Ovary transplantation method resulting in high reproductive performance in mice

There are mutant and transgenic mouse strains which lack the ability to breed, but where the females have functional ovaries. Ovary transplantation is an important tool for maintaining and producing crosses with these non-breeding strains.We have evaluated an ovary transplantation method by transplanting ovaries from females belonging to a non-reproduetive BALB/cByJ mutant mouse strain, All transplanted mice, 10 BALB/c.C57BL/6By, produced offspring and 94% of the progeny originated from the transplanted ovaries. The mean litter size and the mating period needed for productive mating to occur were similar to what is observed for corresponding control mice

Outdoor Office Work - An Interactive Research Project Showing the Way Out

The physical boundaries of office work have become increasingly flexible. Work is conducted at multiple locations outside the office, such as at clients' premises, at home, in cafes, or when traveling. However, the boundary between indoor and outdoor environment seems to be strong and normative regarding how office work is performed. The aim of this study was to explore how office work may be conducted outdoors, understanding how it is being experienced by office employees and identifying its contextual preconditions. Based on a two-year interactive research project, the study was conducted together with a Swedish municipality. Fifty-eight participants engaged in the collaborative learning process, including 40 half-day workshops and reflective group discussions, co-interviews, and participants' independent experimentation of bringing work activities outdoors. Data was collected via interviews, group discussions and a custom-made mobile application. The results showed that a wide range of work activities could be done outdoors, both individually and in collaboration with others. Outdoor work activities were associated with many positive experiences by contributing to a sense of well-being, recovery, autonomy, enhanced cognition, better communication, and social relations, but also with feelings of guilt and illegitimacy. Conditions of importance for outdoor office work to happen and function well were found in the physical environment, where proximity to urban greenspaces stood out as important, but also in the sociocultural and organizational domains. Of crucial importance was managers' attitudes, as well as the overall organizational culture on this idea of bringing office work outdoors. To conclude, if working life is to benefit from outdoor office work, leaders, urban planners and policymakers need to collaborate and show the way out

A truncated Kv1.1 protein in the brain of the megencephaly mouse: expression and interaction

BACKGROUND: The megencephaly mouse, mceph/mceph, is epileptic and displays a dramatically increased brain volume and neuronal count. The responsible mutation was recently revealed to be an eleven base pair deletion, leading to a frame shift, in the gene encoding the potassium channel Kv1.1. The predicted MCEPH protein is truncated at amino acid 230 out of 495. Truncated proteins are usually not expressed since nonsense mRNAs are most often degraded. However, high Kv1.1 mRNA levels in mceph/mceph brain indicated that it escaped this control mechanism. Therefore, we hypothesized that the truncated Kv1.1 would be expressed and dysregulate other Kv1 subunits in the mceph/mceph mice. RESULTS: We found that the MCEPH protein is expressed in the brain of mceph/mceph mice. MCEPH was found to lack mature (Golgi) glycosylation, but to be core glycosylated and trapped in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Interactions between MCEPH and other Kv1 subunits were studied in cell culture, Xenopus oocytes and the brain. MCEPH can form tetramers with Kv1.1 in cell culture and has a dominant negative effect on Kv1.2 and Kv1.3 currents in oocytes. However, it does not retain Kv1.2 in the ER of neurons. CONCLUSION: The megencephaly mice express a truncated Kv1.1 in the brain, and constitute a unique tool to study Kv1.1 trafficking relevant for understanding epilepsy, ataxia and pathologic brain overgrowth

Megencephaly, significance, biology and identification of a genetic cause

Enlarged brain is termed megencephaly or megalencephaly, and is defined as a brain volume above the 98th percentile. It is a major sign in several neurological diseases with symptoms ranging from very mild to lethal, including mental retardation, low intelligence, motoric and neurological disturbances, seizures and dysmorphic features. The etiology of megalencephaly syndromes is in many cases unknown, but they are often heritable. The megencephaly mouse model, mceph/mceph, displays continuous brain growth and progressive motoric and neurological disturbances. Symptoms are present from approximately three weeks of age. Histological and compositional examinations of the brain revealed overall brain cell hypertrophy and slight hippocampal astrocytosis, but absence of hydrocephalus, edema. and obvious structural abnormalities. The recessive phenotype results from a spontaneous mutation, previously mapped to a three-centiMorgan interval on Chromosome 6. The objectives of this thesis were to evaluate inheritance and effects of primary megalencephaly in humans and to identify the genetic cause of megencephaly and associated molecular aberrations in the mceph/mceph mouse. In paper I, the association between primary megalencephaly (PMG) at birth and later psycho- sensory conditions as well as the maternal inheritance of PMG at birth were studied, using population based data sets. In this study, PMG was significantly associated with a low intelligence level and displayed a trend for association to mental retardation. Associations between mother and child PMG and support for a multifactorial inheritance of PMG were found. In paper II and III, dramatic changes in the expression of molecules in the neurotrophic insulin- like growth factor system, transforming growth factor 01 and the neuropeptides cholecystokinin, enkephalin, galanin and neuropeptide Y were found in the adult mceph/mceph brain. Changes were mainly confined to the hippocampus, the parietal cortex and the piriform/entorhinal cortex and displayed significant similarities to alterations found in induced rodent epileptic models. In paper IV, the mceph mutation was identified, using a positional cloning approach. mceph/mceph mice carry an eleven base pair deletion in the Shaker voltage-gated potassium channel gene, Kcnal. The mutation leads to a frameshift and premature termination at amino acid 230s (out of 495). The putative truncated MCEPH protein may retain the domains for assembly and may congregate non-functional complexes of multiple Shaker family subunits. Kcnal mRNA levels were increased in mceph/mceph brains. mceph/mceph mice was found to experience recurrent epileptic events and abnormal electroencephalograms. However, in contrast to the commonly demonstrated epilepsy-induced neurodegeneration, the mceph mutation leads to seizures with a concomitant increase in brain size, without overt neural atrophy. In paper V, the development and magnitude of the mceph/mceph brain enlargement was studied using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Increases in the ventral cortex, the hippocampus and the parietal cortex contributed to a 23% increased total brain sectional area in the adult mceph/mceph brain. Regional increases appeared already at three weeks of age. Also, altered expression of neuroactive molecules was detected in mceph/mceph already at two and three weeks of age. In summary, megalencephaly-related seizures have generally been considered pathological consequences of the enlarged brain, whereas epilepsy is often associated with shrinkage and degeneration of neural tissue. The mceph/mceph mouse is a model where the mutation of an ion channel causes abnormal electrical brain activity, brain enlargement and typical signs of reflective neural plasticity but no overt neural atrophy. These findings may be of significance for the diagnosis and possibly even future treatment of similar disorders in human

Delaktighet och integration i Sverige? Ännu inte fullt ut! - En kvalitativ studie om invandrarungdomars upplevelser kring delaktighet och integration i det svenska samhället

Syfte: Vårt syfte med denna studie är att undersöka invandrarungdomars upplevelse av delaktighet och integration till det svenska samhället. Vi vill öka förståelsen för språkets betydelse för integration och delaktighet. Frågeställningar: 1. Upplever ungdomarna att de är en del av det svenska samhället och därmed integrerade? Har det i så fall någon betydelse för vilket land de identifierar sig med, det vill säga ursprungslandet eller Sverige? 2. Vilket språk använder sig ungdomarna mest av i sin vardag, svenska eller modersmålet? På vilket sätt påverkar detta deras integration? Metod: Denna studie bygger på kvalitativ metod där vi valt att genomföra personintervjuer med åtta invandrarungdomar i åldrarna 16-19 år, vars utsagor vi beskriver och relaterar till tidigare forskning och teorier. Huvudresultat: Resultatet av vår studie visar att majoriteten av våra respondenter ser sitt ursprungsland som sitt hemland och umgås mest med andra ungdomar med invandrarbakgrund, men upplever trots detta ändå en relativt stor delaktighet i samhället. De flesta talar både svenska och sitt modersmål i sin vardag och ungdomarna ser vikten av att kunna det svenska språket när man bor i Sverige. Detta har betydelse för integrationen då språket enligt ungdomarna är den faktor som är nödvändig för att kunna kommunicera med andra människor, utbilda sig och få ett arbete

När budskapet går in i hjärtat : En receptionsstudie av bilder från organdonationskampanjer

Syftet med studien är att utföra en receptionsstudie där fem stycken kampanjbilder från utländska organdonationsorganisationer studeras från ett mottagarperspektiv, i den här studien syftar det till en svensk målgrupp. Studien är uppdelad i två huvudmoment, en semiotisk bildanalys och fokusgruppsintervjuer. Med hjälp av dessa insamlingsmetoder besvaras studiens frågeställningar”Hur är de utvalda kampanjbilderna komponerade ur ett semiotiskt perspektiv?” samt ”Hur uppfattas de utvalda bilderna av en svensk målgrupp?”. Socialpsykologi utgör det teoretiska ramverket i studien och används för att nå en högre förklaringskraft i analysdiskussionen. Den semiotiska bildanalysen genomförs med de semiotiska begreppen konnotation, denotation, ikon, index och symbol. Fokusgruppsintervjuerna analyseras med hjälp av McGuires påverkansmodell och kompletteras med en relevansformel, omnämnd av Bo Bergström. Studiens resultat visar att den sociala kontexten har en stor inverkan på hur kampanjbilden mottages av den svenska målgruppen. Resultatet visar att det är av stor vikt att text och bild samspelar för att budskapet ska kommuniceras till mottagaren, annars finns en risk att budskapet inte uppnår den relevans som krävs för att bilden ska ha effekt. The aim of this study is to examine five campaign images from foreign organ donation organizations studied from a user’s perspective, in this study it refers to the Swedish audience. The study is a perception analysis that is viewed from a receiver’s point of view. It is divided into two main parts, a semiotic analysis and interviews with focus groups. Using these methods the questions of the study "How are the selected campaign images composed from a semiotic perspective?" and "How is the selected images of a Swedish audience?" were answered. Social Psychology is the theoretical framework used to achieve a higher explanatory power in analysing the discussion. The semiotic image analysis is based on the semiotic concepts of connotation, denotation, icon, index and symbol. The focus group interviews were analysed by McGuire ́s model of influence and were supplemented by the formula of relevance, mentioned by Bo Bergström. Our findings suggested that the social context has a large impact on how the images are being interpreted by the Swedish audience. The result shows that it is of great importance that text and visual image are integrated for the message to be communicated to the receiver, otherwise there is a risk that the message does not reach the relevance required for the image to be effective.

Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of cattle manure and improving the hydrolysis yield

Due to global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels, there is a trend towards renewable energy sources, such as solar power, bio-ethanol and biogas. Anaerobic digestion is an established technology for the recovery of chemical energy from e.g. wastewater and manure as biogas [1,2]. Although a proven technology, research is required to increase biogas yields and productivity. In the present research, the thermophilic anaerobic digestion of cattle manure, codigested with food waste, is studied. Inoculum and substrate are sampled at a thermophilic anerobic digester of G\uf6teborg Energi AB (S\ue4vsj\uf6, Sweden). At this site, cattle manure and food waste are pretreated at 70 \ub0C (1 h for hygienisation). Hereafter, the substrate is digested at 55 \ub0C in a continuously fed stirred tank reactor. It is expected that hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic material contained in the substrate is a limiting step [3]. This will be verified in laboratory studies, mimicking the conditions at the plant. The substrate will be characterized, focusing on the lignocellulosic material and the changes this material undergoes during anaerobic digestion. Moreover, the responsible organisms and the enzymes they excrete will be characterized, which will indicate how to improve hydrolysis. It is expected this may be done through adjusting micro and macro nutrient availability [4] and selection of process conditions. The effect of the selected parameters on the microbial community and the hydrolysis yield will be established. Moreover, the effect of particle size will be studied.The expected outcome of the study is that by an improved understanding of the microbial community, esp. the organisms responsible for hydrolysis of lignocellulosic material, the biogas yield, biogas productivity and system stability can be increased

Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of cattle manure and improving the hydrolysis yield

Due to global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels, there is a trend towards renewable energy sources, such as solar power, bio-ethanol and biogas. Anaerobic digestion is an established technology for the recovery of chemical energy from e.g. wastewater and manure as biogas [1,2]. Although a proven technology, research is required to increase biogas yields and productivity. In the present research, the thermophilic anaerobic digestion of cattle manure, codigested with food waste, is studied. Inoculum and substrate are sampled at a thermophilic anerobic digester of G\uf6teborg Energi AB (S\ue4vsj\uf6, Sweden). At this site, cattle manure and food waste are pretreated at 70 \ub0C (1 h for hygienisation). Hereafter, the substrate is digested at 55 \ub0C in a continuously fed stirred tank reactor. It is expected that hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic material contained in the substrate is a limiting step [3]. This will be verified in laboratory studies, mimicking the conditions at the plant. The substrate will be characterized, focusing on the lignocellulosic material and the changes this material undergoes during anaerobic digestion. Moreover, the responsible organisms and the enzymes they excrete will be characterized, which will indicate how to improve hydrolysis. It is expected this may be done through adjusting micro and macro nutrient availability [4] and selection of process conditions. The effect of the selected parameters on the microbial community and the hydrolysis yield will be established. Moreover, the effect of particle size will be studied.The expected outcome of the study is that by an improved understanding of the microbial community, esp. the organisms responsible for hydrolysis of lignocellulosic material, the biogas yield, biogas productivity and system stability can be increased

Treatment of pulps in teeth affected by deep caries -A systematic review of the literature. Treatment of pulps in teeth affected by deep caries - A systematic review of the literature

Pulp biology Dental pulp disease Restorative dentistry a b s t r a c t Background: This systematic review assesses the effect of methods commonly used to manage the pulp in cases of deep caries lesions, and the extent the pulp chamber remains uninfected and does not cause pulpal or periapical inflammatory lesions and associated tooth-ache over time. Study design: An electronic literature search included the databases PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Cochrane Reviews from January 1950 to March 2013. In addition, hand searches were carried out. Two reviewers independently evaluated abstracts and full-text articles. An article was read in full if at least one of the two reviewers considered the abstract potentially relevant. Altogether, 161 articles were read in full text. Of these, 24 studies fulfilled established inclusion criteria. Based on studies of at least moderate quality, the quality of evidence of each procedure was rated in four levels according to GRADE. Results: No study reached the high quality level. Twelve were of moderate quality. The overall evidence was insufficient to assess which of indirect pulp capping, stepwise excavation, direct excavation and pulp capping/partial pulpotomy, pulpotomy or pulpectomy is the most effective treatment approach for teeth with deep caries. Conclusions: Because of the lack of good studies it is not possible to determine whether an injured pulp by deep caries can be maintained or whether it should be removed and replaced with a root canal filling. Both randomized studies and prospective observational studies are needed to investigate whether a pulp exposed to deep caries is best treated by measures intended to preserve it or by pulpectomy and root filling

Behavioral Analysis of Dopaminergic Activation in Zebrafish and Rats Reveals Similar Phenotypes

Zebrafish is emerging as a complement to mammals in behavioral studies; however, there is a lack of comparative studies with rodents and humans to establish the zebrafish as a predictive translational model. Here we present a detailed phenotype evaluation of zebrafish larvae, measuring 300-3000 variables and analyzing them using multivariate analysis to identify the most important ones for further evaluations. The dopamine agonist apomorphine has previously been shown to have a complex U-shaped dose-response relationship in the variable distance traveled. In this study, we focused on breaking down distance traveled into more detailed behavioral phenotypes for both zebrafish and rats and identified in the multivariate analysis low and high dose phenotypes with characteristic behavioral features. Further analysis of single parameters also identified an increased activity at the lowest concentration indicative of a U-shaped dose-response. Apomorphine increased the distance of each swim movement (bout) at both high and low doses, but the underlying behavior of this increase is different; at high dose, both bout duration and frequency increased whereas bout max speed was higher at low dose. Larvae also displayed differences in place preference. The low dose phenotype spent more time in the center, indicative of an anxiolytic effect, while the high-dose phenotype had a wall preference. These dose-dependent effects corroborated findings in a parallel rat study and previous observations in humans. The translational value of pharmacological zebrafish studies was further evaluated by comparing the amino acid sequence of the dopamine receptors (D1-D4), between zebrafish, rats and humans. Humans and zebrafish share 100% of the amino acids in the binding site for D1 and D3 whereas D2 and D4 receptors share 85-95%. Molecular modeling of dopamine D2 and D4 receptors indicated that nonconserved amino acids have limited influence on important ligand-receptor interactions