Platelet transfusions can be necessary during treatment of patients with thrombocytopenia or impaired platelet function. Platelet function in platelet concentrates (PC) deteriorate with storage time. Studying swirling is often used to control the quality of PC?s before transfusion but the method has some disadvantages. Therefore other methods can be useful, for example impedance aggregometry (IA, Multiplate® Analyzer) to measure platelet function.     In this study the change in platelet function over time was examined in buffy coat and apheresis platelets with IA where aggregation had been induced with adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and collagen.

 Conclusion:Medical treatment may have a role in platelet count after transfusion. Since the TACSI platelets passed the quality requirements, and the vast majority of patients platelet count increased after TACSI platelet transfusion, the TACSI platelets will replace the old method to produce platelets at the Uppsala University hospital.  Methods: A new approach that pools 8 buffy coats (TACSI platelets) that were separated into 2 units instead of 4-6 buffy coats pooled to 1 unit was investigated in this study. After the platelets were extracted from the buffy coats their quality was controlled and subsequently the platelet product was evaluated in 96 patients. Results: The results showed that 80 % of the platelet units passed the European quality requirements. Further, the platelet count was increased in most patients that received TACSI platelets. Conclusion: Medical treatment may have a role in platelet count after transfusion.

Platelets are small fragments, but they are of crucial importance for the coagulation. The risk of spontaneous bleeding increases when the level of platelets falls below a thrombocyte particle concentration threshold value of 50 x 109/L. In those cases a platelet transfusion might be compulsory. Ongoing research tries to improve the quality of the platelets and to increase the safety of the method used. However, we still need to better understand which factors that affect how patients react upon platelet transfusion.

Immunmedierad trombocytopeni (IMT) är en vanlig rubbning i primära hemostasen och uppstår som en konsekvens av för tidig destruktion av trombocyter (blodplättar). Denna destruktion beror på en ökad produktion av trombocytbundna antikroppar (platelet-bound antibodies, PBA) som binder in till antigen i trombocytväggen. Antikroppsproduktionen, som är en immunologisk process, kan dels uppstå spontant genom en autoimmun reaktion (primär IMT), eller triggas av infektioner eller neoplasier (sekundär IMT). Diagnosticering av IMT, och då syftas framför allt på primär IMT, sker främst utifrån uteslutande av andra bakomliggande orsaker, då en specifik diagnostisk metod inte finns tillgänglig. Tester för att påvisa PBA finns, men deras betydelse för både diagnostik och prognos har länge varit oklar. Denna uppsats syftar till att sammanfatta forskning som finns tillgänglig om betydelsen av påvisande av PBA vid IMT, men även forskning kring den immunologiska bakgrunden till sjukdomen.

Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is an intracellular enzyme involved in ?the salvage pathway? where the uncomplete parts of DNA are transformed into DNA precursors. The expression of TK1 is cell cykle specific, with the highest level during S-phase when DNA-synthesis is most active. One kind of TK1 is present in serum and an increase in TK1 activity in serum is due to either the level of DNA synthesis in the body or the number of cells dying in a state of replication. This can be used and is used as a marker for prognosis and evaluation of treatment in human patients with leukemia and lymphoma.

Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV) is a common cause of respiratory disease among young cattle. The virus causes severe losses; the herd mortality rate can sometimes be as high as 20 %. In this study the avidity (i.e the antigen binding force) of BRSV specific antibodies was measured to see if there was a difference between antibodies produced during an acute phase of infection and antibodies produced by earlier infected animals. A commercially available ELISA-testkit against BRSV-specific antibodies was used and an incubation step with 6M urea was added. The effect of the urea is that it breaks the weak bonds between antibodies and antigen while the stronger bonds remain intact. Four different groups of animals were included in this study; seven calves that were naturally infected, three acutely infected calves with known time of infection, five cows that were seropositive during several years and four experimentally infected calves that had been a part of a vaccine trial. The results of this study showed that antibodies produced during the acute phase of an infection had a low avidity and that the avidity increased with time after infection.

Platelet aggregation is a major and common problem in blood samples from cats. This greatly affects the accuracy of counting of the platelets. Because of the difficulties in counting feline platelets, results for patients and reliable reference values for cat platelets are currently so inaccurate as to be almost useless in diagnosis of thrombocytopenia. In this study we used an effective method to prevent platelet aggregation. Blood was collected in CTAD test tubes and prostaglandin E1 was added to the blood sample.

Hepatitis E virus, HEV, is a frequent causative agent behind, especially waterborne, infections in developing countries such as India. However, during the last years the number of non-travel-associated infections in industrialised countries, for example US, Germany and Sweden, has increased. The symptoms vary from mild with nausea to icterus and it can even be lethal. There are four different genotypes of HEV and many studies consider HEV infection to be a zoonosis. Scientists have by using phylogenetic analyses found great genetic similarity between strains isolated from humans, pigs and food, such as pork and liver, especially among viruses belonging to genotype 3.

Spitz nevus was first described by Sophie Spitz in 1948 as juvenile melanoma. The lesion is a benign melanocytic tumor, which consists of epiteloid- and spindelshaped cells. Histological is spitz nevus difficult to distinguish from malign melanomas and spitzoid melanomas. Loss of symmetry, loss of maturation in the deep component, nuclear polymorphism and hyper chromatic nucleus are features which can be found in melanomas. Some of these features are often seen in spitz nevus.

Vectors based on lentivirus backbones have revolutionized our ability to transfer genesinto many cell types. Lentiviral vectors integrate into the chromatin of target cells and do not transfer any viral genes causing vector replication. Both of these features arecommonly used in gene therapy and have been used clinically in individuals sufferingfrom cancer, infections and genetic diseases. It has been discovered that T-cells can be genetically modified to be used as effective weapons against cancer: therefore virus mustbe produced to deliver the gene of interest into the T-cells. In this project, lentiviralvectors have been produced to transfer the gene coding for a chimeric antigen receptor(CAR) which is directed to CD19 on B-cells.

The aim of this study was to detect antibodies in swine serum against proteins in soy beans, wheat, oat and barley. Two methods were used: agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID), and SDS-PAGE followed by immunoblotting. The sera examined originated (I) from piglets younger than one week (negative control), (II) pigs from a feed trial with soy bean in a herd with PMWS, and (III) pigs inoculated with Brachyspira hyodysenteriae and Escherichia coli after being fed with soy. The AGID-test was negative concerning all examined sera which were analysed against proteins in soy bean, wheat, oat and barley. In the experiment based on immunoblot antibodies were demonstrated within all three groups of examined pigs.

This essay studies how advertisements in various anti-smoking campaigns can influence and persuade by using anti-logos as counter-arguments to the tobacco industry's logos. In contrast to tobacco advertising arguments such as freedom (logos), pleasure (pathos) and trademark (ethos) the anti-smoking campaigns create anti-logos arguments with various connotations such as repulsive pictures and sexual implications to influence groups of people not to start smoking or to quit smoking.Advertisement of tobacco does not exist nowadays due to legal restrictions in the western world; however several decades of myths created in the consumer consciousness still exist. Thus one can speak of a tobacco advertising ideology that exists and the various anti-smoking campaigns trying to change that ideology.The purpose of anti-smoking campaigns is to conduct a kategoria of myth that tobacco advertisement has created over the years. Anti smoking organizations do this by creating a new ideology to affect consumer?s attitude toward smoking and the tobacco myth with an anti-myth.

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease, induced by an immune mediated reaction in the small intestine after ingestion of gluten and related prolamines. There is a strong genetic linkage and most important are the genes that encodes for HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) has developed new guidelines for investigation of CD in children and adolescents, which include genotyping for HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. Therefore, the clinical microbiological laboratory in Västmanland wants to introduce a method for analysis of these genes. Microarray is a newly developed method for determination of the alleles HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 that encodes for the ?- and ?-subunits of the HLA-molecules.

Introduction: It is recommended to place all the vacuum tubes directly on a sample cradle after vein puncture to prevent analytic error. This recommendation is not always easy to follow because the samples are taken by different professionals under different situations.  The three most common analyses, platelets count, haemoglobin and prothrombin time were tested.  Therefore, it was interesting to compare results from the three most common analyses with or without sample cradle, to evaluate the influence of this step on the result. Methods: Three analyses were preformed, using blood from 50 different persons. Each person gave two vacuum tubes, each contained 4.5mL of venous blood for the study.

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease, induced by an immune mediated reaction in the small intestine after ingestion of gluten and related prolamines. There is a strong genetic linkage and most important are the genes that encodes for HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) has developed new guidelines for investigation of CD in children and adolescents, which include genotyping for HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. Therefore, the clinical microbiological laboratory in Västmanland wants to introduce a method for analysis of these genes. Microarray is a newly developed method for determination of the alleles HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 that encodes for the ?- and ?-subunits of the HLA-molecules.