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| 2. |
- Hammarström, Sofia, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Ask me, listen to me, treat me well and I shall tell: a qualitative study of Swedish youths’ experiences of systematic assessment of sexual health and risk-taking (SEXIT)
- 2022
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In: Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2641-0397. ; 30:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sexual ill health among young people, in terms of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancy, transactional sex and sexual violence, is a global public health concern. To that end, the SEXual health Identification Tool (SEXIT) was developed. The purpose of this study was to explore the visitors’ experiences of a youth clinic visit when SEXIT was used. A purposively selected sample of 20 participants (16–24 years of age) was recruited from three Swedish youth clinics using SEXIT. Participants were interviewed individually in March and April 2016, and data were analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in four main categories describing the participants’ experiences of using SEXIT: “Issues of concern” includes descriptions of the items in SEXIT as important; “Enabling disclosure” describes how SEXIT serves as an invitation to talk and facilitates disclosure of negative experiences; “Road to change” captures experiences of the conversation with the healthcare professional; and “Managing power imbalance” describes experiences regarding the response and attitudes of the healthcare professional as well as the participants’ fears of being judged. The categories are connected by the overarching theme “Ask me, listen to me, treat me well and I shall tell”. This study contributes knowledge on young people’s experiences of a tool-supported dialogue on sexual health and risk-taking initiated by the healthcare professional. Structured questions in a written format, as a basis for dialogue, are appreciated and experienced as a functioning way of addressing sexual ill health and risk-taking at Swedish youth clinics.
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| 3. |
- Hammarström, Sofia, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Staff´s experinces of the SEXual health Identification Tool (SEXIT)
- 2022
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In: ESC Abstract Book 2022. - : European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health. ; , s. 88-89
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- BackgroundIn 2016 SEXIT, an evidence-informed the toolkit, was developed and pilot-implemented at three Swedish youth clinics. Swedish youth clinics are highly accessible and focused primarily on concerns related to sexual and reproductive health and mental health among young persons aged 13-25 years. The SEXual health Identification Tool (SEXIT) was developed to facilitate identification of young people exposed to, or at risk of, sexual ill health in terms of sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancy, transactional sex, or sexual violence. The tool includes three components; (1) staff training, (2) a questionnaire for visitors, and (3) a written guide for staff to support the dialogue and risk assessment. Previous results demonstrated promising results; a high response rate from visitors (86%), few missing answers, and youth clinic visitors reporting factors associated with sexual ill health. Interviews demonstrated that youth clinic visitors appreciated structured questions in a written format as a basis for dialogue and found SEXIT appropriate for addressing sensitive topics. ObjectivesTo explore the youth clinic staff’s experiences of using SEXIT systematically with all visitors, with a focus on usefulness, implementation determinants, and feasibility of implementing SEXIT at Swedish youth clinics.MethodFour focus group discussions with youth clinic staff who participated in the pilot implementation. The clinics had used SEXIT systematically with all visitors for one month. Data were analysed using qualitative analysis designed for focus groups.ResultsMost participants experienced that the SEXIT routines were well functioning and that using SEXIT gave a comprehensive picture of the visitor and resulted in more concrete answers, which facilitated the risk assessment. Youth clinic staff experienced that SEXIT advanced their knowledge and the midwifes experienced that they identified more youth at risk with SEXIT, while the psychosocial staff were less convinced on how SEXIT best should be applied. Existing challenges related to the routines at the clinics and heavy workload during drop-in hours. Further, the staff were concerned about the continued care of vulnerable, and hard-to-reach youth clinic visitors that sometimes do not attend the scheduled revisits.Conclusions Staff experience SEXIT as useful for identifying young people exposed to or at risk of sexual ill health. Systematic use ensures consistency and quality in assessing the visitors, which may facilitate implementation. The use of SEXIT is challenged by heavy workload, conflicting routines, and the experience that some visitors identified through SEXIT decline further care. Implementation of SEXIT in Swedish youth clinics is considered feasible.
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- Jiang, R. C., et al.
(author)
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Increased CSF-decorin predicts brain pathological changes driven by Alzheimer's A beta amyloidosis
- 2022
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In: Acta Neuropathologica Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2051-5960. ; 10:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers play an important role in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD) which is characterized by amyloid-beta (A beta) amyloidosis. Here, we used two App knock-in mouse models, App(NL-F/NL-F) and App(NL-G-F/NL-G-F), exhibiting AD-like A beta pathology to analyze how the brain pathologies translate to CSF proteomes by label-free mass spectrometry (MS). This identified several extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins as significantly altered in App knock-in mice. Next, we compared mouse CSF proteomes with previously reported human CSF MS results acquired from patients across the AD spectrum. Intriguingly, the ECM protein decorin was similarly and significantly increased in both App(NL-F/NL-F) and App(NL-G-F/NL-G-F) mice, strikingly already at three months of age in the App(NL-F/NL-F) mice and preclinical AD subjects having abnormal CSF-A beta 42 but normal cognition. Notably, in this group of subjects, CSF-decorin levels positively correlated with CSF-A beta 42 levels indicating that the change in CSF-decorin is associated with early A beta amyloidosis. Importantly, receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that CSF-decorin can predict a specific AD subtype having innate immune activation and potential choroid plexus dysfunction in the brain. Consistently, in App(NL-F/NL-F) mice, increased CSF-decorin correlated with both AP plaque load and with decorin levels in choroid plexus. In addition, a low concentration of human A beta 42 induces decorin secretion from mouse primary neurons. Interestingly, we finally identify decorin to activate neuronal autophagy through enhancing lysosomal function. Altogether, the increased CSF-decorin levels occurring at an early stage of A beta amyloidosis in the brain may reflect pathological changes in choroid plexus, present in a subtype of AD subjects.
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- Larsson, Johan, et al.
(author)
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HSP10 as a Chaperone for Neurodegenerative Amyloid Fibrils
- 2022
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In: Frontiers in Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1662-4548 .- 1662-453X. ; 16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are associated with accumulated misfolded proteins (MPs). MPs oligomerize and form multiple forms of amyloid fibril polymorphs that dictate fibril propagation and cellular dysfunction. Protein misfolding processes that impair protein homeostasis are implicated in onset and progression of NDs. A wide variety of molecular chaperones safeguard the cell from MP accumulation. A rather overlooked molecular chaperone is HSP10, known as a co-chaperone for HSP60. Due to the ubiquitous presence in human tissues and protein overabundance compared with HSP60, we studied how HSP10 alone influences fibril formation in vitro of Alzheimers disease-associated A beta 1-42. At sub-stoichiometric concentrations, eukaryotic HSP10s (human and Drosophila) significantly influenced the fibril formation process and the fibril structure of A beta 1-42, more so than the prokaryotic HSP10 GroES. Similar effects were observed for prion disease-associated prion protein HuPrP90-231. Paradoxically, for a chaperone, low concentrations of HSP10 appeared to promote fibril nucleation by shortened lag-phases, which were chaperone and substrate dependent. Higher concentrations of chaperone while still sub-stoichiometric extended the nucleation and/or the elongation phase. We hypothesized that HSP10 by means of its seven mobile loops provides the chaperone with high avidity binding to amyloid fibril ends. The preserved sequence of the edge of the mobile loop GGIM(V)L (29-33 human numbering) normally dock to the HSP60 apical domain. Interestingly, this segment shows sequence similarity to amyloidogenic core segments of A beta 1-42, GGVVI (37-41), and HuPrP90-231 GGYML (126-130) likely allowing efficient competitive binding to fibrillar conformations of these MPs. Our results propose that HSP10 can function as an important molecular chaperone in human proteostasis in NDs.
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| 6. |
- Lerouge, Frederic, et al.
(author)
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In vivo targeting and multimodal imaging of cerebral amyloid-beta aggregates using hybrid GdF3 nanoparticles
- 2022
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In: Nanomedicine. - : FUTURE MEDICINE LTD. - 1743-5889 .- 1748-6963. ; 17:29, s. 2173-2187
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim: To propose a new multimodal imaging agent targeting amyloid-beta (A beta) plaques in Alzheimers disease. Materials & methods: A new generation of hybrid contrast agents, based on gadolinium fluoride nanoparticles grafted with a pentameric luminescent-conjugated polythiophene, was designed, extensively characterized and evaluated in animal models of Alzheimers disease through MRI, two-photon microscopy and synchrotron x-ray phase-contrast imaging. Results & conclusion: Two different grafting densities of luminescent-conjugated polythiophene were achieved while preserving colloidal stability and fluorescent properties, and without affecting biodistribution. In vivo brain uptake was dependent on the blood-brain barrier status. Nevertheless, multimodal imaging showed successful A beta targeting in both transgenic mice and A beta fibril-injected rats.
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| 7. |
- Nyström, Sofie, et al.
(author)
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Amyloidogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein br
- 2022
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In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 144:20, s. 8945-8950
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a surprising number of morbidities. Uncanny similarities with amyloid-disease associated blood coagulation andfibrinolytic disturbances together with neurologic and cardiac problems led us to investigatethe amyloidogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S-protein). Amyloidfibril assays of peptide library mixtures and theoreticalpredictions identified seven amyloidogenic sequences within the S-protein. All seven peptides in isolation formed aggregates duringincubation at 37 degrees C. Three 20-amino acid long synthetic spike peptides (sequence 192-211, 601-620, 1166-1185) fulfilled threeamyloidfibril criteria: nucleation dependent polymerization kinetics by ThT, Congo red positivity, and ultrastructuralfibrillarmorphology. Full-length folded S-protein did not form amyloidfibrils, but amyloid-likefibrils with evident branching were formedduring 24 h of S-protein coincubation with the protease neutrophil elastase (NE)in vitro.NEefficiently cleaved S-protein, renderingexposure of amyloidogenic segments and accumulation of the amyloidogenic peptide 194-203, part of the most amyloidogenicsynthetic spike peptide. NE is overexpressed at inflamed sites of viral infection. Our data propose a molecular mechanism forpotential amyloidogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 S-protein in humans facilitated by endoproteolysis. The prospective of S-proteinamyloidogenesis in COVID-19 disease associated pathogenesis can be important in understanding the disease and long COVID-19.
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| 8. |
- Vahnstrom, M., et al.
(author)
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Comparison of porcelain veneer fracture in implant-supported fixed full-arch prostheses with a framework of either titanium, cobalt-chromium, or zirconia: An in vitro study
- 2022
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In: Clinical and Experimental Dental Research. - : Wiley. - 2057-4347. ; 8:2, s. 544-551
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare porcelain veneer strength on screw-retained implant-supported fixed full-arch prostheses with a framework of either milled titanium (Ti), cobalt-chromium (CoCr), and yttria-stabilized zirconia (Y-TZP) in an in vitro loading model. Materials and Methods: Fifteen screw-retained maxillary implant-supported fullarch prostheses (FDP), five each of Ti, CoCr, and Y-TZP frameworks with porcelain veneers were included. All FDPs were subjected to thermocycling before loading until fracture of the veneer. The load was applied at the distal fossa of the occlusal area of the pontic replacing 24. Fracture loads were analyzed, and the fracture quality was assessed. Statistical analysis on the fracture load was performed using Kruskal-Wallis test. The statistical significance was set at p < .05. Results: There was no statistical significance found between the groups regarding fracture load. The highest and lowest load was seen within the CoCr FDP, varying between 340 and 1484 N. Different types of fracture appearances were seen. The Y-TZP FDPs had a higher number of fractures locally in the loaded area while CoCr and Ti more often showed cracks in the anterior region, at a distance from the loaded area. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, the conclusion was that framework material may affect the fracture behavior of maxillary full-arch bridges; however, there were no differences in veneer fracture strength when frameworks of Ti, CoCr, or Y-TZP were compared.
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