| 1. |
- Modig, Lars, 1976-
(författare)
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Asthma, rhinitis, and asthma-related symptoms in relation to vehicle exhaust using different exposure metrics
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Air pollution is a well known public health problem that involves both long-term and acute effects. An outcome associated with traffic-related air pollution is respiratory illness. Many studies have described the relationship between asthmatic symptoms and traffic-related air pollution; however, few have investigated the potential of air pollution to cause asthma itself, especially among adults. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the relationship between vehicle exhaust levels at home and the prevalence of self-reported annoyance and asthmatic symptoms, and the incidence of asthma and rhinitis. These relationships were evaluated using different indicators of exposure with a high spatial resolution. Three different data sets were used for the four papers included in this thesis. The first paper (paper I) is based on a questionnaire that was sent to a random selection of the adult population within three Swedish cities (Gothenburg, Uppsala, and Umeå) as part of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s health-related environmental monitoring. The aim was to study the degree of self-reported annoyance and the prevalence of asthmatic symptoms in relation to the levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home. The level of exposure was described using modeled levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as the exposure indicator. The second paper (paper II) is based on new asthma cases identified within the Obstructive Lung disease In Northern Sweden (OLIN) study, each with a matched referent. The aim of this study was to analyze if new cases of asthma had higher levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home compared to the population controls. Exposure was assessed using both measured levels of NO2 outside each home, and by summarizing the amount of traffic within a 200 metre buffer surrounding each participant’s home. Papers III and IV were based on the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE) Cohort, a prospective cohort of adults included in 1990 and followed up with in 1999. The proportion of new cases of asthma (papers III and IV) and rhinitis (paper IV) were identified based on the answers from the initial and follow-up questionnaires. In paper III, exposure was assessed by using meteorological dispersion models to calculate the levels of NO2 outside each home as an indicator of the levels of vehicle exhaust. As an alternative indicator, the distance from each participant’s home to the nearest major road was calculated using geographical information system (GIS) tools. The exposure assessment in paper IV was also based on meteorological dispersion models, but expressed the levels of vehicle exhaust as particle mass concentration. The results show that the levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home are significantly correlated with the degree of self-reported annoyance and the prevalence of asthmatic symptoms, and also with the risk of developing asthma, but not rhinitis, among adults. The odds ratio (OR) for high annoyance to vehicle exhaust and reporting asthmatic symptoms was 1.14 (95% Confidence Interval, CI 1.11-1.18) and 1.04 (95% CI 1.01-1.07) per 1 µg/m3 increase in the NO2 level outside the home, respectively. Paper II showed there was a non-significant tendency for increased risk of developing asthma among those living with high levels of vehicle exhaust outside their home. This finding was then supported by papers III and IV, showing a significant relationship between the onset of asthma and the mean (winter) levels of NO2 outside the home (OR=1.46, 95% CI 1.07-1.99 per 10 µg/m3) and the levels of vehicle exhaust particles outside the home. In paper III, living close to a major road was significantly related to the risk of developing asthma. No significant results were shown between vehicle exhaust and rhinitis. In conclusion, vehicle exhaust outside the home is associated with the prevalence of annoyance and asthmatic symptoms, and with the risk of developing asthma, but not rhinitis, among adults.
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| 2. |
- Abednazari, Hossein, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Hepatocyte growth factor is a better indicator of therapeutic response than C-reactive protein within the first day of treatment in pneumonia
- 2006
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Ingår i: Chemotherapy. - : S. Karger AG. - 0009-3157 .- 1421-9794. ; 52:5, s. 260-263
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Acute bacterial infectious diseases are mostly treated empirically at admission before the culture results are available. According to the risk for serious complications in the case of therapeutic failure, it is important to evaluate the therapy results and change to a more appropriate antibiotic regime as soon as possible. In the present study, 40 patients with X-ray-verified community-acquired pneumonia were examined and blood specimens were collected before and within 24 h of treatment. Body temperature, C-reactive protein (CRP) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were investigated. Thirty-two patients received an appropriate initial antibiotic therapy regarding clinical outcome, but in 8 patients the treatment was changed because of therapy failure. Changes of HGF levels after 18–24 h of treatment could predict the therapeutic results accurately in 38 of 40 cases (sensitivity 100%, specificity 94%, positive likelihood ratio 16.0). HGF was significantly better to predict therapy outcome than CRP (p < 0.0001).
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| 3. |
- Andréasson, Maia, 1960, et al.
(författare)
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Swedish CLARIN activities
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Nodalida 2009 workshop on CLARIN activities in the Nordic countries. NEALT Proceedings Series. - 1736-6305. ; 5, s. 1-5
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 4. |
- Andréasson, Maia, et al.
(författare)
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Swedish CLARIN Activities
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the NODALIDA 2009 workshop Nordic Perspectives on the CLARIN Infrastructure of Language Resources. - : Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT). ; , s. 1-5
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although Sweden has yet to allocate funds specifically intended for CLARIN activities, there are some ongoing activities which are directly relevant to CLARIN, and which are explicitly linked to CLARIN. These activities have been funded by the Committee for Research Infrastructures and its subcommittee DISC (Database Infrastructure Committee) of the Swedish Research Council.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Ankre, Rosemarie, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Silence – an article of short supply in outdoor recreation? Handling noise conflicts in Swedish planning
- 2008
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Ingår i: Management for protection and sustainable development. The Fourth International Conference on Monitoring and Management of Visitors Flows in Recreational and Protected Areas.. - Montecatini Terme, Tuscany, Italy. ; , s. 399-403
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Outdoor recreation areas are exposed to several causes of conflict. Many interests, along with different types of recreation activities, are competing in the same area. In these areas, conflicts are handled by spatial planning and by the separation in space of different functions. One source of conflict is noise. The lack of noise-free areas in the Swedish coastal areas has become an amenity problem. Does this make noise an important problem to consider in planning? An assumption is that the sound environment is relevant for the visitors’ experience; spending time in nature is associated with peace and quiet, where one should not be disturbed. In this study, it will be investigated how silence and noise actually are considered in the Swedish municipal planning. “Silence” is one of the amenity categories reported in the Swedish tourism data base. Is there a discrepancy between the existing municipal planning and the visitors’ opinions, attitudes and experiences? Furthermore, there will be an analysis of how silence and noise could be handled in spatial planning. One possible method is zoning. By excluding certain outdoor recreation activities from some areas, zoning may handle, or at least reduce, the problem of conflicts. The biosphere reserve concept (where zoning is an important part) will for that reason be discussed as a potential tool. A case study of the Blekinge archipelago, Sweden is the foundation of the study, which data consist of planning documents and questionnaire surveys considering outdoor recreation and nature tourism.
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| 7. |
- Backe-Forsberg, Yvonne, 1946-
(författare)
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Crossing the Bridge : An Interpretation of the Archaeological Remains in the Etruscan Bridge Complex at San Giovenale, Etruria
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis discusses the archaeological remains in the Etruscan bridge complex, found during the excavations at San Giovenale in 1959–1963, and 1999. The aim has been to reach a holistic perspective of the bridge complex with the bridge seen as a link between topography, economy, social relationships, politics, symbols and ritual, reflecting its importance for the whole community at San Giovenale and its surroundings. Situated at the border between the two largest city-states Tarquinia and Caere, the site seems to have been an important middle range transit town for foreign ideas, goods and people. The character of the remains and the various levels of contextual analyses made it possible to distinguish five distinctive functions for the structures at the bridge over the Pietrisco. From a more generalised point of view these suggested that specialized functions may be divided into practical, social and symbolic functions and these aspects have been of help in identifying an object or a structure. Besides practical functions of everyday use, economic and strategic functions have also been considered. These functions were more or less in use contemporaneously, at least during several hundred years, from about the middle of the 6th down to the first century B.C. Pottery and small finds show that some activity has taken place at the site from the 9th century. Features of continuity, such as in the choice of crossing, the direction of the bridge construction after its destruction, the architectural ground-plans, the use of basins and a well, pottery fabrics of local and Greek imports and shapes, as well as changes in ground-plans, slight changes in the environment due to water erosion, earth-quakes and slides, have been observed. The physical as well as the liminal boundary between land and water as well as between man and spirits was accentuated by the tufa building, the water installations, and the road at the northern abutment. The thesis raises the hypothesis that the Etruscans believed that a crossing of a river via a bridge could violate the spirits of nature on land and in the water and therefore special rites were needed to restore the balance between nature and man before entering the bridge in order to reach safely at the other side of the ravine. The bridge itself can be seen as sacred, a liminal area where time and space do not exist and a place where it is easy to gain contact with the supernatural world.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Borin, Lars, 1957, et al.
(författare)
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All in the family: A comparison of SALDO and WordNet
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Nodalida 2009 Workshop on WordNets and other Lexical Semantic Resources - between Lexical Semantics, Lexicography, Terminology and Formal Ontologies. NEALT Proceedings Series. - 1736-6305. ; 7
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 10. |
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