| 1. |
- Knudsen, Gitte M, et al.
(author)
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Guidelines for the content and format of PET brain data in publications and archives : A consensus paper
- 2020
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In: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. - : SAGE Publications. - 0271-678X .- 1559-7016. ; 40:8, s. 1576-1585
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is a growing concern that outcomes of neuroimaging studies often cannot be replicated. To counteract this, the magnetic resonance (MR) neuroimaging community has promoted acquisition standards and created data sharing platforms, based on a consensus on how to organize and share MR neuroimaging data. Here, we take a similar approach to positron emission tomography (PET) data. To facilitate comparison of findings across studies, we first recommend publication standards for tracer characteristics, image acquisition, image preprocessing, and outcome estimation for PET neuroimaging data. The co-authors of this paper, representing more than 25 PET centers worldwide, voted to classify information as mandatory, recommended, or optional. Second, we describe a framework to facilitate data archiving and data sharing within and across centers. Because of the high cost of PET neuroimaging studies, sample sizes tend to be small and relatively few sites worldwide have the required multidisciplinary expertise to properly conduct and analyze PET studies. Data sharing will make it easier to combine datasets from different centers to achieve larger sample sizes and stronger statistical power to test hypotheses. The combining of datasets from different centers may be enhanced by adoption of a common set of best practices in data acquisition and analysis.
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| 2. |
- Teo, Koon K., et al.
(author)
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Effects of telmisartan, irbesartan, valsartan, candesartan, and losartan on cancers in 15 trials enrolling 138 769 individuals The ARB Trialists Collaboration
- 2011
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In: Journal of Hypertension. - 0263-6352 .- 1473-5598. ; 29:4, s. 623-635
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, but a recent meta-analysis of selected studies suggested that ARBs may increase cancer risks.Objective Candesartan, irbesartan, telmisartan, valsartan, and losartan were assessed for incident cancers in 15 large parallel long-term multicenter double-blind clinical trials of these agents involving 138 769 participants.Patients and methods Individuals at high CVD risk were randomized to telmisartan (three trials, n=51 878), irbesartan (three trials, n=14 859), valsartan (four trials, n=44 264), candesartan (four trials, n=18 566), and losartan (one trial, n=9193) and followed for 23-60 months. Incident cancer cases were compared in patients randomized to ARBs versus controls. In five trials (n=42 403), the ARBs were compared to ACEi and in 11 trials (n=63 313) to controls without ACEi. In addition, in seven trials (n=47 020), the effect of ARBs with ACEi was compared to ACEi alone and in two trials ARBs with ACEi versus ARB alone (n=25 712).Results Overall, there was no excess of cancer incidence with ARB therapy compared to controls in the 15 trials [ 4549 (6.16%) cases of 73 808 allocated to ARB versus 3856 (6.31%) of 61 106 assigned to non-ARB controls; odds ratio (OR) 1.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.95-1.04] overall or when individual ARBs were examined. ORs comparing combination therapy with ARB along with ACEi versus ACEi was 1.01 (95% CI 0.94-1.10), combination versus ARB alone 1.02 (95% CI 0.91-1.13), ARB alone versus ACEi alone 1.06 (95% CI 0.97-1.16) and ARB versus placebo/control without ACEi 0.97 (95% CI 0.91-1.04). There was no excess of lung, prostate or breast cancer, or overall cancer deaths associated with ARB treatment.Conclusion There was no significant increase in the overall or site-specific cancer risk from ARBs compared to controls.
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| 3. |
- Carson, Dean B., et al.
(author)
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Decline, Adaptation or Transformation : New Perspectives on Demographic Change in Resource Peripheries in Australia and Sweden
- 2016
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In: Comparative Population Studies. - 1869-8980 .- 1869-8999. ; 41:3-4, s. 1-29
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many sparsely populated resource peripheries in developed countries are perceived to suffer from periods of demographic decline due to loss of employment opportunities and services, youth out-migration and population ageing. While these trends tend to apply at broad regional scales and for particular time periods, diverse patterns of demographic change may be apparent if different spatial, temporal and social scales of analysis are taken into consideration. Comparing the experiences of two case study regions in northern Sweden and inland South Australia, this paper proposes an alternative conceptual framework to the ‘discourse of decline’, which could be used to examine the nuances of demographic change within resource peripheries. The framework includes spatial scale considerations that contrast broader regional demographic patterns with the experiences of sub-regions and individual settlements. It also includes temporal scale aspects, examining demographic change over different time periods to understand the pace, duration and frequency of population growth and decline. The framework finally includes social unit considerations, emphasising that demographic change affects different social groups in different ways. The results of the case studies suggest that considering demographic change as adaptation or transformation rather than decline may be more useful for identifying new – and qualitatively different – demographic pathways that emerge over time.
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| 4. |
- Carson, Dean B., 1970-, et al.
(author)
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Disruptions and diversions : the demographic consequences of natural disasters in sparsely populated areas
- 2021
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In: The demography of disasters. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030499198 - 9783030499204 ; , s. 81-99
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Eight Ds model (Carson and Carson 2014) explains the unique characteristics of human and economic geography for sparsely populated areas (SPAs) as disconnected, discontinuous, diverse, detailed, dynamic, distant, dependent and delicate. According to the model, SPAs are subject to dramatic changes in demographic characteristics that result from both identifiable black swan events and less apparent tipping points in longer-term processes of demographic change (Carson et al. 2011). The conceptual foundations for this assertion are clear. Populations in SPAs can experience large and long-term impacts on the overall demographic structureas a result of decisions by a relatively small number of people. High levels of migration and mobility cause constant shifts in the demographic profile and prime SPAs to adapt to many different demographic states (Carson and Carson 2014). The Northern Territory of Australia, for example, experienced previously unseen waves of pre-retirement aged migrants in the past decade or so (Martel et al. 2013) as evidence of detailed but important changes to past trends. However, while dramatic demographic changes are conceptually possible and occasionally observable, there have been few attempts to examine the conditions under which such changes are likely to occur or not to occur. This is an important question particularly in relation to black swan events such as natural disasters because effective disaster management policy and planning is at least partially dependent on understanding who is affected and in what ways (Bird et al. 2013). The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to begin the process of identifying the conditions under which dramatic demographic responses to natural disasters in SPAs might occur. In the process, we introduce two new 'Ds' with which to describe the nature of demographic change. We propose that natural disasters such as cyclones, floods, earthquakes, bushfires, landslides, avalanches and crop failures present the potential to disrupt or to divert demographic development.
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| 5. |
- Carson, Dean B., et al.
(author)
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Lessons from the Arctic past : The resource cycle, hydro energy development, and the human geography of Jokkmokk, Sweden
- 2016
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In: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 16, s. 13-24
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent research has identified a series of human geography impacts of natural resource developments in sparsely populated areas like the Arctic. These impacts can be mapped to the 'resource cycle', and arise from periods of population growth and decline, changing patterns of human migration and mobility, changing patterns of settlement, and changes in the demographic 'balance' between males and females, young and old, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. This paper examines the applicability of the resource cycle model in the case of hydro energy development in the Jokkmokk municipality of Sweden. Using quantitative demographic data, media reports, and contemporary accounts of hydro development, the paper describes the human geography of Jokkmokk since the late 19th century. The paper concludes that changes in human geography in Jokkmokk mirror what has been observed in regions dependent on non-renewable resources, although it is difficult to distinguish many impacts from those that might have occurred under alternative development scenarios. The paper identifies a 'settlement cycle' with phases of integrated and separated habitation for populations specifically associated with the development. Settlement dynamics, and the impacts of hydro on Sami geography are areas for further research.
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| 6. |
- Carson, Dean B., 1970-, et al.
(author)
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The local demography of resource economies : long term implications of natural resource industries for demographic development in sparsely populated areas
- 2016
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In: Settlements at the edge. - Cheltenham, UK : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781784711955 - 9781784711962 ; , s. 357-378
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Settlements at the Edge examines the evolution, characteristics, functions and shifting economic basis of settlements in sparsely populated areas of developed nations. With a focus on demographic change, the book features theoretical and applied cases which explore the interface between demography, economy, well-being and the environment. This book offers a comprehensive and insightful knowledge base for understanding the role of population in shaping the development and histories of northern sparsely populated areas of developed nations including Alaska (USA), Australia, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Finland and other nations with territories within the Arctic Circle.
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| 7. |
- Abou-Zleikha, Mohamed, et al.
(author)
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Multi-level exemplar-based duration generation for expressive speech synthesis
- 2012
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In: Proceedings of Speech Prosody.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The generation of duration of speech units from linguistic in- formation, as one component of a prosody model, is consid- ered to be a requirement for natural sounding speech synthesis. This paper investigates the use of a multi-level exemplar-based model for duration generation for the purposes of expressive speech synthesis. The multi-level exemplar-based model has been proposed in the literature as a cognitive model for the pro- duction of duration. The implementation of this model for dura- tion generation for speech synthesis is not straightforward and requires a set of modifications to the model and that the linguis- tically related units and the context of the target units should be taken into consideration. The work presented in this paper implements this model and presents a solution to these issues through the use of prosodic-syntactic correlated data, full con- text information of the input example and corpus exemplars.
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| 8. |
- Anney, Richard, et al.
(author)
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A genome-wide scan for common alleles affecting risk for autism.
- 2010
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In: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 19:20, s. 4072-4082
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a substantial genetic basis, most of the known genetic risk has been traced to rare variants, principally copy number variants (CNVs). To identify common risk variation, the Autism Genome Project (AGP) Consortium genotyped 1558 rigorously defined ASD families for 1 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and analyzed these SNP genotypes for association with ASD. In one of four primary association analyses, the association signal for marker rs4141463, located within MACROD2, crossed the genome-wide association significance threshold of P < 5 × 10(-8). When a smaller replication sample was analyzed, the risk allele at rs4141463 was again over-transmitted; yet, consistent with the winner's curse, its effect size in the replication sample was much smaller; and, for the combined samples, the association signal barely fell below the P < 5 × 10(-8) threshold. Exploratory analyses of phenotypic subtypes yielded no significant associations after correction for multiple testing. They did, however, yield strong signals within several genes, KIAA0564, PLD5, POU6F2, ST8SIA2 and TAF1C.
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| 9. |
- Cabral, Joao P, et al.
(author)
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Rapidly Testing the Interaction Model of a Pronunciation Training System via Wizard-of-Oz.
- 2012
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In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation. ; , s. 4136-4142
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper describes a prototype of a computer-assisted pronunciation training system called MySpeech. The interface of the MySpeech system is web-based and it currently enables users to practice pronunciation by listening to speech spoken by native speakers and tuning their speech production to correct any mispronunciations detected by the system. This practice exercise is facilitated in different topics and difficulty levels. An experiment was conducted in this work that combines the MySpeech service with the WebWOZ Wizard-of-Oz platform (http://www.webwoz.com), in order to improve the human-computer interaction (HCI) of the service and the feedback that it provides to the user. The employed Wizard-of-Oz method enables a human (who acts as a wizard) to give feedback to the practising user, while the user is not aware that there is another person involved in the communication. This experiment permitted to quickly test an HCI model before its implementation on the MySpeech system. It also allowed to collect input data from the wizard that can be used to improve the proposed model. Another outcome of the experiment was the preliminary evalua- tion of the pronunciation learning service in terms of user satisfaction, which would be difficult to conduct before integrating the HCI part.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Cahill, Peter, et al.
(author)
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Ucd blizzard challenge 2011 entry
- 2011
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In: Proceedings of the Blizzard Challenge Workshop.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper gives an overview of the UCD Blizzard Challenge 2011 entry. The entry is a unit selection synthesiser that uses hidden Markov models for prosodic modelling. The evaluation consisted of synthesising 2213 sentences from a high quality 15 hour dataset provided by Lessac Technologies. Results are analysed within the context of other systems and the future work for the system is discussed.
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| 12. |
- Carson, Dean B., et al.
(author)
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The 'rural pipeline' and retention of rural health professionals in Europe's northern peripheries
- 2015
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In: Health Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-8510 .- 1872-6054. ; 119:12, s. 1550-1556
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The major advance in informing rural workforce policy internationally over the past 25 years has been the recognition of the importance of the 'rural pipeline'. The rural pipeline suggests that people with 'rural origin' (who spent some childhood years in rural areas) and/or 'rural exposure' (who do part of their professional training in rural areas) are more likely to select rural work locations. What is not known is whether the rural pipeline also increases the length of time professionals spend in rural practice throughout their careers. This paper analyses data from a survey of rural health professionals in six countries in the northern periphery of Europe in 2013 to examine the relationship between rural origin and rural exposure and the intention to remain in the current rural job or to preference rural jobs in future. Results are compared between countries, between different types of rural areas (based on accessibility to urban centres), different occupations and workers at different stages of their careers. The research concludes that overall the pipeline does impact on retention, and that both rural origin and rural exposure make a contribution. However, the relationship is not strong in all contexts, and health workforce policy should recognise that retention may in some cases be improved by recruiting beyond the pipeline.
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| 13. |
- Carson, Dean, et al.
(author)
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Umeå University's proposed "Rural Stream" : An effective alternative to the longitudinal integrated clerkship model for small rural communities?
- 2020
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In: Education for Health. - : Wolters Kluwer. - 1357-6283 .- 1469-5804. ; 33:1, s. 3-7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Umeå University Faculty of Medicine (UUFM), Sweden, has a regionalized medical program in which students spend the final 2½ years of their undergraduate degree in district hospitals. In late 2018, UUFM started a "rural stream" pilot exposing students to smaller rural locations.Methods: The objectives are to deliver the benefits for medical education and rural workforce development that have been observed in longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) while maintaining consistency between learning experiences in the main campus, regional campuses, and rural locations. This article compares the UUFM rural stream with those typical of the LICs described in the medical education literature. Comparisons are made in terms of the four key criteria for LIC success, and additional characteristics including peer and interprofessional learning, "'continuity," and curriculum development.Results: The rural stream has elements of length, immersion, position in the degree program, and community engagement that are both similar to, and different from, LICs. Key challenges are to ensure that participating students create close relationships with host medical facilities and communities. The rural stream also has some potential advantages, particularly in relation to team learning.Discussion: Alternatives to the LIC rural stream model as typically described in the literature may be required to allow for immersive medical education to occur in smaller rural communities and to be suitable for medical schools with more traditional approaches to education.
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| 14. |
- Carson, Marcus, et al.
(author)
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Institutionalising gender equality in disaster risk reduction : DRR challenges and impacts on women and men, girls and boys in the context of a changing climate
- 2013
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- While MSB has many years of experience of implementing environmental and gender perspectives in its humanitarian work; disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation present a different set of opportunities and challenges. Thesefurther emphasise the inclusion of a social change component that overlaps somewhat with more conventional development work. MSB commissioned the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to prepare this report, noting that women and men (as well as girls and boys) are affected differently by: i) the impacts of climate change, ii) efforts related to climate change adaptation (CCA), and iii) disaster risk reduction (DRR).
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| 15. |
- Cousins, Melanie, et al.
(author)
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Is scientific evidence enough? Using expert opinion to fill gaps in data in antimicrobial resistance research
- 2023
-
In: PLOS ONE. - 1932-6203. ; 18:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundAntimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a global problem with large health and economic consequences. Current gaps in quantitative data are a major limitation for creating models intended to simulate the drivers of AMR. As an intermediate step, expert knowledge and opinion could be utilized to fill gaps in knowledge for areas of the system where quantitative data does not yet exist or are hard to quantify. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify quantifiable data about the current state of the factors that drive AMR and the strengths and directions of relationships between the factors from statements made by a group of experts from the One Health system that drives AMR development and transmission in a European context.MethodsThis study builds upon previous work that developed a causal loop diagram of AMR using input from two workshops conducted in 2019 in Sweden with experts within the European food system context. A secondary analysis of the workshop transcripts was conducted to identify semi-quantitative data to parameterize drivers in a model of AMR.Main findingsParticipants spoke about AMR by combining their personal experiences with professional expertise within their fields. The analysis of participants’ statements provided semi-quantitative data that can help inform a future of AMR emergence and transmission based on a causal loop diagram of AMR in a Swedish One Health system context.ConclusionUsing transcripts of a workshop including participants with diverse expertise across the system that drives AMR, we gained invaluable insight into the past, current, and potential future states of the major drivers of AMR, particularly where quantitative data are lacking.
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| 16. |
- Dewan, Pooja, et al.
(author)
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Sex-Related Differences in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.
- 2019
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In: Circulation. Heart failure. - 1941-3297. ; 12:12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To describe characteristics and outcomes in women and men with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.Baseline characteristics (including biomarkers and quality of life) and outcomes (primary outcome: composite of first heart failure hospitalization or cardiovascular death) were compared in 4458 women and 4010 men enrolled in CHARM-Preserved (Candesartan in Heart failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity) (EF≥45%), I-Preserve (Irbesartan in heart failure with Preserved ejection fraction), and TOPCAT-Americas (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist trial).Women were older and more often obese and hypertensive but less likely to have coronary artery disease or atrial fibrillation. Women had more symptoms and signs of congestion and worse quality of life. Despite this, the risk of the primary outcome was lower in women (hazard ratio, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.73-0.88]), as was the risk of cardiovascular death (hazard ratio, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.62-0.80]), but there was no difference in the rate for first hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.82-1.02]). The lower risk of cardiovascular death in women, compared with men, was in part explained by a substantially lower risk of sudden death (hazard ratio, 0.53 [0.43-0.65]; P<0.001). E/A ratio was lower in women (1.1 versus 1.2).There are significant differences between women and men with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Despite worse symptoms, more congestion, and lower quality of life, women had similar rates of hospitalization and better survival than men. Their risk of sudden death was half that of men.URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00853658, NCT01035255.
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| 17. |
- Graells, Tiscar, et al.
(author)
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Exploring the factors that contribute to the successful implementation of antimicrobial resistance interventions : a comparison of high-income and low-middle-income countries
- 2023
-
In: Frontiers In Public Health. - 2296-2565. ; 11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IntroductionAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenge to modern medicine. Interventions have been applied worldwide to tackle AMR, but these actions are often not reported to peers or published, leading to important knowledge gaps about what actions are being taken. Understanding factors that influence the implementation of AMR interventions and what factors are relevant in low-middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs) were the key objectives of this exploratory study, with the aim to identifying which priorities these contexts need.MethodsA questionnaire was used to explore context, characteristics, and success factors or obstacles to intervention success based on participant input. The context was analyzed using the AMR-Intervene framework, and success factors and obstacles to intervention success were identified using thematic analysis.ResultsOf the 77 interventions, 57 were implemented in HICs and 17 in LMICs. Interventions took place in the animal sector, followed by the human sector. Public organizations were mainly responsible for implementation and funding. Nine themes and 32 sub-themes emerged as important for intervention success. The themes most frequently reported were 'behavior', 'capacity and resources', 'planning', and 'information'. Five sub-themes were key in all contexts ('collaboration and coordination', 'implementation', 'assessment', 'governance', and 'awareness'), two were key in LMICs ('funding and finances' and 'surveillance, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and preventive screening'), and five were key in HICs ('mandatory', 'multiple profiles', 'personnel', 'management', and 'design').ConclusionLMIC sub-themes showed that funding and surveillance were still key issues for interventions, while important HIC sub-themes were more specific and detailed, including mandatory enforcement, multiple profiles, and personnel needed for good management and good design. While behavior is often underrated when implementing AMR interventions, capacity and resources are usually considered, and LMICs can benefit from sub-themes captured in HICs if tailored to their contexts. The factors identified can improve the design, planning, implementation, and evaluation of interventions.
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| 18. |
- Graells, Tiscar, et al.
(author)
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Studying Factors Affecting Success of Antimicrobial Resistance Interventions through the Lens of Experience : A Thematic Analysis
- 2022
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In: Antibiotics. - : MDPI AG. - 2079-6382. ; 11:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) affects the environment, and animal and human health. Institutions worldwide have applied various measures, some of which have reduced antimicrobial use and AMR. However, little is known about factors influencing the success of AMR interventions. To address this gap, we engaged health professionals, designers, and implementers of AMR interventions in an exploratory study to learn about their experience and factors that challenged or facilitated interventions and the context in which interventions were implemented. Based on participant input, our thematic analysis identified behaviour; institutional governance and management; and sharing and enhancing information as key factors influencing success. Important sub-themes included: correct behaviour reinforcement, financial resources, training, assessment, and awareness of AMR. Overall, interventions were located in high-income countries, the human sector, and were publicly funded and implemented. In these contexts, behaviour patterns strongly influenced success, yet are often underrated or overlooked when designing AMR interventions. Improving our understanding of what contributes to successful interventions would allow for better designs of policies that are tailored to specific contexts. Exploratory approaches can provide encouraging results in complex challenges, as made evident in our study. Remaining challenges include more engagement in this type of study by professionals and characterisation of themes that influence intervention outcomes by context.
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| 19. |
- Lambraki, Irene Anna, et al.
(author)
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Building Social-Ecological System Resilience to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance Across the One Health Spectrum : Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study
- 2021
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In: JMIR Research Protocols. - : JMIR Publications Inc.. - 1929-0748. ; 10:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global crisis with serious health, social, and economic consequences. Building social-ecological system resilience to reduce AMR and mitigate its impacts is critical.Objective: The aim of this study is to compare and assess interventions that address AMR across the One Health spectrum and determine what actions will help to build social and ecological capacity and readiness to sustainably tackle AMR.Methods: We will apply social-ecological resilience theory to AMR in an explicit One Health context using mixed methods and identify interventions that address AMR and its key pressure antimicrobial use (AMU) identified in the scientific literature and in the gray literature using a web-based survey. Intervention impacts and the factors that challenge or contribute to the success of interventions will be determined, triangulated against expert opinions in participatory workshops and complemented using quantitative time series analyses. We will then identify indicators using regression modeling, which can predict national and regional AMU or AMR dynamics across animal and human health. Together, these analyses will help to quantify the causal loop diagrams (CLDs) of AMR in the European and Southeast Asian food system contexts that are developed by diverse stakeholders in participatory workshops. Then, using these CLDs, the long-term impacts of selected interventions on AMR will be explored under alternate future scenarios via simulation modeling and participatory workshops. A publicly available learning platform housing information about interventions on AMR from a One Health perspective will be developed to help decision makers identify promising interventions for application in their jurisdictions.Results: To date, 669 interventions have been identified in the scientific literature, 891 participants received a survey invitation, and 4 expert feedback and 4 model-building workshops have been conducted. Time series analysis, regression modeling of national and regional indicators of AMR dynamics, and scenario modeling activities are anticipated to be completed by spring 2022. Ethical approval has been obtained from the University of Waterloo's Office of Research Ethics (ethics numbers 40519 and 41781).Conclusions: This paper provides an example of how to study complex problems such as AMR, which require the integration of knowledge across sectors and disciplines to find sustainable solutions. We anticipate that our study will contribute to a better understanding of what actions to take and in what contexts to ensure long-term success in mitigating AMR and its impact and provide useful tools (eg, CLDs, simulation models, and public databases of compiled interventions) to guide management and policy decisions.
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| 20. |
- Lambraki, Irene Anna, et al.
(author)
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Factors impacting antimicrobial resistance in the South East Asian food system and potential places to intervene : A participatory, one health study
- 2023
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In: Frontiers in Microbiology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-302X. ; 13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: With AMU projected to increase, South East Asia (SEA) is at high risk of experiencing disproportionate health, social, and economic burdens due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Our objective was to identify factors influencing AMR in SEA’s food system and places for intervention by integrating the perspectives of experts from the region to inform policy and management decisions.Materials and methods: We conducted two 6.5 h workshops and two 90-min interviews involving 18 AMR and other disciplinary experts from human, animal, and environment sectors who brainstormed the factors influencing AMR and identified leverage points (places) for intervention. Transcripts and workshop materials were coded for factors and their connections and transcribed into a causal loop diagram (CLD). Thematic analysis described AMR dynamics in SEA’s food system and leverage points for intervention. The CLD and themes were confirmed via participant feedback.Results: Participants constructed a CLD of AMR in the SEA food system that contained 98 factors interlinked by 362 connections. CLD factors reflected eight sub-areas of the SEA food system (e.g., government). Seven themes [e.g., antimicrobial and pesticide use and AMR spread (n = 40 quotes)], six “overarching factors” that impact the entire AMR system [e.g., the drive to survive (n = 12 quotes)], and 10 places for intervention that target CLD factors (n = 5) and overarching factors (n = 2) emerged from workshop discussions.Conclusion: The participant derived CLD of factors influencing AMR in the SEA food system demonstrates that AMR is a product of numerous interlinked actions taken across the One Health spectrum and that finding solutions is no simple task. Developing the model enabled the identification of potentially promising leverage points across human, animal, and environment sectors that, if comprehensively targeted using multi-pronged interventions, could evoke system wide changes that mitigate AMR. Even targeting some leverage points for intervention, such as increasing investments in research and capacity building, and setting and enforcing regulations to control antimicrobial supply, demand, and use could, in turn, shift mindsets that lead to changes in more difficult to alter leverage points, such as redefining the profit-driven intent that drives system behavior in ways that transform AMU and sustainably mitigate AMR.
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| 21. |
- Lambraki, Irene Anna, et al.
(author)
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Factors influencing antimicrobial resistance in the European food system and potential leverage points for intervention : A participatory, One Health study
- 2022
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 17:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IntroductionAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global crisis that evolves from a complex system of factors. Understanding what factors interact is key to finding solutions. Our objective was to identify the factors influencing AMR in the European food system and places to intervene.Materials and methodsWe conducted two workshops involving participants with diverse perspectives to identify the factors influencing AMR and leverage points (places) to target interventions. Transcripts were open coded for factors and connections, then transcribed into Vensim 8.0.4 to develop a causal loop diagram (CLD) and compute the number of feedback loops. Thematic analysis followed to describe AMR dynamics in Europe’s food system and places for intervention. The CLD and themes were confirmed via participant feedback.ResultsSeventeen participants representing human, animal and agricultural sectors identified 91 CLD factors and 331 connections. Seven themes (e.g., social and economic conditions) describing AMR dynamics in Europe’s food system, five ‘overarching factors’ that impact the entire CLD system (e.g., leadership) and fourteen places for intervention (e.g., consumer demand) emerged from workshop discussions. Most leverage points fell on highly networked feedback loops suggesting that intervening at these places may create unpredictable consequences.ConclusionsOur study produced a CLD of factors influencing AMR in Europe’s food system that implicates sectors across the One Health spectrum. The high connectivity between the CLD factors described by participants and our finding that factors are connected with many feedback mechanisms underscores the complexity of the AMR problem and the challenge with finding long-term solutions. Identifying factors and feedbacks helped identify relevant leverage points in the system. Some actions, such as government’s setting AMU standards may be easier to implement. These actions in turn can support multi-pronged actions that can help redefine the vision, values and goals of the system to sustainably tackle AMR.
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| 22. |
- Lambraki, Irene Anna, et al.
(author)
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Governing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in a Changing Climate : A Participatory Scenario Planning Approach Applied to Sweden in 2050
- 2022
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In: Frontiers In Public Health. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-2565. ; 10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global crisis with long-term and unpredictable health, social and economic impacts, with which climate change is likely to interact. Understanding how to govern AMR amidst evolving climatic changes is critical. Scenario planning offers a suitable approach. By envisioning alternative futures, stakeholders more effectively can identify consequences, anticipate problems, and better determine how to intervene. This study explored future worlds and actions that may successfully address AMR in a changing climate in a high-income country, using Sweden as the case.Methods: We conducted online scenario-building workshops and interviews with eight experts who explored: (1) how promising interventions (taxation of antimicrobials at point of sale, and infection prevention measures) could each combat AMR in 2050 in Sweden given our changing climate; and (2) actions to take starting in 2030 to ensure success in 2050. Transcripts were thematically analyzed to produce a narrative of participant validated alternative futures.Results: Recognizing AMR to be a global problem requiring global solutions, participants looked beyond Sweden to construct three alternative futures: (1) “Tax Burn Out” revealed taxation of antimicrobials as a low-impact intervention that creates inequities and thus would fail to address AMR without other interventions, such as infection prevention measures. (2) “Addressing the Basics” identified infection prevention measures as highly impactful at containing AMR in 2050 because they would contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which would be essential to tackling inequities underpinning AMR and climate change, and help to stabilize climate-induced mass migration and conflicts; and (3) ”Siloed Nations” described a movement toward nationalism and protectionism that would derail the “Addressing the Basics” scenario, threatening health and wellbeing of all. Several urgent actions were identified to combat AMR long-term regardless which future un-folds, such as global collaboration, and a holistic approach where AMR and climate change are addressed as interlinked issues.Conclusion: Our participatory scenario planning approach enabled participants from different sectors to create shared future visions and identify urgent actions to take that hinge on global collaboration, addressing AMR and climate change together, and achieving the SDGs to combat AMR under a changing climate.
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| 23. |
- Léger, Anaïs, et al.
(author)
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AMR-Intervene : a social-ecological framework to capture the diversity of actions to tackle antimicrobial resistance from a One Health perspective
- 2021
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In: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-7453 .- 1460-2091. ; 76:1, s. 1-21
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires coordinated actions by and across different sectors. Increasing attention at the global and national Levels has Led to different strategies to tackle the challenge. The diversity of possible actions to address AMR is currently not well understood from a One Health perspective. AMR-Intervene, an interdisciplinary social-ecological framework, describes interventions to tackle AMR in terms of six components: (i) core information about the publication; (ii) social system; (iii) bio-ecological system; (iv) triggers and goals; (v) implementation and governance; and (vi) assessment. AMR-Intervene provides a broadly applicable framework, which can inform the design, implementation, assessment and reporting of interventions to tackle AMR and, in turn, enable faster uptake of successful interventions to build societal resilience to AMR.
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| 24. |
- Léger, Anaïs, et al.
(author)
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Characterizing social-ecological context and success factors of antimicrobial resistance interventions across the One Health spectrum : analysis of 42 interventions targeting E. coli
- 2021
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In: BMC Infectious Diseases. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2334. ; 21:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the most pressing One Health issues. While interventions and policies with various targets and goals have been implemented, evidence about factors underpinning success and failure of interventions in different sectors is lacking. The objective of this study is to identify characteristics of AMR interventions that increase their capacity to impact AMR. This study focuses on AMR interventions targeting E. coli.Methods: We used the AMR-Intervene framework to extract descriptions of the social and ecological systems of interventions to determine factors contributing to their success.Results: We identified 52 scientific publications referring to 42 unique E. coli AMR interventions. We mainly identified interventions implemented in high-income countries (36/42), at the national level (16/42), targeting primarily one sector of society (37/42) that was mainly the human sector (25/42). Interventions were primarily funded by governments (38/42). Most intervention targeted a low leverage point in the AMR system, (36/42), and aimed to change the epidemiology of AMR (14/42). Among all included publications, 55% (29/52) described at least one success factor or obstacle (29/52) and 19% (10/52) identified at least one success factor and one obstacle. Most reported success factors related to communication between the actors and stakeholders and the role of media, and stressed the importance of collaboration between disciplines and external partners. Described obstacles covered data quality, access to data and statistical analyses, and the validity of the results.Conclusions: Overall, we identified a lack of diversity regarding interventions. In addition, most published E. coli interventions were poorly described with limited evidence of the factors that contributed to the intervention success or failure. Design and reporting guidelines would help to improve reporting quality and provide a valuable tool for improving the science of AMR interventions.
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| 25. |
- Pinto, Dalila, et al.
(author)
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Functional impact of global rare copy number variation in autism spectrum disorders.
- 2010
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 466:7304, s. 368-372
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of conditions characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interaction and communication, and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviours. Individuals with an ASD vary greatly in cognitive development, which can range from above average to intellectual disability. Although ASDs are known to be highly heritable ( approximately 90%), the underlying genetic determinants are still largely unknown. Here we analysed the genome-wide characteristics of rare (<1% frequency) copy number variation in ASD using dense genotyping arrays. When comparing 996 ASD individuals of European ancestry to 1,287 matched controls, cases were found to carry a higher global burden of rare, genic copy number variants (CNVs) (1.19 fold, P = 0.012), especially so for loci previously implicated in either ASD and/or intellectual disability (1.69 fold, P = 3.4 x 10(-4)). Among the CNVs there were numerous de novo and inherited events, sometimes in combination in a given family, implicating many novel ASD genes such as SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53-PTCHD1 locus. We also discovered an enrichment of CNVs disrupting functional gene sets involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and GTPase/Ras signalling. Our results reveal many new genetic and functional targets in ASD that may lead to final connected pathways.
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| 26. |
- Sterner, Thomas, 1952, et al.
(author)
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Funding Inclusive Green Transition through Greenhouse Gas Pricing : Carbon Pricing
- 2020
-
In: ifo DICE Report. - 2511-7815. ; 18:1, s. 3-8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 2015 was a special year. During a few months the political stars aligned and made it possible for the international community to agree on the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement to limit global warming. Now the signatories need to find ways to implement these agreements, which not only imply a deep decarbonization of the economy but must also meet the Sustainable Development Goals. In this article we discuss the importance of pricing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions2 to make this happen. Climate abatement is a truly global public good and so we actually have to have a functioning policy in all countries. Our interest is thus on pricing in all countries but in particular the developing countries that are bigger and most crucial to the struggle for a green transition.
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| 27. |
- Sumaila, U. Rashid, et al.
(author)
-
WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies
- 2021
-
In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 374:6567, s. 544-544
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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| 28. |
- Székely, Éva, et al.
(author)
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Clustering Expressive Speech Styles in Audiobooks Using Glottal Source Parameters.
- 2011
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In: 12th Annual Conference of the International-Speech-Communication-Association 2011 (INTERSPEECH 2011). - : ISCA-INT SPEECH COMMUNICATION ASSOC. - 9781618392701 ; , s. 2409-2412
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A great challenge for text-to-speech synthesis is to produce ex- pressive speech. The main problem is that it is difficult to syn- thesise high-quality speech using expressive corpora. With the increasing interest in audiobook corpora for speech synthesis, there is a demand to synthesise speech which is rich in prosody, emotions and voice styles. In this work, Self-Organising Fea- ture Maps (SOFM) are used for clustering the speech data using voice quality parameters of the glottal source, in order to map out the variety of voice styles in the corpus. Subjective evalu- ation showed that this clustering method successfully separated the speech data into groups of utterances associated with dif- ferent voice characteristics. This work can be applied in unit- selection synthesis by selecting appropriate data sets to synthe- sise utterances with specific voice styles. It can also be used in parametric speech synthesis to model different voice styles separately.
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| 29. |
- Székely, Éva, et al.
(author)
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Evaluating expressive speech synthesis from audiobooks in conversational phrases
- 2012
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Audiobooks are a rich resource of large quantities of natural sounding, highly expressive speech. In our previous research we have shown that it is possible to detect different expressive voice styles represented in a particular audiobook, using unsupervised clustering to group the speech corpus of the audiobook into smaller subsets representing the detected voice styles. These subsets of corpora of different voice styles reflect the various ways a speaker uses their voice to express involvement and affect, or imitate characters. This study is an evaluation of the detection of voice styles in an audiobook in the application of expressive speech synthesis. A further aim of this study is to investigate the usability of audiobooks as a language resource for expressive speech synthesis of utterances of conversational speech. Two evaluations have been carried out to assess the effect of the genre transfer: transmitting expressive speech from read aloud literature to conversational phrases with the application of speech synthesis. The first evaluation revealed that listeners have different voice style preferences for a particular conversational phrase. The second evaluation showed that it is possible for users of speech synthesis systems to learn the characteristics of a certain voice style well enough to make reliable predictions about what a certain utterance will sound like when synthesised using that voice style.
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| 30. |
- Székely, Éva, et al.
(author)
-
Synthesizing expressive speech from amateur audiobook recordings
- 2012
-
In: Spoken Language Technology Workshop (SLT). ; , s. 297-302
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Freely available audiobooks are a rich resource of expressive speech recordings that can be used for the purposes of speech synthesis. Natural sounding, expressive synthetic voices have previously been built from audiobooks that contained large amounts of highly expressive speech recorded from a profes- sionally trained speaker. The majority of freely available au- diobooks, however, are read by amateur speakers, are shorter and contain less expressive (less emphatic, less emotional, etc.) speech both in terms of quality and quantity. Synthesiz- ing expressive speech from a typical online audiobook there- fore poses many challenges. In this work we address these challenges by applying a method consisting of minimally su- pervised techniques to align the text with the recorded speech, select groups of expressive speech segments and build expres- sive voices for hidden Markov-model based synthesis using speaker adaptation. Subjective listening tests have shown that the expressive synthetic speech generated with this method is often able to produce utterances suited to an emotional mes- sage. We used a restricted amount of speech data in our exper- iment, in order to show that the method is generally applicable to most typical audiobooks widely available online.
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
- Wernli, Didier, et al.
(author)
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Scope and applicability of social-ecological resilience to antimicrobial resistance
- 2023
-
In: The Lancet Planetary Health. - 2542-5196. ; 7:7, s. e630-E637
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Social-ecological systems conceptualise how social human systems and ecological natural systems are intertwined. In this Personal View, we define the scope and applicability of social-ecological resilience to antimicrobial resistance. Resilience to antimicrobial resistance corresponds to the capacity to maintain the societal benefits of antimicrobial use and One Health systems' performance in the face of the evolutionary behaviour of microorganisms in response to antimicrobial use. Social-ecological resilience provides an appropriate framework to make sense of the disruptive impacts resulting from the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance; capture the diversity of strategies needed to tackle antimicrobial resistance and to live with it; understand the conditions that underpin the success or failure of interventions; and appreciate the need for adaptive and coevolutionary governance. Overall, resilience thinking is essential to improve understanding of how human societies dynamically can cope with, adapt, and transform to the growing global challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
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| 33. |
- Niemi, MEK, et al.
(author)
-
- 2021
-
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