O líquido folicular é o microambiente do oócito durante sua maturação in vivo que é, em parte constituído por exsudato do soro sanguíneo e por substâncias produzidas localmente, que estão relacionados com a atividade metabólica das células ovarianas. Tais substâncias podem ser essenciais para a proliferação e diferenciação das células somáticas bem como na maturação e posterior fertilização de um oócito competente. A busca por biomarcadores capazes de predizer a saúde de um folículo ou a capacidade do oócito em se tornar um embrião saudável é objeto de estudo na medicina reprodutiva humana e veterinária. Para tanto é essencial o conhecimento a nível molecular dos constituintes do liquido folicular e suas funções. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar o perfil proteico do líquido folicular de éguas submetidas à indução de ovulação, com dois diferentes protocolos usuais na prática clínica, utilizando eletroforese bidimensional em gel de poliacrilamida. Para tanto 19 amostras de liquido folicular de éguas que tiveram sua ovulação induzida por dois diferentes protocolos (1000UI hCG IV, Grupo H, ou 1000UI hCG IV + 1,5mg de acetato de deslorelina IM, Grupo H + G) foram submetidos a eletroforese 2D e posterior análise dos géis no PDQuest. Os valores de proteína total foram significativamente diferente nos Grupo H e Grupo H+G, 63,97 ± 6,97 e 73,07 ± 6,42, respectivamente. O número máximo de spots em um mesmo gel foi de 157 e o mínimo de 34, com média de 90 spots para o Grupo H e 83 spots para o Grupo H+G. Os 19 géis foram avaliados e a porcentagem máxima de spots relacionados foi de 52% e a mínima de 0%. Com média de 37,8% de similaridade entre spots para o Grupo H e 22% para o Grupo H+G. Estes resultados são de grande importância devido à escassez de trabalhos com proteômica de liquido folicular de éguas induzidas a ovulação e demonstram que a associação entre hCG e acetato de deslorelina aumenta a concentração de proteínas no líquido folicular em folículos pré-ovulatórios (>35 mm). / Follicular fluid is the oocyte microenvironment during its in vivo maturation. It is partly composed by blood serum exudate, and also by locally produced substances, related to ovarian cells metabolic activity. These substances may be essential for somatic cells proliferation and differentiation, as well as on the oocyte maturation and fertilization. The search for biomarkers able to predict oocyte ability to grow into a healthy embryo are targets on human and veterinary reproductive medicine. It is essential to know the components of follicular fluid and their functions. The aim of the present study was to evaluate protein profile of the follicular fluid in mares with inducted ovulation, in two different protocols, using 2D electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel. 19 follicular fluid samples from mares in which ovulation induction was performed with two different protocols (1000UI hCG IV or 1000UI hCG IV + 1,5mg deslorelin acetate IM), submitted to 2D electrophoresis, and gel analysis on PDQuest. Total protein values were significantly different in Group H and Group H+G, 63,97 ± 6,97 and 73,07 ± 6,42, respectively. The highest number of spots on a same gel was 157 and the minimum was 34, with a mean of 90 spots to Group H and 83 spots for Group H+G. All of the19 gels were evaluated according to MasterGel and the highest percent of related spots was 52% and the lowest, 0%, with mean similarity between spots 37,8% to Group H and 22% to Group H+G. These results are of great importance, due to lack of works on follicular fluid proteomics using fluid from mares with induced ovulation, and demonstrate that the association hCG + deslorelin acetate increase proteins concentration on pre-ovulatory follicles fluid.

Web Information Extraction (WIE) is the discipline dealing with the discovery, processing and extraction of specific pieces of information from semi-structured or unstructured web pages. The World Wide Web comprises billions of web pages and there is much need for systems that will locate, extract and integrate the acquired knowledge into organisations practices. There are some commercial, automated web extraction software packages, however their success comes from heavily involving their users in the process of finding the relevant web pages, preparing the system to recognise items of interest on these pages and manually dealing with the evaluation and storage of the extracted results. This research has explored WIE, specifically with regard to the automation of the extraction and validation of online training information. The work also includes research and development in the area of automated Web Information Retrieval (WIR), more specifically in Web Searching (or Crawling) and Web Classification. Different technologies were considered, however after much consideration, Naïve Bayes Networks were chosen as the most suitable for the development of the classification system. The extraction part of the system used Genetic Programming (GP) for the generation of web extraction solutions. Specifically, GP was used to evolve Regular Expressions, which were then used to extract specific training course information from the web such as: course names, prices, dates and locations. The experimental results indicate that all three aspects of this research perform very well, with the Web Crawler outperforming existing crawling systems, the Web Classifier performing with an accuracy of over 95% and a precision of over 98%, and the Web Extractor achieving an accuracy of over 94% for the extraction of course titles and an accuracy of just under 67% for the extraction of other course attributes such as dates, prices and locations. Furthermore, the overall work is of great significance to the sponsoring company, as it simplifies and improves the existing time-consuming, labour-intensive and error-prone manual techniques, as will be discussed in this thesis. The prototype developed in this research works in the background and requires very little, often no, human assistance.

No description available.

Enterohepatic Helicobacter species (EHS) are emerging infectious disease agents. Infection of the enterohepatobiliary tract of several mammals by this group of bacteria results in various pathological disorders. The availability of the Helicobacter hepaticus sequenced and annotated genome, allowed molecular characterisation of the responses of H. hepaticus to host factors such as bile. The adaptation/responses of the bacterium to bovine, porcine and human bile were investigated using proteomics and transcriptomics. Ninety-one different proteins were identified in the responses of H. hepaticus response to the three types of bile. These proteins participate in several key cellular processes including DNA replication; protein transcription, translation and folding; oxidative stress response; motility; virulence; and metabolism. In particular, the bacteria deployed several strategies such as inhibition of the TCA cycle and the electron transport chain as well as iron sequestration to ensure control of the levels of hydroxyl radicals. The results of this study revealed also the modulation by bile of the expression of H. hepaticus genes involved in response to oxidative stress and virulence. The responses of human HEp-2 and Huh7-derived cell-lines to H. hepaticus and Helicobacter bilis, respectively, were investigated employing proteomics and transcriptomics. One-hundred and twenty different proteins were differentially expressed in the responses of the human cells to the presence of Helicobacter spp. in the cell cultures. These proteins are involved in regulation of cell proliferation and structure; metabolism; protein transcription, translation and modification; stress response; and tumour induction. For example, in co-cultures of Huh7-derived cells and H. bilis, the activation of several mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum stress-related proteins and the dysregulation of several apoptosis effectors were suggested as mechanisms that could result in the death of the liver cells. Importantly, the differential expression of several tumour-related proteins by the Huh7 cells supported a possible role for Helicobacter spp. in liver cancer.

<p>There is convincing research which shows that the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (ALP) has a central role in the mineralization of bone, more precisely that its catalytic activity is needed in the process. ALP is found on the surface of matrix vesicles where the mineral is formed. One theory about the function of the enzyme is that it binds to fibrous collagen in the bone and thereby incorporating the mineral into the bone. The purpose of this study is to establish whether ALP binds to collagen. If this is the case, more elaborate studies around this will be performed. The strength of the binding between collagen and the different types of ALP will be evaluated, as well as on which part of the collagen the binding occurs. The binding is going to be studied by constructing a method for the ÄKTApurifier system.</p><p> </p><p>Initially, the pureness of the different type of collagens was determined by using SDS-PAGE and the activity of the different types of ALP was established. These were also compared with a native PAGE. In SDS-PAGE, bovine type I collagen showed markings for a triple helix, a double helix and two single strains, α₁ and α₂. Bovine type II collagen showed markings for a double helix and α₁-strains. Human type I collagen showed markings for a triple helix, two double helixes, two α-strains and contaminations. Trials with collagen in Native PAGE did not provide any results. However, the trials with ALP revealed that the different types of ALP had different charge.</p><p> </p><p>Thereafter, blotting was performed. The results showed that all the different types of ALP, besides from E. coli, binds to bovine collagen type I and II and human collagen type I, however within various periods of time. In the trials with collagen coated plates the acquired results showed that some of the different types of ALP bind to collagen. ALP from liver binds the strongest to both collagen type I from rat and type IV from mouse. Intestinal ALP also binds to both types of collagen but not nearly as strong as liver ALP. Serum from rats did bind to collagen type I from rat but not to collagen type IV from mouse. ALP from kidney and human serum did not bind to either types of collagen. The trials concerning the ÄKTApurifier system were executed with ALP from liver alone because it had been proven to bind to bovine type I collagen through the previous methods. The results confirmed that ALP from liver binds to this type of collagen.</p><p> </p><p>The conclusions from this study are that ALP does indeed bind to collagen and does so to the triple helix and double helix form as well as the single strains of collagen. In other words the part of the structure in collagen that ALP binds to must exist in all three stages of collagen formation. Furthermore, it seems like some of the different types of ALP has a higher affinity for binding to collagen, as the time for binding to collagen varies for the different types of ALP. The results differed between methods concerning different types of ALP. Although, the method we consider to give the best result was blotting. However, the method using ÄKTApurifier can be complementary but needs further development.</p>

<p>Fotosyntesen kallas den process som omvandlar ljusenergi till kemisk energi. Fotosyntesen sker i tylakoidmembranet och drivs av två stora proteinkomplex, fotosystem II (PSII) och fotosystem I (PSI) då de tillförs energi i form av fotoner. PSI-N är ett mindre protein på ca 10 kDa som ingår i PSI. På något sätt, som ännu inte är klarlagt, samverkar PSI-N med PSI-F och plastocyanin när det dockar till PSI. Det är därför av viktigt att rena fram större mängder av PSI-N för att få djupare kunskaper om proteinet samt dess struktur och funktioner. Tidigare undersökningar har utförts i ämnet och ett fusionsprotein innehållande PSI-N har uttryckts i <em>Escherichia coli</em> (<em>E.coli</em>). Problem har dock uppstått efter lysis av cellerna då det har visat sig att fusionsproteinet har degraderats. Vårt examensarbete strävar efter att rena fram intakt fusionsprotein med hjälp av, framför allt, mekanisk lysis och proteasinhibitorer.</p> / <p>The process where light is converted into chemical energy is called photosyntesis. The reaction takes place in the thylakoid membrane and is driven by two major protein complexes, photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI) when energy in form of photons are received. PSI-N, a subunit in PSI, is a smaller protein with a mass of approximately 10 kDa. In some way, which is not yet clarified, PSI-N collaborates with PSI-F and plastocyanin when plastocyanin is docking to PSI. It is therefore important to purify larger amounts of the protein to acquire deeper knowledge of its structure and function. In earlier research the PSI-N protein has been expressed in <em>Escherichia coli</em> (<em>E.coli</em>). The problem has been degradation of the fusion protein after lysis. Our goal with this project is to obtain the purified protein intact using mechanic lysis and protease inhibitors.</p>

Diamidines are a class of compounds that target the minor groove of DNA and have antiparasitic and antimicrobial properties. Their mechanism of action has not been fully elucidated, but may include changes in DNA topology. In this study we have investigated such changes using methods of gel electrophoresis including ligation ladders and cyclization assays. We found that topology changes were sequence dependent. Compounds typically caused non-anomalously migrating ATATA sequences to migrate as if they were bent, while A5 sequences that normally migrated anomalously became less so in the presence of certain diamidines. Select compounds induced changes in cyclization efficiency that were also sequence dependent; DB75 significantly abolished cyclization in A5 containing sequences but enhanced it in sequences containing ATATA sites.

Much research has been conducted on the retrieval and classification of web-based information. A big challenge is the performance issue, especially for a classification algorithm returning results for a large set of data that is typical when accessing the Web. This thesis describes a grid-enabled approach for automatic web page classification. The basic approach is first described that uses a vector space model (VSM). An enhancement of the approach through the use of a genetic algorithm (GA) is then described. The enhanced approach can efficiently process candidate web pages from a number of web sites and classify them. A prototype is implemented and empirical studies are conducted. The contributions of this thesis are: 1) Application of grid computing to improve performance of both VSM and GA using VSM based web page classification; 2) Improvement of the VSM classification algorithm by applying GA that uniquely discovers a set of training web pages while also generating a near optimal parameter values set for VSM.

Les différentes manifestations de la culture dans notre société permettent de poser un constat, soit celui de la cohabitation de deux langages distincts: linguistique et visuel. Une large part des communications s'effectuent par des constructions dont le sens repose sur un arrimage entre le texte et l'image. Une question fondamentale se pose: comment le processus sous-jacent à l'arrimage du texte et de l'image favorise-t-il l'émergence d'une signification plutôt qu'une autre? Pour répondre à cette question, nous avançons l'hypothèse que le texte et l'image disposent l'un de l'autre par un processus à la fois plastique et iconique qui rend possible des repérages et des nominations à partir de savoirs encyclopédiques. Avec pour objet l'image photographique et sa légende à la une de quotidiens, notre recherche soulève la question de la subordination du langage visuel au code de l'écrit dans une perspective à la fois perceptive et interprétative. Dans un premier temps, nous discutons des prémisses physiques et perceptuelles qui rendent possible la saisie de l'énoncé: la lumière, l'oeil, l'image, le signe, l'iconicité, le code de l'écrit, le paratexte et le processus d'arrimage texte-image. Dans un deuxième temps, nous abordons toute la complexité de la plasticité de l'image à travers trois éléments: la couleur, le cadre et la disposition. Dans ces chapitres, nous nous permettons d'énoncer, de débattre et de critiquer les positions théoriques avancées par différents auteurs, à partir d'un corpus composé de nombreuses illustrations. La couleur est abordée à partir de notre proposition d'un modèle où le noir et le blanc préexistent à la couleur et où cette dernière n'est en fait qu'une qualité ajoutée au noir et blanc. La question du cadre nous amène à le définir à partir d'un processus triadique et d'un jeu rhétorique. Enfin, la disposition traite du temps et de l'espace à partir des concepts du monocadre et des polycadres. L'analyse de l'énoncé texte-image nous permet de constater que le code du langage visuel opère selon un mode et une cohésion qui ne sont pas ceux de la linguistique. L'action du texte adjoint à l'image vient restreindre le potentiel significatif de l'image. Le texte et l'image cohabitent sans jamais s'amalgamer. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : image, texte, plasticité, iconicité.

Background: Internet and social networks have evolved to become a natural part of people‘s life and innumerous hours are spent every day interacting through these platforms. This evolution has resulted in higher expectations on fast and efficient communication with retailer‘s customers. Today‘s customers are well informed and have instant access to information about retailers and their products. Businesses have realized the potential for utilizing social media in terms of creating brand recognition, generating revenue, gaining feedback and insight from customers and improving the customer relationship. Social me-dia is no longer just an option for enterprises that wants to stay ahead in today‘s business environment, it is necessary. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify key concepts for how eCommerce retail-ers utilize Facebook page marketing in order to acquire and sustain customer relationships. The authors will further declare the level of ambition among the eCommerce retailers with Facebook page marketing. Method: The method used for this thesis is of qualitative and both inductive and deduc-tive character. The hermeneutic approach has been used in order to provide an understand-ing of how eCommerce retailers utilize Facebook page marketing for customer relationship building. Primary data has been collected through semi-structured interview with eCom-merce retailers in Sweden. Secondary data was obtained primary through literature and searches in Business Source Premier and Emerald Journals. Selection of respondents has been made by research about industries presence in social media. Theoretical Framework: This study is based on theories within social media marketing, relationship marketing and communication. The theoretical framework is of both funda-mental and detailed character in order to give the reader a better understanding for the top-ic and is further the foundation for our interview questions. Conclusion: Among the retailers that participated in our study, the positive aspects of Facebook page marketing have far outweighed the negative; however, we have identified dif-ferences in the level of ambitions among our respondents. When weighting the evidence we can interpret that existing routines for publications among the respondents are undeve-loped and undefined. We could further determine that our respondents are using Facebook more as a traditional one-way marketing channel with promotion of products rather than enhancing the possibilities for dialogue between the organization and their group of inter-est. Last, it prevail doubt over the value of spending money and time on Facebook page marketing, even though all of the respondents indicated will increase their budget for marketing in this medium.