| 1. |
- Baigent, Colin, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with simvastatin plus ezetimibe in patients with chronic kidney disease (Study of Heart and Renal Protection) : a randomised placebo-controlled trial
- 2011
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 377:9784, s. 2181-2192
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Lowering LDL cholesterol with statin regimens reduces the risk of myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, and the need for coronary revascularisation in people without kidney disease, but its effects in people with moderate-to-severe kidney disease are uncertain. The SHARP trial aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of the combination of simvastatin plus ezetimibe in such patients. Methods This randomised double-blind trial included 9270 patients with chronic kidney disease (3023 on dialysis and 6247 not) with no known history of myocardial infarction or coronary revascularisation. Patients were randomly assigned to simvastatin 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg daily versus matching placebo. The key prespecified outcome was first major atherosclerotic event (non-fatal myocardial infarction or coronary death, non-haemorrhagic stroke, or any arterial revascularisation procedure). All analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00125593, and I SRCTN54137607. Findings 4650 patients were assigned to receive simvastatin plus ezetimibe and 4620 to placebo. Allocation to simvastatin plus ezetimibe yielded an average LDL cholesterol difference of 0.85 mmol/L (SE 0.02; with about two-thirds compliance) during a median follow-up of 4.9 years and produced a 17% proportional reduction in major atherosclerotic events (526 [11.3%] simvastatin plus ezetimibe vs 619 [13.4%] placebo; rate ratio [RR] 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.94; log-rank p=0.0021). Non-significantly fewer patients allocated to simvastatin plus ezetimibe had a non-fatal myocardial infarction or died from coronary heart disease (213 [4.6%] vs 230 [5.0%]; RR 0.92,95% CI 0.76-1.11; p=0.37) and there were significant reductions in non-haemorrhagic stroke (131 [2.8%] vs 174 [3.8%]; RR 0.75,95% CI 0.60-0.94; p=0.01) and arterial revascularisation procedures (284 [6.1%] vs 352 [7.6%]; RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.68-0.93; p=0.0036). After weighting for subgroup-specific reductions in LDL cholesterol, there was no good evidence that the proportional effects on major atherosclerotic events differed from the summary rate ratio in any subgroup examined, and, in particular, they were similar in patients on dialysis and those who were not. The excess risk of myopathy was only two per 10 000 patients per year of treatment with this combination (9 [0.2%] vs 5 [0.1%]). There was no evidence of excess risks of hepatitis (21 [0.5%] vs 18 [0.4%]), gallstones (106 [2.3%] vs 106 [2.3%]), or cancer (438 [9.4%] vs 439 [9.5%], p=0.89) and there was no significant excess of death from any non-vascular cause (668 [14.4%] vs 612 [13.2%], p=0.13). Interpretation Reduction of LDL cholesterol with simvastatin 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg daily safely reduced the incidence of major atherosclerotic events in a wide range of patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.
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| 2. |
- Angelbratt, Jon, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Carbon monoxide (CO) and ethane (C2H6) trends from ground-based solar FTIR measurements at six European stations, comparison and sensitivity analysis with the EMEP model
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:17, s. 9253-9269
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trends in the CO and C(2)H(6) partial columns (similar to 0-15 km) have been estimated from four European ground-based solar FTIR (Fourier Transform InfraRed) stations for the 1996-2006 time period. The CO trends from the four stations Jungfraujoch, Zugspitze, Harestua and Kiruna have been estimated to -0.45 +/- 0.16%yr(-1), -1.00 +/- 0.24%yr(-1), -0.62 +/- 0.19%yr(-1) and -0.61 +/- 0.16%yr(-1), respectively. The corresponding trends for C(2)H(6) are -1.51 +/- 0.23%yr(-1), -2.11 +/- 0.30%yr(-1), -1.09 +/- 0.25%yr(-1) and -1.14 +/- 0.18%yr(-1). All trends are presented with their 2-sigma confidence intervals. To find possible reasons for the CO trends, the global-scale EMEP MSC-W chemical transport model has been used in a series of sensitivity scenarios. It is shown that the trends are consistent with the combination of a 20% decrease in the anthropogenic CO emissions seen in Europe and North America during the 1996-2006 period and a 20% increase in the anthropogenic CO emissions in East Asia, during the same time period. The possible impacts of CH(4) and biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are also considered. The European and global-scale EMEP models have been evaluated against the measured CO and C(2)H(6) partial columns from Jungfraujoch, Zugspitze, Bremen, Harestua, Kiruna and Ny-Alesund. The European model reproduces, on average the measurements at the different sites fairly well and within 10-22% deviation for CO and 14-31% deviation for C(2)H(6). Their seasonal amplitude is captured within 6-35% and 9-124% for CO and C(2)H(6), respectively. However, 61-98% of the CO and C(2)H(6) partial columns in the European model are shown to arise from the boundary conditions, making the global-scale model a more suitable alternative when modeling these two species. In the evaluation of the global model the average partial columns for 2006 are shown to be within 1-9% and 37-50% of the measurements for CO and C(2)H(6), respectively. The global model sensitivity for assumptions made in this paper is also analyzed.
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| 3. |
- Clarke, N, et al.
(författare)
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Availability, accessibility, quality and comparability of monitoring data for European forests for use in air pollution and climate change science
- 2011
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Ingår i: IForest. - : Italian Society of Sivilculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF). - 1971-7458. ; 4:1, s. 162-166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Data from existing monitoring programmes such as ICP Forests, ICP Integrated Monitoring and EMEP, as well as from large-scale international projects such as CarboEurope IP and NitroEurope, can be used to answer questions about the impacts of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems and the feedbacks of forest to climate. However, for full use to be made of the available data, a number of questions need to be answered related to the availability, accessibility, quality and comparability of the data. For example, how can these databases be accessed, e.g., freely, over the internet, on request, by authorisation? How should intellectual property rights be protected, while improving access to data? What possibilities exist for harmonisation? Which quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures have been used and for how long? These and other relevant questions are discussed.
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| 4. |
- Fischer, R, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a transnational system of supersites for forest monitoring and research in Europe - an overview on present state and future recommendations
- 2011
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Ingår i: IForest. - : Italian Society of Sivilculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF). - 1971-7458. ; 4:1, s. 167-171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Science based approaches in addressing future risks and challenges for forests require close collaboration among the communities operating different monitoring and research networks as well as experts in process and large-scale modelling. Results of the COST FP0903 conference which took place in October 2010 in Rome, reveal valuable results from different European forest monitoring and research networks. However, the need for closer integration of these activities is obvious. In this paper, representatives from major European networks recommend a new approach for forest monitoring and research in Europe, based on a reasonable number of highly instrumented "supersites" and a larger number of intensive monitoring plots linked to these. This system needs to be built on existing infrastructures but requires increased coordination, harmonisation and a joint long term platform for data exchange and modelling.
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| 5. |
- Flechard, C. R., et al.
(författare)
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Dry deposition of reactive nitrogen to European ecosystems: a comparison of inferential models across the NitroEurope network
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:6, s. 2703-2728
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inferential models have long been used to determine pollutant dry deposition to ecosystems from measurements of air concentrations and as part of national and regional atmospheric chemistry and transport models, and yet models still suffer very large uncertainties. An inferential network of 55 sites throughout Europe for atmospheric reactive nitrogen (N-r) was established in 2007, providing ambient concentrations of gaseous NH3, NO2, HNO3 and HONO and aerosol NH4+ and NO3- as part of the NitroEurope Integrated Project. Network results providing modelled inorganic Nr dry deposition to the 55 monitoring sites are presented, using four existing dry deposition routines, revealing inter-model differences and providing ensemble average deposition estimates. Dry deposition is generally largest over forests in regions with large ambient NH3 concentrations, exceeding 30-40 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1) over parts of the Netherlands and Belgium, while some remote forests in Scandinavia receive less than 2 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1). Turbulent Nr deposition to short vegetation ecosystems is generally smaller than to forests due to reduced turbulent exchange, but also because NH3 inputs to fertilised, agricultural systems are limited by the presence of a substantial NH3 source in the vegetation, leading to periods of emission as well as deposition. Differences between models reach a factor 2-3 and are often greater than differences between monitoring sites. For soluble Nr gases such as NH3 and HNO3, the non-stomatal pathways are responsible for most of the annual uptake over many surfaces, especially the non-agricultural land uses, but parameterisations of the sink strength vary considerably among models. For aerosol NH4+ and NO3-, discrepancies between theoretical models and field flux measurements lead to much uncertainty in dry deposition rates for fine particles (0.1-0.5 mu m). The validation of inferential models at the ecosystem scale is best achieved by comparison with direct long-term micrometeorological Nr flux measurements, but too few such datasets are available, especially for HNO3 and aerosol NH4+ and NO3-.
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| 6. |
- Genberg, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosol in southern Sweden
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:22, s. 11387-11400
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A one-year study was performed at the Vavihill background station in southern Sweden to estimate the anthropogenic contribution to the carbonaceous aerosol. Weekly samples of the particulate matter PM10 were collected on quartz filters, and the amounts of organic carbon, elemental carbon, radiocarbon (14C) and levoglucosan were measured. This approach enabled source apportionment of the total carbon in the PM10 fraction using the concentration ratios of the sources. The sources considered in this study were emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, as well as biogenic sources. During the summer, the carbonaceous aerosol mass was dominated by compounds of biogenic origin (80%), which are associated with biogenic primary and secondary organic aerosols. During the winter months, biomass combustion (32%) and fossil fuel combustion (28%) were the main contributors to the carbonaceous aerosol. Elemental carbon concentrations in winter were about twice as large as during summer, and can be attributed to biomass combustion, probably from domestic wood burning. The contribution of fossil fuels to elemental carbon was stable throughout the year, although the fossil contribution to organic carbon increased during the winter. Thus, the organic aerosol originated mainly from natural sources during the summer and from anthropogenic sources during the winter. The result of this source apportionment was compared with results from the EMEP MSC-W chemical transport model. The model and measurements were generally consistent for total atmospheric organic carbon, however, the contribution of the sources varied substantially. E.g. the biomass burning contributions of OC were underestimated by the model by a factor of 2.2 compared to the measurements.
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| 7. |
- Kulmala, M., et al.
(författare)
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General overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) - integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:24, s. 13061-13143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. These achievements and related studies have substantially improved our understanding and reduced the uncertainties of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.
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| 8. |
- Mills, Gina, 1959, et al.
(författare)
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New stomatal flux-based critical levels for ozone effects on vegetation
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-2844 .- 1352-2310. ; 45:28, s. 5064-5068
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The critical levels for ozone effects on vegetation have been reviewed and revised by the LRTAP Convention. Eight new or revised critical levels based on the accumulated stomatal flux of ozone (POD gamma, the Phytotoxic Ozone Dose above a threshold flux of Y nmol m(-2) PLA s(-1), where PLA is the projected leaf area) have been agreed. For each receptor, data were combined from experiments conducted under naturally fluctuating environmental conditions in 2-4 countries, resulting in linear dose response relationships with response variables specific to each receptor (r(2) = 0.49-0.87, p
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| 9. |
- Romanelli, F, et al.
(författare)
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Overview of the JET results
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 1741-4326 .- 0029-5515. ; 51:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the last IAEA Conference JET has been in operation for one year with a programmatic focus on the qualification of ITER operating scenarios, the consolidation of ITER design choices and preparation for plasma operation with the ITER-like wall presently being installed in JET. Good progress has been achieved, including stationary ELMy H-mode operation at 4.5 MA. The high confinement hybrid scenario has been extended to high triangularity, lower ρ*and to pulse lengths comparable to the resistive time. The steady-state scenario has also been extended to lower ρ*and ν*and optimized to simultaneously achieve, under stationary conditions, ITER-like values of all other relevant normalized parameters. A dedicated helium campaign has allowed key aspects of plasma control and H-mode operation for the ITER non-activated phase to be evaluated. Effective sawtooth control by fast ions has been demonstrated with3He minority ICRH, a scenario with negligible minority current drive. Edge localized mode (ELM) control studies using external n = 1 and n = 2 perturbation fields have found a resonance effect in ELM frequency for specific q95values. Complete ELM suppression has, however, not been observed, even with an edge Chirikov parameter larger than 1. Pellet ELM pacing has been demonstrated and the minimum pellet size needed to trigger an ELM has been estimated. For both natural and mitigated ELMs a broadening of the divertor ELM-wetted area with increasing ELM size has been found. In disruption studies with massive gas injection up to 50% of the thermal energy could be radiated before, and 20% during, the thermal quench. Halo currents could be reduced by 60% and, using argon/deuterium and neon/deuterium gas mixtures, runaway electron generation could be avoided. Most objectives of the ITER-like ICRH antenna have been demonstrated; matching with closely packed straps, ELM resilience, scattering matrix arc detection and operation at high power density (6.2 MW m-2) and antenna strap voltages (42 kV). Coupling measurements are in very good agreement with TOPICA modelling. © 2011 IAEA, Vienna.
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| 10. |
- Terenius, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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RNA interference in Lepidoptera : An overview of successful and unsuccessful studies and implications for experimental design
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of insect physiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-1910 .- 1879-1611. ; 57:2, s. 231-245
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized the study of gene function, particularly in non-model insects. However, in Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) RNAi has many times proven to be difficult to achieve. Most of the negative results have been anecdotal and the positive experiments have not been collected in such a way that they are possible to analyze. In this review, we have collected detailed data from more than 150 experiments including all to date published and many unpublished experiments. Despite a large variation in the data, trends that are found are that RNAi is particularly successful in the family Saturniidae and in genes involved in immunity. On the contrary, gene expression in epidermal tissues seems to be most difficult to silence. In addition, gene silencing by feeding dsRNA requires high concentrations for success. Possible causes for the variability of success in RNAi experiments in Lepidoptera are discussed. The review also points to a need to further investigate the mechanism of RNAi in lepidopteran insects and its possible connection to the innate immune response. Our general understanding of RNAi in Lepidoptera will be further aided in the future as our public database at http://insectacentral.org/RNAi will continue to gather information on RNAi experiments.
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