| 1. |
- Locke, Adam E, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 518:7538, s. 197-401
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P < 5 × 10(-8)), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for ∼2.7% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.
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| 2. |
- Shungin, Dmitry, et al.
(författare)
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New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 518:7538, s. 187-378
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms.
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| 3. |
- Bentham, James, et al.
(författare)
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A century of trends in adult human height
- 2016
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Ingår i: eLIFE. - 2050-084X. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.522.7) and 16.5 cm (13.319.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Abbafati, Cristiana, et al.
(författare)
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- 2020
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Alatalo, Tarja, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Characteristics of Teacher Competence : Trends over Time and Between Student Groups in the Swedish Compulsory School
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundAchievement differences across schools have increased in Sweden during the past two decades, at the same time as average achievement levels have declined, for example in mathematics (Holmlund et al., 2014; SOU 2014:05) and reading (Skolverket, 2013). These negative trends may be related to schools’ demographic, organizational and resource prerequisites. The organizational basis for the Swedish compulsory school has undergone significant changes since the late 1980s, with free school choice, an increasing number of private schools and a larger autonomy for school leaders. The increased school segregation with respect to migration background since the implementation of these reforms (Yang Hansen & Gustafsson, 2016), could possibly be caused by the continuing decline in inclusion of migrant students and a related educational inequality in instructional quality and teacher competence. Inclusion is defined as a structure of organizing integration according to particular rules and regulations.The results of research on effects of teacher competence are, however, somewhat fragmented and unclear, at least with respect to effects on different student groups. This can partly be explained by uncertainties in the determination of crucial teacher characteristics. Making comparisons between for example authorized and unauthorized teachers has been shown to be problematic. There is vast research in this field which is characterized by severe methodological problems, e.g. with respect to drawing causal conclusions from cross-sectional observational data. For example, no correlation between student achievement and various resource factors has been found in some studies (e.g. Hanushek, 1997), whereas others found a positive correlation (e.g. Greenwald, Hedges & Laine, 1996).A teacher effect on student achievement is, however, well manifested (e.g., Gustafsson, 2003; Gustafsson & Myrberg, 2002; Johansson, Myrberg, & Rosén, 2015; Nye, Konstantopoulus, & Hedges, 2004; Rockoff, 2004), and the results also suggest that lower achieving students, as for example immigrants, are the more likely to benefit from increases in teacher effectiveness (e.g., Sanders, 1998). Teacher quality is, furthermore, one of the resource factors that explains most of the increase in performance differences between schools in Sweden (Björklund, Fredriksson, Gustafsson, & Öckert, 2010, Ch 7; Gustafsson & Myrberg, 2002). The general reduction in teacher quality in Sweden the last decades (SOU 2014:05), and the decreased equality of allocation of teacher competence between schools (Hansson & Gustafsson, 2016; OECD, 2013), supports these results. However, the variation between student outcomes that different teachers are achieving (Hanushek, 2003) needs to be further problematized and discussed. Teacher knowledge and skills, teacher training and teaching experience are examples of characteristics highlighted in different meta-studies (e.g., Greenwald, Hedges & Laine, 1996), that should be subject of such an investigation.This study intends to develop a precise and differentiated description of teacher quality for use in future analyses of relations between teacher competence and educational results, with focus on interactions with student composition of schools due to students’ socio-economic and migration backgrounds. The description is among other factors focusing on teacher’s basic knowledge, subject-related and pedagogical training, and type of teacher training program. One aim is to investigate the variation over time in access to qualified teachers and the variation in teacher qualifications between schools. In further analyses, the significance of the teacher characteristics for literacy and mathematics in grades 1 to 6 will be focused.Overall, the project, which this study is a part of, is expected to generate insights about essential conditions for effective and equitable teaching in Swedish and mathematics in primary school, and about distributions of teacher competence across schools with different student composition.
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| 8. |
- Alatalo, Tarja, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers' academic achievement: evidence from Swedish longitudinal register data
- 2024
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Ingår i: European Journal of Teacher Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0261-9768 .- 1469-5928. ; 47:1, s. 60-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The difficulty recruiting competent teachers is widespread, and the status of the teaching profession is on the decline. Sweden is just one country with these problems. Using longitudinal register data for every teacher in Sweden born between 1972 and 1998, the present study investigates changes in teachers' own school grades to clarify patterns of recruitment to the teaching profession. The main methods were regression analysis and descriptive statistics. Results showed a significant decline in teachers' grade average between 1996 and 2016, with certified teachers having a higher grade average than uncertified teachers throughout this period. Grades of primary school teachers were lower compared with those of secondary school teachers. Higher grade average for secondary school teachers of natural science subjects compared with teachers of other subjects was also observed. The decline in teachers' grades is a factor characterising changed recruitment patterns and one likely to affect teacher quality.
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| 10. |
- Johansson, Stefan, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Co-Designing with Extreme Users : A Framework for User Participation in Design Processes
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. - : Stockholm University Press. - 1501-7419 .- 1745-3011. ; 25:1, s. 418-430
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The demand for user participation in design processes is increasing, and there is a need to formulate guidance on how to involve disabled users and their representative organisations. Their participation contributes an extreme user perspective to the design process. The aim of this study was to develop an empirically grounded framework for user participation in co-design processes, involving the users with wide range of characteristics. The study was theoretically grounded in ‘participatory design’ and ‘value sensitive design’ and used an exploratory study design with online workshops to iteratively collect and analyse data. All participants collaborated on an online Miro-board to identify themes and formulate guiding principles for the framework. We propose a framework consisting of three themes: participation fundamentals, participation ethics and participation practicalities, entailing 11 guiding principles. By applying this framework, the premises, methods and activities in the design process will be accessible to all participants, and user participation in design projects will become more transparent, equitable and easier to implement. It will enable all users, people with disabilities and others, to participate and contribute to a design that can be used by the widest range of people.
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