Phthalates are ubiquitous industrial chemicals that have been associated with altered reproductive function in rodents. Several human studies have reported an inverse association between male testosterone and phthalate levels. Our aim was to investigate time to pregnancy (TTP) according to serum levels of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) metabolites in both partners. I

Popular Abstract in Swedish Bakgrund och metod Diagnosen språkstörning ställs när ett barn inte utvecklar sina språkliga förmågor i förväntad takt och där inga andra underliggande svårigheter, såsom ofullständig språklig stimulans, hörselproblem, eller avvikande neurologisk utveckling, kan förklara problemen. Språkstörning är en relativt vanlig funktionsnedsättning som drabbar runt sju procent av Children with language impairment (LI) often exhibit lexical difficulties with negative consequences for school success. Lexical size and lexical organization have both been found to be affected, with problems in lexical organization exceeding those in lexical size. The research on LI has had a long-standing focus on monolingual children, resulting in assessment routines ill-suited for bilingual c

The prevalence of antibiotic resistance and their genetic determinants in colonizing group B streptococci (GBS) sampled in a Swedish nationwide survey was examined. In five GBS isolates (1.3%), kanamycin/amikacin resistance and the presence of the aphA-3 gene was identified. Three of these isolates carried the aad-6 gene and were streptomycin-resistant. Screening with kanamycin and streptomycin 1,

A new Reference Material (RM) for radionuclides in mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from the Mediterranean Sea (IAEA-437) is described and the results of the certification process are presented. Four radionuclides (K-40, U-234, U-238, and Pu239+240) have been certified, and information values on massic activities with 95% confidence intervals are given for nine radionuclides (Cs-137, Pb-210(Po-2

Background and purpose - The incidence of knee osteoarthritis will most likely increase. We analyzed historical trends in the incidence of knee arthroplasty in Sweden between 1975 and 2013, in order to be able to provide projections of future demand. Patients and methods - We obtained information on all knee arthroplasties in Sweden in the period 1975-2013 from the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Regist

Objective To examine change in health-related quality of life in association with clinical outcomes of neuropsychiatric events in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods An international study evaluated newly diagnosed SLE patients for neuropsychiatric events attributed to SLE and non-SLE causes. The outcome of events was determined by a physician-completed seven-point scale and compared with

Nanowires are structures with features on the nanoscale, and it is therefore essential to study their properties on that scale. We present optical data from a variety of nanowire-based structures using cathodoluminescence imaging and spectroscopy. One important feature of nanowires is the stacking sequence of the crystal, either zincblede, wurtzite or a mix of the two. We show that this has an imp

We report the results of an association study of melanoma that is based on the genome-wide imputation of the genotypes of 1,353 cases and 3,566 controls of European origin conducted by the GenoMEL consortium. This revealed an association between several SNPs in intron 8 of the FTO gene, including rs16953002, which replicated using 12,313 cases and 55,667 controls of European ancestry from Europe,

Taking the modern definition of ekphrasis as a verbal representation of a work of art as a starting point, we try to broaden it in this contribution. We agree with intermediality theorist Lars Elleström that ekphrasis falls into the category of “media representation”, defined as the representation of a source medium in a target medium. We argue that the target medium does not need to be a verbal o

We report on results of magneto-transport measurements performed on four-arm nanostructure fabricated from p-type ferromagnetic Ga0.92Mn0.08As layer. The results reveal hysteresis-like behaviors of low field magneto resistance. We interpret the magnetoresistance in terms of domain walls, which are expected to be trapped inside the nanostructure at some particular positions and which contribute to

The investigation of dedicated contrast agents for x-ray dark-field imaging, which exploits small-angle scattering at microstructures for contrast generation, is of strong interest in analogy to the common clinical use of high-atomic number contrast media in conventional attenuation-based imaging, since dark-field imaging has proven to provide complementary information. Therefore, agents consistin

Lake water level forecasting is very important for an accurate and reliable management of local and regional water resources. In the present study two nonlinear approaches, namely phase-space reconstruction and self-exciting threshold autoregressive model (SETAR) were compared for lake water level forecasting. The modeling approaches were applied to high-quality lake water level time series of the

The structure and chemical composition of Pd nanoparticles exposed to pure CO and mixtures of CO and O-2 at elevated temperatures have been studied in situ by a combination of X-ray Diffraction and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy in pressures ranging from ultra high vacuum to 10 mbar and from room temperature to a few hundred degrees celsius. Our investigation shows that under CO exposure, above

The early Holocene and the development of sedentary, agriculturally based life allowed for an unprecedented accumulation of material goods (Bogucki 2011; Scarre 2005:191). This affected the organization and objectives of lithic technologies. In contrast to mobile hunter-gathers, who mainly developed elaborate technologies in response to risk (Collard et al 2013, Torrence 2001) Neolithic societies

Popular Abstract in Swedish Rinit är en av våra vanligaste sjukdomar och betyder ordagrant inflammation i näsan. Det är också inflammationen i nässlemhinnan som orsakar de välkända symptomen vid rinit: snuva, nästäppa och klåda i näsan. Inflammationen orsakas av att immun¬försvaret reagerar på ämnen i vår omgivning. Det kan t.ex. vara pollen, som hos de av oss som är allergiska ger allergisk rinitAllergic and infectious rhinitis are prevalent conditions that besides a direct morbidity also causes exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The immune mechanisms associated with various forms of rhinitis are not fully understood. The principal aim of this thesis was to examine innate immune mechanisms relevant to allergic and viral rhinitis focusing on the mediators tu

beta-Alanine synthase (PAS) is the third enzyme in the reductive pyrimidine catabolic pathway, which is responsible for the breakdown of the nucleotide bases uracil and thymine in higher organisms. It catalyzes the hydrolysis of N-carbamyl-beta-alanine and N-carbamyl-beta-aminoisobutyrate to the corresponding beta-amino acids. beta ASs are grouped into two phylogenetically unrelated subfamilies, a

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether virulent CagA positive Helicobacter pylori strains are those preferentially related to abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture. Several microorganisms have been linked to aneurysm development. Chronic Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection has been suggested as a possible contributing factor for the development and expansion of AAA. Previous stud