| 1. |
- Troughton, Richard W., et al.
(författare)
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Effect of B-type natriuretic peptide-guided treatment of chronic heart failure on total mortality and hospitalization : an individual patient meta-analysis
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Heart Journal. - : Oxford University Press. - 0195-668X .- 1522-9645. ; 35:23, s. 1559-1567
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims Natriuretic peptide-guided (NP-guided) treatment of heart failure has been tested against standard clinically guided care in multiple studies, but findings have been limited by study size. We sought to perform an individual patient data meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of NP-guided treatment of heart failure on all-cause mortality. Methods and results ligible randomized clinical trials were identified from searches of Medline and EMBASE databases and the Cochrane Clinical Trials Register. The primary pre-specified outcome, all-cause mortality was tested using a Cox proportional hazards regression model that included study of origin, age (less than 75 or greater than= 75 years), and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, less than= 45 or greater than 45%) as covariates. Secondary endpoints included heart failure or cardiovascular hospitalization. Of 11 eligible studies, 9 provided individual patient data and 2 aggregate data. For the primary endpoint individual data from 2000 patients were included, 994 randomized to clinically guided care and 1006 to NP-guided care. All-cause mortality was significantly reduced by NP-guided treatment [hazard ratio = 0.62 (0.45-0.86); P = 0.004] with no heterogeneity between studies or interaction with LVEF. The survival benefit from NP-guided therapy was seen in younger (less than 75 years) patients [0.62 (0.45-0.85); P = 0.004] but not older (greater than= 75 years) patients [0.98 (0.75-1.27); P = 0.96]. Hospitalization due to heart failure [0.80 (0.67-0.94); P = 0.009] or cardiovascular disease [0.82 (0.67-0.99); P = 0.048] was significantly lower in NP-guided patients with no heterogeneity between studies and no interaction with age or LVEF. Conclusion Natriuretic peptide-guided treatment of heart failure reduces all-cause mortality in patients aged less than 75 years and overall reduces heart failure and cardiovascular hospitalization.
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| 2. |
- Dahlman, A., et al.
(författare)
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Effect of androgen deprivation therapy on the expression of prostate cancer biomarkers MSMB and MSMB-binding protein CRISP3
- 2010
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Ingår i: Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1365-7852 .- 1476-5608. ; 13:4, s. 369-375
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have investigated the effects of short-term neoadjuvant and long-term androgen deprivation therapies (ADTs) on β-microseminoprotein (MSMB) and cysteine-rich secretory protein-3 (CRISP3) expression in prostate cancer patients. We also studied if MSMB expression was related to genotype and epigenetic silencing. Using an Affymetrix cDNA microarray analysis, we investigated the expression of MSMB, CRISP3, androgen receptor (AR), KLK3 and Enhancer of Zeste Homologue-2 (EZH2) in tissue from prostate cancer patients receiving (n=17) or not receiving (n=23) ADT before radical prostatectomy. MSMB, CRISP3 and AR were studied in tissue from the same patients undergoing TURP before and during ADT (n=16). MSMB genotyping of these patients was performed by TaqMan PCR. MSMB and KLK3 expression levels decreased during ADT. Expression levels of AR and CRISP3 were not affected by short-term ADT but were high in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and metastases. Levels of EZH2 were also high in metastases, where MSMB was low. Genotyping of the MSMB rs10993994 polymorphism showed that the TT genotype conveys poor MSMB expression. MSMB expression is influenced by androgens, but also by genotype and epigenetic silencing. AR and CRISP3 expression are not influenced by short-term ADT, and high levels were found in CRPC and metastases.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Bengtsson, Rikard, et al.
(författare)
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Det europeiska projektet : Politik och juridik, historia och framtid
- 2013
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Understanding the European Union - where it has its roots and how it works - is not the easiest thing. Nevertheless, it is an absolutely necessary knowledge to acquire in order as an individual to be able to navigate in today's Europe. Understanding the European Union - where it has its roots and how it works - is not the easiest thing. Nevertheless, it is an absolutely necessary knowledge to acquire in order to be able to navigate in today's Europe as an individual.The purpose of this book is to describe, make understandable and analyze the European project - the EU. The book is multidisciplinary in that both historical and legal as well as political science perspectives have guided the layout and presentation. Thanks to these different disciplinary approaches, the book provides a versatile and nuanced picture of the EU's genesis, growth and functioning.The book is divided into four parts covering different aspects of the European Union:- A historical part that gives the European present and the future a foundation to stand on.- A part that describes, analyzes and explains the EU as a political system.- A part with a focus on the EU as a legal system and the EU as a legal system.- A section that addresses and discusses how we should understand the EU's actions in an increasingly globalized world.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Bodin, Hristina, 1977-
(författare)
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Wastewater treatment in constructed wetlands : Effects of vegetation, hydraulics and data analysis methods
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Degradation of water resources has become one of the most pressing global concerns currently facing mankind. Constructed Wetlands (CWs) represent a concept to combat deterioration of water resources by acting as buffers between wastewater and receiving water bodies. Still, constructing wetlands for the sole purpose of wastewater treatment is a challenging task. To contribute to this research area, the fundamental question raised in this doctorate thesis was: how do factors such as vegetation and residing water movements (hydraulics) influence wastewater treatment in CWs? Also, effects of different data analysis methods for results of CW hydraulics and wastewater treatment were investigated. Research was focused on phosphorus (P), ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+-N) and solids (TSS) in wastewater and o n P in macrophyte biomass. Studies were performed in pilot-scale free water surface (FWS) CW systems in Kenya (Chemelil) and Sweden (Halmstad) and as computer simulations.Results from the Chemelil CWs demonstrated that meeting effluent concentration standards simultaneously for all water quality parameters in one CW was difficult. Vegetation harvest, and thus nutrient uptake by young growing macrophytes, was important for maintaining low effluents of NH4+-N and P, especially during dry seasons. On the other hand, mature and dense vegetation growing for at least 4 months secured meeting TSS standards. Phosphorus in above-ground green biomass accounted for almost 1/3 of the total P mass removal, demonstrating high potential for P removal through macrophyte harvest in CWs. Also, results suggested that harvest should be species-specific to achieve high P removal by macrophytes and overall acceptable wastewater treatment in CWs. Still, different methods to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) from the Chemelil CWs showed that water balance calculations greatly impacted estimations of wastewater treatment results.Hydraulic tracer studies performed in the Chemelil and Halmstad CWs showed that mature and dense emergent vegetation in CWs could reduce effective treatment volumes (e-values), which emphasized the importance of regulating this type of vegetation. Also, it was shown that hydraulic tracer studies with lithium chloride performed in CWs with dense emergent vegetation had problems with low tracer recoveries. This problem could be reduced by promoting the distribution of incoming tracer solution into the CW using a barrier near the CW inlet pipe. Computer simulation results showed that the choice of tracer data analysis method greatly influenced quantifications of CW hydraulics and pollutant removal. The e-value could be 50% higher and the pollutant removal 13% higher depending upon used method. Moreover, unrealistic evalues (above 100%) in published literature could to some extent be explained by tracer data analysis method. Hence, to obtain more reliable hydraulic data and wastewater treatment results from CWs, more attention should be paid to the choice of tracer data analysis method.
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| 7. |
- Bogatic, Wirginia, 1969-
(författare)
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Exilens dilemma: att stanna eller att återvända : Beslut i Sverige av polska kvinnor som överlevde KZ-lägret Ravensbrück och räddades till Sverige 1945-1947
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is about the intersection of great narratives and individual decisions. In the intersection, the dilemma of exile is discussed: to remain in exile or return to one’s homeland. The decision to remain or return was made by the surviving Polish female concentration camp prisoners that were brought back to Sweden in 1945 with the Red Cross rescue operation.The women’s decisions have been contextualized by being placed against the political, social and economic upheavals that took place primarily in Poland, but also partly in Sweden, as well as in the international environment with which the new Poland had to form a relationship following the Second World War.The thesis moves between three levels: the micro level, comprising the individuals, their choices and experiences; the macro level, including the surrounding social, economic and political structures; the meso level, which merges the individual, her network and the state. The theoretical framework is on the one hand based on Reinhart Koselleck’s concepts of “realm of experience” and “expectations” that structure the time horizon and refer to the universal, and on the other hand, the sociological concept of generations and Svante Lundberg's model of exile with the concepts of Circumstance, Frame and Meaning. Both Koselleck and Lundberg focus on the individual / group and structural context. Sources used have been material from the Swedish Government and the two Polish governments and their agencies. In addition, a number of Polish and Swedish newspapers published during the period 1945-1947 as well as material from the Polish Source Institute in Lund (PIZ) have been studied. Thirteen in-depth interviews with the surviving women (both in Poland and Sweden) have been carried out, resulting in so-called life stories, with the objective of providing an answer to the question of why some of them remained in Sweden after the war while others returned to Poland. In the women's life stories, some themes can be distinguished: the common realm of experience, being adherent to the same sociological generation with a manifest collective memory (which in part developed differently depending on their decisions to remain or return), a link between war and captivity and expectations for the future. Otherwise, the life stories highlight the women's construction of identity, which is affected by growing up in the between-war Poland, the time during World War II and the occupation. It also reveals that these experiences influenced their decision: remaining and returning.
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| 8. |
- Bornefalk, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of Temperature Variation on the Energy Response of a Photon Counting Silicon CT Detector
- 2013
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 0018-9499 .- 1558-1578. ; 60:2, s. 1442-1449
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of temperature variation on pulse height determination accuracy is determined for a photon counting multibin silicon detector developed for spectral CT. Theoretical predictions of the temperature coefficient of the gain and offset are similar to values derived from synchrotron radiation measurements in a temperature controlled environment. By means of statistical modeling, we conclude that temperature changes affect all channels equally and with separate effects on gain and threshold offset. The combined effect of a 1 degrees C temperature increase is to decrease the detected energy by 0.1 keV for events depositing 30 keV. For the electronic noise, no statistically significant temperature effect was discernible in the data set, although theory predicts a weak dependence. The method is applicable to all x-ray detectors operating in pulse mode.
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| 9. |
- Bornefalk, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Necessary forward model specification accuracy for basis material decomposition in spectral CT
- 2014
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Ingår i: Medical Imaging 2014. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. - 9780819498267 ; , s. 90332I-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Material basis decomposition in the sinogram domain requires accurate knowledge of the forward model in spectral CT. Misspecifications over a certain limit will result in biased estimates and make quantum limited quantitative CT difficult. We present a method whereby users can determine the degree of allowed misspecification error in a spectral CT forward model, and still have quantification errors that are quantum limited.
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| 10. |
- Bornefalk, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Theoretical Comparison of the Iodine Quantification Accuracy of Two Spectral CT Technologies
- 2014
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. - 0278-0062 .- 1558-254X. ; 33:2, s. 556-565
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We compare the theoretical limits of iodine quantification for the photon counting multibin and dual energy technologies. Dual energy systems by necessity have to make prior assumptions in order to quantify iodine. We explicitly allow the multibin system to make the same assumptions and also allow them to be wrong. We isolate the effect of technology from imperfections and implementation issues by assuming both technologies to be ideal, i.e., without scattered radiation, unity detection efficiency and perfect energy response functions, and by applying the Cramer-Rao lower bound methodology to assess the quantification accuracy. When priors are wrong the maximum likelihood estimates will be biased and the mean square error of the quantification error is a more appropriate figure of merit. The evaluation assumes identical X-ray spectra for both methodologies and for that reason a sensitivity analysis is performed with regard to the assumed X-ray spectrum. We show that when iodine is quantified over regions of interest larger than 6 cm, multibin systems benefit by independent estimation of three basis functions. For smaller regions of interest multibin systems can increase quantification accuracy by making the same prior assumptions as dual energy systems.
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