Koulutuskuntayhtymän hankintalogistiikan nykytilan selvitys ja kehittäminen

Työn tavoitteena oli kartoittaa Etelä-Karjalan koulutuskuntayhtymän hankintaprosessin nykytila, analysoida saatuja tuloksia ja pohtia menetelmiä hankintatoimintaan liittyvien prosessien parantamiseksi. Päähuomio kohdistettiin materiaalihankintoihin. Julkisia hankintoja ohjaavat lait ja asetukset, joiden keskeisimmät tavoitteet ovat avoimuus, tasapuolisuus ja syrjimättömyys. Lisäksi laki viranomaisen toiminnan julkisuudesta vaikuttaa asiakirjojen julkisuuteen hankintaprosessin aikana.Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että erittäin suuri osa ostoista on markkamääräisesti pieniä ostoja, jotka aiheuttavat hintaansa nähden suuret hankintakustannukset. Toimittajia on paljon ja rahallisesti pienten toimittajien määrä on erittäin suuri. Tästä on seurauksena se, että toimittajayhteistyö on useiden toimittajien kanssa hyvin satunnaista ja toimitusten valvonta ja toimittajaseuranta vaikeutuu. Toimittajien kehittämiseen ei tästä johtuen enää riitä resursseja. Toimittajayhteistyö julkisiin hankintoihin erikoistuneen kauppatalon kanssa on vasta alullaan ja yhteistyön määrä vaihtelee paljon eri koulutusyksiköissä. Yllättäviä tuloksia tuotti toimittajan hintojen kehitys sopimuskauden aikana. Hinnoissa oli tapahtunut kaikissa tuoteryhmissä huomattavaa nousua vuoden aikana.Hankintatoimintaa voidaan kehittää nopeuttamalla nykyisiä prosesseja hyväksikäyttäen olemassa olevaa Intranet-tekniikkaa. Samoin sähköinen kaupankäynti on useissa tuoteryhmissä varteenotettava ja tulevaisuudessa edelleen kehittyvä vaihtoehto. Toimittajaseurantaa tulee tehostaa ja toimittajien kanssa tulee pyrkiä avoimeen ja jatkuvaan yhteistyöhön.Hankintayhteistyön kehittäminen omistajakuntien kanssa ja Etelä-Karjalan julkisen sektorin yhteishankintoihin sitoutuminen olisivat tehokas tapa säästää hankintakustannuksissa.

Collagen binding integrins and cancer testis antigens in prostate cancer and melanoma

Camilla Pelo Collagen Binding Integrins and Cancer Testis Antigens in Prostate Cancer and Melanoma Department of Biochemistry, MediCity Research Laboratory, University of Turku, Finland Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Painosalama Oy, Turku, Finland 2016 ABSTRACT Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. The incidence of melanoma, in turn, is increasing faster than any other cancer incidences. In Finland, more than 5000 prostate cancer and 1200 new melanoma cases are diagnosed each year. One approach to further understand the cellular processes involved in prostate cancer and melanoma is to gain better knowledge about alterations in gene expression and their potential impact on the progression of the diseases. This thesis is focused on expression studies in two gene families; integrins and cancer testis antigens (CT antigens), in human prostate adenocarcinoma and advanced human melanoma. Integrins are heterodimeric transmembrane receptors which regulate many important cellular processes such as cell proliferation, migration and survival. CT antigens are frequently expressed in different types of cancers, but are only expressed in testis in healthy individuals. CT antigens are also highly immunogenic proteins. Due to the properties mentioned above, integrins and CT antigens can function as target molecules for the development of cancer diagnostics and drugs. One of the main purposes of this thesis was to study the expression of the four collagen binding integrins α1β1, α2β1, α10β1, α11β1 and the cancer testis antigen 16 (CT16) in cancer cell lines and human tissues of prostate cancer and metastatic melanoma. Additional aims included studies on the biological role of CT16 and the abundance of CT16 in sera of advanced melanoma patients. The prognostic and diagnostic significance of CT16 and the collagen binding integrins were also evaluated. Expression studies on collagen binding integrins and the CT antigen CT16 in melanoma and prostate cancer were limited and the biological role of CT16 was unknown. In this thesis, the expression levels of α2β1 and α11β1 were found to be significantly altered in prostate cancer tissues. Integrin α2β1 decreased gradually during disease progression while α11 was elevated in prostate carcinoma compared to healthy tissues. In advanced melanoma, enhanced levels of α2 were associated with a significant shorter overall survival in advanced melanoma. In this thesis, CT16 was identified as a frequently expressed melanoma CT antigen with an anti-apoptotic function. To conclude, this thesis presents α2β1 and CT16, as potential and promising biomarkers for advanced melanoma. This thesis reports also the first functional study of CT16. Keywords: Collagen binding integrins, α1β1, α2β1, α10β1, α11β1, Cancer Testis antigens, CT16, melanoma, prostate cancer, expression

Compaction of growth media based on Sphagnum peat during one-year culturing of container seedlings

Tiivistelmä: Turvepohjaisten kasvualustojen tiivistyminen yksivuotisessa paakkutaimikasvatuksessa

Human papillomavirus (HPV) in mothers before and after delivery – a three year follow-up study.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in mothers are important to consider since pregnancy may affect the outcome of the infection and the mother may transmit HPV to the child. This thesis is part of the 3-year Finnish Family HPV Study on HPV infection dynamics within 329 families. The presence of maternal HPV antibodies and HPV DNA in placenta, umbilical cord blood and breast milk was examined. In addition, genital and oral HR-HPV carriage was studied among mothers with one or two pregnancies. At enrollment, seropositivity to HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 and 45 was recorded in 53 %, 21 %, 35 %, 21 % and 9 % of the mothers, respectively. Age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, a history of genital warts and antibodies to LR/HR-HPV predicted HR/LR-HPV-seropositivity. During follow-up 27 %, 14 %, 17 %, 17 % and 7 % of the mothers seroconverted to the tested HPV-types, respectively. Decay of HPV-antibodies was rare. The mother’s new pregnancy was of minor impact in the outcome of oral and cervical HR-HPV infections. HPV-DNA was present in 4.2 % and 3.5 % of the placentas and umbilical cord blood samples, and in 4.5 % and 19.7 % of the breast milk samples collected at day 3 and month 2 postpartum, respectively. HPV-positivity in placenta/cord blood was related to a history of abnormal pap-smears or genital warts, and raised the risk of the neonate being HPV-positive at birth. The mode of delivery did not predict the HPVstatus of neonate, placenta, or cord blood. HPV DNA in breast milk was associated with oral HPV status of the father, but not with HPV status of the neonate. The results indicate that exposure to HPV is common and that part of the exposure might take place already early in life. Contrary to the common claim, pregnancy is not a risk factor for HPV.

The history of Lapland : containing a geographical description, and a natural history of that country; with an account of the inhabitants, their original, religion, customs, habits, marriages, conjurations, employments, &c. Written by John Scheffer, ... Translated from the last edition in Latin, and illustrated with many curious copper-cutts. To which are added, the travels of the King of Sweden's mathematicians into Lapland: the history of Livonia, and the wars there: also a journey into Lapland, Finland, &c. Written by Dr. Olof Rudbeck in the year 1701

Added engraved title page: The history of Lapland.

Cognitive Functions After Traumatic Brain Injury. A 30-year Follow-up Study

Many cognitive deficits after TBI (traumatic brain injury) are well known, such as memory and concentration problems, as well as reduced information-processing speed. What happens to patients and cognitive functioning after immediate recovery is poorly known. Cognitive functioning is flexible and may be influenced by genetic, psychological and environmental factors decades after TBI. The general aim of this thesis was to describe the long-term cognitive course after TBI, to find variables that may contribute to it, and how the cognitive functions after TBI are associated with specific medical factors and reduced survival. The original study group consisted of 192 patients with TBI who were originally assessed with the Mild Deterioration Battery (MDB) on average two years after the injury, during the years 1966 – 1972. During a 30-year follow-up, we studied the risks for reduced survival, and the mortality of the patients was compared with the general population using the Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR). Sixty-one patients were re-assessed during 1998-2000. These patients were evaluated with the MDB, computerized testing, and with various other neuropsychological methods for attention and executive functions. Apolipoprotein-E (ApoE) genotyping and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on volumetric analysis of the hippocampus and lateral ventricles were performed. Depressive symptoms were evaluated with the short form of the Beck depression inventory. The cognitive performance at follow-up was compared with a control group that was similar to the study group in regard to age and education. The cognitive outcome of the patients with TBI varied after three decades. The majority of the patients showed a decline in their cognitive level, the rest either improved or stayed at the same level. Male gender and higher age at injury were significant risk factors for the decline. Whereas most cognitive domains declined during the follow-up, semantic memory behaved in the opposite way, showing recovery after TBI. In the follow-up assessment, the memory decline and impairments in the set-shifting domain of executive functions were associated with MRI-volumetric measures, whereas reduction in information-processing speed was not associated with the MRI measures. The presence of local contusions was only weakly associated with cognitive functions. Only few cognitive methods for attention were capable of discriminating TBI patients with and without depressive symptoms. On the other hand, most complex attentional tests were sensitive enough to discriminate TBI patients (non-depressive) from controls. This means that complex attention functions, mediated by the frontal lobes, are relatively independent of depressive symptoms post-TBI. The presence of ApoE4 was associated with different kinds of memory processes including verbal and visual episodic memory, semantic memory and verbal working memory, depending on the length of time since TBI. Many other cognitive processes were not affected by the presence of ApoE4. Age at injury and poor vocational outcome were independent risk factors for reduced survival in the multivariate analysis. Late mortality was higher among younger subjects (age < 40 years at death) compared with the general population which should be borne in mind when assessing the need for rehabilitation services and long-term follow-up after TBI.