| 1. |
- Bridel, Claire, et al.
(författare)
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Diagnostic Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilament Light Protein in Neurology : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- 2019
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Ingår i: JAMA Neurology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2168-6149 .- 2168-6157. ; 76:9, s. 1035-1048
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Importance Neurofilament light protein (NfL) is elevated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a number of neurological conditions compared with healthy controls (HC) and is a candidate biomarker for neuroaxonal damage. The influence of age and sex is largely unknown, and levels across neurological disorders have not been compared systematically to date.Objectives To assess the associations of age, sex, and diagnosis with NfL in CSF (cNfL) and to evaluate its potential in discriminating clinically similar conditions.Data Sources PubMed was searched for studies published between January 1, 2006, and January 1, 2016, reporting cNfL levels (using the search terms neurofilament light and cerebrospinal fluid) in neurological or psychiatric conditions and/or in HC.Study Selection Studies reporting NfL levels measured in lumbar CSF using a commercially available immunoassay, as well as age and sex.Data Extraction and Synthesis Individual-level data were requested from study authors. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the fixed effects of age, sex, and diagnosis on log-transformed NfL levels, with cohort of origin modeled as a random intercept.Main Outcome and Measure The cNfL levels adjusted for age and sex across diagnoses.Results Data were collected for 10 059 individuals (mean [SD] age, 59.7 [18.8] years; 54.1% female). Thirty-five diagnoses were identified, including inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (n = 2795), dementias and predementia stages (n = 4284), parkinsonian disorders (n = 984), and HC (n = 1332). The cNfL was elevated compared with HC in a majority of neurological conditions studied. Highest levels were observed in cognitively impaired HIV-positive individuals (iHIV), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Huntington disease. In 33.3% of diagnoses, including HC, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease (AD), and Parkinson disease (PD), cNfL was higher in men than women. The cNfL increased with age in HC and a majority of neurological conditions, although the association was strongest in HC. The cNfL overlapped in most clinically similar diagnoses except for FTD and iHIV, which segregated from other dementias, and PD, which segregated from atypical parkinsonian syndromes.Conclusions and Relevance These data support the use of cNfL as a biomarker of neuroaxonal damage and indicate that age-specific and sex-specific (and in some cases disease-specific) reference values may be needed. The cNfL has potential to assist the differentiation of FTD from AD and PD from atypical parkinsonian syndromes.
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| 2. |
- Fregidou-Malama, Maria, 1944-, et al.
(författare)
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Local produced and organic food for sustainable development
- 2017
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Ingår i: Consuming the Environment. ; , s. 25-26
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study analyses the perceptions of consumers with regard to local produced and organic food in the region of Gävleborg, Sweden. The aim of the study is to investigate consumers` attitudes by giving insight in why consumers buy local produced and organic food and how they conceive them. Quantitative data was collected through the use of structured questionnaire. We approached six hundred seventeen consumers outside twelve grocery stores directly after their shopping. The study shows consumers have the opinion that local produced and organic food have higher quality than other kind of food, their production supports sustainable environmental development and promotes the local society and local business. Consumers older than 65 years are more positive than younger ones to local produced and organic food and women are willing to pay more for purchasing the food.The results illustrate that consumers think it is difficult to allocate local produced and organic food in the stores, the assortment is poor and the prices of organic food are high. The correlations between attitudes regarding Organic, Organic Local produced, and Local produced foods show that the consumers consider them as related, but not identical. It also indicates that consumers have vague attitudes about Local Produced foods and lack knowledge to define them.Differences in price sensitivity demonstrate that consumers are willing to pay more for Organic and Local produced foods, showing there is value in, and demand for reliable guarantee label systems such as KRAV. We suggest a cooperation between public authorities and business organizations to develop trustworthy guarantee label system for Local produced foods.We see a need for marketing and information campaigns to develop knowledge of what Organic and Local produced foods stand for to increase trust and awareness. By emphasizing on positive partial characteristics such as non-Genetically modified organisms (GMO) in marketing/information campaigns, negative connotation to organic as expensive may be avoided when educating consumers about the definition of organic foods.We propose comparative studies in other regions and countries as well as studies about visibility and availability of organic and/or local produced foods in the shops.
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| 3. |
- Lundström, Maria, 1986-
(författare)
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Exploring Fennoscandian agricultural history through genetic analysis of aged crop materials
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Crop plants have undergone a multitude of genetic changes during and following their domestication. The spread of agriculture brought the crops to new geographic regions exposing them to new environments and selection pressures along the way. This gave rise to many local variants with traits favoured both by agricultural practices and the environment.Agriculture was introduced in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) around 4000 BC. The composition of the archaeobotanical record gives some clues as to which species were cultivated, but macroscale analyses rarely reach beyond that. Therefore, methods like genetic analysis are necessary to expand our knowledge about the history of crop cultivation. Under optimal conditions, DNA can survive in biological samples for several hundred thousand years. The preservation of plant specimens in the Fennoscandian climate has, however, rarely been explored. This thesis therefore attempts to dive deeper into the Fennoscandian cultivation history through genetic analyses of aged plant materials from both museum collections and archaeological sources. Cereal grains from a range of preservation conditions were evaluated to find which ones might be of interest for genetic investigations. Desiccated materials gave the highest success rates, in agreement with previous studies. Waterlogged materials appeared to contain small amounts of endogenous DNA, whereas genetic analysis of charred cereals failed completely in all samples.Population structure was investigated in 17-19th century materials of both barley and rye from Sweden and Finland. Northern and southern populations of Finnish six-row barley were distinct from one another. In southern Sweden, genetic analysis suggested conserved population structure extending over 200 years. The genetic composition of rye also seemed mostly conserved, but rye did not show geographic population structure across the investigated region in Sweden and Finland.A long-standing question in Fennoscandian crop history has been the interpretation of historical written records mentioning Brassica (cole crops, turnips and mustards), as well as the species identity of archaeobotanical finds of Brassica seeds. Thus, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was applied to identify which Brassica types that were cultivated in 17th century Kalmar, Sweden. The analysis corroborated morphological species classification in two of the investigated subfossil seeds, whereas no conclusions could be drawn from the remaining samples. The genome coverages were too low to allow subspecies identification.Wheat has been cultivated in Fennoscandia since the introduction of agriculture but has increased dramatically in importance over the last century. The functional allele of the wheat nutrition gene NAM-B1 was found to be particularly prominent in Fennoscandian wheats, likely associated with its effect on grain maturation time. Here the evolutionary history of NAM-B1 was investigated to see if it could truly be considered a domestication gene as suggested in a previous study. By studying extant landrace materials of Mediterranean tetraploid wheat, it was found that the non-functional allele showed signs indicative of a selective sweep. This selection did not, however, appear to have occurred during domestication.In conclusion, aged plant specimens from both museum and archaeological contexts could contribute greatly to our knowledge about historical cultivation, extending the investigated period into the mid 17th century. Subfossil and waterlogged archaeobotanical materials do contain endogenous DNA, suggesting that they are better suited for genetic analysis than charred ones, at least as far as cereals are concerned. There is potential for classifying archaeological Brassica remains using NGS, even though further optimisation of sample and library preparation may be necessary. And finally, despite NAM-B1 showing signs of selection it should not be considered a domestication gene in tetraploid wheat.
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| 4. |
- Nilsson, Andreas, 1974, et al.
(författare)
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The Gothenburg Congestion Tax: Attitude Changes Before and After the Implementation
- 2015
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Ingår i: 11th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, Groningen 2015.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Attitudes and beliefs concerning the Gothenburg congestion tax were investigated in a three- wave panel study, twice before and once after the implementation. Participants were approximately 5000 respondents living in the Gothenburg area. A very large part of the variance of the attitudes towards the taxes was explained by policy specific beliefs. Environmental outcomes (positively) and value expressive beliefs (negatively) were the strongest predictors to attitudes towards the tax. The policy specific beliefs mediated the effects of values on attitudes towards the tax. Attitudes were more positive after the implementation compared to before. Respondents perceived the system as easier to use and experienced less negative individual outcomes after the implementation compared to before. The most important predictors (before the implementation) of the change in attitudes after the implementation were value expressive beliefs (negatively), Environmental outcomes, and procedural fairness (positively). The results are discussed in relation to previous similar implementations and to cognitive dissonance theory.
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| 5. |
- Nilsson, Andreas, 1974, et al.
(författare)
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The Road to Acceptance: Attitude Change Before and After the Implementation of a Congestion Tax
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Psychology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0272-4944. ; 46, s. 1-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Attitudes and beliefs concerning a congestion tax in Gothenburg, Sweden, were investigated in a three-wave panel with 4738 respondents, twice before and once after the implementation. Attitudes were more positive after the implementation. Perceived environmental outcomes and value expressive beliefs were most strongly related to attitudes toward the tax. Respondents' perceived the system as easier to use and experienced less negative outcomes after the implementation compared to the expectations before. The most important variable in explaining the change in attitudes (before the implementation) was value expressive beliefs. The results indicate that the most strongly related beliefs both for explaining attitudes and the change in attitudes after the implementation are abstract in nature. The attitudes are grounded in emotional and value-related motives, rather than the more specific expected outcomes of the scheme.
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