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Objective. To study levels of sick leave and disability pension before and after TNF-antagonist therapy in AS patients. Methods. Using the population-based South Swedish Arthritis Treatment Group register, we identified 139 AS patients (aged 18-58 years, 78% men), who between January 2002 and December 2008 started their first treatment with adalimumab, etanercept or infliximab. We linked data to t

The complement system constitutes an important component of the innate immune system. To colonize their host and/or to cause disease, many pathogens have evolved strategies to avoid complement-mediated bacterial lysis and opsonophagocytosis. In this study, using a collection of 55 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, we demonstrate for the first time that pneumococci bind the complement

Stochastic optimal power flow can provide the system operator with adequate strategies for controlling the power flow to maintain secure operation under stochastic parameter variations. One limitation of stochastic optimal power flow has been that only line flows have been used as security constraints. In many systems voltage stability and small-signal stability also play an important role in constrai

Life-space mobility refers to the spatial area in which a person moves in daily life, taking into account distance, frequency and assistance needed. The aim was to examine how changes in life-space mobility are associated with changes in quality of life (QOL) over a 2-year period.

Aim: To evaluate haemostatic effects and clinical outcome of oestrogen treatment of constitutionally tall stature in girls. Methods: We conducted a single-centre cohort study, 63 girls referred over a period of 15 years were investigated. The girls were given oestrogen treatment for constitutional tall stature at a median initial dose of 300 ug ethinyl estradiol/day and were consecutively examined

This thesis addresses the corporate sustainability process and different tools to assist the process of generating corporate strategies towards sustainability in the energy sector. The focus of the research was in backcasting approaches. The main outcome of the work is a framework for corporate sustainability for the energy sector. The framework is constructed around a three step strategic plannin

Abstract Background. Dosimetry in radionuclide therapy estimates delivered absorbed doses to tumours and ensures that absorbed dose levels to normal organs are below tolerance levels. One procedure is to determine time-activity curves in volumes-of-interests from which the absorbed dose is estimated using SPECT with appropriate corrections for attenuation, scatter and collimator response. From cor

BACKGROUND: Sphingolipids (SL), in particular sphingomyelin (SM) are important components of milk fat polar lipids. Dietary SM inhibits cholesterol absorption in rats (Nyberg et al. J Nutr Biochem. 2000) and SLs decrease both cholesterol and TG concentrations in lipid- and cholesterol fed APOE*3Leiden mice (Duivenvoorden et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006). This human study examines effects of a butter m

Current therapy for haemophilia A is guided by severity of the disease, which in turn is best reflected in patients' endogenous factor VIII activity levels. For patients with severe haemophilia (particularly children), prophylaxis with continuous routine factor replacement has become standard of care in developed countries and is gradually becoming the standard of care in developing countries. The

An analysis of particle formation (PF) events over a subarctic mire in northern Sweden was performed, based on number size distributions of atmospheric aerosol particles (10-500 nm in diameter) and ions (0.4-40 nm in Tammet diameter). We present classification statistics for PF events from measurements covering the period July 2005- September 2006, with a break over the winter period. The PF event

To study the relationship between exposure to airborne particles in a pulp and paper mill and markers of inflammation and coagulation in blood.

We analyse late summer phenology, abundance, and diversity of waders and waterfowl on a small gravel island, Kosa, on the western shore of Lake Baikal, eastern Siberia. We expected that the assemblages of waterbirds at such a small-scale, low quality roosting site would be characterised by lower species-diversity and numbers compared with high-quality staging sites like coastal mudflats. In compar

Aim: Acute otitis media (AOM) is a common childhood disease, which often becomes recurrent (rAOM). A small reduction of AOM episodes has been noted in unselected child cohorts after vaccination with heptavalent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7). The purpose of this study was to investigate how vaccination affects young children at risk of developing rAOM. Methods: Ninety-six children with an A

Ligand-induced activation of the beta-receptor for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) induces tyrosine phosphorylation of a number of downstream signaling proteins. In the present study, we used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to characterize the spectrum of proteins phosphorylated in response to PDGF stimulation in porcine aortic endothelial cells expressing PDGF beta-receptors. Several pr

In the study of aggrecan fragmentation several methods to extract and purify aggrecan from cartilage and synovial fluid (SF) are used. This work compares and evaluates the effectiveness for purification of aggrecan of the most commonly used methods by the ratio of sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) to protein and by fragment analysis by Western blot. A novel method for purification of aggrecan frag

Aim: To describe the clinical course, morbidity and platelet recovery in an unselected Nordic cohort of children with chronic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). Methods: Prospective 5-year follow-up of 96 children with ITP lasting more than 6 months, with reporting of hospital admissions, severity of bleeding episodes, and stabilization of platelet counts above 20, 50 and 150 x 10(9) /L. R