Försämrat immunförsvar och ökad risk att drabbas av bakterie- och virusinfektioner förekommer hos patienter med blodsjukdomarna multipelt myelom, Waldenströms makroglobulinemi samt hos vissa patienter med blodsjukdomen monoklonal gammopati av oklar signifikans. Infektionerna kräver ofta antibiotikabehandling och behandling med antivirala medel. I dagsläget är det svårt att förutsäga vilka av patienterna som kommer att drabbas av svåra och ibland livshotande infektioner. Därför ges många av patienterna förebyggande antibiotikabehandling.I studiens början sattes en enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) för detektion av antikroppar mot Moraxella catarrhalis upp. I studien undersöktes om antikroppstitrar i serum mot bakterien Moraxella catarrhalis var lägre hos patientgrupperna än hos friska kontrollpersoner i samma ålder och om variationer förekom mellan patientgrupperna samt hur kontrollgrupper i olika åldrar skiljde sig från varandra.

Förhöjda halter av endotoxin i blodet förekommer ofta vid sjukdomen pyometra hos tik och kan orsaka många av de allmänna symtom som ses vid sjukdomen. Endotoxin Activity Assay (EAA) är en ny, snabb metod för mätning av endotoxinaktivitet i helblod. EAA-metoden är anpassad för humanpatienter, men har testats i forskningsstudier och visats fungera även för hundar och efter viss modifiering också för hästar. Två olika apparaturer från finns att tillgå för EAA (från Spectral Diagnostics Incorporated). Den apparatur som utvärderas i den här studien har aldrig tidigare testats på djurslaget hund.

An inflammatory reaction is induced after release of proinflammatory mediators such asinterleukin 1 and 6 and tumour necrosis factor ?. These mediators stimulate the liver tosuppress the syntheses of albumin and endure the syntheses of acute phase protein forinstance C-reactive protein. The aim of this paper was to perform a method validation on animmune turbidimetric assay to quantify C-reactive protein in canine serum at the laboratory atSkara Animals Hospital, Skara, Sweden. The validation involved evaluation of the assaylinearity, precision, stability and recovery.The method was proved to be linear for both TruLab control and Medinor control.

Today, equine breeding is based on performance and conformation, resulting in a vast variation in fertility among different horses, with noticeable economic losses as a consequence. The horse breeding industry is therefore in need of methods that diagnose the spermatozoa concerning their quality and provide the best sperm for AI. The commonly used selection methods for sperm today are: centrifugation, where extender is added, the sample is centrifuged and then resuspended; swim-up self-migration; adherence separation; and density gradient centrifugation. However, none of these methods are in used routinely in practice before inseminating mares with fresh or cooled semen. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new selection method, Single Layer Centrifugation (SLC), and its effect on sperm viability. The viability was analyzed with regard to membrane integrity and membrane stability of ejaculated spermatozoa.

SAMMANFATTNING Läkemedelsresistens är ett växande globalt problem. Inte minst bland parasiter hos våra djur har rapporter om utebliven effekt av läkemedel ökat. Pålitliga detektionsmetoder av anthelmintikaresistens hos nematoder är viktig så att åtgärder sätts in i ett tidigt skede för att djurvälfärd och produktion ej försämras. Detta kräver standardiserade och beprövade detektionsmetoder. De metoder som används idag för flertalet nematoder är ursprungligen framtagna och anpassade för strongylider hos får.

Syntesdesign AB is an academic company that is supposed to enter the HIV drugmarket by manufacturing a "me-too"-drug with indinavir as the starting substance.Our task is to find 100 potential indinaviranalogues. Our further task is to suggesthow to perform a bondingassay to test the affinity for all these analogues. We willpresent a method, required equipment and calculated costs for the assay..

Oxochlorates are anions with a partially naturally occurrence in nature but are also spread by human activities, including the paper industry. These compounds are harmful to both nature and humans, which makes it necessary to find a good way for their degradation. There are two different kinds of bacteria that can use oxochlorates as electron acceptors in their metabolism, bacteria that break down perchlorate and bacteria that break down both perchlorate and chlorate. A bacterium that can break down chlorate under anaerobic conditions is Ideonella dechloratans which holds the genes for chlorite dismutase and chlorate reductase which are enzymes for the degradation of chlorate. Gene expression and enzyme activity of chlorite dismutase are induced under anaerobic conditions, which makes it interesting to find out how this regulation functions in order to better exploit these bacteria in biological wastewater treatment.

Traditionally, rolling mills use emulsions based on a mixture of oil and water for lubrication. Since two years ago SAPA has been using (instead of oil) a synthetic lubricant so called conditional emulsion for hot-rolling of aluminum. This lubricant is water based and homogenous at ambient temperature, but switches to a two-phase system at heating above the cloud point.This project aims to validate and if necessary modify an existing HPLC method for quantifying two out of three key components (A, B and C) in the conditional emulsion. Attempts to develop a method to quantify the pH adjusting components, X and Y were also made. These two methods are required to optimize the lubricant.Due to the complexity of the components, it has been difficult to present a method for quantification, and HPLC with ELS detection was chosen after a long series of trials.

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.

Sulforafan är en isothiocyanat-förening som finns i stora mängder i olika kålväxter. Sulforafan har setts ha en kemopreventiv inverkan bland annat genom att inducera fas II-enzymer styrda av transkriptionsfaktorn nuclear factor E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2). Nrf2 är mycket viktig i cellers skydd mor oxidativ- och elektrofil stress och inducerar uttrycket av många olika gener, bland annat olika tranportproteiner. Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) är en av transportörerna som tros induceras av Nrf2. BCRP finns i stora mängder i lakterande juvervävnad men också i många andra vävnader där den transporterar läkemedel ut ur cellerna.

The Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) causes bronchiolitis and interstitial pneumonia, predominantly in calves, and is a major cause of bovine respiratory disease worldwide. In humans, BRSV is paralleled by the closely related Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), an important cause of respiratory disease, most severe in infants.The clinical signs and pathology during RSV infection is caused, not only by the direct effects of viral replication, but also by the response of the host immune system. The immunopathology of RSV has long obfuscated our understanding of the disease, and development of effective treatment and vaccines will be very difficult until greater knowledge is gained.One of the components of the immune system that has come into focus in RSV research the last few years, is the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). The TLR4 receptor is well known as the receptor that binds lipopolysaccaride (LPS), and initiates the host response to bacterial infection. Recently, it has been shown that the fusion protein of RSV also interacts with, and up-regulates the expression of, the TLR4 receptor.

The Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) causes bronchiolitis and interstitial pneumonia, predominantly in calves, and is a major cause of bovine respiratory disease worldwide. In humans, BRSV is paralleled by the closely related Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), an important cause of respiratory disease, most severe in infants.The clinical signs and pathology during RSV infection is caused, not only by the direct effects of viral replication, but also by the response of the host immune system. The immunopathology of RSV has long obfuscated our understanding of the disease, and development of effective treatment and vaccines will be very difficult until greater knowledge is gained.One of the components of the immune system that has come into focus in RSV research the last few years, is the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). The TLR4 receptor is well known as the receptor that binds lipopolysaccaride (LPS), and initiates the host response to bacterial infection. Recently, it has been shown that the fusion protein of RSV also interacts with, and up-regulates the expression of, the TLR4 receptor.

The flagellate Giardia intestinalis has been known to cause diarrhea in both man and dog. Results from epidemiological studies have indicated that transmission of the parasite from dog to man is plausible even though that route of infection has yet to be shown. Several international studies have shown that the parasite frequently occurs in asymptomatic dogs. In Sweden the prevalence of Giardia in healthy dogs is not known though. In this study, faecal samples were collected at two separate occasions from 21 litters and 21 bitches showing no symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract. The samples from each litter were pooled but the samples from the bitches were analyzed individually.

A method for intra vitam detection of bornaviral infection and diagnosis of bornaviral dis-ease in the cat is currently lacking. The aim of this work was to explore the possibility of using the proximity ligation assay (PLA), with its capacity of recognizing femtomolar con-centrations of a protein, as a method for detection of the minute quantities of antigen and antibodies that are present in the tissues and body fluids of a bornaviraly infected cat. For this purpose reliable comparative assays, in the form of an ELISA and an IFA, had to be established. When this proved impossible within the time frame of the project, the aim of the study had to be abandoned, further underscoring the need for improved means of detec-tion of bornaviral antibodies and antigen..

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is one of the major neurodegenerative diseases, causing an ascending paralysis that usually kills the patient within a few years from disease onset. The motor neurons show aggregates of proteins which in approximately 20 % of cases of the familial form contain mutated SOD1 protein. Trehalose is a disaccharide which has been shown to reduce protein aggregation and increase viability in cell models and alleviate symptoms in animal models of several neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein aggregation. When given orally to the SOD1G93A mouse model of ALS, trehalose failed to slow down the disease progression, which has led to questions about the uptake and distribution of the molecule in this mouse strain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether significant levels of trehalose reach the central nervous system of the SOD1G93A mouse after oral administration. This was performed by a trehalose assay of the brain of trehalose treated animals. A glucose assay was optimised for use in small samples of brain lysate after the digestion of trehalose into glucose by trehalase, and the difference in glucose concentration before and after digestion represented the trehalose level.