A cryptic haplosporidian parasite was detected infecting rock oysters from the Montebello Islands in north-western Australia using a PCR targeting the parasite’s small ribosomal subunit gene. The PCR products were cloned and sequenced along with the remaining sections of the parasite’s SSU rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequence generated indicated a Minchinia species (Haplosporidia). The SSU sequence generated was used to develop two in situ hybridisation assays to visualise the parasite in H/E sections as well as a PCR assay to detect the parasite. The molecular assays were assessed for specificity and sensitivity and were then used to compare the parasite to previous haplosporidian parasite infections of pearl oysters. Both assays produced positive results from the infected pearl oysters but not from other closely related haplosporidian species. An SEM and TEM electron microscopy analysis was performed on spores from both parasite species. The spores of the pearl oyster parasite had two spore wall filaments wound around the spore originating for a posterior thickening while the spores of the rock oyster parasite were covered in microtubule-like structures. These data suggests pearl oysters where co-infected with both the Haplosporidium sp. and the Minchinia sp. detected in rock oysters. No evidence of a posterior thickening could be found on the spores of the rock oyster parasite. Attempts to detect the parasite at the previous geographic sites of its detection in pearl oysters resulted in detection of the Minchinia species in tropical oysters in the Kimberley region of Western Australia by in-situ hybridisation.

In situ protein detection in human tissues using antibodies reveals the cellular protein localization, and affinity-based proteomic studies can help to discover proteins involved in the development of diseases. However, antibodies often suffer from cross-reactivity, and the lack of positive and negative tissue controls for uncharacterized proteins complicates the mapping of the proteome. The aim of this thesis is thus to improve the methodology for validating antibodies used for immunostaining on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. Two of the papers include comparisons between mRNA-expression and immunostaining of corresponding protein. In paper I, ISH and IHC staining patterns were compared on consecutive TMA-slides. The study of well-characterized genes showed that ISH could be used for validation of antibodies. ISH was further used for antibody evaluation, and could validate four out of nine antibodies showing potentially interesting staining patterns. In paper III, transcriptomic data generated by RNA-sequencing were used to identify tissue specific expression in lymphohematopoietic tissues. An increased expression in one or more of these tissues compared to other tissue types was seen for 693 genes, and these were further compared to the staining patterns of corresponding proteins in tissues. Antibody labeling is necessary for many immunoassays. In paper II, two techniques for antibody-biotinylation were compared, aiming to find a stringent labeling method for antibodies used for immunostaining on TMAs. The ZBPA-method, binding specifically to Fc-part of antibodies, was found to be superior to the Lightning Link-biotinylation kit targeting amine groups, since labeling of amine groups on stabilizing proteins in the antibody buffer causes unspecific staining. The localization of the estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) in human normal and cancer tissues was studied in paper IV. Thorough evaluation of 13 antibodies using positive and negative control cell lines showed that only one antibody, PPZ0506, is specific for ERβ in all three immunoassays used. Contradictory to previously published data, tissue profiling using PPZ0506 showed that ERβ is expressed in a limited number of normal and cancer tissues. In conclusion, the present investigations present tools for validation of antibodies used for large-scale studies of protein expression in tissues.

Al-Māturīdīyya are those who followed the teachings of Abū Mānṣūr Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Māturīdī who was in his turn a follower of the Īmān Abū Ḥanīfa. The school of al-Māturīdī, along with that of al-Ashʻarī, made a great impact on Islamic thought and together they upheld and defended Sunnism from the 4/10 century onwards. In the first part of this thesis, an endeavour will be made to get to know this scholar and other topics to be studied will include the period during which this school emerged, the position of Samarqand as the headquarters of the Māturīdītes, the teachers of al-Māturīdī and the students who studied directly under him and their contribution to Islamic thought. The second part of the thesis will be devoted to an introduction to al-Ḥakīm as-Samarqandī's work, As-Sawād al-aʻẓam. Al-Ḥakīm was the first student to study under al-Māturīdī and together they planted the first seeds of this school. In another section of this part a comparison between the teacher al-Māturīdī and the student al-Ḥakīm will be presented and this part will be ended by a translation of As-Sawād al-aʻẓam which embodies the early dogmatic thinking of the Māturīdīte school. The last part of the thesis is an appendix which deals with a mas'ala ascribed to Abū-l-Layth as-Samarqandī entitled: Is Īmān created or uncreated, Hal al-Īmām Makhlūg aw Ghayr Makhlūq?