| 1. |
- Holappa, Tim, 1989-
(författare)
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Rätten till bostad i det sociala skyddsnätet : En rättsvetenskaplig studie om enskildas rättigheter och det allmännas ansvar
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The right to housing is a human right expressed in the Swedish constitution as well as in international human rights conventions. In Sweden, however, the right to housing is not expressed as an enforceable right that individuals can request to have realised by public authorities or courts. Instead, the objective of the Swedish housing policy and the regulation on the right to housing has been that everyone should be able to demand good housing on the general housing market.The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyse the legal responsibility of the central and local government to realise the right to housing for individuals who cannot arrange housing themselves. The intention is that the thesis thereby will uncover legal contradictions, ambiguities or other shortcomings that may lead to a risk that the right to housing is not realised for everyone.Methodologically, the starting point is a view of law, inspired primarily by Kaarlo Tuori’s theory on critical legal positivism, as consisting of two dimensions. In addition to a normative legal order, law also consists of legal practices. The legal order, in turn, is regarded as a multi-layered normative order: in addition to the surface level with individual legal rules, the legal order also consists of deeper levels where legal elements such as general legal principles and human rights as general normative ideas are found.The responsibility to realise the right to housing is analysed in the light of international law as well as national law. According to international law, Sweden has a responsibility to recognize and realise the right to housing for everyone. According to national law, no public authority has a clear responsibility to realise the right to housing for individuals in need. Instead, the right to housing is to be realised through several different legal frameworks that are analysed in the thesis. Firstly the right to financial housing support within the framework of social insurance. Secondly municipalities’ responsibility for housing provision. Thirdly the local social services ultimate responsibility to support individuals in need. The overall conclusion of the thesis is that the legal framework regarding the responsibility of the central and local government to realise the right to housing for those who cannot arrange housing themselves does not constitute a coherent social safety net. The support that individuals who are unable to acquire housing themselves are entitled to has the nature of emergency assistance and shelter, rather than housing of a long-term nature. Furthermore, assistance in the form of housing is often time-limited and subject to far-reaching requirements that individuals, for example, must try to acquire a home on their own. The regulation thus means that individuals who need housing and cannot arrange housing themselves risk being without state support. This is problematic if the right to housing is to be realised for everyone. How these problems are to be solved is a matter for the legislator, but this thesis contributes with knowledge of legal problems that the legal regulation entails. These problems should be addressed and the right to housing taken seriously, by all the actors involved, if the right to housing is to be realised.
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| 2. |
- Litins'ka, Yana
(författare)
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Assessing Capacity to Decide on Medical Treatment: On Human Rights and the Use of Medical Knowledge in the Laws of England, Russia and Sweden
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To provide a valid consent to – or refusal of – medical intervention, a patient must be legally capable to decide. This dissertation evaluates and compares when the assessment of mental abilities to refuse – or consent to – somatic medical intervention is required in England, Russia and Sweden, and what criteria must be applied to assess the ability to decide about somatic medical interventions in these legal orders. Two standards are used for evaluation and comparison. These standards are consistency with scientific knowledge of the decision-making process, and compliance with the United Nations and the Council of Europe human rights law requirements. The evaluation and comparison of the national legal orders seek to highlight the solutions and the potential difficulties that the domestic legal systems face when they attempt to realise the two standards.The analysis in the thesis indicates that the United Nations and the Council of Europe treaty bodies have chosen different approaches as to permissibility of capacity assessment procedures. It is argued that after adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the capacity assessments of adults should not be allowed in healthcare.A number of common problems within the selected legal systems are identified and analysed in the thesis. The question of when capacity assessments must start has not yet received much attention at national levels, which results in an absence of foreseeability and a possibility for discriminating against patients on the grounds of disability or health. The thesis highlights the fact that the national law requirements to draw a distinction between mental and somatic disorders/care are particularly problematic, and may lead to arbitrariness. The questions as to the legal classification of capacity assessment procedures (whether they are medical interventions or the collection of personal data), and accordingly, the legal status of refusal or absence of consent are also poorly foreseeable, which may lead to a violation of the patient’s right to privacy.The analysis shows that the criteria for capacity assessments are regulated in a manner that inevitably leads to arbitrariness when deciding whether a patient can make healthcare decisions. It was shown that the criteria are interpreted differently by various actors, and no agreement as to the required level of performance is reached. It is also argued that capacity assessments rarely allow for achieving the goal of checking whether or not a patient can choose what to do with his or her own body.
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| 3. |
- Asplund, Ida, 1980-
(författare)
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Den enskildes rättssäkerhet i individnära tillsyn
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Legal security in public administration is one of the prerequisites for a legal state. It can be promoted through supervision by public authorities. The need of supervision has increased due to the development of public administration. EU law has also had a clear impact on the development of supervision and its regulation. Supervision can be of special value where formal decisions are rare and the individual has limited access to courts in order to gain access to justice.The study examines how legal security in supervision relating to the rights of the individual has developed since the middle of the 20th century in five different areas: social services, health care, discrimination legislation, data protection and the general supervision of public administration carried out by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The study also examines the purpose and function of supervision as a constitutional control tool in relation to the rights of the individual.Effective supervision from a rule of law perspective should combine monitoring on a systematic level with investigation of individual complaints and well-functioning levels of supervision. The investigation of individual complaints can build trust and legitimacy and help supervisory authorities to detect relevant misconduct. Active participation by individuals can contribute to the implementation of supervision as a constitutional control tool, which may favour the individual, indivuals collectively and the legal state.
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| 4. |
- Lind, Anna-Sara, 1977-
(författare)
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Sociala rättigheter i förändring : En konstitutionellrättslig studie
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines the status and role of fundamental social rights in a Swedish context. The point of departure is Chapter 1, Article 2, para. 2 in the Swedish Instrument of Government, where important social rights are articulated as fundamental goals for society: the right to social assistance, the right to shelter and the right to health. As these rights are”goals”, the state and its authorities shall strive to achieve them. They are not formulated as individual rights in the constitution and are not invocable before the courts. In order to analyse the constitutional choice to keep these rights outside the Swedish “Bill of Rights” in Chapter 2 of the Instrument of Government, the constitutions of Canada, Finland and South Africa are studied. The Swedish constitutional context is highly dependant on international obligations in international conventions and the fact that Sweden is a member of the European Union. Changes and trends concerning access to and content of social rights in public international law are traced via the United Nation’s two conventions for human rights, as well as through the conventions of the Council of Europe. The conclusion is that social rights today are being defined in a clearer way than before. Individuals and groups also have wider possibilities to make complaints concerning violations of these rights. A very important factor for this is the evolving view of non discrimination in public international law. Non discrimination is also the point of departure for the strengthening of access to social rights in the European Union. Through the four freedoms of European Community law, the individual has been given individual rights. Today this picture is widened thanks to the citizenship of the European Union and to the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights. We can therefore start considering social human rights in the EU. The conclusion is that the Swedish constitution does not handle the constraints that public international law and the membership in the EU mean for the national welfare state, nor is it equipped to handle that the factual status of social rights as constitutional rights.
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| 5. |
- Lind, Nina, 1989-
(författare)
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Comorbidity, distress, coping and social support in asthma and allergy
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Asthma and allergies are some of the most common illnesses worldwide that almost everybody will come in contact with. This thesis studied persons with allergic asthma, non-allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis in a population-based sample. At an early stage, these illnesses were regarded as psychosomatic. Over time, as knowledge about asthma/allergy has increased more of a biomedical perspective was taken by the research field. In considering early documentations well as contemporary research, a psychobiosocial perspective was taken in this thesis when conducting the three studies. Thus, as psychological factors may affect the illness and be a result of the illness, it is important to incorporate these factors to better understand asthma and allergy. Study I examined the co- and multimorbidity in asthma/allergy with the environmental intolerances in the form of chemical and building-related intolerance. Study II investigated psychological distress in the four forms of asthma and allergy. Psychological distress was in this study defined as stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and environmental health worries. Study III examined usage of problem and emotion focused coping strategies and perceived social support from the surrounding in high and low asthma/allergy severity. All studies were performed using data from the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study, a questionnaire-based survey with focus on various environmental hypersensitivities and asthma and allergy. The result showed that the co- and multimorbidity with the environmental intolerances in asthma/allergy was larger than what was statistically excepted. Those with allergic asthma and atopic dermatitis experienced more stress, burnout and anxiety than those with non-allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis and non-asthma/allergy. Moreover, the most common way of coping with asthma and allergy was found to be strategies such as avoiding environments that are believed to affect health, and trying to accept the situation, independent of asthma/allergy severity. Finally, in general, those with asthma and allergy reported receiving most support from their partner, other family members and health care, and least support was perceived by those with low asthma/allergy severity.The findings suggest that co- and multimorbidity with environmental intolerances is relatively common in asthma and allergy, and should therefore be included in the clinical anamnesis for this patient group. The elevated level of distress in allergic asthma and atopic dermatitis evokes the question of use of therapies such as mindfulness maybe beneficial in certain afflicted persons. The results on coping and social support provide a foundation for further research regarding informing the asthma/allergy patient and family members about effective coping strategies and the importance of adequate social support. A metaperspective is taken in which interrelations between important variables in the thesis are discussed.
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| 6. |
- Surendran, Praveen, et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of rare variants associated with blood pressure regulation through meta-analysis of 1.3 million individuals
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 52:12, s. 1314-1332
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genetic studies of blood pressure (BP) to date have mainly analyzed common variants (minor allele frequency > 0.05). In a meta-analysis of up to similar to 1.3 million participants, we discovered 106 new BP-associated genomic regions and 87 rare (minor allele frequency <= 0.01) variant BP associations (P < 5 x 10(-8)), of which 32 were in new BP-associated loci and 55 were independent BP-associated single-nucleotide variants within known BP-associated regions. Average effects of rare variants (44% coding) were similar to 8 times larger than common variant effects and indicate potential candidate causal genes at new and known loci (for example, GATA5 and PLCB3). BP-associated variants (including rare and common) were enriched in regions of active chromatin in fetal tissues, potentially linking fetal development with BP regulation in later life. Multivariable Mendelian randomization suggested possible inverse effects of elevated systolic and diastolic BP on large artery stroke. Our study demonstrates the utility of rare-variant analyses for identifying candidate genes and the results highlight potential therapeutic targets.
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| 7. |
- Evangelou, Evangelos, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic analysis of over 1 million people identifies 535 new loci associated with blood pressure traits.
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 50:10, s. 1412-1425
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High blood pressure is a highly heritable and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We report the largest genetic association study of blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure) to date in over 1 million people of European ancestry. We identify 535 novel blood pressure loci that not only offer new biological insights into blood pressure regulation but also highlight shared genetic architecture between blood pressure and lifestyle exposures. Our findings identify new biological pathways for blood pressure regulation with potential for improved cardiovascular disease prevention in the future.
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| 8. |
- Kindström Dahlin, Moa, 1980-
(författare)
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Psykiatrirätt : Intressen, rättigheter och principer
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mentally-ill individuals today are seen as having the same right to self-determination as others. Despite this, involuntary psychiatric care is accepted with reference to the patient's own best interests and to a certain extent, the need for societal protection. The legal regulations with respect to involuntary mental health care lack comparable regulations with respect to physical care. This special treatment is motivated against the background of the ideas as to decision-making abilities of mentally-ill individuals as well as the risks for committing serious crimes.This doctoral dissertation provides a critical overview of Swedish mental health law from a rights perspective, with a focus both on The instrument of government (regeringsformen) as well as the European Convention on Human Rights (Europakonventionen). The overarching issue is how the legal system addresses those conflicts of interests arising with involuntary psychiatric care as between autonomy, care and societal protection. This ultimately concerns clarifying the patient’s legal status as having the ability to make decisions within psychiatric care.This doctoral dissertation highlights and problematizes the – partially diffuse – assumptions upon which the law rests. The overarching conclusion is that a strong stance needs to be taken by the legislator in order to clarify the fundamental principles underlying mental health law. Taking into consideration that this is a particularly vulnerable target group, and that this concerns extremely invasive measures, high requirements ought to be imposed on the legal regulations with respect to legality, objectivity, and proportionality.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Sayols-Baixeras, Sergi, et al.
(författare)
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Streptococcus Species Abundance in the Gut Is Linked to Subclinical Coronary Atherosclerosis in 8973 Participants From the SCAPIS Cohort
- 2023
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Ingår i: Circulation. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0009-7322 .- 1524-4539. ; 148:6, s. 459-472
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Gut microbiota have been implicated in atherosclerotic disease, but their relation with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis is unclear. This study aimed to identify associations between the gut microbiome and computed tomography-based measures of coronary atherosclerosis and to explore relevant clinical correlates.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 8973 participants (50 to 65 years of age) without overt atherosclerotic disease from the population-based SCAPIS (Swedish Cardiopulmonary Bioimage Study). Coronary atherosclerosis was measured using coronary artery calcium score and coronary computed tomography angiography. Gut microbiota species abundance and functional potential were assessed with shotgun metagenomics sequencing of stool, and associations with coronary atherosclerosis were evaluated with multivariable regression models adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors. Associated species were evaluated for association with inflammatory markers, metabolites, and corresponding species in saliva.Results: The mean age of the study sample was 57.4 years, and 53.7% were female. Coronary artery calcification was detected in 40.3%, and 5.4% had at least 1 stenosis with >50% occlusion. Sixty-four species were associated with coronary artery calcium score independent of cardiovascular risk factors, with the strongest associations observed for Streptococcus anginosus and Streptococcus oralis subsp oralis (P<1×10-5). Associations were largely similar across coronary computed tomography angiography-based measurements. Out of the 64 species, 19 species, including streptococci and other species commonly found in the oral cavity, were associated with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein plasma concentrations, and 16 with neutrophil counts. Gut microbial species that are commonly found in the oral cavity were negatively associated with plasma indole propionate and positively associated with plasma secondary bile acids and imidazole propionate. Five species, including 3 streptococci, correlated with the same species in saliva and were associated with worse dental health in the Malmö Offspring Dental Study. Microbial functional potential of dissimilatory nitrate reduction, anaerobic fatty acid β-oxidation, and amino acid degradation were associated with coronary artery calcium score.Conclusions: This study provides evidence of an association of a gut microbiota composition characterized by increased abundance of Streptococcus spp and other species commonly found in the oral cavity with coronary atherosclerosis and systemic inflammation markers. Further longitudinal and experimental studies are warranted to explore the potential implications of a bacterial component in atherogenesis.
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