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Two enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of polyamines, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, from human and Leishmania donovani) and spermidine synthase (SPDS, from Plasmodium falciparum and Caenorhabditis elegans) were studied using biochemical methods, homology modelling and X-ray crystallography. ODC catalyses the first and committed step in polyamine biosynthesis, the decarboxylation of ornithine to

Popular Abstract in Swedish Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning Öroninflammtionen är en av våra vanligaste åkommor, och den drabbar framför allt små barn. Av alla bakteriella infektioner är det den som oftast för oss till läkare. Vanligen resulterar läkarbesöket i en kur med bakteriedödande läkemedel som penicillin. P.g.a den idag höga konsumtionen av penicillin och liknande medel, är risken påtagAcute otitis media (AOM) is the most common illness diagnosed during early childhood. One of the major etiologic agents is Haemophilus influenzae. Apart from AOM, this organism can cause a broad range of infectious diseases such as meningitis, epiglottitis, arthritis, and pneumonia. Despite the importance of H.influenzae, the mechanisms by which this heterogenous group of bacteria mediates the inf

Popular Abstract in Swedish I det moderna samhället är vi helt beroende av polymera material, från barndomen med blöjor och nappflaskor till ålderdomen med artificiella ögonlinser och höftleder. Dagens sjukvård skulle inte klara de höga hygieniska kraven om inte engångsartiklar såsom gummihandskar, påsar för blodtransfusion och katetrar fanns. I många applikationer är polymerernas ytegenskaperna m

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a pathogen that causes severe local and life-threatening invasive diseases, which are associated with high mortality rates. Pneumococci have evolved several strategies to evade the host immune system, including complement to disseminate and to survive in various host niches. Thus, pneumococci bind complement inhibitors such as C4b-binding protein (C4BP) a

Streptococcus pyogenes is an important human pathogen and surface structures allow it to adhere to, colonize and invade the human host. Proteins containing leucine rich repeats (LRR) have been indentified in mammals, viruses, archaea and several bacterial species. The LRRs are often involved in protein-protein interaction, are typically 20-30 amino acids long and the defining feature of the LRR mo

The kinin system is activated when high-molecular-weight kininogen (HK) is cleaved by plasma kallikrein thus generating bradykinin. Bradykinin is a potent proinflammatory peptide that induces plasma leakage, blood pressure drop, liberation of inflammatory cytokines and pain. Vasculitis is an autoimmune systemic inflammatory disease, characterized by leukocyte inflammation in and around vessel wall

This paper introduces a research project with the aim to develop concepts and tools for architectural design, taking the ideas of "behaviour settings" as a starting point, to enable a more relevant holistic view in object oriented design of buildings. In this paper we introduce the concept of "architectural object" as a representation of a real "situation" involving people, behaviour, experience a

Popular Abstract in Swedish De flesta människor bibehåller en relativt konstant kroppsvikt genom livet trots att mängden mat och motion varierar från dag till dag. En konstant kroppsvikt betyder att energiintag (mat och dryck) och energiutgifter (värme och rörelse) i genomsnitt är lika stora, d.v.s. kroppens energibalans är i jämvikt. Övervikt är ett resultat av positiv energibalans, vilket innebä

Reference panels from the 1000 Genomes (1000G) Project Consortium provide near complete coverage of common and low-frequency genetic variation with minor allele frequency ≥0.5% across European ancestry populations. Within the European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology (ENGAGE) Consortium, we have undertaken the first large-scale meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), s

The cone snail is the only invertebrate system in which the vitamin K-dependent carboxylase (or gamma-carboxylase) and its product gamma-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) have been identified. It remains the sole source of structural information of invertebrate gamma-carboxylase substrates. Four novel Gla-containing peptides were purified from the venom of Conus textile and characterized using biochemica

Silver birch and common oak are known to be sensitive to standard practices in nurseries and they often show poor establishment when transplanted in urban areas. Lifting date and time in cold storage have a strong influence on stress tolerance and plant vitality. This study was carried out to assess the effect of lifting date and storage time on partial photosynthesis measured by chlorophyll fluor

Previous studies have suggested that the frequency of chromosomal aberrations (CAs), but not of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), predicts cancer risk. We have further examined this relationship in European cohorts comprising altogether almost 22,000 subjects, in the framework of a European collaborative project (CancerRiskBiomarkers). The present paper gives an overview of some of the results of

Traditional farming landscapes in the temperate zone that have persisted for millennia can be exceptionally species-rich and are therefore key conservation targets. In contrast to Europe’s West, Eastern Europe harbours widespread traditional farming landscapes, but drastic socio-economic and political changes in the twentieth century are likely to have impacted these landscapes profoundly. We reco

Recent evidence has revealed the role of mechanical cues in the development of shapes in organisms. This thesis is an effort to test some of the fundamental hypotheses about the relation between mechanics and patterning in plants. To do this, we develop mechanical models designed to include specific features of plant cell walls. These are heterogeneous stiffness and material anisotropy as well as

The neural correspondence between the systems responsible for the execution and recognition of actions has been suggested both in humans and non-human primates. Apart from being a key region of this visuo-motor observation-execution matching (OEM) system, the human inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is also important for speech production. The functional overlap of visuo-motor OEM and speech, together w

OBJECTIVE: There is evidence supporting that tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-signaling can induce production of beta-amyloid (Abeta) in the brain. Moreover, amyloid-induced toxicity has been shown to be dependent on TNFR-signaling. However, it is still unclear whether TNFRs are involved in the early stages of dementia. METHODS: We analyzed soluble TNFR1 and TNFR2 levels in plasma and cerebro