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The immune system is remarkable in many ways. It exerts immunity to defend us from foreign pathogens, while it is also responsible for maintaining tolerance to avoid autoimmune diseases and allergy. This thesis includes three separate papers concerning both tolerance and immunity. In paper I we report that repeated antigen stimulation results in an increased proportion of Foxp3+ cells in the CD4+
Popular Abstract in Swedish Avhandlingen visar två olika vägar för att skapa brukarinflytande, den kollektiv- och den individinriktade vägen. Den kollektiva inriktningen innebär att medborgarna endast kan utöva inflytande via folkvalda företrädare, medan den individinriktade vägen ger möjlighet att samverka direkt med politiker och tjänstemän i den kommunala organisationen. Två olika teorier har aThe dissertation shows two different means or directions for creating civic participation: the collective and the individual way. The collective way is characterized by the citizen's ability to participate only through elected representatives while the individual way makes it possible for inhabitants to participate face to face with politicians and local civil servants. Two different theories hav
Earlier studies on women's health and drinking and the contemporary associated risk factors have highlighted the need for more complex approaches in understanding the pathways into women's problem drinking. Research, from both social science and from occupational therapy models, has underlined the importance of deconstructing the often dichotomized way of investigating women's daily lives (such as
Objective: To delineate the health profile in middle-aged women with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: The Women's Health in the Lund Area (WHILA) project covered all women born 1935 - 1945 ( n = 10,766) living in the Lund area; 6917 (64.2%) women completed a generic questionnaire and underwent physical and laboratory assessments. Of the 6917 women, 6416 were postmenopausal women, of whom 104
CK2, an acronym derived from the misnomer "casein kinase 2", denotes a ubiquitous and extremely pleiotropic Ser/Thr protein kinase, the holoenzyme of which is composed of two catalytic (alpha and/or alpha') and two noncatalytic beta subunits acting as a docking platform and the multifarious functions of which are still incompletely understood. By combining affinity chromatography and mass spectrom
Mercury and selenium in whole blood and serum of 245 17-year old Swedish adolescents were analysed. The relationships between these elements' concentrations and the consumption of fish as well as the number of dental amalgam fillings were studied. The geometric means (GM) of the mercury concentrations were 1.1 mug/L in blood and 0.43 mug/L in serum. The mean selenium concentration in blood was 110
For the first time, various hydride phases in a zirconium-hydrogen system have been prepared in a high-energy synchrotron X-ray radiation beamline and their transformation behaviour has been studied in situ. First, the formation and dissolution of hydrides in commercially pure zirconium powder were monitored in real time during hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, then whole pattern crystal structur
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) employs various strategies to modulate host immune responses to facilitate its persistence in macrophages. The Mtb cell wall contains numerous glycoproteins with unknown role in pathogenesis. Here, by using concavalinA and LC-MS analysis we identified a novel mannosylated glycoprotein phosphoribosyl- transferase, encoded by the Rv3242c, from Mtb cell walls. Homolog
Recent reports focusing on virulence factors of periodontal pathogens implicated proteinases as major determinants of remarkable pathogenicity of these species, with special emphasis on their capacity to modulate complement activity. In particular, bacteria-mediated cleavage of C5 and subsequent release of C5a seems to be an important phenomenon in the manipulation of the local inflammatory respon
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the peripheral joints that eventually leads to cartilage destruction and bone erosion. The causes of RA remain largely unknown, but considerable evidence suggests a multifactorial aetiology involving both environmental and genetic factors. Large efforts have been directed towards the understanding of the mo
Background: There is growing evidence that air pollution from traffic has adverse long-term effects on chronic respiratory disease in children, but there are few studies and more inconclusive results in adults. We examined associations between residential traffic and asthma and COPD in adults in southern Sweden. A postal questionnaire in 2000 (n = 9319, 18-77 years) provided disease status, and se
Group B Streptococcus (GBS) causes invasive infections in human newborns. We recently showed that the GBS beta-protein attenuates innate immune responses by binding to sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin 5 (Siglec-5), an inhibitory receptor on phagocytes. Interestingly, neutrophils and monocytes also express Siglec-14, which has a ligand-binding domain almost identical to Siglec-5 but s
Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus pyogenes are two related human pathogens causing different diseases. This thesis focuses on a number of surface proteins expressed by S. agalactiae and S. pyogenes and, more specifically, the molecular and biological characterization of these proteins. The first paper describes the novel Blr protein of S. agalactiae, which together with the previously des
This study suggests a predominantly socially-strategic function of the silver found in Viking Age hoards, more specifically, connected to the realm of customary law and the blood feud as a social institution. This suggestion is based on a quantitative and contextual analysis of the Íslendingasögur, and a comparison between the function of silver in the sagas and the composition and context of the
Social and physical activities can improve sleep in older people. However, living in a residential care facility has been associated with a limited potential for activities and increased inactivity, reflected in poor sleep among residents. In turn, poor sleep can impair physical and mental functions. This paper explores sleep habits and everyday activities at three residential care facilities and
The episcopate has been much debated in the twentieth century, both in the Church of Sweden and ecumenically. The purpose of the thesis is to study how it has been discussed within the Church of Sweden, using the priest and reformer Gunnar Rosendal (1897?1988) as point of departure. Methodologically speaking, a single individual is studied in order to shed light on a broad historical and ideologic
Popular Abstract in Swedish Denna studie handlar om sysselsättningsintegrationen av manliga och kvinnliga invandrare i Sverige mellan 1970 och 1995. Första kapitlet inleds med en översikt av teorier och tidigare studier om invandrares sysselsättning. Utifrån denna formuleras ett antal hypoteser. Det andra kapitlet ger en översikt av den svenska migrationshistorien, invandrarnas karaktäristika samtThis study deals with the employment integration of immigrant men and women in Sweden between 1970 and 1995. The first chapter starts with a review of theory and previous studies on immigrant employment and from this a number of testable hypotheses are framed The second chapter gives an overview of Swedish immigration history, the composition of the immigrant population and the economic background
Background Studies from low-income countries have suggested that diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine provided after Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination may have a negative effect on female survival. The authors examined the effect of DTP in a cohort of low birthweight (LBW) infants. Methods 2320 LBW newborns were visited at 2, 6 and 12 months of age to assess nutritional and vaccinati
The complement system is one of the most important defence mechanisms against bacteria and pathogens. It acts within the framework of both innate and adaptive immunity. In addition to direct elimination of pathogens, complement also supports waste removal (dying cells, immune complexes, and misfolded proteins) and guides effector mechanisms of the adaptive immune response. Key events in complement
The glycoprotein osteopontin plays important roles in several states of disease associated with inflammation, for example by recruiting neutrophils but its expression and possible roles in cystic fibrosis (CF) have not been investigated.
