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In 2016, South Korean author Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, translated into English by Deborah Smith, was awarded the Man Booker International Prize. Following the success, South Korean critics brought to attention mistakes and inaccuracies of Deborah Smith’s work, heavily criticizing her translation, but also bringing the debate of liberal and literal translation from the academic sphere to the public eye. In Sweden, the book was translated from Deborah Smith’s English into Swedish by Eva Johansson and published under the title Vegetarianen in January 2017. This thesis uses a comparative qualitative method to investigate how Han’s novel is changed through the process of translation and indirect translation by the hands of Smith and Johansson, as well as if Smith’s translation changes through the process of working with the text. With Smith’s very liberal method of translation, her translation occasionally results in significant change of tone, atmosphere and characterization. Mistakes make it clear she did not have a sufficient comprehension of Korean, however she can be seen growing more comfortable with the language by the end of the novel. Johansson stays very loyal to Smith’s English translation due to Swedish and English being more similar languages in structure and literary tradition, she is also a very experienced translator. Despite Smith’s flawed translation, The Vegetarian has been a huge success. The author hopes that more research will be done in the areas of Korean-English translation and indirect translation from Korean, in order to further identify struggles of translators of Korean and advance Korean literature in translation. 2016 prisades Sydkoreanska författaren Han Kangs The Vegetarian, översatt till engelska av Deborah Smith, med Man Booker International Prize. Följande succén bringade Sydkoreanska kritiker uppmärksamhet till misstag och oriktigheter i Deborah Smiths översättning och kritiserade den hårt, men tog också debatten om fri och exakt översättning till allmänhetens ögon. I Sverige översattes boken till svenska från Deborah Smiths engelska av Eva Johansson och släpptes under titelnVegetarianeni januari 2017. Denna uppsats använder en komparativ kvalitativ metod för att undersöka hur Hans novell förändrats under processen av direkt och indirekt översättning av Smith och Johansson, och om Smiths översättning förändrats under hennes arbete med novellen. Genom Smiths väldigt fria metod av översättning resulterar översättningen stundtals i utmärkande förändringar i ton, atmosfär och karaktärisering. Misstag gör det uppenbart att hon inte hade tillräckliga färdigheter i det koreanska språket, dock ses hon bli mer bekväm med språket i slutet av novellen. Johannson är väldigt lojal till Smiths engelska översättning då svenska och engelska är betydligt mer liknande språk i struktur och litterär tradition. Hon är också en väldigt erfaren översättare. Trots Smiths bristfällande översättning har The Vegetarianblivit en ringande succé. Författaren av denna uppsats hoppas att mer undersökning kommer att göras i området koreansk-engelsk översättning och indirekt översättning från koreanska för att ytterligare identifiera de problem som översättare av koreanska stöter på och för att avancera översatt koreansk litteratur.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a heart muscle disease characterized by dilatation of one or both ventricles together with decreased systolic function. Its etiology is still largely unknown. However, immunological alterations such as the presence of autoantibodies, elevated cytokines in plasma, and viral genomes in the myocardium have been frequently reported. The aim of this thesis was to examine T cell function in patients with DCM. First, cytokines in plasma were measured. In accordance with previous reports, plasma cytokines of TNF-alfa, IL-6, IL-10, and CRP were significantly elevated in patients with heart failure. Incorporating an etiology of DCM or ischemic heart disease together with clinical variables in a multivariate analysis, a diagnosis of DCM was found to be independently associated with lower IL-10 levels. Next, specific CD4+ T cell response, accumulated cytokines in supernatant, and lymphocyte proliferation were measured using flow cytometry-based methods following culture of isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and stimulation with Staphylococcus enterotoxin B or phytohaemagglutinin. The frequency of IFN-gamma-producing CD4+ (Th1) cells was significantly lower in patients than in healthy controls. In contrast, no difference was found in the number of IL-4-producing CD4+ (Th2) cells. In addition, IL-10 production in the supernatant and lymphocyte proliferation were both significantly lower in patients. To conclude, these impairments of IFN-gamma and IL-10 are both consistent with an increased susceptibility to chronic infections and autoimmunity. Finally, we investigated the frequency of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the IFN-gamma gene, which alter the transcription level. We found a significant association between the IFN-gamma polymorphism and susceptibility to DCM. This previously unreported finding could be the first diagnostic marker of a DCM of autoimmune etiology. In its entirety, this thesis supports the concept that DCM is a late sequela of myocarditis leading to a disease of autoimmune character.

14 pages; beta-Arrestins (betaarr) are multifunctional adaptor proteins that can act as scaffolds for G protein-coupled receptor activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). Here, we identify the actin-binding and scaffolding protein filamin A (FLNA) as a betaarr-binding partner using Son of sevenless recruitment system screening, a classical yeast two-hybrid system, coimmunoprecipitation analyses, and direct binding in vitro. In FLNA, the betaarr-binding site involves tandem repeat 22 in the carboxyl terminus. betaarr binds FLNA through both its N- and C-terminal domains, indicating the presence of multiple binding sites. We demonstrate that betaarr and FLNA act cooperatively to activate the MAPK extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) downstream of activated muscarinic M1 (M1MR) and angiotensin II type 1a (AT1AR) receptors and provide experimental evidence indicating that this phenomenon is due to the facilitation of betaarr-ERK2 complex formation by FLNA. In Hep2 cells, stimulation of M1MR or AT1AR results in the colocalization of receptor, betaarr, FLNA, and active ERK in membrane ruffles. Reduction of endogenous levels of betaarr or FLNA and a catalytically inactive dominant negative MEK1, which prevents ERK activation, inhibit membrane ruffle formation, indicating the functional requirement for betaarr, FLNA, and active ERK in this process. Our results indicate that betaarr and FLNA cooperate to regulate ERK activation and actin cytoskeleton reorganization.

Bakgrund: Inom den Europeiska Unionen har ett stort antal avregleringar genomförts sedan 1980- talet. En svensk monopolmarknad, vars framtid diskuterats alltmer livligt sedan Sveriges inträde i EU, är detaljhandelsmonopolet på alkohol. De aktörer som skulle kunna etablera sig på en avreglerad marknad är många, men vilka som kommer att lyckas är inte helt klart. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att utveckla en hypotetisk struktur över hur detaljhandelsmarknaden för alkohol kan komma att se ut efter en avreglering av det svenska detaljhandelsmonopolet på alkohol samt att undersöka vilka underliggande mekanismer som kan komma att påverka denna hypotetiska struktur. Utförande: Studien bygger på empiri insamlad genom intervjuer med två ledande dagligvaruhandelskedjor, sex importörsföretag, en grossist samt genom sekundärmaterial. Resultat: De redan existerande dagligvaruhandelskedjorna kommer att dominera marknaden, även om det också kommer att finnas andra aktörer. Företagsspecifika resurser kommer att vara avgörande för olika aktörers överlevnad och således ha en stor inverkan på den avreglerade alkoholmarknadens struktur.

The increasingly hygienic life-style in Western societies may not only have reduced infections, but may also have altered the composition of the commensal microflora, which may, in turn, have predisposed to e.g. allergy development. Here we investigated the first year s intestinal colonization pattern of a Swedish birth-cohort. Rectal swabs obtained at 3 days of age were cultured for aerobic bacteria and faecal samples obtained at 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks and at 6 and 12 months of age were cultivated quantitatively for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. When studying the overall colonization pattern we found that staphylococci have taken over as the first intestinal colonizer and that colonization with foremost Gram-negative bacteria has declined. When studying colonization pattern in relation to delivery mode we found that vaginally delivered infants were significantly more often colonized by E. coli during the first half year while sectio-delivered infants instead more often harbored other enterobacteria during the first weeks. Bacteroides colonization was delayed up to one year of age in sectio-delivered infants. We regard the findings as a result of reduced spread of some prototype faecal bacteria in the Swedish society today. In the absence of such traditional faecal bacteria skin bacteria like staphylococci, have have had increased chances to expand in the infantile intestinal microflora. Approxiamtely 80% of the Swedish infants studied harbored S. aureus at some time-point during the first year with a peak between two and six motnhs of age. Using the PCR-based method random amplified polymorphic DNA, RADP, we found that most infants carried a single strain that persisted several months in the microflora. Half of the infants were colonized with a S. aureus strain producing one or more superantigens (enterotoxin A-D and/or toxic shock syndrome toxin-1, TSST-1). Such colonization did not result in any overt clinical signs and it is not known whether the toxins are produced in situ in the gastrointestinal tract. Most of the S. aureus strains colonizing the infantile bowel derived from the skin flora of the parents. In almost all cases infant and parent(s) harbored the same strain. For comparison, intestinal colonization with S. aureus was studied in a cohort of 100 Italian infants. They were significantly less often colonized by S. aureus in their intestines than Swedish infants. Investigating which life-style factors predisposed to S. aureus colonization; we found that exclusive breast-feeding and having older sibling correlated positively with S. aureus colonization, while having pets correlated negatively. Adjusting for these factors we still found a significantly increased intestinal colonization by S. aureus in Swedish compared to Italian infants. The Swedish infantile intestinal S. aureus strains were investigated for susceptibility to a range of common antibiotics. Few strains were resistant to other antibiotics than penicillin V, similar to the situation for clinical S. aureus isolates from Sweden. Strains resistant to antibiotics were equally likely to persist in the infantile intestinal microflora and had similar population counts as susceptible strains. In conclusion, S. aureus has become a common persistent colonizer of the infantile bowel flora. This may be due to lack of competition from more professional faecal bacteria, such as E. coli and obligate anaerobes, whose circulation in society may have decreased due to improved hygienic standards.