Swedish Institute

About: Swedish Institute is a government organization based out in Stockholm, Sweden. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 1657 authors who have published 2301 publications receiving 103682 citations. The organization is also known as: Svenska Institutet.

Transepithelial migration of Toxoplasma gondii involves an interaction of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) with the parasite adhesin MIC2

Abstract: Toxoplasma gondii crosses non-permissive biological barriers such as the intestine, the blood-brain barrier and the placenta thereby gaining access to tissues where it most commonly causes severe pathology. Herein we show that in the process of migration Toxoplasma initially concentrates around intercellular junctions and probably uses a paracellular pathway to transmigrate across biological barriers. Parasite transmigration required viable and actively motile parasites. Interestingly, the integrity of host cell barriers was not altered during parasite transmigration. As intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) is upregulated on cellular barriers during Toxoplasma infection, we investigated the role of this receptor in parasite transmigration. Soluble human ICAM-1 and ICAM-1 antibodies inhibited transmigration of parasites across cellular barriers implicating this receptor in the process of transmigration. Furthermore, human ICAM-1 immunoprecipitated the mature form of the parasite adhesin MIC2 present on the parasite surface, indicating that this interaction may contribute to cellular migration. These findings reveal that Toxoplasma exploits the natural cell trafficking pathways in the host to cross cellular barriers and disseminate to deep tissues.

Effect of Ag particle size on electrical conductivity of isotropically conductive adhesives

Abstract: The present work is to introduce nanoparticles in micro-sized metal particles to study particle distribution in polymer matrix. Previous examinations of the silver-filled particles reveal that the micro-sized particle fillers appear as full density silver flakes, while nanoparticle fillers appear as highly porous agglomerates, similar to open-cell foams. Actually little work has been carried out to study the cross-sectional area of a particle-particle-contact in isotropically conductive adhesives (ICA). In this study, transmission electron microscope is chosen as a main measure to analyze the distribution of different-sized particles. The percentage of the nanoparticles varies from 20 wt% and 50 wt% to full percentage within micro-sized particles, and the total metal content in epoxy resin is 70 wt%. So the change of contact area and contact behavior with various volume ratio of nano-sized and micro-sized particles was investigated. At the same time, the electrical resistivity was measured, which is compared with the different level of the filler loading.

Delivery of care to diabetic patients with foot ulcers in daily practice: results of the Eurodiale Study, a prospective cohort study

Abstract: Aims To determine current management and to identify patient-related factors and barriers that influence management strategies in diabetic foot disease. Methods The Eurodiale Study is a prospective cohort study of 1232 consecutive individuals presenting with a new diabetic foot ulcer in 14 centres across Europe. We determined the use of management strategies: referral, use of offloading, vascular imaging and revascularization. Results Twenty-seven percent of the patients had been treated for > 3 months before referral to a foot clinic. This varied considerably between countries (6-55%). At study entry, 77% of the patients had no or inadequate offloading. During follow-up, casting was used in 35% (0-68%) of the plantar fore- or midfoot ulcers. Predictors of use of casting were male gender, large ulcer size and being employed. Vascular imaging was performed in 56% (14-86%) of patients with severe limb ischaemia; revascularization was performed in 43%. Predictors of use of vascular imaging were the presence of infection and ischaemic rest pain. Conclusion Treatment of many patients is not in line with current guidelines and there are large differences between countries and centres. Our data suggest that current guidelines are too general and that healthcare organizational barriers and personal beliefs result in underuse of recommended therapies. Action should be undertaken to overcome these barriers and to guarantee the delivery of optimal care for the many individuals with diabetic foot disease.

Deformation microstructures and textures in steels

Abstract: Experimental evidence concerning the evolution of textures and substructures during cold rolling of low–carbon steel is presented and reviewed with some reference to the importance of these during subsequent annealing. Attention is paid to the orientation dependence of microstructure and stored energy of deformation. These are considered in relation to the Taylor factors for grains of different orientations in homogeneous deformation, and to the occurrence of different types of heterogeneity. Certain grain–scale heterogeneities appear to be important in defining the textures, which can now be predicted with some success using so–called relaxed constraint models. Intragranular heterogeneities also play a role and these especially affect the variation in substructure between grains. The strain–rate sensitivity of flow stress is an important parameter, which, depending on its sign and magnitude, may cause either severe strain localization in shear bands or lead to very homogeneous deformation structures where the influence of crystal orientation almost disappears.

Rates and Mechanisms of Resistance Development in Mycobacterium tuberculosis to a Novel Diarylquinoline ATP Synthase Inhibitor

Abstract: R207910 (also known as TMC207) is an investigational drug currently in clinical studies for the treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. It has a high degree of antimycobacterial activity and is equally effective against drug-susceptible and MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. In the present study, we characterized the development of resistance to R207910 in vitro. Ninety-seven independent R207910-resistant mutants were selected from seven different clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis (three drug-susceptible and four MDR isolates) at 10x, 30x, and 100x the MIC. At a concentration of 0.3 mg/liter (10x the MIC), the mutation rates ranged from 4.7 x 10(-7) to 8.9 x 10(-9) mutations per cell per division, and at 1.0 mg/liter (30x the MIC) the mutation rate ranged from 3.9 x 10(-8) to 2.4 x 10(-9). No resistant mutants were obtained at 3 mg/liter (100x the MIC). The level of resistance ranged from 0.12 to 3.84 mg/liter for the mutants identified; these concentrations represent 4- to 128-fold increases in the MICs. For 53 of the resistant mutants, the atpE gene, which encodes a transmembrane and oligomeric C subunit of the ATP synthase and which was previously shown to be involved in resistance, was sequenced. For 15/53 mutants, five different point mutations resulting in five different amino acid substitutions were identified in the atpE gene. For 38/53 mutants, no atpE mutations were found and sequencing of the complete F0 ATP synthase operon (atpB, atpE, and atpF genes) and the F1 ATP synthase operon (atpH, atpA, atpG, atpD, and atpC genes) from three mutants revealed no mutations, indicating other, alternative resistance mechanisms. Competition assays showed no measurable reduction in the fitness of the mutants compared to that of the isogenic wild types.