1. |
- Ahlberg, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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ESOPHAGEAL STRICTURE AFTER RADIOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCER : EXPERIENCE OF A SINGLE INSTITUTION OVER 2 TREATMENT PERIODS
- 2010
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Ingår i: Head and Neck. - : Wiley. - 1043-3074 .- 1097-0347. ; 32:4, s. 452-461
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background. Risk factors for development of a stricture of the upper esophagus after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer are poorly defined. Methods. This was a retrospective case-control study of patients diagnosed and treated for esophageal stricture after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Results. The incidence of esophageal stricture after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) was 3.3%. Seventy patients with stricture and 66 patients without stricture were identified. A multivariate analysis showed that there was increased risk of stricture in receiving enteral feeding during EBRT or in receiving a mean dose of >45 By to the upper esophagus. Conclusions. Enteral feeding during EBRT is strongly associated with the development of stricture of the esophagus, as is a mean dose of >45 Gy to the upper esophagus. Treatment of the stricture with Savary-Gilliard bougienage or through scope balloon dilatation is safe and successful but often has to be repeated.
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2. |
- Alevronta, Eleftheria, et al.
(författare)
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Dose-response relations for stricture in the proximal oesophagus from head and neck radiotherapy
- 2010
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Ingår i: Radiotherapy and Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-8140 .- 1879-0887. ; 97:1, s. 54-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and purpose: Determination of the dose-response relations for oesophageal stricture after radiotherapy of the head and neck. Material and methods: In this study 33 patients who developed oesophageal stricture and 39 patients as controls are included. The patients received radiation therapy for head and neck cancer at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. For each patient the 3D dose distribution delivered to the upper 5 cm of the oesophagus was analysed. The analysis was conducted for two periods, 1992-2000 and 2001-2005, due to the different irradiation techniques used. The fitting has been done using the relative seriality model. Results: For the treatment period 1992-2005, the mean doses were 49.8 and 33.4 Gy, respectively, for the cases and the controls. For the period 1992-2000, the mean doses for the cases and the controls were 49.9 and 45.9 Gy and for the period 2001-2005 were 49.8 and 21.4 Gy. For the period 2001-2005 the best estimates of the dose-response parameters are D-50 = 61.5 Gy (52.9-84.9 Gy), gamma = 1.4 (0.8-2.6) and s = 0.1 (0.01-0.3). Conclusions: Radiation-induced strictures were found to have a dose response relation and volume dependence (low relative seriality) for the treatment period 2001-2005. However, no dose response relation was found for the complete material.
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3. |
- Ampel, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Modest summer temperature variability during DO cycles in western Europe
- 2010
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 29:11-12, s. 1322-1327
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abrupt climatic shifts between cold stadials and warm interstadials, termed Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles, occurred frequently during the Last Glacial. Their imprint is registered in paleorecords worldwide, but little is known about the actual temperature change both annually and seasonally in different regions. A recent hypothesis based on modelling studies, suggests that DO cycles were characterised by distinct changes in seasonality in the Northern Hemisphere. The largest temperature change between stadial and interstadial phases would have occurred during the winter and spring seasons, whereas the summer seasons would have experienced a rather muted temperature shift. Here we present a temporally high-resolved reconstruction of summer temperatures for eastern France during a sequence of DO cycles between 36 and 18 thousand years before present. The reconstruction is based on fossil diatom assemblages from the paleolake Les Echets and indicates summer temperature changes of ca 0.5–2 °C between stadials and interstadials. This study is the first to reconstruct temperatures with a sufficient time resolution to investigate DO climate variability in continental Europe. It is therefore also the first proxy record that can test and support the hypothesis that temperature changes during DO cycles were modest during the summer season.
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4. |
- Auffret, Alistair G., et al.
(författare)
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Ontogenetic niche shifts in three Vaccinium species on a sub-alpine mountain side
- 2010
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Ingår i: Plant Ecology & Diversity. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1755-0874 .- 1755-1668. ; 3:2, s. 131-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Climate warming in arctic and alpine regions is expected to result in the altitudinal migration of plant species, but current predictions neglect differences between species' regeneration niche and established niche. Aims: To examine potential recruitment of Vaccinium myrtillus, V. uliginosum and V. vitis-idaea on a mountain slope in northern Sweden in relation to current adult occurrence. Methods: We combined a seed-sowing experiment in seven community types with adult occurrence observations and species distribution mapping. Results: Emergence of V. myrtillus and V. vitis-idaea seedlings was significantly related to community type, while V. uliginosum was indifferent, but exhibited the highest average emergence. Adult occurrence was related to community, and ontogenetic niche shifts were observed for all three study species. V. myrtillus was shown to have the highest potential recruitment in habitats at altitudes above its current populations. Conclusions: The potential for migration exists, but incongruence between regenerative and established niches presents a challenge for colonisers, as well as for plant migration modelling.
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5. |
- Axelsson, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Determination of resin acids during production of wood pellets-a comparison of HPLC/ESI-MS with the GC/FID MDHS 83/2 method
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Monitoring. - Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1464-0325 .- 1464-0333. ; 13:10, s. 2940-2945
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Resin acids are constituents of natural and technical products of widespread use. Exposure is known to cause health effects in the airways and on the skin. Liquid chromatography/positive ion electrospray-mass spectrometry (HPLC/pos ESI-MS) was investigated for determination of 7-oxodehydroabietic (7-OXO), dehydroabietic (DHAA) and abietic acid (AA) in wood dust-containing air samples as a derivatisation-free alternative to the GC/FID HSE method 83/2, developed by the Health and Safety Executive UK. The resin acid 7-OXO was measured as a marker for oxidised resin acids, which are known to be the main contact allergens in colophonium. The found detection limits were 0.42 ng m(-3) for 7-OXO, 5.2 ng m(-3) for DHAA and 9.4 ng m(-3) for AA, respectively, which are considerably lower than with the GC/FID method (24, 115 and 89 ng m(-3)). The two methods correlated well, although consistently and significantly lower concentrations of 7-OXO were detected with LC/MS. The higher concentration of this compound with MDHS 83/2 is suggested to be an artefact from the derivatisation step in the presence of soluble wood dust remains.
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6. |
- Brehmer, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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Neural correlates of training-related working-memory gains in old age
- 2011
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Ingår i: NeuroImage. - : Elsevier BV. - 1053-8119 .- 1095-9572. ; 58:4, s. 1110-1120
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Working memory (WM) functioning declines in old age. Due to its impact on many higher-order cognitive functions, investigating whether training can modify WM performance has recently been of great interest. We examined the relationship between behavioral performance and neural activity following five weeks of intensive WM training in 23 healthy older adults (M = 63.7 years). 12 participants received adaptive training (i.e. individually adjusted task difficulty to bring individuals to their performance maximum), whereas the others served as active controls (i.e. fixed low-level practice). Brain activity was measured before and after training, using fMRI, while subjects performed a WM task under two difficulty conditions. Although there were no training-related changes in WM during scanning, neocortical brain activity decreased post training and these decreases were larger in the adaptive training group than in the controls under high WM load. This pattern suggests intervention-related increases in neural efficiency. Further, there were disproportionate gains in the adaptive training group in trained as well as in non-trained (i.e. attention, episodic memory) tasks assessed outside the scanner, indicating the efficacy of the training regimen. Critically, the degree of training-related changes in brain activity (i.e. neocortical decreases and subcortical increases) was related to the maximum gain score achieved during the intervention period. This relationship suggests that the decreased activity, but also specific activity increases, observed were functionally relevant.
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7. |
- Burzynska, A Z, et al.
(författare)
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Age-related differences in white matter microstructure : region-specific patterns of diffusivity.
- 2010
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Ingår i: NeuroImage. - San Diego ; Orlando, Fla : Elsevier BV. - 1053-8119 .- 1095-9572. ; 49:3, s. 2104-2112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We collected MRI diffusion tensor imaging data from 80 younger (20-32 years) and 63 older (60-71 years) healthy adults. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis revealed that white matter integrity, as indicated by decreased fractional anisotropy (FA), was disrupted in numerous structures in older compared to younger adults. These regions displayed five distinct region-specific patterns of age-related differences in other diffusivity properties: (1) increases in both radial and mean diffusivity; (2) increases in radial diffusivity; (3) no differences in parameters other than FA; (4) a decrease in axial and an increase in radial diffusivity; and (5) a decrease in axial and mean diffusivity. These patterns suggest different biological underpinnings of age-related decline in FA, such as demyelination, Wallerian degeneration, gliosis, and severe fiber loss, and may represent stages in a cascade of age-related degeneration in white matter microstructure. This first simultaneous description of age-related differences in FA, mean, axial, and radial diffusivity requires histological and functional validation as well as analyses of intermediate age groups and longitudinal samples.
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8. |
- Bäckman, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of working-memory training on striatal dopamine release
- 2011
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 333:6043, s. 718-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Updating of working memory has been associated with striato-frontal brain regions and phasic dopaminergic neurotransmission. We assessed raclopride binding to striatal dopamine (DA) D2 receptors during a letter-updating task and a control condition before and after 5 weeks of updating training. Results showed that updating affected DA activity before training and that training further increased striatal DA release during updating. These findings highlight the pivotal role of transient neural processes associated with D2 receptor activity in working memory.
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9. |
- Carbin, Maria, 1972-
(författare)
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Mellan tystnad och tal : Flickor och hedersvåld i svensk offentlig politik
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis examines the contestations around the question of how violence against young women from ethnic minorities was articulated in Swedish public policy debates from 1995-2008. One core question investigated in this study is how the “new” problem of co called honour killings is categorised and understood within gender equality policies against violence and policies of immigrant integration. The thesis explores how different discourses compete and negotiate to make sense of the violence and try to stabilise meaning. Another aim of the thesis concerns the construction of available subject positions for young women, and the potential effects in terms of possibilities and restrictions for subjects to speak politically. The research material consists of parliamentary debates, major government documents, official government inquiries into integration and gender equality, as well as documents from the Swedish Integration Board and the County Administrative Boards. The analysis draws upon discourse theory and feminist postcolonial theory to explore what positions are made available to young women in policy discourses. Four competing discourses are identified: a multicultural discourse, a discourse of value-clashes, a discourse of structural discrimination and finally a gender power-discourse. However, in policies against honour related violence the violence is primarily understood as originating in a cultural and value-based heritage of certain immigrant communities. This study furthermore illustrates how girls are required to speak and make testimonies on their situation. The ways the stories of the girls are used make them into boundary markers between Swedish and non-Swedish. It is argued that letting the girls speak and listen to them might make it possible to understand some of the potential problems they face. Nevertheless, it might not form an agenda for changing the bigger political picture.
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10. |
- Ceulemans, Shana, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence for the involvement of the glucocorticoid receptor gene in bipolar disorder in an isolated northern Swedish population
- 2011
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Ingår i: Bipolar Disorders. - Malden, USA : John Wiley & Sons. - 1398-5647 .- 1399-5618. ; 13:7-8, s. 614-623
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: Dysfunction of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is one of the most consistent findings in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. The potential role of genes related to HPA axis function has been investigated extensively in major depression. However, in bipolar disorder (BPD) such studies are scarce. We performed a systematic HapMap-based association study of six genes crucial for HPA axis function in relation to BPD. Methods: Haplotype tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) were selected in order to identify all haplotypes with a frequency of more than 1% in the genes encoding the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), corticotrophin releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRH-R1) and 2 (CRH-R2), CRH binding protein (CRH-BP), and FK binding protein 5 (FKBP5). This resulted in a total selection of 225 SNPs that were genotyped and analyzed in 309 BPD patients and 364 matched control individuals all originating from an isolated northern Swedish population. Results: Consistent evidence for an association with BPD was found for NR3C1, the gene encoding GR. Almost all SNPs in two adjacent haplotype blocks contributed to the positive signal, comprised of significant single marker, sliding window, and haplotype-specific p-values. All these results point to a moderately frequent (10–15%) susceptibility haplotype covering the entire coding region and 3? untranslated region (UTR) of NR3C1. Conclusions: This study contributes to the growing evidence for a role of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) in vulnerability to mood disorders, and BPD in particular, and warrants further in vitro investigation of the at-risk haplotypes with respect to disease etiology. However, this association might be restricted to this specific population, as it is observed in a rather small sample from an isolated population without replication, and data from large meta-analyses for genome-wide association studies in BPD do not show the GR as a very strong candidate.
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