Bakgrund: Inom forskningen studeras styrkeförhållandet i lårets muskler och anges ofta som flexor/extensor kvot (F/E-kvot). Ett sätt att mäta denna kvot är att använda isokinetiska styrketest.  Forskningen är inte överens om ett optimalt styrkeförhållande i denna muskulatur eller om för stor styrkeskillnad kan ge upphov till skada. Om en optimal kvot kan fastställas är det intressant i ett förebyggande och rehabiliterande syfte.  Syfte: Att beskriva och jämföra F/E-kvoten hos en grupp manliga fotbollsspelare med en grupp fysiskt aktiva män mellan 16 och 25 år. Metod: Mätning av maximal isokinetisk styrka i knäledens flexor och extensormuskler genomfördes med Genesis Single. Resultat: Studien fann en F/E-kvot hos fotbollsspelarna på 78,2 % på höger ben och 77 % på vänster ben. Jämförelsegruppen hade en F/E-kvot på 73,7 % på höger ben och76,4 % på vänster ben. Utifrån detta kunde man inte finna någon signifikant skillnad mellan de båda grupperna Slutsats: Studien fann ingen signifikant skillnad i F/E-kvot i höger respektive vänster ben mellan en grupp fotbollsspelare och jämförelsegrupp. Vidare forskning om reliabilitet och validitet med Genesis Single som mätinstrument bör utföras innan fler studier utförs med maskinen. / Background: The kneeflexor and kneextensor muscle strength ratio (F/E ratio) is a widely researched area where isokinetic tests are often used. There seems to be little consensus regarding the optimal ratio and also whether a low ratio increase the risk of injury. It would be interesting from a preventive and rehabilitative stand point if an optimal ratio could be decided upon.  Objectives: To compare the F/E ratio between a group of 16-25 year old soccer players and a group of physically active males. Methods: Isokinetic maximal strength in kneeflexors and kneextensors were measured with Genesis Single. Results: The ratio of the soccer players was 78,2 % in the right leg and 77 % in the left. The comparison group was found to have a ratio of 73,7 % in the right leg and 76,4 % in the left leg. There were no significant differences between the two groups. Conclusions: No significant differences could be determined between the two groups. Genesis Single needs to be further investigated with regards to its reliability and validity.

Previous data have shown that the most prevalent, indirect plasma volume (PV) measurement technique, which utilises changes in haematocrit (Hct) and haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]), underestimates actual PV changes during immersion, when compared to a direct tracer-dilution method. An increase in the F-cell ratio (whole-body haematocrit (Hctw) to large-vessel haematocrit (Hctv) ratio) has been purported as a possible explanation, probably due to hydrostatic and thermally-mediated changes during water immersion. Previous investigators have not quantified the F-cell ratio during immersion. Therefore, this study sought to determine the effect of the F-cell ratio on the indirect method during both, thermoneutral and cold-water immersions. Seven healthy males were tested three times, seated upright in air (control: 21.2°C SD ±1.1), and during thermoneutral (34.5oC SD ±0.2) and cold-water immersion (18.6oC SD ±0.2), immersed to the third intercostal space for 60 min. Measurements during the immersion tests included PV (Evans blue dye column elution, Evans blue dye computer programme, and Hct [Hb]), red cell volume (RCV; sodium radiochromate), cardiac frequency (fc) and rectal temperature (Tre). Plasma volume during the control trial remained stable, and equivalent across the three tests. There was a hydrostatically-induced increase in PV during thermoneutral immersion, when determined by the Evans blue dye method (16.2%). However, the Hct/[Hb] calculation did not adequately reflect this change, and underestimated the relative PV change by 43%. In contrast, PV decreased during cold immersion when determined using the Evans blue dye method by 17.9% and the Hct/[Hb] calculation by 8.0%, respectively, representing a 52% underestimation by the latter method. There was a non-significant decline in RCV during both immersions. Furthermore, an increase (8.6%) and decrease (-14.4%) in blood volume (BV) was observed during thermoneutral and cold-water immersions, respectively. The decline in RCV during thermoneutral immersion attenuated the BV expansion. Despite the disparity between the PV methods, there was no increase in the F-cell ratio during either immersion. In contrast, there was a significant decline in the F-cell ratio during the control: air and thermoneutral immersion, which may indicate that other, undefined variables may impact on the stability of the red cell compartment. The current study is the first to show that the Hct/[Hb] method clearly underestimates PV changes during both thermoneutral and cold-water immersion. Furthermore, RCV was shown, for the first time, to decline during both immersions. However, the changes in the F-cell ratio during this study, did not account for the underestimation of PV change using the Hct/[Hb] method.

Ultrasonic sludge disintegration &ndash / the most commonly used mechanical pretreatment method- enables the occurrence of cavitation bubbles to extract intracellular material from the cell into aqueous phase. However, there is a lack of information on the volatile solids loading on the anaerobic digestion process performance of ultrasonically treated sludge. In this thesis work, the effect of sonication on disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS) and an important parameter digester F/M (food to microorganism) ratio on ultrasonically treated WAS were investigated. First, preliminary studies were conducted. It was obtained that when the sonication power and time increased, soluble COD in the supernatant increased as well. Then, batch anaerobic digestion tests were conducted. Effect of F/M ratio in the digesters by using sonicated sludges at different powers was analyzed. For the sludge sonicated at high power, the methane content increased up to 55.1 % at F/M ratio of 10 compared to untreated sludge. On the other hand, methane generation rate slowed down with the increase in F/M ratio. Moreover, 10 % and 15 % increase in the destruction of MLVSS and total COD content was observed for sonicated sludges compared to the untreated sludges, respectively. In summary, both the sonication as a pretreatment method and the increase in digester F/M ratio increased the biogas production and the solids reduction during anaerobic digestion prosess. These results may have important implications for the operation of full scale systems in terms of system efficiency and operation.