| 1. |
- Agholme, Lotta, et al.
(författare)
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An In Vitro Model for Neuroscience: Differentiation of SH-SY5Y Cells into Cells with Morphological and Biochemical Characteristics of Mature Neurons
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - : Ios Press. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 20:4, s. 1069-1082
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neuroscience, including research on Alzheimers disease, is hampered by the lack of suitable in vitro models to study the human nervous system. To counteract this, many attempts to differentiate cell lines into more neuron-like cells have been performed, resulting in partial expression of neuronal features. Furthermore, it has been reported that neuroblastoma cell lines lack mature isoforms of tau. Our aim was to develop an improved in vitro model, generating sustainable cells with morphology and biochemistry of human, mature neurons. To obtain cells with neuronal differentiation and function, we investigated the effect of combining three-dimensional culturing of SH-SY5Y cells in extracellular matrix (ECM) gel with several factors reported to have neuro-differentiating effects. This resulted in cells with apparent neuronal morphology with long, extensively branched neurites. Further investigation revealed expression of several neurospecific markers including synapse protein Sv2 and nuclear marker NeuN, as well as the presence of synapses and axonal vesicle transport. In addition, these cells expressed mature tau isoforms, and tau protein expression was significantly increased compared to undifferentiated cells, reaching levels found in adult human brain. In conclusion, we found that pre-treatment with retinoic acid followed by ECM gel culturing in combination with brain derived neurotrophic factor, neuregulin beta(1), nerve growth factor, and vitamin D-3 treatment generated sustainable cells with unambiguous resemblance to adult neurons. These cells also expresses adult splicing forms of tau with neuronal localization, making this cellular in vitro model useful in many areas of neuroscience research, particularly the Alzheimers disease field.
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| 2. |
- Burnett, J., et al.
(författare)
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PC2: Identifying noise processes in superconducting resonators
- 2013
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Ingår i: 2013 IEEE 14th InternationalSuperconductive Electronics Conference, ISEC 2013. - 9781467363716 ; , s. Art. no. 6604284-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extensive studies of dielectric loss due to two level fluctuators (TLFs) in superconducting resonators have provided routes for low loss resonators. The research is motivated not only by the use of resonators as detectors and in quantum information processing, but more generally due to TLFs being a source of noise and decoherence in all quantum devices. In this work a frequency locked loop was used to measure frequency fluctuations at timescales in excess of 104 seconds, thereby accurately probing the TLF induced low- frequency noise of the resonator. Our measurement method lead to very high statistical confidence even for very long timescales, and here we can therefore present results explicitly identifying power dependent flicker frequency noise (S = 1/fa where a=1) persisting down to the mHz level.
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| 3. |
- Cinthio, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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An automatic method for measurements of arterial intima-media thickness using ultrasonic B-mode data
- 2012
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Ingår i: Acoustical Imaging. - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. - 9789400726185 - 9789400726192 ; 31, s. 115-122
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We have previously developed algorithms that use B-mode cineloops for simultaneous measurements of arterial diameter change and longitudinal movement of the arterial wall. In this study the lumen diameter algorithm was extended to also measure arterial intima-media thickness of the far wall. To optimize the algorithm the influence of the lateral width of the region-of-interest (1 pixel, 0.1 mm, 0.5 mm, 1 mm, 2.5 mm and 5 mm) was evaluated. The algorithm estimated intima-media thickness at diastole automatically by measuring the distance between the two positions where the laterally averaged B-mode intensity envelope crosses a threshold value relative to the maximum amplitudes of the intimal and adventitial echoes, respectively. The sub-pixel resolution is achieved by solving the equation of a straight line between the two samples on either side of the threshold value. The measurements were performed on 20 healthy normotensive volunteers (age 25–57 years) on the common carotid artery 2–3 cm proximal to the bifurcation. For the 2.5-mm width, which was considered the best, the intima-media thickness was mean 646 μm (SD 66) for men and 613 μm (SD 68) for women. The systematic difference was −5 μm and the random difference was 31 μm. The CV was 4.9%. The study indicates that the reproducibility is sufficient for in vivo studies when the width of the region-of-interest is 1.0 mm or wider.
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| 4. |
- de Graaf, Sebastian Erik, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Charge Qubit Coupled to an Intense Microwave Electromagnetic Field in a Superconducting Nb Device: Evidence for Photon-Assisted Quasiparticle Tunneling
- 2013
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114 .- 0031-9007. ; 111:13, s. Art. no. 137002-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study a superconducting charge qubit coupled to an intensive electromagnetic field and probe changes in the resonance frequency of the formed dressed states. At large driving strengths, exceeding the qubit energy-level splitting, this reveals the well known Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference structure of a longitudinally driven two-level system. For even stronger drives, we observe a significant change in the Landau-Zener-Stückelberg pattern and contrast. We attribute this to photon-assisted quasiparticle tunneling in the qubit. This results in the recovery of the qubit parity, eliminating effects of quasiparticle poisoning, and leads to an enhanced interferometric response. The interference pattern becomes robust to quasiparticle poisoning and has a good potential for accurate charge sensing.
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| 5. |
- Erlöv, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
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A method for measuring the variation of intima-media thickness during the entire cardiac cycle using B-Mode images
- 2011
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Ingår i: 2011 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS). - 9781457712531 ; , s. 2126-2129
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increased intima-media thickness (IMT) has been shown to predict cardiovascular risk, and measurement of intima-media thickness has been extensively used in medical research since the mid-1990s. IMT is conventionally measured by manual tracing, however this method is very time-consuming and suffers from large inter-observer variability. Numerous methods, both semi-automatic and fully-automatic, have been suggested to limit the influence of the observer. However, most methods only report one value per cardiac cycle instead of the variation of IMT over time. We propose a new method that measures the variation of IMT during the entire cardiac cycle. The method tracks spatial variations with compensation for both longitudinal movement and angle variations. This enables detection of positions where an inaccurate measurement of IMT has occurred. These can then be removed from the calculations in order to maximize the accuracy. The method was evaluated in vivo on 20 healthy individuals (mean age 38 years, range 25-57). The overall IMT in diastole (IMTdia) was 717+/-69 mu m and the intima-media compression (IMC) was 66+/-21 mu m which corresponds to a 9.2+/-2.6% maximal compression of the arterial wall during a cardiac cycle. The CV was 3.5% for IMTdia and 9.9% for IMC. Extending traditional IMT measurement to include also the variation of IMT during a cardiac cycle may improve the individual risk classification for cardiovascular diseases.
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| 6. |
- Erlöv, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
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A Method to Measure Shear Strain with High Spatial Resolution in the Arterial Wall Non-Invasively in vivo by Tracking Zero-Crossings of B-Mode Intensity Gradients
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings - IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. - 9781457703812 ; , s. 491-494
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have previously shown that there is a distinct longitudinal movement of the arterial wall during a cardiac cycle. This movement is larger in the intima-media region than in the adventitial region which introduces a substantial shear strain within the arterial wall. Our previously developed echo-tracking algorithm measured this shear strain by tracking two separate echoes, one in the intima-media region and one in the adventitia region and thus only a linear distribution was evaluated. The objective of this study was to suggest and evaluate a new improved method which can measure the intramural shear strain with higher spatial resolution and thereby provide more information on this new and rather unknown phenomenon. The mean maximum shear strain was 0.82 radians with a standard deviation of 0.17 radians and a CV-value of 14.2%. The total mean difference in measured longitudinal movement between the new and previous method was 10μm with a standard deviation of 90μm and a CV-value of 12.8%. The spatial distribution of the intramural shear strain seems to be very non-linear with a large amount of shear strain occurring in a small section around the transition between the media and adventitia layers.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Indén, Tobias, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Överprövningar av offentliga upphandlingar : En intervjustudie om skillnader mellan LOU och LUF
- 2014
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Syftet med denna studie är att analysera möjliga förklaringar till att upphandlingarsom görs enligt Lagen (2007:1092) om offentlig upphandling inom områdenavatten, energi, transporter och posttjänster (LUF) tycks föranleda en mindre andelöverprövningar än upphandlingar som görs enligt Lagen (2007:1091) om offentligupphandling (LOU). Den senare lagstiftningen är tillämplig på offentliga upphandlingarav tjänster, varor och byggentreprenader som inte faller under de områdensom anges i LUF (se ovan).Tillgänglig statistik visar att överprövning är mer vanligt förekommande blandupphandlingar som regleras av LOU. Detta förhållande kvarstår med hänsyn tagentill att det är mer vanligt att upphandla enligt LOU än LUF. För att belysa möjligaförklaringar till detta har 28 intervjuer genomförts med beställare/upphandlare frånstatliga och kommunala organ samt med företrädare för leverantörer från olikabranscher.Utgångspunkterna för intervjuerna har varit frågor relaterade till upphandlingssituationen(t.ex. organisation och kompetens), juridiska faktorer (t.ex. förhandlingsmöjligheter)samt leverantörernas syn på upphandling (t.ex. överprövningsom affärsstrategi).Intervjuerna ger vid handen att en avgörande anledning till att upphandlingarenligt LUF överprövas i mindre utsträckning än upphandlingar enligt LOU är detmer omfattande förhandlingsutrymme som till skillnad från LOU finns i LUF. Frånupphandlarsidan menar de intervjuade att förhandling förebygger och ger möjlighetatt hantera missförstånd och felaktigheter under upphandlingens gång. Dettaanses minska risken för att en leverantör upplever sig felbehandlad eller upphandlingensom illa genomförd. En annan intressant iakttagelse är att de intervjuadeupphandlarna beskriver att de branscher som upphandlas enligt LOU i högreutsträckning präglas av en ”överprövningskultur”. Av de intervjuade nämner fleraatt LUF-upphandlingar ofta är mer komplexa och att myndigheter som upphandlarunder LUF därför håller sig med upphandlare med hög marknadsspecifikkompetens. En sådan lösning är något som skulle vara mer resurskrävande förkommunala organ, då de ofta förfogar över en i högre grad diversifieradupphandlingsportfölj.
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| 9. |
- Klein, Alison P., et al.
(författare)
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An absolute risk model to identify individuals at elevated risk for pancreatic cancer in the general population.
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 8:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PURPOSE: We developed an absolute risk model to identify individuals in the general population at elevated risk of pancreatic cancer.PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using data on 3,349 cases and 3,654 controls from the PanScan Consortium, we developed a relative risk model for men and women of European ancestry based on non-genetic and genetic risk factors for pancreatic cancer. We estimated absolute risks based on these relative risks and population incidence rates.RESULTS: Our risk model included current smoking (multivariable adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval: 2.20 [1.84-2.62]), heavy alcohol use (>3 drinks/day) (OR: 1.45 [1.19-1.76]), obesity (body mass index >30 kg/m(2)) (OR: 1.26 [1.09-1.45]), diabetes >3 years (nested case-control OR: 1.57 [1.13-2.18], case-control OR: 1.80 [1.40-2.32]), family history of pancreatic cancer (OR: 1.60 [1.20-2.12]), non-O ABO genotype (AO vs. OO genotype) (OR: 1.23 [1.10-1.37]) to (BB vs. OO genotype) (OR 1.58 [0.97-2.59]), rs3790844(chr1q32.1) (OR: 1.29 [1.19-1.40]), rs401681(5p15.33) (OR: 1.18 [1.10-1.26]) and rs9543325(13q22.1) (OR: 1.27 [1.18-1.36]). The areas under the ROC curve for risk models including only non-genetic factors, only genetic factors, and both non-genetic and genetic factors were 58%, 57% and 61%, respectively. We estimate that fewer than 3/1,000 U.S. non-Hispanic whites have more than a 5% predicted lifetime absolute risk.CONCLUSION: Although absolute risk modeling using established risk factors may help to identify a group of individuals at higher than average risk of pancreatic cancer, the immediate clinical utility of our model is limited. However, a risk model can increase awareness of the various risk factors for pancreatic cancer, including modifiable behaviors.
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| 10. |
- Leppäkangas, Juha, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of quasiparticle tunnelling in a circuit-QED realization of a strongly driven two-level system
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1361-6455 .- 0953-4075. ; 46:22, s. Art. no. 224019-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We experimentally and theoretically study the frequency shift of a driven cavity coupled to a superconducting charge qubit. In addition to previous studies, here we also consider drive strengths large enough to energetically allow for quasiparticle creation. Quasiparticle tunnelling leads to the inclusion of more than two charge states in the dynamics. To explain the observed effects, we develop a master equation for the microwave dressed charge states, including quasiparticle tunnelling. A bimodal behaviour of the frequency shift as a function of gate voltage can be used for sensitive charge detection. However, at weak drives, the charge sensitivity is significantly reduced by nonequilibrium quasiparticles, which induce transitions to a non-sensitive state. Unexpectedly, at high-enough drives, the quasiparticle tunnelling enables a very fast relaxation channel to the sensitive state. In this regime, the charge sensitivity is thus robust against externally injected quasiparticles and the desired dynamics prevail over a broad range of temperatures. We find very good agreement between the theory and experiment over a wide range of drive strengths and temperatures.
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