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BACKGROUND: Little is known about risks of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in both first-and second-generation immigrant women in Europe and other Western countries; such knowledge may help elucidate the influence of genetic versus social factors on such risks. We aimed to study both first-and second-generation immigrant women for the presence of all types of hypertension (preexisting hyperten
Background: The complex management of health needs in multimorbid patients, alongside limited cost data, presents challenges in developing cost-effective patient-care pathways. We estimated the costs of managing 171 dyads and 969 triads in Belgium, taking into account the influence of morbidity interactions on costs. Methods: We followed a retrospective longitudinal study design, using the linked
Peripheral nerve injuries in the upper limb can lead to substantial disability and pain. We aimed to assess how socioeconomic factors affect outcomes after repaired or reconstructed digital or major nerve trunk injuries in the upper limb. We identified 670 individuals, who underwent surgical nerve repair or reconstruction using sensory nerve autografts, in the Swedish National Quality Registry for
In this thesis an efficient nanowire fabrication technique, called Aerotaxy, is investigated. Traditional nanowire fabrication techniques include the use of a substrate as a point of nanowire nucleation which limits the amount of nanowires that can be produced per unit time. In contrary, Aerotaxy offers a continuous growth process, in the gasphase, which could substantially increase the rate at wh
We have studied the interaction of light with an array of vertically oriented III-V semiconductor nanowires both theoretically and experimentally. For the theoretical studies, electromagnetic modeling has been employed. This modeling shows that with proper tuning of the nanowire diameter, the absorption per volume semiconductor material can be 20 times higher in the nanowires than in a correspondi
The optical properties of III-V semiconductor nanowires for optical devices have been investigated by photoluminescence spectroscopy, cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence imaging. The material systems that have been studied include the nitrides (InN, GaN and AlN) and ternaries, and a few common phosphides and arsenides. Due to the different optical properties of the materials,
Abstract in UndeterminedThis thesis investigates the growth and application of antimonide heterostructure nanowires for low-power electronics. In the first part of the thesis, GaSb, InSb and InAsSb nanowire growth is presented, and the distinguishing features of the growth are described. It is found that the presence of Sb results in more than 50 at. % group-III concentration in the Au seed partic
This thesis focuses on charge transport in semiconductor InSb nanowire quantum devices, including the electron transport, the hole transport, and the Cooper pair transport. Devices in which InSb semiconductor nanowire quantum dots are coupled with normal metals, superconductors or the proximity effect induced topological superconductors are fabricated and measured. Firstly, we have fabricated and
The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of quantitative ultrasound of fetal lung texture analysis in predicting neonatal respiratory morbidity (NRM) in twin pregnancies. This was an ambispective study involving consecutive cases. Eligible cases included twin pregnancies between 27.0 and 38.6 weeks of gestation, for which an ultrasound image of the fetal thorax was obtained with
Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of death in both men and women. However, risk factors seem to differ for men and women and significant gaps in sex-specific knowledge exist. Mitochondria are critical for cardiomyocytes and in this study, we investigated the role of baseline mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) in HF incidence in middle-aged women and its possible role in the association b
Objectives: We aimed to explore the association between various physiological factors and pyelonephritis in parous women. Methods: Swedish nationwide registers were used to identify 1,073,467 parous women aged 15-50 years. The study period began in 1997 and ended in 2018, or at the first incidence of pyelonephritis, death, or emigration. Cox proportional hazards methods were used to determine haza
BACKGROUND: Studies in men of European ancestry suggest prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a marker of early prostate cancer (PCa) development that may help to risk-stratify men earlier in life.METHODS: We examined PSA levels in men measured up to 10+ years before a PCa diagnosis in association with PCa risk in 2,245 cases and 2,203 controls of African American, Latino, Japanese, Native Hawaiian,
Purpose Vasectomy is a commonly used form of male sterilization, and some studies have suggested that it may be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, including more aggressive forms of the disease. We investigated the prospective association of vasectomy with prostate cancer in a large European cohort, with a focus on high-grade and advanced-stage tumors, and death due to prostate
Optimizing the benefits versus harms of prostate-specific antigen screening can be achieved through stratifying screening and biopsy. This clinical consultation guide provides the scientific background and evidence-based recommendations.
Kallikreins are a family of serine proteases with a range of tissue-specific and essential proteolytic functions. Among the best studied are the prostate tissue-specific KLK2 and KLK3 genes and their secreted protease products, human kallikrein 2, hk2, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Members of the so-called classic kallikreins, these highly active trypsin-like serine proteases play establish
