| 1. |
- Abdeldaim, Guma, et al.
(författare)
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Duplex detection of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and medically important non-tuberculosis mycobacteria by real-time PCR based on the rnpB gene
- 2016
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Ingår i: Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica (APMIS). - : Wiley. - 0903-4641 .- 1600-0463. ; 124:11, s. 991-995
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A duplex real-time PCR based on the rnpB gene was developed for Mycobacterium spp. The assay was specific for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB) and also detected all 19 tested species of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The assay was evaluated on 404 clinical samples: 290 respiratory samples and 114 from tissue and other nonrespiratory body sites. M. tuberculosis was detected by culture in 40 samples and in 30 samples by the assay. The MTB assay showed a sensitivity similar to Roche Cobas Amplicor MTB-PCR (Roche Molecular Systems, Pleasanton, CA, USA). There were only nine samples with non-tuberculous mycobacteria detected by culture. Six of them were detected by the PCR assay.
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| 2. |
- Blomberg, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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Plikt att kollektivisera?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Tidskrift för politisk filosofi. - 1402-2710. ; 22:2, s. 36-46
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- En del moraliska dilemman och samhällsproblem uppstår ur många sinsemellan orelaterade individuella handlingar eller underlåtelser, samtidigt som problemen bara kan åtgärdas genom kollektiv handling. Vi kritiserar tre sätt att resonera om ostrukturerade gruppers moraliska plikter och ansvar i sådana situationer. Därefter föreslår vi att intuitionen att en sådan grupp kan ha moraliska plikter och vara ansvarig bäst förklaras med utgångspunkt i att individer åtminstone i småskaliga fall kan identifiera sig med gruppen i en stark mening, och betrakta beslutssituationen ur gruppens perspektiv.
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| 3. |
- Chaplin, John, et al.
(författare)
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Varför ska du använda PROMIS? : Nytt system för patientrapporterad utfallsmått
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- PROMIS är ett itembanksystem för hälso- och sjukvården. Syftet är att erbjuda moderna, patientrapporterade mått som kan användas för flertalet patientgrupper till en mycket låg kostnad och med ett nationellt supportsystem.En itembankär en modern form av elektronisk enkät som kan innehålla ett stort antal enkätfrågor. Ett datorprogram väljer ut de mest lämpade frågorna till varje person utifrån dennes svar på föregående frågor, på så sätt enkäten individanpassas.
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| 4. |
- Engström, Gunnar, et al.
(författare)
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The Swedish CArdioPulmonary BioImage Study : objectives and design
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Internal Medicine. - : Wiley. - 0954-6820 .- 1365-2796. ; 278:6, s. 645-659
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cardiopulmonary diseases are major causes of death worldwide, but currently recommended strategies for diagnosis and prevention may be outdated because of recent changes in risk factor patterns. The Swedish CArdioPulmonarybioImage Study (SCAPIS) combines the use of new imaging technologies, advances in large-scale 'omics' and epidemiological analyses to extensively characterize a Swedish cohort of 30 000 men and women aged between 50 and 64 years. The information obtained will be used to improve risk prediction of cardiopulmonary diseases and optimize the ability to study disease mechanisms. A comprehensive pilot study in 1111 individuals, which was completed in 2012, demonstrated the feasibility and financial and ethical consequences of SCAPIS. Recruitment to the national, multicentre study has recently started.
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| 5. |
- Fischer, Alexandra, et al.
(författare)
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Adherence to a Mediterranean-like Diet as a Protective Factor Against COPD : A Nested Case-Control Study
- 2019
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Ingår i: COPD. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1541-2555 .- 1541-2563. ; 16:3–4, s. 272-277
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A diet rich in nutrients has been suggested to have protective effects against the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Since the traditional Mediterranean diet is high in nutrients, including antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, it is of interest to study as a protective factor against COPD. Our aim was therefore to study its associations with development of COPD using population-based prospective data from the Vasterbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) cohort. Data on diet from 370 individuals, who later visited the Department of Medicine at the University Hospital, Umea, Sweden, with a diagnosis of COPD, were compared to 1432 controls. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet was assessed by a modified version of the Mediterranean diet score (MDS). Cases were diagnosed with COPD 11.1 years (mean) (standard deviation [SD] 4.5 years) after first stating their dietary habits in the VIP at a mean age of 55.5 years (SD 6.6 years). Higher MDS was associated with a higher level of education and not living alone. After adjustment for co-habiting and education level, individuals with an intermediate MDS and those with the highest MDS had a lower odds of developing COPD (odds ratio [OR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.56-0.95; OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.37-0.86, respectively). These results remained also after adjustment for smoking intensity, i.e., numbers of cigarettes smoked per day (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.53-0.99; OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.35-0.97), respectively). To conclude, adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet seems to be inversely associated with the development of COPD.
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| 6. |
- Gross, Susanna, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Optimization of a high-throughput phenotyping method for chain-forming phytoplankton species
- 2018
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Ingår i: Limnology and Oceanography : Methods. - : Wiley. - 1541-5856. ; 16:2, s. 57-67
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Modern equipment facilitates phenotyping of hundreds of strains of unicellular organisms by culturing and monitoring growth in microplates. However, in the field of phytoplankton ecology, automated monitoring of growth is not often done and this method has not been tested for many species. To meet the demand for a high-throughput technique for monitoring growth of chain-forming phytoplankton species, we have assessed and optimized a method commonly used for other microorganisms. Skeletonema marinoi is a pelagic chain-forming diatom, and we have acquired growth patterns in four different treatments (i.e., low and high light, low and high nutrient concentrations) when cultured in multi-well plates. Due to the unexpected heterogeneity in growth rates and maximum cell densities observed between wells (spatial) and runs (temporal), a set of models was fitted to the obtained phenotypic data to correct for these biases. Models were tested for robustness on two replicate multi-strain experiments including 23 different strains. Using the model accounting for temporal and spatial bias, we could reliably determine changes in growth rate caused by nutrient treatments as well as differences in cell density as a response to nutrient availability and light treatment. This method can facilitate high-throughput phenotyping of hundreds of strains, which is often a bottleneck in characterizing the ecology and capacity for adaptation of chain-forming phytoplankton.
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| 7. |
- Shirnin, Denis, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Speech perception in noise : prediction patterns of neural pre-activation in lexical processing
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to examine whether the neural correlates of lexical expectations could be used to predict speech in noise perception. We analyse mag-netoencephalography (MEG) data from 20 normal hearing participants, who read a set of couplets (a pair of phrases with rhyming end words) prior to the experiment. During the experiment, the participants are asked to listen to the couplets, whose intelligibility is set to 80%. However, the last word is pronounced with a delay of 1600 ms (i.e. expectation gap) and is masked at 50% of intelligibility. At the end of each couplet, the participants are asked to indicate if the last word was cor-rect, i.e. corresponding to the expected word. Given the oscillatory characteristics of neural patterns of lexical expectations during the expectation gap, can we predict the participant’s actual perception of the last word? In order to approach this re-search question, we aim to identify the correlation patterns between the instances of neural pre-activation, occurring during the interval of the expectation gap and the type of the given answer. According to the sequential design of the experiment, the expectation gap is placed 4400 ms prior to the time interval dedicated to the participant’s answer. Machine Learning approach has been chosen as the main tool for the pattern recognition.
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| 8. |
- Torén, Kjell, 1952, et al.
(författare)
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Measures of bronchodilator response of FEV1, FVC and SVC in a Swedish general population sample aged 50-64 years, the SCAPIS Pilot Study
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1178-2005. ; 12, s. 973-980
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Data are lacking from general population studies on how to define changes in lung function after bronchodilation. This study aimed to analyze different measures of bronchodilator response of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and slow vital capacity (SVC). Materials and methods: Data were derived from the Swedish Cardiopulmonary Bioimage Study (SCAPIS) Pilot study. This analysis comprised 1,050 participants aged 50-64 years from the general population. Participants were investigated using a questionnaire, and FEV1, FVC and SVC were recorded before and 15 minutes after inhalation of 400 mu g of salbutamol. A bronchodilator response was defined as the relative change from baseline value expressed as the difference in units of percent predicted normal. Predictors of bronchodilator responses were assessed using multiple linear regression models. Airway obstruction was defined as FEV1/FVC ratio below lower limit of normal (LLN) before bronchodilation, and COPD was defined as an FEV1/FVC ratio below LLN after bronchodilation. Physician-diagnosed asthma was defined as an affirmative answer to " Have you ever had asthma diagnosed by a physician?". Asymptomatic never-smokers were defined as those not reporting physician-diagnosed asthma, physician-diagnosed COPD or emphysema, current wheeze or chronic bronchitis and being a lifelong never-smoker. Results: Among all subjects, the greatest bronchodilator responses (FEV1, FVC and SVC) were found in subjects with asthma or COPD. The upper 95th percentile of bronchodilator responses in asymptomatic never-smokers was 8.7% for FEV1, 4.2% for FVC and 5.0% for SVC. The bronchodilator responses were similar between men and women. In a multiple linear regression model comprising all asymptomatic never-smokers, the bronchodilator response of FEV1 was significantly associated with airway obstruction and height. Conclusion: When the bronchodilator response in asymptomatic never-smokers is reported as the difference in units of predicted normal, significant reversibility of FEV1, FVC and SVC to bronchodilators is 9%, 4% and 5%, respectively.
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