Endometrial adenocarcinoma is a cancer that develops from the endometrium, from cells thatform the glands in the endometrium. Animal models such as the BDII rat have thecharacteristic property that they are prone to cancers, characterized by rapid tumor growth,that resemble human cancers. Such rat models are therefore used to study gene expression andsignal pathways in cancer. Cancer cells have the ability to invade surrounding tissues throughlymphatic and/or vascular circulation to produce secondary tumors at new sites. TheRho/ROCK pathway orchestrates cell motility thereby contributing in significantly tometastasis. ROCK, through phosphorylation of myosin phosphatase target subunit 1(MYPT1), inhibits MYPT1 and induces actomyosin contraction which contributes to manycellular processes. In this study, we were interested in investigating the expression of MYPT1and ROCK1 genes in malignant and non-malignant endometrial cell lines in BDII rat model,in human endometrial cancer cells represented by the Ishikawa cells line, and in humanembryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) human non-malignant control cells. Although statisticalsignificance was not reached due to the small sample size, a difference in the gene expressionlevels in malignant and non-malignant cells was observed. The results from the present studyshowed a higher expression of MYPT1 and ROCK1 genes in cancer cells (rat and human)compared to non-cancer cells, and we can conclude that this implicates the significance of theMYPT1/ROCK pathway in endometrial cancer and its deregulation.

Pulmonary oedema and pulmonary hypertension are often associated with heart failure. The Balb/CJ and C57BL/6J mouse strains have been shown to exhibit distinct genetic susceptibilities to heart failure. Balb/CJ develops reduced heart function associated with pulmonary edema and pulmonary hypertension when treated with angiotensin II and a high-salt diet (ANG II + Salt) while C57BL/6J does not. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ANG II + Salt on lung damage by studying the potential immune cell infiltration in Balb/CJ mice and to determine whether differences in expression levels of angiotensin II type 1 and 2 (AT1 and AT2) receptors contribute to these effects. Protein expression of macrophages, neutrophils, AT1 receptors, and AT2 receptors in lung samples from six Balb/CJ mice and seven C57BL/6J mice treated with ANG II + Salt were analysed using Western blot. Five untreated mice from each strain were used as controls. The results indicated a significant difference (p=0.009) in the expression of macrophages between Balb/CJ mice treated with ANG II + Salt with a mean value of 17.30 and C57BL/6J mice treated with ANG II + Salt with a mean value of 9.34. No significant differences were observed in the expression of neutrophils, AT1 receptors, or AT2 receptors between the groups. Contrary to our expectations, the results did not support immune cell infiltration in Balb/CJ mice lungs or show higher AT1 receptor levels in Balb/CJ mice compared to C57BL/6J mice. Further research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms involved.

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Healthcare organizations now consider increased efficiency, reduced costs, improved patient care and quality of services, and safety when they are planning to implement new information and communication technology (ICT) based applications. However, in spite of enormous investment in health information systems (HIS), no convincing evidence of the overall benefits of HISs yet exists. The publishing of studies that capture the effects of the implementation and use of ICT-based applications in healthcare may contribute to the emergence of an evidence-based health informatics which can be used as a platform for decisions made by policy makers, executives, and clinicians. Health informatics needs further studies identifying the factors affecting successful HIS implementation and capturing the effects of HIS implementation. The purpose of the work presented in this thesis is to increase the available knowledge about the impact of the implementation and use of HISs in healthcare organizations. All the studies included in this thesis used qualitative research methods. A case study design and literature review were performed to collect data. This thesis’s results highlight an increasing need to share knowledge, find methods to evaluate the impact of investments, and formulate indicators for success. It makes suggestions for developing or extending evaluation methods that can be applied to this area with a multi-actor perspective in order to understand the effects, consequences, and prerequisites that have to be achieved for the successful implementation and use of IT in healthcare. The results also propose that HIS, particularly integrated computer-based patient records (ICPR), be introduced to fulfill a high number of organizational, individualbased, and socio-technical goals at different levels. It is therefore necessary to link the goals that HIS systems are to fulfill in relation to short-term, middle-term, and long-term strategic goals. Another suggestion is that implementers and vendors should direct more attention to what has been published in the area to avoid future failures. This thesis’s findings outline an updated structure for implementation planning. When implementing HISs in hospital and primary-care environments, this thesis suggests that such strategic actions as management involvement and resource allocation, such tactical action as integrating HIS with healthcare workflow, and such operational actions as user involvement, establishing compatibility between software and hardware, and education and training should be taken into consideration.

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