The Annexin-V/propidium iodide (AV/PI) assay detects early membrane changes in spermatozoa and viability using flow cytometry. It is an objective method that evaluates a much larger number of single spermatozoa compared with the usual estimation of motility, the most commonly used method for routine sperm evaluation. In the present study four ejaculates from four stallions were used in a split-sample design to investigate whether and how the number of intact spermatozoa is affected over time and after incubation at different temperatures, either those recorded during shipment of stallion semen for AI (9 or 5°C) or room temperature (20°C). The Annexin-V results did not reflect the motility results that were monitored in parallel. While motility decreased over time, the number of spermatozoa with intact membranes (viable) remained unchanged for at least 21 hours following a short period of initial instability.

Since the first wolf was taken as a companion animal a lot have happened with the biology of these animals. Is it possible that changes in the gut microbiota of the domestic dog are involved in the increasing numbers of animals with gastrointestinal disorders? Probiotics have been proven to promote the immune system of dogs by increasing concentrations of neutrophils and monocytes, decreasing the fragility of erythrocytes and increasing the serum IgG concentrations. Probiotics have also been shown to improve the fecal consistency, fecal dry matter and defecation frequency of dogs. The aim of this study was to find out if the bacterial counts in the gut of dogs differed from the gut of wolves, with the focus on lactobacilli.

Lymphoma is a group of malignant tumour diseases developing in the secondary lymphatic system. These diseases can develop in all organs as lymphocytes are ubiquitously in the body. In connection to mucus membranes we find mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, MALT, in which lymphoma can spontaneously but slowly develop, mostly at chronic inflammation or at autoimmune diseases. Today these diseases are incureable with the exception of some cases caused by Helicobacter pylori-infection. Antibiotic treatment of these cases can induce remissions.MALT-lymphomas have characteristic histological and molecular properties.

A plant's defensive ability against herbivore attack can be influenced by many different factors, one of them being domestication. During human selection to improve the yield of plants, the resistance against herbivore attack can have been lowered, due to a trade-off for use of resources between these traits in the plants. In this thesis I investigated the effect of domestication on resistance against herbivorous insects in cotton plants. I used different varieties and species of wild and domesticated cotton in three different experiments. A feeding assay was conducted, the mortality, development time and pupal weight of larvae of the Egyptian cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis was studied. In a second experiment the preference of the root-feeding beetle Agriotes spp.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, where joints are attacked by the own immune system, leading to chronic inflammation and destruction of bone and cartilage. Inflammation is a complex process, controlled by many different substances. One of them is adenosine, which has anti-inflammatory properties. In this project, three polymorphisms in different genes, involved in synthesis and signaling of adenosine, were genotyped for 188 patients with RA and 362 controls without RA. The results shows that for the polymorphism in A2a, a gene coding for an adenosine receptor, there was no significant difference in genotype distribution between the groups.

Alternative splicing is a process that partly rejects the common definition of a gene ? that one gene codes for one specific protein. By variable combination of coding regions (exons) and exclusion of non-coding regions (introns), formation of several different mRNA-transcripts, and consequently several different proteins, can derive from the same gene. Alternative splicing is an important condition for the development of complex life forms, but it is also a highly sensitive process and inaccurate splicing is the cause of approximately 15 % of mutations that cause genetic diseases. This article presents four genes, BRCA1, BRCA2, ER? and ER?, and inaccurate splicing of these genes increases the risk of developing cancer, particularly breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a disease with high morbidity and mortality and with a high prevalence in certain breeds. Predominatly large breeds are affected, such as Great danes, Newfoundlands, Deerhounds and Dobermanns. One exception is Cocker spaniels, where both American and English Cocker spaniels are affected in a quite high frequency. Cardiomyopathy is characterised as a disease that affects the myocardium and gives an impaired heart function. To diagnose DCM following criteria have to be observed: 1. Dilation of the left ventricle. 2. Reduced systolic heart function. 3. Increased sphericity of the left ventricle. To be certain of the diagnosis, alternative reasons for the symptoms such as lung- and heart diseases with other etiologies have to be excluded Two different types of DCM have been found upon histological examination.

The escalating usage of pyrethroids has resulted in an increased awareness about resistance towards pyrethroids in insects. Pyrethroids inhibit voltage-sensitive sodium channels (VSSC) in nerve cell membranes and are composed of synthetic molecules based on pyrethrins present in pyrethrum extracts from Chrysanthemum species. VSSC are transmembrane proteins that are important for electric signalling over the membrane in insects. Mutations in the gene encoding the sodium channel have proved to be a common reason for resistance against pyrethroids. Pyrethroid resistance among pollen beetles is spread all over Sweden and also abroad and is increasing.

C-uppsats kandidat 2011Title: Media ? terroristens medhjälpare? Författare: Christoffer WiklöwSpråk: svenskaInstution: JMK, Stockholm Universitet En kvalitativ studie om New York Times språkbruk kring terrorism. De valda frågeställningarna blev:Hur är New York Times språkbruk kring terrorism och 9/11 2001, respektive 2011? Hur har mass-mediated terrorism-diskursen förändrats mellan året 2001 och året 2011 i New York Times nyhetsartiklar om terrorism och 9/11? Hur ser en reporter på sin roll som skribent om 9/11, och hur kommer detta att indikera på att journalisten kanske faller offer för att vara terroristens medhjälpare?Och materialet för studien blev fyra artiklar från New York Times, och en intervju med en skribent bakom en av artiklarna. Teorival blev en kritisk teori-inriktad del med en socialkonstruktionisktisk infallsvinkel som stöd. Birgitte L.

Promoters are genetic elements that facilitate the transcription of a gene and they have been found in front of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) genes in different organ-isms, e.g. the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A similar element, DUSE, has been found in front of ncRNAs in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and a part of this project has been to analyze the function of this putative promoter element through cloning and expression studies. A construct to analyze the func-tion of DUSE was successfully designed and introduced into D. discoideum but full expression studies were not finished because of shortage of time.

Promoters are genetic elements that facilitate the transcription of a gene and they have been found in front of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) genes in different organ-isms, e.g. the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A similar element, DUSE, has been found in front of ncRNAs in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and a part of this project has been to analyze the function of this putative promoter element through cloning and expression studies. A construct to analyze the func-tion of DUSE was successfully designed and introduced into D. discoideum but full expression studies were not finished because of shortage of time.

Promoters are genetic elements that facilitate the transcription of a gene and they have been found in front of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) genes in different organ-isms, e.g. the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A similar element, DUSE, has been found in front of ncRNAs in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and a part of this project has been to analyze the function of this putative promoter element through cloning and expression studies. A construct to analyze the func-tion of DUSE was successfully designed and introduced into D. discoideum but full expression studies were not finished because of shortage of time.

Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is considered a specific and a sensitive biomarker of cardiac disease, and due to a high inter-species sequence homology; human cTnI assays can often be used in veterinary medicine. The main aim of this study was to perform an initial evaluation of a human cTnI test, the Meritas Troponin I test, for measurement of equine plasma cTnI, in order to investigate whether the test could be a possible subject for a more comprehensive validation. The hypothesis was that the test could measure equine cTnI, as there is a good homology between equine cTnI and human cTnI. The evaluation included a dilution parallelism, an intra-assay precision study and measurement of plasma cTnI healthy horses. In the dilution parallelism and the intra-assay precision study, equine plasma with previously established high cTnI concentration, according to another cTnI assay, was used. In addition, cTnI concentration was measured in plasma, collected from 19 horses, without signs of disease at physical and ECG examinations. The obtained curve in the dilution parallelism was linear, indicating that the Meritas Troponin I test can be used to measure different concentrations of equine cTnI in plasma.

Gene technology has become more and more attractive in plant breeding during the last twenty years. This is probably because it can readily improve the existing commercial cultivars that have only one or a few drawbacks by modifying one or a few genes without changing the main genetic constitution. In this regard, gene technology is more effective than conventional breeding.The aim of this project was to analyze the fruit quality of the non-transgenic apple scion ?Jonagold? grafted on non-transgenic and rolB-transgenic apple rootstocks. The rootstocks used were M9-rolB1, M9-rolB2, M26-rolB and non-transgenic controls M9 and M26.

The eyewitnessed reportage has a pronounced character of narrating. The imaginative power of the text helps the reader to empathise with the characters. That makes constructing empathy a necessary skill of reporters. But how can this be done?Despite a tradition of story telling among reporters, narratologists virtually have neglected the reportage genre.