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Assays detecting antigen (Ag)-specific T-cell responses in immune-mediated processes are increasingly employed to understand disease pathogenesis and "immune staging". The quantity and quality of starting peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) preparations are important factors in the performance of such assays. We therefore compared final PBMC yield and function by modifying parameters at the b
Background: Proteins can be used in drug delivery systems to improve pharmacological properties of an active substance. Differences in pH between tissues can be utilized in order to achieve a targeted drug release at a specific location or tissue, such as a tumor. The enamel matrix protein amelogenin has a pH dependent solubility profile and self-assemble to form aggregates at neutral pH. This cou
Background: Critical needs for treatment trials in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) include assessing response to treatment, evaluating symptom severity, and translation of symptom questionnaires into multiple languages. We evaluated the previously validated Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ) for internal consistency, reliability, responsiveness to change during treatment and the concordance
Use of wood feedstocks for sugar-based biorefineries requires suitable treatments of the various tree fractions to optimize yields. In the current study, stem wood fractions (sapwood, heartwood and knotwood) were sampled at different heights from well-documented Scots pine trees taken from two contrasting stands. The fractions were assessed in terms of chemical composition, response to SO2-catalys
Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) based screening for prostate cancer (PCa) has been shown to reduce prostate specific mortality by 20% in an intention to screen (ITS) analysis in a randomised trial (European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer [ERSPC]). This effect may be diluted by nonattendance in men randomised to the screening arm and contamination in men randomised to
Downscaling of microfluidic cell culture and detection devices for electrochemical monitoring has mostly focused on miniaturization of the microfluidic chips which are often designed for specific applications and therefore lack functional flexibility. We present a compact microfluidic cell culture and electrochemical analysis platform with in-built fluid handling and detection, enabling complete c
The model for permanent deformation in asphalt concrete (AC) layers used in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) was evaluated. Two instrumented flexible pavements were subjected to heavy vehicle simulator testing at three constant temperatures. Permanent deformation modelling was carried out using the MEPDG software v1.003 at the highest accuracy level. The nationally calibrate
Pickering emulsions are emulsions that are stabilized by fine particles. They have been the focus of considerable research in the past decade due to their properties such as high stability with respect to coalescence and Ostwald ripening, as well as due to advances in nanotechnology that allows us to create and characterize nano-scale structures in new ways. This work reviews some of the recent wo
In the Swedish context Swedish language skills are considered to be a crucial factor for an individual's ability to establish him/herself in society as well as on the labour market. Despite this, the Swedish organisation Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) has been exposed to extensive critique: Not enough students manage to establish themselves on the labour market, but get trapped in SFI. The purpo
The provision of environmental information is crucial in the effort to reach sustainability. In the last decades, it has been acknowledged that the promotion of sustainable consumption lifestyles cannot be achieved without providing individual consumers with environmental information and education. However, communicating complex environmental information to non-experts is never an easy task. The l
The aim of this thesis is to investigate and develop a three step path for considering an optimal strategy for companies wanting to trade on the projected GHG emission market in Lithuania. An optimal strategy here is defined by two factors: financial gains by the trading company and real GHG emission reductions. The investigation included a review of the literature on the theoretical prerequisites
In this thesis we attempt to explain the outcome of the 2000 referendum in Zimbabwe, where the electorate rejected a new constitution. The puzzling problem is that the people of Zimbabwe said NO to what many observers considered a constitution superior to the already existing. This case study is partly based on primary material collected in Harare as a part of a field study. Our analysis is based
Free movement of goods is regulated by Article 28 of The EC Treaty. The most important judgments of European Court of Justice (ECJ) in this field are Dassonville, Cassis de Dijon and Keck. The interpretation of Article 28 was very broad in Dassonville and Cassis cases therefore the national rules which were designed for social policy reasons, but not for controlling the trade between Member States
HR indicators are increasingly used as a method for analysis in the work with human rights. However, the concept of HR indicators is often subject to confusion due to the lack of a common and universal theoretical framework. This study focuses on the elaboration of HR indicators for state reporting within the UN treaty monitoring bodies and argues that an extended and more coherent use of HR indic
Finansmarknaden genomgick stora förändringar innan 2000-talet och placeringsrådgivning kom att spela en allt viktigare roll. Tidigare hade det inte funnits lagstiftning på området, vilket man nu införde. Först kom Lag (2003:862) om finansiell rådgivning till konsumenter (FRL), därefter utfärdades ett EG-direktiv. Direktivet införlivades i svensk rätt genom Lag (2007:528) om värdepappersmarknaden (The Financial Market went through significant changes before the 2000’s and investments advisory played an increasingly important role. Earlier there had not been any legislation on the subject which there is now. The first legislation was the act of financial advisory and after that the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, MiFID came from the EU. MiFID was implemented into Swedish law thro
In 1991 the African Union established a plan for creating a monetary union for the whole continent. The plan, the Abuja Treaty, aim to unify the continent, creating stability and improving economic welfare. Several regional economic communities (RECs) are the foundation of this plan which means that the progress is primary dependent on their successful development. This essay studies Africa’s prog
Ghost quantitative trait loci (QTL) are the false discoveries in QTL mapping, that arise due to the "accumulation" of the polygenic effects, uniformly distributed over the genome. The locations on the chromosome that are strongly correlated with the total of the polygenic effects depend on a specific sample correlation structure determined by the genotypes at all loci. The problem is particularly
The European steel industry must achieve deep greenhouse gas emission reductions to become climate neutral by 2050. New business models are often proposed as one of the key solutions but are mostly addressed in general terms, without elaborating on or systematically analyzing how these new business models are actually linked to specific mitigation measures or strategies. In this paper, we assess w
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is one of the main producers in inland lakes. Tracking the temporal and spatial changes in SAV is crucial for the identification of state changes in lacustrine ecosystems, such as changes in light, nutrients, and temperature. However, the available SAV classification algorithms based on remote sensing are highly dependent on field survey data and/or human interve
