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| 2. |
- Hansen, S., et al.
(författare)
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Prevalence and management of severe asthma in the Nordic countries: findings from the NORDSTAR cohort
- 2023
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Ingår i: ERJ Open Research. - : European Respiratory Society (ERS). - 2312-0541. ; 9:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Real-life evidence on prevalence and management of severe asthma is limited. Nationwide population registries across the Nordic countries provide unique opportunities to describe prevalence and management patterns of severe asthma at population level. In nationwide register data from Sweden, Norway and Finland, we examined the prevalence of severe asthma and the proportion of severe asthma patients being managed in specialist care. Methods This is a cross-sectional study based on the Nordic Dataset for Asthma Research (NORDSTAR) research collaboration platform. We identified patients with severe asthma in adults (aged >= 18 years) and in children (aged 6-17 years) in 2018 according to the European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society definition. Patients managed in specialist care were those with an asthma-related specialist outpatient contact (only available in Sweden and Finland). Results Overall, we identified 598 242 patients with current asthma in Sweden, Norway and Finland in 2018. Among those, the prevalence of severe asthma was 3.5%, 5.4% and 5.2% in adults and 0.4%, 1.0%, and 0.3% in children in Sweden, Norway and Finland, respectively. In Sweden and Finland, 37% and 40% of adult patients with severe asthma and two or more exacerbations, respectively, were managed in specialist care; in children the numbers were 56% and 41%, respectively. Conclusion In three Nordic countries, population-based nationwide data demonstrated similar prevalence of severe asthma. In children, severe asthma was a rare condition. Notably, a large proportion of patients with severe asthma were not managed by a respiratory specialist, suggesting the need for increased recognition of severe asthma in primary care.
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| 3. |
- Plunkett, M. A., et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of the adsorption of different charge density polyelectrolytes : A quartz crystal microbalance and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study
- 2003
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Ingår i: Langmuir. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0743-7463 .- 1520-5827. ; 19:11, s. 4673-4681
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The adsorption of a series of six cationic polyelectrolytes onto a gold surface was monitored via a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D). The series of polyelectrolytes were chemically similar but differing in the ratio of two randomly ordered constituent monomers, one of which was charged, the other neutral. Thus the series of polyelectrolytes differed systematically in their charge densities, ranging from a high charge density (100% of monomers charged) to a low charge density (1% charged). It was determined that high charge density polyelectrolytes adsorbed in a relatively flat and rigid layer, while the low charge density polyelectrolyte, as expected, adsorbed in a much more extended structure that coupled strongly to the bulk solvent. By comparison to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results, we have also calculated the relative solvent mass hydrodynamically coupled to the adsorbed polymer, which ranges from almost 80% solvent for the 1% charged case down to close to zero for the 100% charged case. Since the QCM-D results are measured relative to uncoated gold in aqueous solution, the latter results should be interpreted as showing that the amount of water hydrodynamically coupled to gold and that coupled to gold coated with the 100% charged polyelectrolyte is very similar. It is believed that this systematic study on the effect of polyelectrolyte structure on the measured dissipation change in the QCM-D may serve as a first guide when inferring structural and viscoelastic information based solely on the QCM-D technique for other similar systems. In addition, a preliminary study on the ability of one polymer to replace another preadsorbed polymer layer was conducted that showed that a steric layer was able to prevent the adsorption of a thermodynamically more favorable polymer. In the reverse case, greater exchange was possible.
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| 4. |
- von Büllow, A., et al.
(författare)
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Severe asthma trajectories in adults: findings from the NORDSTAR cohort
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Respiratory Journal. - : European Respiratory Society. - 0903-1936 .- 1399-3003. ; 62:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background There is limited evidence on the pathways leading to severe asthma and we are presently unable to effectively predict the progression of the disease. We aimed to describe the longitudinal trajectories leading to severe asthma and to describe clinical events preceding disease progression in a nationwide population of patients with severe asthma.Methods We conducted an observational study based on Swedish data from the NORdic Dataset for aSThmA Research (NORDSTAR) research collaboration platform. We identified adult patients with severe asthma in 2018 according to the European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society definition and used latent class analysis to identify trajectories of asthma severity over a 10-year retrospective period from 2018.Results Among 169 128 asthma patients, we identified 4543 severe asthma patients. We identified four trajectories of severe asthma that were labelled as: trajectory 1 "consistently severe asthma" (n=389 (8.6%)), trajectory 2 "gradual onset severe asthma" (n=942 (20.7%)), trajectory 3 "intermittent severe asthma" (n=1685 (37.1%)) and trajectory 4 "sudden onset severe asthma" (n=1527 (33.6%)). "Consistently severe asthma" had a higher daily inhaled corticosteroid dose and more prevalent osteoporosis compared with the other trajectories. Patients with "gradual onset severe asthma" and "sudden onset severe asthma" developed type 2-related comorbidities concomitantly with development of severe asthma. In the latter group, this primarily occurred within 1-3 years preceding onset of severe asthma.Conclusions Four distinct trajectories of severe asthma were identified illustrating different patterns of progression of asthma severity. This may eventually enable the development of better preventive management strategies in severe asthma.
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| 5. |
- Bryne, Lars Elof, et al.
(författare)
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UV-laser irradiated wood : Some aspects on micromorphology, wettability, surface composition and liquid permeability
- 2008
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 4th meeting of the Nordic-Baltic network in wood material science and engineering (WSE). ; , s. 75-82
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many wood products used as building or construction materials involve a combination of the wood material with polymers, such as adhesives, coatings, preservatives and binders in composites. Combinations of wood and polymers in outdoor exposure, however, in general have poor long-term durability. A major cause of the unsatisfactory durability can be related to the high hygroscopicity of wood and the great difference in hygro-thermal properties between the components, resulting in wood-polymer de-bonding. In addition, mechanical processing (e.g. sawing, sanding and planning) of wood in general forms a weak boundary layer of loose and crushed wood cells in the surface which also may interfere with the wood-polymer bonding. The main objective of this work was to study ultra violet (EV), or excimer, laser irradiation on wood as a means to remove, by ablation, the outer deformed layer from a wood substrate. Effects of the UV-laser treatment on wetting and liquid permeability characteristics were studied by Wilhelmy plate experiments, and effects on the wood surface chemistry were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). The micromorphology of wood was studied by low vacuum-scanning electron microscopy (LV-SEM). The pre-treatment of wood substrates by UV-laser ablation resulted in a notable changes in surface micromorphology, liquid permeability, wettability and surface chemistry characteristics.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Englund, F., et al.
(författare)
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Spectroscopic studies of surface chemical composition and wettability of modified wood
- 2009
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Ingår i: Wood Material Science & Engineering. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1748-0272 .- 1748-0280. ; 4:1-2, s. 80-85
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent advances in spectroscopic methods used in the surface science field may provide new valuable information about the surface chemical composition of engineering materials. Such methods, combined with wettability analyses, have been applied in the development of well-designed adhesives and coating systems for newly developed and commercially available modified wood materials. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate and present some aspects on the application of two different state-of-the-art spectroscopic methods for surface chemical composition studies of a complex material such as modified wood. The methods are X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), the former generating more quantitative data and the latter more qualitative data. The spectroscopic data are also combined with wettability data obtained from contact angle measurements using the Wilhelmy method. Modified wood samples were prepared from pilot plant or commercially produced acetylated, furfurylated and thermally modified wood. Effects of wood surface ageing, i.e. the time after machining, on the surface chemical composition and wettability were also studied. Results clearly indicate a hydrophobization process due to ageing of the unmodified and certain modified wood, probably mainly related to a migration and reformation of extractives in the surface. The surface composition and wettability of acetylated wood was not appreciably affected by the ageing process. Such findings could be quantified by the XPS measurements, which is further discussed and related to the different wood modification routes. ToF- SIMS is a powerful tool and complementary to XPS for identification of, for example, specific hydrophobic substances in the wood surfaces. In addition, this method provides ion images, mapping the lateral distribution of selected secondary ions signals within an analysed wood surface area.
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| 8. |
- Ernstsson, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Two different approaches to XPS quantitative analysis of polyelectrolyte adsorption layers
- 2023
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Ingår i: Surface and Interface Analysis. - : Wiley. - 0142-2421 .- 1096-9918. ; 55:1, s. 26-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to quantify adsorption of polyelectrolytes from aqueous solutions of low ionic strength onto mica, glass, and silica. Silica surfaces were conditioned in base or in acid media as last pre-treatment step (silica-base last or silica-acid last, respectively). Consistency in the determined adsorbed amount, Γ, was obtained independent of the choice of XPS mode and with the two quantification approaches used in the data evaluation. Under the same adsorption conditions, the adsorbed amount, Γ, varied as Γmica > Γsilica-base last ≈ Γglass > Γsilica-acid last. In addition, the adsorbed amount increased with decreasing polyelectrolyte charge density (100% to 1% of segments being charged) for all substrates. Large adsorbed amount was measured for low-charge density polyelectrolytes, but the number of charged segments per square nanometer was low due to steric repulsion between polyelectrolyte chains that limited the adsorption. The adsorbed amount of highly charged polyelectrolytes was controlled by electrostatic interactions and thus limited to that needed to neutralize the substrate surface charge density. For silica, the adsorbed amount depended on the cleaning method, suggesting that this process influenced surface concentration and fraction of different silanol groups. Our results demonstrate that for silica, a higher density and/or more acidic silanol groups are formed using base, rather than acid, treatment in the last step.
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| 9. |
- Ernstsson, O., et al.
(författare)
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Health-related quality of life in patients with lower limb amputation - an assessment of the measurement properties of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L using data from the Swedish Amputation and Prosthetics Registry
- 2022
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Ingår i: Disability and Rehabilitation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0963-8288 .- 1464-5165. ; 44:26, s. 8471-8479
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose To assess the measurement properties of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L in patients with a major lower limb amputation (LLA). Methods This was a retrospective register-based study using data from the Swedish Amputation and Prosthetics Registry (SwedeAmp). Patients with a six-months follow-up (including either EQ-5D-3L or EQ-5D-5L) after a major unilateral LLA were included. The measurement properties of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L were compared in terms of feasibility, response patterns, informativity, and convergent and known-group validity. Results The sample included 700 patients with below-knee amputation (76%), above-knee amputation (18%), or knee disarticulation (7%). Responses to EQ-5D-3L and -5L were similar regarding feasibility (98% completion rate) and the proportion reporting no problems (7% and 6%). Compared to EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L showed higher absolute and relative informativity in all dimensions, with the largest improvement in the mobility dimension. In the analyses of convergent validity, the EQ-5D-5L generally showed stronger correlations with disease-specific measures. Only EQ-5D-5L was able to discriminate between subgroups with different amputation levels. Conclusion The findings support the use of EQ-5D-5L over EQ-5D-3L in patients with an LLA, mainly due to improved informativity and improved convergent and known-group validity.
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