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Chemotaxis inhibitory protein of Staphylococcus aureus (CHIPS) is a protein that binds and blocks the C5a receptor (C5aR) and formylated peptide receptor, thereby inhibiting the immune cell recruitment associated with inflammation. If CHIPS was less reactive with existing human antibodies, it would be a promising anti-inflammatory drug candidate. Therefore, we applied directed evolution and comput

Physical activity is beneficial for the health of persons with disabilities but the levels of such activity are lower than for persons without disability. In addition the level of physical activity decreases with increasing age. For persons aging with a disability it may be a challenge to engage in physical activity, partly because of the disability and partly because of contextual barriers. One g

Background: Degraded extracellular matrix can stimulate the innate immune system via the Toll-Like Receptor-4 (TLR4). In the pancreas, syndecan-anchored heparan sulphate (HS) on the ductal epithelium can be cleaved off its protein cores by the proteases (trypsin and elastase) and potentially activate TLR4 signalling. Methods: To investigate this signalling event, a low sulphated HS (500 mu g/ml) w

The word “desertification” was introduced in 1949 by the French scientist Aubreville in his report “Climats, forêts et désertification de l´Afrique tropicale”. The concept, however, was discussed earlier by European and American scientists in terms of increased sand movements, desiccation, desert and Sahara encroachment and man made deserts. Desertification, at the beginning of last century, mea

Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) is generally regarded as one of the first proponents of modern literature in Scandinavia. The present thesis discusses the author’s breakthrough phase which took place around the year 1890. This was an era when societal modernity became established in the Scandinavian countries, and new and revolutionary ideas and norms appeared concerning society, science, and art. Hamsun

Popular Abstract in Swedish Bröstcancer är den vanligaste cancerformen hos kvinnor i Sverige. Årligen drabbas 7000 kvinnor i Sverige och cirka 1500 kvinnor dör av sin sjukdom. Bröstcancer uppkommer genom ett samspel mellan livsstil, miljö och gener. En kvinna som har en förstagradssläkting (t.ex. syster, mor) med bröstcancer har ungefär dubbelt så stor risk att drabbas av bröstcancer jämfört med eApproximately 7000 women are diagnosed and 1500 women die from breast cancer in Sweden every year. The aim of this thesis was to study the interplay of polymorphisms, hormone levels, lifestyle, and the use of concomitant medication in relation to risk and prognosis in two cohorts: one composed of young healthy women from high-risk breast cancer families and the other of breast cancer patients fro

Total levels of circulating prostate-specific antigen (tPSA) are strongly associated with prostate cancer (PCa) risk and outcome but benign prostate disease is the most frequent cause of a moderately elevated PSA level. Free PSA (fPSA) forms are independently associated with PCa risk and contribute modest diagnostic enhancements above and beyond tPSA alone. We developed an immunoassay for fPSA sub

In this study, a signal analysis framework based on the Karhunen-Loève expansion and k-means clustering algorithm is proposed for the characterisation of arteriovenous (AV) fistula’s sound recordings. The Karhunen-Loève (KL) coefficients corresponding to the directions of maximum variance were used as classification features, which were clustered applying k-means algorithm. The results showed that

TLR agonists are attractive candidate adjuvants for therapeutic cancer vaccines as they can induce a balanced humoral and T cell-mediated immune response. With a dense network of dendritic cells (DCs) and draining lymphatics, the skin provides an ideal portal for vaccine delivery. Beside direct DC activation, TLR agonists may also induce DC activation through triggering the release of inflammatory

Allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory nasal disorder in which a range of different cells participates. A variety of approaches has been used to monitor nasal inflammation objectively to investigate disease processes and to evaluate the effect of therapeutic intervention. These approaches include nasal lavage, nasal cytology, and nasal biopsy, together with the more recently established measurement

The origins of allergic asthma, particularly in infancy, remain obscure. Respiratory viral infections and allergen sensitization in early life have been associated with asthma in young children. However, a causal link has not been established. We investigated whether an influenza A infection in early life alters immune responses to house dust mite (HDM) and promotes an asthmatic phenotype later in

Macrophages (m phi) are essential for intestinal homeostasis and the pathology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but it is unclear whether discrete m phi populations carry out these distinct functions or if resident m phi change during inflammation. We show here that most resident m phi in resting mouse colon express very high levels of CX3CR1, are avidly phagocytic and MHCII hi, but are resist

In the absence of early B-cell factor 1 (EBF1), B-cell development is arrested at an uncommitted progenitor stage that exhibits increased lineage potentials. Previously, we investigated the roles of EBF1 and its DNA-binding partner Runx1 by evaluating B lymphopoiesis in single (EBF1(het) and Runx1(het)) and compound haploinsufficent (Ebf1(+/-) Runx1(+/-), ERhet) mice. Here, we demonstrate that dec

We determined A/H1N1-HA antibodies in relation to HLA-DQ genotypes and islet autoantibodies at clinical diagnosis in 1141 incident 0.7-18 years old type 1 diabetes patients diagnosed April 2009 - December 2010. Antibodies to (35) S-methionine-labeled A/H1N1 hemagglutinin were determined in a radiobinding assay in patients diagnosed before (n=325), during (n=355) and after (n=461) the October 2009

Moraxella catarrhalis is a Gram-negative human mucosal commensal and pathogen. It is a common cause of exacerbation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). During the process of infection, host colonization correlates with recognition of host molecular patterns. Importantly, in COPD patients with compromised epithelial integrity the underlying extracellular matrix is exposed and provides

Popular Abstract in Swedish Sophia Elisabeth Brenner (1659-1730) var Sveriges första stora kvinnliga poet. Hon var verksam som författare och lärd kvinna under femtio år, och var dessutom en flitig brevskrivare. Avhandlingen baseras på en inventering av bevarade brev till och från Sophia Brenner skrivna på latin, svenska, franska och italienska. Hennes nylatinska korrespondens med danske Otto SpeSophia Elisabeth Brenner (1659-1730) was Sweden's first great female poet, writing and publishing her poems over a period of fifty years. She was also, however, a prolific letter writer. The dissertation is based on an inventory of all the preserved letters to and from her written in Latin, Swedish, French and Italian. Her Neo-Latin correspondence with the Dane Otto Sperling the Younger is presen

Dendritic cells (DC) are the most potent APC in the organism. Immature dendritic cells (iDC) reside in the tissue where they capture pathogens whereas mature dendritic cells (mDC) are able to activate T cells in the lymph node. This dramatic functional change is mediated by an important genetic reprogramming. Glycosylation is the most common form of posttranslational modification of proteins and h