The GABAergic system is the main inhibitory neuronal system utilized within the central nervous system (CNS). γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the fundamental neurotransmitter which transmit inhibitory signals through GABA receptors, the ionotropic GABAA and GABAC receptors; and the metabotropic G-protein coupled receptor GABAB receptor. Disruption of this system is associated with a range of psychiatric ...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate a manual sperm sorting method (Swim-up) and a non-invasive microfluidics method (Zymot microfluidics) with emphasis on formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA fragmentation as objective measurements of spermatozoa quality. Standard phase contrast imaging of spermatozoa was compared with quantitative phase contrast microscopy (QPM) ...

Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex (KpSC) is a group of closely related bacterial species including Klebsiella pneumoniae sensu stricto known as a major human opportunistic pathogen associated with healthcare. KpSC gut carriage is a major risk factor for clinical infections and elderly people (≥60y) are at the risk of KpSC gut colonisation. This master project investigated the presence, duration ...

Background of the study: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a heterogeneous population of cells that are mainly found in solid malignancies and play vital roles in tumor progression and metastasis, including important immunoregulatory functions. In this study, our objective was to explore the immunosuppressive adenosine system within the CAFs isolated from non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) ...

Antibiotic resistance is one of the major challenges in the present era and it is drastically increasing with the increase in time because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Therefore, there is a demand of new antibiotics with new modes of action or other innovative strategies to overcome bacterial infections as soon as possible. The zinc metalloproteases Themolysin (TLN), Pseudolysin (PLN) ...

Lymphocytes are known for their role in tumor promotion and tumor suppression. T cell infiltration of the tumor microenvironment has been linked to a better prognosis and outcome in various malignancies. CD8+ T cells can eliminate cancer cells by causing them to lyse, while CD4+ T cells can be both tumor promoting and tumor suppressing. However, the prognostic impact of functional lymphocyte subtypes ...

Chromosomal abnormalities are one of the main causes of implantation failure following embryo transfer in in vitro fertilization (IVF). Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies (PGT-A) is time-consuming, expensive, and invasive. Non-invasive PGT-A (niPGT-A) is an alternative where secreted embryonic cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in spent culture medium (SCM) is investigated. This study aimed to ...

Autosomal STR-analysis is the standard method of DNA-typing in casework. However, there are forensic sample types that may contain a large fraction of female DNA and a minimal fraction of male DNA. The male fraction may not be successfully amplified using autosomal STR-analysis because it “drowns” in the female fraction. However, the analysis of male-specific YSTR markers may circumvent this obstacle. ...

Enterococcus are a group of bacteria growing on different environmental condition behaving as a commensal as well as opportunistic pathogen. Among the enterococci, Enterococcus faecium is recently emerged as a nosocomial multi-resistance pathogen especially in the severely ill and immunocompromised patients causing a wide range of diseases like endocarditis, bacteraemia and urinary tract infections. ...

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-related disorder affecting 5-8% of women worldwide (4% in Norway). It is believed that placental ischemia is the initial event in the development of PE and is characterized by placental insufficiency and clinical symptoms such as hypertension and proteinuria. In this project, we aimed to study suitable biomarkers for morphological analysis of human term placenta from ...