<p>Det allt mer globala företagandet har bidragit till skapandet av IFRS 7, vilket är en gemensam standard för upplysningar rörande risker för finansiella instrument. För noterade bolag med räkenskapsår som börjar 1 januari 2007 är den nya standarden obligatorisk. Detta innebär att även ickefinansiella företag måste tillämpa den.</p><p>Studien inriktar sig på att analysera hur svenska industriföretag har tillämpat de nya kraven på redovisning som IFRS 7 ställer på upplysningarna för kredit-, likviditets- samt marknadsrisk. Data har inhämtats från 2007 års årsredovisningar och författarna avser att utgå från hur de kvalitativa egenskaperna relevans, begriplighet, tillförlitlighet och jämförbarhet påverkas av införandet.</p><p>Författarna kommer i slutsatserna fram till att de studerade industriföretagen lever upp till de högre kraven på upplysningar som behandlar deras finansiella instrument, men att skillnader i omfattning och upplägg förekommer. De kvalitativa egenskaperna påverkas övervägande positivt. Ett mer specificerat regelverk eller en utstakad praxis skulle leda till ännu bättre kvalité för användarna.</p>

Cette thèse relève de l'indexation et de la représentation par le contenu des données multimédias, dans le contexte spécifique de la normalisationinternationale de l'image et notamment dans le cadre du processus de standardisation MPEG-7.<br /><br />Nous proposons tout d'abord de nouvelles mesures de similarité pour les descriptions de mouvement par modèles paramétriques 2D, fondées sur une famille de fonctions distance entre les champs de vitesses. Les problèmes d'optimisation en temps de calcul, d'alignement spatio-temporel et de pondération des composantes translationnelle et homogène de mouvement sont analysés et une solution mathématique proposée, mise en oeuvre et évaluée objectivement sur les bases de test naturelle et synthétique avec vérité terrain, que nous avons constituées et qui ont été retenues pour l'évaluation des descripteurs de mouvement MPEG-7.<br /><br />Deux descripteurs de forme pour indexer des modèles 3D maillés sont ensuite proposés. Partant des propriétés d'invariance géométrique et topologique que doit satisfaire naturellement un descripteur de forme d'objet 3D maillé, nous avons tout d'abord défini le spectre de forme 3D, que nous avons proposé et promu dans le standard MPEG-7. Celui-ci exploite uniquement la structure géométrique locale d'une surface 3D, fournit une représentation très compacte, mais présente une grande sensibilité aux descriptions topologiques des maillages. En considérant la transformée de Hough 3D d'un maillage, nous avons ensuite construit le descripteur de Hough 3D optimisé, intrinsèquement invariant aux changements de connexité, rendu indépendant aux transformations géométriques et optimisé en terme de compacité de représentation, via une partition invariante aux changements de repère canonique de la sphère unité.<br /><br />Enfin, nous proposons une plate-forme d'indexation compatible MPEG-7, intégrant des outils d'annotation, de navigation, de visualisation et de requêtes par similarité, et supportant des applications comme l'archivage vidéo, la vidéo cliquable ou l'indexation MPEG-7 de la langue des signes française. L'ensemble logiciel ainsi réalisé démontre pour la première fois en grandeur réelle, pour les applications d'indexation multimédia considérées, le caractère effectivement opérationnel des schémas de description génériques, normalisés MPEG7.

Plasma neopterin is an excellent marker of inflammation and is found in elevated levels in plasma of patients with cardiovascular disease. Neopterin originates as the oxidation product of 7,8-dihydroneopterin (7,8-NP), which is secreted by human macrophages when stimulated with interferon-y during inflammation. 7,8-NP has been shown to be a very efficient free radical scavenger and a potent antioxidant which can protect macrophages from a range of oxidative stresses. The uptake of oxidised low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) by macrophages which lead to the formation of foam cells is a hallmark of early atherosclerotic lesions. OxLDL-induced cell death is also considered to be an important process in the formation of necrotic lipid rich plaques and in atherosclerotic plaque destabilisation. This thesis examined the extent of oxLDL-induced damaged to HMDMs and whether 7,8-NP can inhibit oxLDL-mediated cell death in HMDMs. Foam cells had previously been defined as cholesteryl ester (CE) macrophages that stained positive with oil red-O. This thesis shows that the foamy appearance and presence of lipid droplets stained with oil red-O was not dependent on accumulation of CE which raises the suitability of using oil-red-O staining to identify the foam cells. In addition, HPLC but not GC analysis showed an increased in CE levels of the macrophages when the macrophages were incubated with oxLDL. The HPLC approach spared the samples of lengthy manipulations that might cause ex vivo oxidation. It also avoided subjecting the samples to high temperature treatment that could alter the lipid composition and therefore quantification of the lipid contents. Previous studies showed that 7,8-NP is a potent antioxidant and cytoprotective agent. Exposure of HMDMs to 1 mg/ml oxLDL caused 50% loss of cell viability as measured by the MTT reduction and trypan blue exclusion assays. The development of apoptotic features including caspase-3 activity, cytochrome c release from mitochondria and phophatidyserine (PS) exposure was examined. OxLDL did not cause caspase-3 activation as shown by Western Blot analysis and did not cause DEVD-AMC cleavage in HMDMs. However, cytochrome c release and phosphatidylserine exposure were observed when HMDMs were incubated with oxLDL as shown by Western Blot analysis and Annexin V-FITC staining respectively. Dihydroethidium (DHE) staining showed that oxLDL treatment caused mitochondrial superoxide generation in HMDMs. OxLDL-induced oxidative stress appeared to cause a rapid loss of HMDMs' intracellular glutathione (GSH) as analysed by HPLC technique. Incubation of HMDMs' with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) and diethyl maleate (DEM) caused similar loss in GSH as incubation with oxLDL but did not result in HMDMs' death. This showed that oxLDL-induced decrease in GSH alone was not sufficient to cause cell death. The loss of cell viability by oxLDL was inhibited by 7,8-NP in the concentration range of 50 to 200 lM. HMDMs' GSH loss caused by oxLDL was similarly inhibited by 7,8-NP supporting the idea that preventing the cellular GSH loss will protect the HMDMs from death. Incubation of HMDMs with 7,8-NP showed reduction in DHE fluorescence intensity staining suggesting that 7,8-NP inhibited or scavenged oxLDL-dependent generation of superoxide. 7,8-NP also effectively inhibited oxLDL-induced PS externalisation to the outer membrane but failed to inhibit the oxLDL-induced release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to the cytosol. The labelling of oxLDL with DiI showed that 7,8-NP significantly inhibited the uptake of oxLDL. However, the inhibitory effect was only measured at non-toxic concentration of oxLDL. The ability of 7,8-NP to inhibit oxLDL uptake raised the possibility that 7,8-NP protective effect against oxLDL involved modulation of the scavenger receptors'expression in particular SRA and CD36. The Western Blot analysis showed that incubation of HMDMs with 7,8-NP did not affect HMDMs' SRA protein expression. In 50% of the experiments, it was demonstrated that certain isoforms of CD36 protein were significantly down regulated by 7,8-NP suggesting that various factors might interact with 7,8-NP or CD36. The ability of 7,8-NP to protect HMDMs from oxLDL-induced death provides further evidence that this antioxidant is secreted by HMDMs to protect them against the oxidative damage in the highly oxidative environment of atherosclerotic plaque.

No description available.

The use of cosmogenic beryllium-7 (7Be) as a soil and sediment tracer relies upon a number of important assumptions which to date have not been fully underpinned by supporting data. As a catchment management tool 7Be offers unique potential to assess the effects of recent land use or climate change but further research is required to provide confidence in key data and elucidate sources of uncertainty. Through a range of laboratory and field studies, this thesis aims to explore knowledge gaps relating to i) the temporal and spatial dynamics of 7Be activity in rainfall which has importance in the context of estimating fallout input during erosion studies ii) adsorption behaviour in soils which is of critical importance when considering tracer stability at the field and catchment-scale and iii) the reliability of erosion estimates using 7Be inventories at the slope-scale to address the current lack of model validation. Findings showed temporal and spatial variability of 7Be fallout emphasising the need for regular site-specific sampling to determine fallout flux during erosion studies. Data supported the assumption of rapid tracer adsorption upon fallout although highlighted the potential for 7Be mobility under changing environmental parameters, thus, raising questions with regard to tracer stability at the catchment-scale. Field investigations demonstrated the potential for current models to overestimate erosion rates by failing to accurately represent key model components, namely, 7Be depth distributions, particle size enrichment and fallout input dynamics. Where these factors cannot be determined directly, a range of erosion estimates should be given based upon realistic sensitivity analysis of model components. In this manner, reported uncertainties will reflect field processes rather than propagated analytical uncertainty alone.

7-Oxysterols constitute the major component (40%) of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL). They arise in the body via auto-oxidation of cholesterol and are known to induce endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress and apoptosis in the vascular wall, prior to development of atherosclerosis. A novel pathway has been described for hepatic inter-conversion of 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) and 7β -hydroxycholesterol (7β OHC) by the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type-1 (11β HSD1), better known for metabolizing glucocorticoids. Inhibition of 11βHSD1 is atheroprotective and the potential underlying mechanism for this may involve altered metabolism and actions of glucocorticoids. However, alterations in the metabolism of 7-oxysterols may also play an important role in this atheroprotective effect. The work described here addresses the hypotheses that (i) 7-oxysterols are substrates for murine 11βHSD1; (ii) inhibition of 11β HSD1 may abolish cellular metabolism of 7-oxysterols; (iii) this route of metabolism may modulate the actions of 7-oxysterols and glucocorticoids on murine vascular physiology. Murine 11β HSD1 inter-converted 7-oxysterols (Km=327.6±98ìM, Vmax=0.01±0.001pmol/ìg/min) but the regulation of reaction direction is different from that for glucocorticoids. Predominant dehydrogenation of 7β OHC to 7-KC was quantified in several models (recombinant protein, cultured cells stably transfected with 11β HSD1), in which predominant reduction of glucocorticoids was measured. Furthermore, in murine hepatic microsomes, dehydrogenation of 7β OHC occurred exclusively. In aortic rings in culture, however, both reduction and dehydrogenation of 7-oxysterols were evident. 7-Oxysterols and glucocorticoid substrates competed for metabolism by 11β HSD1, with 7β OHC inhibiting dehydrogenation of glucocorticoids (Ki=908±53nM). The circulating concentrations of 7-oxysterols in the plasma of C57Bl6 and 11β HSD1-/- mice were in the ìM range (0.02 – 0.13ìM). The disruption of 11β HSD1 has resulted in increased ratios of 7-KC and 7β OHC over total plasma cholesterol levels (*p<0.05). This finding suggested that 11β HSD1 is involved in metabolizing and determining the plasma levels of 7-KC and 7β OHC. To assess the consequences of these alterations for vascular function, studies were undertaken in aortic rings. Prolonged incubation with 7-oxysterols (20-25 ìM) showed a tendency to attenuate noradrenaline-mediated contractions of C57Bl6 aortae, but had no effect on contractions in response to 5-hydroxytryptamine or KCl. Similarly, endothelium-dependent and -independent relaxations of murine aortae were unaltered after exposure to 7-oxysterols. Thus in the mouse, 11β HSD1 may influence the balance of circulating and cellular 7-oxysterols which may have consequential effects on glucocorticoid action. Although this work suggests that concentrations present in murine tissues are unlikely to cause vascular dysfunction, they may influence further cellular events as yet undescribed. Under pathological conditions where high concentrations of 7-oxysterols occur, 11β HSD1 may influence the extracellular-transport and delivery of 7-KC and 7β OHC to the plaque. This work therefore proposes that inhibition of metabolism of 7-oxysterols by 11β HSD1 inhibitors, may contribute to the atheroprotective effects of these drugs.

Este artículo presenta una propuesta de aplicación de conceptos de manufactura esbelta a una línea de producción de costura de una típica empresa de confecciones de tejido de punto para exportación, con el objetivo de reducir lead time, demoras e inventario en proceso. Mediante la utilización de mapas de cadena de valor y el enfoque de los siete desperdicios, presenta y analiza la configuración actual de una línea típica de costura, identificando los desperdicios más importantes a lo largo del proceso. Como propuesta, plantea un Sistema de producción esbelta conformado por cinco elementos, orientados a reducir los principales factores de desperdicio del sistema convencional: a) reducción del tamaño de la línea; b) implementación de un sistema de producción unitaria; c) implementación de un sistema de ingreso controlado por la línea de costura (sistema de jalar); d) aplicación de incentivos grupales; y e) incremento en la frecuencia del despacho al proceso de acabado. Como resultado, el modelo propuesto logra reducir lead time, tiempo de ciclo, inventario en proceso y movimientos innecesarios.

PAX 7 ist ein Gen mit, neben anderen Funktionen, ausgeprägter neuroentwicklungsgeschichtlicher Bedeutung. Schizophrenie wird heute als primär genetisch bedingte Neuroentwicklungstörung aufgefaßt (I.1.2, Abbildung 2). Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation wurde die Assoziation zwischen den drei repetitiven Trinukleotidpolymorphismen vom (CCT)n Typ und ihren fünf korrespondierenden Genotypen in der regulatorischen Sequenz der PAX 7 Promotorregion, die bekannterweise die Expressionshöhe des PAX 7 Genproduktes beeinflussen und einer Prädisposition zur Entwicklung einer Schizophrenie oder einer Ihrer Subkategorien nach DSM-IV3 (paranoid, nicht-paranoid, schizoaffektiv) mittels eines Polymerasekettenreaktions-basierten Assays in Proben von 280 an Schizophrenie erkrankten Patienten und 229 Kontrollproben gesunder Blutspender untersucht. Weder auf der genotypischen noch auf der allelischen Ebene konnte eine statistisch signifikante Korrelation nachgewiesen werden. Die PAX 7 Promotor Polymorphismen stellen also keine nützlichen Biomarker einer schizophren Polymorphismen Prädisposition dar. Die Rolle dieser Polymorphismen in anderen PAX 7 abhängigen Mechanismen bedarf weiterer Aufklärung, während polygen orientierte „Komplettgenom“ Techniken (z.B. genexpression profiling) besser geeignet sein könnten um das multifaktorielle Netz der Schizophrenie-Entwicklung aufzuklären. / Pax 7 is a gene of , among other features, enormous neurodevelopmental importance. Schizophrenia is today considered to be a primarily genetic based neurodevelopmental disease (I.1.2, figure 2). In this thesis the association between the three repetitive trinucleotide polymorphisms of the (CCT)n type and their five existing genotypic expressions, known to affect expression levels of Pax 7, in the regulative sequence of the Pax 7 promotor and the predisposition towards development of schizophrenia or its subcategories according to DSM-IV3 (paranoid, not-paranoid, schizoaffective) was analyzed by means of an polymerase chain reaction based assay in the DNA of 280 pts. afflicted by this condition and 229 control samples from healthy blood donors. No statistical association was found neither on the genotypic nor the allelic level. Thus Pax 7 promotor polymorphisms are no usefull biomarkers of a predisposition towards a development of schizophrenic manifestations. The role this polymorphisms in other Pax 7 related mechanisms should be further elucidated, while polygenic oriented whole genome techniques (e.g. genexpression profiling) seem to be candidates to entangle the multifactorial web of schizophrenic predisposition.

A research report submitted to the School of Oral Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Dentistry in the branch Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery. Johannesburg 2014 / The reconstruction of osseous mandibular defects remains a significant challenge. The use of autologous bone for mandibular reconstruction is associated with numerous limitations, and alternatives to autologous bone would provide significant benefits for patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare binary application of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 7 (rhBMP-7) and recombinant human transforming growth factor  (rhTGF-3) to solo application of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 7 (rhBMP-7) in full-thickness mandibular defects in the non-human primate Papio ursinus. In four baboons, a 2.5cm segmental defect was created in the mandible and stabilized with a 2.7mm titanium reconstruction plate. Two defects were implanted with rhBMP-7 solo, and the other two with binary application rhBMP-7 and rhTGF-3 at a ratio of 20:1. All four baboons were euthanazed at 180 days post implantation. All four specimens were radiographed prior to sectioning. Tissue processing and histomorphometry were done on the undecalcified sections prepared from the harvested mandible specimens. In all defects bone regeneration re-established bony continuity at six months. The mean area of the regenerate was 336 ± 107.5 mm2 (range 229-444.7) in the solo specimens, and 312 ± 63.5mm2 (range 249-376.6) in the binary specimens. Radiographic examination confirmed complete bone healing in all defects but variable restitution of defect volume. The regenerated bone had a trabecular pattern consistent with mature mandibular bone and the defect interfaces were indiscernible. Due to the small sample size no performance advantage could be identified between the two treatment groups. These results confirm that successful bone regeneration by tissue induction in surgically created mandibular defects can be achieved with osteogenic proteins of the transforming growth factor- superfamily.

La microfinance représente, de part le monde, un moyen de lutte contre la pauvreté en améliorant les conditions de vies des ménages pauvres. Ses effets bénéfiques sont surtout connus dans les pays en voie de développement et elle représente une autre source de financement pour les populations pauvres qui n'ont pas accès aux banques. Cette potentialité du secteur de la microfinance a retenu l'attention des pouvoirs publics, à Djibouti, pour lutter contre la pauvreté et des financements importants ont été investis dans ce secteur. Les enquêtes Djiboutiennes auprès des Ménages (EDAM, 2002 et 2012) ont montré une progression de la pauvreté. Les différentes politiques de lutte contre la pauvreté mises en place depuis la fin des années 90 ont eu un impact très faible dans la lutte contre la pauvreté. Mais peut-on généraliser cet impact positif de la microfinance ? Pour le cas de Djibouti, la microfinance est-elle la réponse adéquate face aux besoins des populations nécessiteuses ? Notre thèse cherche à vérifier par des données empiriques si l'hypothèse d'un impact positif sur le bien-être des clients est toujours d'actualité à Djibouti / Microfinance accounts, around the world, a way to fight against poverty by improving the living conditions of poor households. Its beneficial effects are best known in developing countries and represents an alternative source of financing for the poor who have no access to banks.This potential of the microfinance sector has attracted the attention of the authorities in Djibouti to fight against poverty and significant funding has been invested in this sector.The Djiboutian surveys of households (EDAM, 2002 and 2012) showed an increase in poverty. Different policies against poverty put in place since the late 90's had very little impact in the fight against poverty.But can we generalize this positive impact of microfinance? In the case of Djibouti, is the appropriate response microfinance faces the needs of needy. Our thesis seeks to verify by empirical data if the hypothesis of a positive impact on the well-being of clients is still relevant in Djibouti