Bidens pilosa L. is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine of which was considered as a potential COX2 inhibitor and anti-inflammatory agent. The objective of this study is to discriminate the protective effect of aqueous extract of Bidens pilosa L. leaves (BPLAE) against TAA-induced live fibrosis using an animal model. The herb extracts were administrated via intraperitoneal injection once per week (1.25, 2.5 g/kg), and thioacetamide (200 mg/kg) was injected three times per week and the mice were sacrificed at week 4 and week 8, respectively. Immunohistochemistry staining, Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, Sirius red staining were carried out to evaluate the pathological alterations of mouse livers; in addition, Western blotting was performed to measure the differential expression of £\-smooth muscle actin (£\-SMA) between different treatment groups (vehicle, week 4 and week 8). Hepatic hydroxyproline was also detected in order to compare difference in collagen formation of each group. The results showed that Bidens pilosa L. effectively reduced amount of hepatic hydroxyproline and £\-SMA protein in mice with fibrotic liver induced by TAA. Moreover, in histiopathological exam, the BPLAE treated mice demonstrated a lower collagen and £\-SMA expression, which indicated that BPLAE might reduce degree and severity of liver fibrosis in mice. In conclusion, these results suggested that BPLAE potentially against fibrogenesis in TAA- induced mice liver fibrosis. Additionally, we found that BPLAE might involve in the signaling pathway of MAPK (ERK1/ERK2), which reduced the phosporylation level of p44 but not p42. Further studies using cell base assay to confirm the inhibiting role of BPLAE against cell proliferation or migration is warrant.

WW domain-containing oxidoreductase (WWOX) is a novel tumor suppressor gene discovered few years ago. Many researches indicate that expression of WWOX is reduced in a variety of cancers including heptocellular carcinoma (HCC). A recent report suggests that WWOX is implicated in Wnt/£]-catenin pathway which is frequently affected in HCC. In this study, we used immunohistochemical (IHC) staining to analyze the expression of WWOX and Wnt/£]-catenin pathway components in HCC and adjacent non-tumor tissues. Our result showed that WWOX was significantly downregulated in poor differentiated HCC. In addition, downregulation of WWOX was significantly correlated with cytoplasmic £]-catenin expression. We also found that TCF4 was strongly expressed in HCC tissues and the expression was associated with tumor grade and stage. Consequently, our result implied that downregulation of WWOX in HCC might lead to accumulation of £]-catenin in the cytoplasm and the subsequent activation of Wnt/£]-catenin signaling pathway.

Assessment of sperm viability is an important component for evaluating stallion sperm quality. The flow cytometer is considered the standard in the assessment of sperm plasma membrane integrity (viability); however, this instrument is costly to purchase and use, and it requires an experienced technician to operate it. The growing practice of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in the equine industry has increased the need for an accurate but cost-effective means of determining sperm membrane viability. The NucleoCounter® SP-100TM is reported to be an accurate, easy-to-perform, and an efficient stallion-side test for sperm membrane viability. To evaluate usefulness of the NucleoCounter® SP-100TM for assessing sperm membrane integrity, neat semen was subjected to four treatments with varying seminal plasma volumes and sperm concentrations. Sperm membrane viability was assessed immediately, and at 24 and 48 hours after cooled-storage using three methods: 1) flow cytometer utilizing the fluorescent vital stains SYBR-14/propidium iodide; 2) NucleoCounter® SP-100TM utilizing the fluorescent vital stain propidium iodide; 3) eosin-nigrosin stained air-dried smears of semen. Sperm motion characteristics (total and progressive motility) were assessed using a computer assisted sperm motion analyzer (CASMA) and results were compared to sperm membrane viability to determine the relationship between sperm membrane viability and motion characteristics. Results were compared statistically by: 1) analysis of variance (ANOVA); 2) linear regression analysis; 3) coefficient of variation on untransformed and transformed data (arc sine square root); and 3) the agreement of two instruments, by means of which the difference between measurements of the two instruments were plotted on the y-axis and the average of measurements from the two instruments were plotted on the x-axis. Results obtained with the NucleoCounter® SP-100TM agreed best with the flow cytometer, and least with eosin-nigrosin staining. Coefficients of variation were ≤ 5% for the three methods (transformed data). Sperm motion characteristics and sperm viability were similar among treatments at Time 0. At Times 24 and 48, sperm motion characteristics decreased at a more significant rate compared to viability in the treatments containing ≥ 50% seminal plasma, whereas differences among treatments were only significant at seminal plasma concentrations above 50% when only sperm membrane viability was considered.

På histopatologiska laboratoriet vid Länssjukhuset Ryhov i Jönköping är dehydreringsprocessen i dagsläget förlagd över natt. För upprätthållande av god kvalitet på diagnos med förbättrat provflöde och utnyttjande av instrumentens fulla kapacitet önskas att ett kortare dehydreringsprogram implementeras och förläggs dagtid. Syftet med denna studie var således att utvärdera ett kortare dehydreringsprogram för stansbiopsier från human hud och portio. Detta har gjorts utifrån cellmorfologiska bedömningsgrunder och bedömning av färgkvalité av rutinfärgning med Hematoxylin och Eosin samt specialfärgningarna polykrommetylenblått enligt Unna, Periodic acid-Schiff och Giemsa. Ett material om 87 biopsier från human hud samt portio dehydrerades fördelat över gällande rutinprogram samt utvärderat kortprogram. Preparaten bedömdes sedan utifrån snittbarhet, morfologisk kvalité samt färgbarhet och diagnostiserbarhet. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att mindre stansbiopsier från kortprogrammet varit enkla att snitta samt att dessa erhållit genomgående goda resultat från övriga bedömningar. Däremot var de större biopsierna mer svårsnittade samt uppvisade fler dehydreringsartefakter när dessa dehydrerats i kortprogram. Sammantaget konstaterades att det korta dehydreringsprogrammet skulle kunna implementeras för mindre stansbiopsier från hud och portio på histopatologiska laboratoriet vid Länssjukhuset Ryhov i Jönköping. / At the histopathological laboratory at Ryhov County Hospital in Jönköping the dehydration process is currently scheduled during nights. To maintain good diagnostic quality with improved sample flow and use of the instruments full capacity an implementation of a shorter dehydration program scheduled during daytime was needed. The purpose was thus to evaluate a shorter dehydration program for punch biopsies of human skin and portio. The evaluation was based on ratings of cellular morphology and quality of routine staining with Hematoxylin and Eosin as well as special staining with polychrome methylene blue according to Unna, Periodic acid-Schiff and Giemsa. A material containing 87 biopsies was dehydrated distributed between current routine program and the evaluated shorter program. The specimens were rated on the basis of ability to section, morphological and staining quality along with diagnostic ability. The results of the survey showed that smaller punch biopsies run in the shorter dehydration program were easy to section and received good results in general. In contrast, larger biopsies were more difficult to section and showed more dehydration artefacts when dehydrated in the shorter program. Altogether it was concluded that the short dehydration program could be implemented for smaller punch biopsies from skin and portio at the histopathological laboratory at Ryhov County Hospital in Jönköping.

This is a work of moral psychology in the course of which is presented a theory on the nature of guilt. The point of departure is a psychological phenomenon that I call “scrupulousness.” Scrupulousness is present when someone is in doubt about the morality of a minor past action. He or she is obsessively driven to determine whether his act was right or wrong. The result for the individual is vexing preoccupation in a cycle of internal casuistry. I explain this unhappy phenomenon as the result of anxiety over guilt understood as moral staining. A moral stain is a persistent residue adhering to the self created by a past wrongful action. To better explain moral stains, I borrow Christine Korsgaard’s theory of personal identity as constituted by one’s choices. With the aid of Korsgaard’s theory, I then consider how a belief in guilt as moral staining accounts for the worry of the scrupulous person. The Postscript of the Report first considers whether scrupulousness is justified by the explanation I have furnished. I answer this question in the negative. I also consider how anticipation of scrupulous worry could drive a person away from morally ambiguous situations, sometimes preventing him from taking the correct course of action in a form of “moral cowardice.” The Postscript secondly explains the significance of investigating scrupulousness and moral staining for philosophers. I argue that moral staining captures important aspects of the phenomenology of guilt and that it correctly accounts for the reality of guilt as more than a mere psychological state or feeling. To exhibit these strengths of the moral staining view, I compare and criticize Herbert Morris’ prominent model of guilt as consisting in the severance of valued relationships. / text

A major objective in Theileria parva subunit vaccine development is to induce a vaccine antigen specific response mediated by cytotoxic CD8+ T cells (CTL). Therefore it is essential to be able to measure the frequency of the responding CD8+ T cells after vaccination and correlate it with a clinical outcome on challenge. Recently concluded immunogenicity and efficacy studies of T. parva specific CTL antigens showed successful induction of CTL responses in some animals, which correlated with reduced disease severity after challenge. To provide correlates of immunity antigen-specific CD8+ T cell mediated IFN-γ responses and CTL lytic responses were measured over the course of the experiments. Several challenges presented in these trials aimed at optimising vaccine efficacy. While the IFN-γ ELISPOT is a sensitive and reliable assay widely used in vaccine research, the use of chromium/indium release assay remains to be the only assay in use that measures T. parva-specific CTL activity. Hence the overall goal of the study was to develop novel reagents and novel assays to identify parasite-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes with lytic potential. To address this objective, bovine perforin, granzymes A and B, as specific effector proteins expressed in activated CTL were cloned and expressed using a baculovirus expression system. Sequence analysis of the cloned cDNAs showed the isolated cDNA belonged to the perforin and granzyme sub-families respectively. Perforin cDNA demonstrated 85% homology to human perforin with presence of conserved regions resembling calcium binding motif, membrane attack complex component as well complement protein. The sequences encoded by the cloned granzyme A and B cDNAs have the features of a trypsin like serine protease and demonstrates over 70% homology to the human cDNA over the active enzyme region as well catalytic residues characteristic of serine proteases. The expressed polypeptides of all three proteins were used to produce specific antibodies for use as reagents in immunoassays including ELISpot and intracellular staining for flow cytometric analysis. While the antibodies showed reactivity to the recombinant proteins, these reagents displayed different functionality in the recognition of the native protein. Peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) class I tetrameric complexes (tetramers) are proving invaluable as fluorescent reagents for enumeration, characterisation and isolation of peptide-specific CD8+ T cells and have afforded advantages to phenotype antigen-specific T cells with minimal in vitro manipulation. Fluorescent bovine tetramers were shown to specifically stain antigen-specific CTL by directly binding the T cell receptor (TCR). Analyses of CD8 T-cell responses in live-vaccine immunised cattle also showed that this method is robust and demonstrates changes in the kinetics and specificity of the CD8+ T cell response in primary and secondary infections with T. parva. On average, results of functional assays and tetramer staining followed parallel trends, measured roughly the same populations and allowed for surface and intracellular staining for CD8 T cell marker and perforin, respectively, demonstrating a method that reliably quantifies the frequency, phenotype and function of specific CD8+ T cells. The technical simplicity, rapidity and ability of the flow cytometric technique described in this thesis to measure low frequency antigen-specific responses suggests that tetramer staining, combined with functional assays could be broadly applicable to the valuation of vaccination efficacy to determine which protocols are most successful in inducing CTL responses.

No description available.

Chlorhexidine mouth rinses remove dental plaque from teeth, preventing dental caries, dental decay, and more serious systemic infections. Tooth discoloration due to extrinsic staining is the most prominent side effect of regular chlorhexidine use. Decreasing the concentration of chlorhexidine reduces staining area and severity. Staining can also be prevented and treated by tooth bleaching, a common cosmetic dental procedure that diminishes extrinsic staining by oxidizing chromagens adsorbed onto the tooth surface. In the proposed trial, common bleaching agents will be investigated for their efficacies in preventing chlorhexidine staining. Results of the trial could further the development of a chlorhexidine mouth rinse that is suitable for long term use.

Ämnesintegrering är ett av många sätt att organisera undervisningen på. Syftet med integreringen är att kunskap från två eller flera ämnen samverkar för att skapa en helhetssyn hos eleven. Syftet med min undersökning är att ta reda på hur elever och lärare uppfattar ämnesintegration samt vilka fördelar och nackdelar lärare och elever upplever med arbetssättet. Undersökningen utgörs av kvalitativa intervjuer med tre stycken elever samt fyra stycken lärare som undervisar i de gymnasiegemensamma ämnena. Resultatet visar att eleverna upplever att de lär sig nyttiga saker som de kommer att få användning av i livet. Detta syns också i lärarnas olika beskrivningar där lärarna upplever att eleverna är mer motiverade till sina studier. Resultat visar också att de intervjuade lärarna upplever betydligt flera nackdelar med arbetssättet än vad eleverna upplever. En stor frustration framkommer när det gäller samverkan med karaktärsämneslärare. / Working interdisciplinary is one of many different ways of teaching but the whole purpose of working interdisciplinary is to merge several different subjects into one and thereby giving the student a comprehensive view of how everything works together. The purpose of my study is to find out how interdisciplinary teaching is perceived by both students and teachers and what merits and demerits they might find. My study consists of qualitative interviews with three students and four core subject teachers. The results point to students feeling that their education has a purpose, that it will be useful in the future. This conclusion can also be drawn from the teacher interviews where they perceive the students as being more motivated, but the teachers also see more demerits than the students. An apparent frustration is that the core subject teachers find it problematic to collaborate with the vocational education teachers.

<p><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"> <p align="left">The aim of this study was to investigate the color stability of two provisional restorative materials used in crown and bridge cases upon exposure to different tea staining solutions and to evaluate the effectiveness of a polishing technique in removing the tea stains from the stained provisional restorative materials.</p> </font></p>