| 1. |
- Ali, Imran, et al.
(författare)
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Associations between cadmium exposure and circulating levels of sex hormones in postmenopausal women.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-0953 .- 0013-9351. ; 134, s. 265-269
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent epidemiological as well as in vivo and in vitro studies collectively suggest that the metalloestrogen cadmium (Cd) could be a potential risk factor for hormone-related cancers in particularly breast cancer. Assessment of the association between Cd exposure and levels of endogenous sex hormones is of pivotal importance, as increased levels of such have been associated with a higher risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The present study investigated the perceived relationship (multivariable-adjusted linear regression analyses) between Cd exposure [blood Cd (B-Cd) and urinary Cd (U-Cd)], and serum levels of androstenedione, testosterone, estradiol, and sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG), in 438 postmenopausal Swedish women without hormone replacement therapy (HRT). A significant positive association between B-Cd (median 3.4nmol/L) and serum testosterone levels, as well as a significant inverse association between B-Cd and serum estradiol levels and with the estradiol/testosterone ratio were encountered. However, U-Cd (median 0.69nmol/mmol creatinine) was inversely associated with serum estradiol levels only. Our data may suggest that Cd interferes with the levels of testosterone and estradiol in postmenopausal women, which might have implications for breast cancer risk.
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| 2. |
- Areskog, Marlene, et al.
(författare)
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PGP expression in Cooperia oncophora before and after ivermectin selection
- 2013
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Ingår i: Parasitology Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0932-0113 .- 1432-1955. ; 112, s. 3005-3012
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to investigate genetic selection and P-glycoprotein (PGP) expression in three different isolates of Cooperia oncophora before treatment and after ivermectin (IVM) injection. Adult parasites were recovered from nine calves experimentally infected with the isolates represented by one IVM susceptible laboratory isolate, and two field isolates showing signs of phenotypic macrocyclic lactone resilience according to the faecal egg count reduction test. Five males and five females per isolate were examined both pre- and post-IVM treatment giving a total of 60 worms. A sequence from C. oncophora (Con-pgp) was identified, showing 83% similarity to Pgp-9 of Caenorhabditis elegans. Primers specific to putative Con-pgp-9 mRNA were designed, generating a 153-bp PCR product. Total RNA was prepared from all worms, and Con-pgp-9 expression was measured by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR. Our results showed that mean PGP concentrations were four to five times higher in female as compared to male worms. No significant differences in gene expression between experimental groups pre- and post-IVM selection were detected. However, PGP gene expression tended to be increased by IVM treatment in male worms (p = 0.091), with 70% higher mean expression in treated than in untreated male worms. Amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis did not demonstrate any bottleneck effect within the different isolates post-treatment. The total mean gene diversity values were 0.158 and 0.153 before and after treatment, respectively. Inbreeding coefficient in subpopulations compared to total population F ST was 0.0112, suggesting no genetic differentiation between or within the investigated isolates in relation to treatment. In conclusion, comparison of Con-pgp-9 expression showed no significant difference before and after treatment, but some tendency towards increasing expression in male worms.
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| 5. |
- Bärgman, Jonas, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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ANNEXT - Slutrapport
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Huvudmålet med ANNEXT har varit att utvärdera och illustrera styrkan i att använda redan insamlade externa naturalistiska kördata från DriveCams datainsamling (www.drivecam.com), för att öka förståelsen kring vad som orsakar trafikolyckor. Fram till nyligen har det inte funnits data som medger detaljerade studier av vad som sker i de viktiga sekunderna precis innan en olycka (eller nästan-olycka) i verklig trafik. Det vill säga, det har inte varit möjligt att studera t.ex. förares aktiviteter (t.ex. distraktioner såsom mobilanvändande) eller hur interaktionen mellan fordonen och dess förare faktiskt gått till under sekunderna före krock. Vi har använt oss av data from händelseinitierade inspelningsenheter i kommersiella fordon, där data inte samlats in som en del i något forskningsprojekt, utan som en del i en affärsverksamhet där DriveCam sålt en tjänst till företag som har flottor med fordon. Det vill säga, dessa händelseinspelare installeras inte i fordon för att specifikt forska på orsaker till olyckor, utan som en del i en tjänst för att förbättra trafiksäkerheten för just dessa företag. Ett tydligt mål är att få ner stilleståndskostnader för företagens fordon vid olyckor, men det har också effekten att antalet olyckor (och därmed skadade och dödade) minskar på vägarna där de körs. Fordonen körs som en del i den vanliga verksamheten hos företagen. När en olycka eller nästan-olycka identifieras med hjälp av kinematiska triggers (t.ex. tröskelvärden på acceleration), sparas data 8 sekunder föra och 4 sekunder efter triggern i inspelningsenheten. Data innefattar bl.a. GPS, video på föraren och framåt samt accelerometerdata. Denna skickas sedan tillbaks till DriveCam där en genomgång av alla händelser görs och varje event klassas för trafiksäkerhetsrelevans. I ANNEXT har vi fått tillgång till 100 påkörandehändelse (70 olyckor och 30 nästan-olyckor) samt 93 korsningshändelser (63 olyckor och 30 nästan-olyckor). Alla händelser har kodats av DriveCam-personal och vi på SAFER har sedan analyserat data. Följande beskriver processen genom projektet: Första steget var att ta fram en preliminär analysplan, baserad på projektansökan och ytterligare identifierade behov. Steg två var att kontakta DriveCam och få till ett kontrakt inom vilkets ramar projektet kunde genomföras. Scenarios identifierades och kriterier för hur händelser skulle väljas ut utvecklades och itererades mot DriveCam. Detaljerna är beskrivna i en publikation (Engström, Werneke, et al., 2013) från projektet (se separat avsnitt). Analysplanen har förfinats allteftersom i projektet. Som en del i analysplanen utvecklades en annoteringsbeskrivning, eller kodbok. Denna beskriver de variabler som vi identifierat som nödvändiga för analysen och som kräver manuell annotering av DriveCam-video. I ANNEXT utförde en dedikerad annoterare på DriveCam all primär videoannotering. För att förfina kodboken och verifiera annotering åkte SAFER-deltagare till DriveCam vid två tillfällen. När den huvudsakliga annotering var avslutad genomförde SAFER-partners 1) utveckling av metoder för extraktion av optiska parameterar baserat på annoterad video (Bärgman et al., 2013), och processade dessa data för att kvalitetssäkra inför analys, 2) iterativ vidareutveckling av kodningsschemat som kan kallas Kodbok för bidragandefaktorer (se resultat) och applicerade denna på tillgänglig data. Under våren och sommaren 2013 presenterades två vetenskapliga artiklar på konferenser. Ytterligare publikationer är under utveckling (se separat avsnitt)
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| 6. |
- Bärgman, Jonas, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Using manual measurements on event recorder video and image processing algorithms to extract optical parameters.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Seventh International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training and Vehicle Design. ; , s. 177-183
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Vehicle kinematics and optical parameters such as optical angle, optical expansion rate, and tau are thought to underlie drivers’ ability to avoid and handle critical traffic situations. Analyses of these parameters in naturalistic driving data with video, such as commercial event recordings of near-crashes and crashes, can provide insight into driver behavior in critical traffic situations. This paper describes a pair of methods, one for the range to a lead vehicle and one for its optical angle, that are derived from image processing mathematics and that provide driver behavior researchers with a relatively simple way to extract optical parameters from video-based naturalistic data when automatic image processing is not possible. The methods begin with manual measurements of the size of other road users on a video on a screen. To develop the methods, 20 participants manually measured the width of a lead vehicle on 14 images where the lead vehicle was placed at different distances from the camera. An on-market DriveCam Event Recorder was used to capture these images. A linear model that corrects distortion and modeling optics was developed to transform the on-screen measurements distance (range) to and optical angle of the vehicle. The width of the confidence interval for predicted range is less than 0.1m when the actual distance is less than 10m and the lead-vehicle width estimate is correct. The methods enable driver behavior researchers to easily and accurately estimate useful kinematic and optical parameters from videos (e.g., of crashes and near-crashes) in event-based naturalistic driving data.
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| 7. |
- Cotoi, Ovidiu, et al.
(författare)
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Plasma procalcitonin is associated with all-cause and cancer mortality in apparently healthy men: a prospective population-based study.
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1741-7015. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The inflammatory mediator procalcitonin (PCT) has previously been associated with prognosis in myocardial infarction, cancer and sepsis patients. The importance of PCT in the general population is currently unknown. Our aim was to assess the relationship between plasma PCT and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in apparently healthy individuals with no previous history of cardiovascular disease or cancer.
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| 8. |
- Dahlberg, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic variants in serum and glucocortocoid regulated kinase 1, a regulator of the epithelial sodium channel, are associated with ischaemic stroke.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Hypertension. - 1473-5598. ; 29, s. 884-889
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Serum and glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) expression is increased by aldosterone and is a key regulator of the amiloride-sensitive sodium channel (ENaC) in the distal nephron. We have previously shown that two SNPs in SGK1 (rs1057293 and rs1743966) are associated with blood pressure variation and blood pressure progression in the general population. Therefore, we tested the association of these variants with ischaemic stroke. METHODS: Using logistic regression, we analysed rs1057293 and rs1743966 for association with ischaemic stroke in two independent age-matched and sex-matched case-control groups from the twin cities of Lund (cases n = 1837 and controls n = 947) and Malmö (cases n = 888 and controls n = 893) in the Scania region of southern Sweden. RESULTS: In additive models adjusted for hypertension, smoking and diabetes, the major allele (G) of rs1057293 was associated (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval; P value) with ischaemic stroke with similar effect size in both studies; in Lund (1.35, 1.11-1.64; P = 0.002) and Malmö (1.30, 1.03-1.65; P = 0.027). When the two studies were pooled, the overall association was 1.32, 1.14-1.52; P < 0.001. The major allele of rs1743966 (A), which was in linkage disequilibrium with rs1057293, showed a similar trend as rs1057293 G-allele but with slightly weaker effect size and P value. CONCLUSION: In two independent but ethnically similar populations, we observed an association between genetic variants in SGK1 and ischaemic stroke. Interestingly, the association seems to be at least partially independent of blood pressure. This could imply that cerebrovascular ENaC or other SGK1-regulated proteins may be of importance for development of ischaemic stroke.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Engström, Johan A Skifs, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Analysis of the role of inattention in road crashes based on naturalistic on-board safety monitoring data
- 2013
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Ingår i: PROCEEDINGS of the 3rd International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The general objective of the present analysis was to investigate the role of driver inattention in rear-end crashes and crossing path intersection crashes. To this end, a set of 133 naturalistic crashes (70 rear-end and 63 intersection crashes), obtained by means of the DriveCam on-board safety monitoring (OBSM) system, were analyzed based on a novel methodology for assigning and aggregating crash-contributing factors. The analysis focused on rear-end crashes where the OBSM-instrumented vehicle was striking a lead vehicle and crossing-path intersection crashes where the driver of the instrumented vehicle intended to proceed straight through the intersection. It was found that driver inattention, in particular driver distraction involving a diversion of gaze from the forward roadway, was the dominating factor contributing to the rear-end crashes.Although driver inattention also contributed to the intersection crashes, the patterns of contributing factors for this crash type were quite different compared to the rear-end crashes. In particular, in the intersection crashes, visual occlusion and insufficient selection of safety margins were identified as key contributing factors. Cognitively distracting activities that did not involve a diversion of gaze from the forward roadway, such as cell phone conversation, did not contribute frequently to avoidance failures for any of the crash types. The present results show that the role of driver inattention as acrash-contributing factor depends strongly on the type of crash. They also support previous findings from naturalistic driving studies that visual diversion from theforward roadway is the key mechanism by which inattention leads to rear-end crashes.
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