Development of techniques for measuring the mobility of knee joints in children with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy, commonly referred to as CP, is a neurological disorder that results in loss or impairment of motor function, which affects body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination and balance. In Sweden, about 200 children are diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy every year and the disorder can cause imbalances between the muscles. These imbalances can lead to contractures which is equiva- lent to permanent shortening of muscles and stiffness of joints. This can severely affect the mobility of the child and the quality of life. Today, the only way for physicians or physiotherapists to evaluate the movement of the joints, is during a patient’s short visits to the hospital. The purpose of this project was to develop a device that was able to measure the range of motion of the knee during a longer period of time, which could help customize the child’s rehabilitation. The initial approach was to implement two inertial measurement units (IMUs) and find the angle between the sensors. Different solutions on finding the angle was tested without being able to obtain stable data and the project members chose a new approach. Instead of IMUs, a potentiometer was used and stable data was obtained. A prototype was developed in an iterative and incremental product development process and data was collected during different types of physical exercise. The final prototype was wireless, able to collect data during ordinary life activities and had a battery life of over 30 hours. The data was analyzed and the results were accurate but showed that the prototype probably hindered some of the natural movement of the knee. The developed prototype is a step towards being able to measure the knee range of motion during a longer period of time, and could be a tool for physicians and other medical staff when evaluating and rehabilitating children with CP.Utveckling av mätteknik för mätning av rörligheten i knäleder hos barn med Cerebral pares Cerebral pares (CP) är en neurologisk störning som kan leda till förlust eller nedsättning av de motoriska funktioner som påverkar kroppens rörelser, muskelkontroll, koordination och balans. CP kan orsaka obalanser mellan musklerna som kan leda till kontrakturer. Kontrakturer innebär att musklerna förkortas permanent och styvheten i lederna ökar. Muskelförkortning och styva leder kan drastiskt påverka barnets rörlighet och därmed även livskvaliteten. I Sverige diagnostiseras cirka 200 barn varje år med CP och i dagsläget är det enda sättet för läkaren eller fysioterapeuten att utvärdera barnens rörelsefunktion under kortare besök på sjukhuset, 1-2 gånger per år. Därför var syftet med detta projekt att utveckla en prototyp som kunde mäta knäets ledrörlighet under en längre period

NPD Project Evaluation in the Manufacturing Industry

Title: NPD Project Evaluation in the Manufacturing Industry Seminar date: 26 May 2015 Course: FEKN90 Authors: Carl Ekbom and Alexander Wrange Supervisor: Ph.D. Christian Koch Key words: NPD projects, evaluation methods, evaluation criteria, portfolio management, manufacturing industry Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how new project de-velopment (NPD) projects can be evaluated in terms of methods and processes. Furthermore, it aims at scrutinizing the impacts of actors and structures on the evaluation process. Moreo-ver, it aims at identifying what challenges and trade-offs companies face when choosing eval-uation methods and organising processes for NPD project evaluation. Method: Qualitative multiple-case study of three large manufacturing companies in Sweden, with embedded design and influence from action research. Theoretical perspectives: Theories in financial project evaluation, project evaluation criteria, agency theory, portfolio management Empirical foundation: Semi-structures, in-depth interviews with a total of ten managers with different functions at the three case companies. Conclusions: Financial methods are essential for NPD project evaluation, but complementary criteria that consider the complexity of NPD projects are necessary to include. Portfolio man-agement can be used as a process to combine financial methods and complementary criteria. The impact of actors limits objectivity, but they provide important knowledge and experience. The structures serve as a cross-functional framework to guarantee the involvement of actors from different functions in the evaluation process. Companies face several challenges in rela-tion to NPD project evaluation and have to choose between using a comprehensible or sophis-ticated evaluation method, a common method or different methods, and the same set of crite-ria for all projects or use different sets for different types of projects

Vertebrate TFPI-2 C-terminal peptides exert therapeutic applications against Gram-negative infections

Background: Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) is a serine protease inhibitor that exerts multiple physiological and patho-physiological activities involving the modulation of coagulation, angiogenesis, tumor invasion, and apoptosis. In previous studies we reported a novel role of human TFPI-2 in innate immunity by serving as a precursor for host defense peptides. Here we employed a number of TFPI-2 derived peptides from different vertebrate species and found that their antibacterial activity is evolutionary conserved although the amino acid sequence is not well conserved. We further studied the theraputic potential of one selected TFPI-2 derived peptide (mouse) in a murine sepsis model. Results: Hydrophobicity and net charge of many peptides play a important role in their host defence to invading bacterial pathogens. In vertebrates, the C-terminal portion of TFPI-2 consists of a highly conserved cluster of positively charged amino acids which may point to an antimicrobial activity. Thus a number of selected C-terminal TFPI-2 derived peptides from different species were synthesized and it was found that all of them exert antimicrobial activity against E. coli and P. aeruginosa. The peptide-mediated killing of E. coli was enhanced in human plasma, suggesting an involvement of the classical pathway of the complement. Under in vitro conditions the peptides displayed anti-coagulant activity by modulating the intrinsic pathway of coagulation and in vivo treatment with the mouse derived VKG24 peptide protects mice from an otherwise lethal LPS shock model. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the evolutionary conserved C-terminal part of TFPI-2 is an interesting agent for the development of novel antimicrobial therapies

Varför är Qatar inte en demokrati? En fallstudie med utgångspunkt i moderniseringsteorin

Qatar är ett ekonomiskt välmående land, med ett starkt auktoritärt politiskt system. Landet är därför ett avvikande fall ur moderniseringsteorin, som menar att ekonomiskt välmående leder till demokrati. Vi börjar med att förklara varför Qatar avviker från moderniseringsteorin, och fortsätter sedan med att pröva ett antal teorier och perspektiv, för att se om dessa bättre förklarar frånvaron av demokrati i landet. Följande teorier och ämnesområden diskuteras: politisk kultur och civilt samhälle, islams inverkan, sultanism, aktörsteoretiska perspektiv, rational choice, och slutligen oljans inverkan på Qatar. Två företeelser talar för demokratins frånvaro, islams starka närvaro i kulturen och politiken, samt landets ekonomiska beroende av oljeintäkter. Dessutom ger aktörsteorier och rational choice en lämplig teoretisk förklaring till frånvaron av demokrati i Qatar

Are silicone foul-release coatings a viable and environmentally sustainable alternative to biocidal antifouling coatings in the Baltic Sea region?

To combat unwanted fouling on immersed hulls, biocidal antifouling coatings are commonly applied to vessels trafficking the Baltic Sea. Here, the efficacy, environmental sustainability and market barriers of silicone foul-release coatings (FRCs) was assessed for this region to evaluate their viability as replacements for biocidal coatings. Coated panels were exposed statically over a 1 year period at three locations in the Baltic Sea region to assess the long-term performance of a biocide-free FRC and two copper coatings. The FRC was found to perform equally well or significantly better than the copper coatings. Even though most silicone FRCs on the market are biocide-free, a review of the literature regarding toxic effects and the identity and environmental fate of leachables shows that they may not be completely environmentally benign, simply for the lack of biocides. Nonetheless, FRCs are substantially less toxic compared to biocidal antifouling coatings and their use should be promoted

Population and life-stage specific sensitivities to temperature and salinity stress in barnacles

Temperature and salinity shape the distribution and genetic structure of marine communities. Future warming and freshening will exert an additional stress to coastal marine systems. The extent to which organisms respond to these shifts will, however, be mediated by the tolerances of all life-stages and populations of species and their potential to adapt. We investigated nauplius and cypris larvae of the barnacle Balanus (Amphibalanus) improvisus from the Swedish west coast with respect to temperature (12, 20, and 28 °C) and salinity (5, 15, and 30) tolerances. Warming accelerated larval development and increased overall survival and subsequent settlement success. Nauplii developed and metamorphosed best at intermediate salinity. This was also observed in cypris larvae when the preceding nauplii stages had been reared at a salinity of 30. Direct comparisons of the present findings with those on a population from the more brackish Baltic Sea demonstrate contrasting patterns. We conclude that i) B. improvisus larvae within the Baltic region will be favoured by near-future seawater warming and freshening, that ii) salinity tolerances of larvae from the two different populations reflect salinities in their native habitats, but are nonetheless suboptimal and that iii) this species is generally highly plastic with regard to salinity

Low sensitivity of reproductive life-stages in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) to abamectin

Hard surfaces submerged in the marine environment often become colonised by macro-organisms unless the surfaces have some form of biofouling protection. While protective paints that contain tributyltin or copper work well to prevent biofouling, release of these materials into the environment has been shown to have wider negative impacts. Consequently, new low-release antifouling paints are being developed with alternative active ingredients, such as avermectins, yet little is known about their potential effects on non-target organisms in marine environments. Here we investigated the toxicity of a key avermectin, specifically abamectin, on several aspects of reproduction (sperm motility, fertilisation success, early larval development) in the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Oyster reproduction was generally insensitive to the low concentrations of abamectin, although greater concentrations of abamectin did negatively affect all three endpoints – LOECs were 1000 μg l−1, 500 μg l−1, and 100 μg l−1 abamectin for sperm motility, fertilisation success, and larval development, respectively. A similar pattern was found in the EC50s of the three endpoints (mean ± SE) 934 ± 59 μg l−1, 1076.26 ± 725.61 μg l−1, and 140 ± 78 μg l−1 abamectin (sperm motility, fertilisation success, and larval development, respectively). Together, these results clearly indicate that of the three endpoints considered, larval development was more sensitive to abamectin (lower LOEC, EC50) than fertilisation success and sperm motility. Although more data are needed from a wider range of marine species and environments to fully assess potential toxicity effects on non-target organisms, our results highlight the potential utility of abamectin in low-release antifouling paints

Importance of plasticity and local adaptation for coping with changing salinity in coastal areas: a test case with barnacles in the Baltic Sea

Background:Salinity plays an important role in shaping coastal marine communities. Near-future climate predictions indicate that salinity will decrease in many shallow coastal areas due to increased precipitation; however, few studies have addressed this issue. The ability of ecosystems to cope with future changes will depend on species’ capacities to acclimatise or adapt to new environmental conditions. Here, we investigated the effects of a strong salinity gradient (the Baltic Sea system – Baltic, Kattegat, Skagerrak) on plasticity and adaptations in the euryhaline barnacle Balanus improvisus. We used a common-garden approach, where multiple batches of newly settled barnacles from each of three different geographical areas along the Skagerrak-Baltic salinity gradient were exposed to corresponding native salinities (6, 15 and 30 PSU), and phenotypic traits including mortality, growth, shell strength, condition index and reproductive maturity were recorded.ResultsWe found that B. improvisus was highly euryhaline, but had highest growth and reproductive maturity at intermediate salinities. We also found that low salinity had negative effects on other fitness-related traits including initial growth and shell strength, although mortality was also lowest in low salinity. Overall, differences between populations in most measured traits were weak, indicating little local adaptation to salinity. Nonetheless, we observed some population-specific responses – notably that populations from high salinity grew stronger shells in their native salinity compared to the other populations, possibly indicating adaptation to differences in local predation pressure.ConclusionsOur study shows that B. improvisus is an example of a true brackish-water species, and that plastic responses are more likely than evolutionary tracking in coping with future changes in coastal salinity

The Functional Relevance of the Heteromeric Structure of Corticosteroid Receptors a

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73195/1/j.1749-6632.1994.tb39213.x.pd

Allosteric Modulators of Steroid Hormone Receptors : Structural Dynamics and Gene Regulation

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