| 1. |
- Bianchi, Matteo, 1982-
(författare)
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Genetic Studies of Immunological Diseases in Dogs and Humans
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis presents genetic studies aiming at enlarging our knowledge regarding the genetic factors underlying two immune-mediated diseases, hypothyroidism and autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD), in dogs and humans, respectively.Genetic and environmental factors are indicated to contribute to canine hypothyroidism, which can be considered a model for human Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). In Paper I we performed the first genome-wide association (GWA) study of this disease in three high-risk dog breeds (Gordon Setter, Hovawart and Rhodesian Ridgeback). Using an integrated GWA and meta-analysis strategy, we identified a novel hypothyroidism risk haplotype located on chromosome 12 being shared by the three breeds. The identified haplotype, harboring three genes previously not associated with hypothyroidism, is independent of the dog leukocyte antigen region and significantly enriched across the affected dogs. In Paper II we performed a GWA study in another high-risk breed (Giant Schnauzer) and detected an associated locus located on chromosome 11 and conferring protection to hypothyroidism. After whole genome resequencing of a subset of samples with key haplotypes, we fine mapped the region of association that was subsequently screened for the presence of structural variants. We detected a putative copy number variant overlapping with the upstream region of the IFNA7 gene, which is located in a region of high genomic complexity. Remarkably, perturbed activities of type I Interferons have been extensively associated with HT and general autoimmunity.In Paper III we performed the first large-scale genetic study of human AAD, a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by dysfunction and ultimately destruction of the adrenal cortex. We resequenced 1853 immune-related genes comprising of their coding sequences, untranslated regions, as well as conserved intronic and intergenic regions in extensively characterized AAD patients and control samples, all collected in Sweden. We identified BACH2 gene as a novel risk locus associated with AAD, and we showed its independent association with isolated AAD. In addition, we confirmed the previously established AAD association with the human leukocyte antigen complex.The results of these studies will hopefully help increasing the understanding of such diseases in dogs and humans, eventually promoting their well-being.
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| 2. |
- Dahrén, Börje, 1984-
(författare)
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Magma plumbing architecture in Indonesia and the North Atlantic Igneous Province
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Magma plumbing systems represent the physical framework of magma transport and storage from the source region in the mantle, through the crust, until reaching the surface in a volcanic eruption. Characterising the different aspects of magma plumbing, in particular the distribution of magma storage zones throughout the crust, is of key importance to better understand the behaviour of individual volcanoes. In particular, shallow crustal magma storage and associated magma-crust interaction processes could potentially explain some of the worlds most unpredictable and explosive volcanoes. This thesis studies magma plumbing architecture in the Sunda Arc (Indonesia), and the North Atlantic Igneous Province, based on elemental and isotope geochemistry, and derived petrological modelling.In this study, I have employed petrological models, so called geothermobarometers, to calculate pressures and temperatures (P-T) of crustal magma storage. Geothermobarometers are calibrated thermodynamic formulations based on the composition of magmatic minerals and their co-existing melt as a function of the P-T conditions of crystallisation. Using the calculated P-T estimates, I was able to derive the depth of magma storage, and thereby reconstruct the architecture of magma storage systems. A number of different geothermobarometers based on different mineral phases, including plagioclase, clinopyroxene and olivine, were used for this purpose,The geothermobarometric modelling was combined with additional elemental and isotope geochemical analyses, as well as collaborations with geophysical investigations. These additional approaches were used to corroborate the findings of the geothermobarometric modelling, and also to model and quantify magma-crust interaction processes that take place during crustal magma storage, such as assimilation of crustal lithologies into the magmatic system.The findings of this thesis build upon the growing body of evidence in support of the prevalence of shallow magma storage in different volcanic settings worldwide. This realisation is relevant to volcano monitoring and hazard mitigation worldwide.
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| 3. |
- Almqvist, Lena
(författare)
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Children's health and developmental delay : positive functioning in every-day life
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The general aim of this thesis was to gain understanding of what patterns of child and environment characteristics that promote and sustain health and positive functioning of children with and without developmental delay or disabilities. The focus was on promotion of strengths and competencies rather than on prevention of risk factors, with an emphasis on children’s functioning in every-day life. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were conducted on representative samples of children. In Study I, participation in school activities were used as an outcome of positive functioning of children with disabilities. The findings indicated that autonomy, locus of control, child-peer interaction, and availability of activities were most influential in relation to participation in a pattern of child and environment factors. No significant difference was found across groups in type and degree of disability. Study II was conducted to gain knowledge of how young children perceive health. The interviews revealed that children perceived health in a multidimensional perspective, well represented by the health dimensions of ICF. The children largely related consequences of health to engagement. In Study III, engagement was used as an outcome of children’s interaction with their natural environment. The focus was to describe how children with and without developmental delay, divided into homogenous groups according to a pattern of child-environment interaction factors, engaged in developmentally appropriate behavior in their preschool and home environment. Groups of children with different patterns showed similar outcomes of engagement. Children with developmental delay were represented across groups, implying that developmental delay was less of a factor by itself influencing level of engagement. Study IV was longitudinal and the aim was to identify pathways of children’s engagement over time of children with and without developmental delay. Child-peer interaction seemed to promote high level engagement, while developmental delay only showed to be influential of low level engagement over time if combined with behavior problems. Children without developmental delay or behavior problems were met with greater teacher responsiveness, and at the same time teacher responsiveness predicted stable patterns of high level engagement or change to higher level engagement over time. The general finding in this thesis supported a both a multidimensional perspective of health and positive functioning, in where developmental delay and disability is viewed as a function of child and environmental characteristics. The results are discussed in a systemic perspective, in where the role of the delay or disability, as of other factors related to health and positive functioning in the whole child-environment system is determined by a multitude of factors. The dynamic character of children’s development makes it difficult to predict children’s future functioning, from isolated factors such as disability or developmental delay. Thus, a disability or developmental delay only becomes a risk factor of health, when combined with other risk factors that decrease the functioning of children in their every-day life.
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| 4. |
- Andershed, Henrik
(författare)
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Antisocial behavior in adolescence : the role of individual characteristics
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main aim of this dissertation is to investigate whether traits on the level of the individual are important in understanding violent, frequent antisocial behavior among adolescents. The first of the four studies included in this dissertation asks whether individual-level explanations are going to be a fruitful approach at all. The other three studies speak to the question which particular individual characteristics are related to violent, frequent antisocial behavior. Two different large samples of 14 to 16-year-old male and female non-referred adolescents were assessed. The adolescents were mainly assessed with self-report questionnaires but information from parents and teachers was also incorporated in one of the samples. Results show that aggressive, antisocial behavior for a subgroup of adolescents cuts across social contexts, indicating that their aggressive behavior is largely dependent on individual characteristics, more than on situational factors. It is further shown that a constellation of personality traits involving a grandiose, manipulative interpersonal disposition, callous, unemotional affective traits, and an impulsive, irresponsible behavioral style, characterizes a subgroup of antisocial adolescents who have more violent, frequent antisocial behavior than antisocial adolescents without this personality constellation. This same subgroup also shows more pronounced problem behaviors of other kinds — early behavioral problems, problems with inhibiting aggressive behaviors, and problems with hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention. Moreover, the results show that the affective facet of this particular personality constellation, involving callous, unemotional traits, plays an important role in violent, frequent antisocial behavior independently of other antisocial-related dimensions such as impulsivity, hyperactivity, and sensation seeking traits. Importantly, the main findings were similar for males and females. It is concluded that specific personality traits are important to consider when moving further toward an understanding of violent, frequent antisocial behavior and that research on non-referred, community samples of youths can be particularly helpful for this purpose. Implications for prevention and intervention and directions for future research are discussed.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Kin, 1960-
(författare)
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Proactivity at work
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Proactive behaviour implies taking initiative and mastering unexpected situations, and hence, is desirable in different situations. The present thesis includes three empirical studies intended to understand the consequences of proactive behaviour, as well as the factors that contribute to proactive behaviour at work and when facing unemployment. More specifically, whether job design, as measured by objective work task analysis, provides conditions conducive to proactivity in the workplace and when facing unemployment. The results of proactive behaviour during unemployment were also of interest. Study I focused on the influence of job design on individuals’ personal initiative and confidence in their ability when facing unemployment. Participants were employees at a downsizing Swedish assembly plant. Confidence in one’s ability mediated the relationship between job design and personal initiative, and personal initiative affected job search behaviour when advised to be dismissed. Study II, a longitudinal exploration, focused on the predictors of re-employment in the same group as in Study I. Men were more than nine times as likely as women to obtain jobs within 15 months. Individuals without children were more than seven times as likely as those with children to find work within 15 months. The desire to change occupation and willingness to relocate also increased the probability of being re-employed, whereas anonymous-passive job-search behaviour and work-related self-efficacy actually decreased the probability of re-employment. The number of job applications did not impact later re-employment. Study III analysed job design as a predictor of group initiative and self-organisational activities in semiautonomous industrial work groups. An input-process-output model showed that group processes such as reflexivity mediated the impact of job design on proactivity in work groups. Taken together, these studies suggest that work task analysis a useful tool, since it provides access to information that cannot be obtained with self-report measures. Job design indirectly affected proactivity both in the face of unemployment, and in industrial work groups. Further, it is worthwhile to continue identifying the antecedents and consequences of proactivity, as this seems to be an important factor regarding work and unemployment.
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| 6. |
- Anniko, Malin, 1981-
(författare)
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Stuck on repeat : Adolescent stress and the role of repetitive negative thinking and cognitive avoidance
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Stress and stress-related mental health problems such as anxiety and depressive symptoms are common in adolescents and seem to be increasing, especially in mid- to late-adolescent girls. Although adolescence, as a period of rapid growth and profound change, is often marked by an increase in normal stressors (e.g. conflicts with parents, fitting in with peers, increased academic demands), most adolescents do not develop more persis-tent problems with stress. To be able to develop effective preventive interventions there is a need to understand both what adolescents are ascribing their stress to, how different stressor domains relate to outcomes, and why some adolescents go on to develop stress-related mental health problems while others do not. This dissertation aimed to answer some of these questions by investigating the role of cognitive avoidance and repetitive negative thinking (RNT) in the development of stress-related mental health problems (Study I & III). It also aimed to develop and validate a shortened version of a questionnaire designed to measure stressor load within different life domains in adolescence (Study II). Findings show that the shortened version of the Adolescents Stress Questionnaire seems to be a valid measure of stressor load within different domains in adolescence. School-related stressors were the most prevalent sources of stress, but social stressors seem to have a stronger link to increases in mental health symptoms. Also, adolescents who report higher levels of distress and stressor load tend to increase their engagement in cognitive avoidance and RNT over time which in turn predicts further increases in mental health symptoms. This suggests that cognitive avoidance and RNT may be important mechanisms in the development of stress-related mental health problems in adoles-cence.
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| 7. |
- Arnison, Tor, 1984-
(författare)
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Tired of pain or so tired it hurts? Mechanisms and factors influencing the temporal relationship between insomnia and pain in adolescents
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Onset of both chronic pain and insomnia is high during adolescence, a phenomenon believed to be caused by a range of biological, psychological and social factors that are unique or particularly salient during adolescence. Negative mood has been established as a salient mechanism explaining the sleep-pain relationship, but an elaborate understanding of if and how mood mediate the relationship in adolescents is lacking. The current thesis aimed to fill this gap in the literature through three empirical studies that each focused on distinct aspects of the sleep-pain relationship in adolescents. All three studies were based on a prospective dataset, consisting of 2766 adolescents followed across 5 consecutivey early measurement waves.Study I focused on how insomnia and pain longitudinally co-develop during adolescence, finding that they follow each other to a high degree among all adolescents. A late sleep phase and cognitive-emotional presleep arousal predicted steeper rate of change in insomnia and pain. Study II found a bidirectional relationship between insomnia and pain, with the effect of insomnia on pain being significantly stronger than vice versa. Depressed and anxious mood mediated the effect of insomnia on pain, but not vice versa. Study III assessed if the effect of insomnia on pain was mediated by rumination and depressed mood, and if the effect differed between girls and boys. The effect of insomnia on pain was considerably stronger in adolescent girls, compared to boys, and rumination only mediated the effect in girls, while primarily depressed mood mediated the effect in boys.Taken together, these findings have both conceptual and applied implications: the findings add to – and deepen – the understanding of how the relationship between insomnia and pain functions in adolescents. The mechanisms that were identified as mediators, as well as insomnia itself, are also highly modifiable through psychological interventions. Therefore, the findings may inform treatment strategies for adolescents with comorbid insomnia and chronic pain, as well as preventive programs for adolescents at risk for developing insomnia and/or pain.
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| 8. |
- Badinlou, Farzaneh, 1984-
(författare)
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The power of action and knowledge in episodic memory for school-aged children
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Developmental and cognitive research suggests that there are age-related differ-ences in children’s episodic memory across school ages due to the development of knowledge, which in turn affects memory strategy use and information pro-cessing over time. However, there are controversial findings related to devel-opmental patterns and factors involved in children’s episodic memory function.This dissertation studies action memory, a form of episodic memory, across school ages to explore developmental differences and children’s memory per-formance as related to different encoding conditions, retrieval modes, materi-als, and events. In study I, the effects of different encoding conditions (i.e., verbal tasks, VTs; experimenter-performed tasks, EPTs; and subject-performed tasks, SPTs) and memory tests (i.e., recall and recognition) were examined across school ages. This study found that the developmental pattern of action memory was more pronounced for enacted encoding than verbal encoding, the most pronounced in recall test than in recognition test. In study II, the recall period of enactment effects and the effects of task difficulty were investigated as functions of age and encoding conditions in school-aged children. The results revealed that enacted encoding not only outperformed verbal encoding but also that the response speed increased over the recall period, the effect being more noticeable in older than younger children. Moreover, the level of task difficulty can be regarded as an important factor affecting the pattern of memory output among school-aged children. Study III explored the effect of children’s declarative knowledge on memory performance by presenting knowledge-based cues such as objects and semantic integration items. Providing cues related to children’s prior knowledge in the encoding and test phases improved memory performance, especially in older children. The overall results indicated clear-cut developmental differences in episodic memory across school ages. Episodic memory functions differed as functions of age, encoding, testing instructions, and type of event. SPTs and EPTs can improve memory function, this improvement was more pronounced in SPTs than in EPTs. The positive impact of action memory on memory performance is discussed in terms of the cognitive mechanism, memory strategies, and information processing involved.
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| 9. |
- Bauducco, Serena, 1988-
(författare)
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Adolescents' sleep in a 24/7 society : Epidemiology and prevention
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sleep undergoes important changes during adolescence and many teenagers experience problems sleeping. These in turn affect adolescents´ academic, physical and psychosocial functioning. Moreover, there are some indications that sleep problems in this age group may be increasing, possibly as a consequence of societal changes, e.g., internet availability. Research on adolescents´ sleep is growing, but more epidemiological studies are needed to clarify the prevalence of poor sleep, long and short-term outcomes associated with it, and potential risk and protective factors to target in preventive interventions. The aim of this dissertation was to contribute to each of these goals; Study I investigated the longitudinal association between sleep problems, defined as symptoms of insomnia, and school absenteeism; Study II explored the prevalence of poor sleep, defined as sleep deficit, in an adolescent population and psychosocial and contextual factors associated with it, including emotional and behavioral problems, stress, sleep hygiene and technology use; finally, Study III evaluated the short-term effects of a novel universal school-based intervention to improve adolescents´ sleep health.The findings show that poor sleep was strongly related to adolescents´ functioning, including emotional and behavioral problems and school attendance, and that sleep deficit was prevalent in adolescents. This supports the need for prevention. Moreover, sleep deficit was associated with stress, technology use and arousal at bedtime, which may represent important barriers to sleep. A preventive intervention targeting these barriers to promote adolescents´ sleep health was successful with the individuals most at risk. However, it remains to be seen whether these changes will be maintained after the intervention and whether incidence of sleep problems will be lower relative to a control group. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
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| 10. |
- Bergbom, Sofia, 1982-
(författare)
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Matchmaking in pain practice : challenges and possibilities
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- All people experience pain and for some people, acute pain may over time develop into long-term disabling problems. Already at an early stage, it is possible to identify people at risk for long-term problems and psychologically oriented interventions have been shown to successfully prevent future disability. However, not all people are helped by treatment and there is room for improvement. Moreover, subgroups of people suffering from pain, with different profiles of psychological factors have been identified, indicating that people with pain problems differ. The first aim of this dissertation was to improve the understanding of how people differ. The second aim was to use these individual differences and to match people to psychological treatment based on their psychological profile. The third aim was to explore what happens during treatment that might be important for treatment outcome.The findings show that people who belonged to subgroups with elevated levels of psychological factors had less favorable outcomes over time, despite treatment, than people with no elevations. Moreover, people with elevations in several psychological factors had even less favorable outcomes. Psychological treatments aimed at preventing future disability performed well, but using profiles to match people to treatment did not improve outcomes further; people who were matched to a treatment and people who were unmatched had similar outcomes. However, the profiles used for matching were unstable over time and there is need to improve the identification of psychological variables used for treatment matching. Finally, a number of psychological factors were shown to be valuable targets for treatment; if the treatments successfully produced change in people’s thoughts and emotions related to pain the treatment outcomes were better. The findings were summarized in a flow chart showing the recommended clinical approach to people seekinghealth care for acute pain problems.
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