| 1. |
- Harang, Valérie, 1966-
(författare)
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Aspects of Optimisation of Separation of Drugs by Chemometrics
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Statistical experimental designs have been used for method development and optimisation of separation. Two reversed phase HPLC methods were optimised. Parameters such as the pH, the amount of tetrabutylammonium (TBA; co-ion) and the gradient slope (acetonitrile) were investigated and optimised for separation of erythromycin A and eight related compounds. In the second method, a statistical experimental design was used, where the amounts of acetonitrile and octane sulphonate (OSA; counter ion) and the buffer concentration were studied, and generation of an α-plot with chromatogram simulations optimised the separation of six analytes.The partial filling technique was used in capillary electrophoresis to introduce the chiral selector Cel7A. The effect of the pH, the ionic strength and the amount of acetonitrile on the separation and the peak shape of R- and S-propranolol were investigated.Microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) is a technique similar to micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), except that the microemulsion has a core of tiny droplets of oil inside the micelles. A large number of factors can be varied when using this technique. A screening design using the amounts of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), Brij 35, 1-butanol and 2-propanol, the buffer concentration and the temperature as factors revealed that the amounts of SDS and 2-propanol were the most important factors for migration time and selectivity manipulation of eight different compounds varying in charge and hydrophobicity. SDS and 2-propanol in the MEEKC method were further investigated in a three-level full factorial design analysing 29 different compounds sorted into five different groups. Different optimisation strategies were evaluated such as generating response surface plots of the selectivity/resolution of the most critical pair of peaks, employing chromatographic functions, simplex optimisation in MODDE and 3D resolution maps in DryLab™.Molecular descriptors were fitted in a PLS model to retention data from the three-level full factorial design of the MEEKC system. Two different test sets were used to study the predictive ability of the training set. It was concluded that 86 – 89% of the retention data could be predicted correctly for new molecules (80 – 120% of the experimental values) with different settings of SDS and 2-propanol.Statistical experimental designs and chemometrics are valuable tools for the development and optimisation of analytical methods. The same chemometric strategies can be employed for all types of separation techniques.
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| 2. |
- Ivarsson, Bo, 1947-
(författare)
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Tools for Outcome-informed management of mental illness : Psychometric properties of instruments of the Swedish clinical multicenter Quality Star cohort
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the psychometric properties of three global user subjective measures of the ”The Quality Star” clinical review model: Consumer Satisfaction Scale, Global Quality of Life scale, and Perceived Global Distress scale. The mental health implementation context of this review model emphasizes the client as an agent of change, taking part in shared decision making in an empowered role as collaborative partner to the professional clinicians. In Paper I study the patient self-rating Consumer Satisfaction Scale gave results comparable to those obtained by independent interviewer assessors. Out of cost-effective perspective professional time is saved and logistics simplified. In Paper II the visual analogue self-rating Global Quality of Life scale was shown to have satisfactory test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity with the “Life as a whole” item of Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA). The patients’ conceptualizations of the scale based on associative findings with a number of validating instruments were consistent with expected areas of concern for Serious Mentally Ill persons. Similarly, in Paper III the visual analogue scale the Perceived Global Distress scale, showed acceptable clinical test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity with the MANSA item, “How satisfied are you with your mental health”. In associative analyses it was found that depressive, anxiety, interpersonal and existential elements contributed to the patient´s conceptualization of the construct. In Paper IV, a previous finding suggesting that women were more satisfied with the health care and had better social functioning compared to men was further elaborated investigating the discriminative properties of the subjective instruments. In the multi-centre cohort of 2552 patients it was possible to detect differences between genders and functional levels professionally assessed with the split version of Global Assessment of Functioning rating scale. The General discussion underlines that although subjective measures tend to have strong interrelations, supporting earlier findings, one has to use multiple measures for an optimal management of mental illness as the subjective outcome ratings have to be individually interpreted in a feed-back dialogue with the patient and be compared to observational assessments.
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| 3. |
- Jacobsson, Benny, 1954-
(författare)
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Den sjunde världsdelen : Västgötar och Västergötland 1646-1771. En identitetshistoria
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis considers regional identity in early-modern Sweden, taking its case from the province (landskap) of Västergötland 1646–1771. The aim is to investigate verbal expressions of regional identity. A theory on the construction of regional identity is suggested from the research results, and typological categories of regional identity are established. Contrary to popular concepts of identity being constructed in relation to an outer “other”, it is argued that identity is formed from self-images. Identity is expressed in the first person (I, we), and includes an insider’s perspective of the place occupied. As the thesis shows, the theory of regional identity is substantiated by the duality of the patria-concept. Patria, Fatherland, was employed for the smaller home province as well as for the greater realm. The realm however, always could claim priority to amor patria, Love of the Fatherland. Thus, any construction of regional identity using the neighbouring provinces as a contrasting “other” would have been counter-productive to the construction of the overarching national identity. This manifold patria-concept is of Roman origin, and made its influence through the Latin language well into early-modern time. A great variety of sources in Latin and Swedish have been consulted, including orations and dissertations, minutes of the academic senate and West Geat student nation (Västgöta nation) at Uppsala University, topography, manuscripts and letters. An in-depth study has been made of the writing processes leading up to dissertations and topographical descriptions.
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| 4. |
- Jacobsson, Bo, 1960
(författare)
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Infectious and inflammatory mechanisms in preterm birth and cerebral palsy
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: International studies of women in preterm labor (PTL) and preterm pre-labor rupture of the membranes (pPROM) have shown a significant association between microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC), some cytokines and chemokines and preterm birth (PTB). These studies have been performed in countries with higher incidence of PTB than that in Sweden. Cerebral palsy (CP) has also been shown to be associated with infectious and inflammatory mechanisms in international epidemiological studies. Our aim was to examine the role of inflammatory mechanisms in PTB and CP in a setting with a low incidence of PTB and perinatal infections.Material and Methods: Amniotic fluid (AF) was retrieved transabdominally from 61 patients in PTL and 47 patients with pPROM, before 34 weeks of gestation in both groups. Forty-five women at term (= 37 weeks) were included. These women were scheduled for elective cesarean section after uncomplicated pregnancies. Cervical fluid was obtained from the external cervical os in all patients in PTL and in all term patients. Polymerase chain reaction analyses for Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis and culture for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were performed. Interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-18 and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 were analyzed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.In order to examine inflammatory mechanisms in CP, a population-based series of 148 preterm infants with spastic CP, born 1983-90, were included and matched with a control group (n=296). Subgroup analyses of patients with spastic diplegia and hemiplegia and those born at <32 and =32 weeks were performed. Maternal, antenatal and intrapartal variables were retrieved from obstetric records. Results: MIAC was detected in 16% of women in PTL and 25 % of women with pPROM. Patients in PTL with MIAC had significantly elevated levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-18. The levels of IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1 were elevated in MIAC cases in women with pPROM. There was also a significant association between elevated levels of IL-6, IL-8, IL-18 and MCP-1 and short amniocentesis-delivery interval (= 7 days) and PTB (< 34 weeks) in women in PTL, whereas this association was less evident in women with pPROM. A receiver-operator-characteristic curve was used to identify the best cut-off levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in AF for delivery within 7 days. This value was used to define an inflammatory response. The inflammatory response rate was 46 % in the PTL group and 51% in the pPROM group. Elevated IL-18 and MCP-1 were related to an inflammatory response in the women in PTL; MCP-1 was also related to an inflammatory response in women with pPROM. There were higher levels of IL-18 and MCP-1 in the cervical fluid of women in PTL, compared with non-laboring women at term. There were elevated levels of MCP-1 in the cervical fluid of women in PTL who gave birth within 7 days or before 34 weeks of gestation, who had MIAC or had intra-amniotic inflammation.In the case-control study of CP, clinical chorioamnionitis/pyelonephritis, long interval between rupture of membranes and birth and admission-delivery interval <4 hours just significantly increased the risk of CP. Apgar scores of <7 at 5 and 10 minutes were strongly associated with an increased CP risk. Abruptio placentae and pathological non-stress test (reason for delivery) were significant risk factors for CP only in the moderately preterm and hemiplegic groups, whereas fever prior to delivery was a significant risk factor in the very preterm and spastic diplegic groups. Conclusion: The occurrence of intra-amniotic microbial invasion and inflammation in this population of Swedish women in PTL and pPROM was similar to that reported in data from populations with a higher incidence of PTB. In addition, our data support an association between antenatal infection/inflammation and CP.
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| 5. |
- Kölhed, Malin, 1977-
(författare)
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Novel on-line mid infrared detection strategies in capillary electrophoretic systems
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Infrared absorption spectra can provide analytically useful information on a large variety of compounds, ranging from small ions to large biological molecules. In fact, all analytes that possess a dipole moment that changes during vibration are infrared-active. The infrared (IR) spectrum can be subdivided into far-, mid- and near- regions. The focus of attention in this thesis is the mid-IR region, in which the fundamental vibrations of most organic compounds are located, thus providing scope for positive structural identification. However, while such near-ubiquitous signals can be very useful for monitoring simple molecules in simple systems, they can be increasingly disadvantageous as the number of analytes and/or the complexity of the sample matrix increases. Thus, hyphenation to a separation system prior to detection is desirable. Paper I appended to this thesis presents (for the first time) the on-line hyphenation between Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, FTIR, and capillary zone electrophoresis, CZE. CZE is a highly efficient separation technique that separates ionic analytes with respect to their charge-to-size ratio. It is most commonly performed in aqueous buffers in fused silica capillaries. Since these capillaries absorb virtually all infrared light an IR-transparent flow cell had to be developed. In further studies (Paper II) the applicability of CZE is expanded to include neutral analytes by the addition of micelles to the buffer, and micellar electrokinetic chromatography, MEKC, was successfully hyphenated to FTIR for the first time. Paper III describes an application of the on-line CZE-FTIR technique in which non-UV-absorbing analytes in a complex matrix were separated, identified and quantified in one run.Measuring aqueous solutions in the mid-IR region is not straightforward since water absorbs intensely in this region, sometimes completely, leaving no transmitted, detectable light. For this reason, quantum cascade lasers are interesting. These lasers represent a new type of mid-IR semiconducting lasers with high output power due to their ingenious design. The laser action lies within one conduction band (intersubband) and can be tailored to emit light in the entire mid-IR region using the same semiconducting material. To investigate their potential to increase the optical path length in aqueous solutions, these lasers were used with an aqueous flow system (Paper IV), and the experience gained in these experiments enabled hyphenation of such lasers to a CZE system (Paper V).
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| 6. |
- Lalos, Ann, 1953-
(författare)
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Psychological and social aspects of tubal infertility : a longitudinal study of infertile women and their men
- 1985
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- All thirty women who were to undergo microsurgical treatment for tubal infertility in 1981 and their men were investigated. Over a period of 2 years four interviews were performed with the women and two with their men. A questionnaire, semistructured interviews, symptom checklist and the Eysenck Personality Inventory were used. During this longitudinal study the couples' background, current situation and emotional and social impact of the infertility problem were investigated. The psychological and social effects of the medical investigation and treatment have been described. Expectations and hopes about the future after unsuccessful surgical treatment and the need of professional psychosocial counselling have been noted. Furthermore, the extent of psychological reactions compatible with a crisis pattern has been identified and classified. Finally, overt motives for having a child have been studied.The infertile couples generally did not differ with respect to psychosocial background, current life situation, psychiatric anamnesis or personality characteristics when compared with apparently normal reference groups. Several deleterious emotional and social effects of the infertility were found both before and 2 years after the surgical treatment. The women admitted to suffering such effects more frequently than the men. The partners' feeling for each other were getting worse 2 years after the operation. There was also a tendency to a deterioration in opinions about marital relationships. Most of the mental symptoms recorded could be classified in terms of depression, guilt and isolation, which all are parts of the reactive phase of the common crisis pattern. The crisis of infertility, however, differs from the common traumatic crisis; it is more prolonged and there are often repeated crisis reactions. Negative effects on the couples' sexual life were reported by all individuals. The medical investigation and surgical treatment of infertility influenced the couples' mutual relationship and sexual life negatively.Intrapsychic and interpersonal motives of childwish were dominant among both women and men. A central motive was that a child is an ultimate expression of love between a man and a woman. The motives of the infertile couples generally did not differ from those of the reference groups.Most of the couples had difficulty in working their way through and finding a solution to their infertility problem by their own means. Relatives and friends failed to fulfil a supportive function. The importance of having the possibility of professional psychosocial counselling and support parallel with the investigation and treatment were stressed by all participants.
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