| 1. |
- Bengtsson, Louise, et al.
(author)
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Avslutning. Svenskt ordförandeskap i en ny tid
- 2023
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In: För Europa i en ny tid. Sveriges ordförandeskap i EU 2023. - Stockholm : Santérus Förlag. - 9789173592031
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- I den här boken analyserar tolv forskare det svenska ordförandeskapet utifrån en rad frågeställningar: Hur framskred arbetet inom olika politikområden? I vilken utsträckning lyckades Sverige agera i ordförandeskapets olika roller? Hur fungerade förhandlingarna med Europaparlamentet? Vilken roll spelade Sverige på det utrikespolitiska området? Vad kännetecknade inrikespolitiken under ordförandeperioden? Vilket avtryck gjorde ordförandeskapet i nationell och internationell media? Hur förhåller sig ordförandeskapet 2023 till de två tidigare svenska ordförandeskapen 2001 och 2009? Vad säger ordförandeskapet 2023 om svensk Europapolitik och om ordförandeskapsinstitutionens dynamik och framtid?
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| 2. |
- Abdel-Motal, Ussama M., et al.
(author)
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Major histocompatibility complex class I binding glycopeptides for the estimation of 'empty' class I molecules
- 1995
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In: Journal of Immunological Methods. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-1759. ; 188:1, s. 21-31
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Different forms of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I heavy chains are known to be expressed on the cell surface, including molecules which are functionally 'empty'. Direct peptide binding to cells is obvious during sensitization of target cells in vitro for cytotoxic T lymphocyte killing and 'empty' MHC-I molecules are comparatively abundant on TAP- 1 2 peptide transporter mutant cells. In the present work we have estimated the fraction of 'empty' MHC class I molecules using glycosylated peptides and cellular staining with carbohydrate specific monoclonal antibodies. Synthetic Db and Kb binding peptides were coupled at different positions with different di- or trisaccharides, using different spacing between the carbohydrate and the peptide backbone. Binding of sugar specific mAbs was compared in ELISA and cellular assays. An optimal Db binding glycopeptide was used for comparative staining with anti-Db and anti-carbohydrate monoclonal antibodies to estimate fractions of 'empty' molecules on different T lymphoid cells. On activated normal T cells, a large fraction of Db molecules were found to be 'empty'. The functional cole of such 'empty' MHC class I molecules on T cells is presently unclear. However, on antigen presenting cells they might participate in the antigen presentation process.
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| 3. |
- Bengtsson, Christine, et al.
(author)
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Effect of Medication on Microvascular Vasodilatation in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
- 2010
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In: Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology. - : Wiley. - 1742-7843 .- 1742-7835. ; 107:6, s. 919-924
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this study was to investigate the microvascular responses in the skin, to local heat, iontophoretically administered acetylcholine and to sodium nitroprusside in relation to cardiovascular damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and matched controls. We also wanted to examine if the ongoing medication in SLE patients influenced this vascular response. We investigated 30 women with SLE and compared them with 20 age and sex-matched controls. The cutaneous blood flow response to local heat (+44 degrees C), iontophoretically administered endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine), as well as independent (sodium nitroprusside) vasodilatation, was measured by laser Doppler flowmetry. Clinical data and medication were retrieved from the clinical database and patient records. The cutaneous microvascular reactivity did not differ between SLE patients and a group of matched controls nor did it correlate with cardiovascular damage [assessed by Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SLICC/ACR-DI)]. However, patients on antimalarial drugs (hydroxychloroquine n = 8 and chloroquine diphosphate n = 3) responded more strongly to sodium nitroprusside (endothelium-independent vasodilatation) compared with those without antimalarial drugs (p < 0.01). The response to acetylcholine was higher among patients on warfarin compared with those without (p < 0.05), whereas glucocorticoid use (>= 5 mg daily) was associated with reduced response to acetylcholine (p < 0.05). Smokers in general tended to have a lower response to acetylcholine (p = 0.064). Smoking SLE patients versus non-smoking SLE patients had a significantly lower response to acetylcholine (p = 0.01). Medication with antimalarial drugs-enhanced endothelium-independent vasodilatation, while glucocorticoid use was associated with reduction and warfarin-treatment with enhancement of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. Therefore, despite there is no difference in microvascular endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, other factors such as medication and smoking may affect vasodilatation in SLE patients.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Bengtsson, Louise, et al.
(author)
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Assembling European health security : Epidemic intelligence and the hunt for cross-border health threats
- 2019
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In: Security Dialogue. - : SAGE Publications. - 0967-0106 .- 1460-3640. ; 50:2, s. 115-130
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The securitization of health concerns within the European Union has hitherto received scant attention compared to other sectors. Drawing on the conceptual toolbox of actor-network theory, this article examines how a ‘health security assemblage’ rooted in EU governance has emerged, expanded, and stabilized. At the heart of this assemblage lies a particular knowledge regime, known as epidemic intelligence (EI): a vigilance-oriented approach of early detection and containment drawing on web-scanning tools and other informal sources. Despite its differences compared to entrenched traditions in public health, EI has, in only a decade’s time, gained central importance at the EU level. EI is simultaneously constituted by, and performative of, a particular understanding of health security problems. By ‘following the actor’, this article seeks to account for how EI has made the hunt for potential health threats so central that detection and containment, rather than prevention, have become the preferred policy options. This article draws out some of the implications of this shift.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Bengtsson, Louise, et al.
(author)
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European security and early warning systems : from risks to threats in the European Union’s health security sector
- 2018
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In: European Security. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-2839 .- 1746-1545. ; 27:1, s. 20-40
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article critically examines a poorly understood aspect of the European security landscape: early warning systems (EWSs). EWSs are socio-technical systems designed to detect, analyse, and disseminate knowledge on potential security issues in a wide variety of sectors. We first present an empirical overview of more than 80 EWS in the European Union. We then draw on debates in Critical Security Studies to help us make sense of the role of such systems, tapping into conceptual debates on the construction of security issues as either "threat" or "risk" related. Finally, we study one EWS - the Early Warning and Response System for infectious diseases - to understand how it works and how it reconciles risk versus threat-based security logics. Contrary to assumptions of a clear distinction between risk-and threat-based logics of security, we show that EWSs may serve as a "transmission belt" for the movement of issues from risk into threats.
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| 8. |
- Bengtsson, Louise, 1986-
(author)
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Health security in the European Union : Agents, practices and materialities of securitization
- 2019
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Over the past two decades, the notion of ‘health security’ has emerged as a central tenet of European Union (EU) public health policy. This PhD thesis examines the rise and implications of health security cooperation, associated with an imperative to fight ‘bioterrorist attacks’, pandemics and other natural or man-made events. The study is composed of an introductory chapter as well as five related but self-contained papers, based on participant observation and 52 in-depth interviews at the European Commission as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). More specifically, the thesis as a whole explores how security perspectives mattered in different ways for the rise and implications of health security cooperation in the EU. Unlike previous studies which have tended to focus on normative aspects and overarching global dynamics, the thesis examines drivers, contradictions and tensions in a particular, highly institutionalized context. In order to answer a set of empirically motivated questions, the papers draw on various understandings of securitization in critical security studies. The over-all findings cast light on the emergence of a new way of understanding health problems as rapidly emerging, and often external, ‘cross-border threats to health’. The latter may include major infectious disease outbreaks, but also deliberate or accidental release of chemical or biological substances, natural disasters or any other unknown event assumed to threaten not only public health but society as a whole. In the search for potential crises, these are to be rapidly detected and contained rather than prevented in line with traditional public health policy. Partly arising from political speech acts after September 11 as well as bureaucratic practices carving out a role for the EU in public health, these new priorities have also been shaped by EU-specific digital surveillance tools, information sharing platforms and methodologies for managing risk. The findings also point to forms of reflexivity and instances of contestation within the EU institutions themselves, especially in relation to migrant health. As a whole, the thesis thus contributes empirically to a better understanding of how both health and security have come to be pursued within the EU institutions. Theoretically it highlights how approaches to securitization, drawn from partially different scholarly traditions, can be employed as empirically sensitive analytical tools and thereby add to a better understanding of the full prism of securitization processes.
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| 9. |
- Bengtsson, Louise, et al.
(author)
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Securitisation across borders : the case of ‘health security’ cooperation in the European Union
- 2019
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In: West European Politics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0140-2382 .- 1743-9655. ; 42:2, s. 346-368
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Global health governance has increasingly become articulated and acted upon in ways that emphasise ‘health security’. This article applies a collective securitisation approach to understand how a particular governance regime has evolved at the European level, one concerned with large-scale ‘threats’ to public health and societies at large. The analysis shows that alongside elite-level securitisation moves, transnational professional networks and bureaucratic actors have also taken part both as securitising agents and audience, with outcomes reflected not only in policy change but also new EU-specific surveillance technologies, institutional structures, and information-sharing platforms. While these developments are partially interlinked with global trends, we show that the EU has gradually institutionalised its own approach to health security. This new status quo is enshrined in a legal framework and set of practices with an all-hazards approach targeting preparedness, early detection and containment of ‘serious cross-border threats to health’ of any origin – beyond infectious disease.
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