The overall aim of the thesis was to study heart failure (HF) in an urban population, with reference to immigrant status, biological, life style and socioeconomic risk factors. The thesis is based on four papers. Paper I included inhabitants (N=114,917; aged 40-89 years) in the city of Malmö, Sweden, followed from November 1st, 1990 until December 31st, 2007. Paper II-IV used the population-based

Inflammation promotes phenotypic plasticity in melanoma, a source of non-genetic heterogeneity, but the molecular framework is poorly understood. Here we use functional genomic approaches and identify a reciprocal antagonism between the melanocyte lineage transcription factor MITF and c-Jun, which interconnects inflammation-induced dedifferentiation with pro-inflammatory cytokine responsiveness of

Study objectives: The aim of this study was to develop quality criteria for further development and use in the Medicines Management(MM) process in European hospitals. Methods: Criteria for MM were developed in three steps using a modified two-stage Delphi-technique. In the first step a literature search was performed and 300 topics were listed. These topics were grouped into three dimensions, e

Viruses can be described as biological objects composed mainly of two parts: a stiff protein shell called a capsid, and a core inside the capsid containing the nucleic acid and liquid. In many double-stranded DNA bacterial viruses (aka phage), the volume ratio between the liquid and the encapsidated DNA is approximately 1:1. Due to the dominant DNA hydration force, water strongly mediates the inte

Popular Abstract in Swedish De två vanligaste typerna av neurodegenerativ demenssjukdom är Alzheimer’s sjukdom och Lewy body demens. Båda sjukdomarna drabbar framförallt äldre människor och risken att insjukna ökar med stigande ålder. Detta innebär att demenssjukdom kommer att bli vanligare i samhället, eftersom vi blir allt äldre och andelen invånare >65 år blir allt större. Att drabbas av demensBackground: A prognostic marker should provide information about course and outcome of disease, e.g. predict time to a given endpoint or rate of progression due to disease in patients or subgroups of patients. Prognostic markers could be targeted to apply during the entire clinical course or just during distinct stages of the disease. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to identify, review and qualif

Objectives: To develop European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of small and medium vessel vasculitis. Methods: An expert group ( consisting of 10 rheumatologists, 3 nephrologists, 2 immunologists, 2 internists representing 8 European countries and the USA, a clinical epidemiologist and a representative from a drug regulatory agency) identified 10 topics for a

Stretch of vascular smooth muscle stimulates growth and proliferation as well as contraction and expression of contractile/cytoskeletal proteins, all of which are also regulated by calcium-dependent signals. We studied the role of the calcium- and integrin-activated proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (PYK2) in stretch-induced responses of the rat portal vein loaded by a hanging weight ex vivo. PYK2 ph

Depressive symptoms are potential outcomes of poorly functioning work environments. Such symptoms are frequent and cause considerable suffering for the employees as well as financial loss for the employers. Accordingly good prospective studies of psychosocial working conditions and depressive symptoms are valuable. Scientific reviews of such studies have pointed at methodological difficulties but

This dissertation explores how son preference is constructed and renegotiated in light of social change in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Based on secondary sources and interviews with women and men in rural Anhui Province as well as key informants, it addresses son preference from conceptual, methodological, empirical and ideological perspectives. The analysis centres around son preference

• Premise of the study: Small, autogamous flowers have evolved repeatedly in the plant kingdom. While much attention has focused on the mechanisms that promote the shift to autogamy, there is still a paucity of information on the factors that underlie the reduction of flower size so prevalent in selfing lineages. In this study of Crepis tectorum, I examine the role of inbreeding, acting alone or t

Human immunodeficiency virus type-2 (HIV-2) infected individuals develop immunodeficiency with a considerable delay and transmit the virus at a lower rate as compared to HIV-1 infected. Conceivably, comparative studies on immune responsiveness of the HIV-1 and HIV-2 infected hosts may help to explain differences in pathogenesis and transmission between the two types of infection. Previous studies

We calculate potential-energy surfaces as functions of spheroidal (epsilon(2)), hexadecapole (epsilon(4)), and axial-asymmetry (gamma) shape coordinates for 7206 nuclei from A = 31 to A = 290. We tabulate the deformations and energies of all minima deeper than 0.2 MeV and of the saddles between all pairs of minima. The tabulation is terminated at N = 160. Our study is based on the FRLDM macroscopi

Background: There are several risk factors for the colonisation, infection and spreading of antibiotic resistant bacteria among elderly residents of nursing homes. An updated estimate of the native prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in uropathogens among Swedish nursing home residents is needed. Methods: Urine specimens were collected for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing agains

The autosomal dominantly inherited east Texas bleeding disorder is linked to an A2440G variant in exon 13 of the F5 gene. Affected individuals have normal levels of coagulation factor V (FV) activity, but demonstrate inhibition of global coagulation tests. We demonstrated that the A2440G mutation causes upregulation of an alternatively spliced F5 transcript that results in an in-frame deletion of