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- Amin, Kawa, et al.
(författare)
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Inflammatory cell and epithelial characteristics of perennial allergic and nonallergic rhinitis with a symptom history of 1 to 3 years' duration
- 2001
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Ingår i: Clinical and Experimental Allergy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0954-7894 .- 1365-2222. ; 107:2, s. 249-257
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Perennial rhinitis is an inflammatory condition of the mucosal lining of the nose that may be caused by allergic and nonallergic mechanisms. OBJECTIVE: We sought to characterize the cellular pattern and structural changes in the nasal mucous membrane of patients with perennial rhinitis and compare them with those of control subjects. METHODS: Biopsy specimens were obtained from 27 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR), from 12 patients with perennial nonallergic rhinitis (PNAR) with eosinophils present in the nasal smear, and from 6 control subjects without rhinitis. In 10 of 27 patients with PAR who were also allergic to pollen, biopsy specimens were taken within the respective season (PARseason). In the other 17 patients, the biopsy was taken outside the pollen season (PARoutside season). Inflammatory cells were identified by using mAbs to their unique granular proteins. RESULTS: The characteristic feature of perennial rhinitis was the accumulation of activated (degranulated) mast cells and eosinophils in the nasal mucosa. The tissue eosinophil/neutrophil ratio was higher, and the loss of epithelial integrity was greater in all patient groups compared with the control subjects. The extent of epithelial damage was significantly larger in patients in the PARseason group compared with that in the PARoutside season and PNAR groups, which did not significantly differ from each other in this respect. The number of eosinophils and mast cells was higher in the PNAR group compared with the PAR groups. In all patient groups, the number of eosinophils correlated with the loss of epithelial integrity. The number of mast cells did not correlate with the extent of epithelial damage nor did the number of neutrophils, except in patients in the PARseason group. CONCLUSION: The accumulation of eosinophils and mast cells, as well as loss of epithelial integrity, was characteristic for perennial rhinitis. Loss of epithelial integrity in the nasal mucosa may be a consequence of the activity of accumulated eosinophils.
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| 2. |
- Haase, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Shallow genetic population structure in an expanding migratory bird with high breeding site fidelity, the Western Eurasian Crane Grus grus grus
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Ornithology = Journal fur Ornithologie. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0021-8375 .- 1439-0361. ; 160, s. 965-972
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For more than half a century, the Western Eurasian Crane (Grus grus grus) has been expanding its range toward western Europe, recolonizing areas where it had been previously driven to extinction, including the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark. The Western Eurasian Crane is, on the one hand, a very mobile, migratory species, but on the other, is territorial and shows high breeding site fidelity. Hence, its genetic population structure is subject to antagonizing forces, which have different consequences. Based on the genotyping of six highly variable microsatellite loci, we inferred the population structure of the Western Eurasian Crane from samples from eight regions. We integrated classic F-statistics including analyses of molecular variance with a priori designation of structure and divisive clustering approaches, i.e. a Bayesian procedure (STRU CTU RE) and discriminant analysis of principal components, which infer structure a posteriori. According to the F-statistics, populations were only weakly differentiated, and the majority of the genetic variance (> 90%) was attributed to individuals. At first glance, the divisive approaches appeared to agree in finding four clusters. Yet, there was no correspondence regarding the composition of the clusters and none of the results were biologically meaningful. However, STRU CTU RE delivered an alternative interpretation, designating the highest likelihood to a scenario without subdivision, in clear agreement with the findings based on the F-statistics. In conclusion, the Western Eurasian Crane is genetically largely homogeneous, probably as a consequence of the rapid growth and range expansion of its population.
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| 3. |
- Leinonen, Ville, et al.
(författare)
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Amyloid and Tau Proteins in Cortical Brain Biopsy and Alzheimer's Disease
- 2010
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Ingår i: Annals of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 0364-5134 .- 1531-8249. ; 68:4, s. 446-453
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Amyloid-beta(A beta) aggregates are presumed to be found in the brain at an early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) but have seldom been assessed by brain biopsy during life in often elderly patients. Methods: Between 1991 and 2006 we evaluated 468 patients with suspected normal pressure hydrocephalus with intraventricular pressure monitoring and a right frontal cortical biopsy sample immunostained for A beta and hyperphosphorylated tau (HP tau). Adequate samples and the clinical follow-up data until death or the end of 2008, available in 433 cases, were reviewed for the clinical signs of dementia, including AD. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze whether A beta and/or HP tau in the biopsy samples obtained during life predicted development of cognitive impairment, in particular, AD. Results: Of the 433 frontal cortical samples, 42 (10%) displayed both A beta and HP tau, 144 (33%) A beta only, and 247 (57%) neither A beta nor HP tau. In a median follow-up time of 4.4 years, 94 patients (22%) developed clinical AD. The presence of both A beta and HP tau was strongly associated (odds ratio [OR], 68.2; 95% confidence interval [Cl], 22.1-210) and A beta alone significantly associated (OR, 10.8; 95% Cl, 4.9-23.8) with the clinical diagnosis of AD. Interpretation: This is the largest follow-up study of patients assessed for the presence of A beta and HP tau in frontal cortical brain biopsy samples. 1) The presence of A beta and HP tau spoke strongly for the presence or later development of clinical AD; 2) A beta alone was suggestive of AD; and 3) the absence of A beta and HP tau spoke against a later clinical diagnosis of AD.
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| 4. |
- Roslin, Tomas, et al.
(författare)
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A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland
- 2022
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 22:2, s. 803-822
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society.
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