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- Ahl, Caroline, et al.
(författare)
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Making up one's mind : patients' experiences of calling an ambulance
- 2006
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Ingår i: Accident and Emergency Nursing. - : Elsevier. - 0965-2302 .- 1532-9267 .- 1755-599X .- 1878-013X. ; 14:1, s. 11-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The issue of the inappropriate use of ambulance transport and care has mainly been studied from the professionals' and caregivers' perspective, with few studies focusing on the patient and his/her experiences. To further understand whether patients use ambulance care in an inappropriate manner and, if so, why, it is important to obtain an overall picture of the patients' existential situation at the time they call an ambulance. The aim of this study was to analyse and describe patients' experiences related to the decision to call an ambulance and the wait for it to arrive. The design was explorative, and twenty informants aged between 34 and 82 years were interviewed. Qualitative content analyses were performed. The findings showed that calling for an ambulance is a major decision that is preceded by hesitation and attempts to handle the situation by oneself. Our conclusion is that the definition of inappropriate use of valuable health care resources should not be based solely on the professionals' point of view but also take account of the patients' reactions when they experience a threat to their life and health.
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| 5. |
- Kampf, Caroline, et al.
(författare)
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Mast cells accumulate in the renal capsule adjacent to transplanted pancreatic islets in rats
- 2006
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Ingår i: Cell Biology International. - : Wiley. - 1065-6995 .- 1095-8355. ; 30:12, s. 1054-1056
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mast cells are important mediators of normal angiogenesis, and participate in normal would healing, i.e. processes involved in pancreatic islet engraftment. The aim of the study was to evaluate if mast cells are present in islet grafts. For this purpose, male nonnoglycaemic Wistar-Furth rats were either untreated or syngeneically implanted with 250 islets under the renal capsule. The animals were killed 1 month later, and the kidneys and endogenous pancreas were removed, fixed and embedded in paraffin. The distribution of mast cells was studied in Alcian Blue stained sections. Mast cells were rarely encountered in endogenous islets, but were frequent in the renal capsule adjacent to islet grafts. Mast cells interspersed between graft endocrine cells were as rare as in the endogenous pancreas. We conclude that mast cells may contribute to the engraftment after islet transplantation.
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| 6. |
- Lau, Joey, 1979-
(författare)
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Implantation-Site Dependent Differences in Engraftment and Function of Transplanted Pancreatic Islets
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Transplanting pancreatic islets into the liver through the portal vein is currently the most common procedure in clinical islet transplantations for treating patients with brittle type 1 diabetes. However, most islet grafts fail within a 5-year period necessitating retransplantation. The vascular connections are disrupted at islet isolation and implanted islets depend on diffusion of oxygen and nutrients in the immediate posttransplantation period. Rapid and efficient revascularization is of utmost importance for the survival and long-term function of transplanted islets. In this thesis, the influence of the implantation microenvironment for islet engraftment and function was studied. Islets were transplanted into the liver, the renal subcapsular site or the pancreas. Islets implanted into the liver contained fewer glucagon-positive cells than islets implanted to the kidney and endogenous islets. Intraportally transplanted islets responded with insulin and glucagon release to secretagogues, but only when stimulated through the hepatic artery. Thus, the intrahepatic grafts were selectively revascularized from the hepatic artery. The vascular density in human islets transplanted into the liver of athymic mice was markedly lower when compared to human islets grafted to the kidney. Islets implanted into their physiological environment, the pancreas, were markedly better revascularized. Insulin content, glucose-stimulated insulin release, (pro)insulin biosynthesis and glucose oxidation rate were markedly decreased in transplanted islets retrieved from the liver, both when compared to endogenous and transplanted islets retrieved from the pancreas. Only minor changes in metabolic functions were observed in islets implanted into the pancreas when compared to endogenous islets. The present findings demonstrate that the microenvironment has a major impact on the engraftment of transplanted islets. Elucidating the beneficial factors that promote engraftment would improve the survival and long-term function of transplanted islets. Ultimately, islet transplantation may be provided to an increased number of patients with type 1 diabetes.
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| 7. |
- Mörck, Catarina, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Statins inhibit protein lipidation and induce the unfolded protein response in the non-sterol producing nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 106:43, s. 18285-90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Statins are compounds prescribed to lower blood cholesterol in millions of patients worldwide. They act by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the mevalonate pathway that leads to the synthesis of farnesyl pyrophosphate, a precursor for cholesterol synthesis and the source of lipid moieties for protein prenylation. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans possesses a mevalonate pathway that lacks the branch leading to cholesterol synthesis, and thus represents an ideal organism to specifically study the noncholesterol roles of the pathway. Inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase in C. elegans using statins or RNAi leads to developmental arrest and loss of membrane association of a GFP-based prenylation reporter. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is also strongly activated, suggesting that impaired prenylation of small GTPases leads to the accumulation of unfolded proteins and ER stress. UPR induction was also observed upon pharmacological inhibition of farnesyl transferases or RNAi inhibition of a specific isoprenoid transferase (M57.2) and found to be dependent on both ire-1 and xbp-1 but not on pek-1 or atf-6, which are all known regulators of the UPR. The lipid stores and fatty acid composition were unaffected in statin-treated worms, even though they showed reduced staining with Nile red. We conclude that inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase or of farnesyl transferases induce the UPR by inhibiting the prenylation of M57.2 substrates, resulting in developmental arrest in C. elegans. These results provide a mechanism for the pleiotropic effects of statins and suggest that statins could be used clinically where UPR activation may be of therapeutic benefit.
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| 8. |
- Svensson, Johan, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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Endocrine, liver-derived IGF-I is of importance for spatial learning and memory in old mice.
- 2006
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Ingår i: The Journal of endocrinology. - : Bioscientifica. - 0022-0795 .- 1479-6805. ; 189:3, s. 617-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IGF-I is a neuroprotective hormone, and neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, have been associated with decreased serum IGF-I concentration. In this study, IGF-I production was inactivated in the liver of adult mice (LI-IGF-I(-/-)), resulting in an approximately 80-85% reduction of circulating IGF-I concentrations. In young (6-month-old) mice there was no difference between the LI-IGF-I(-/-) and the control mice in spatial learning and memory as measured using the Morris water maze test. In old (aged 15 and 18 months) LI-IGF-I(-/-) mice, however, the acquisition of the spatial task was slower than in the controls. Furthermore, impaired spatial working as well as reference memory was observed in the old LI-IGF(-/-) mice. Histochemical analyses revealed an increase in dynorphin and enkephalin immunoreactivities but decreased mRNA levels in the hippocampus of old LI-IGF-I(-/-) mice. These mice also displayed astrocytosis and increased metabotropic glutamate receptor 7a-immunoreactivity. These neurochemical disturbances suggest synaptic dysfunction and early neurodegeneration in old LI-IGF-I(-/-) mice. The decline in serum IGF-I with increasing age may therefore be important for the age-related decline in memory function.
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