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| 2. |
- Kim, S. W., et al.
(författare)
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Evaluations of NOx and highly reactive VOC emission inventories in Texas and their implications for ozone plume simulations during the Texas Air Quality Study 2006
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:22, s. 11361-11386
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Satellite and aircraft observations made during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) detected strong urban, industrial and power plant plumes in Texas. We simulated these plumes using the Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model with input from the US EPA's 2005 National Emission Inventory (NEI-2005), in order to evaluate emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the cities of Houston and Dallas-FortWorth. We compared the model results with satellite retrievals of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns and airborne in-situ observations of several trace gases including NOx and a number of VOCs. The model and satellite NO2 columns agree well for regions with large power plants and for urban areas that are dominated by mobile sources, such as Dallas. How-ever, in Houston, where significant mobile, industrial, and inport marine vessel sources contribute to NOx emissions, the model NO2 columns are approximately 50 %-70 % higher than the satellite columns. Similar conclusions are drawn from comparisons of the model results with the TexAQS 2006 aircraft observations in Dallas and Houston. For Dallas plumes, the model-simulated NO2 showed good agreement with the aircraft observations. In contrast, the model-simulated NO2 is similar to 60 % higher than the aircraft observations in the Houston plumes. Further analysis indicates that the NEI-2005 NOx emissions over the Houston Ship Channel area are overestimated while the urban Houston NOx emissions are reasonably represented. The comparisons of model and aircraft observations confirm that highly reactive VOC emissions originating from industrial sources in Houston are underestimated in NEI-2005. The update of VOC emissions based on Solar Occultation Flux measurements during the field campaign leads to improved model simulations of ethylene, propylene, and formaldehyde. Reducing NOx emissions in the Houston Ship Channel and increasing highly reactive VOC emissions from the point sources in Houston improve the model's capability of simulating ozone (O-3) plumes observed by the NOAA WP-3D aircraft, although the deficiencies in the model O-3 simulations indicate that many challenges remain for a full understanding of the O-3 formation mechanisms in Houston.
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| 3. |
- Parrish, D. D., et al.
(författare)
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Primary and secondary sources of formaldehyde in urban atmospheres: Houston Texas region
- 2012
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 12:7, s. 3273-3288
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We evaluate the rates of secondary production and primary emission of formaldehyde (CH2O) from petrochemical industrial facilities and on-road vehicles in the Houston Texas region. This evaluation is based upon ambient measurements collected during field studies in 2000, 2006 and 2009. The predominant CH2O source (92 +/- 4% of total) is secondary production formed during the atmospheric oxidation of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs) emitted from the petrochemical facilities. Smaller contributions are primary emissions from these facilities (4 +/- 2%), and secondary production (similar to 3%) and primary emissions (similar to 1%) from vehicles. The primary emissions from both sectors are well quantified by current emission inventories. Since secondary production dominates, control efforts directed at primary CH2O emissions cannot address the large majority of CH2O sources in the Houston area, although there may still be a role for such efforts. Ongoing efforts to control alkene emissions from the petrochemical facilities, as well as volatile organic compound emissions from the motor vehicle fleet, will effectively reduce the CH2O concentrations in the Houston region. We do not address other emission sectors, such as off-road mobile sources or secondary formation from biogenic hydrocarbons. Previous analyses based on correlations between ambient concentrations of CH2O and various marker species have suggested much larger primary emissions of CH2O, but those results neglect confounding effects of dilution and loss processes, and do not demonstrate the causes of the observed correlations. Similar problems must be suspected in any source apportionment analysis of secondary species based upon correlations of ambient concentrations of pollutants.
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| 4. |
- Nissenbaum, J, et al.
(författare)
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Susceptibility to chronic pain following nerve injury is genetically affected by CACNG2
- 2010
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Ingår i: Genome research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1549-5469 .- 1088-9051. ; 20:9, s. 1180-1190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chronic neuropathic pain is affected by specifics of the precipitating neural pathology, psychosocial factors, and by genetic predisposition. Little is known about the identity of predisposing genes. Using an integrative approach, we discovered that CACNG2 significantly affects susceptibility to chronic pain following nerve injury. CACNG2 encodes for stargazin, a protein intimately involved in the trafficking of glutamatergic AMPA receptors. The protein might also be a Ca2+ channel subunit. CACNG2 has previously been implicated in epilepsy. Initially, using two fine-mapping strategies in a mouse model (recombinant progeny testing [RPT] and recombinant inbred segregation test [RIST]), we mapped a pain-related quantitative trait locus (QTL) (Pain1) into a 4.2-Mb interval on chromosome 15. This interval includes 155 genes. Subsequently, bioinformatics and whole-genome microarray expression analysis were used to narrow the list of candidates and ultimately to pinpoint Cacng2 as a likely candidate. Analysis of stargazer mice, a Cacng2 hypomorphic mutant, provided electrophysiological and behavioral evidence for the gene's functional role in pain processing. Finally, we showed that human CACNG2 polymorphisms are associated with chronic pain in a cohort of cancer patients who underwent breast surgery. Our findings provide novel information on the genetic basis of neuropathic pain and new insights into pain physiology that may ultimately enable better treatments.
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| 5. |
- Fried, S, et al.
(författare)
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Outpatients' perspectives on problems and needs related to female genital mutilation/cutting: a qualitative study from somaliland
- 2013
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Ingår i: Obstetrics and gynecology international. - : Hindawi Limited. - 1687-9589 .- 1687-9597. ; 2013, s. 165893-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim. To explore female outpatients’ perspectives on problems related to female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and their views on information, care, and counseling.Setting. An FGM/C support center at a maternity clinic in Hargeisa, Somaliland.Methods. A qualitative, descriptive study, using content analysis of seven semistructured interviews with female outpatients.Results. All participants had been ignorant of the etiology of their FGM/C-related complications and hesitant to seek care. All had undergone infibulation but did not wish the same for their daughters. In recent years they had learnt through religious leaders and media campaigns that infibulation was unapproved by Islam. A less severe FGM/C type, “Sunna,” was more accepted; however, few could define what “Sunna” meant. Condemning and ridiculing attitudes against uncircumcised women prevailed in their community.Conclusions. New ideas and concepts related to FGM/C enter the common discourse in the Somali society while traditional norms and values still prevail. Religion was shown to have a strong impact on FGM/C practices and beliefs. Interventions aiming to raise awareness of health consequences of all types of FGM/C, as well as where to seek care for complications, are needed in Somaliland. Involvement of religious leaders in anti-FGM/C programs is essential.
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| 6. |
- Isman, E, et al.
(författare)
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Midwives' Experiences in Providing Care and Counselling to Women with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Related Problems
- 2013
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Ingår i: Obstetrics and gynecology international. - : Hindawi Limited. - 1687-9589 .- 1687-9597. ; 2013, s. 785148-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim. The aim of this study was to elucidate midwives experiences in providing care and counselling to women with FGM related problems.Setting. The study was conducted at a maternity clinic in Hargeisa, Somaliland.Method. A qualitative, inductive study were performed with eight midwives living in Somaliland. The interviews had semi-structured questions. Content analysis was used for the analysis.Findings. The main findings of the present study were how midwives are challenged by culture and religion when providing FGM counselling. The most prominent challenge is the perception that FGM is an important part of the culture and from this point of view the midwives work is apprehended as interfering and subverting the Somali culture. Having personal experience of FGM emerged as a benefit when counselling women.Conclusion. There is a contradiction between the professional actions of performing FGM despite a personal belief against FGM. Midwives as a professional group could be important agents of change and further research is needed about the midwives role in this process.
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| 9. |
- Fried, D., et al.
(författare)
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Complexity of Canadian traveler problem variants
- 2013
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Ingår i: Theoretical Computer Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3975 .- 1879-2294. ; 487, s. 1-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Canadian traveler problem (CTP) is the problem of traversing a given graph, where some of the edges may be blocked-a state which is revealed only upon reaching an incident vertex. Originally stated by Papadimitriou and Yannakakis (1991) [1], the adversarial version of the CTP was shown to be PSPACE-complete, with the stochastic version shown to be in PSPACE and #P-hard. We show that the stochastic CTP is also PSPACE-complete: initially proving PSPACE-hardness for the dependent version of the stochastic CTP, and proceeding with gadgets that allow us to extend the proof to the independent case. Since for disjoint-path graphs, the CTP can be solved in polynomial time, we examine the complexity of the more general remote-sensing CTP, and show that it is NP-hard even for disjoint-path graphs.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Lewander, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Fast and sensitive time-multiplexed gas sensing of multiple lines using a miniature telecom diode laser between 1529 nm and 1565 nm
- 2011
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Ingår i: Applied Physics B. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0946-2171 .- 1432-0649. ; 104:3, s. 715-723
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-sensitive multi-species detection around 1550 nm using a modulated grating Y-branch, MG-Y, diode laser tunable between 1529 nm and 1565 nm is presented. The MG-Y diode laser is based on the Vernier effect of two modulated gratings, and exhibits quasi-continuous tuning over 36 nm. Multi-species detection is achieved by fast sequential scanning of single absorption lines of CH4, CO, C2H2, and CO2 distributed over the tuning range of the diode laser. The laser wavelength is scanned about 10 GHz around each absorption line for 5 ms and this is followed by a discrete large jump in operating wavelength to the next line. The MG-Y diode laser has a good repeatability in output frequency between sequential scan segments (< 10 MHz) enabling averaging of the scans. The setup employs digital wavelength modulation spectroscopy, dWMS, with Fourier-based WMS retrieval, applicable through the use of data acquisition cards and coherent sampling. Absorbance sensitivity using 2f-WMS signals of 7x10(-7) in 30 s (all precisions in this paper are at the 1 sigma level) is demonstrated for sensing of four gases and 2x10(-7) when only one gas is detected. Corresponding numbers for 0.5 s of averaging are 4x10(-6) and 1x10(-6).
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| 12. |
- Pramanik, L, et al.
(författare)
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Charged amino acid patterns of coreceptor use in the major subtypes of human immunodeficiency virus type 1
- 2011
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Ingår i: The Journal of general virology. - : Microbiology Society. - 1465-2099 .- 0022-1317. ; 92:Pt 8, s. 1917-1922
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 has several genetic subtypes and two coreceptor use phenotypes: R5 that uses CCR5, while X4 uses CXCR4. A high amino acid charge of the envelope glycoprotein 120 V3 region, common at positions 11 and 25, is important for CXCR4 use. We characterized charged V3 amino acids, retrieving all biologically phenotyped sequences from the HIV Sequence Database. Selecting individually unique ones randomly yielded 48 subtype A, 231 B, 180 C, 37 D and 32 CRF01_AE sequences; 482 were R5 and 46 were X4. Charged amino acids were conserved in both R5 and X4 with general and subtype-specific patterns. X4 viruses gained a higher charge from positive amino acids at positions other than in R5, and through the loss of negative amino acids. Other positions than 11/25 had a greater impact on charge (P<0.001). This describes how R5 evolves into X4 in a subtype-specific context, useful for computer-based predictions and vaccine design.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Tack, J, et al.
(författare)
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Diagnosis and treatment of chronic constipation--a European perspective.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Neurogastroenterology and motility : the official journal of the European Gastrointestinal Motility Society. - : Wiley. - 1365-2982. ; 23:8, s. 697-710
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Although constipation can be a chronic and severe problem, it is largely treated empirically. Evidence for the efficacy of some of the older laxatives from well-designed trials is limited. Patients often report high levels of dissatisfaction with their treatment, which is attributed to a lack of efficacy or unpleasant side-effects. Management guidelines and recommendations are limited and are not sufficiently current to include treatments that became available more recently, such as prokinetic agents in Europe. PURPOSE: We present an overview of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, current management and available guidelines for the treatment of chronic constipation, and include recent data on the efficacy and potential clinical use of the more newly available therapeutic agents. Based on published algorithms and guidelines on the management of chronic constipation, secondary pathologies and causes are first excluded and then diet, lifestyle, and, if available, behavioral measures adopted. If these fail, bulk-forming, osmotic, and stimulant laxatives can be used. If symptoms are not satisfactorily resolved, a prokinetic agent such as prucalopride can be prescribed. Biofeedback is recommended as a treatment for chronic constipation in patients with disordered defecation. Surgery should only be considered once all other treatment options have been exhausted.
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