A travelling wave model to interpret a wound healing migration assay for human peritoneal mesothelial cells

The critical determinants of the speed of an invading cell front are not well known. We performed a "wound-healing" experiment that quantifies the migration of human peritoneal mesothelial cells over components of the extracellular matrix. Results were interpreted in terms of Fisher's equation, which includes terms for the modeling of random cell motility (diffusion) and proliferation. The model predicts that, after a short transient, the invading cell front will move as a traveling wave at constant speed. This is consistent with the experimental findings. Using the model, a relationship between the rate of cell proliferation and the diffusion coefficient was obtained. We used the model to deduce the cell diffusion coefficients under control conditions and in the presence of collagen IV and compared these with other published data. The model may be useful in analyzing the invasive capacity of cancer cells as well in predicting the efficacy of growth factors in tissue reconstruction, including the development of monolayer sheets of cells in skin engineering or the repair of injured corneas using grafts of cultured cells

Dirt, Decadence, and Dionysus -Treatise on the New Orleans punk scene

This thesis explores the relation between subcultures’ utilization of assumed working class attributes and those cultural elements tied to hedonism and boundary breaking. It does so by taking as its case a segment of the American punk- and traveling community as it expressed itself in New Orleans during the time of six spring weeks in 2012. Building on a foundation of hermeneutics, applying as an analytical tool socio- symbolic homology, this thesis aims to gain new knowledge, not only about the punk subculture, but also about the context it grows out of. By exploring the meaning embedded in cultural items drawn upon in constructions of the subculture, we are offered insight into matters of cultural production, agency and resistance as well as possible sociological routes to the comprehension of these. Although the findings, based on small scale ethnographic fieldwork, should be viewed as illustrative examples first and foremost facilitating further discussion, some conclusions are drawn: To interpret punk’s employment of assumed working- and lower class traits simply as an appropriation and romanticization carried out by individuals not entitled to these traits, is too simple a reading. Although I do find tendencies of reproduction of class based disparities, primarily manifested in diverging notions of subcultural authenticity, the culture can, I argue, be seen as a ‘compromise equilibrium’, shaped simultaneously by forces from ‘above’ and ‘below’. Discovering a nexus between different cultural items drawn upon in the production of punk culture, it becomes apparent that qualities attributed to various categories of ‘Others’, the working class poor being one, can in fact be seen in connection with fundamental anxieties suppressed in rational modernity. Subcultures’ confrontation of these fears through transgression can thus be viewed as modernity-critique most of all, facilitating attempted constructions of meaningful identities and communities

The medieval landscapes of Bergen. Enhanced knowledge through vegetation reconstructions and pollen data from multiple sites

publishedVersio

A population based study on Kidney Cancer in Norway (2008 - 2013). Aspects of biopsy use, surgical treatment and outcome

Aims: The aim of this study was to explore whole nation data, reveal trends and obtain updated numbers on kidney cancer (KC) treatment in the six-year period from 2008- 2013. The field of KC management has undergone substantial changes over the last few decades regarding surgical approaches, the use of pretreatment biopsies, surveillance and management of metastatic disease. We wanted to evaluate patient outcomes, and to see if new guidelines were implemented. Material and methods: Data on 4,449 patients diagnosed with KC (ICD10 code 64) was extracted from the Cancer Registry of Norway for all three articles. In Paper I, an analysis is performed on patients with data on biopsies (n=4,051). For Paper II, the data subset constitutes all patients with a surgically treated localized kidney cancer ≤7cm (n=2,420). Paper III includes all surgically treated Norwegian patients (n=3,273), both with localized and advanced disease, operated on in hospitals performing more than 4 KC surgeries/year. Results: Paper I: A renal mass biopsy (RMB) was performed in 20.2% of all patients. From the first to the second half of the study period, the use of RMB increased from 9.1 to 11.5 % for localized disease, and was doubled among patients for observation. Predictors of RMB were older patients, tumor < 4 cm, multiple tumors and second primary cancer. Fewer patients with metastatic disease were without histopathology verification in the second period. Those without RMB had poorer survival. The majority of biopsies were performed in patients who had a cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN), and CN was performed in 35% of all patients. Paper II: There was a 28% increase in surgically treated patients, with tumors ≤ 7 cm and the rates of partial nephrectomy (PN) increased, while the rate of radical nephrectomy (RN) decreased. PN was performed for 58% of tumors ≤ 4cm and for 14% of tumors 4.1-7cm. There was also an increase for minimally invasive (MIM) approaches. The regional differences in the distribution of PN and RN were less pronounced at the end of the study period. Furthermore, our results indicate a possible survival benefit for a patient undergoing PN vs. RN. Paper III: RN was performed in 69% of the patients and PN in 31%. Overall, the 30- day mortality (TDM) was 0.89%, whereas the rate for localized and metastatic disease was 0.73% and 2.6%, respectively. TDM was higher in older patients and lower for PN and MIM procedures. The odds ratio for TDM in a low-volumecompared to a high-volume hospital was 3.35 and 4.98 for patients with localized and metastatic disease, respectively Conclusion: These studies demonstrate that trends in KC diagnostics and treatment are in line with international recommendations, and that Norwegian urologists seem to adapt to changes in guidelines. Lastly, patient outcomes in regard to TDM are in line with previous reports