Objective: In this thesis, we assume that the organizations' interests are governing their behavior/positions. It seems possible to draw conclusions about organizations'interests on the basis of the behavior / positions that will appear in the givenopinions on Swedish Public Investigations. The purpose of this thesis is toidentify self-interests of the studied organizations as they appear in their givenopinions. Method: The authors have made a qualitative and quantitative study of the opinions. Theoretical perspective: The basis of the study is the organization theories that focus the self-interest oforganizations. Empiric: Information is taken from four Swedish Public Investigations: the New Company Act, International Accounting for Swedish companies, Abolition of the audit requirement for small and medium sized enterprise and Simplified accounting. Altogether 310 opinions have been given on these, out of which we have studied 59. Furthermore, we have collected information on tasks, activities and objectives from the websites of the opinion giving organizations. Conclusions: In the literature, we found, as mentioned, that organizations havet hree self- interests which we define as general self-interests. They are the interest in survival, resources and power. We have found - what we believe – an additional general self-interest of organizations, namely the interest to avoid accountability and transparency. It was possible to divide the organizations intogroups with high community of interest within each group while the community between the groups was low. This provides an empirical support to Dimaggio’s and Powell’s theory which says that organizations in specific areas are similar. This means that it is possible to study the interest of organizations, without studying the individuals in an organization. We found that the owner's interests expressed in tasks, activities and objectives of the organization are important factors affecting the organization's interest structure. We also found indications - however unclear - that the public interest has an impact on the organizations' self interests. We also found an interest to protect its own market which can be related to the general interest of resource influx under Pfeffers and Salanciks theories of resource dependence.

Secretin and VIP stimulate cardiac adenylyl cyclase activity and exert a positive inotropic action in several mammalian species. This study examined positive inotropic activity and cAMP levels in rat papillary muscle. Isoproterenol and secretin increased contractions by 150 ± 31% and 129 ± 27%, respectively. VIP increased contraction by 30 ± 21% only at 10 μM. Isoproterenol significantly increased cAMP levels by 82%, whereas increases by secretin (58%) and VIP (56%) were not significant. These results are consistent with reports that secretin and VIP stimulate cardiac adenylyl cyclase in the rat, but suggest that cAMP tissue levels cannot totally explain the positive inotropic responses to secretin and VIP.

In this study, oligo-porphyrans, obtained by acid hydrolysis of porphyran, were investigated for their H2O2-inducing abilities in the defense responses of P. yezoensis. Oligo-porphyrans with average molecular weights (MWs) lower than 1.43 kDa had H2O2-inducing abilities. In contrast, oligo-porphyrans with average MWs of 6.12 kDa triggered no response. The active oligo-porphyrans were fractioned by anion-exchange chromatography. We found that two distinct mechanisms might be involved in the oligo-porphyran-induced H2O2 release in P. yezoensis. Mixtures of mono-sulfated oligo-galactans with degrees of polymerization (DPs) ranging from 1 to 3 might induce the response through the oxidation of cellular oligosaccharides, which enable P. yezoensis to resist rotting caused by dense incubation. Mixtures of oligo-porphyrans, consisting of 4 ~ 7 monosaccharide residues and 2 ~ 3 sulfate groups, might induce the generation of H2O2 by activation of NADPH oxidase, leading to an oxidative burst in P. yezoensis. The elicitor activity of oligo-porphyrans thus depends on their molecular size.

The genetic diseases Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and restrictive dermopathy (RD) arise from accumulation of farnesylated prelamin A because of defects in the lamin A maturation pathway. Both of these diseases exhibit symptoms that can be viewed as accelerated aging. The mechanism by which accumulation of farnesylated prelamin A leads to these accelerated aging phenotypes is not understood. Here we present evidence that in HGPS and RD fibroblasts, DNA damage checkpoints are persistently activated because of the compromise in genomic integrity. Inactivation of checkpoint kinases Ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) and ATR (ATM- and Rad3-related) in these patient cells can partially overcome their early replication arrest. Treatment of patient cells with a protein farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI) did not result in reduction of DNA double-strand breaks and damage checkpoint signaling, although the treatment significantly reversed the aberrant shape of their nuclei. This suggests that DNA damage accumulation and aberrant nuclear morphology are independent phenotypes arising from prelamin A accumulation in these progeroid syndromes. Since DNA damage accumulation is an important contributor to the symptoms of HGPS, our results call into question the possibility of treatment of HGPS with FTIs alone.

Wheat (triticum aestivum, L.) plants were exposed to three different levels of phytochrome photoequilibria (φ), two different photoperiods, end-of-day far-red radiation, two different levels of blue (400-500 nm) light, three levels of photosynthetic photon flux (PPF), and two types of high intensity discharge lamp types. Tillering was reduced by lowered φ, by reduced amounts on blue light and by end-of-day far-red. Main culm development was increased by lowered φ, by increased PPF, and was reduced by shortened photoperiod and by reduced blue light. Leaf length was increased by increased PPF, lowered φ, and reduced blue light but was not affected by photoperiod, end-of-day far-red or lamp type. Dry-mass accumulation increased under increasing PPF but was unaffected by other treatment in these experiments.

On the basis of the MMPI R Factor Scale, 16 subjects were classified as high repressed and 14 as low repressed. Subjects were compared on patterns of bilateral differences in skin conductance as a function of three cognitive tasks intended to produce specific manipulations in the relative activation of the two cerebral hemispheres. Tasks 1 and 2 examined the effects of Verbal (left hemisphere) and Spatial (right hemisphere) tasks on amplitudes of electrodermal responses. Task 3 examined the effects of the presentation of double-entendre and asexual stimulus words (designed to produce an emotional stimulus) on the high and low repressed groups. Results showed no tasks were accompanied by significant bilateral differences in electrodermal activity although high repressed subjects showed a consistent tendency toward greater amplitudes in both hands to the sexual portion of the word task. These findings are in direct contradiction to research suggesting that hemisphere activation is task dependent, but support the theoretical postulation of ''hemisphericity" (the individual preference for the use of one hemisphere or the other). Subsequent to the tasks, each subject completed a Sexual Activity Questionnaire to determine categories of orgasmic or non-orgasmic. These data proved to be highly related to the personality variables of high and low repression. All subjects self-reported to be orgasmic (n = 3) scored in the low repressed group. Of 16 subjects self-reported to be non-orgasmic, 11 (69%) scored in the high repressed group. These findings argue strongly that sexual conflicts in high repressors leads to psychosomatic sexual dysfunctions as postulated by traditional psychoanalytic theory. Present findings were discussed in terms of the relationships between personality, repression, and sexual conflict and how these .variables influence electrodermal functioning. Implications for future research and theoretical complexities in the interpretation of the present results suggesting support for the "hemisphericity" postulation were also discussed.

Thirty-two lactating cows were assigned at random to four treatments of malic acid to determine if these levels had an effect on milk production, milk composition, feed intake, and efficiency of feed utilization. Malic acid allotment for each treatment consisted of 1) 15.4, 2) 11.6, 3) 7.7, and 4) 0 grams of malic acid fed per kilogram of concentrate. Concentrate was fed according to production at a rate of one kilogram per two kilograms of milk in excess of 9.1 kilograms of milk per cow daily. Alfalfa hay was fed free choice and corn silage at a rate of 11.4 kilograms daily. The cows were on the trial for 8 weeks. Intake of concentrates, silage, dry matter, and digestible energy was highest for cows receiving the 11.6 g level of malic acid. These intakes were significantly higher than for the 7.7 g level but not for the other treatments. However, cows on the 7.7 g level consumed only slightly less feed than control cows. There was no significant effect on hay or crude protein intake. Production of total milk, fat corrected milk, and milk fat was significantly higher for cows receiving the 11.6 g level of malic acid than from the 7.7 g level or control cows. Production of protein solids-not-fat was significantly higher for the 11.6 g level than from the 7.7 g level and approached this level of significance when the 11.6 g level was compared to the controls. Cows receiving the 11.6 g level of malic acid were significantly more efficient in converting dry matter or digestible energy from feed into milk than were the controls. Intakes and production of cows on the 15.4 g level was slightly less than for the 11.6 g level.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.