Glutathione (GSH) is a molecule that consists of three Amino acids: glutamic acid, cysteine and glycine. GSH has several important functions: to protect cells from free radicals, reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. GSH exists in a reduced form, GSH, and in an oxidized dimeric form, glutationdisulfid, GSSG. The enzymes glutathionereductase (GR) catalyses the reduction of GSSG back to GSH. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) is required as a coenzyme in the reaction.

In the spring of 2006 we had our first outbreak of avian influenza of highly pathogenic H5N1 (HPAI) among wild birds in Sweden. This disease have impact on poultry industries world wide. Sporadically the virus infects other species than birds and we now know it can even cause fatal infection of humans. There are not yet any confirmed cases of transmission of the disease between humans though a suspected case in an Indonesian family is under investigation. If a mutation occurs that changes the pathogenicity and host affinity to humans we are at a risk of a new pandemia, perhaps like the Spanish flu in 1918-1920.

Tripeptidyl peptidase II (TPPII) is an exopeptidase which cleaves tripeptides from theN-terminus of peptides. The exact functional role of TPPII is still a matter of investigation. Itis believed that the enzyme is primarily involved in intracellular protein degradation, where itcooperates with the proteasome and other peptidases to degrade proteins into free aminoacids. These Amino acids can subsequently be used in the production of new proteins. The aimof this work was to express murine wild type TPPII using E.

The varieties of paint are today very big, but many of the more popular paints are less than environmental friendly. The uses of fossilized fuel in paints are common because these paints dry fast and are color true. It would be beneficial for the environment if more renewable source were used to produce paint. Linseed oil is an old base for oil paints. It is renewable and easily procured.

Hundreds of thousands of piglets are castrated without anesthesia in Sweden every year so that we may be guaranteed meat without boar odor. The smell appears while cooking meat of boar and is described as urine- and sweat-like. High levels of androstenone and skatole are considered the main factors behind boar odor. Skatole is a metabolite of the Amino acid tryptophan, which is formed in the colon of all pigs. Androstenone is a steroid hormone that is released from the Leydig cells in the testes of boars.

Joint injury (inflammation) or osteoarthritis is the most common cause of poor performance in the athletic horse. Osteoarthritis is the ensuing degeneration of joint cartilage due to inflammation/injury. The single most important factor in the inflammation cascade of joint injuries is interleukin-1 (IL-1). Until recently, these injuries have been treated with products like hyaluronic acid, cortisone and polysulphated glycosaminoglycans (PSGAG). Several studies have not been able to demonstrate a significant difference in the clinical improvement of joint injuries treated with hyaluronic acid or PSGAG and saline.

In hydropower plants it is necessary to always have local power supply. Therefore, the plants are equipped with batteries as stationary back up power. Vattenfall Vattenkraft is using lead acid batteries but has been investigating alternatives to replace them. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of using Li-ion technology as back up power.The study showed that Li-ion batteries have many qualities. The Li-ion technology will decrease the space and maintenance demand.

Botanically diverse pastures are commonly used in New Zealand to reduce the ruminant environmental impact by reducing the methane production from the rumen digestion. In order to evaluate the effects diverse pasture species have on the milk fatty acid profile seventy-two lactating Friesian-Jersey crossbred dairy cows were used in a randomised block design with two replicates of six treatments. Six different pasture mixtures were fed at a daily allowance of approximately 15 kg DM/cow/day. The mixtures were categorised as either a simple or a diverse pasture. The simple mixtures all contained white clover with the addition of either a standard diploid perennial ryegrass (RG), a diploid high sugar ryegrass (HS) or tall fescue (TF).

The objective for this master?s thesis was to test and evaluate two methods for determining the content of tannin in a pinebarkextract. The methods used at Södra for this previously have not been specific enough, only the amount of polyphenolics have been measured. One of these methods is a test based on the Stiasny test and it determines the extracts ability to form a gel with formaldehyde. When this test was carried out it showed that the extract did not contain much tannin.

When harvesting ley you hope to get a fast drying and a faster harvest. If there is a system with round bales, you need to have a dry matter close to 45 %. To make this as fast as possible, there is made a machine which pick up the grass with an pick-up. It turn the grass over and put it behind the machine (figure 2 and 4). There are few tests to prove the efficiency of this machine.

Destillers dried grains with soluble (DDGS) is a by-product when producing ethanol. DDGS from wheat has a high crude protein content and a good Amino acid profile, which makes it an interesting feed ingredient for poultry. The disadvantage of feeding DDGS from wheat to poultry is that it also contains a high fiber content that chickens don?t have the ability to break down. Lantmännen Agroetanol has developed a new protein feedstuff from DDGS by extracting wheat protein from DDGS, the product name is Agroprotein SD.

Ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to become a promisingalternative to gasoline. In this work the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF)technology was applied for ethanol production from hardwood with focus on cell growth,ethanol production and contamination.The SSF was performed at PH 5.5 and 35°C for different suspended solid concentrations(8%, 10% and 12%) of pretreated birch slurry which contained 16 % total suspended solids.Two different hexose fermenting yeast strain (Ethanol Red) and pentose fermenting yeaststrain were used.Quantifying the concentration of chemical components and metabolites in the fermentationmedium demonstrated that glucose and xylose are the major fermentable sugars in the slurry.The higher load of slurry (12%) represents a higher content of carbohydrates and potentiallyhigher end concentration of ethanol. Moreover, more lactic acid is produced with the lowerload of slurry (8 % or 10 %), presumably due to a result of a less inhibitory environment forbacterial growth. In this context, acetic acid sticks out as the most important inhibitor withconcentrations of 15.2 and 12.5 and 9.7 g/l respectively in the 12 %, 10 % and 8 % (ofsuspended solids) trials. Using pentose fermenting yeast may lead to higher ethanolproduction, lower xylose uptake and lower lactic acid formation.

Organic rearing of broilers is not a large production in Sweden. In order to create a sustainable yet efficient production of organically produced poultry meat, at a price that the consumers are willing to pay, much more knowledge is needed. It is therefore important to do more research on organic broilers under Swedish conditions. This report is aimed to be a base for further studies. In the study 2000 broilers of the hybrid Ross 308 divided in to two equal groups. The broiler hybrids that are used in Sweden are selected for a high growth rate and are normally slaughtered at the age of 5 to 6 weeks, with a slaughter weight of 1.7-2 kg.

Acid sulphate soils is a wide spread problem along the northern coast of Sweden. This is causing great damage through low pH and leaching of metals out into the streams. These soils are estimated to be found in several places in Sweden but also in many other areas in the world. One of these areas in Sweden that are believed to contain these sediments is Mälardalen. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extension of the acid sulphate soils in this area.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the content of glucose, fructose, sucrose and fructan (WSC) varied in silage, haylage and hay harvested from the same field and at the same time of harvest. The study also investigated if differences in the WSC-fraction in the forages caused differences in composition of WSC in the colon of horses fed the forages. Hay, haylage and silage were harvested in the first week of June 2005 and stored for about nine months before feeding. Horses that were fistulated in right ventral colon and caecum were used, but only the colon fistula was used for sampling. The fresh crop and the conserved hay, haylage and silage were analyzed for chemical composition and WSC-fraction.