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Methylation analysis by Ciucanu and Kerek (1984) and Hakomori (1964) and the meaning of circumstances in the reaction, reaction parameters and structure of the sample were reviewed in this study. The experimental work consisted of methylation analysis of glucose, cellobiose, isomaltose, pullulan, commercial dextran and dextrans produced by lactic acid bacteria Weissella confusa and Leuconostoc citreum. The success of the methylation was controlled using the IR-method. Methylated samples were treated by methanolysis and acid hydrolysis. The structure analyses were carried out with GC-MSspectra. Two different columns: DB-1 and HP-5 were compared in the GC-analysis. Two hours methylation in the ultrasonic bath gave good methylation results. It was easy to control the methylation by IR-method. OH-peak (3400 cm-1) was absent and CH3- peaks (2900 and 2800 cm-1) were high after successful methylation. IR-spectroscopy is a valuable tool to check if methylation has been successful. Samples could be remethylated before hydrolysis and derivation if necessary. After methanolysis there were ?- and ?-pyranose forms from each methylated monosaccharides. Due to reduction after the acid hydrolysis method, there was only one methylated form from each product. The structures of glucose, cellobiose, isomaltose and pullulan were solved by both hydrolysis methods. Recovery of these samples was good but the deviation was large. The structure of commercial dextran and dextran produced by W. confusa were solved by methanolysis method and partly by acid hydrolysis method. Recovery of these samples was poor. The methylation succeeded only in one of the dextran samples produced by L. citreum. The methylation analysis of dextrans could be developed in the future by increasing the temperature and the time of mixing and by adding some glycerol.

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a growing concern globally. The horizontal spread of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) causes multi drug resistant strains that can be harmful to human- and animal health. This risk must be considered when new bacterial strains are used in the plant protection industry, therefore this master’s thesis presents a new bioinformatical method to evaluate the potential of ARG to horizontally transfer to another bacteria. This thesis will walk through analyses that can be used to hunt for ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGE) in bacterial whole genome sequence data. Also, this thesis presents a new computational analysis tool called MGEradar that reveals MGEs that are linked to a specific ARG. Also, this thesis presents a simple metod for studying the prevalence of an ARG among other bacterial strains of the suspect species. MGEradar, the prevalence analysis and the bioinformatical pipeline can be helpful tools to evaluate the intrinsicness and mobility of an ARG. For the evaluation of the bioinformatical method, the genomes of Escherichia coli and Bacillus thuringiensis are examined to determine the MGEs associated with two ARGs, mcr-1 and fosB.

Glutamatergisen hermosolutoiminnan häiriöt vaikuttavat olevan yhteydessä mielenterveys- ja mielialahäiriöihin. Metabotrooppiset glutamaattireseptorit ovat yksi mahdollinen kohde kun etsitään nykyisiä lääkkeitä tehokkaampia vaihtoehtoja näiden sairauksien hoitoon. Hiirten marmorikuulien hautaamiskokeen ajatellaan mittaavan hiirten ahdistuneisuutta ja pakko-oireisuutta, ja metabotrooppisen glutamaatti-2/3-reseptorin antagonisti LY-341495:llä on aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa havaittu hautaamiskäyttäytymistä lievittäviä vaikutuksia tässä testissä. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli havainnoida LY-341495:n jo tunnettuja vaikutuksia hiirten käyttäytymiseen marmorikuulien hautaamiskokeessa ja selvittää, ovatko vaikutukset riippuvaisia mGlu3-reseptoreista. Lisäksi tutkimme LY-341495:n vaikutusta hiirten liikeaktiivisuuteen ja sitä, onko vaikutus samanlainen mGlu3R-poistogeenisillä hiirillä kuin villityyppi-hiirillä. Emme havainneet LY-341495:llä olevan vaikutusta villityyppi-hiirten marmorikuulien hautaamiskäyttäytymiseen tai liikeaktiivisuuteen. LY-341495 ei vaikuttanut myöskään mGlu3R-poistogeenisten hiirten marmorikuulien hautaamiskäyttäytymiseen. Havaitsimme kuitenkin LY-341495:llä olevan tilastollisesti merkittävä mGlu3R-poistogeenisten hiirten liikeaktiivisuutta lisäävä vaikutus. mGlu2-reseptorin toiminnan estyminen mGlu3-reseptorin suhteen poistogeenisillä hiirillä näyttää johtavan yliaktiivisuuteen. Pystyynnousu-aktiivisuuden lisääntymisestä ei kuitenkaan voi päätellä LY-341495:n vaikutusta mielialaan. Tuloksemme eivät tukeneet sitä, että LY-341495:n vaikutus villityyppi- tai mGlu3R-poistogeenisiin hiiriin olisi pakko-oireisuutta lievittävä.

The description and analysis of oral language use is a daunting task. In this study, I have attempted to look not only into oral language but also to probe a bit deeper into the interaction taking place between an interviewer (S) and an interviewee (Int) in a typical oral proficiency interview (OPI). An OPI has been described many times, but apparently no description of this particular S/Int interaction has been made. Nevertheless, the practitioners of the art, or skill if you will, of OPI make a variety of claims about the relative effectiveness of various strategies in testing. It would seem that most of these are primarily based on anecdotal evidence. This study may be the beginning of a look at what interaction is occurring, particularly in the Finnish setting. This study presents the analysis of three actual test interviews carried out by trained interviewers working for the National Certificate (NC) of Language Proficiency (of Finland). All three interviews were at the Advanced Level in the NC scaling system. In my study, I concentrated on the testing research of the late 1990s with its eclectic focus. I chose those factors identified in studies as most pertinent to interaction: speech act, discourse analysis, lexicality contra grammaticality, floor, back channelling, overlapping, introspection, repairs and repetitions, accommodation, and negotiation of meaning. In results differing somewhat from certain earlier studies, I identified various forms of the multiplicity of interaction which did occur in these interviews. In fact, it was shown that these OPI proceeded to a great extent under the control, initiation, and interaction of the candidates. The interviewers managed their task well, eliciting a broad and varied language sample from each candidate.

Foucauldian concepts of bio-power and biopolitics are widely utilized in contemporary political philosophy. However, Foucault’s account of bio-power includes some ambivalence which has rendered these concepts of bio-power and biopolitics rather equivocal. Foucault elaborates these concepts and themes related to them in his books Discipline and Punish (1975) and History of Sexuality: An Introduction (1976), and also in his Collège de France-lectures held from 1975 to 1979. Through a detailed analysis of these works this research suggests that there are differences in Foucault’s account of bio-power. The aim of this thesis is to shed light to these differences, and consequently, clarify Foucault’s account of bio-power and biopolitics. This research is divided into two main sections. The first analyzes Foucault’s works of 1975-76. In those works Foucault investigates relations of power and knowledge through a framework of what he called the normalizing society. Foucault identifies two essential forms of power operating in the normalizing society: individualizing discipline and population targeting bio-power. Together they form a network of power relations that Foucault calls power over life. By this concept Foucault designates the process by which human life in its totality became an object of power and knowledge. In this framework bio-power and biopolitics are essentially connected to particular system of norms which creates its power effects through medicine, human sciences and laws and regulations. The two pivotal reference points for normalizing techniques are race and sexuality. The second section focuses on Foucault’s lectures of 1977-79 and his other works published approximately until 1982.In these works Foucault elaborates the subject of governing population from different angle and with novel concepts. He abandons the view according to which one could locate a uniform architecture of power operating in society. Rather, he begins to analyze society as being constituted by multiple different forms of power and political rationalities. The crucial research question is what kinds of modifications take place in techniques of government when relations of power and knowledge are changed. In these investigations bio-power and biopolitics are identified with liberal apparatuses of security and pastoral power. The conclusions deduced in this thesis are that Foucault’s preliminary analysis of bio-power in the context of normalizing society is not sufficient to produce a firm analytical ground for concepts of bio-power and biopolitics. However, in his later elaborations of these concepts Foucault manages to demonstrate how political rationalities and different forms of power are related to the ways in which human life is governed and modified. Thus Foucault succeeds in creating analytical tools by which to have better understanding through what kinds of rationalities human life is managed in contemporary societies.

Nitrogen (N) availability often limits plant growth in the boreal forest ecosystem. There has been a lack of reliable method to study soil N supply as in traditionally used potassium chloride (KCl) extraction sampling and sample preparation disturb soil structure and stimulate N mineralization, leading to the overestimation of inorganic N forms ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-) and underestimation of organic N forms such as amino acids. Diffusion-based microdialysis technique for the sampling of soil diffusive N fluxes gives an opportunity to study soil N supply at a scale that is relevant for plant N uptake, as microdialysis probe has a membrane that reminds the plant fine root in its scale and also, to some extent, in its function. During sampling, the movement of water inside the microdialysis probe induces diffusive flux of solutes across the membrane surface along the concentration gradient. The aim of this study was to test the performance of microdialysis technique at different soil moisture content levels and its capability to monitor temporal changes in diffusive N fluxes in laboratory experiments (ex situ). Soil fine-scale N dynamics were further studied by comparing the diffusive N fluxes in the field (in situ) in boreal forest soil to multiple factors that are thought to affect forest soil N availability. In this study, soil diffusive NH4+, NO3- and amino acid N fluxes were sampled ex situ from sieved soils taken from three different sites – clear-cut, spruce stand (MT spruce) and pine stand (VT pine) in Lapinjärvi, Finland in November 2017. In ex situ microdialysis experiments, the diffusive N fluxes were observed at three different soil moisture content levels and after N addition. In situ microdialysis sampling was run at the logging residue experiment of the Lapinjärvi clear-cut site and at the MT spruce site in June 2018 and at the pine logging residue experiment in Kiikala, Finland in September 2018. The results from the in situ microdialysis were compared with soil moisture content, pH, C-to-N ratio and temperature as well as with the net N mineralization and net nitrification rates, microbial biomass C and N contents and the concentrations of volatile monoterpenes and condensed tannins, factors that are assumed to affect N availability in forest soil. Nitrogen fluxes sampled ex situ showed that the total amino acid flux in the soil taken from the clear-cut site was only half of that in the MT spruce soil whereas NO3- flux was two times higher at the clear-cut site than at the MT spruce site. MT spruce soil with a moisture content of 60 % water-holding capacity (WHC) had significantly higher NH4+ flux than the same soil in its field moisture content (44 % WHC). Nitrogen pulse was detected in all soil samples as increased NH4+ flux after the N addition, followed by a subsequent decrease near to the initial level. In situ microdialysis sampling showed that the total amino acid fluxes were 5–15 nmol N cm-2 h-1 and they dominated the total diffusive N fluxes in Lapinjärvi and Kiikala. On average, the smallest share of the total free amino acids (54 %) was observed at the control plots of the logging residue experiment in Lapinjärvi. No correlation between the KCl-extractable NH4+-N concentration and the diffusive NH4+ flux was found, but instead the KCl-extractable NH4+-N concentration showed a significant positive correlation with the diffusive fluxes of both total free amino acid N and nitrate. Moreover, the diffusive NH4+ flux correlated positively with the net N mineralization rate. In general, ex situ microdialysis sampling showed 2–10 times higher amino acid fluxes and 10–20 times higher ammonium fluxes than the in situ microdialysis that reflects the effect of sampling, sample storage and preparation. The effect of soil moisture on the diffusive N fluxes could be further studied in laboratory experiments and in situ. The results of this study showed that the diffusive fluxes of different N forms are decoupled from the bulk soil concentrations. Moreover, microdialysis could be possibly used to quantify the transformation processes of N compounds in soil. These results increase the evidence that microdialysis has potential to detect temporal changes in N fluxes and possibly give new information about the ongoing processes at soil microsites.

Polymer microspheres hold great potential as oral drug delivery system for therapeutic proteins. Microspheres prepared with biocompatible and biodegredable polymers have been extensively studied, since the oral delivery of therapeutic proteins is challenging due to the conditions in the GI-tract. The aims of this research were to apply microfluidics on polymeric microsphere preparation process, to determine what kind of formulations are suitable for this technology, to establish a controlled preparation process that produces advanced particles and to create a template for oral protein drug delivery. With microfluidic fabrication it is possible to gain control over the process and content of each droplet. However, finding suitable formulations for microfluidics is demanding. In this study, biphasic flow was employed to successfully produce double (W/O/W) emulsion droplets with ultra thin shells. Once the process and formulation variables were optimized constant droplet production was achieved. Flow rates used were 500 µl/h in the inner and in the middle phase and 2500 µl/h in the outer phase, respectively. Two formulations were selected for further characterization: 5 % poly(vinyl alcohol) in water in the outer phase, 3 % polycaprolactone in ethyl acetate in the middle phase and either 10 % or 20 % poly(vinyl alcohol) and polyethylenglycol (1:4) in water in the inner phase. All the particles were found to be intact and contain the inner phase, as verified by confocal microscopy. Further, the particles were monodisperse and non-porous, as observed by scanning electron microscopy. Particle size was found to be around 20-40 µm, variation in the particle size within one batch was small and the particles were stable up to 4 weeks. The encapsulation efficiency of the particles was remarkable; as high as 85 % loading of the model compound, bovine serum albumin. Particles released 30 % of their content within 48 hours. In conlusion, developing functional formulations for micfoluidic technology was possible, the microparticles encapsulated the model protein extremely well and all in all microfluidic technology had a lot of potential for droplet manufacturing for pharmaceutical applications.

Aims Sleep is needed to maintain brain homeostasis. Chronic insufficient sleep has been associated with elevated levels of inflammatory markers. Microglia are the resident immune cells of the brain. As microglial morphology correlates with their functional state, the current study aimed to characterize microglial morphology after insufficient sleep and recovery sleep. We hypothesised that microglia adopt an activated state after insufficient sleep, indicated by a deramification of the branches and an enlargement of cell bodies compared with the controls. Methods We caused insufficient sleep with acute sleep deprivation by 9 h of gentle handling, and conducted sleep fragmentation for 14 days in mice. The tissue was collected after perfusing the animals with PFA. The brain tissue from ventral hippocampus was immunostained for microglia and imaged with a confocal microscope. Ramification and soma size were quantified by tracing the branches and segmenting the somas. Results Neither the acute sleep deprivation nor the chronic fragmented sleep did result in any differences in morphology compared with their control groups. Surprisingly, the soma size was significantly smaller following the recovery sleep after fragmented sleep compared with the controls. Conclusions Microglial morphology and thus function may not be affected by acute sleep deprivation and chronic fragmented sleep in ventral hippocampus. Microglial soma size was significantly smaller after recovery sleep following chronic fragmented sleep compared with the control. This could have been due to larger soma sizes in this control group compared with other controls. Further studies are needed.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the second most leading cause of cancer related deaths in Finland, accounting for over 900 deaths annually. The majority of breast cancer related fatalities are caused by therapy resistance leading to metastasis. Several studies have established the role of soft matrix in promoting the undifferentiated and oestrogen receptor negative phenotype of breast cancer cells, which are also resistant to a variety of commonly used chemotherapeutics and hormonal therapies. On the contrary, traditionally tumor tissue is has been considered as extremely stiff, and the stiffness of the tumor microenvironment has been established to promote the growth and the metastasis of several cancer types. In this study we adressed how microenvironmental stiffness alters the phenotype of antitumor immune response by culturing primary breast tumor tissue in PDEC-model. We established, that the soft microenvironment promotes immune suppression in primary breast cancer by upregulating the production of immuno suppressive cytokines and polarizating macrophages towards more M2 or alternatively activated ones. Moreover, in the soft microenvironment, cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells are lost. These effects are created by tumor tissue derived paracrine signaling and by inhibiting these signals with small molecules we were able to reverse the observed immunosuppression. These results provide us a novel information how microenvironmental stiffness alters the phenotype of the antitumor immune response

The microproduction of solar photovoltaics (PV) has grown enormously in recent years in Finland, and it is expected to grow even further due to the ambitious renewable energy targets and the on-going smart energy transition. Nevertheless, there is a lack of country-level statistical analysis on the topic. This thesis studies which sociodemographic, economic, and geographical factors explain the microproduction of solar electricity in Finland. The thesis consists of a literature review and statistical analysis on the electricity distribution system operator (DSO) level. The response variables are the number of prosumer contracts and the capacity of solar PV microproduction. The data, which were gathered from various open sources, is analyzed in a descriptive manner followed by multiple linear regression analysis. The analysis uses the ordinary least square method. In addition, profitability calculations are made to study economic incentives and barriers to the adoption of a PV system. The results suggest that the microproduction of solar PV is connected to non-urban areas and higher mean age. Instead, there are not that many separate prosumers in urban areas, but single systems’ capacities are more extensive there. The analysis showed that electricity price has a significant impact on the microproduction of solar PV. The profitability calculations support this result: electricity price substantially affects the viability of solar PV system investment. Thus, the introduction of financial incentives could enhance the adoption of solar PV systems among households. This thesis offers a comprehensive overview of small-scale solar electricity production in Finland. However, the characteristics of the microproduction of solar PV are complex and involve various interactions that are difficult to capture in aggregated data. This offers an opportunity to repeat the analysis with a more detailed geospatial dataset in the future.