Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a largely underdiagnosed disease including several phenotypes. In this report, the design of a study intending to evaluate the pathophysiological mechanism in COPD in relation to the specific phenotypes non-rapid and rapid decline in lung function is described together with the recruitment process of the study population derived from a po

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, is an increasing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and an imbalance between proteases and antiproteases has been implicated to play a role in COPD pathogenesis. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are important proteases that along with their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP), affect homeostasis of elastin and

Background: The imbalance between proteases and anti-proteases is considered to contribute to the development of COPD. Our aim was to evaluate the protease MMP-9, the antiprotease TIMP-1 and the MMP-9/TIMP-1-ratio as biomarkers in relation to prognosis. Prognosis was assessed as lung function decline and mortality. This was done among subjects with COPD in a population-based cohort. Methods: In 20

Background: Cytotoxic lymphocytes are increased in the airways of COPD patients. Whether this increase is driven primarily by the disease or by smoking is not clear, nor whether it correlates with the rate of decline in lung function. Methods: Bronchoscopy with BAL was performed in 52 subjects recruited from the longitudinal OLIN COPD study according to pre-determined criteria; 12 with COPD and a

Background: Differences in the expression of regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been suggested to explain why some smokers develop COPD and some do not. Upregulation of Tregs in response to smoking would restrain airway inflammation and thus the development of COPD; while the absense of such upregulation would over time lead to chronic inflammation and COPD. We hypothesized that—among COPD patients—t

Background: In COPD, the balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their natural inhibitors [tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs)] is shifted towards excessive degradation, reflected in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) as increased MMP concentrations. Because of their critical role in lung homeostasis, MMP activity is tightly regulated, but to what extent this regulation occurs t

Sialic acids or glyconic structures containing a sialic acid fragment are among the most abundant host surface molecules, typically found to be terminating branches of N-glycans, O-glycans, and glycosphingolipids (gangliosides). They play a crucial role in bacterial pathogenesis, due to the ability of bacteria to engage in molecular mimicry - the decoration of their surface with sialic acids - to

Effekten av kanalpositioner på prestationsförmågan hos mikrochip byggda för akustofores I detta arbete undersöks hur olika geometriska konfigurationer påverkar effekten av akustofores i mikrochip, med fokus på mikrokanalernas positioner i chippen. Baserat på simuleringar undersöktes primärt två sorters konfigurationer, en "Asymmetrisk kanal" och en "Tvillingkanal". ExperimenteMicroscale acoustofluidics utilizes ultrasound to manipulate microparticles flowing through a microchannel. Using this technique, particles or cells can be e.g. separated, aligned, washed or trapped. It is however an emerging technology that should be further developed in order to maximally capitalize on its potential. One possible improvement is to increase the particle migration velocity by incr

Transition metal complexes (TMCs) with charge transfer states play a crucial role in photophysical and photochemical processes, particularly in energy conversion applications. This thesis investigates the photophysics and photochemistry of the d⁵ ruthenium complex ([Ru(III)(phtmeimb)2]+), focusing on its excited-state dynamics and charge transfer properties. The photophysical study involves steady

Superlattices of quantum-confined perovskite nanocrystals (5–6 nm) present an interesting example of colloidal crystals because of the interplay between nanoscopic parameters (nanocrystal sizes, shapes, and colloidal softness) and the microscopic shapes of their assemblies. These superlattices are reported as rectangular or rhombic, with little discussion of the outcomes of self-assembly experimen

Sedan 1700-talet har 87 procent av världens våtmarker försvunnit, med en acceleration under de senaste 50 åren där mer än en tredjedel av världens våtmarker försvunnit på grund av exploatering. Våtmarker bidrar med många viktiga funktioner, såsom klimateglering genom att minska översvämningar och torka samt genom att agera som naturliga reningsverk. I takt med klimatförändringarna har våtmarkers fWetlands play a vital role globally in protecting biodiversity, purifying water, and mitigating floods. In Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, five natural wetlands are located in the city center. This master’s thesis aimed to evaluate the water quality of these wetlands and identify key pollution sources. The aim was also to analyse changes in water quality over time with respect to changes in demographics

In order to get an answer to the question of where a Viking-era harbor could possibly be placed in Löddeköpinge, indicators such as Lödde kar, Lödde å, the seasonal market place at Vikhögsvägen in Löddeköpinge, the permanent settlement in Löddeköpinge, the church village in Löddeköpinge, the burial field and the church in Löddeköpinge and Borgeby's trelleborg need to be studied in relation to

In this paper, we propose a Gaussian process-based nonlinear, time-varying drift model for stochastic differential equations. In particular, we combine eigenfunction expansion of the Gaussian process’ covariance kernel in the spatial input variables with spectral decomposition in the time domain to obtain a reduced rank state space representation of the drift model, which avoids the growing comple

BACKGROUND: The advent of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors has revolutionized lung cancer treatment, necessitating accurate PD-L1 immunohistochemical (IHC) assessment. While standardized for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) histological samples, PD-L1 testing on cytology remains challenging. This review aims to address the complexities of PD-L1 IHC in cytology, focusing on validation guidelines, quali

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between meniscal tear, bone marrow lesions (BMLs), and post-injury knee loading, with cartilage T2 relaxation times on knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the subacute phase following acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.DESIGN: We studied both knees of 128 patients with ACL injury. The presence of meniscal tears and BMLs were determined on suba

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether suicidality was documented prior to suicide in patients in contact with specialised somatic healthcare providers for physical conditions and to identify factors related to such documentation.DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Retrospective cohort study in which medical records from specialised somatic (non-psychiatric) healthcare services (internal medicine, infectious disease, s