Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Pritzer School of Medicine, Committee on Immunology, June 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 73 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-66).

Universiẗat, Diss., 2002--Stuttgart.

Trabajo de Investigación Requisito para optar al Título de Cirujano Dentista / Autor no autoriza el acceso a texto complete de su tesis en el programa de tesis Electrónicas / Introducción: La periodontitis apical asintomática (PAa) consiste en la inflamación y destrucción del tejido periodontal apical. Es causada por el encuentro dinámico entre agentes etiológicos de origen endodóntico y la respuesta inmune del hospedero. La metaloproteinasa de matriz extracelular-12 (MMP-12) también conocida como metalo-elastasa de macrófagos es una enzima clave para la migración de los macrófagos y para la degradación de componentes de la matriz extracelular (MEC), por lo que la MMP-12 podría participar en la patogénesis de las lesiones periapicales (LPAs) y su caracterización en el exudado periapical podría reflejar el estado de salud/ enfermedad de los tejidos perirradiculares. El objetivo de este estudio es comparar y cuantificar las formas enzimáticas y moleculares de MMP-12 en el exudado periapical de dientes con PAa antes del tratamiento y después de medicarlos por 7 días con Hidróxido de Calcio (Ca (OH) ). Materiales y métodos: Se seleccionaron pacientes con diagnóstico clínico de PAa en dientes unicanaliculares (n=9). Se obtuvieron muestras de exudado periapical antes de la preparación quimiomecánica y el mismo procedimiento se repitió 7 días después; período en el cual el canal se mantuvo medicado con Ca (OH) 2 . Para determinar la presencia de MMP-12 se realizó inmunowestern blot. La intensidad de las bandas se midió por análisis densitométrico con el programa UN SCAN IT ®. 2 Resultados: Se observó presencia de MMP-12 en exudado periapical de dientes con PAa antes de la medicación con Ca (OH) como después de ésta, presentándose una tendencia a la disminución después de medicación con Ca(OH) 2 2 aunque no existió diferencia significativa. Conclusiones: MMP-12 podría estar asociada a la patogenia de la PAa, siendo necesario aumentar el número de muestras (n) para validar la tendencia a su disminución post medicación con Ca(OH)2 y encontrar un resultado significativo.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment requirement for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / The performance of learners in national tests and examinations is broadly used as an indicator of the effectiveness of the school (Naidu, Joubert, Mestry, Mosoge & Ngcobo, 2008:39). According to Bernard (1999:28) learners test results have become such an accepted indicator of school performance that for manY,a school with high test scores is per force a good school. Often, academic results constitute the only criterion by which the success of a school is measured even to the extent that solely on this basis schools are labelled as effective or ineffective, resulting in unpleasant outcomes for the school regarded as 'failing' schools (Naidu etsl, 2008:39). This trend is manifested in Lesotho in the uproar generated by publication of case (Grade 12) examination results (setot, 1999:2).

The GHQ-12 has been recommended as a reliable screening instrument for psychological distress in all clinical groups. The usefulness of the GHQ-12 was evaluated in individuals with significant facial disfigurement by examination of the impact of alternative scoring methods on case detection rates. The type of scoring method used had a significant impact on the relative prevalence of `cases'. However, examination of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of the alternative scoring methods revealed a good fit between methods. The use of the GHQ-12 as a screening instrument to determine psychological distress in individuals with facial disfigurement may be enhanced by inclusion of an appearance-specific measure in the screening schedule and by the adoption of one scoring method; the GHQ method.

De så kallade 3:12-reglerna tillkom i samband med 1990/91 års skattereform i syfte att reglera beskattningen för ägare av fåmansföretag. Det huvudsakliga syftet med reglerna är att förhindra fåmansföretagare från att ta ut utdelning istället för lön för att få skatteförmåner. Från början infördes stränga stoppregler för att i högsta möjliga grad förhindra inkomstomvandling. De stränga reglerna fick oönskade konsekvenser i form av minskad tillväxt i fåmansföretagen. För att öka företagandet och investeringsviljan blev reglerna med åren mer generösa och denna trend har fortsatt ända fram till införandet av de senaste ändringarna som trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2014. I första delen av uppsatsen visar vi bakgrunden till 3:12-reglerna, reglernas utveckling fram till idag samt redogör för skälen till införandet av reglerna och till de ändringar som gjorts. I analysen utreder vi huruvida lagstiftarens syfte med 3:12-reglerna kommer att uppnås i teorin med hjälp av de senaste ändringarna. Vi kommer fram till att en utformning av reglerna är en mycket komplex uppgift, där svårigheten ligger i en avvägning mellan att både gynna tillväxt i fåmansföretag, samtidigt som reglerna skall motverka inkomstomvandling. Vi kommer fram till att inkomstomvandling inte får förhindras på stor bekostnad av tillväxten. De ändringar som infördes den 1 januari 2014 tror vi skulle kunna resultera i nya sätt att inkomstomvandla samtidigt som tillväxten inte kommer att gynnas. Exempel på alternativa sätt att utforma reglerna finns även med i den analytiska delen av uppsatsen. För att lösa problematiken kring 3:12-reglerna föreslår vi ett enklare system där reglerna endast bör omfatta de mindre fåmansföretagen för att gynna tillväxt i högre mån. / The so-called 3:12-rules were introduced in connection with the tax reform in 1990/91 with the purpose to regulate the taxation for owners of closely held corporations (fåmansföretag). The main purpose of the rules is to prevent owners of closely held corporations from taking out dividend instead of wage to get tax benefits. From the beginning strict rules were introduced to minimize income-shifting. The strict rules resulted in undesirable consequences such as decreased growth in closely held corporations. Over the years, the rules got more generous in order to increase entrepreneurship and this trend has continued until the latest changes were introduced in 1st of January 2014. In the first part of this paper we elaborate on the background of the 3:12-rules and the development of the rules until today. We describe the motives for introducing the rules and the underling motives to the changes. In the analysis we investigate if the motives of 3:12-rules according to the lawmaker will be fulfilled with the help of the recently introduced changes. We conclude that the design of the rules is a complex task, whereas the difficulty lies in the consideration between both to benefit entrepreneurship and at the same time prevent income-shifting. We conclude that income-shifting cannot be prevented at the great expense of growth. We believe that the new changes that, introduced in the 1st of January 2014, could result in new ways to achieve income-shifting and will probably not drive growth. Examples of alternative ways to design the rules are included in our analysis. To solve the problematic situation regarding the 3:12-rules, we recommend a simpler system where the rules only include the smaller closely held corporations and promote growth to a greater extent.

Members of the elderly population is disproportionately prone to experiencing mobility impairment due to their aging bodies and as a result have frail bodies that are at a higher risk of grave injury due to falling. In order to combat this assistive mobility devices such as exoskeletons have been developed to help patients enhance their range of motion. With additive manufacturing techniques, such as fused deposition modeling (FDM), becoming a more mainstream form of design, the inclusion of lightweight polymers such as nylon 12 as primary construction materials for these devices has increased. In this thesis computer aided design (CAD) software was used to design a prototype lower body exoskeleton and simulation software was used to give the device the characteristics of Stratasys' nylon 12 carbon fiber FDM material to verify it if could be used as the primary construction material for this device when extruded from a FDM printer on either the XZ or ZX printing plane. From the simulations it was found that the material printed along the XZ plane could create a device that could withstand the weight of an average elderly male patient (200 lbs.) as well as the 35 lbs. of force applied to the device by a linear actuation motor that would be used to extend and contract the exoskeleton leg.

During the PhD program in chemistry, curriculum in environmental chemistry, at the University of Bologna the sustainability of industry was investigated through the application of the LCA methodology. The efforts were focused on the chemical sector in order to investigate reactions dealing with the Green Chemistry and Green Engineering principles, evaluating their sustainability in comparison with traditional pathways by a life cycle perspective. The environmental benefits associated with a reduction in the synthesis steps and the use of renewable feedstock were assessed through a holistic approach selecting two case studies with high relevance from an industrial point of view: the synthesis of acrylonitrile and the production of acrolein. The current approach wants to represent a standardized application of LCA methodology to the chemical sector, which could be extended to several case studies, and also an improvement of the current databases, since the lack of data to fill the inventories of the chemical productions represent a huge limitation, difficult to overcome and that can affects negatively the results of the studies. Results emerged from the analyses confirms that the sustainability in the chemical sector should be evaluated from a cradle-to-gate approach, considering all the stages and flows involved in each pathways in order to avoid shifting the environmental burdens from a steps to another. Moreover, if possible, LCA should be supported by other tools able to investigate the other two dimensions of sustainability represented by the social and economic issues.

Magnesium is an essential element for many biological processes crucial for cell life and proliferation. Growing evidences point out a role for this cation in the apoptotic process and in developing multi drug resistance (MDR) phenotype. The first part of this study aimed to highlight the involvement of the mitochondrial magnesium channel MRS2 in modulating drug-induced apoptosis. We generated an appropriate transgenic cellular system to regulate expression of MRS2 protein. The cells were then exposed to two different apoptotic agents commonly used in chemotherapy. The obtained results showed that cells overexpressing MRS2 channel are less responsiveness to pharmacological insults, looking more resistant to the induced apoptosis. Moreover, in normal condition, MRS2 overexpression induces higher magnesium uptake into isolated mitochondria respect to control cells correlating with an increment of total intracellular magnesium concentration. In the second part of this research we investigated whether magnesium intracellular content and compartmentalization could be used as a signature to discriminate MDR tumour cells from their sensitive counterparts. As MDR model we choose colon carcinoma cell line sensitive and resistant to doxorubicin. We exploited a standard-less approach providing a complete characterization of whole single-cells by combining X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy , Atomic Force Microscopy and Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy. This method allows the quantification of the intracellular spatial distribution and total concentration of magnesium in whole dehydrated cells. The measurements, carried out in 27 single cells, revealed a different magnesium pattern for both concentration and distribution of the element in the two cellular strains. These results were then confirmed by quantifying the total amount of intracellular magnesium in a large populations of cells by using DCHQ5 probe and traditional fluorimetric technique.