<p>The first method for DNA analysis in forensics was presented in 1985. Since then, the introduction of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has rendered possible the analysis of small amounts of DNA and automated sequencing and fragment analysis techniques have facilitated the analyses. In most cases short tandemly repeated regions (STRs) of nuclear DNA are analysed in forensic investigations, but all samples cannot be successfully analysed using this method. For samples containing minute amounts of DNA or degraded DNA, such as shed hairs, analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is generally more successful due to the presence of thousands of copies of mtDNA molecules per cell.</p><p>In Sweden, ~40 % of all households have cats or dogs. With ~9 million humans shedding ~100 scalp hairs per day, and ~1.6 million cats and ~1 million dogs shedding hairs it is not surprising that shed hairs are one of the most common biological evidence found at crime scenes. However, the match probability for domestic dog mtDNA analysis has only been investigated in a few minor studies. Furthermore, although breed –sequence correlations of the noncoding mtDNA control region (CR) have been analysed in a few studies, showing limited correlations, no largescale studies have been performed previously. Thus, there have not been any comprehensive studies of forensic informativity of dog mtDNA. In the two papers presented in this thesis we have tried to lay a foundation for forensic use of analysis of domestic dog mtDNA. In the first paper, CR sequences were analysed and the exclusion capacity was investigated for a number of different populations. This is also the first comprehensive study of the correlation between mtDNA CR type and breed, type, and geographic origin of domestic dogs. Since the exclusion capacity for analysis of domestic dog CR sequences is relatively low, it was investigated in the second paper to what extent the discrimination power is improved by analysis of coding sequence. The exclusion capacity improved considerably when 3,000 base pairs of coding sequences where analysed in addition to CR sequences. This study will hopefully work as a basis for future development of analysis of dog mtDNA for forensic purposes.</p>

<p>The aim of this thesis was to develop an objective and automatic method for identifying capillaries in microscope images of the skin. Furthermore, statistical data about the identified capillaries and the capillary distribution should be computed and stored in a database. The method was implemented using the platform independent programming language Java. An analysis of microscope improvement using various polarization filter setups and wavelength filtershas also been performed, as well as a pilot study of the effect of applying a local anaesthetic cream on the skin. The method is developed and aimed at research on various pathological skin conditions affecting the capillary distribution. Hypertension, diabetes, inflammation, ischemia, connective tissue disease, and erythromelalgia are all examples of diseases or pathological conditions which are supposed to affect the distribution of the skin capillaries.</p>

With the studies performed in this theses the local drug delivery technique FibMat developed by the biotech company AddBIO, was shown to be applicable to other plasma proteins and drugs than the fibrinogen-bisphosphonate combination that is today being commercialized. Hence the potential for a broader field of application was demonstrated. The application targeted today is as a surface modification giving improved strength to bone around screws used in bone implants. The effect of changing protein and manufacturing conditions was studied with null ellipsometry. It was demonstrated that with changes in incubation temperature, pH and salinity the fibrinogen could be successfully exchanged for the plasma proteins human serum albumin and immunoglobulin G. With liquid scintillation counting it was shown that the developed protein multilayers were able to absorb and release the bone strengthening drug alendronic acid in levels comparable to that of the fibrinogen based ditto. Disk susceptibility tests with the bacteria S. Aureus showed a potential for antibacterial functionalization with gentamicin. The release was, in the case of the fibrinogen multilayer, detectable up to 48 hours. Similar test revealed an inability of silver nanoparticle incorporated protein multilayers to achieve inhibitory levels.

Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2010.

The first method for DNA analysis in forensics was presented in 1985. Since then, the introduction of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has rendered possible the analysis of small amounts of DNA and automated sequencing and fragment analysis techniques have facilitated the analyses. In most cases short tandemly repeated regions (STRs) of nuclear DNA are analysed in forensic investigations, but all samples cannot be successfully analysed using this method. For samples containing minute amounts of DNA or degraded DNA, such as shed hairs, analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is generally more successful due to the presence of thousands of copies of mtDNA molecules per cell. In Sweden, ~40 % of all households have cats or dogs. With ~9 million humans shedding ~100 scalp hairs per day, and ~1.6 million cats and ~1 million dogs shedding hairs it is not surprising that shed hairs are one of the most common biological evidence found at crime scenes. However, the match probability for domestic dog mtDNA analysis has only been investigated in a few minor studies. Furthermore, although breed –sequence correlations of the noncoding mtDNA control region (CR) have been analysed in a few studies, showing limited correlations, no largescale studies have been performed previously. Thus, there have not been any comprehensive studies of forensic informativity of dog mtDNA. In the two papers presented in this thesis we have tried to lay a foundation for forensic use of analysis of domestic dog mtDNA. In the first paper, CR sequences were analysed and the exclusion capacity was investigated for a number of different populations. This is also the first comprehensive study of the correlation between mtDNA CR type and breed, type, and geographic origin of domestic dogs. Since the exclusion capacity for analysis of domestic dog CR sequences is relatively low, it was investigated in the second paper to what extent the discrimination power is improved by analysis of coding sequence. The exclusion capacity improved considerably when 3,000 base pairs of coding sequences where analysed in addition to CR sequences. This study will hopefully work as a basis for future development of analysis of dog mtDNA for forensic purposes. / QC 20101123

Neurologically related injuries cause a similar number of deaths ascancer, and brain damage is the second commonest cause of death in theworld and probably the leading cause of permanent disability. Thedevastating effects of most cases of brain damage could be avoided if itwere detected and medical treatment initiated in time. The passiveelectrical properties of biological tissue have been investigated for almost acentury and electrical bioimpedance studies in neurology have beenperformed for more than 50 years. Even considering the extensive effortsdedicated to investigating potential applications of electrical bioimpedancefor brain monitoring, especially in the last 20 years, and the specificallyacute need for such non-invasive and efficient diagnosis support tools,Electrical Bioimpedance technology has not made the expectedbreakthrough into clinical application yet. In order to reach this stage inthe age of evidence-based medicine, the first essential step is todemonstrate the biophysical basis of the method under study. The presentresearch work confirms that the cell swelling accompanying thehypoxic/ischemic injury mechanism modifies the electrical properties ofbrain tissue, and shows that by measuring the complex electricalbioimpedance it is possible to detect the changes resulting from braindamage. For the development of a successful monitoring method, after thevital biophysical validation it is critical to have available the properelectrical bioimpedance technology and to implement an efficient protocolof use. Electronic instrumentation is needed for broadband spectroscopymeasurements of complex electrical bioimpedance; the selection of theelectrode setup is crucial to obtain clinically relevant measurements, andthe proper biosignal analysis and processing is the core of the diagnosissupport system. This work has focused on all these aspects since they arefundamental for providing the solid medico-technological backgroundnecessary to enable the clinical usage of Electrical Bioimpedance forcerebral monitoring.

<p>Tidigare forskning har genom att studera alla tillgängliga företag eller företag med</p><p>udda branscher exkluderade identifierat vissa nyckeltal som bra indikatorer på</p><p>finansiell kris. I denna studie undersöks om dessa nyckeltal även ger ett</p><p>samstämmigt resultat för en udda bransch. Med utgångspunkt från</p><p>bioteknikbranschen identifieras genom logistisk regression nyckeltalen korta skulder</p><p>genom eget kapital och avkastning på investerat kapital som indikatorer på finansiell kris.</p><p>Avkastning på investerat kapital överensstämmer med tidigare resultat, medan korta</p><p>skulder genom eget kapital bör, för denna bransch, tolkas tvärt emot jämfört med</p><p>tidigare studier.</p>

<p> </p><p>In previous studies the carboxyl-terminus of microtubule-associated protein 1S was shown to interact with the <em>N</em>-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit NR3A (Eriksson <em>et. al.</em>)¹.  In this study, interactions between three truncations of the microtubule-associated proteins 1B and one truncation of the microtubule-associated protein 1S carboxyl-terminus and the <em>N</em>-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunits NR1 and NR3A were examined. The study showed that an interaction occurred between amino acids 2167 to 2365 of the microtubule-associated protein 1B and NR3A.  That region of microtubule associated protein 1B corresponds to a microtubule-binding region in the light chain. It has been shown in earlier studies (Reviewed in Halpain S. <em>et a1²</em>, Riederer, BM<em>.  et.al³</em>.) that the light chain is a active part of the protein that have been post translational cleaved. The MAP 1 proteins are present in all tissue but has higher concentrations in the Post Synaptic Density of neurons in the central nervous system.  The <em>N</em>-methyl-D-aspartate receptors are present in glial cells and in the dendritic shafts of the central nervous system neurons (Eriksson <em>et. al.</em>)¹. The diseases were these proteins may play a part is mainly memory destructive diseases such as Alzheimers disease and in muscular dystrophy, but these assumptions are still being speculated.</p><p> </p>

Digital printing technology is a technique that has been growing since the 1990s and has a high growth potential when it comes to using different ink types and transfer printing techniques. In comparison to screen printing, digital transfer printing techniques have shown to consume less ink and water and are therefore considered to be a more environmentally friendly alternative for textile printing. Therefore, a digital printing technique called sublimation transfer printing was studied in this thesis. In a sublimation transfer printing process, an image is printed on a paper and then the image is transferred to a textile by using heat and pressure. Suitable coating of the paper surface has shown to improve the printing properties on the paper and therefore the paper samples used in the thesis were coated with three different coating formulas. The coating formulas used in this thesis were polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) of a type A, PVOH A with ground calcium carbonate (GCC) and PVOH type B with GCC. PVOH A has a higher degree of hydrolysis than PVOH B. Results showed that there was no significant difference between optical densities between textiles and paper samples of different coat weights and coating formulas. The colour bleeding and colour penetration decreased in the printed paper samples for PVOH A + GCC and PVOH B + GCC when the coat weight increased, and the porosity of the coating decreased to some extent. As a conclusion, paper samples coated with PVOH A + GCC with coat weights above 15 g/m2 showed to give the best properties since the colour bleeding was minimal in those printed coated paper samples.

<p>Smoking is a worldwide problem and it is the second major cause of death. People often try to quit, but few succeed mainly because of withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, increased appetite, hyperventilation and difficulty concentrating.</p><p>The overall aim of this project was to study neurochemical changes in the brain following sensitization to nicotine which could give more information about what causes an individual to go from using drugs to abusing the drugs. Therefore, we investigated messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of several genes known to be involved in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway in the nucleus accumbens, caudate putamen, prefrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex using real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR).</p><p>The results showed that in the nucleus accumbens, mRNA expression of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) Aα1 subunit receptor and GABA transporter 3 (GAT-3) were significantly increased following nicotine administration, while in the caudate putamen no difference in expression was observed. In prefrontal cortex, the expression of adrenergic subunit receptor α2A was significantly increased following hexamethonium administration. In medial prefrontal cortex a significant decrease of expression of GAT-1 was shown following nicotine and hexamethonium administration, while a decrease of CART expression only was shown following nicotine administration.</p><p>Overall, these changes in the GABA system may help to explain the mechanism of nicotine sensitization.</p>