| 1. |
- Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
-
An integrated method for assessing climate-related risks and adaptation alternatives in urban areas
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Climate Risk Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0963. ; 7, s. 31-50
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2015 The Authors. The urban environment is a complex structure with interlinked social, ecological and technical structures. Global warming is expected to have a broad variety of impacts, which will add to the complexity. Climate changes will force adaptation, to reduce climate-related risks. Adaptation measures can address one aspect at the time, or aim for a holistic approach to avoid maladaptation. This paper presents a systematic, integrated approach for assessing alternatives for reducing the risks of heat waves, flooding and air pollution in urban settings, with the aim of reducing the risk of maladaptation. The study includes strategies covering different spatial scales, and both the current climate situation and the climate predicted under climate change scenarios. The adaptation strategies investigated included increasing vegetation; selecting density, height and colour of buildings; and retreat or resist (defend) against sea-level rise. Their effectiveness was assessed with regard to not only flooding, heat stress and air quality but also with regard to resource use, emissions to air (incl. GHG), soil and water, and people's perceptions and vulnerability. The effectiveness of the strategies were ranked on a common scale (from -3 to 3) in an integrated assessment. Integrated assessments are recommended, as they help identify the most sustainable solutions, but to reduce the risk of maladaptation they require experts from a variety of disciplines. The most generally applicable recommendation, derived from the integrated assessment here, taking into account both expertise from different municipal departments, literature surveys, life cycle assessments and publics perceptions, is to increase the urban greenery, as it contributes to several positive aspects such as heat stress mitigation, air quality improvement, effective storm-water and flood-risk management, and it has several positive social impacts. The most favourable alternative was compact, mid-rise, light coloured building design with large parks/green areas and trees near buildings.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Carrera-Bastos, Pedro, et al.
(författare)
-
Randomised controlled trial of lifestyle interventions for abdominal obesity in primary health care
- 2024
-
Ingår i: PRIMARY HEALTH CARE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. - 1463-4236 .- 1477-1128. ; 25
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: Assess effects on waist circumference from diet with or without cereal grains and with or without long-term physical exercise.Background: Elevated waist circumference is an indicator of increased abdominal fat storage and is accordingly associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. This is likely due to the association between lifestyle-induced changes in waist circumference and cardiovascular risk factors. Reductions in waist circumference may be facilitated by diet without cereal grains combined with long-term physical exercise.Methods: Two-year randomised controlled trial with factorial trial design in individuals at increased risk of cardiovascular disease with increased waist circumference. Participants were allocated diet based on current Swedish dietary guidelines with or without cereal grains (baseline diet information supported by monthly group sessions) and with or without physical exercise (pedometers and two initial months of weekly structured exercise followed by written prescription of physical activity) or control group. The primary outcome was the change in waist circumference.Findings: The greatest mean intervention group difference in the change in waist circumference among the 73 participants (47 women and 26 men aged 23-79 years) was at one year between participants allocated a diet without cereal grains and no exercise and participants allocated a diet with cereal grains and no exercise [M = -5.3 cm and -0.9 cm, respectively; mean difference = 4.4 cm, 4.0%, 95% CI (0.0%, 8.0%), P = 0.051, Cohen's d = 0.75]. All group comparisons in the change in waist circumference were non-significant despite the greatest group difference being more than double that estimated in the pre-study power calculation. The non-significance was likely caused by too few participants and a greater than expected variability in the change in waist circumference. The greatest mean intervention group difference strengthens the possibility that dietary exclusion of cereal grains could be related to greater reduction in waist circumference.
|
|
| 5. |
- Friedrichsen, Maria, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
-
Prolonged grievers : A qualitative evaluation of a support group intervention
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Palliative & Supportive Care. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1478-9515 .- 1478-9523. ; 12:4, s. 299-308
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: The aim of this project was to study prolonged grievers psychosocial processes and experience during participation in a group intervention and 6–8 weeks after discontinuation. The intervention in this study was a group therapy with the aim of getting in contact with their pain and loss and confronting and working with this loss.Methods: Data was collected by using diaries and tape-recorded interviews, analyzed with grounded theory. The participants were 11 females between the ages of 33 and 71.Results: The main process that was found in the qualitative data was: Ambivalence when struggling and learning through work and rest towards a balance. Sub-processes were: To share and be confirmed in the group through sense of cohesion; To dare/venture to discover problems and solutions; To react when you get emotionally involved, and to compare and discover.Significance of results: This study gives insight into prolonged grievers' thinking, which is valuable knowledge. Rather than assuming that all individuals suffering from prolonged grief need the same treatment, we suggest that there should be a range of different therapies.
|
|
| 6. |
- Gaulton, Kyle J, et al.
(författare)
-
Genetic fine mapping and genomic annotation defines causal mechanisms at type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci.
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 47:12, s. 1415-1415
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We performed fine mapping of 39 established type 2 diabetes (T2D) loci in 27,206 cases and 57,574 controls of European ancestry. We identified 49 distinct association signals at these loci, including five mapping in or near KCNQ1. 'Credible sets' of the variants most likely to drive each distinct signal mapped predominantly to noncoding sequence, implying that association with T2D is mediated through gene regulation. Credible set variants were enriched for overlap with FOXA2 chromatin immunoprecipitation binding sites in human islet and liver cells, including at MTNR1B, where fine mapping implicated rs10830963 as driving T2D association. We confirmed that the T2D risk allele for this SNP increases FOXA2-bound enhancer activity in islet- and liver-derived cells. We observed allele-specific differences in NEUROD1 binding in islet-derived cells, consistent with evidence that the T2D risk allele increases islet MTNR1B expression. Our study demonstrates how integration of genetic and genomic information can define molecular mechanisms through which variants underlying association signals exert their effects on disease.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Glaas, Erik, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Managing climate change vulnerabilities: formal institutions and knowledge use as determinants of adaptive capacity at the local level in Sweden
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Local Environment. - London : Routledge. - 1354-9839 .- 1469-6711. ; 15:6, s. 525-539
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Though managing vulnerabilities posed by climate change calls for effective strategies and measures, its challenges have hitherto not been fully understood. In Sweden, municipalities have recently started incorporating vulnerability management into their political and administrative agendas. This study discusses such experiences and explores how institutional determinants may influence adaptive capacity within a local case study area, to illustrate emerging challenges and opportunities for Swedish municipalities in managing climate vulnerabilities. Specifically, formal institutional structure and the use of knowledge are analysed, concluding that vulnerability management often is focused on technical and reactive fixes, due to limited cooperation between local sector organisations, lack of local co-ordination, and an absence of methods and traditions to build institutional knowledge. Even so, opportunities, such as a high capacity to examine risks to technical systems and important establishments which in turn facilitates protection of technical infrastructure exposed to climate variability and change, also exist.
|
|
| 9. |
- Johansen, Kari, et al.
(författare)
-
Norovirus strains belonging to the GII.4 genotype dominate as a cause of nosocomial outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis in Sweden 1997-2005 - Arrival of new variants is associated with large nation-wide epidemics
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Virology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1386-6532 .- 1873-5967. ; 42:2, s. 129-134
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: In recent years an increase of the incidence of nosocomial outbreaks caused by noroviruses has been observed throughout Sweden, with high peaks noted in the winter seasons 2002/2003 and 2004/2005, respectively. Objectives: To phylogenetically characterize norovirus strains causing nosocomial outbreaks from 1997 to 2005 and estimate the impact of norovirus-like disease on the Swedish health care system during the peak season 2002/2003 when a new variant of norovirus occurred. Study design: Stool samples from 115 randomly selected nosocomial outbreaks occurring during 1997-2005 throughout Sweden were studied by RT-PCR and sequencing. In addition, to investigate the impact on the health-care system, a questionnaire was distributed to infection control units (n = 90) serving all Swedish hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care institutions during the largest epidemic of nosocomial outbreaks. Results: Sequencing of 279 nucleotides of the norovirus RNA polymerase gene in stools containing norovirus RNA showed that strains belonging to the GII.4 genotype dominated. Each of the two large epidemics was due to a new variant within this cluster. The questionnaire revealed that 30,000-35,000 episodes of nosocomial norovirus-like infections occurred in 80 of 82 major Swedish hospitals affected in 2002/2003. Conclusion: New norovirus variants within the cluster GGII.4 may have a major impact on the health-care system. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
|
|
| 10. |
- Jonsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
-
Cities’ capacity to manage climate vulnerability : experiences from participatory vulnerability assessments in the lower Göta Älv Catchment, Sweden
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Local Environment. - : Routledge. - 1354-9839 .- 1469-6711. ; 17:6-7, s. 735-750
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Within the scope of this project, tools for conducting systematic and integrated climate vulnerability and sustainability assessments have been developed. Two municipalities in the lower Göta Älv catchment were selected as study cases. Together with representatives from key municipal departments and national government agencies, the interdisciplinary research team designed and conducted a co-production process. Results obtained using the developed tools demonstrate that conducting such a systematic assessment of the current situation and potential impacts of climate change adaptation measures would contribute to synergies between adaptation strategies and other policy arenas. Our recommendation for enhancing the capacity of local vulnerability management in Sweden is to shift foci in four fields: from static analysis of climate vulnerability to a dynamic approach to social vulnerability, from a sectorwise fragmented approach to integrated management, from a focus on technical fixes and physical measures to institutional adaptation measures, and, finally, from sustainability-blind adaptation investments to long-term sustainable climate adaptation measures. The processes and mechanisms for succeeding in this requires that knowledge be produced, shared, and managed in partly new ways, allowing stakeholders both inside and outside local government administration to voice and synergise their concerns and solutions.
|
|
