| 1. |
- Reckermann, M., et al.
(author)
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Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region
- 2022
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In: Earth Syst. Dynam.. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 2190-4987 .- 2190-4979. ; 13:1, s. 1-80
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coastal environments, in particular heavily populated semi-enclosed marginal seas and coasts like the Baltic Sea region, are strongly affected by human activities. A multitude of human impacts, including climate change, affect the different compartments of the environment, and these effects interact with each other. As part of the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR), we present an inventory and discussion of different human-induced factors and processes affecting the environment of the Baltic Sea region, and their interrelations. Some are naturally occurring and modified by human activities (i.e. climate change, coastal processes, hypoxia, acidification, submarine groundwater discharges, marine ecosystems, non-indigenous species, land use and land cover), some are completely human-induced (i.e. agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, river regulations, offshore wind farms, shipping, chemical contamination, dumped warfare agents, marine litter and microplastics, tourism, and coastal management), and they are all interrelated to different degrees. We present a general description and analysis of the state of knowledge on these interrelations. Our main insight is that climate change has an overarching, integrating impact on all of the other factors and can be interpreted as a background effect, which has different implications for the other factors. Impacts on the environment and the human sphere can be roughly allocated to anthropogenic drivers such as food production, energy production, transport, industry and economy. The findings from this inventory of available information and analysis of the different factors and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region can largely be transferred to other comparable marginal and coastal seas in the world.
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| 2. |
- Demiroglu, Osman Cenk, et al.
(author)
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The last resort? : Ski tourism and climate change in Arctic Sweden
- 2020
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In: Journal of Tourism Futures. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2055-5911 .- 2055-592X. ; 6:1, s. 91-101
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the external and internal factors that support or challenge a possible transformation of Arctic Sweden into a major ski destination under a changing climate.Design/methodology/approach – The paper questions future availability of the physical and the human factors that foster ski tourism development in Arctic Sweden and suggests a comparative case study in relation to the already existing large resort-based ski destinations in Arctic Finland.Findings – Preliminary documentary analysis shows that the governmental and the industrial discourses over the past decade have acknowledged a competitive edge for Sweden and its northernmost regions in particular and may even propose a structural shift for ski tourism in the near future agenda. The visualisations based on natural snow projections presented in this paper confirm this comparative advantage but other technical and socioeconomic development factors are further discussed, in relation to Arctic Finland.Research limitations/implications – Future research agenda is suggested to cover, first, assessment of natural and technical snow reliability of existing and all potential ski areas in Sweden and within its competitive set extending to all the Nordics and the Alps, then, incorporation of adaptive capacities of the suppliers but especially the likely substitution tendencies of the consumers, and finally, evaluation of the overall situation in terms of the regional development needs.Social implications – It is apparent that land use conflicts will arise in case of large ski resort-based destination development in Arctic Sweden, especially around the environmentally protected areas, which are not only already important attractions for nature-based tourism but also traditional livelihoods for the Sami.Originality/value – This is the first paper to discuss a potential regional and structural shift of ski tourism in Sweden.
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| 3. |
- Fortelius, Mikael, et al.
(author)
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The Origin and Early History of NOW as It Happened
- 2023
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In: Evolution of Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas and Ecosystems: 25 years of the NOW database of fossil mammals.. - : Springer. ; , s. 7-32
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The NOW database of fossil mammals came to be through a confluence of several initiatives spanning multiple decades. The first public version of NOW database was released in 1996 and the first Advisory Board was established the year after. Originally, NOW stood for Neogene of the Old World but with the gradual expansion of the database the acronym was eventually reassigned to stand for New and Old Worlds. The structure of what would become NOW was originally cloned from the ETE database of the Smithsonian Institution and the first NOW version accessible over the internet was a node of the ETE database. The first standalone, online version of NOW was launched in 2005 and the first formal steering group was established in 2009. During its existence, NOW has been funded, directly or indirectly, by several organizations but fundamentally it has always been an unfunded community effort, dependent on voluntary work by the participants.
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| 4. |
- Haahtela, T, et al.
(author)
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A short history from Karelia study to biodiversity and public health interventions
- 2023
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In: Frontiers in allergy. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2673-6101. ; 4, s. 1152927-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Contact with natural environments enriches the human microbiome, promotes immune balance and protects against allergies and inflammatory disorders. In Finland, the allergy & asthma epidemic became slowly visible in mid 1960s. After the World War II, Karelia was split into Finnish and Soviet Union (now Russia) territories. This led to more marked environmental and lifestyle changes in the Finnish compared with Russian Karelia.The Karelia Allergy Study 2002–2022showed that allergic conditions were much more common on the Finnish side. The Russians had richer gene-microbe network and interaction than the Finns, which associated with better balanced immune regulatory circuits and lower allergy prevalence. In the Finnish adolescents, a biodiverse natural environment around the homes associated with lower occurrence of allergies. Overall, the plausible explanation of the allergy disparity was the prominent change in environment and lifestyle in the Finnish Karelia from 1940s to 1980s. The nationwideFinnish Allergy Programme 2008–2018implemented the biodiversity hypothesis into practice by endorsing immune tolerance, nature contacts, and allergy health with favorable results. A regional health and environment programme,Nature Step to Health 2022–2032, has been initiated in the City of Lahti, EU Green Capital 2021. The programme integrates prevention of chronic diseases (asthma, diabetes, obesity, depression), nature loss, and climate crisis in the spirit ofPlanetary Health. Allergic diseases exemplify inappropriate immunological responses to natural environment. Successful management of the epidemics of allergy and other non-communicable diseases may pave the way to improve human and environmental health.
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| 5. |
- Heinosalo, T., et al.
(author)
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Overexpression of Human Estrogen Biosynthetic Enzyme Hydroxysteroid (17beta) Dehydrogenase Type 1 Induces Adenomyosis-like Phenotype in Transgenic Mice
- 2022
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In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. - : MDPI AG. - 1422-0067. ; 23:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hydroxysteroid (17beta) dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD17B1) is an enzyme that converts estrone to estradiol, while adenomyosis is an estrogen-dependent disease with poorly understood pathophysiology. In the present study, we show that mice universally over-expressing human estrogen biosynthetic enzyme HSD17B1 (HSD17B1TG mice) present with adenomyosis phenotype, characterized by histological and molecular evaluation. The first adenomyotic changes with endometrial glands partially or fully infiltrated into the myometrium appeared at the age of 5.5 months in HSD17B1TG females and became more prominent with increasing age. Preceding the phenotype, increased myometrial smooth muscle actin positivity and increased amount of glandular myofibroblast cells were observed in HSD17B1TG uteri. This was accompanied by transcriptomic upregulation of inflammatory and estrogen signaling pathways. Further, the genes upregulated in the HSD17B1TG uterus were enriched with genes previously observed to be induced in the human adenomyotic uterus, including several genes of the NFKB pathway. A 6-week-long HSD17B1 inhibitor treatment reduced the occurrence of the adenomyotic changes by 5-fold, whereas no effect was observed in the vehicle-treated HSD17B1TG mice, suggesting that estrogen is the main upstream regulator of adenomyosis-induced uterine signaling pathways. HSD17B1 is considered as a promising drug target to inhibit estrogen-dependent growth of endometrial disorders. The present data indicate that HSD17B1 over-expression in TG mice results in adenomyotic changes reversed by HSD17B1 inhibitor treatment and HSD17B1 is, thus, a potential novel drug target for adenomyosis.
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| 6. |
- Martinez-Majander, N., et al.
(author)
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Rivaroxaban versus aspirin for secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke in patients with cancer: a subgroup analysis of the NAVIGATE ESUS randomized trial
- 2020
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In: European Journal of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 1351-5101 .- 1468-1331. ; 27:5, s. 841-848
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and purpose Cancer is a frequent finding in ischaemic stroke patients. The frequency of cancer amongst participants in the NAVIGATE ESUS randomized trial and the distribution of outcome events during treatment with aspirin and rivaroxaban were investigated. Methods Trial participation required a recent embolic stroke of undetermined source. Patients' history of cancer was recorded at the time of study entry. During a mean follow-up of 11 months, the effects of aspirin and rivaroxaban treatment on recurrent ischaemic stroke, major bleeding and all-cause mortality were compared between patients with cancer and patients without cancer. Results Amongst 7213 randomized patients, 543 (7.5%) had cancer. Of all patients, 3609 were randomized to rivaroxaban [254 (7.0%) with cancer] and 3604 patients to aspirin [289 (8.0%) with cancer]. The annual rate of recurrent ischaemic stroke was 4.5% in non-cancer patients in the rivaroxaban arm and 4.6% in the aspirin arm [hazard ratio (HR) 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78-1.24]. In cancer patients, the rate of recurrent ischaemic stroke was 7.7% in the rivaroxaban arm and 5.4% in the aspirin arm (HR 1.43, 95% CI 0.71-2.87). Amongst cancer patients, the annual rate of major bleeds was non-significantly higher for rivaroxaban than aspirin (2.9% vs. 1.1%; HR 2.57, 95% CI 0.67-9.96; P for interaction 0.95). All-cause mortality was similar in both groups. Conclusions Our exploratory analyses show that patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source and a history of cancer had similar rates of recurrent ischaemic strokes and all-cause mortality during aspirin and rivaroxaban treatments and that aspirin appeared safer than rivaroxaban in cancer patients regarding major bleeds. (NCT02313909).
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| 7. |
- Müller, Dieter K., 1968-, et al.
(author)
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Arctic Tourism in Times of Change : Dimensions of Urban Tourism
- 2020
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Tourism has grown in many Arctic peripheries of northern Europe and North America in recent years, particularly among international markets interested in northern winter experiences and unique Arctic nature and culture-based assets. This recent growth has been facilitated by a combination of factors tied to globalization, climate change, and an increasing “Arctification” of northern tourism that has generated particular imaginations and representations of the North among consumers as well as industry and political stakeholders. In this context urban places have remained relatively neglected in both academic and policy discourses connected to Arctic tourism, with much of the research and public attention focusing on remote destinations and exotic attractions that typically dominate the popular promotional tourism imagery of the Arctic. This neglect is somewhat surprising considering that most tourism activity – along with its positive and negative socioeconomic impacts – seems to concentrate in and around the larger urban centers.This report is the second one developed as part of the project Partnership for Sustainability: Arctic Tourism in Times of Change (funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers Arctic Co-operation Programme 2018–2020). The report brings together expertise and case studies from several Arctic and northern peripheries in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Canada to illustrate the diversity of urban Arctic tourism dimensions and to identify important implications for sustainable local and/or regional tourism development across the North.The case studies indicate that the dimensions of urban tourism in the Arctic are plentiful. As urban places in the Arctic are not primarily tourism resort towns, tourism happens in the context of other economic and societal activities. Hence, urban places in the Arctic serve a regional demand for urbanity and urban services within leisure and entertainment and they serve as destinations for domestic and international markets looking for more typical northern products such as winter experiences or northern lights. In this context, the Arctic dimensions of urban tourism in northern cities are not always self-evident and tourism has not always developed in relation to the northern culture of these places.Considering these insights, there is certainly not only one way forward for urban tourism in the Arctic. However, in a global competition for capital, companies, and people, urban places seem to be increasingly using tourism as a way to boost local economies and reimage their places in order to achieve individual, local, regional, and national development goals. In this context, the “Arctic” becomes a context to play with and an ingredient that on a global market is currently loaded with positive value.
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| 8. |
- Petropoulos, Fotios, et al.
(author)
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Operational Research : methods and applications
- 2024
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In: Journal of the Operational Research Society. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0160-5682 .- 1476-9360. ; 75:3, s. 423-617
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first summarises the up-to-date knowledge and provides an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion and used as a point of reference by a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order. The authors dedicate this paper to the 2023 Turkey/Syria earthquake victims. We sincerely hope that advances in OR will play a role towards minimising the pain and suffering caused by this and future catastrophes.
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