| 1. |
- Newton-Cheh, Christopher, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association study identifies eight loci associated with blood pressure
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 41:6, s. 666-676
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Elevated blood pressure is a common, heritable cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide. To date, identification of common genetic variants influencing blood pressure has proven challenging. We tested 2.5 million genotyped and imputed SNPs for association with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in 34,433 subjects of European ancestry from the Global BPgen consortium and followed up findings with direct genotyping (N <= 71,225 European ancestry, N <= 12,889 Indian Asian ancestry) and in silico comparison (CHARGE consortium, N 29,136). We identified association between systolic or diastolic blood pressure and common variants in eight regions near the CYP17A1 (P = 7 x 10(-24)), CYP1A2 (P = 1 x 10(-23)), FGF5 (P = 1 x 10(-21)), SH2B3 (P = 3 x 10(-18)), MTHFR (P = 2 x 10(-13)), c10orf107 (P = 1 x 10(-9)), ZNF652 (P = 5 x 10(-9)) and PLCD3 (P = 1 x 10(-8)) genes. All variants associated with continuous blood pressure were associated with dichotomous hypertension. These associations between common variants and blood pressure and hypertension offer mechanistic insights into the regulation of blood pressure and may point to novel targets for interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease.
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| 2. |
- Ahlén Bergman, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Increased CD4+ T cell lineage commitment determined by CpG methylation correlates with better prognosis in urinary bladder cancer patients
- 2018
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Ingår i: Clinical Epigenetics. - : BMC. - 1868-7083 .- 1868-7075. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Urinary bladder cancer is a common malignancy worldwide. Environmental factors and chronic inflammation are correlated with the disease risk. Diagnosis is performed by transurethral resection of the bladder, and patients with muscle invasive disease preferably proceed to radical cystectomy, with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The anti-tumour immune responses, known to be initiated in the tumour and draining lymph nodes, may play a major role in future treatment strategies. Thus, increasing the knowledge of tumour-associated immunological processes is important. Activated CD4+ T cells differentiate into four main separate lineages: Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg, and they are recognized by their effector molecules IFN-γ, IL-13, IL-17A, and the transcription factor Foxp3, respectively. We have previously demonstrated signature CpG sites predictive for lineage commitment of these four major CD4+ T cell lineages. Here, we investigate the lineage commitment specifically in tumour, lymph nodes and blood and relate them to the disease stage and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.RESULTS: Blood, tumour and regional lymph nodes were obtained from patients at time of transurethral resection of the bladder and at radical cystectomy. Tumour-infiltrating CD4+ lymphocytes were significantly hypomethylated in all four investigated lineage loci compared to CD4+ lymphocytes in lymph nodes and blood (lymph nodes vs tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes: IFNG -4229 bp p < 0.0001, IL13 -11 bp p < 0.05, IL17A -122 bp p < 0.01 and FOXP3 -77 bp p > 0.05). Examination of individual lymph nodes displayed different methylation signatures, suggesting possible correlation with future survival. More advanced post-cystectomy tumour stages correlated significantly with increased methylation at the IFNG -4229 bp locus. Patients with complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy displayed significant hypomethylation in CD4+ T cells for all four investigated loci, most prominently in IFNG p < 0.0001. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy seemed to result in a relocation of Th1-committed CD4+ T cells from blood, presumably to the tumour, indicated by shifts in the methylation patterns, whereas no such shifts were seen for lineages corresponding to IL13, IL17A and FOXP3.CONCLUSION: Increased lineage commitment in CD4+ T cells, as determined by demethylation in predictive CpG sites, is associated with lower post-cystectomy tumour stage, complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and overall better outcome, suggesting epigenetic profiling of CD4+ T cell lineages as a useful readout for clinical staging.
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| 3. |
- Bergman, Louise E., et al.
(författare)
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Comparing Depressive Symptoms, Emotional Exhaustion, and Sleep Disturbances in Self-Employed and Employed Workers : Application of Approximate Bayesian Measurement Invariance
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-1078. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies investigating differences in mental health problems between self-employed and employed workers have provided contradictory results. Many of the studies utilized scales validated for employed workers, without collecting validity evidence for making comparisons with self-employed. The aim of this study was (1) to collect validity evidence for three different scales assessing depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and sleep disturbances for employed workers, and combinators; and (2) to test if these groups differed. We first conducted approximate measurement invariance analysis and found that all scales were invariant at the scalar level. Self-employed workers had least mental health problems and employed workers had most, but differences were small. Though we found the scales invariant, we do not find them optimal for comparison of means. To be more precise in describing differences between groups, we recommend using clinical cut-offs or scales developed with the specific purpose of assessing mental health problems at work.
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| 4. |
- Bergman, Louise E., et al.
(författare)
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Entering and exiting self employment – how do they relate to health and well-being?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Book of Abstracts (DRAFT). ; , s. 415-416
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Research goals and motivation: Self-employed workers contribute significantly to our society in terms of economic productivity, job opportunity and innovation. Thus, it is in the interest of our society to support and encourage self employment. It is well documented that self-employed workers – on average – experience higher levels of wellbeing, and less mental health problems than employed workers do. However, self-employed workers are a highly heterogeneous group when it comes to who they are, how they work, and their health status. Thus, averages are not sufficient to inform researchers, policymakers and companies on how to understand the mental health and wellbeing of this group of workers. Workers enter and exit self employment all the time as business opportunities occur, need of an income arises, innovations are created, and businesses fail. However, little is known about the mechanisms behind these career transitions beyond economic factors. Is the decision to start a business related to wellbeing, and how? How many self-employed workers are thriving over time, both when it comes to wellbeing and their business? Who is struggling and experiencing mental health problems, and is this related to exiting self employment? Questions like these currently go unanswered. Theoretical background: This study is mainly exploratory, but mental health problems, wellbeing and how it develops and how it relates to entering and exiting self employment can be related work environment. The effort-reward imbalance model (ERI) has proven to be a good framework to understand health developments, and is adapted and used in this study as theoretical framework. Method: Latent transition analysis (LTA) is used to consider both the longitudinal aspect and the heterogeneity of the group of self-employed workers, in a unique and novel way. We investigate what profiles of mental health and wellbeing exist among self-employed workers, how common they are, and how the workers transition between these profiles over time. Further, we study how the profiles and transitions between them relate to entrepreneurial entrance and exit, work environment factors (ERI) and background variables (i.e., age and gender). We use data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) The current study is based on participants who responded to the 5 th -7 th wave of SLOSH conducted in 2014 (response rate 53%), 2016 (response rate 51%) and 2018 (response rate 48%). In this study, we use respondents who were self-employed at any of the three time points (N=2327). Results: Results of all statistical analyses will be available when the conference takes place. Preliminary findings of factor analysis show that all scales have adequate fit and factor loadings. Based on previous research we expect to find at least one profile of relatively good mental health and wellbeing, as well as profiles with less advantageous mental health. We also expect that work environment factors are linked to health profiles such that better health is found in workers with less ERI. ERI, a well-documented theoretic model, is used to validate the health and wellbeing profiles. Probably, exits out of or entrance into self employment is related to changes in health and work environment. Mechanisms, the number of transitions, and the temporal order will be explored in our study. Limitations: The limitations of this study lie in the exploratory nature of the analysis, and more studies will be needed to further validate any found profiles. Relevance to congress theme: This study is relevant to the first theme of the congress: Careers and the labour market. Specifically, career transitions and employee mobility. With regard to the UN SDG, our study addresses good health and wellbeing and decent work and economic growth. Conclusions: Exact conclusions will depend on the findings, but the study is one of the first to focus on health profiles of self-employed workers, and ways in which these workers’ mental health and wellbeing changes in relation to ERI and decisions to change employment. The results will yield a better understanding of how self-employed workers thrive or struggle, and how to identify the ones that struggle. This will also help to discuss potential possibilities to create better circumstances or preventive tools to shape decent work and sustainability of careers that involve self employment.
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| 5. |
- Bergman, Louise E., et al.
(författare)
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Well-being of high skilled workers : Disentangling person and tasks effects
- 2022
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Ingår i: 15th EAOHP Conference 2022. Supporting knowledge comparison to promote good practice in occupational health psychology. - Nottingham : European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology. - 9780992878665 ; , s. 564-565
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Research goals and why the work was worth doing: Research of well-being and positive affect of workers have previous mainly been focused on a general level. These previous studies have not yet disentangled whether positive affect can be linked to task-by-task experience at work, or whether it mainly varies between different people with different types of work. The purpose of this study was to differentiate between the general level, task level, and type of employment in self-determination, meaningfulness of work and positive affect, thus contributing to the understanding of how to best assess well-being. The novelty and contribution of this study lies in the analysis strategy that allows for disentangling the effect that specific work tasks may have on workers' positive affect. Specifically, the use of multi-level modelling on the data gathered with the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) allows us to describe relationships between positive affect, self-determination, and meaningfulness of work at both person and task level. Multilevel studies assessing the intrapersonal variability of experienced well-being on not only a day-level, but also a task level, are rare and much needed to better understand the dynamics of well-being during a workday.Theoretical background: Researchers have connected positive affect – which represents momentary well-being experiences such as happiness, engagement, and inspiration – to high levels of general well-being and better health. High levels of positive affect is often attributed to higher levels of self-determination, and meaningfulness of work. Workers experiencing more self-determination and meaningfulness of work should experience more positive affect, and tasks experienced as more self-determined and meaningful should lead to more positive affect. Additionally, self-employed workers are suggested to have a more self-determined career choice in itself, and thus higher levels of positive affect.Design/Methodology/Approach/Intervention: In this study we tested whether H1) workers experiencing more self-determination and meaningfulness of work report higher levels of positive affect, H2) tasks experienced as more self-determined and meaningful are related to more positive affect, and H3) self-employed workers experience stronger relationships of task level self-determination and meaningfulness with positive affect than employed workers. We used a sample of 175 high skilled self-employed and employed workers, who reported self-determination, meaningfulness of work and positive affect for a total of 560 tasks during a workday by the DRM. DRM facilitates access to momentary experiences stored in memory, providing reliable estimates of intensity and variations of affect during the day. First, we tested two separate multilevel multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) models for momentary positive affect (outcome side of the model), as well as self-determination and meaningfulness of tasks (predictor side of the model), and then tested the models for measurement invariance. Since tasks were nested within individuals we fitted a bayesian structural equation model with random slopes with self-determination and meaningfulness of work and employment type as predictors and positive affect as an outcome variable.Results obtained: Results indicated that workers experiencing more self-determination and meaningfulness of work reported more positive affect, that tasks experienced as more self-determined also elicited higher levels of positive affect, and that there was a small positive effect of self employment on positive affect. The self-determination and meaningfulness of tasks seem to be more important to positive affect than employment type. The relationship between self employment on positive affect have been assumed by earlier research, but our study is the first to test and show that this indeed may be the case. However, other factors such as self-determination might be more important to task level positive affect.Limitations: We studied high-skilled worker, choosing this population facilitated comparison of groups of workers, as many background variables were similar, however, this does affect the generalizability of the results. As consequence, one limitation is that a fairly small sample. Further, we used DRM and a drawback of this method is that it is not in the moment assessment, but rather recorded after the tasks of the day. However, DRM still have practical benefits as it might elevate the response rate in contrast to in the moment reports, because it is difficult for the respondent to make pauses during their workday.Research/Practical Implications: These findings may inform researchers on how to best assess well-being, and organizations on how to design work of workers to elevate positive affect and thus, well-being, and health. We have empirically confirmed the assumptions of a positive relationship between self employment and positive affect of previous studies, and that this relationship might be less important than other factors such as self-determination.Originality/Value: The originality of this research lies in the multi-level structure of the method and analysis, as well as the comparison of groups of workers.
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| 6. |
- Bernhard-Oettel, Claudia, et al.
(författare)
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Flourish, fight or flight : health in self-employment over time-associations with individual and business resources
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health. - 0340-0131 .- 1432-1246. ; 97, s. 263-278
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Using COR theory to study developments of health and other key resources in self-employed workers in Sweden over 6 years, this study: (1) explored whether the heterogenous group of self-employed workers contained subgroups with different health trajectories, (2) investigated whether these were more typical for certain individuals (with respect to age, gender, sector, education, employment status), and (3) compared the different health trajectories regarding resource development in mental well-being, business resources, employment status, work ability. Method: The study used data from the Swedish longitudinal occupational survey of health (SLOSH) and included participants working as self-employed or combiner (N = 2642). Result: Five trajectories were identified with latent class growth curve model analysis (LCGM). Two health trajectories with (1) very good, respective (2) good stable health (together comprising 78.5% of the participants), (3) one with moderate stable health (14.8%), (4) one with a U-shaped form (1.9%), and (5) one with low, slightly increasing health (4.7%). The first two trajectories flourish: they maintained or increased in all key resources and were more likely to remain self-employed. Trajectories three and five consist of those who fight to maintain or increase their resources. Workers in the U-shaped health trajectory show signs of fight and flight after loss in health and other key resources. Conclusions: Studying subgroups with different resource developments over time was suitable to understand heterogeneity in self-employed workers. It also helped to identify vulnerable groups that may benefit from interventions to preserve their resources.
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| 7. |
- Kortenkamp, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Removing Critical Gaps in Chemical Test Methods by Developing New Assays for the Identification of Thyroid Hormone System-Disrupting Chemicals-The ATHENA Project
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. - : MDPI. - 1661-6596 .- 1422-0067. ; 21:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The test methods that currently exist for the identification of thyroid hormone system-disrupting chemicals are woefully inadequate. There are currently no internationally validated in vitro assays, and test methods that can capture the consequences of diminished or enhanced thyroid hormone action on the developing brain are missing entirely. These gaps put the public at risk and risk assessors in a difficult position. Decisions about the status of chemicals as thyroid hormone system disruptors currently are based on inadequate toxicity data. The ATHENA project (Assays for the identification of Thyroid Hormone axis-disrupting chemicals: Elaborating Novel Assessment strategies) has been conceived to address these gaps. The project will develop new test methods for the disruption of thyroid hormone transport across biological barriers such as the blood-brain and blood-placenta barriers. It will also devise methods for the disruption of the downstream effects on the brain. ATHENA will deliver a testing strategy based on those elements of the thyroid hormone system that, when disrupted, could have the greatest impact on diminished or enhanced thyroid hormone action and therefore should be targeted through effective testing. To further enhance the impact of the ATHENA test method developments, the project will develop concepts for better international collaboration and development in the area of thyroid hormone system disruptor identification and regulation.
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