| 1. |
- Malm, Christer, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of 2-D DIGE for skeletal muscle: Protocol and repeatability
- 2008
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Ingår i: The Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation. - : Informa Healthcare. - 0036-5513 .- 1502-7686. ; 68:8, s. 793-800
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proteomic analysis has the potential to yield vast amounts of data. The available proteomic methods have been hampered by methodological errors in quantification due to large gel-to-gel variations. The inclusion of an internal standard greatly reduces this variation, and therefore the purpose of this investigation was: 1) to develop a sample preparation protocol for human skeletal muscle for two-dimensional differentiated gel electrophoresis (DIGE) and 2) to investigate the repeatability of one particular system, the Ettan™ DIGE. To test repeatability, nine aliquots from the same homogenate were labelled with three different CyDye™ dyes (Cy2, Cy3, Cy5). Samples were run on 1824 cm gels, scanned with a Typhoon™ 9410 laser scanner and analysed in the DeCyder™ software. When selecting spots appearing only in triplicate (n = 1314), the mean error was 1.7 % (SD: 10.5 %; 95 % CI: 1.1-2.4 %). When setting the significance level to 99 %, no false-positive changes in protein volume ratios were detected. In the protocol presented here, only 0.5 mg tissue was used and separation of >2500 distinct protein spots in the pH range 3-11 and MW 10-200 kDa. Changes in protein abundance of <20 % could be detected. The method is especially useful when comparing muscle proteins between different conditions; for example, healthy and diseased tissue, before and after treatment or different exercise protocols.
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| 2. |
- Tydén, Tanja, et al.
(författare)
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Female university students' attitudes to future motherhood and their understanding about fertility
- 2006
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Ingår i: European journal of contraception & reproductive health care. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1362-5187 .- 1473-0782. ; 11:3, s. 181-189
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: As highly educated women tend to postpone childbearing, the purpose was to explore female university students' attitudes to future motherhood and their understanding about fertility. METHODS: Female students (n = 300), visiting a Student Health Centre in Sweden, answered a questionnaire with mainly multiple choice questions and verbal rating scales. RESULTS: The women wanted to have two to three children at the age of 29 for the first birth and 35 for the last. Only 2.7% did not plan to have any children. Six out of 10 would consider having an abortion if confronted with an unplanned pregnancy 'right now'. The most important circumstances for women's decision to have children were to be sufficiently mature, have a stable partner to share parenthood with, have completed studies and have a good economy. Having children before they got 'too old' was only ranked as very important by 18% of women. The women had an acceptable understanding about fertility. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that female university students are not very concerned about having children before they get 'too old'. Therefore, it is important that caregivers, working with contraceptive counselling also include information about fertility, especially to women who intend to postpone their motherhood.
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| 3. |
- Silén, Marit, et al.
(författare)
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Nurses' conceptions of decision making concerning life-sustaining treatment
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nursing Ethics. - London : Edward Arnold. - 0969-7330 .- 1477-0989. ; 15:2, s. 160-173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to describe nurses' conceptions of decision making with regard to life-sustaining treatment for dialysis patients. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 nurses caring for such patients at three hospitals. The interview material was subjected to qualitative content analysis. The nurses saw decision making as being characterized by uncertainty and by lack of communication and collaboration among all concerned. They described different ways of handling decision making, as well as insufficiency of physician-nurse collaboration, lack of confidence in physicians, hindrances to patient participation, and ambivalence about the role of patients' next of kin. Future research should test models for facilitating communication and decision making so that decisions will emerge from collaboration of all concerned. Nurses' role in decision making also needs to be discussed.
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| 4. |
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Accommodation and Vergence Mechanisms in the Visual System
- 2000
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Proceedings (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This conference was instigated by a combination of factors: The nature of the problem, the wide spread occupational epidemiology reported on eye symptoms and eye fatigue in the workplace, and the organizers' awareness of the complexity of the scientific and clinical bases of knowledge that might be usefully applied. The introduction of new methods into system neurobiology provides new insights into how we receive and process information from the external world, and act upon it. New, non-invasive methods have opened the way to direct observation of the human brain in action. Due particularly to the interaction between the visual and oculomotor requirements involved, several clinical and scientific fields intersect when these issues are considered. To provide clear vision the accommodative and pupillary mechanisms are used. To maintain binocularity, the ver gence oculomotor system, sensitive to fatigue, must attain congruence with accommodative levels. This accommodation-vergence linkage was a focus of our symposium.
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| 5. |
- Huang, Zhen, et al.
(författare)
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Gender-specific regulation of pancreatic islet blood flow, insulin levels and glycaemia in spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats
- 2008
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Ingår i: Clinical Science. - : Portland Press. - 0143-5221 .- 1470-8736. ; 115:1, s. 35-42
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Patients with diabetes are often treated with a statin for hyperlipidaemia and an ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor antagonist for hypertension or albuminuria. These drugs may also exert beneficial metabolic effects, causing improved glucose tolerance in patients. Gender-related differences have also been observed in the clinical responsiveness to these drugs, but the mechanism behind this is unclear. In the present study, we have investigated whether these drugs and the fatty acid palmitate influence the pancreatic microcirculation, thereby having an impact on insulin secretion and glycaemia in vivo, in spontaneously diabetic male and female Goto-Kakizaki rats. In male rats, pancreatic IBF (islet blood flow) and total PBF (pancreatic blood flow) were increased significantly by pravastatin, captopril and irbesartan. Serum insulin levels were increased by pravastatin and captopril. Palmitate suppressed pancreatic IBF and increased blood glucose. In female animals, pancreatic IBF was stimulated by captopril, candesartan and irbesartan. Total PBF was increased by captopril, candesartan and irbesartan, and by pravastatin. Palmitate suppressed pancreatic IBF and serum insulin secretion. In conclusion, the present study lends support to the view that a local pancreatic RAS (renin-angiotensin system) and pravastatin may be selectively influencing the pancreatic microcirculation and therefore affecting insulin secretion and glycaemia. NEFAs (non-esterified fatty acids) impaired pancreatic IBF, suppressed insulin secretion and increased blood glucose. Substantial gender-related differences in the vascular and metabolic responses to these drugs prevail in this animal model of diabetes.
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| 6. |
- Johansson, Amanda, et al.
(författare)
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No effect of mobile phone-like RF exposure on patients with atopic dermatitis
- 2008
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Ingår i: Bioelectromagnetics. - : Wiley. - 0197-8462 .- 1521-186X. ; 29:5, s. 353-362
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates the effect of exposure to a mobile phone-like radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field on people with atopic dermatitis (AD). Fifteen subjects with AD were recruited and matched with 15 controls without AD. The subjects were exposed for 30 min to an RF field at 1 W/kg via an indoor base station antenna attached to a 900 MHz GSM mobile phone. Blood samples for ELISA analysis of the concentration of substance P (SP), tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNF RI), and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in serum were drawn before and after the provocation (exposure/sham). Baseline heart rate and heart rate variability, local blood flow, and electrodermal activity were also recorded. No significant differences between the subject groups were found for baseline neurophysiological data. The cases displayed a serum concentration of TNF RI significantly higher than the control subjects and a significantly lower serum concentration of BDNF in the baseline condition. For SP there was no difference between groups. However, no effects related to RF exposure condition were encountered for any of the measured substances. As to symptoms, a possible correlation with exposure could not be evaluated, due to too few symptom reports. The result of the study does not support the hypothesis of an effect of mobile phone-like RF exposure on serum levels of SP, TNF RI, and BDNF in persons with AD.
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| 7. |
- Kristiansen, Lisbeth Porskrog, 1965-
(författare)
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Features of Swedish municipal elderly and psychiatric group dwelling care after the health-care reforms of the 1990s
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The over all aim of this thesis, consisting of six studies, was to explore features of the Swedish municipal elderly and psychiatric group dwelling care after the 1990s health care reformation era. Focus is primarily on the municipal psychiatry. The mixed design, used here, employs both quantitative and qualitative methods. In paper I all psychiatric municipal care providers' caring approaches towards a fictitious elderly long-term client with schizophrenia was explored through a questionnaire. Approximately 70 per cent of the nurses had a symptom-orientated approach which focuses on correction of disease-related symptoms towards the clients. If the nurses had been working for less than 10 years they tend to have a more person-centred approach, which indicate that long- term job experience might affect the care providers' attitudes towards the clients negatively. In paper II the existence of a visible pattern in care providers' attitudes and their arguments for the preferred approaches towards a fictitious elderly person (Mrs NN) with a diagnosis of long term schizophrenia was investigated. Fourty-eight (73%) of the respondents (n = 66) emphasized the importance of meeting Mrs NN within the framework of reality and the need as a care provider to focus on the present or the 'here and now' when they communicate with her. Twenty-seven per cent stressed the importance of meeting Mrs NN within the framework of a person-focused approach to the same question. The majority was unable to see the client a as anything else than what the diagnosis said. The purpose of paper III was to investigate twenty care providers' experiences of job satisfaction, whose work involves taking care of clients suffering from dementia and elements of ' aggressiveness' and 'psychomotor agitation'. The individual narrative interviews indicated exposure, insufficiency, a feeling of not being valued and doubt, as well as respect and importance and devotion towards the residents. The interpretation of the narrations showed that an ambiguous and complex core-theme: 'job satisfaction as a process moving between breaking down and occasionally building up the working person'. The care providers experienced that they only got support from each other and the positive relationship with colleagues was mentioned as the primary reason for care providers' continuing to work at the group dwellings. The organisation and resident behaviours were seen as very negative. Just a small degree of support was experienced from the side of the organisation. In paper IV the aim was to investigate how clients at two psychiatric group dwellings spend their time using the Patient Activity Classification (PAC). The clients who displayed a predominant picture of negative symptoms were left alone for 84% of the day. Of this 29.5% could be explained by their illness. The results indicated that, even if the dwellings had a creative climate, there was a negative process in terms of care providers' well-being with a moderate degree of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal accomplishment. In paper V the aim was to investigate the connections between the time spent together and the care providers' opinion of client behaviour and social functioning in community-based psychiatry. Twenty nine clients' were assessed by 30 care providers, who answered the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The PAC instrument revealed that clients spent, an average of 60.8 per cent of time alone, while only 20 per cent of their daily time was spent with the care providers. Four groups of clients were created based on the GAF scores, high and low, and a PANSS scores, high and low, related factor analysis. The clients in the group judged as having a low level of social functioning in combination with high degrees of psychiatric symptoms, receive less staff attention (18%) and are the clients who spend the most time alone (73.4%). Finally, in paper VI, the professional role of care providers in social psychiatry is in the midst of a period of role re-definition towards a recovery, client-focused perspective. In three focus group interviews 13 care providers discussed their views and experiences of their professional role at a social PGD (Psychiatric Group Dwelling) context when caring for clients suffering from severe mental illness. Thematic content analysis was conducted. Four themes were formulated: 'Being a general human factotum not unlike the role of parents', 'Having a complex and ambiguous view of clients', 'Working in a mainly "strangled" situation', and 'Feeling overwhelming frustration'.The findings showed that when aspects of the care were related to Kari Martinsen's ontological theory of care, including a practical, relational- and moral dimension, the moral dimension seemed to cause the care providers suffering. Furthermore, a figure is presented to illuminate how the findings contributing to different levels of the features of municipal EGD (Elderly Group Dwelling) and PGD care can be understood and related to each other. There is a hope that the results of this research could be used as a foundation to develop educational- and "contact" programs for care providers and others with the interpretation and the power to decide. This might, in a longer perspective, lead to a positive development for all identified levels, with special focus on a higher degree of experienced quality of life for both elderly and psychiatric clients.
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| 8. |
- Lehtihet, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Glibenclamide inhibits islet carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 activity, leading to PKC-dependent insulin exocytosis
- 2003
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Ingår i: American Journal of Physiology. Endocrinology and Metabolism. - : American Physiological Society. - 0193-1849 .- 1522-1555. ; 285, s. E438-E446
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hypoglycemic sulfonylureas such as glibenclamide have been widely used to treat type 2 diabetic patients for 40 yr, but controversy remains about their mode of action. The widely held view is that they promote rapid insulin exocytosis by binding to and blocking pancreatic β-cell ATP-dependent K+ (KATP) channels in the plasma membrane. This event stimulates Ca2+ influx and sets in motion the exocytotic release of insulin. However, recent reports show that >90% of glibenclamide-binding sites are localized intracellularly and that the drug can stimulate insulin release independently of changes in KATP channels and cytoplasmic free Ca2+. Also, glibenclamide specifically and progressively accumulates in islets in association with secretory granules and mitochondria and causes long-lasting insulin secretion. It has been proposed that nutrient insulin secretagogues stimulate insulin release by increasing formation of malonyl-CoA, which, by blocking carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT-1), switches fatty acid (FA) catabolism to synthesis of PKC-activating lipids. We show that glibenclamide dose-dependently inhibits β-cell CPT-1 activity, consequently suppressing FA oxidation to the same extent as glucose in cultured fetal rat islets. This is associated with enhanced diacylglycerol (DAG) formation, PKC activation, and KATP-independent glibenclamide-stimulated insulin exocytosis. The fat oxidation inhibitor etomoxir stimulated KATP-independent insulin secretion to the same extent as glibenclamide, and the action of both drugs was not additive. We propose a mechanism in which inhibition of CPT-1 activity by glibenclamide switches β-cell FA metabolism to DAG synthesis and subsequent PKC-dependent and KATP-independent insulin exocytosis. We suggest that chronic CPT inhibition, through the progressive islet accumulation of glibenclamide, may explain the prolonged stimulation of insulin secretion in some diabetic patients even after drug removal that contributes to the sustained hypoglycemia of the sulfonylurea.
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| 9. |
- Samsioe, Annika, et al.
(författare)
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Fetal Death Persists Through Recurrent Pregnancies in Mice Following Ljungan Virus Infection
- 2008
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Ingår i: Birth defects research. Part B. Developmental and reproductice toxicology. - : Wiley. - 1542-9733 .- 1542-9741. ; 83:5, s. 507-510
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: Laboratory mice infected with Ljungan virus (LV) early in pregnancy suffer from perinatal death. Here we investigate the persistence of that effect through the outcome of consecutive pregnancies in LV-infected mice. STUDY DESIGN: CD-1 mice were infected while pregnant and their adult female offspring were followed in parallel with uninfected control mice during repeated pregnancies. Three mating attempts resulted in two or three pregnancies per dam. The outcome of the last pregnancy was carefully monitored. RESULTS: Both the dams infected as adults and their adult female offspring suffered perinatal deaths during the last pregnancy which occurred approximately 6 months after the original LV exposure and acute infection. The non-infected control animals experienced no perinatal death. CONCLUSIONS: Perinatal death persists across recurrent pregnancies in this mouse model of LV infection, both in animals infected as adults and in females exposed to the virus in utero. This implies that LV persists in mice long after intial infection, and is maintained in a quiescent state but can remain pathogenic in later pregnancies. Birth Defects Res (Part B) 83:507-510, 2008.
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| 10. |
- Samsioe, Annika, et al.
(författare)
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Ljungan Virus Present in Intrauterine Fetal Death Diagnosed by Both Immunohistochemistry and PCR
- 2009
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Ingår i: Birth defects research. Clinical and molecular teratology. - : Wiley. - 1542-0752 .- 1542-0760. ; 85:3, s. 227-229
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: Following up on prior evidence from animal and human studies of Ljungan virus (LV) in intrauterine fetal death (IUFD), we examine additional cases of IUFD using two standard assays of viral detection: immunohistochemistry (IHC) and real time RT-PCR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Frozen and formalin-fixed specimens from IUFD cases were tested for the presence of LV using real time RT-PCR and IHC, respectively. Formalin-fixed organs from terminated pregnancies diagnosed as trisomy 21 were used as controls in the IHC assay. RESULTS: Presence of LV was demonstrated in all five IUFD cases by IHC and further confirmed in. three of these cases by real time RT-PCR. Only one of 18 trisomy 21 controls was LV positive by IHC. CONCLUSION: The presence of LV in IUFD patients has been confirmed by two different assays. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 85:227-229, 2009. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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