| 1276361. |
- Bigert, Carolina
(författare)
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Cardiovascular disease among professional drivers and subway staff in Stockholm
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Professional drivers are at an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI), but the underlying causes are not clear. The aims of this thesis were to broaden our understanding of the causal factors involved in this elevated risk of MI in professional drivers, and to study time trends in the incidence of MI in professional drivers. The aim was also to study the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in subway employees exposed to particulate matter. High levels of airborne particles have been detected in the subway system of Stockholm, as well as in several other large cities. This has raised concern about negative effects on health, in view of the well-known association between particulate air pollution in large cities and the risk of CVD. The thesis is based on three source materials. The first is a population-based case-control study (Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program - SHEEP) comprising cases of first MI and controls recruited 1992-1993 in Stockholm County. We used 1,067 cases and 1,482 controls to investigate possible causes of the increased risk of MI in professional drivers, and to study the risk in bus, taxi and truck drivers (Paper 1). The second is a register-based case-control study of first MI cases recruited in Stockholm County during the period 1976-1996. To investigate time trends in the incidence of MI in bus, taxi and truck drivers, we included 20,364 incident first MI cases and 136,342 controls (Paper 11). In the same source material we included 22,311 cases and 131,496 controls to study whether there is an increased incidence of MI in subway drivers exposed to subway-derived particles (Paper 111). The third is a crosssectional clinical study involving employees in the Stockholm subway with 79 participants recruited 2004-2005 for analysis of hematological risk markers of CVD (Paper IV). Professional drivers were at an increased risk of MI with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.14 (95% Cl 1.34-3.41) for bus drivers, 1.88 (1.19-2.98) for taxi drivers, and 1.66 (1.22-2.26) for truck drivers. Adjustment for confounders such as socioeconomic status, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, physical inactivity during leisure time, overweight, diabetes, and hypertension gave reduced ORs, although significantly increased risks remained for bus and taxi drivers. An exposure-response pattern (by duration of work) was found for bus and taxi drivers (Paper I). During the 20-year period 1977-1996, there was a greater decline in incidence of MI for professional drivers than for other manual workers. Despite this favorable trend, the relative risk (RR) of MI remained elevated for taxi and truck drivers during the entire period relative to other manual workers (Paper II). The RR of MI in subway drivers was not increased: the RR was 0.92 (95% Cl 0.68-1.25) compared to other manual workers (Paper III). Subway employees working at the platforms, who were highly exposed to particles, had significantly higher plasma concentrations of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 than employees with low exposure. Higher levels of high-sensitivity Creactive protein, interleukin-6 and fibrinogen, although not significantly higher, were also found in the highly exposed group, which suggests that there may be a long-term inflammatory effect of particle exposure. These differences remained after adjusting for BMI (Paper IV). In conclusion, the increased risk of MI in bus and taxi drivers could only be partially explained by unfavorable lifestyle factors, suggesting that the work environment may be a contributory cause, but for truck drivers, individual risk factors appeared to explain most of the elevated risk. During 1977-1996, the increased incidence of MT in professional drivers gradually approached the incidence for other manual workers, and bus drivers showed the most favorable trend. Stockholm subway drivers moderately exposed to airborne particles did not show an increased incidence of NIL There were indications of an inflammatory response in platform workers who were highly exposed to particles, which suggests that there may be an increased risk of future CVD in individuals who are highly exposed to airborne particles in subway systems.
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| 1276362. |
- Biggs, Iain, et al.
(författare)
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Suriashi as a ceremonial, subversive act
- 2020
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Ingår i: Walking Bodies - Papers, Provocations, Actions from Walking’s New Movements, the Conference. - Dorset : Triarchy Press. - 9781913743093
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A curated collection of papers, provocations and actions from the ‘Walking’s New Movements’ conference held at the University of Plymouth in November 2019. The experience and variety of walking practices have never been so broad, relevant or unpredictable. Walking Bodies charts some of their very latest developments. Editors Helen Billinghurst, Claire Hind and Phil Smith put out a call for artists, activists, academics, radical walkers and psychogeographers to discuss, perform and share their experiences of current walking cultures. In these essays, provocations, artworks and documentations, new terrains emerge and diverse energies and thinkings reflect the huge response to the initial call and the demand for tickets to the conference. Walking Bodies evidences anxieties, exclusions and gradual but major changes of direction for walking arts, towards more considered and embodied practices that re-navigate their terrains and challenge assumptions about trajectories through the unhuman world. Here are the beginnings of differently negotiated, shared, provoked and provocative ambulations. Walking Bodies is intended for anyone who makes, or wants to make, walking art or walk-performances - and for anyone interested in psychogeography, radical walking, drift and dérive, site-specific performance.
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| 1276363. |
- Bignami, Francesca
(författare)
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External collaborations in multinational pharmaceutical companies
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Traditionally, the internal research and development (R&D) departments of multinational companies (MNCs) have served as a main driver of MNCs innovative capacity. Today’s high pace of change and competitive landscape have forced MNCs however to look beyond their organizational boundaries and to involve external organizations in their R&D for technological advancement and innovation. In particular, MNCs are using R&D collaborations as a means to create and access new knowledge. Collaborations are particularly relevant in science-based sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry where R&D mainly relies on complex and basic scientific knowledge. In this sector, the sources of expertise are widely dispersed and drug discovery and development requires coordination between different actors. The globalization trend has facilitated collaborations across long distances and companies have adopted a combination of long and short distance collaborations in their innovation process. The role of geographic proximity in collaboration continues to puzzle researchers. In fact, it may be more complex than previously addressed in the literature, most of which has considered external collaborations in a MNC as a homogenous entity in terms of knowledge. A MNC consists of different R&D units that specialize in different research areas and are active at different stages of the innovation process. Furthermore, a MNC collaborates with a large variety of external organizations and individuals. Thus, R&D collaborations in a MNC can be considered heterogeneous in terms of the knowledge and actors involved. The various types of knowledge and actors well differ in how important the role of geographic proximity is for successful collaborations. This thesis studies the role of geographic proximity in the R&D collaborations of MNCs when creating, accessing and embedding different types of knowledge. In particular, I examine these aspects by differentiating between (1) the nature of knowledge (basic science vs clinical science, core vs explorative knowledge), and (2) the actors involved on the organization level (university, hospital, research institute and company) as well as on the individual level (star scientists). The different levels of analysis describe different aspects of the R&D collaboration and how these affect the internal knowledge of MNCs. I used co-publications and patents as a proxy for R&D collaborations and analysed the role of geographic proximity using descriptive, social network and econometric analysis. The results show an increasing openness of pharmaceutical MNCs to collaborate over the past 20 years in terms of the organizations and countries involved in drug discovery and development. While the main patents behind innovative drugs are still mainly owned by companies themselves, external organizations increasingly contribute indirectly to knowledge creation, as visible from an increasing proportion of cited patents and publications from external organizations. This substitutes for biotech and pharmaceutical companies decreasing investments in R&D. Furthermore, considering the nature of knowledge, the results show that collaborations in basic science and core knowledge areas are more positively affected by geographic proximity than collaborations within clinical science and knowledge exploration of the MNCs. I also find that different types of actors embed different natures of knowledge. The knowledge accessed by MNCs from universities is more positively affected by geographic proximity during the collaborative process, compared to hospitals or companies. However, highly skilled individual scientists who work at MNCs (star scientists), can help to maintain local collaborations. Based on these findings I conclude that the role of geographic proximity in R&D collaborations of MNCs varies between the types of collaboration and must be more precisely assessed distinguishing between each R&D collaboration between a MNC and another organization or actor. This thesis underlines the crucial role of R&D collaborations for MNCs and emphasizes the importance of geography for the R&D management of MNCs to create and access knowledge effectively in collaborations. From a policy perspective, the importance of different knowledge types in R&D collaborations should be kept in mind when facilitating the development of R&D collaborations, particularly when local actors are trying to attract foreign MNCs.
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| 1276364. |
- Bignert, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Fiskar lever i en kemisk cocktail
- 2013
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Ingår i: Formas Fokuserar: Havsbruk som håller i längden. - : Forskningsrådet Formas, T1:2013. - 9789154060740 ; , s. 131-142
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 1276365. |
- Bignon, E., et al.
(författare)
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Ibuprofen and ketoprofen potentiate UVA-induced cell death by a photosensitization process
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nonsteroidal 2-arylproprionic acids are widely used, over-the-counter, anti-inflammatory drugs. Photosensitivity is a commonly overlooked adverse effect of these drugs. Based on the combined use of cell viability assays and molecular modeling, we prove and rationalize the photochemical pathways triggering photosensitization for two drugs, ibuprofen and ketoprofen. As its parent compound benzophenone, ketoprofen produces singlet oxygen, upon triplet manifold population. However, ibuprofen and ketoprofen photodissociate and hence may generate two highly reactive radicals. The formation of metastable aggregates between the two drugs and B-DNA is also directly probed by molecular dynamics. Our approach characterizes the coupled influence of the drug's intrinsic photochemistry and the interaction pattern with DNA. The photosensitization activity of nonsteroidal 2-arylproprionic acids, being added to gels and creams for topical use, should be crucially analyzed and rationalized to enact the proper preventive measures.
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| 1276366. |
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| 1276367. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947
(författare)
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Africa in the Global Economy
- 2009
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Ingår i: The Effect of the World Crisis on Africa and the Influence of Crisis Processes in Africa on the "Northern" Countries: Proceedings from conference at the Institute of African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, June 16, 2009. - Moscow : Institute of African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. ; , s. 30-49
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 1276368. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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African Firms in the Global Economy
- 2010
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Ingår i: Review of Market Integration. ; 2:2 & 3, s. 229-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 1276369. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947
(författare)
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Aid and Economic Development in Africa
- 2006
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The question discussed in this in this paper is whether foreign aid can help accelerate growth in African countries. The paper reviews growth determinants and growth constraints in Africa and discusses how aid can help relieve the constraints. Issues covered are the choice of aid modalities, donor coordination, conditionality, and international integration. A key question addressed is how aid should be organised not to overburden the recipient system and to provide incentives for policy makers to perform. The paper also touches upon the need for international trade reforms and public goods investments.
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| 1276370. |
- Bigsten, Arne, 1947
(författare)
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Aid and Economic Development in Africa
- 2007
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Ingår i: Theory and Practice of Foreign Aid. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 9780444527653 ; , s. 289-307
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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