| 1. |
- Edvinsson, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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No evidence of Chlamydia pneumoniae in the synovia of patients with osteoarthritis
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of international medical research. - : Sage Publications. - 0300-0605 .- 1473-2300. ; 47:2, s. 635-640
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of disability affecting millions of people of all ages worldwide. The pathogenesis involves an inflammatory component, but the cause of the inflammation remains incompletely understood. The intracellular bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis and C. pneumoniae have been demonstrated in patients with reactive arthritis. Both of these microorganisms can cause chronic and persistent infections, with C. trachomatis being the most common cause of reactive arthritis. This study was performed to investigate the presence of C. pneumoniae in a large number of patients with primary OA.METHODS: The study included 75 patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. During surgery, a synovial biopsy was performed and synovial fluid drawn. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of C. pneumoniae was run on all patients, and real-time PCR of bacterial 16S rDNA was conducted on 30 of the 75 patients to screen for the presence of other bacteria.RESULTS: Real-time PCR showed no evidence of the presence of C. pneumoniae in the patients' specimens, nor were other bacteria detected.CONCLUSIONS: Although an inflammatory component is part of the pathogenesis of OA, we found no evidence indicating that C. pneumoniae is a stimulator of that inflammation.
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| 2. |
- Öberg, Lena-Maria, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Communities of Inquiry in Crisis Managment Exercises
- 2019
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Ingår i: Networked Professional Learning. - Cham, Switzerland : Springer. - 9783030180294 ; , s. 55-68
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Employees working in diverse settings such as schools, shops and government organisations have to be prepared for crisis situations, for example a school shooting, extreme weather flooding, a health pandemic and so on. In these situations they have to deal with the unexpected which makes it difficult to anticipate what they need to learn and how. This chapter examines how employees learn to deal with crisis situations, specifically focusing on whether a crisis management exercise could contribute to the development of a community of inquiry (CoI). The CoI model is chosen as the underpinning theory because it is assumed that learning communities create awareness, trust, and support knowledge sharing, which are necessary pre-conditions for collaboration in crisis management situations. The study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to analyse a simulated crisis exercise. The first round of analysis evidences that the exercise does not contribute to the development of a learning community. Digging deeper into the data in a second round, the results show that the CoI model does not reflect the various types of learning communities that develop within a crisis management exercise, such as home communities, cohort communities, specialist communities and local working groups. A key recommendation is that the CoI model should be expanded to include these four community types. Four additional key concepts appear important for community development in crisis management exercises: adoption of the various group, considering important partnerships, value creation and visibility. The extended CoI model could help to plan, monitor and evaluate professional learning of learning communities in future crisis management exercises.
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| 3. |
- Öberg, Lena-Maria, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Interaction and group work in blended synchronous higher education : exploring effects on learning outcomes, satisfaction and retention
- 2019
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Ingår i: Proceedings of 18th European Conference of e-learning, ECEL. - UK : Academic Conferences Limited. - 9781912764426 ; , s. 420-427
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Technology enhanced learning is today a part of most university courses and pure traditional face-to-face courses are rare. Modern blended learning has evolved from an asynchronous design to involve a blend of technology enhanced synchronous activities. To address the identified problems with feelings of loneliness, confusion and low motivation blended learning must also be designed to support collaboration, rich teacher-student and student-student interaction. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between collaborative learning, retention rates and learning outcomes in university courses given in blended synchronous mode. The important main research questions to answer were: “What is the relationship between student satisfaction, student interaction, learning outcomes and retention rates?, and: “What kind of variables could be used to describe how group work is being conducted? The overall research strategy was a case study approach with data collected from multiple sources. Teachers from 37 courses in two bachelor programmes answered an online survey to investigate the relations between student collaboration, student interaction, pass rates and students- overall impression of courses. Survey answers were analysed and compared to answers in course evaluations and results in national study documentation system. Findings indicate that there is a correlation between students’ overall impression of a course and the pass rate, where students’ overall impressions are based on the course evaluation. There is also a correlation between students’ interactions in a course and students’ overall impression of a course, where a high degree of student interactions results in a more positive overall impression. There were no correlations regarding student grades, and the various types of group work and the design differences between the two programmes require further analyses.
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| 4. |
- Edvinsson, Marie, et al.
(författare)
-
Cholesterol uptake in the mouse aorta increases during Chlamydia pneumoniae infection
- 2017
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Ingår i: Pathogens and Disease. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 2049-632X. ; 75:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chlamydia pneumoniae has been suggested as a stimulator of the atherosclerotic process. Mice fed a normal diet were infected intranasally with C. pneumoniae and given one intraperitoneal injection of C-14-cholesterol tracer per day for 12 days. Bacteria were demonstrated in the aorta in the early phase of infection and in lungs and liver throughout the study period of 20 days. C-14-cholesterol was not affected in the heart but increased in the blood, liver and aorta on day 4 when the infection was clinically most severe. Furthermore, on day 20 C-14-cholesterol tended to be increased in the aorta. Accordingly, copper-and zinc levels and expressions of the infection biomarkers Cxcl2 and Ifng increased in the liver on day 4 with a tendency of increased of copper, zinc and Ifng on day 20. In mice where bacteria could be cultivated from the lungs, expressions of cholesterol transporters Abca1 and Idol were both increased in the liver on day 4. The increased levels of C-14-cholesterol in blood and aorta together with increased Abca1 and Idol in the liver during C. pneumoniae infection in mice fed a normal diet suggest that this pathogen may have a role in the initiation of the atherosclerotic process.
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| 5. |
- Edvinsson, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Iron Homeostasis in Tissues Is Affected during Persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae Infection in Mice
- 2017
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Ingår i: BioMed Research International. - : Hindawi Publishing Corporation. - 2314-6133 .- 2314-6141.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) may be a mediator in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. For its growth C. pneumoniae depends on iron (Fe), but how Fe changes in tissues during persistent infection or affects bacterial replication in tissues is unknown. C. pneumoniae-infected C57BL/6J mice were sacrificed on days 4, 8, 20, and 40. Mice had bacteria in the lungs and liver on all days. Inflammatory markers, chemokine Cxcl2 and interferon-gamma, were not affected in the liver on day 40. The copper (Cu)/zinc (Zn) ratio in serum, another marker of infection/inflammation, increased on day 4 and tended to increase again on day 40. The Fe markers, transferrin receptor (TfR), Hepcidin (Hamp1), and ferroportin 1 (Fpn1), increased in the liver on day 4 and then normalized except for TfR that tended to decrease. TfR responses were similar to Fe in serum that increased on day 4 but tended to decrease thereafter. In the liver, Fe was increased on day 4 and also on day 40. The reappearing increases in Cu/Zn on day 40 concomitant with the increase in liver Fe on day 40, even though TfR tended to decrease, and the fact that viable C. pneumoniae was present in the lungs and liver may indicate the early phase of activation of recurrent infection.
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| 6. |
- Edvinsson, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Trace Element Changes in Thoracic Aortic Dissection
- 2016
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Ingår i: Biological Trace Element Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0163-4984 .- 1559-0720. ; 169:2, s. 159-163
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thoracic aortic dissection is a life-threatening condition with an incompletely understood pathogenesis. Trace elements are essential for the functioning of different processes in the body, including the immune system and associated responses to infection/inflammation. Because inflammation may be part of the pathogenesis of thoracic aortic dissection, we investigated whether trace element changes associated with inflammation occur in serum and tissue samples during the disease. The study included 21 patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic dissection, 10 forensic autopsy specimens for tissue controls and 23 healthy blood donors for serum controls. Levels of magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), vanadium (V), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), selenium (Se), cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) were measured in the aortic tissue and serum by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In the serum, Ca, V, Cu and Zn decreased, whereas Fe increased. In the tissue, Cu and Zn decreased and Fe tended to increase. The Cu/Zn ratio in the serum, a marker of infection/inflammation, did not change in the patients. Concerning trace element changes in the serum and tissue, our data do not support the hypothesis that inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of thoracic aortic dissection.
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| 7. |
- Öberg, Lena-Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of the level of collaboration in a regional crisis exercise setting : - the use of Community of Inquiry
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proceedings of Information systems research seminar in Scandinavia (IRIS) 2016.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Planning for regional security and crisis management could be supported by well performed exercises. These exercises should be evaluated from different views in order to investigate the participants learning from the exercise. Since the evaluation seldom rest upon established learning theories it will be difficult to evaluate if the exercise will lead to the stated goals. Authorities in the counties of Jämtland and Västernorrland, intend to implement such exercise spring, 2016. The Theme for the exercise is “Flooding” - “Höga flöden” based on a scenario describing extremely high rainfall which could affect hydroelectric dams. The authorities should act and collaborate based on local crisis plans and how the scenario changes over time. We intend to use the Community of inquiry model when evaluating how the participants act, reflect and learn from the exercise. The Community of inquiry (CoI) model consists of three elements: social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. The model assumes that learning occurs within the Community through the interaction of this three core elements. We intend to use a validated version of a survey instrument connected to the CoI model (Arbaugh et al, 2008). Hence, the aim of this paper is to propose an evaluation method to evaluate levels of communities in regional exercises.
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| 8. |
- Amcoff Nyström, Christina, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Boundless collaboration : Distributed concurrent design in an inter-regional collaboration between emergency authorities
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2014 13th International Design Conference. - : The Design Society. ; , s. 1621-1630
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the article is to evaluate how Distributed Concurrent Design works during collaboration in a distributed system development project. We studied collaboration between emergency authorities in Sweden and Norway developing a demonstrator for emergency training. Evaluation criteria were people, processes, and tools. We have used a multi-method approach with the evaluation criterion as a lens. Findings has so far shown that distributed concurrent design works as a method in system development projects but much effort must be put on planning, management and training in available tools.
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| 9. |
- Asproth, Viveca, 1948-, et al.
(författare)
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Soft Early Warning for Regional Security
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Computing Anticipatory Systems. - Liege, Belgium. - 1373-5411. ; 30, s. 191-198
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we will discuss security in functional regions that are divided between twoor more nations. Awareness and preparation requires some sort of warning mechanismmaking it possible for the people in the region to become aware and to preparethemselves for upcoming emergency situations. As both the disaster indicators and thecrisis to come are both fuzzy and unknown, we will speak about Soft Early WarningSystems (SEWS). In SEWS each individual living in a region will act as a networkedhuman anticipatory emergency sensor and actor. Our conception of such a regionalsecurity SEWS is given in the form of an idealised design called the netAgora portal.After discussing the broad lines of the netAgora design this paper will be focusing onthe key role anticipatory modelling and simulation may play in a tool for developing aSEWS capacity for handling transnational complex emergencies and disasters.
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| 10. |
- Amcoff Nyström, Christina, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Virtual Teams - Support for Technical Communication
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Organizational Transformation and Social Change. - : Intellectbooks. - 1477-9633. ; 10:1, s. 87-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To work together in virtual teams has increasingly become a natural changein how organizations work. Due to demands from the environment,organizations have had to transform from traditional ways of working tobecoming more flexible and adaptive. The aim of this article is to identifyobstacles, problems, and presumptions in order to enable the virtual team tobe successful. A project — The TIC-project — is described, and results froma study concerning collaboration and networking among companies withinTechnical Communication are presented. Results show that, to a greatextent, experiences from networking are lacking. Furthermore, trust must beembedded in the teams, meaning that personal meetings must precedevirtual meetings. Most interviewees declared a wish to collaborate despitebeing competitors. Finally, questions and topics for further research arepresented.
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