Reconsidering Res Judicata: A Comparative Perspective

We aimed to prospectively investigate the paternal antigen-induced cytokine secretion by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in response to hormone treatment in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and to examine the predictive value of the cytokine secretion profile in the outcome of IVF treatment, in a pilot study. Twenty-five women were included and IVF treatment was successful for six and unsuccessful for 19 women. Blood samples were collected before IVF treatment, on four occasions during IVF and four weeks after embryo transfer. The numbers of Th1-, Th2- and Th17-associated cytokine-secreting cells and cytokine levels in cell supernatants were analysed by enzyme-linked immunospot-forming (ELISpot), enzyme-linked immune-sorbent (ELISA) or Luminex assay. None of the cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, TNF and GM-CSF) had any predictive value regarding IVF outcome. The majority of the cytokines reached their peak levels at ovum pick-up, suggesting an enhancing influence of the hormonal stimulation. Pregnancy was associated with a high number of IL-4-, IL-5- and IL-13-secreting cells four weeks after ET. In conclusion, the results do not support our hypothesis of a more pronounced peripheral Th1 and Th17 deviation towards paternal antigens in infertile women with an unsuccessful IVF outcome, although this is based on a small number of observations. A larger study is required to confirm this conclusion. Higher numbers of Th2-associated cytokine-secreting cells in pregnant women four weeks after ET do corroborate the hypothesis of a Th2 deviation during pregnancy

On the origin of trisomy 21 Down syndrome

Background: Down syndrome, characterized by an extra chromosome 21 is the most common genetic cause for congenital malformations and learning disability. It is well known that the extra chromosome 21 most often originates from the mother, the incidence increases with maternal age, there may be aberrant maternal chromosome 21 recombination and there is a higher recurrence in young women. In spite of intensive efforts to understand the underlying reason(s) for these characteristics, the origin still remains unknown. We hypothesize that maternal trisomy 21 ovarian mosaicism might provide the major causative factor. Results: We used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with two chromosome 21-specific probes to determine the copy number of chromosome 21 in ovarian cells from eight female foetuses at gestational age 14–22 weeks. All eight phenotypically normal female foetuses were found to be mosaics, containing ovarian cells with an extra chromosome 21. Trisomy 21 occurred with about the same frequency in cells that had entered meiosis as in pre-meiotic and ovarian mesenchymal stroma cells. Conclusion: We suggest that most normal female foetuses are trisomy 21 ovarian mosaics and the maternal age effect is caused by differential selection of these cells during foetal and postnatal development until ovulation. The exceptional occurrence of high-grade ovarian mosaicism may explain why some women have a child with Down syndrome already at young age as well as the associated increased incidence at subsequent conceptions. We also propose that our findings may explain the aberrant maternal recombination patterns previously found by family linkage analysis

Проблема невідповідності виробництва та споживанні енергії в світі

The objective of this study was to study whiplash injury outcome in front-seat occupants in rear-end impacts using double paired comparison technique. The combination of gender, seated position, and outcome was analyzed. Folksam, a Swedish insurance company, has a database of whiplash injuries. A questionnaire was used to collect study data. The response rate was 81%. The inclusion criteria included medical impairment one year after the impact, as judged by medical specialists. The study included rear-end impacts between 1990 and 1999 that resulted in at least one permanent neck injury impairment; in total, 430 impacts with 860 occupants and 444 impairments. Of those suffering impairment, 302 were female and 142 male; 235 were seated in the driver's seat and 209 in the front passenger seat. Relative risk estimates for impairing whiplash injury, by gender and seated position: 1.Driver male (DM)/passenger female (PF) relative risk = 0.5 n = 218 2.Driver male (DM)/passenger male (PM) relative risk = 1.4 n = 57 3.Driver female (DF)/passenger female (PF) relative risk = 2.5 n = 102 4.Driver female (DF)/passenger male (PM) relative risk = 4.6 n = 67. Females had a relative risk of medical impairment of 3.1 compared to men after adjustment for the average increased risk in the driver position. The driver position had a doubled relative risk compared to the front passenger position. As a conclusion it may be of value to take risk differences between male and female occupants and between driver and front passenger positions into account in future automotive car and seat construction.Originally mentioned in thesis as submitted to journal: Traffic injury prevention, ISSN 1538-9588.</p

A rapid and efficient method for studies of virus interaction at the host cell surface using enteroviruses and real-time PCR

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Measuring virus attachment to host cells is of great importance when trying to identify novel receptors. The presence of a usable receptor is a major determinant of viral host range and cell tropism. Furthermore, identification of appropriate receptors is central for the understanding of viral pathogenesis and gives possibilities to develop antiviral drugs. Attachment is presently measured using radiolabeled and subsequently gradient purified viruses. Traditional methods are expensive and time-consuming and not all viruses are stable during a purification procedure; hence there is room for improvement. Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) has become the standard method to detect and quantify virus infections, including enteroviruses, in clinical samples. For instance, primers directed to the highly conserved 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of the enterovirus genome enable detection of a wide spectrum of enteroviruses. Here, we evaluate the capacity of the RT-PCR technology to study enterovirus host cell interactions at the cell surface and compare this novel implementation with an established assay using radiolabeled viruses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both purified and crude viral extracts of CVB5 generated comparable results in attachment studies when analyzed with RT-PCR. In addition, receptor binding studies regarding viruses with coxsackie- and adenovirus receptor (CAR) and/or decay accelerating factor (DAF) affinity, further demonstrated the possibility to use RT-PCR to measure virus attachment to host cells. Furthermore, the RT-PCR technology and crude viral extracts was used to study attachment with low multiplicity of infection (0.05 × 10^-4TCID₅₀/cell) and low cell numbers (250), which implies the range of potential implementations of the presented technique.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have implemented the well-established RT-PCR technique to measure viral attachment to host cells with high accuracy and reproducibility, at low cost and with less effort than traditional methods. Furthermore, replacing traditional methods with RT-PCR offers the opportunity to use crude virus containing extracts to investigate attachment, which could be considered as a step towards viral attachment studies in a more natural state.</p

Cytolytic replication of echoviruses in colon cancer cell lines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, killing nearly 50% of patients afflicted. Though progress is being made within surgery and other complementary treatments, there is still need for new and more effective treatments. Oncolytic virotherapy, meaning that a cancer is cured by viral infection, is a promising field for finding new and improved treatments. We have investigated the oncolytic potential of several low-pathogenic echoviruses with rare clinical occurrence. Echoviruses are members of the enterovirus genus within the family <it>Picornaviridae</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Six colon cancer cell lines (CaCo-2, HT29, LoVo, SW480, SW620 and T84) were infected by the human enterovirus B species echovirus 12, 15, 17, 26 and 29, and cytopathic effects as well as viral replication efficacy were investigated. Infectivity was also tested in spheroids grown from HT29 cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Echovirus 12, 17, 26 and 29 replicated efficiently in almost all cell lines and were considered highly cytolytic. The infectivity of these four viruses was further evaluated in artificial tumors (spheroids), where it was found that echovirus 12, 17 and 26 easily infected the spheroids.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have found that echovirus 12, 17 and 26 have potential as oncolytic agents against colon cancer, by comparing the cytolytic capacity of five low-pathogenic echoviruses in six colon cancer cell lines and in artificial tumors.</p

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in Forest Operations – an Introductional Review

Decision making in forestry is very complex and requires consideration of trade-offs among economic, environmental, and social criteria. Different multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods have been developed for structuring and exploring the decision-making process of such problems. Although MCDA methods are often used for forest management problems, they are rarely used for forest operation problems. This indicates that scholars and practitioners working with forest operations are either unaware of MCDA methods, or see no benefit in using these methods. Therefore, the prime objective of this review was to make MCDA methods more intelligible (compared with current level of understanding) to novice users within the field of forest operations. For that purpose, basic ideas as well as the strengths and limitations of selected MCDA methods are presented. The second objective was to review applications of MCDA methods in forest operations. The review showed that MCDA applications are suitable for forest operation problems on all three planning levels – strategic, tactical, and operational – but with least use on the operational level. This is attributed to: 1) limited availability of temporally relevant and correct data, 2) lack of time (execution of MCDA methods is time consuming), and 3) many operational planning problems are solved with regards to an economic criterion, with other criteria serving more as frames. However, with increased importance of environmental and social aspects, incorporating MCDA methods into the decision-making process on the operational planning horizon (e.g., by developing MCDAbased guidelines for forestry work) is essential

High temperature corrosion memory in a waste fired boiler – Influence of sulfur

The selection of fuel for a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant can vary over time. By choosing less expensive fuels, operation costs are reduced, however, cheaper fuels generally increase corrosion maintenance costs. The corrosiveness of different fuels has been studied extensively while how the current corrosion attack is influenced by corrosion history, i.e. previous deposit build-up and oxide scale formation, is less studied. This phenomenon may be referred to as a “corrosion memory” effect (Paz et al., 2017). The present work investigates the influence of addition of sulfur to the fuel on the corrosion memory through air-cooled probes in the Waste-to Energy lines at M\ue5bjerg Energy Center (MEC) in Denmark. The results show a corrosion memory effect, i.e. as initially corrosive environment may increase the subsequent corrosion rate and vice versa

Periodontal conditions and incident dementia: a nationwide Swedish cohort study

Background Periodontal disease has been proposed as a putative etiological factor for dementia. The aim of this investigation was to compare the incidence of dementia in individuals with or without deep probing pocket depths (DPPD), serving as a proxy for periodontitis. Methods In this cohort study, conducted in Sweden, we identified 7992 individuals with DPPD and 29,182 matched individuals without DPPD (non-DPPD), using the Swedish Quality Registry for Caries and Periodontal Diseases (SKaPa). The two groups were followed for incident dementia (mean follow-up time was 7.6 years) based on data from the Swedish Dementia Registry (SveDem). The exposure-outcome relationship was explored by applying the Royston-Parmar (RP) flexible parametric survival model. Results The incidence of dementia in the two groups was similar. In the DPPD group 137 (1.7%) developed dementia and 470 (1.6%) in the non-DPPD group. The incidence rate of dementia was estimated to be 2.3 per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.9 to 2.7) in the DPPD group and 2.1 per 1000 person-years (95% CI 1.9 to 2.3) in the non-DPPD group. The RP model disclosed no association between DPPD and dementia incidence after controlling for potential confounders (the exponentiated coefficient was estimated to 1.13 [95% CI = 0.39 to 3.24]). Conclusion In this sample, no association was revealed between deep probing pocket depths and the incidence of dementia.Peer reviewe