Popular Abstract in Swedish Förekomsten av fetma ökar lavinartat över hela världen, Sverige inte undantaget, och detta är en stor bidragande orsak till att antalet fall av typ 2 diabetes tilltar på ett liknande sätt. Både fetma och typ 2 diabetes är sjukdomar med ett komplicerat mönster av samverkande genetiska och miljömässiga faktorer. Drabbade individer har en klart ökad risk att drabbas av hjäThe worldwide prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly. Both disorders depend on genetic and environmental factors. The studies included in this thesis investigated the possible association of the FOXC2 and CAPN10 genes with obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and related phenotypes. FOXC2 encodes a forkhead transcription factor, which was identified as a key regul

In many bird species, floaters are present on the breeding grounds in one or more years before they breed. There is increasing evidence that they have specific home ranges in which they search for information about current and future breeding opportunities. We investigated the role of prospecting in a migratory European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) population. Radio-tracking showed that male starli

The contraction of smooth muscle is influenced by the substrate MgATP and the product MgADP. The effects on force, shortening velocity and ATP-turnover, are consistent with an influence on the kinetics of cross-bridge cycling. Part of these effects are mediated via an influence on the regulation of contraction by myosin light chain phosphorylation. Results from preparations activated by thiophosph

A new method for characterization of atrial fibrillation in the surface ECG is presented which is based on a time-frequency distribution of the QRST-cancelled signal. With the present method, information regarding temporal variations in fibrillation frequency and waveform shape is extracted and investigated. The method is evaluated on a database including 182 recordings (obtained during resting co

We have generated attosecond pulse trains in an ensemble of randomly aligned nitrogen molecules. Measurements of the high-order harmonic relative phases and amplitudes allow us to reconstruct the temporal profile of the attosecond pulses. We show that in the considered spectral range, the latter is very similar to the pulse train generated in argon under the same conditions. We discuss the possibl

The enrichment of Fe relative to α-elements such as O and Mgrepresents a potential means to determine the age of quasars and probethe galaxy formation epoch. To explore how Fe II emission in quasars islinked to physical conditions and abundance, we have constructed an 830level Fe II model atom and investigated through photoionizationcalculations how Fe II emission strengths depend on nonabundancef

Genetic susceptibility to PBC can, at least in part, be ascribed to the major histocompatibility complex. The relevance of immunogenetic markers for the clinical presentation and course, however, is unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of HLA class II genes to susceptibility, clinical presentation and course of disease in PBC patients. HLA genotyping for HLA-DRB

The glandular kallikrein family is composed of structurally related serine proteases. Studies show that the mouse family encompasses at least 14 highly conserved functional genes, but of these only the tissue kallikarein has a human ortholog. In man, the tissue kallikrein display high sequence similarity with prostate specific antigen and human glandular kallikrein 2, suggesting that they evolved

Autoignition in SI engines is an abnormal combustion mode and may lead to engine knock in SI engines. Knock may cause damage and it is a source of noise in engines. It limits the compression ratio of the engine and a low compression ratio means low fuel conversion efficiency of the engine. In this paper a multi zone model based on an existing two zone model Hajireza et al., [1 and 12] and Stenlaas

Batch processes are becoming more and more important in the chemical process industry, where they are used in the manufacture of specialty materials, which often are highly profitable. Some examples where batch processes are important are the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, polymers, and semiconductors. The focus of this thesis is exception handling and fault detection in batch control. In the

We present numerical simulations that reproduce the salient features of the amazingly strong [Fe ii andFe ii emission spectra in the B and D Weigelt blobs of Carinae. For our studies we have used spectraobtained during the 1998 epoch observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The spectrum of the Band D Weigelt blobs dominates in [Fe ii and Fe ii emission lines. The same observations show

Tissue transplantation is more common than organ transplantation. Legislative changes in 1996 transformed tissue banking and conditions for tissue transplantation in Sweden. After an initial decrease in donated tissue, heart valves are now available in sufficient numbers, but there is sometimes a shortage of valves the right size for pediatric cardiac surgery. Since the new transplantation legisla

1. It has been suggested that the vasoconstrictor response to neuropeptide Y (NPY) is located in the microvessels and that it increases with reduced vessel diameter. The aim of the present study was to analyse quantitatively, on the cat gastrocnemius muscle preparation in vivo, the effects of NPY on total regional vascular resistance (RT) and its distribution to large-bore arterial resistance vess

CASCADE is a full hadron level Monte Carlo event generator for ep, gammap and p (p) over bar processes, which uses the CCFM evolution equation for the initial state cascade in a backward evolution approach supplemented with off-shell matrix elements for die hard scattering. A detailed program description is given, with emphasis on parameters the user wants to change and common block variables whic