| 1. |
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- 2019
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 2. |
- Axfors, Cathrine, et al.
(författare)
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Association between convalescent plasma treatment and mortality in COVID-19 : a collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
- 2021
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Ingår i: BMC Infectious Diseases. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1471-2334. ; 21:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19, using data from all available randomized clinical trials, including unpublished and ongoing trials (Open Science Framework, ). Methods: In this collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis, clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform), the Cochrane COVID-19 register, the LOVE database, and PubMed were searched until April 8, 2021. Investigators of trials registered by March 1, 2021, without published results were contacted via email. Eligible were ongoing, discontinued and completed randomized clinical trials that compared convalescent plasma with placebo or no treatment in COVID-19 patients, regardless of setting or treatment schedule. Aggregated mortality data were extracted from publications or provided by investigators of unpublished trials and combined using the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman random effects model. We investigated the contribution of unpublished trials to the overall evidence. Results: A total of 16,477 patients were included in 33 trials (20 unpublished with 3190 patients, 13 published with 13,287 patients). 32 trials enrolled only hospitalized patients (including 3 with only intensive care unit patients). Risk of bias was low for 29/33 trials. Of 8495 patients who received convalescent plasma, 1997 died (23%), and of 7982 control patients, 1952 died (24%). The combined risk ratio for all-cause mortality was 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.92; 1.02) with between-study heterogeneity not beyond chance (I-2 = 0%). The RECOVERY trial had 69.8% and the unpublished evidence 25.3% of the weight in the meta-analysis. Conclusions: Convalescent plasma treatment of patients with COVID-19 did not reduce all-cause mortality. These results provide strong evidence that convalescent plasma treatment for patients with COVID-19 should not be used outside of randomized trials. Evidence synthesis from collaborations among trial investigators can inform both evidence generation and evidence application in patient care.
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| 3. |
- Sartelli, Massimo, et al.
(författare)
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Ten golden rules for optimal antibiotic use in hospital settings: the WARNING call to action
- 2023
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Ingår i: WORLD JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY SURGERY. - 1749-7922. ; 18:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antibiotics are recognized widely for their benefits when used appropriately. However, they are often used inappropriately despite the importance of responsible use within good clinical practice. Effective antibiotic treatment is an essential component of universal healthcare, and it is a global responsibility to ensure appropriate use. Currently, pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to develop new antibiotics due to scientific, regulatory, and financial barriers, further emphasizing the importance of appropriate antibiotic use. To address this issue, the Global Alliance for Infections in Surgery established an international multidisciplinary task force of 295 experts from 115 countries with different backgrounds. The task force developed a position statement called WARNING (Worldwide Antimicrobial Resistance National/International Network Group) aimed at raising awareness of antimicrobial resistance and improving antibiotic prescribing practices worldwide. The statement outlined is 10 axioms, or "golden rules," for the appropriate use of antibiotics that all healthcare workers should consistently adhere in clinical practice.
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| 4. |
- Amaechina, Ebele, et al.
(författare)
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Policy Note : Policy Responses to Ensure Access to Water and Sanitation Services during COVID-19: Snapshots from the Environment for Development (EfD) Network
- 2020
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Ingår i: Water Economics and Policy. - : World Scientific. - 2382-624X .- 2382-6258. ; 6:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This policy note provides a snapshot of water and sanitation measures implemented by governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 14 countries in the Global South: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Panama, South Africa, Uganda and Vietnam. We find that many countries have taken action to stop utility disconnections due to non-payment. With the exception of Ghana and Vietnam, few countries are instituting new water subsidy programs, and are instead choosing to defer customers’ bills for future payment, presumably when the pandemic recedes and households will be able to pay their bills. It is easier for the utilities’ COVID-relief policies to target customers with piped connections who regularly receive bills. However, the situation for unconnected households appears more dire. Some countries (e.g., Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda) are attempting to provide unconnected households temporary access to water, but these households remain the most vulnerable. This health crisis has accentuated the importance of strong governance structures and resilient water service providers for dealing with external health, environmental and economic shocks.
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| 5. |
- Lichtenberg, Elinor M., et al.
(författare)
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A global synthesis of the effects of diversified farming systems on arthropod diversity within fields and across agricultural landscapes
- 2017
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 23:11, s. 4946-4957
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agricultural intensification is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss, which can reduce the provisioning of ecosystem services in managed ecosystems. Organic farming and plant diversification are farm management schemes that may mitigate potential ecological harm by increasing species richness and boosting related ecosystem services to agroecosystems. What remains unclear is the extent to which farm management schemes affect biodiversity components other than species richness, and whether impacts differ across spatial scales and landscape contexts. Using a global metadataset, we quantified the effects of organic farming and plant diversification on abundance, local diversity (communities within fields), and regional diversity (communities across fields) of arthropod pollinators, predators, herbivores, and detritivores. Both organic farming and higher in-field plant diversity enhanced arthropod abundance, particularly for rare taxa. This resulted in increased richness but decreased evenness. While these responses were stronger at local relative to regional scales, richness and abundance increased at both scales, and richness on farms embedded in complex relative to simple landscapes. Overall, both organic farming and in-field plant diversification exerted the strongest effects on pollinators and predators, suggesting these management schemes can facilitate ecosystem service providers without augmenting herbivore (pest) populations. Our results suggest that organic farming and plant diversification promote diverse arthropod metacommunities that may provide temporal and spatial stability of ecosystem service provisioning. Conserving diverse plant and arthropod communities in farming systems therefore requires sustainable practices that operate both within fields and across landscapes.
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| 6. |
- Oliveira, Aldair J., et al.
(författare)
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Gender differences in social support and leisure-time physical activity
- 2014
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Ingår i: Revista de Saude Publica. - 0034-8910 .- 1518-8787. ; 48:4, s. 602-612
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: To identify gender differences in social support dimensions' effect on adults' leisure-time physical activity maintenance, type, and time. METHODS: Longitudinal study of 1,278 non-faculty public employees at a university in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Southeastern Brazil. Physical activity was evaluated using a dichotomous question with a two-week reference period, and further questions concerning leisure-time physical activity type (individual or group) and time spent on the activity. Social support was measured with the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale. For the analysis, logistic regression models were adjusted separately by gender. RESULTS: A multinomial logistic regression showed an association between material support and individual activities among women (OR = 2.76; 95% CI 1.2; 6.5). Affective support was associated with time spent on leisure-time physical activity only among men (OR = 1.80; 95% CI 1.1; 3.2). CONCLUSIONS: All dimensions of social support that were examined influenced either the type of, or the time spent on, leisure-time physical activity. In some social support dimensions, the associations detected varied by gender. Future studies should attempt to elucidate the mechanisms involved in these gender differences.
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| 7. |
- Ostaszewski, Marek, et al.
(författare)
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COVID19 Disease Map, a computational knowledge repository of virus-host interaction mechanisms
- 2021
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Ingår i: Molecular Systems Biology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1744-4292 .- 1744-4292. ; 17:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We need to effectively combine the knowledge from surging literature with complex datasets to propose mechanistic models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, improving data interpretation and predicting key targets of intervention. Here, we describe a large-scale community effort to build an open access, interoperable and computable repository of COVID-19 molecular mechanisms. The COVID-19 Disease Map (C19DMap) is a graphical, interactive representation of disease-relevant molecular mechanisms linking many knowledge sources. Notably, it is a computational resource for graph-based analyses and disease modelling. To this end, we established a framework of tools, platforms and guidelines necessary for a multifaceted community of biocurators, domain experts, bioinformaticians and computational biologists. The diagrams of the C19DMap, curated from the literature, are integrated with relevant interaction and text mining databases. We demonstrate the application of network analysis and modelling approaches by concrete examples to highlight new testable hypotheses. This framework helps to find signatures of SARS-CoV-2 predisposition, treatment response or prioritisation of drug candidates. Such an approach may help deal with new waves of COVID-19 or similar pandemics in the long-term perspective.
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| 8. |
- Paulraj, Alagar Raj, 1989-
(författare)
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Studies on Rechargeable Fe-air electrodes in Alkaline electrolyte
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Energy storage system is an important component in the energy system based on variable renewable energy sources into the grid. Energy storage system could contribute to decarbonization, energy security, offset the demand and supply of the electricity sector, especially for the electric grid. These can be either mechanical, electrochemical, chemical, electromagnetic or thermal devices. The most important functional characteristics of an energy storage system are capital cost, roundtrip efficiency, energy and power rating, response times and cycle life. Electrochemical energy storage systems (EES) have the following edge over the other systems: fast response time, relatively short duration of storage, size, high efficiency, a decentralized installation which is closer to generation or consumption site.The focus of this thesis is on the development of cost-effective iron anode materials and electrocatalytic air electrodes for Fe-air batteries that potentially could become as an energy storage system. Iron-based systems are attractive due to their safety, cheapness, non-toxicity and ubiquitous availability of materials. However, both the anode and cathode parts have numerous drawbacks that need to be addressed. The anode exhibits poor charge efficiency, rate capability and low capacity utilization while the cathode has sluggish kinetics, poor activity, structural stability and the numbers of active non-noble metal catalysts are limited.This work utilized Cu and Sn-doped iron nanomaterials and different additives (Bi2S3, CNT, LiOH) to enhance the performance of the iron electrode. The performance of the electrodes were evaluated using the charge/discharge cycling, rate capability, cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic and potentiodynamic polarization measurements, in operando charging measurements combined with mass spectrometry. The fresh and cycled electrodes and powders were characterized by ex-situ XRD, BET, SEM, TEM , XPS and Raman spectroscopy. The most striking results are the prevention of nanoparticle agglomeration, increased charging efficiency (80-91%), effect of Cu and Sn dopants on specific capacity (367-603 mAh g-1) and improved performance of the electrodes at high charge current densities.In the subsequent air electrode part, non-precious metal La-doped CaMnOx, nano Co3O4 and NiFeOX electrocatalysts were synthesized using co-precipitation and hydrothermal methods. Both the single and mixed catalysts were used as bi-functional catalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORER). The catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, BET, Raman and XPS. The electrocatalytic activity and stability were assessed in alkaline solutions on gas diffusion electrodes and glassy carbon electrode by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), CV and rotating disk electrode (RDE). Furthermore, the mixed catalyst and NiFeOX showed excellent bifunctional performance such as high activity and stability achieved by the hybridization of the two catalysts and the effect of catalyst loading on the electrocatalytic performance. These findings can help to develop a cost-effective material for Fe-air batteries.
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| 9. |
- Raghavan, Maanasa, et al.
(författare)
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Genomic evidence for the Pleistocene and recent population history of Native Americans
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 349:6250
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Howand when the Americas were populated remains contentious. Using ancient and modern genome-wide data, we found that the ancestors of all present-day Native Americans, including Athabascans and Amerindians, entered the Americas as a single migration wave from Siberia no earlier than 23 thousand years ago (ka) and after no more than an 8000-year isolation period in Beringia. After their arrival to the Americas, ancestral Native Americans diversified into two basal genetic branches around 13 ka, one that is now dispersed across North and South America and the other restricted to North America. Subsequent gene flow resulted in some Native Americans sharing ancestry with present-day East Asians (including Siberians) and, more distantly, Australo-Melanesians. Putative "Paleoamerican" relict populations, including the historical Mexican Pericues and South American Fuego-Patagonians, are not directly related to modern Australo-Melanesians as suggested by the Paleoamerican Model.
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| 10. |
- Rudebusch, Gabriel E., et al.
(författare)
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Diindeno-fusion of an anthracene as a design strategy for stable organic biradicals
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature Chemistry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1755-4330 .- 1755-4349. ; 8:8, s. 753-759
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The consequence of unpaired electrons in organic molecules has fascinated and confounded chemists for over a century. The study of open-shell molecules has been rekindled in recent years as new synthetic methods, improved spectroscopic techniques and powerful computational tools have been brought to bear on this field. Nonetheless, it is the intrinsic instability of the biradical species that limits the practicality of this research. Here we report the synthesis and characterization of a molecule based on the diindeno[b,i]anthracene framework that exhibits pronounced open-shell character yet possesses remarkable stability. The synthetic route is rapid, efficient and possible on the gram scale. The molecular structure was confirmed through single-crystal X-ray diffraction. From variable-temperature Raman spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements a thermally accessible triplet excited state was found. Organic field-effect transistor device data show an ambipolar performance with balanced electron and hole mobilities. Our results demonstrate the rational design and synthesis of an air-and temperature-stable biradical compound.
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