| 1. |
- Bridel, Claire, et al.
(författare)
-
Diagnostic Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilament Light Protein in Neurology : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- 2019
-
Ingår i: JAMA Neurology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2168-6149 .- 2168-6157. ; 76:9, s. 1035-1048
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Importance Neurofilament light protein (NfL) is elevated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a number of neurological conditions compared with healthy controls (HC) and is a candidate biomarker for neuroaxonal damage. The influence of age and sex is largely unknown, and levels across neurological disorders have not been compared systematically to date.Objectives To assess the associations of age, sex, and diagnosis with NfL in CSF (cNfL) and to evaluate its potential in discriminating clinically similar conditions.Data Sources PubMed was searched for studies published between January 1, 2006, and January 1, 2016, reporting cNfL levels (using the search terms neurofilament light and cerebrospinal fluid) in neurological or psychiatric conditions and/or in HC.Study Selection Studies reporting NfL levels measured in lumbar CSF using a commercially available immunoassay, as well as age and sex.Data Extraction and Synthesis Individual-level data were requested from study authors. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the fixed effects of age, sex, and diagnosis on log-transformed NfL levels, with cohort of origin modeled as a random intercept.Main Outcome and Measure The cNfL levels adjusted for age and sex across diagnoses.Results Data were collected for 10 059 individuals (mean [SD] age, 59.7 [18.8] years; 54.1% female). Thirty-five diagnoses were identified, including inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (n = 2795), dementias and predementia stages (n = 4284), parkinsonian disorders (n = 984), and HC (n = 1332). The cNfL was elevated compared with HC in a majority of neurological conditions studied. Highest levels were observed in cognitively impaired HIV-positive individuals (iHIV), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Huntington disease. In 33.3% of diagnoses, including HC, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease (AD), and Parkinson disease (PD), cNfL was higher in men than women. The cNfL increased with age in HC and a majority of neurological conditions, although the association was strongest in HC. The cNfL overlapped in most clinically similar diagnoses except for FTD and iHIV, which segregated from other dementias, and PD, which segregated from atypical parkinsonian syndromes.Conclusions and Relevance These data support the use of cNfL as a biomarker of neuroaxonal damage and indicate that age-specific and sex-specific (and in some cases disease-specific) reference values may be needed. The cNfL has potential to assist the differentiation of FTD from AD and PD from atypical parkinsonian syndromes.
|
|
| 2. |
- Fregidou-Malama, Maria, 1944-, et al.
(författare)
-
Etablering av regional yrkeshögskoleutbildning i Hofors och Sandviken
- 2008
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna utvärdering behandlar projektet Etablering av två yrkeshögskoleutbildningar i Hofors och Sandviken. Syftet med utvärderingen är att studera projektmedlemmarnas inställning till etablering av programmen. Utvärderingen bygger på intervjuer och fokusgruppdiskussioner med intressenter inom projektet såväl som inlämnat självutvärderingar och annat material. År 2003 påbörjades ett projekt på Högskolan i Gävle (HiG) för att omvandla två Kvalificerade Yrkesutbildningar (KY) till YrkesHögskoleutbildningar (YH). Information om hur YH-utbildningar bör etableras, planering, resurssökning för projektet och marknadsföring av programmen uträttades därför med stor hast, för att utbildningarna skulle kunna fortgå och ej behöva ligga nere under omformningstiden. Resultatet visar att Serie- och Bildprogrammet är väl etablerat, och trots den snabba starten ej hade några allvarliga problem med studentrekrytering. Avståndet till HiG och en diffus ansvarsbild, samt lärarlagsförändringar har dock skapat arbetsbörda och problem i utbildning och supportverksamhet. När det gäller Internetteknologiprogrammet verkar detta fungerat väl, även om den snabba omvandlingen ledde till en låg rekryteringsnivå under första verksamhetsåret. Det har varit problem med lärarlagets uppbyggnad och stabilitet, vilket tillsammans med kulturskillnader mellan programmets och HiGs lärare har gjort att målsättningen att implementera problembaserat lärande ej uppnåtts i önskad grad. Då vissa kostnader redovisades sent och var högre än förväntat gick denna del av projektet över budget. Vår studie visar att även om vissa problem uppstått på vägen är projektet väl genomfört, utvärderat enligt målen att YH-utbildningarna skulle vara väl etablerade; förbereda för uppdragsutbildningsverksamhet; samt att utveckla ett kontaktnät med näringslivet för de båda programmen. Dock har ingen uppdragsutbildningsverksamhet kunnat genomföras men detta har bedömts ej vara en lämplig målsättning i detta tidiga skede. För IT-teknologiprogrammet finns möjligheter att utveckla sådan verksamhet som ett framtida projekt, men den regionala marknaden för Serie & Bildprogrammet anses vara mindre lämplig för uppdragsutbildning. De uppkomna positiva bieffekterna av projektets genomförande är att KY-utbildningarnas resurser har omhändertagits, lärdomar till framtida YH-projekt har erhållits, HiG har spridit akademisk kultur ut på landsbygden och själv berikats av den akademiska kulturen från Sandbacka Park, samt att studenterna i Hofors har fått hyressubventioner i en lugn studiemiljö och Hofors kommun fått sina lägenheter uthyrda. De negativa bieffekterna inkluderar att oklar ansvars- och resursfördelning skapat stress och extraarbete för lärare och studenter, samt att projektet har gått över budget vilket belastat andra verksamheter. Även om programmen nu är etablerade kvarstår problem vilka i framtiden behöver tas hand om. Denna utvärdering har därför utmynnat i rekommendationer om både framtida drift av programmen såväl som för framtida YH-projekt, vilka kan summeras som att: delprojekt i framtiden ges eget budgetansvar och tydliga ansvarsområden; autonomi ges till YH-programmen för både lärarlagsansvar och resurshantering; den akademiska miljöns etablering och utveckling prioriteras och kommunikationer förbättras; kommunkontakter organiseras; samt uppkomna erfarenheter och kompetenser tillvaratas.
|
|
| 3. |
- Fregidou-Malama, Maria, 1944-, et al.
(författare)
-
Local produced and organic food for sustainable development
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Consuming the Environment. ; , s. 25-26
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study analyses the perceptions of consumers with regard to local produced and organic food in the region of Gävleborg, Sweden. The aim of the study is to investigate consumers` attitudes by giving insight in why consumers buy local produced and organic food and how they conceive them. Quantitative data was collected through the use of structured questionnaire. We approached six hundred seventeen consumers outside twelve grocery stores directly after their shopping. The study shows consumers have the opinion that local produced and organic food have higher quality than other kind of food, their production supports sustainable environmental development and promotes the local society and local business. Consumers older than 65 years are more positive than younger ones to local produced and organic food and women are willing to pay more for purchasing the food.The results illustrate that consumers think it is difficult to allocate local produced and organic food in the stores, the assortment is poor and the prices of organic food are high. The correlations between attitudes regarding Organic, Organic Local produced, and Local produced foods show that the consumers consider them as related, but not identical. It also indicates that consumers have vague attitudes about Local Produced foods and lack knowledge to define them.Differences in price sensitivity demonstrate that consumers are willing to pay more for Organic and Local produced foods, showing there is value in, and demand for reliable guarantee label systems such as KRAV. We suggest a cooperation between public authorities and business organizations to develop trustworthy guarantee label system for Local produced foods.We see a need for marketing and information campaigns to develop knowledge of what Organic and Local produced foods stand for to increase trust and awareness. By emphasizing on positive partial characteristics such as non-Genetically modified organisms (GMO) in marketing/information campaigns, negative connotation to organic as expensive may be avoided when educating consumers about the definition of organic foods.We propose comparative studies in other regions and countries as well as studies about visibility and availability of organic and/or local produced foods in the shops.
|
|
| 4. |
- Jakobsson, Maria, 1974-
(författare)
-
Empirical Studies on Merger Policy and Collusive Behaviour
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four studies focusing on empirical issues in industrial organization.Bid Rigging in Swedish Procurement Auctions: Using a unique data set of procurement auctions carried out by the Swedish National Road Administration, this paper addresses the issue of bid rigging in the Swedish asphalt-paving sector. Both market characteristics and the fact that the Swedish Competition Authority in 2003 initiated legal proceedings against a group of firms active in the market indicate the existence of collusive behaviour. If firms act competitively, they should submit independent bids, conditional on firm- and auction-specific differences. Reduced-form equations are estimated and the hypothesis of conditional independence is tested by analysing if the difference between observed and predicted bids correlates between firms. If negative correlation is observed, one possible explanation is bid rigging. The overall results indicate that collusion may be widespread in the industry and suggest further investigation of the market.Collusion in Procurement Auctions: Structural Estimation of Bidders' Costs: In this paper, the aim is to analyse the existence of collusion in asymmetric asphalt-procurement auctions. Firms that behave competitively should have private costs that are independent, conditional on available firm- and auction-specific information. The hypothesis of conditional independence can be tested and if it is rejected, a possible explanation is collusion. Using a constrained strategy equilibrium concept in solving for equilibrium bid strategies and firms' private costs makes it possible to test the hypothesis of conditional independence while at the same time controlling for firms' strategic considerations. The analysis is based on bid data from procurement auctions carried out in Sweden during the 1990's. The findings are that the hypothesis of conditional independence can be rejected for about half the firm-pairs that are tested. This suggests that collusive behaviour is plausible in the investigated market.An Econometric Analysis of the European Commission’s Merger Decisions: Using a sample of 96 mergers notified to the European Commission (EC) and logit-regression techniques, we analyse the EC’s decision process. We find that the probability of a phase-2 investigation and of a prohibition of the merger increases with the parties’ market shares. The probabilities increase also when the Commission finds high entry barriers or that the market structure post-merger is conductive to collusion. We do not find significant effects of “political” variables, such as the nationality of the merging firms.Comparing Merger Policies: The European Union versus the United States: Merger regulation affects large transactions in the market for corporate control in both the European Union (EU) and the United States (US). This paper compares and contrasts the relevant enforcement policies. US enforcement is broader-based as it attacks oligopoly, unilateral, and dominant firm concerns, while the EU policy focused almost entirely on market dominance. Our analysis of the enforcement policies shows that analytical and evidence considerations have more of an effect in the US, while institutional considerations matter more in the EU. Considering only cases subject to a theory of market dominance (dominant firm), the EU regime appears, on average, slightly more aggressive than US policy for relatively weak cases, while the US policy appears more aggressive for strong cases.
|
|
| 5. |
- Lundström, Maria, 1986-
(författare)
-
Exploring Fennoscandian agricultural history through genetic analysis of aged crop materials
- 2018
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Crop plants have undergone a multitude of genetic changes during and following their domestication. The spread of agriculture brought the crops to new geographic regions exposing them to new environments and selection pressures along the way. This gave rise to many local variants with traits favoured both by agricultural practices and the environment.Agriculture was introduced in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) around 4000 BC. The composition of the archaeobotanical record gives some clues as to which species were cultivated, but macroscale analyses rarely reach beyond that. Therefore, methods like genetic analysis are necessary to expand our knowledge about the history of crop cultivation. Under optimal conditions, DNA can survive in biological samples for several hundred thousand years. The preservation of plant specimens in the Fennoscandian climate has, however, rarely been explored. This thesis therefore attempts to dive deeper into the Fennoscandian cultivation history through genetic analyses of aged plant materials from both museum collections and archaeological sources. Cereal grains from a range of preservation conditions were evaluated to find which ones might be of interest for genetic investigations. Desiccated materials gave the highest success rates, in agreement with previous studies. Waterlogged materials appeared to contain small amounts of endogenous DNA, whereas genetic analysis of charred cereals failed completely in all samples.Population structure was investigated in 17-19th century materials of both barley and rye from Sweden and Finland. Northern and southern populations of Finnish six-row barley were distinct from one another. In southern Sweden, genetic analysis suggested conserved population structure extending over 200 years. The genetic composition of rye also seemed mostly conserved, but rye did not show geographic population structure across the investigated region in Sweden and Finland.A long-standing question in Fennoscandian crop history has been the interpretation of historical written records mentioning Brassica (cole crops, turnips and mustards), as well as the species identity of archaeobotanical finds of Brassica seeds. Thus, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was applied to identify which Brassica types that were cultivated in 17th century Kalmar, Sweden. The analysis corroborated morphological species classification in two of the investigated subfossil seeds, whereas no conclusions could be drawn from the remaining samples. The genome coverages were too low to allow subspecies identification.Wheat has been cultivated in Fennoscandia since the introduction of agriculture but has increased dramatically in importance over the last century. The functional allele of the wheat nutrition gene NAM-B1 was found to be particularly prominent in Fennoscandian wheats, likely associated with its effect on grain maturation time. Here the evolutionary history of NAM-B1 was investigated to see if it could truly be considered a domestication gene as suggested in a previous study. By studying extant landrace materials of Mediterranean tetraploid wheat, it was found that the non-functional allele showed signs indicative of a selective sweep. This selection did not, however, appear to have occurred during domestication.In conclusion, aged plant specimens from both museum and archaeological contexts could contribute greatly to our knowledge about historical cultivation, extending the investigated period into the mid 17th century. Subfossil and waterlogged archaeobotanical materials do contain endogenous DNA, suggesting that they are better suited for genetic analysis than charred ones, at least as far as cereals are concerned. There is potential for classifying archaeological Brassica remains using NGS, even though further optimisation of sample and library preparation may be necessary. And finally, despite NAM-B1 showing signs of selection it should not be considered a domestication gene in tetraploid wheat.
|
|
| 6. |
- Nilsson, Andreas, 1974, et al.
(författare)
-
The Gothenburg Congestion Tax: Attitude Changes Before and After the Implementation
- 2015
-
Ingår i: 11th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, Groningen 2015.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Attitudes and beliefs concerning the Gothenburg congestion tax were investigated in a three- wave panel study, twice before and once after the implementation. Participants were approximately 5000 respondents living in the Gothenburg area. A very large part of the variance of the attitudes towards the taxes was explained by policy specific beliefs. Environmental outcomes (positively) and value expressive beliefs (negatively) were the strongest predictors to attitudes towards the tax. The policy specific beliefs mediated the effects of values on attitudes towards the tax. Attitudes were more positive after the implementation compared to before. Respondents perceived the system as easier to use and experienced less negative individual outcomes after the implementation compared to before. The most important predictors (before the implementation) of the change in attitudes after the implementation were value expressive beliefs (negatively), Environmental outcomes, and procedural fairness (positively). The results are discussed in relation to previous similar implementations and to cognitive dissonance theory.
|
|
| 7. |
- Nilsson, Andreas, 1974, et al.
(författare)
-
The Road to Acceptance: Attitude Change Before and After the Implementation of a Congestion Tax
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Psychology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0272-4944. ; 46, s. 1-9
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Attitudes and beliefs concerning a congestion tax in Gothenburg, Sweden, were investigated in a three-wave panel with 4738 respondents, twice before and once after the implementation. Attitudes were more positive after the implementation. Perceived environmental outcomes and value expressive beliefs were most strongly related to attitudes toward the tax. Respondents' perceived the system as easier to use and experienced less negative outcomes after the implementation compared to the expectations before. The most important variable in explaining the change in attitudes (before the implementation) was value expressive beliefs. The results indicate that the most strongly related beliefs both for explaining attitudes and the change in attitudes after the implementation are abstract in nature. The attitudes are grounded in emotional and value-related motives, rather than the more specific expected outcomes of the scheme.
|
|
| 8. |
- Nordgren, Kenneth, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
-
Rektorers uppfattningar om undervisningens villkor och en skola på vetenskaplig grund : En uppföljande enkätstudie till undersökningen Lärares planering och efterarbete av lektioner: Infrastrukturer för kollegialt samarbete och forskningssamverkan
- 2022
-
Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- Föreliggande rapport redovisar resultat från en enkätstudie som riktades till rektorer på grundskola och gymnasium. Undersökningen genomfördes under hösten 2019 inom ramen för ULF (Utbildning, Lärande, Forskning), som är en nationell försöksverksamhet. Målet med försöksverksamheten är att utveckla och pröva hållbara samverkansmodeller mellan akademi och skola vad gäller forskning, skolverksamhet och lärarutbildning.Enkätstudien syftar till att undersöka om kollegial samverkan runt planering och efterarbete kan utgöra en grund för skolutveckling och forskningssamverkan mellan skola och akademi. Enkäten efterfrågade även hur rektorer ser på forskningens roll i skolan. I rapporten sätts resultat från rektorsenkäten även i relation till en lärarenkät genomförd 2018 (Nordgren et al., 2019).Våra studier visar att kollegial samplanering runt undervisning skulle kunna vara central för en samverkan om forskning och utveckling. Resultaten påvisar emellertid stora skillnader mellan hur rektorer och lärare uppfattar villkoren för, och organisationen av utvecklingsarbetet runt undervisning. Ett annat centralt resultat är att rektorer och lärare visar sig intresserade av forskning och samverkan mellan skola och akademi, men båda grupperna ger uttryck för att deras villkor att systematiskt utveckla sin verksamhet är begränsade.Denna rapport ger ett omfattande och rikt underlag för lärare, rektorer, forskare och skolpolitiker att reflektera över vilka strategier som kan vara långsiktiga och hållbara för att understödja en skola på vetenskaplig grund.
|
|
| 9. |
- Sandahl, Johan, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
-
Överdrivna slutsatser om gymnasieelevers demokratikunskaper
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Skola & Samhälle [S.O.S] Webbtidskrift. - : Föreningen Skola & Samhälle - webbtidskrift. - 2001-6727.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Rapporten från Stiftelsen Rättsfonden om gymnasieelevers kunskaper om demokrati har både metodologiska och teoretiska brister. Eftersom rapporten saknar stöd för flera av de rekommendationer som lämnas är risken att föreslagna förändringar inte gör någon skillnad eller i värsta fall leder i fel riktning, skriver Johan Sandahl med flera, alla forskare i samhällsvetenskapernas didaktik.
|
|
| 10. |
- Störe, Siri Jakobsson, et al.
(författare)
-
Mind, Body and Machine : Preliminary Study to Explore Predictors of Treatment Response After a Sleep Robot Intervention for Adults with Insomnia
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Nature and Science of Sleep. - : Dove Medical Press. - 1179-1608. ; 15, s. 567-577
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: The study aimed to explore characteristics of responders to a sleep robot intervention for adults with insomnia, and the likelihood that participants responded to the intervention. Methods: Data from the intervention and the control group in a randomized waitlist-controlled trial (n = 44) were pooled together after both had undergone the intervention. A repeated measures ANOVA and Friedman tests were used to explore changes over time. Differences in baseline characteristics between responders (n = 13), defined as a reduction of -5 on the Insomnia Severity Index from pre- to post-intervention, and non-responders (n = 31) were analyzed with t-tests and chi-square tests. Finally, logistic regression models were estimated.Results: Baseline anxiety was the only statistically significant difference between responders and non-responders (p = 0.03). A logistic regression model with anxiety and sleep quality as predictors was statistically significant, correctly classifying 83.3% of cases. Discussion: The results imply that people with lower anxiety and higher sleep quality at baseline are more likely to report clinically significant improvements in insomnia from the sleep robot intervention.
|
|
