Stickstoffdioxid ist ein Luftschadstoff, der mit dem Auftreten von allergischen Atemwegserkrankungen assoziiert ist. In dieser Studie wurde ein möglicher proallergischer Effekt von Stickstoffdioxid auf die durch eine Hausstaubmilbenallergie verursachte allergische Rhinitis untersucht. Primärzellkulturen aus nasalen Epithelzellen wurden einer einstündigen Gasexposition mit 0,1 ppm, 1 ppm und 10 ppm Stickstoffdioxid unterzogen, gefolgt von einer Exposition mit dem Hausstaubmilbenallergen Der p 1. Zellkulturen, die einer kombinierten Exposition aus 0,1 ppm Stickstoffdioxid und Der p 1 oder 1 ppm Stickstoffdioxid unterzogen wurden, zeigten eine erhöhte Induktion der Zytokine IL-6 und IL-8. Kein Effekt war bei einer reinen Exposition mit Der p 1 oder einer reinen Gasexposition zu beobachten. Über eine verstärkte Induktion von IL-6 und IL-8 kann Stickstoffdioxid einen proinflammatorischen Einfluss auf das Entzündungsgeschehen der allergischen Rhinitis nehmen und die Entstehung einer Sensibilisierungsreaktion fördern. Ein proinflammatorischer Effekt wurde bereits bei einer Stickstoffdioxidkonzentration von 0,1 ppm nachgewiesen, welche in Ballungsräumen von Industriestaaten regelmäßig erreicht wird. / Nitrogen dioxide is an airborne pollutant which is associated with the prevalence of allergic airway disease. This study investigated a possible proallergic effect of nitrogen dioxide on the allergic rhintis caused by a house dust mite allergy. Primary cell cultures of human nasal epithelial cells were exposed with 0,1 ppm, 1 ppm or 10 ppm nitrogen dioxide for one hour, followed by an exposition with the house dust mite allergen Der p 1. Cell cultures who were exposed with 0,1 ppm or 1 ppm nitrogen dioxide and Der p 1 showed an increase in the induction of the cytokines IL-6 und IL-8. No effect was observed in cells only exposed to Der p 1 or only exposed to nitrogen dioxide. By increasing the production of these cytokines, nitrogen dioxide can possibly enhance the underlying immune response which leads to allergic inflammation and sensitization. A proinflammatoric effect was demonstrated at 0,1 ppm nitrogen dioxide, a concentration which is common in urban areas of industrialized nations.

No description available.

A year long learning strategy course was designed and embedded in a Year 8 science curriculum. The Science Learning Strategy (SLS) program aimed to improve student ability to apply learning strategies to science, increase student achievement in science and to augment students' feelings of control over their science learning, so that their perceived competence was maximised. Achievement of these aims was monitored by collecting perceptions from students, parents and the teacher/researcher via a range of devices including questionnaires, work samples and interviews. The program overall was regarded as successfully achieving all three aims by 22 of the 24 students. The other two students found that only some aspects of the course were helpful, and felt they had learned little from the program. Thirty three percent of parents attributed positive changes in their daughter's study and learning strategies to participation in the SLS program (the remainder were unsure, or did not know of any changes). In relation to perception of academic performance, 38% of the parents interviewed believed that the SLS had a positive effect on their daughter's achievement in science. Several of these parents reported very positive effects on performance. The remainder were not sure or did not know if there had been any positive effects. No parents mentioned that the SLS program had caused a drop in science performance. The proportion of parents believing their daughters blamed disappointing results on factors they couldn't control dropped from 45% at the start of the year, to 22% by the end of the SLS program. After the intervention, 33% of parents reported that their daughters had come to believe that their science performance was affected by many factors, most of which they could control. / The teacher/researcher observed strong improvement in student ability to apply learning strategies to science as a result of participation in the program. Students were also observed by the teacher/researcher, to have been assisted by the intervention to realise that their science performance was governed not only by their natural ability, but also by factors such as studying behaviour and affective influences. In particular, the program appeared to the teacher/researcher to have helped students realise that they had control over their use of learning strategies, and that this control could influence their science performance. However, the teacher/researcher found that no statistically significant changes in science achievement resulted from student participation in the SLS course. The other objective of the research was to investigate the extent to which learning strategy education was valued and implemented by Western Australian science teachers. The 218 returned surveys revealed that most respondents recognised the need to teach these skills during science lessons. Seventy six percent of respondents considered the delivery of learning strategy instruction in the lower school science classroom to be as important, or more important, than teaching subject processes and content. Sixty seven percent recognised that improving study strategies can improve confidence and/or motivation. / Many teachers, however, had not been able to convert these views into consistent classroom practice. A moderate proportion of teachers reported teaching a variety of learning strategies; 74% of the respondents agreed that learning strategy instruction could improve performance in science. Only one teacher specifically mentioned incorporating the teaching of learning strategies with instruction in science process and content. As a future outcome of this project, the teacher/researcher will encourage other teachers to embed learning strategy instruction within the science curriculum, so that their students come to feel more in control of their learning and can learn more effectively.

Kaposi�s sarcoma (KS) is a peculiar vascular neoplasm that occurs mainly in elderly Mediterranean men and patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The current literature indicates that KS is initiated by the human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) as a reactive polyclonal process but with deregulation of oncogene and tumour suppressor genes, it can progress to a true malignancy with monoclonality. Clinically, classical KS often presents as an indolent disease affecting mainly the lower extremities whereas AIDS-related KS has no site predilection and can progress rapidly with systemic involvement. Histologically, KS can be classified into patch, plaque and nodular stages. Interestingly, classical and AIDS-related KS are indistinguishable histologically and this suggests that AIDS-related KS and classical KS might be initiated by a common aetiology but given their different clinical courses, they may progress through different mechanisms. In view of the importance of the cell cycle proteins in the development and progression of many human malignancies, this thesis aims to examine the role of these proteins in the progression of the two main clinical subtypes of KS. The cell cycle protein expressions in a cohort of 47 patients with KS with welldocumented clinical and histological features were studied. Using a monclonal antibody against the latent nuclear antigen-1 molecule of HHV8, HHV8 was detected in 78% of the cases. The more advanced nodular lesions were found to have a higher level of proliferative activity as measured by the proliferation x marker, Ki-67. This suggests it is valid to use the histological specimens as a tumour progression model of KS. The role of the Rb/cyclin D1/p16 pathway was examined. The more advanced nodular stage KS lesions were more likely to be positive for cyclin D1, suggesting that cyclin D1 is important in the progression from patch stage to nodular stage. p16 acts as a tumour suppressor and it has an inhibitory effect on cyclin D1. The p16 expression rate was low in early stage KS but high in the more advanced lesions. It seems that reduced p16 expression occurs early in KS and may be important in its development. The rate of Rb expression, on the other hand, did not differ significantly among the histological subtypes. The results revealed the significant role of the Rb/cyclin D1/p16 pathway in the progression of KS. Of the mitotic cyclins examined, cyclin A expression was correlated with the advanced tumor stage. The rate of p34cdc2 expression was high in the lesions and there was no correlation with histological stage. This suggests that p34cdc2 is important in the early development of the tumour but not necessarily in its progression. Along the p53-apoptotic pathway, mutant p53 expression was significantly more common in the nodular stage. The cyclin G1 (a protooncogene, one of the target genes of p53) expression also paralleled that of mutant p53 with the majority of the KS lesions showing cyclin G1 expression and significant xi correlation between advanced histological stage and increasing rate of cyclin G1 expression. These findings suggest that progression along the p53 pathway may be important in the advanced stage development of KS. On the other hand, expression of the CDK inhibitor, p27, a protein that normally negatively regulates cyclin G1, was reduced in nodular KS. These findings suggest that some KS lesions may progress through a deregulated or abnormal p53 pathway. There were correlations between cyclin D1, cyclin A, cyclin G1, mutant p53 and negative HIV status. The findings suggest that components of both the Rb/cyclin D1/p16 and p53-apoptotic pathways are important in the progression of classical KS. Rb protein was the only cell cycle protein whose rate of expression correlated significantly with HHV8 status in KS. The majority of HHV8 positive lesions were also positive for Rb protein, unlike HHV8 negative lesions. This suggests that some of the HHV8 negative lesions can progress through a defective Rb pathway whereas the role of Rb in the progression may not be as important in the HHV8 positive lesions. This was an unexpected finding given that one of the postulated mechanisms of tumour initiation by the HHV8 virus is via the viral cyclin it produces. The viral cyclin produced by HHV8 acts through the Rb pathway much the same as cyclin D1 and one would have expected that HHV8 positive cases are less likely to be positive for the Rb protein. In summary, the majority of the KS lesions examined in this thesis show HHV8 infection. The Rb/cyclin D1/p16 pathway appears to be important in the progression of the different stages of KS and expression of the proteins involved in the p53 pathway were found to be important in the advanced stages of the development of KS. There were differential expressions of cell cycle proteins between AIDS-related and classical KS, and between HHV8 positive and HHV8 negative lesions. The findings also provided some clues to the possible mechanisms of development in KS lesions that were not initiated by HHV8.

Bibliography : p.221-227. / xxiii, 227 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Physics and Mathematical Physics, 1994

<p>The main purpose of this essay is to look closer at how and when the Swedish women’s organization Grupp 8 changed their initial socialistic ideological approach and turned it into a feministic one during 1971 to 1979. By 1979 the group was referring to them self as a feministic movement. This is done by analyzing the way Grupp 8: s discussion in the areas of women in relation to work, family and society changes. The primary information is represented by the groups own magazine Kvinnobulletinen. The essay shows that they underwent a change in their ideology which occurred already in 1976 when they moved closer to not only a more feministic terminology, but also gave problems that where in many ways only related to women more room than problems referring to class. They still showed resistance against the capitalistic society but now they added a new dimension for what they believed stood as the reasons for the oppression of women, the patriarchate. In 1976 they had made a hesitated move towards a new ideological alignment. By 1979 it is clear that there has been a change when by far most of the reasoning around class oppression has been exchange with oppression on women and the emancipation of women.</p>

by R.M. Fano and A.W. Lawson. / "June 28, 1946." / Includes bibliographical references. / Contract OEMsr-262.

Given the large number of biologically active natural products containing medium-sized ether motifs, many organic chemists have shown great interest for developing new methodologies to access these structures. In particular, numerous synthetic methodologies for the construction of seven-membered and eight-membered ethers have been developed by research groups around the world. Recent advances in the synthesis of seven-membered and eight-membered ethers will be reviewed in chapter one. This chapter will cover some of the more notable publications from the last five years (from 2005 to 2009). In chapter two, the development of ring expansion reactions via [1,2]-shift rearrangements of thioacetal-derived sulfonium ylides will be described. A variety of functionalized diazoketones and diazoketoesters were made from commercially available starting materials. Sulfur-bridged seven-membered and eight-membered ethers were constructed upon treatment of these diazo precursors with suitable metal catalysts. It was found that Rh2(OAc)4 was a better catalyst for diazoketones, while Cu(hfacac)2 proved to be more effective for diazoketoesters. This methodology provides a convenient route to the seven- and eight-membered ethers in relatively few steps. In chapter three, the methodology for construction of sulfur-bridged ethers was employed as the key step in the attempted formal synthesis of (+)-laurencin. In this approach, the relative and absolute stereochemistry was established by a highly enantioselective and diastereoselective allylboration, a facially selective Michael addition, and a thermodynamically controlled acetal formation. The eight-membered sulfur-bridged ether was efficiently constructed using our [1,2]-shift reaction of a sulfonium ylide in toluene at 100 oC in the presence of Cu(hfacac)2. The following desulfurization and decarboxylation was effective at affording an advanced intermediate in this synthesis. The chemistry demonstrated in this chapter outlines a promising strategy for the formal synthesis of (+)-laurencin.

The number of applications in which infrared radiation sensors are used is increasing. In some applications, the cost of the sensor itself is an issue, and simple solutions are thus required. In this thesis, the investigations have related to the use of thin polymer membranes in thermal infrared sensors, such as bolometers and thermopiles. Infrared sensors are usually subcategorized into photonic sensors and thermal sensors. For detection of infrared radiation using a photodetector, there is a requirement for low band-gap material. The need of cooling makes infrared photodetectors rather expensive, and not an alternative for low-cost applications. In thermal sensors, the heat generated from the incident infrared radiation is converted into an electrical output by means of a heat sensitive element. Thermal sensors operate at room temperature, which makes them a low-cost alternative. The basic structure of thermal sensors consists of a temperature sensitive element connected to a heat sink through a structure with low thermal conductance. It is common to use thin membranes of Silicon or Silicon Nitride as thermal insulation between the heat sink and the sensitive element. In comparison, polymers have a thermal conductance that is lower than in these materials, and this increases the generated temperature in the sensitive element. A polymer such as SU-8 has a low thermal conductivity and is applied using a spin coater. This reduces the number of complex processing steps. This thesis presents a new application of SU-8 as a closed membrane in a thermal sensor. The concept was initially demonstrated by fabricating a nickel bolometer and titanium/nickel thermopile structure with a 5 µm SU-8 / SiO2 membrane. However, for the sensor responsivity to be able to compete with commercial thermal sensors the structures, some optimization was required. Since the thermopile generates its own voltage output and requires no external bias, the optimizations were focused on this structure. There exist a number available software tools for thermal simulation of components. However, to the author’s best knowledge, there exist no tool for design optimization of thermopiles with closed membranes. An optimization tool using iterative thermal simulations was developed and evaluated. A new thermopile structure, based on the optimization results, was both fabricated and characterized. Using an infrared laser with a small spot, the measured responsivity of the manufactured thermopile was higher than that of a commercial sensor. In the case of a defocused spot and for longer wavelengths, the infrared absorption in the absorption layer reduces and degrades the responsivity. The thermopile was further evaluated as a sensor in a carbon dioxide meter application based on the NDIR principle. An increase in the CO2 concentration demonstrated a clear decrease in the thermopile voltage response, as was expected. By normalizing the voltage response and comparing it with a commercial sensor, this showed that the SU-8 based thermopile is relatively more sensitive to changes in the CO2 concentration. / STC

New processes that leads to formation of new carbon-carbon bond (the Michael reaction, the Mannich reaction and alkylation reaction) or carbon-heteroatom bond (á-halogenation, á-hydroxylation and á-amination) on bridged bicyclic ketones such as tropinone and TBON were investigated, utilizing LDA in the deprotonation step. All reactions, in which new carbon-heteroatom bond is formed, were not successful either due to low selectivity and/or yields. In case of new carbon-carbon bond forming processes, careful choice of electrophile (electrophile having the ester group in á-position to leaving group), allows for alkylation of tropinone with moderate yield and good selectivity. Application of new conditions to the aldol reaction of TBON and tropinone (e.g. MgI2 catalyzed aldol reaction), gave new aldol products that were not detected from the lithium enolate chemistry of these ketones. Modification of reaction conditions in case of MgI2 catalyzed aldol reaction provides, in a one pot process, bis-aldol product from TBON in good yield and high selectivity, as a single diastereoisomer. Finally, TBON is used as a suitable scaffold for the synthesis of thiacocaine. The first known synthesis of racemic thiacocaine is presented, via deprotonation of TBON with LDA, as a key step.