| 1. |
- Dahlgren, Sven-Olof, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Prosodic traits in speech produced by children with autism spectrum disorders – Perceptual and acoustic measurements
- 2018
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Ingår i: Autism & Developmental Language Impairments. - : SAGE Publications. - 2396-9415. ; 3, s. 1-10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Autism spectrum disorder has been associated with atypical voice characteristics and prosody. In the scientific literature, four different aspects of atypical speech production in autism spectrum disorder have been highlighted; voice quality together with the prosodic aspects pitch, duration and intensity. Studies of prosody in autism spectrum disorder have almost exclusively used perceptual methods. Recently, some studies have used acoustic analyses. In these studies, it has been pointed out that the acoustic differences found are not necessarily perceived as atypical by listeners, which is why it is important to let listeners evaluate perceptual correlates to acoustic findings. The aims of this study were to use both perceptual and acoustic analyses to study prosodic production in children with autism spectrum disorder and to examine if voice and speech characteristics could be used as clinical markers for autism spectrum disorder. Method: Eleven children within normal range of intelligence diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and 11 children with typical development participated. Every child was recorded telling a story elicited with the expression, reception and recall of narrative instrument. Excerpts of one minute were extracted from the audio files creating the material underlying the perceptual ratings and in the acoustic analysis. An evaluation procedure, partly based on a standardized voice evaluation procedure developed for clinical practice in Sweden, was designed for the perceptual judgments and analysis. To capture critical prosodic variables, aspects of prosody based on characteristic features of Swedish prosody, prosodic features known to cause Swedish children with language impairment particular problems and current research of prosodic impairments in children with autism, were used as rating variables. The acoustic analysis was based on the four variables fundamental frequency (fo) average, fo range, fo variation and speech rate, together with the language production-related variable number of words per utterance. Results: In the acoustic analysis, no differences were found with regards to fo-related variables or speech rate. However, the children in the autism spectrum disorder-group produced significantly more words per utterance than the typically developing children. The perceptual analysis showed no differences between the groups. Only three children with autism spectrum disorder were correctly identified as such. The narrative ability of these children, according to scores on the narrative assessment profile, was poorer than that of the other eight children. They were also more atypical in fluency and in speech rate. Given the small sample, the results should be interpreted with caution. Conclusions and implications: The only difference in prosodic production discovered in the acoustic analysis, namely that children with autism spectrum disorder used more words per utterance than the children in the comparison group, was not detected in the perceptual assessment. This implies that it was not perceived as atypical by expert listeners. The results indicate difficulties in using voice and speech characteristics as markers of autism spectrum disorder in clinical settings. The correct identification of some of the children as having autism spectrum disorder or not also indicates that some children with autism spectrum disorder have a prosodic production sufficiently ‘atypical’ in combination with a limited ability to tell stories to be perceived.
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| 2. |
- Fu, Huamei, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Changes in the ratio between FPR and FPRL1 triggered superoxide production in human neutrophils-a tool in analysing receptor specific events
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Immunological Methods. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-1759. ; 331:1-2, s. 50-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neutrophils express the G protein-coupled N-formyl peptide receptor (FPR) as well as its closely related homologue, formyl peptide like receptor 1 (FPRL1), and activation of these receptors induce a release of superoxide anions. The magnitude of the responses induced by the two peptide agonists fMLF and WKYMVM, specific for FPR and FPRL1, respectively, was found to be very variable in different neutrophil populations. The ratio between the FPR and FPRL1 triggered respiratory burst was, however, very constant and close to 1. The ratio was changed in neutrophils that were desensitized as well as when the signaling through either of the receptors was inhibited by receptor specific antagonists or by a PIP(2) binding peptide. The FPR/FPRL1 ratio was not changed in primed neutrophils or in differentiated HL-60 cells. We show that the change in the ratio, calculated from the amount of radical release in neutrophils triggered with FPR and FPRL1 specific agonists can be used as a valuable tool to find/identify receptor specific/selective changes mediated by peptides/proteins/drugs, as well as to identify cells from patients or groups of patients that diverge from normal cells in their FPR/FPRL1 triggered functions.
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| 3. |
- Svensson, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Interplay between signaling via the formyl peptide receptor (FPR) and chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3) in human eosinophils.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of leukocyte biology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1938-3673 .- 0741-5400. ; 86:2, s. 327-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Eosinophils express the chemoattractant receptors CCR3 and FPR. CCR3 binds several agonists such as eotaxin-1, -2, and -3 and RANTES, whereas the FPR binds the formylated tripeptide fMLP and a host of other ligands. The aim of this study was to investigate if there is interplay between these two receptors regarding the elicitation of migration and respiratory burst in human blood-derived eosinophils. Inhibition of the FPR with the antagonists CyH and boc-MLP abrogated the migration of eosinophils toward all of the CCR3 agonists. Similar results were seen when the FPR was desensitized with its cognate ligand, fMLP. In contrast, the respiratory burst triggered by eotaxin-1 was not inhibited by CyH. Thus, signals evoked via the FPR caused unidirectional down-regulation of CCR3-mediated chemotaxis but not respiratory burst in human eosinophils. The underlying mechanism was neither reduced ability of the CCR3 ligand eotaxin-1 to bind to CCR3 nor down-regulation of CCR3 from the cell surface. Finally, confocal microscopy and adFRET analysis ruled out homo- or heterodimer formation between FPR and/or CCR3 as an explanation for the reduction in chemotaxis via CCR3. Pharmacologic inhibition of signal transduction molecules showed that the release of free oxygen radicals in response to eotaxin-1 compared with fMLP is relatively more dependent on the p38 MAPK pathway.
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| 4. |
- Alizadehgharib, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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The Immunomodulatory Properties of 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate are Mediated by the NLRP3 Inflammasome.
- 2018
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Ingår i: The journal of adhesive dentistry. - 1461-5185. ; 20:3, s. 213-220
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The methacrylate monomer 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), commonly used in dentistry, has multiple effects on the immune system. This study examined whether HEMA affects the immune system by inducing formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and the human monocyte cell line THP1 were cultured with or without 1000 μM HEMA. To block NLRP3 inflammasome activation, 130 mM KCl was also added to some of the cultures. For the in vivo studies, two different experimental setups were used. In the first experimental setup, mice were injected subcutaneously at the base of the tail with 20 μmol HEMA with or without 100 mM KCl. After 3 weeks, the animals were given an identical booster injection. Two weeks after the last injection, the mice were sacrificed and splenectomized. In the second experimental setup, HEMA (20 μmol), with or without 100 mM KCl, was injected subcutaneously into the tails of BALB/c mice. The mice were given two similar injections at 3-week intervals to allow evaluation of the local inflammation induced by HEMA. After the last inoculation, the injection site was examined daily for 4 days, after which the mice were sacrificed.Cultures of PBMCs and THP1 cells exposed to HEMA in vitro produced more IL-1ß and IL-18 than did control cells. Increased extracellular concentration of KCl inhibited the secretion of IL-1ß. HEMA exposure did not induce cytokine production in variants of the THP1 cell line unable to form the NLRP3 inflammasome. For the first experimental setup, the level of unstimulated basic splenocyte proliferation in vitro was significantly higher in cultures from mice exposed in vivo to HEMA only than in cultures from mice injected with HEMA plus KCl. In the second experimental setup of the in vivo studies, the HEMA-treated mice developed more pronounced inflammation at the site of injection compared to the group of mice given HEMA plus KCl.HEMA affects the immune system by inducing formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.
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| 5. |
- Almqvist, Anna-Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Papporna och motiven : Den svenska föräldraledigheten i ett geografiskt perspektiv
- 2010
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Syftet var att undersöka attityder, beteendemönster och erfarenheter hos föräldrapar i två län, när det gäller uttag av föräldrapenning. I de ingående länen har Västerbotten det högsta och Skåne det lägsta uttaget av föräldrapenning bland fäder. Två kommuner med högt och lågt föräldrapenninguttag bland fäder studerades i respektive län, Umeå och Lycksele samt Lund och Tomelilla. Metodologin var inspirerad av grounded theory. Data omfattade 32 intervjuer med fäder och mödrar, 20 intervjuer med nyckelpersoner inom Försäkringskassan, mödravården, kommunen och företag samt statistik över kommunernas befolknings- och näringslivsstruktur. Intervjuerna genomfördes under 2008. Resultaten visar ett tydligare mönster av mer traditionell arbetsdelning av hushållssysslorna bland Skåne- jämfört med Västerbottensparen. Samma mönster gäller även vid jämförelse mellan kommunerna med lågt respektive högt uttag. En mer positiv attityd till föräldraförsäkringen finns i kommunerna med högt föräldrapenninguttag bland fäder jämfört med de med lågt uttag. En förklaring kan vara att förändringar tenderar att uppträda först i heterogena miljöer med en relativt ung och välutbildad befolkning där olika normsystem konkurrerar med varandra, vilket gäller Umeå och Lund. I Västerbotten har Försäkringskassan, landstinget och företag haft kampanjer för män under 1990-talet vilket sannolikt har bidragit positivt till fäders uttag. Fäder i de bägge länen uttrycker positiva upplevelser av att ha varit föräldralediga. Ett dominerande intryck är att arbetsgivarna har en tillåtande attityd till fäders önskan om att vara föräldralediga.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Almqvist, Anna-Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Parental leave in Sweden : Motives, perceptions and gender equality among parents
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper investigated Swedish parents’ motives for, experiences of and gender equality in relation to paid parental leave. The purpose was to explore similarities and differences in attitudes and experiences between parents in the two regions in Sweden with the largest difference in paid parental leave use among fathers. Data were drawn from interviews completed in 2008 with 16 heterosexual couples with a child born 2005 or 2006. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed according to grounded theory. In terms of experiences of the leave, a positive similarity in the study was that the couples described that they got to know the child better. Some negative similarities were that they felt they were alone and restricted. Primarily, the fathers in the northern part, focused on the lack of male networks. A traditional division of labor was a stronger pattern among couples in the southern region compared with the couples in the northern region. Tendencies are indicated towards an increased child-orientation, which could be connected with a change in hegemonic masculinity. In conclusion, the differences discovered between the four communities may to a great extent be depending on a cultural lag. This implied that change in values tend to take place first in social environments with multiple heterogeneous actors.
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