| 1. |
- Hägglund, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of an Experimental Vaccine for Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus
- 2014
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Ingår i: Clinical and Vaccine Immunology. - 1556-6811 .- 1556-679X. ; 21:7, s. 997-1004
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) are major causes of respiratory disease in calves and children, respectively, and are priorities for vaccine development. We previously demonstrated that an experimental vaccine, BRSV-immunostimulating complex (ISCOM), is effective in calves with maternal antibodies. The present study focuses on the antigenic characterization of this vaccine for the design of new-generation subunit vaccines. The results of our study confirmed the presence of membrane glycoprotein (G), fusion glycoprotein (F), and nucleoprotein (N) proteins in the ISCOMs, and this knowledge was extended by the identification of matrix (M), M2-1, phosphoprotein (P), small hydrophobic protein (SH) and of cellular membrane proteins, such as the integrins alpha(V)beta(1), alpha(V)beta(3), and alpha(3)beta(1). The quantity of the major protein F was 4- to 5-fold greater than that of N (similar to 77 mu g versus similar to 17 mu g/calf dose), whereas G, M, M2-1, P, and SH were likely present in smaller amounts. The polymerase (L), M2-2, nonstructural 1 (NS1), and NS2 proteins were not detected, suggesting that they are not essential for protection. Sera from the BRSV-ISCOM-immunized calves contained high titers of IgG antibody specific for F, G, N, and SH. Antibody responses against M and P were not detected; however, this does not exclude their role in protective T-cell responses. The absence of immunopathological effects of the cellular proteins, such as integrins, needs to be further confirmed, and their possible contribution to adjuvant functions requires elucidation. This work suggests that a combination of several surface and internal proteins should be included in subunit RSV vaccines and identifies absent proteins as potential candidates for differentiating infected from vaccinated animals.
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| 2. |
- Ahlinder, J., et al.
(författare)
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Use of metagenomic microbial source tracking to investigate the source of a foodborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis
- 2022
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Ingår i: FOOD AND WATERBORNE PARASITOLOGY. - : Elsevier. - 2405-6766. ; 26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite of global public health importance that causes gastroenteritis in a variety of vertebrate hosts, with many human outbreaks reported yearly, often from ingestion of contaminated water or food. Despite the major public health implications, little is typically known about sources of contamination of disease outbreaks caused by Cryptosporidium. Here, we study a national foodborne outbreak resulted from infection with Cryptosporidium parvum via romaine lettuce, with the main goal to trace the source of the parasite. To do so, we combined traditional outbreak investigation methods with molecular detection and characterization methods (i.e. PCR based typing, amplicon and shotgun sequencing) of romaine lettuce samples collected at the same farm from which the contaminated food was produced. Using 18S rRNA typing, we detected C. parvum in two out of three lettuce samples, which was supported by detections in the metagenome analysis. Microbial source tracking analysis of the lettuce samples suggested sewage water as a likely source of the contamination, albeit with some uncertainty. In addition, the high degree of overlap in bacterial species content with a public human gut microbial database corroborated the source tracking results. The combination of traditional and molecular based methods applied here is a promising tool for future source tracking investigations of food- and waterborne outbreaks of Cryptosporidium spp. and can help to control and mitigate contamination risks.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Anderson, Jenna, et al.
(författare)
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Purification, Stability, and Immunogenicity Analyses of Five Bluetongue Virus Proteins for Use in Development of a Subunit Vaccine That Allows Differentiation of Infected from Vaccinated Animals
- 2014
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Ingår i: Clinical and Vaccine Immunology. - 1556-6811 .- 1556-679X. ; 21:3, s. 443-452
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes bluetongue disease, a vector-borne disease of ruminants. The recent northerly spread of BTV serotype 8 in Europe resulted in outbreaks characterized by clinical signs in cattle, including unusual teratogenic effects. Vaccination has been shown to be crucial for controlling the spread of vector-borne diseases such as BTV. With the aim of developing a novel subunit vaccine targeting BTV-8 that allows differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals, five His-tagged recombinant proteins, VP2 and VP5 of BTV-8 and NS1, NS2, and NS3 of BTV-2, were expressed in baculovirus or Escherichia coli expression systems for further study. Optimized purification protocols were determined for VP2, NS1, NS2, and NS3, which remained stable for detection for at least 560 to 610 days of storage at +4 degrees C or -80 degrees C, and Western blotting using sera from vaccinated or experimentally infected cattle indicated that VP2 and NS2 were recognized by BTV-specific antibodies. To characterize murine immune responses to the four proteins, mice were subcutaneously immunized twice at a 4-week interval with one of three protein combinations plus immunostimulating complex ISCOM-Matrix adjuvant or with ISCOM-Matrix alone (n = 6 per group). Significantly higher serum IgG antibody titers specific for VP2 and NS2 were detected in immunized mice than were detected in controls. VP2, NS1, and NS2 but not NS3 induced specific lymphocyte proliferative responses upon restimulation of spleen cells from immunized mice. The data suggest that these recombinant purified proteins, VP2, NS1, and NS2, could be an important part of a novel vaccine design against BTV-8.
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| 5. |
- Ask, Magnus, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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A comparison between simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) of spruce and giant reed using two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains
- 2010
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Ingår i: Society for Industrial Microbiology, 60th annual meeting.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- For significant fermentative conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has proved to be a robust organism, albeit inter-strain variations may have a big influence on process performance. In this study, two S. cerevisiae strains were evaluated for their ability to ferment two different lignocellulosic raw materials, giant reed and spruce at 10 % water insoluble solids (WIS). One industrial strain, Ethanol Red, and one laboratory strain carrying the XR/XDH pathway, VTT C-10880, were used. The process concept may also affect the choice of the most suitable strain. Therefore, two principal process concepts, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) were evaluated.The ethanol yield on giant reed based on total soluble sugars in the SHF was higher for VTT C-10880 than for Ethanol Red. On spruce, the yield of ethanol was higher for Ethanol Red. In SSF of giant reed, VTT C-10880 performed better in terms of the ethanol yield based on total sugars in fibres and liquid. However, the ethanol yield on spruce was higher for Ethanol Red than for VTT C-10880, which only produced a minor amount of ethanol. Spruce was more inhibitory than giant reed. Ethanol Red is more robust and converted the inhibitory substances in the pretreated materials faster, and is therefore a suitable industrial strain background for fermentation of both spruce and giant reed. Interestingly, VTT C-10880 performed better in SHF than SSF, primarily due to better xylose conversion in SHF.
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| 6. |
- Axelsson, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Entrepreneurial Learning in Education : Preschool as a Take-Off for the Entrepreneurial Self
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Education and Training. - : Macrothink Institute, Inc.. - 2330-9709. ; 2:2, s. 40-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently the phenomenon of entrepreneurship by political aspirations has entered the school setting. This is a world-wide development affecting education in practice and theory. In 2009 the Swedish Government launched a strategy stating that entrepreneurship should run like a common thread through the educational system. Since childhood is considered the ideal stage to influence attitudes towards entrepreneurship, and preschool constitutes the beginning of this publicly imposed “red thread”, this setting is of particular interest. In school practice the concept of entrepreneurship is translated into entrepreneurial learning. In this study we seek to investigate what characterises entrepreneurial learning in a preschool context according to preschool teachers by conducting both critical incident questionnaires and an in-depth interview using stimulated recall method. The empirical results suggest that entrepreneurial learning has developed the preschool teachers’ educational discussions and has affected the children’s entrepreneurial skills. Further, when analysing the material as to what supports and hinders a positive entrepreneurial learning situation, four main themes emerged: ongoing reflection, active participation, a meaningful learning situation and a tolerant atmosphere.
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| 7. |
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Developing Entrepreneurial Skills in Compulsory Education- Initial Challenges with Which, How and Progression
- 2019
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Proceedings (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- The worldwide need and request for a workforce equipped with thorough high qualitativeknowledge but also a capability to use it in complex situations, has become the entrance ticketfor entrepreneurial skills entering the Swedish compulsory education. Thus, schools play an important role providing a space for individuals practicing these skills, being for instance able to see opportunities and make something from them, being initiative, self-confident, risktaking, creative and problem solving. With the aim to increase the knowledge of how entrepreneurial skills unfolds as part of the education at earlier ages, this mainly qualitative study follows a novel attempt to build a common thread of entrepreneurial skills from preschool to grade nine, in a small mid-Swedish municipality during 2018. Focusing on initial challenges, the findings show the teachers struggle with both content, methods and progression. Related to the curricula’s formulation arena, there is a discrepancy between this and the teachers’ transformation and realisation arena. This suggests theydo not always do what the curricula stipulate or they themselves classify as most important,they generally seem to struggle to link their subjects to entrepreneurial skills and there is a lack of progression between grades and in transitions between school levels.
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| 8. |
- Engdahl, Karin, 1958-
(författare)
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Förskolegården : En pedagogisk miljö för barns möten, delaktighet och inflytande
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is the result of a study that considers children’s encounters with others; participation and influence in a pedagogical outdoor environment in three different preschool playgrounds. More specifically, a study is under-taken of how children’s encounters are shaped in the pedagogically adapted outdoor environment of the preschool with the focus on how children’s par-ticipation and influence finds expression in the preschool playground’s dif-ferent facilities. The physical environment is seen as meaningful and the focus is on which affordances arise in the physical environment related to facility. The study’s theoretical approach is based mainly on G. H. Mead’s social psychological theory and the meeting with the other which is com-bined with theories that call attention to the significance of the facility. An ethnographic method has been applied. By way of two years’ field studies, with a total of 78 days spent in the three different environments, data has been collected through observations and photography and by listening to, and talking with, children and preschool teachers. To participate in the chil-dren’s everyday life has been a precondition for understanding children’s different encounters and meeting places in the preschool playgrounds. On the basis of the analysed results, the study shows that all three preschool playgrounds had pedagogical outdoor environments which were designed so that the majority of the facilities gave a variety of offerings, something that contributed to different children being able to relate to, and find, their own affordances in different facilities. The results of the study also show that the majority of preschool children in the studied activities were socially compe-tent and good negotiators. Thereby, they were shown to have good precondi-tions for participating and exercising influence in the day-to-day outdoor activities. At the same time, the study results demonstrate that the children’s agency and interaction at all three preschool playgrounds are determined on the basis of the level of recognition they received in their encounter with other children and in the encounter with teachers.
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| 9. |
- Engström, Karin, 1949-
(författare)
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Delaktighet under tvång : om ungdomars erfarenheter i barn- och ungdomspsykiatrisk slutenvård
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Participation under coercion. On young people’s experiences in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care. The aim of the dissertation is to study young people’s experiences of participation under coercion in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care and to discuss these in relationship to the potential senses of participation and the conditions applying to encounters in care. It takes as its theoretical point of departure Gadamer’s texts on medical encounters, von Wright’s texts on participation as an intersubjective phenomenon that is related to the creation of meaning and Buber’s texts on interhuman encounters. The dissertation is based on two empirical studies. The first consisted of interviews with 21 young people in the 14-18 age group who were patients in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care; ten of them involuntarily, eleven voluntarily admitted. The interviews dealt with the following areas: coercion, participation, meaning and encounters in care. The second study involved an analysis of the ambitions of the health care system with regard to participation and encounters with patients as expressed in the legal regulations applying to the health and medical services and the guidelines on professional ethics for different categories of staff. Analysis of the empirical material was based on a hermeneutic approach. The young people’s experiences of their care revealed that they rarely have any knowledge of the legal conditions that apply or about their rights, irrespective of whether they are voluntary or committed patients. One recurrent experience is lack of clarity about the reason for the treatment and what it is intended to do. Despite these shortcomings in their participation, some of the young people view their treatment as important and at times even lifesaving. Analysis of the ambitions of the health care system shows that the focus in the current regulations is placed on the self-determination and autonomy of the patients. There is rarely any description of the importance of a dialogue or of collaboration with the patient. Analysis of the material as a whole reveals that three senses can be attributed to participation in the care situation studied: participation as a right, participation as involvement and participation as meaning. The dissertation discusses how participation in these three senses can find expression in encounters between young people and staff. If participation is to be possible, a relation and an interhuman encounter is required which is characterised by truth, frankness and lack of pretence. This shows how important it is for young people undergoing coercive treatment to be able to meet individuals who can see and acknowledge them as subjects with an entitlement to participate. This can offer possibilities for the creation of meaning in treatment that has not always been sought but which can still be experienced as meaningful.
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| 10. |
- Franzén, Karin
(författare)
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”Is i magen och ett varmt hjärta” : Konstruktionen av skolledarskap i ett könsperspektiv
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to investigate the discursive construction of school leadership in a gender perspective and the meanings attached to school leadership. Theoretically, I draw on discourse analysis, and feminist poststructuralist theories have been my source of inspiration. Discourse, subjectivity, subject positions and power are key concepts applied to the analysis of the data. Four male and four female school leaders representing eight primary and secondary schools were interviewed. Furthermore, interviews were carried out with two teachers at each of these schools: in total nine female and seven male teachers were interviewed.The leaders and teachers talk about leadership in relation to four different arenas, which I have labelled the teachers’, the children’s, the parents’ and the societal arena respectively. Three main positions have been identified for the school leaders: (1) the supporter, (2) the manager and (3) the pedagogical leader. Most of the statements deal with the relation to the teachers, whereas the parents’ arena is not much talked about.As for gender, both male and female school leaders construct themselves as leaders in rather similar ways. Both men and women activate the three positions in similar ways. Women do not repeat the supporter position more often than men, and men do not position themselves as managers more frequently than women. This indicates that traditional gender discourses do not govern the school leaders’ talk about school leadership. For the position of pedagogical leader, some gender differences have been distinguished. The men position themselves as pedagogical leaders, whose mission it is to take the lead in pedagogical issues, whilst the women talk about the importance of evaluating and reflecting on their pedagogical leadership. Gender discourses seem to affect the way teachers construct school leadership, as male leaders who act as supporters are sometimes positioned as deviant. Instead, especially female teachers expect their male leader to act as a manager. Furthermore, the female teachers construct female school leaders as supporters to a higher extent than the male teachers.
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