Search results

Numerous microscopic studies of coccidian oocysts from avian feces have become the basis for species identification. In contrast, molecular studies of wild birds' Coccidia are still in their infancy and are mostly based on DNA extracted from the blood stages of these parasites. Linking microscopic and molecular data requires a method that reliably extracts DNA from single oocysts with parallel det

This doctoral thesis comprises a critical edition of a previously unpublished manuscript from the late seventeenth century, which is housed in Lund University Library. The manuscript consists of copies of eighty-eight letters and other documents in Latin. The originals were, in most cases, written by country vicars from Scania, a Swedish province that until 1658 was part of Denmark. The identity o

It is well-known that the participation in a design process can be experienced as being so meaningful that the participation in itself overshadows even the result of that process. The participants in this design project represent a user group that often use products in which functional value is pre-eminent: people with disabilities. Thereby special attention has been given to the concepts of stigm

Measuring the thermopower of a confined quantum system reveals important information about its excitation spectrum. Our simulations show how this kind of transport spectroscopy is able to extract a clear signal for the onset of Wigner localization in a nanowire segment. This demonstrates that thermopower measurements provide a tool for investigating complex many-body quantum effects, which is less

Multimeric lactosides based on carbohydrate scaffolds with valencies ranging from 1 to 4 and different linker lengths were synthesized by a copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). The binding affinities and crosslinking abilities of the new "click clusters" toward biologically relevant galectins (gal-1, gal-3) and peanut lectin were evaluated by fluorescent polarization assay (FPA) an

In a number of autoimmune diseases, for example, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, it is known that autoantibodies are present before the clinical onset. Recently we have shown that autoantibodies can be found many years before symptom onset in primary Sjögren's syndrome. This implies that screening for autoantibodies may be used to identify individuals at risk of developing s

Originally studied in relation to aging and cancer research, telomerase is now also investigated in relation to psychiatric disorders and treatments. Based on emerging clinical and preclinical data, we hypothesise that telomerase activation could represent a novel element mediating the mechanism of action of certain psychopharmacological interventions (e.g. antidepressants, lithium and antipsychot

Many bacterial pathogens have developed methods to overcome the defences of the host innate immune system. One such defence is the release of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Histones have been found to function as AMPs, in addition to their main biological function of packaging and organising DNA into nucleosomes. In this study, the Gram-positive anaerobic coccus Finegoldia magna was found to bind

To evaluate the natural history of untreated complete or partial scapholunate (SL) ligament tears associated with displaced distal radius fractures.

The steroid hormone metabolite of vitamin D3, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D3), promotes osteogenic activity and regulates calcium and phosphate metabolism, which are actions regarded as classical vitamin D-regulated functions. Besides its role in these processes, 1,25D3 also seems implicated in the host defense against microbial/pro-inflammatory attacks. Low serum levels of vitamin D3 (vitamin

The intestine presents a huge surface area to the outside environment, a property that is of critical importance for its key functions in nutrient digestion, absorption, and waste disposal. As such, the intestine is constantly exposed to dietary and microbial-derived foreign antigens, to which immune cells within the mucosa must suitably respond to maintain intestinal integrity, while also providi

BACKGROUND: The International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) is a seven-item hearing-specific questionnaire. It was developed with the purpose of evaluating the efficacy of hearing aid rehabilitation. Few psychometric properties have been presented for a Swedish translation of the IOI-HA. Furthermore, previous studies have examined the IOI-HA in mainly sensorineural hearing losses, an

The pH and salt dependent self-association of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) has been studied extensively, mainly by scattering techniques, but it has proven difficult to distinguish oligomerization from long-range interactions. Because HEWL is the principal model system in studies of protein crystallization, it is important to establish its oligomerization behavior unambiguously. Here, we address

Aqueous solutions of proteins and oppositely charged polyelectrolytes were studied at different polyelectrolyte chain length, ionic strength, and protein-protein interaction potential as a function of the polyelectrolyte concentration. One of the protein models used represented lysozyme in aqueous environment. The model systems were solved by Monte Carlo simulations, and their properties were anal

Images by cryo-transmission electron microscopy show two types of structure in dilute aqueous mixtures of amylose (AM) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS): Loose fibrous networks and unilamellar vesicles. Neither of the structures was observed in reference solutions of AM or SDS alone. It is proposed that both types of structure consist of inclusion complexes where SDS molecules are enclosed in V-typ

Leukotrienes (LTs) and prostaglandins (PGs) are metabolites of arachidonic acid that play major roles in various inflammatory conditions. The release of these mediators, by cells recruited to or present at the site of inflammation, modulate/influence the magnitude of the inflammatory response. A better understanding of eicosanoids and how their receptors trigger intracellular signaling during infl

High-throughput proteomics, based on the microarray platform, requires stable, highly functional components that will yield a highly sensitive read-out of low, abundance protein. Although antibodies are the best characterized binding molecules for this purpose, only a fraction of them appear to behave satisfactorily in the chip format. Therefore, high demands need to be placed on their molecular d

Electrostatic interactions in proteins can be probed experimentally through determination of residue-specific acidity constants, We describe here triple-resonance NMR techniques for direct determination of lysine and arginine side-chain protonation states in proteins. The experiments are based on detection of nonexchangeable protons over the full range of pH and temperature and therefore are well