| 1. |
- Gawel, Danuta, et al.
(författare)
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A validated single-cell-based strategy to identify diagnostic and therapeutic targets in complex diseases
- 2019
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Ingår i: Genome Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1756-994X. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Genomic medicine has paved the way for identifying biomarkers and therapeutically actionable targets for complex diseases, but is complicated by the involvement of thousands of variably expressed genes across multiple cell types. Single-cell RNA-sequencing study (scRNA-seq) allows the characterization of such complex changes in whole organs. Methods: The study is based on applying network tools to organize and analyze scRNA-seq data from a mouse model of arthritis and human rheumatoid arthritis, in order to find diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Diagnostic validation studies were performed using expression profiling data and potential protein biomarkers from prospective clinical studies of 13 diseases. A candidate drug was examined by a treatment study of a mouse model of arthritis, using phenotypic, immunohistochemical, and cellular analyses as read-outs. Results: We performed the first systematic analysis of pathways, potential biomarkers, and drug targets in scRNA-seq data from a complex disease, starting with inflamed joints and lymph nodes from a mouse model of arthritis. We found the involvement of hundreds of pathways, biomarkers, and drug targets that differed greatly between cell types. Analyses of scRNA-seq and GWAS data from human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) supported a similar dispersion of pathogenic mechanisms in different cell types. Thus, systems-level approaches to prioritize biomarkers and drugs are needed. Here, we present a prioritization strategy that is based on constructing network models of disease-associated cell types and interactions using scRNA-seq data from our mouse model of arthritis, as well as human RA, which we term multicellular disease models (MCDMs). We find that the network centrality of MCDM cell types correlates with the enrichment of genes harboring genetic variants associated with RA and thus could potentially be used to prioritize cell types and genes for diagnostics and therapeutics. We validated this hypothesis in a large-scale study of patients with 13 different autoimmune, allergic, infectious, malignant, endocrine, metabolic, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as a therapeutic study of the mouse arthritis model. Conclusions: Overall, our results support that our strategy has the potential to help prioritize diagnostic and therapeutic targets in human disease.
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| 3. |
- Lovén Wickman, Ulrica, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Development of a self-care questionnaire for clinical assessment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease
- 2018
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Ingår i: Presented at the 13th Congress of ECCO, Vienna, Austria, February 14-17, 2018.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUNDPatients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have lifelong needs to learn how to manage their symptoms and life situation. The range of actions that patients take in order to manage daily life and maintain health, is defined as self-care. Assessment of self-care may facilitate patient consulting in IBD health care, with the intention to support and strengthen individual efforts to improve their self-care. There is a lack of measures to assess self-care in patients with IBD. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the IBD Self-Care questionnaire for assessment of self-care among patients with IBD.METHODSQualitative and quantitative methods were used to develop the IBD self-care questionnaire. The development and evaluation process was performed in three-phases; (1) item generation based on an interview study on self-care in patients with IBD (n = 20), (2) content validation assessed with Content Validity Index (CVI) by an expert panel (n = 6) and patients (n = 100), ranking and selection of the items, and cognitive interviews to determine the usability of the questionnaire and (3) final evaluation through a pilot study (n = 93) and a test–retest (n = 50) after three weeks. An expert review group with three nurses and one physician continuously discussed the result during the development process.RESULTSA total of 91 patients with Crohn's disease and 102 with ulcerative colitis participated. The final IBD Self-Care questionnaire consisted of 22 items. The assessment of content validity indicated that the items were adequate and easy to understand. Reliability was confirmed with a conformity of 75–100%, in test–retest statistics.CONCLUSIONAn IBD-specific self-care questionnaire was developed with structured methods. The evaluation indicated good validity and reliability. The questionnaire may be a useful tool to assess patients’ with IBD ability of self-care in daily practice. However, the results need to be confirmed in further evaluations of larger IBD populations.
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| 4. |
- Lovén Wickman, Ulrica, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Development of a self-care questionnaire for clinical assessment of self-care in patients with inflammatory bowel disease : A psychometric evaluation.
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Nursing Studies. - : Elsevier. - 0020-7489 .- 1873-491X. ; 89, s. 1-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have lifelong needs to learn how to manage their symptoms and life situation. The range of actions that patients take in order to manage daily life and maintain health is referred to as self-care. Assessment of self-care in patients with inflammatory bowel disease could allow targeted support and education by health care professionals. There are no existing measures assessing self-care in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.OBJECTIVES: The aim was to develop and evaluate the self-care questionnaire for assessment of self-care among patients with inflammatory bowel disease.METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to develop the inflammatory bowel disease self-care questionnaire. The development and evaluation process was performed in three phases: (1) item generation based on interviews with patients with inflammatory bowel disease (n = 20), (2) content validation in a panel of experts (n = 6) and patients (n = 100) assessed with the content validity index, cognitive interviews and quantifying and ranking the items to determine the usability of the questionnaire, and (3) final evaluation through a pilot study (n = 93) with test-retest evaluation (n = 50). An expert review group of three nurses and one physician continuously discussed the result during the development process.RESULTS: A total of 91 patients with Crohn's disease and 102 with ulcerative colitis participated. The final self-care questionnaire consists of 22 items. Assessment of content validity indicated that the items were adequate and easy to understand. Test-retest reliability was confirmed with intraclass correlations above 0.6 after a three week interval, for all items except one.CONCLUSION: An inflammatory bowel disease-specific self-care questionnaire was developed using structured methods. The evaluation indicated good validity and reliability. The questionnaire may be a useful tool to assess the ability of patients with inflammatory bowel disease to perform routine self-care.
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| 5. |
- Lovén Wickman, Ulrica, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Self-care among patients with inflammatory bowel disease : an interview study
- 2016
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Ingår i: Gastroenterology Nursing. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 1042-895X .- 1538-9766. ; 39:2, s. 121-128
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease of unknown etiology. The disease occurs early in life and the burden of symptoms is significant. Patients need to perform self-care to handle their symptoms, but knowledge about what kind of self-care patients do is limited and these individuals need to learn how to manage the symptoms that arise. The aim of this study was to explore self-care among patients with IBD. Twenty adult patients with IBD, 25–66 years of age, were interviewed. Data were analyzed by performing a qualitative content analysis. Four categories with 10 subcategories emerged from the analysis of the interviews. The self-care patients perform consists of symptom recognition (subcategories: physiological sensations and psychological sensations), handling of symptoms (subcategories: adapting the diet, using medical treatment, stress management, and using complementary alternative medicine), planning life (subcategories: planning for when to do activities and when to refrain from activities), and seeking new options (subcategories: seeking knowledge and personal contacts). Self-care consists of symptom recognition, handling life through planning, and accommodating the existing situation with the ultimate goal of maintaining well-being. Being one step ahead facilitates living with IBD. A decision to actively participate in care of a chronic illness is a prerequisite for self-care. Healthcare professionals must consider patients' potential for and desire for self-care when giving advice on self-care activities. Doing so may help people better cope with IBD.
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| 6. |
- Birkhofer, Klaus, et al.
(författare)
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A framework to identify indicator species for ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecological Indicators. - : Elsevier BV. - 1470-160X .- 1872-7034. ; 91, s. 278-286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Improving our understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services is crucial for the development of sustainable agriculture. We introduce a novel framework that is based on the identification of indicator species for single or multiple ecosystem services across taxonomic groups based on indicator species analyses. We utilize multi-species community data (unlike previous single species approaches) without giving up information about the identity of species in our framework (unlike previous species richness approaches). We compiled a comprehensive community dataset including abundances of 683 invertebrate, vertebrate and plant species to identify indicator species that were either positively or negatively related to biological control, diversity of red-listed species or crop yield in agricultural landscapes in southern Sweden. Our results demonstrate that some taxonomic groups include significantly higher percentages of indicator species for these ecosystem services. Spider communities for example included a higher percentage of significant positive indicator species for biological control than ground or rove beetle communities. Bundles of indicator species for the analysed ecosystem service potentials usually included species that could be linked to the respective ecosystem service based on their functional role in local communities. Several of these species are conspicuous enough to be monitored by trained amateurs and could be used in bundles that are either crucial for the provision of individual ecosystem services or indicate agricultural landscapes with high value for red-listed species or crop yields. The use of bundles of characteristic indicator species for the simultaneous assessment of ecosystem services may reduce the amount of labour, time and cost in future assessments. In addition, future analysis using our framework in other ecosystems or with other subsets of ecosystem services and taxonomic groups will improve our understanding of service-providing species in local communities. In any case, expert knowledge is needed to select species from the identified subsets of significant indicator species and these species should be validated by existing data or additional sampling prior to being used for ecosystem service monitoring.
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| 7. |
- Birkhofer, Klaus, et al.
(författare)
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Relationships between multiple biodiversity components and ecosystem services along a landscape complexity gradient
- 2018
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Ingår i: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 218, s. 247-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The assessment of effects of anthropogenic disturbance on biodiversity (BD) and ecosystem services (ES) and their relationships are key priorities of the Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Agricultural landscapes and their associated BD provide multiple ES and it is crucial to understand how relationships between ES and BD components change along gradients of landscape complexity. In this study, we related eight ES potentials to the species richness of five invertebrate, vertebrate and plant taxonomic groups in cereal farming systems. The landscape complexity gradient ranged from areas dominated by annually tilled arable land to areas with high proportions of unfertilized, non-rotational pastures and uncultivated field borders. We show that after accounting for landscape complexity relationships between yield and bird richness or biological control became more positive, but relationships between bird richness and biological control became less positive. The relationship between bird and plant richness turned from positive to negative. Multidiversity (overall biodiversity), was positively related to landscape complexity, whereas multifunctionality (overall ES provision), was not significantly related to either one of these. Our results suggest that multidiversity can be promoted by increasing landscape complexity; however; we found no support for a simultaneous increase of several individual ES, BD components or multifunctionality. These results challenge the assumption that bio-diversity-friendly landscape management will always simultaneously promote multiple ES in agricultural landscapes. Future studies need to verify this pattern by using multi-year data, larger sets of ES and BD components and a study design that is appropriate to address larger spatial scales and relationships in several regions.
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| 8. |
- Haslund, Knut Per, et al.
(författare)
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Bra vallersättning och kompensationsstöd? : Hur kan olika utformningar påverka jordbruket, miljön, och samhällsekonomin?
- 2016
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Positiva och negativa miljöeffekterVallersättningen och kompensationsstödet leder båda till att arealen vall och antalet nötkreatur ökar kraftigt. Utredningen konstaterar att effekten av vallodling på biologisk mångfald, både när det gäller sällsynta arter och ekosystemtjänster, är otillräckligt känd. Kompensationsstödet gör det företagsekonomiskt lönsamt att hävda betydligt större areal permanent betesmark, men vallersättningen leder däremot till något lägre betesareal.Det svenska jordbrukets kväve- och fosforläckage har varit lägre under de bådaanalyserade programperioderna tack vare vallersättningen. Under perioden 2015–20 är kväveläckaget är lägre än vad det skulle ha varit utan stödet också i slättbygderna, till skillnad från i landsbygdsprogrammets föregåendeperiod 2007–14. Kompensationsstödet medför tvärtom att växtnäringsläckagetär högre än vad det skulle vara om stödet inte fanns. Användningen av växtskyddsmedel i jordbruket påverkas inte mycket av dessa stöd under perioden 2015–20. Kompensationsstödet har under båda perioderna medfört stora utsläpp av växthusgaser. Vallersättningen är däremot bra ur klimatsynpunkt, om än inte lika starkt under perioden 2015–20 som under den föregående perioden. Stödens klimatpåverkan sker huvudsakligen genom att påverka mängden kol bundet i marken och antalet nötkreatur som avger växthusgasen metan, medan deras inverkan på jordbrukets användning av fossilbränsle till traktorer och annat är liten i sammanhanget. Kompensationsstödet är samhällsekonomiskt olönsamtVallersättningen medförde stora samhällsekonomiska förluster i början av perioden 2007–10, men efter ändrade stödregler och med högre världsmarknadspriser blev den i stället mycket lönsam. Även under innevarande programperiod 2015–20 har den en viss samhällsekonomisk lönsamhet. Kompensationsstödet ger dock stora samhällsekonomiska förluster, både under perioden 2007–14 och 2015–20. Samhällsekonomiskt sett vore det bra att halvera båda stöden. Kompensationsstödet ger många extra arbetstillfällen i områden med sämre förutsättningar för odling men till hög samhällsekonomisk kostnad. En del av kostnaden är att kompensationsstödet sammanvägt medför ökad miljöbelastning. Per budgetkrona var dock kostnaden relativt låg jämfört med andra arbetsmarknadspolitiska åtgärder. Störst betydelse för stödens samhällsekonomiska lönsamhet är deras klimateffekter, att deras skattefinansiering ger förluster i annan verksamhet, och att de leder till mindre effektiv jordbruksproduktion av marknadsvaror. Effekterna av stöden beror mycket på de ekonomiska förutsättningarna i övrigt, till exempel prisnivån för jordbruksprodukter på världsmarknaden. Utfallet kan bli ett annat än väntat om förutsättningarna ändras under perioden. Detta hände under perioden 2007–2014.
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| 9. |
- Herbertsson, Lina, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of sown flower strips on plant reproductive success in Southern Sweden varies with landscape context
- 2018
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Ingår i: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-8809. ; 259, s. 127-134
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In agricultural landscapes, sown flower strips can benefit pollinators and pollination of nearby plants, but their impact on pollination in the wider landscape is poorly studied. We evaluated effects on reproductive success of field bean (Vicia faba) and woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) using data from two study systems, both including study sites (1 km radius) with (flower strip sites) or without flower strips (control sites). To assess whether flower strips enhance pollination in the wider landscape, we compared the reproductive success between plants growing in field borders (> 160 m to nearest flower strip) at flower strips sites and control sites. We also tested if flower strips reallocate pollination functions in the landscape. We did this by comparing the reproductive success of plants at flower strip sites, growing adjacent to the flower strips with plants growing in a more distant field border at the same site (> 160 m). Finally, we tested if these potential effects depended on the heterogeneity of the landscape. In field borders without an adjacent flower strip, plant reproductive success was unaffected by the presence of a flower strip at the site, and increased with increasing landscape heterogeneity independently of site type (flower strip vs. control). In contrast, adjacent to the flower strips, reproductive success declined with increasing landscape heterogeneity, resulting in a positive net effect of adjacent flower strips in homogeneous landscapes and a negative effect in heterogeneous landscapes. Our results show that while decreasing landscape heterogeneity may impair pollination in homogeneous landscapes, this can be locally mitigated by sowing flower strips. However, in heterogeneous landscapes, flower strips may instead reduce pollination of adjacent plants.
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| 10. |
- Lindström, Åke, et al.
(författare)
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What measures should be taken to improve conditions for Swedish Farmland Birds, as reflected in the Farmland Bird Index?
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many birds species connected to the agricultural landscape have for several decades fared poorly in Sweden, as well as in Europe as a whole. This is reflected in the decline of the Farmland Bird Index, an official EU indicator for farmland birds specifically, and biodiversity in general. The Swedish Board of Agriculture invited us to propose measures that will improve the conditions for farmland birds in Sweden.In this report, we have briefly summarized the scientific literature on potential drivers of farmland bird numbers, analysed temporal trends in farmland birds and some farming practices, and modelled the spatial distribution of farmland birds in relation to farming practices. The bird data come from the Swedish Breeding Bird Survey, and the farming practise data from the Swedish Land Parcel Information System (Swedish Board of Agriculture). Based on our findings, we propose a suit of measures concerning the quantity and quality of farmland that would improve the future conditions for farmland birds. At the more general level, farmland birds would benefit if the ongoing loss of farmland in general and important semi-natural habitats in particular was halted. We also propose that farmland birds would benefit from measures taken to promote mixed farming (combined animal husbandry and crop production at the same farms), notably to increase crop farming in the north and animal husbandry on the plains. Increased use of set-asides of various kind, not least those of varied vegetation structure and year-round cover, would also benefit farmland birds. Furthermore, farmland birds would most likely also benefit from more wetlands in the Agricultural landscape, reduced use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers, and more spring-sown crops. They may benefit from higher crop diversity at the farm level, and we found some evidence for this. Some more directed measures may also benefit the Farmland Bird Index; we found support for the benefits of wild bird cover (“fågelåkrar”), skylark plots (“lärkrutor”), buffer strips (“skyddszoner”) and appropriately managed ecological focus areas (“ekologiska fokusområden”).
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