| 1. |
- Mørch-Johnsen, Lynn, et al.
(författare)
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The neural correlates of negative symptoms in schizophrenia : examples from MRI literature
- 2018
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Ingår i: Clinical EEG and Neuroscience. - 1550-0594 .- 2169-5202. ; 49:1, s. 12-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have a negative impact on psychosocial functioning and disease outcome. It is therefore important to investigate the pathophysiology underlying negative symptoms as this may aid the development of better treatment. In the current article, examples from studies investigating neural correlates of negative symptoms in schizophrenia are given. Investigations using both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging are presented at different levels of symptomatology descriptions, from the more heterogenous construct of negative symptoms to more single discrete symptoms. Some methods to improve imaging studies of negative symptoms in schizophrenia are also suggested.
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| 2. |
- Aguiar Borges, Luciane, et al.
(författare)
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White Paper on Nordic Sustainable Cities
- 2017
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Rapid urbanisation is one of today’s biggest global challenges. Nordic Sustainable Cities is a flagship project under the Nordic Prime Ministers’ initiative Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges that seeks to shed light on this challenge from a Nordic perspective.The White Paper on Nordic Sustainable Cities develops a narrative to describe the “Nordic Sustainable City”. It forms a basis for the knowledge sharing effort that will be carried out by Nordic Innovation, Nordregio’s sister institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2018. This work aims to export Nordic stories as a means of branding the Nordic Region and contributing to global efforts towards urban sustainability.
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| 3. |
- Blunden, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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State of the Climate in 2012
- 2013
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Ingår i: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 94:8, s. S1-S258
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall.
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| 4. |
- Borges, Luciane Aguar, et al.
(författare)
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What Makes a Sustainable City?
- 2018
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Find inspirationin the Nordic cities. This booklet showcases the Nordic Sustainable Cities – giving you an insight into the shared practices that Nordic cities are using towards sustainable urban futures. The challenges that Nordic cities face – unsustainable resource consumption, pollution, homelessness, segregation, to name a few – are not unique to the region, but found all over the world. The Nordic region and its cities are on a journey towards sustainability, and we invite you to join us. This booklet is based on the White Paper on Nordic Sustainable Cities made by Nordregio. The booklet and the white paper has been made as part of the Nordic Sustainable Cities project. Nordic Sustainable Cities is one of six flagship projects under the Nordic prime ministers’ initiative Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges, which is coordinated by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
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| 5. |
- Johnsen, Ingrid Helene Garmann
(författare)
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Social Capital and Regional Innovation Systems : Bridging approaches and broadening understanding of knowledge sharing and innovation
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral thesis takes as a starting point that geographical location remains fundamental to gain competitive advantage for some types of firms and activities even though economic activity in general has become more global. The region is seen as the key level in which the innovative capability of firms is shaped, coordinated and governed. This is in line with the regional innovation systems (RIS) approach to innovation that has been widely accepted in economic geography literature the last decade. However, while there has been a focus on the regional factors that influence innovation activity in firms and industries, little attention has been given to the role of social capital for knowledge sourcing and knowledge transfer in regional industries. Thus, this doctoral thesis attempts to link the theoretical frameworks of social capital and regional innovation systems. It examines the specific types of social capital, understood as the institutions, relationships, attitudes and values that govern interaction among actors (individuals, firms and organizations) that are most relevant in stimulating innovation activity in firms in different regional settings. In doing so, the thesis attempts to contribute to our understanding of regional innovation by focusing on the nature of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and knowledge transfer within and between firms. This doctoral thesis is a collection of four articles that are designed in order to cover topics related to the main research question of the thesis, that is, social capital and regional innovation. The empirical part of this thesis stems from three case studies of regional industries in Norway. These case studies are reflected in the articles that follow the comprehensive summary. The cases were chosen in order address different aspects related to the overall topic of the thesis. The first case from the Agder region in Norway aims at using social capital theory in order to interpret the type and geography of knowledge flows between firms and external actors. The second case from the animation industry in Oslo aims at providing insight into the importance of social network relations in project based industries. And, last, the third case from fashion design in Oslo focuses on the localization requirements that drive creative processes in cultural industries. The study demonstrates that social capital theory can give insight into the nature of social relations and knowledge flow between firms and important actors. Theories on types of social capital, strength of ties and types of networks are important for understanding the nature of the social relations between individual actors. In addition social capital theory can be helpful in order to get a better understanding of the institutional context in which actors operate. Further more, the empirical studies have demonstrated that investments in network relations and the development of trust based relations facilitates the innovative capability of firms, and helps to organize and use the resources in the regional and extra-networks to enable and support the innovation- and knowledge creating activities. This argues for the implementation of social capital as an element in models on regional innovation systems in which knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer between actors are important elements.
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| 6. |
- Kutti, Tina, et al.
(författare)
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Quantification of eDNA to Map the Distribution of Cold-Water Coral Reefs
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Marine Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-7745. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An effective management of vulnerable marine ecosystems is dependent on thorough knowledge of their location. Multibeam bathymetric mapping and targeted remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys are currently used to map areas impacted by industrial activities when vulnerable species are expected. However, multibeam bathymetric mapping is not always a possibility and surveying large areas using ROVs is expensive. Here, we developed a species-specific eDNA assay targeting a 178 bp fragment in the control region of the mitochondrial DNA of the cold-water coral (CWC) Lophelia pertusa. The aim was to test if concentrations of L. pertusa eDNA in seawater, determined using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) technology, could be used to assess the broad scale distribution of CWCs in a region, to supplement multibeam mapping and direct targeted ROV surveys. Our assay successfully amplified L. pertusa DNA from seawater. In laboratory we documented an exponential decay rate of the targeted DNA fragment and a linear correlation between coral biomass and eDNA concentrations in flow through microcosms. The ability of the method to detect CWC reefs in situ was tested in the fjords south of Bergen, Norway, where such reefs are common. We tested five sites with, and five sites without, known reefs. Lophelia pertusa eDNA was detected in all 10 sites. However, concentrations were elevated by 5 to 10 times in water sampled off the two large reefs growing on vertical surfaces. Water sampled 10 m above CWC reefs growing on the flat seabed did not produce an equally clear eDNA signal, nor did single CWC colonies growing on vertical surfaces. Treating the eDNA as a passive particle with no active vertical or horizontal movement, we successfully modeled the dispersal of eDNA from the known CWC reefs in the region and achieved a good fit with measured eDNA concentrations. In all, our study demonstrated a great potential for eDNA measurements as a cost-efficient tool for a rapid screening of the broad scale distribution of CWC reefs growing on vertical surfaces (so called wall reefs) that cannot be imaged using traditional ship mounted downward looking multibeam echo-sounders and difficult to detect using ROVs alone.
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| 7. |
- Lundtoft, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Complement C4 Copy Number Variation is Linked to SSA/Ro and SSB/La Autoantibodies in Systemic Inflammatory Autoimmune Diseases
- 2022
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Ingår i: Arthritis & Rheumatology. - : Wiley. - 2326-5191 .- 2326-5205. ; 74:8, s. 1440-1450
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective Copy number variation of the C4 complement components, C4A and C4B, has been associated with systemic inflammatory autoimmune diseases. This study was undertaken to investigate whether C4 copy number variation is connected to the autoimmune repertoire in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary Sjogrens syndrome (SS), or myositis. Methods Using targeted DNA sequencing, we determined the copy number and genetic variants of C4 in 2,290 well-characterized Scandinavian patients with SLE, primary SS, or myositis and 1,251 healthy controls. Results A prominent relationship was observed between C4A copy number and the presence of SSA/SSB autoantibodies, which was shared between the 3 diseases. The strongest association was detected in patients with autoantibodies against both SSA and SSB and 0 C4A copies when compared to healthy controls (odds ratio [OR] 18.0 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 10.2-33.3]), whereas a weaker association was seen in patients without SSA/SSB autoantibodies (OR 3.1 [95% CI 1.7-5.5]). The copy number of C4 correlated positively with C4 plasma levels. Further, a common loss-of-function variant in C4A leading to reduced plasma C4 was more prevalent in SLE patients with a low copy number of C4A. Functionally, we showed that absence of C4A reduced the individuals capacity to deposit C4b on immune complexes. Conclusion We show that a low C4A copy number is more strongly associated with the autoantibody repertoire than with the clinically defined disease entities. These findings may have implications for understanding the etiopathogenetic mechanisms of systemic inflammatory autoimmune diseases and for patient stratification when taking the genetic profile into account.
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| 8. |
- Mørch-Johnsen, Lynn, et al.
(författare)
-
The neural correlates of negative symptoms in schizophrenia : examples from MRI literature
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Clinical EEG and Neuroscience. - : SAGE Publications Inc.. - 1550-0594 .- 2169-5202. ; 49:1, s. 12-17
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have a negative impact on psychosocial functioning and disease outcome. It is therefore important to investigate the pathophysiology underlying negative symptoms as this may aid the development of better treatment. In the current article, examples from studies investigating neural correlates of negative symptoms in schizophrenia are given. Investigations using both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging are presented at different levels of symptomatology descriptions, from the more heterogenous construct of negative symptoms to more single discrete symptoms. Some methods to improve imaging studies of negative symptoms in schizophrenia are also suggested.
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| 9. |
- Palmer, Nicholette D, et al.
(författare)
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A genome-wide association search for type 2 diabetes genes in African Americans.
- 2012
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Ingår i: PloS one. - San Francisco : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:1, s. e29202-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2DM) yet few studies have examined T2DM using genome-wide association approaches in this ethnicity. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with T2DM in the African American population. We performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) using the Affymetrix 6.0 array in 965 African-American cases with T2DM and end-stage renal disease (T2DM-ESRD) and 1029 population-based controls. The most significant SNPs (n = 550 independent loci) were genotyped in a replication cohort and 122 SNPs (n = 98 independent loci) were further tested through genotyping three additional validation cohorts followed by meta-analysis in all five cohorts totaling 3,132 cases and 3,317 controls. Twelve SNPs had evidence of association in the GWAS (P<0.0071), were directionally consistent in the Replication cohort and were associated with T2DM in subjects without nephropathy (P<0.05). Meta-analysis in all cases and controls revealed a single SNP reaching genome-wide significance (P<2.5×10(-8)). SNP rs7560163 (P = 7.0×10(-9), OR (95% CI) = 0.75 (0.67-0.84)) is located intergenically between RND3 and RBM43. Four additional loci (rs7542900, rs4659485, rs2722769 and rs7107217) were associated with T2DM (P<0.05) and reached more nominal levels of significance (P<2.5×10(-5)) in the overall analysis and may represent novel loci that contribute to T2DM. We have identified novel T2DM-susceptibility variants in the African-American population. Notably, T2DM risk was associated with the major allele and implies an interesting genetic architecture in this population. These results suggest that multiple loci underlie T2DM susceptibility in the African-American population and that these loci are distinct from those identified in other ethnic populations.
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| 10. |
- Stjernbrandt, Albin, et al.
(författare)
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Neurosensory and vascular symptoms and clinical findings in the hands of Arctic open-pit miners in Sweden and Norway : a descriptive study
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Circumpolar Health. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1239-9736 .- 2242-3982. ; 82:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This cross-sectional study aimed to describe exposure to cold climate and hand-arm vibration (HAV) as well as neurosensory and vascular symptoms and clinical findings among open-pit Arctic miners. It was based on data from questionnaires and physical examinations, including 177 men and 75 women from two open-pit mines in Sweden and Norway (response rate 54%). Working outdoors or in an unheated building or machine for at least two hours per day was reported by 44% and HAV exposure of the same duration by 10%. Neurosensory symptoms (e.g. reduced perception of touch) in the hands were reported by 47% and Raynaud’s phenomenon by 14%. In brief conclusion, the study showed that Arctic miners were commonly exposed to both cold temperatures and HAV. They also reported a broad range of neurosensory and vascular symptoms in their hands and had abnormal clinical findings related to the symptoms. The results emphasise the need for additional preventive measures in this occupational setting.
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