Osteokondros är en vanlig multifaktoriell sjukdom hos stora och snabbt växande hundraser och kan drabba flera leder så som exempelvis armbågs- och bogleder. En lokal störning i den endokondrala benbildningen i epifysen eller metafysens tillväxtbrosk leder till ojämnheter i brosket, som i sin tur orsakar smärta och hälta. Osteokondros påverkar hundens välfärd såväl som människans användning av hunden. Kunskap om sjukdomsförloppet och faktorer som påverkar sjukdomsutveckling krävs för att förhindra uppkomst av Osteokondros. Den här litteraturgenomgången syftar till att klargöra huruvida utfodring påverkar utvecklingen av Osteokondros hos hund och i så fall på vilket sätt. Litteraturstudien har avgränsats till betydelsen av överutfodring med energi och protein samt över- eller underutfodring med kalcium och fosfor. För att en normal ledyta ska bildas krävs ett intrikat samspel mellan mekanismerna för skelettillväxt, endokondral benbildning samt benremodulering.

The occurrence and degree of osteochondrosis was studied in 64 pigs raised in conventional systems (45) or organically according to KRAVs principles (19). In this blind study the growth plates of distal radius and ulna were examined macroscopically and radiologically searching for pathological lesions. One significant difference was shown in this study. Conventionally raised pigs diagnosed with osteochondrosis had more severe lesions in the distal growth plate of radius and ulna than the corresponding group of pigs raised organically. No significant difference was shown between the groups when all pigs were included. .

Several bulls in Sweden are culled because of lameness. Studies of beef bulls have shown that osteochondrosis is an important underlying cause of hind limb problems (Persson, 2003; Dutra, 1998). Osteochondrosis in horses, dogs, swine, poultry and man are well documentated in the literature, but there are few studies in cattle. The prevalence of osteochondrosis in dairy bulls in Sweden is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and localisation of osteochondrosis in the hindlimbs of dairy bulls. This study consists of 48 one-year-old bulls divided into four groups related to which farm they came from.

This project investigated how elevation and vegetation type influences variation in plant litter phenolic content and protein precipitation capacity among and within common plant species for two different vegetation types, heath and meadow, in a subarctic ecosystem in the Abisko region of northern Sweden. As nutrient availability generally decreases with increasing elevation as a result of decreasing temperature, I hypothesised that phenolic content would increase with elevation and be higher on the heath than the meadow. To test this, the total phenolic content and protein precipitation capacity was estimated in leaf litter from 13 species in both heath and meadow vegetation across an elevational gradient ranging from 500 to 1000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) in the study region. The results showed that elevation and vegetation type both had a strong impact on both variables. Total phenolic concentrations decreased with elevation for the meadow, and were greater for the heath than the meadow.

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.