Plantebaseret kompost - en erstatning for sphagnum og husdyrgødning?

Hvordan skaber man en plantebaseret kompost, der er egnet som dyrkningsmedium og gødning til væksthuskulturer? Hvor meget og hvor hurtigt nedbrydes de enkelte plantedele? Og hvad giver en god struktur og stabilitet? Disse er nogle af de spørgsmål, der forsøges besvaret i et Ph.d.-projekt, der delvist hører under FØJO-II projektet ORCTOM

Municipal Representatives’ Accounts of Decision-Making Practices during Geriatric Case Conferences

This article addresses questions of elucidation in talk-in-interaction. How do social actors give accounts of what they are doing? To what degree do actors sustain a taken-for-granted level of reasoning? The analysis is based upon naturally occurring data consisting of a corpus of audio recorded case conferences at various geriatric wards in Danish hospitals. The article elaborates one of the important insights of Harold Garfinkel regarding the relationship between discourse and social interaction: as a general characteristic, people tend to treat their fellow interlocutors’ conversational contributions as adequate for-all-practical-purposes. Specifically, the article investigates how Danish municipal representatives account for their decisions about whether or not senior citizens are to be referred to residential homes. This practice, I demonstrate, is characterized by non-explicitness with regards to rules and regulations. Instead, municipal representatives make use of developmental discourse: a worsened condition is used to justify a referral to a residential home. On the other hand, an improved condition is used to justify that an elderly citizen is not referred to a residential home

Isolation of neonatal porcine islet tissue and transplantation into diabetic mice. A methodological evaluation

Diabetes mellitus type I can be a disabling disease with a high risk of complications (i.e. neuropathy, atherosclerosis and nephropathy). Furthermore, the treatment with insulin can be complicated with severe episodes of hypoglycaemia.As diabetes type 1 is caused by an autoimmune destruction of the islets of Langerhans, replacement of these islets could be the treatment of choice for this disease provided the immunological process is halted. Centres world wide perform islet allotransplantation (i.e. transplantation within species) as an experimental treatment of diabetes (Ricordi et al. 1992, Secchi et al. 1997, Warnock et al. 1992, Birkeland et al. 1995). However the results are poor with only 8 % of cases having more than one year of insulin independence after transplantation (international islet transplant registry, 1999).Islet transplantation faces two major obstacles : rejection and shortage of human donors. Rejection is avoided by immunosuppression and in experimental models by immunoprotection of the grafts with micro-encapsulation or larger encapsulating devices (Lanza et al. 1995, Lacy et al. 1991, Monaco et al. 1991). Shortage of human donors has necessitated the search for alternative donors, and in this context the pig has drawn most attention, because the physiology of the pig is comparable to that of humans. Indeed, pig insulin has been successfully used for decades in the treatment of human diabetics. Pigs breed fast, have large litters and can be bred under standardised conditions, which is important, as factors such as strain and age influence the outcome of porcine islet isolations (Socci et al. 1990, Heiser et al. 1994).By small modifications of the automated method developed for human islet isolation, it is possible to isolate large numbers of adult porcine islets (Ricordi et al. 1990). These islets are well functioning in vivo after transplantation to rodents. However, unlike human islets, the adult porcine islets have a very thin peri-insular capsule and are therefore very fragile disintegrating easily in overnight culture (van Deijnen et al. 1992, Warnock G.L. et al. 1995). Islet tissue from foetuses possess a potential for growth, and has been extensively examined in the rat (Yderstraede et al. 1995), pig (Korsgren et al. 1988) and humans (Tuch et al. 1991). Foetal porcine islet tissue has even been transplanted to eight diabetic humans with histological signs of graft survival after three weeks, and porcine C-peptide production detectable up to eight months after transplantation, but without any detectable metabolic improvement in the patients (Groth et al. 1993).Recently, a method has been developed for the isolation of islet tissue from neonatal pigs (Korbutt et al. 1996). The neonatal islet-like cell clusters (NICC’s) can be isolated in large numbers, and are able to differentiate and maybe even proliferate in vitro and in vivo.The purpose of this study is to describe the methods for isolation, transplantation and in vivo evaluation of porcine neonatal islet-like cell clusters. Focus is on the transplantation procedure, but aspects of isolation and functional outcome in vitro and in vivo are also included

Systems development methods and usability in Norway: An industrial perspective

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 Springer Berlin HeidelbergThis paper investigates the relationship between traditional systems development methodologies and usability, through a survey of 78 Norwegian IT companies. Building on previous research we proposed two hypotheses; (1) that software companies will generally pay lip service to usability, but do not prioritize it in industrial projects, and (2) that systems development methods and usability are perceived as not being integrated. We find support for both hypotheses. Thus, the use of systems development methods is fairly stable, confirming earlier research. Most companies do not use a formal method, and of those who do, the majority use their own method. Generally, the use of methods is rather pragmatic: Companies that do not use formal methods report that they use elements from such methods. Further, companies that use their own method import elements from standardised methods into their own

Cellular Uptake But Low Permeation of Human Calcitonin-Derived Cell Penetrating Peptides and Tat(47-57) Through Well-Differentiated Epithelial Models

Purpose. To investigate whether cell penetrating peptides (CPP) derived from human calcitonin (hCT) possess, in addition to cellular uptake, the capacity to deliver their cargo through epithelial barriers. Methods. Cellular uptake of hCT(9-32) and permeation of six hCT-derived peptides, namely, hCT(9-32), hCT(12-32), hCT(15-32), hCT(18-32), hCT(21-32), and a random sequence of hCT(9-32) were evaluated in fully organized confluent Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK), Calu-3, and TR146 cell culture models. For comparison, Tat(47-57) and penetratin(43-58) were investigated. The peptides were N-terminally labeled with carboxyfluorescein (CF). Uptake in the well-differentiated epithelial models was observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), whereas permeation through the models was analyzed by reversed-phase (RP)-HPLC. Results. In MDCK epithelium hCT(9-32), Tat(47-57) and penetratin(43-58) demonstrated punctuated cytoplasmic distribution. In Calu-3, Tat(47-57) and penetratin(43-58) were simultaneously localized in a punctuated cytoplasmic and paracellular distribution, whereas hCT(9-32) showed strict paracellular distribution. By contrast, in TR146 cells, Tat(47-57) was located strictly paracellularily, whereas penetratin(43-58) showed a punctuated cytoplasmic pattern and hCT(9-32) both. The transepithelial permeability of all tested peptides and their cargo was lower than that of paracellular markers. Conclusions. The CPP uptake pattern depends on both the type of peptide and the cell culture model. In general, the investigated CPP have no apparent potential for systemic drug delivery across epithelia. Nevertheless, distinct patterns of cellular distribution may offer a potential for localized epithelial deliver

Additivity properties of a Gaussian Channel

The Amosov-Holevo-Werner conjecture implies the additivity of the minimum Re'nyi entropies at the output of a channel. The conjecture is proven true for all Re'nyi entropies of integer order greater than two in a class of Gaussian bosonic channel where the input signal is randomly displaced or where it is coupled linearly to an external environment.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure (minor error present in the published version corrected