The human mind wanders spontaneously and pervasively throughout daily life, pursuing trains of thought that are untethered to the world around us. Although mapping the many facets of mind wandering has become a compelling objective in the cognitive neurosciences, researchers have yet to achieve a congruous mechanistic account of its neurobiological underpinnings. In this thesis, a multidisciplinary ...

Haemophilus influenzae is a major pathogen, with the ability to cause a wide spectrum of invasive and non-invasive infections. Beta-lactams are first-line drugs but beta- lactam resistant strains are common. Beta-lactamase (bla) producing isolates emerged in the 1970s, and non-bla-mediated resistance due to mutations in the ftsI gene encoding penicillin-binding protein 3, denoted ‘rPBP3’ in this ...

Summary: The utility of using general practitioners (GPs) in pre-hospital emergency medicine is currently under debate. The aim of this thesis is to examine Norwegian GPs’ contribution and participation in emergency medicine. As there is limited knowledge in this field, we started by conducting focus group interviews with the stakeholders. During the fall 2012 we interviewed emergency technicians ...

Treatment of vaginal infections remains unsuccessful due to recurrent infections and limited patient compliance. Current therapies are unable to penetrate bacterial and fungal biofilms, allowing the survival of microorganisms, which often leads to new infections. Local administration of drug is able to provide a higher drug concentration at the vaginal site; enabling the administration of lower drug ...

<p>The tumor microenvironment is a dynamic, constantly evolving interplay between tumor cells, immune cells, endothelial and other stromal cells, and the extracellular matrix. Inflammation is an essential part of the immune system’s response against malignant growth but also a powerful pro-tumorigenic factor as cancer cells can hijack inflammatory mediators to support tumor growth. Neuroblastoma is ...

<p>The sinusoids (specialized small blood vessels) of the liver are covered by endothelium (blood vessel wall cells) with open transcellular pores (holes that go from one side to the other) called fenestrations. This allows for efficient bidirectional transfer of solutes between the blood and the hepatocytes (main metabolic liver cell). These fenestrations can disappear or reduce in number and size ...

This thesis focuses on liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) and one of their characteristic features called fenestrations. LSEC line the hepatic sinusoids and filter solutes from the plasma. The bidirectional transport of solutes between the bloodstream and the interior of the liver is facilitated via transcellular nanopores called fenestrations. Fenestrations are dynamic structures with diameters ...

Clinical use of positron emission tomography (PET) is expanding from use of [18F]FDG to a wider spectrum of PET-tracers and proprietary PET radiopharmaceuticals. The development of new PET-tracers is however far from trivial and the radiochemistry is a major limiting factor. Nucleophilic substitution reactions with [18F]fluoride generally suffer from inconsistent labeling yields. There is a need to ...

Reinsdyr (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) er en viktig del av samisk kultur og en viktig bestanddel av samisk tradisjonell kost. Data på rein som næringsmiddel for mennesker har vært mangelfulle i forhold andre husdyr. Hovedmålet med denne avhandlingen var å øke kunnskapen om reinsdyr som matvare for mennesker, for å studere konsentrasjoner av fettsyrer, lipider, vitaminer, essensielle elementer ...