Increased incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) is of major concern. However, by minimizing known risk factors, the incidence can be decreased. The aim of this investigation was to calculate the incidence and assess risk factors for CDI in our population. A 1-year prospective population-based nationwide study in Iceland of CDIs was carried out. For risk factor evaluatio

We analyse the system of ethical review of human research in the Baltic States by introducing the principle of equivalent stringency of ethical review, that is, research projects imposing equal risks and inconveniences on research participants should be subjected to equally stringent review procedures. We examine several examples of non-equivalence or asymmetry in the system of ethical review of h

In 2001 the Bhutanese State took an important step in its process of state formation, as the country embarked on a journey that would turn it into a constitutional monarchy in 2008. This process is typically described by academics and the international media as one in which the King gave the constitution as a ‘gift’ to the people. However, there are some puzzling issues connected to this represent

We have carried out quantum mechanical (QM) and QM/MM (combined QM and molecular mechanics) calculations, as well as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the binding of a series of six RAPTA (Ru(II)-arene-1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphatricyclo-[3.3.1.1] decane) complexes with different arene substituents to cathepsin B. The recently developed QM/MM-PBSA approach (QM/MM combined with Poisson-Boltzm

Popular Abstract in Swedish Nervsystemet är sannolikt en av de mest vidunderliga strukturer som skapats i detta universum - denna avhandling hade till exempel varken kunnat skrivas eller läsas utan det. Som av en slump handlar den också om just nervsystemet och läsande och skrivande är två exempel på olika funktioner som möjliggjorts på grund av det. Även om dessa utgör funktioner som är ovanliga Bodies with multiple limbs and joints have endless possibilities to move around in their surrounding space. How the nervous system controls this amount of degrees of freedom in motor execution is a question under vigorous debate. In an ambition to explore related aspects of motor control we conducted parallel electrophysiological recordings of motor circuits in the cortex and basal ganglia in the

Background: Late cerebral ischemia carries high morbidity and mortality after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF) and the subsequent cerebral ischemia which is associated with upregulation of contractile receptors in the vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) via activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1

We consider classes G(s)([0, 1]) of subsets of [0, 1], originally introduced by Falconer, that are closed under countable intersections, and such that every set in the class has Hausdorff dimension at least s. We provide a Frostman-type lemma to determine if a limsup set is in such a class. Suppose that E = lim supE(n) subset of [0, 1], and that mu(n) are probability measures with support in E-n.

Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) can down-regulate protein production by site specific degradation of mRNA. We here report the in vitro efficiency of three siRNAs metalated with oxaliplatin. All siRNAs were selectively platinated in the sense strand, and designed to target the AU-rich 3' UTR region of Wnt-5a mRNA cloned into a luciferase reporter plasmid. Two of the studied siRNAs reveal luciferase

Transmitted drug resistance (TDR) is a clinical and epidemiological problem because it may contribute to failure of antiretroviral treatment. The prevalence of TDR varies geographically, and its prevalence in Sweden during the last decade has not been reported. Plasma samples from 1,463 patients newly diagnosed with HIV-1 infection between 2003 and 2010, representing 44% of all patients diagnosed

Popular Abstract in Swedish Bakgrund och syfte med avhandlingen Glutenintolerans, celiaki är en av de vanligaste kroniska sjukdomarna bland barn och innebär att man inte tåler gluten, som är ett protein och finns i vete, råg och korn. Tunntarmen har en veckad slemhinna med fingerlika utskott , tarmludd och hela tarmen har en yta på 250 kvadratmeter, vilket är lika stort som en tennisplan. Den stBackground: The prevalence of celiac disease (CD) is estimated to be around 1%, but most CD cases are undiagnosed. Sweden experienced an epidemic of clinically detected celiac disease in children younger than 2 years of age, partly due to changes in infant feeding practices, were the amount of gluten and age at introduction was changed. However, it was not clear if the increase in clinically detec

To validate whether Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) serology correlates with MCV infection, we compared real-time polymerase chain reaction results for MCV DNA on fresh-frozen biopsy specimens from various skin lesions and healthy skin from 434 patients to MCV serology results using viruslike particles (VLPs) and MCV neutralization assays. Sixty-five percent of participants were MCV seropositive an

Andersson U, Henriksson E, Strom K, Alenfall J, Goransson O, Holm C. Rose hip exerts antidiabetic effects via a mechanism involving downregulation of the hepatic lipogenic program. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 300: E111-E121, 2011. First published October 19, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00268.2010.-The aim of this study was to investigate the metabolic effects of a dietary supplement of powdered ro

Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a devastating disease, in the majority of cases caused by a rupture of an arterial intracranial aneurysm. The effect of systemic low-grade inflammation on incidence of SAH is not known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between leukocyte count, a marker of systemic inflammation, and incidence of SAH in a large cohort study.

The present article discusses the Central Swedish word accents – Accent 1 and Accent 2 – and their productive association to suffixes from the point of view of prediction theories of speech processing. Based on recent neurophysiological findings, we propose that both word accents are used predictively, but that Accent 1 is more ‘predictively useful’ than Accent 2, due to the fact that Accent 1 ste

We demonstrate MOVPE-growth of InAs/AlAs0.16Sb0.84/GaSb and InAs/AlAs0.16Sb0.84/InAs heterostructures of excellent quality as observed by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction 2-theta-omega and rocking curve scans with full width at half maximum routinely below 100 arcsec. Key points regarding interface control for heteroepitaxial nucleation are reviewed and the choice of suitable

We report lifetime measurements of the 6 levels in the 3d(6)(5D)4d e(6)G term in Fe II at an energy of 10.4 eV, and f-values for 14 transitions from the investigated levels. The lifetimes were measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence on ions in a laser-produced plasma. The high excitation energy, and the fact that the levels have the same parity as the the low-lying states directly

This paper examines policy processes surrounding the rise and fall of the proposed EU-wide policy instrument designed to help achieve EU´s renewable energy targets – the trading of Guarantees of Origin (GO). It discusses its origins and examines factors in the policy processes over time leading first to its development and then to its rejection. A first analysis looks at the near-term policy-makin