates often believe they must focus their campaign efforts on a small number of swing voters open for ideological change. Based on the wisdom of opinion polls, this might seem like a good idea. But do most voters really hold their political attitudes so firmly that they are unreceptive to persuasion? We tested this premise during the most recent general election in Sweden, in which

The broad aim of this thesis is to explain the fundamental themes and function of Swedish field sermons and field prayers, and so to re-examine the view in earlier research that field sermons were primarily ‘Old Testamentary’ in nature. Inspired by more recent international research, I hold that the sermons’ basic functions were twofold: discipline and comfort. What matters, is to understand the d