1. |
- Tabiri, S, et al.
(author)
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- 2021
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swepub:Mat__t
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2. |
- Bravo, L, et al.
(author)
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- 2021
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swepub:Mat__t
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3. |
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4. |
- Glasbey, JC, et al.
(author)
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- 2021
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swepub:Mat__t
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8. |
- Potapov, Anton M., et al.
(author)
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Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure
- 2024
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In: Scientific Data. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2052-4463. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Springtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised. Despite covering all continents, most of the sample-level data come from the European continent (82.5% of all samples) and represent four habitats: woodlands (57.4%), grasslands (14.0%), agrosystems (13.7%) and scrublands (9.0%). We included sampling by soil layers, and across seasons and years, representing temporal and spatial within-site variation in springtail communities. We also provided data use and sharing guidelines and R code to facilitate the use of the database by other researchers. This data paper describes a static version of the database at the publication date, but the database will be further expanded to include underrepresented regions and linked with trait data.
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9. |
- Potapov, Anton M., et al.
(author)
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Globally invariant metabolism but density-diversity mismatch in springtails
- 2023
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Soil life supports the functioning and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Springtails (Collembola) are among the most abundant soil arthropods regulating soil fertility and flow of energy through above- and belowground food webs. However, the global distribution of springtail diversity and density, and how these relate to energy fluxes remains unknown. Here, using a global dataset representing 2470 sites, we estimate the total soil springtail biomass at 27.5 megatons carbon, which is threefold higher than wild terrestrial vertebrates, and record peak densities up to 2 million individuals per square meter in the tundra. Despite a 20-fold biomass difference between the tundra and the tropics, springtail energy use (community metabolism) remains similar across the latitudinal gradient, owing to the changes in temperature with latitude. Neither springtail density nor community metabolism is predicted by local species richness, which is high in the tropics, but comparably high in some temperate forests and even tundra. Changes in springtail activity may emerge from latitudinal gradients in temperature, predation and resource limitation in soil communities. Contrasting relationships of biomass, diversity and activity of springtail communities with temperature suggest that climate warming will alter fundamental soil biodiversity metrics in different directions, potentially restructuring terrestrial food webs and affecting soil functioning.
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10. |
- Hesse, B., et al.
(author)
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EANM/ESC Guidelines for Radionuclide Imaging of Cardiac function
- 2008
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In: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-7070 .- 1619-7089. ; 35:4, s. 851-885
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Radionuclide imaging of cardiac function represents a number of well-validated techniques for accurate determination of right (RV) and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) and LV volumes. These first European guidelines give recommendations for how and when to use first-pass and equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography, gated myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, gated PET, and studies with non-imaging devices for the evaluation of cardiac function. The items covered are presented in 11 sections: clinical indications, radiopharmaceuticals and dosimetry, study acquisition, RV EF, LV EF, LV volumes, LV regional function, LV diastolic function, reports and image display and reference values from the literature of RVEF, LVEF and LV volumes. If specific recommendations given cannot be based on evidence from original, scientific studies, referral is given to "prevailing or general consensus". The guidelines are designed to assist in the practice of referral to, performance, interpretation and reporting of nuclear cardiology studies for the evaluation of cardiac performance.
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13. |
- Svensson, J. Peter, et al.
(author)
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Analysis of gene expression using gene sets discriminates cancer patients with and without late radiation toxicity
- 2006
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In: PLoS Medicine. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1549-1277 .- 1549-1676. ; 3:10, s. 1904-1914
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Radiation is an effective anti-cancer therapy but leads to severe late radiation toxicity in 5%-10% of patients. Assuming that genetic susceptibility impacts this risk, we hypothesized that the cellular response of normal tissue to X-rays could discriminate patients with and without late radiation toxicity. Methods and Findings Prostate carcinoma patients without evidence of cancer 2 y after curative radiotherapy were recruited in the study. Blood samples of 21 patients with severe late complications from radiation and 17 patients without symptoms were collected. Stimulated peripheral lymphocytes were mock-irradiated or irradiated with 2-Gy X-rays. The 24-h radiation response was analyzed by gene expression profiling and used for classification. Classification was performed either on the expression of separate genes or, to augment the classification power, on gene sets consisting of genes grouped together based on function or cellular colocalization. X- ray irradiation altered the expression of radio-responsive genes in both groups. This response was variable across individuals, and the expression of the most significant radio-responsive genes was unlinked to radiation toxicity. The classifier based on the radiation response of separate genes correctly classified 63% of the patients. The classifier based on affected gene sets improved correct classification to 86%, although on the individual level only 21/38 (55%) patients were classified with high certainty. The majority of the discriminative genes and gene sets belonged to the ubiquitin, apoptosis, and stress signaling networks. The apoptotic response appeared more pronounced in patients that did not develop toxicity. In an independent set of 12 patients, the toxicity status of eight was predicted correctly by the gene set classifier. Conclusions Gene expression profiling succeeded to some extent in discriminating groups of patients with and without severe late radiotherapy toxicity. Moreover, the discriminative power was enhanced by assessment of functionally or structurally related gene sets. While prediction of individual response requires improvement, this study is a step forward in predicting susceptibility to late radiation toxicity.
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14. |
- D'Souza, Melroy A., et al.
(author)
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Hepatopancreatoduodenectomy –a controversial treatment for bile duct and gallbladder cancer from a European perspective
- 2020
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In: HPB. - : Elsevier BV. - 1365-182X. ; 22:9, s. 1339-1348
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Hepatopancreatoduodenectomy (HPD) is an aggressive operation for treatment of advanced bile duct and gallbladder cancer associated with high perioperative morbidity and mortality, and uncertain oncological benefit in terms of survival. Few reports on HPD from Western centers exist. The purpose of this study was to evaluate safety and efficacy for HPD in European centers. Method: Members of the European-African HepatoPancreatoBiliary Association were invited to report all consecutive patients operated with HPD for bile duct or gallbladder cancer between January 2003 and January 2018. The patient and tumor characteristics, perioperative and survival outcomes were analyzed. Results: In total, 66 patients from 19 European centers were included in the analysis. 90-day mortality rate was 17% and 13% for bile duct and gallbladder cancer respectively. All factors predictive of perioperative mortality were patient and disease-specific. The three-year overall survival excluding 90-day mortality was 80% for bile duct and 30% for gallbladder cancer (P = 0.013). In multivariable analysis R0-resection had a significant impact on overall survival. Conclusion: HPD, although being associated with substantial perioperative mortality, can offer a survival benefit in patient subgroups with bile duct cancer and gallbladder cancer. To achieve negative resection margins is paramount for an improved survival outcome.
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15. |
- Hesse, B, et al.
(author)
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EANM/ESC procedural guidelines for myocardial perfusion imaging in nuclear cardiology
- 2005
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In: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-7070 .- 1619-7089. ; 32:7, s. 855-897
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The European procedural guidelines for radionuclide imaging of myocardial perfusion and viability are presented in 13 sections covering patient information, radiopharmaceuticals, injected activities and dosimetry, stress tests, imaging protocols and acquisition, quality control and reconstruction methods, gated studies and attenuation-scatter compensation, data analysis, reports and image display, and positron emission tomography. If the specific recommendations given could not be based on evidence from original, scientific studies, we tried to express this state-of-art. The guidelines are designed to assist in the practice of performing, interpreting and reporting myocardial perfusion SPET. The guidelines do not discuss clinical indications, benefits or drawbacks of radionuclide myocardial imaging compared to non-nuclear techniques, nor do they cover cost benefit or cost effectiveness.
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16. |
- Price, KM, et al.
(author)
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Hypothesis-driven genome-wide association studies provide novel insights into genetics of reading disabilities
- 2022
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In: Translational psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2158-3188. ; 12:1, s. 495-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reading Disability (RD) is often characterized by difficulties in the phonology of the language. While the molecular mechanisms underlying it are largely undetermined, loci are being revealed by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In a previous GWAS for word reading (Price, 2020), we observed that top single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were located near to or in genes involved in neuronal migration/axon guidance (NM/AG) or loci implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A prominent theory of RD etiology posits that it involves disturbed neuronal migration, while potential links between RD-ASD have not been extensively investigated. To improve power to identify associated loci, we up-weighted variants involved in NM/AG or ASD, separately, and performed a new Hypothesis-Driven (HD)–GWAS. The approach was applied to a Toronto RD sample and a meta-analysis of the GenLang Consortium. For the Toronto sample (n = 624), no SNPs reached significance; however, by gene-set analysis, the joint contribution of ASD-related genes passed the threshold (p~1.45 × 10–2, threshold = 2.5 × 10–2). For the GenLang Cohort (n = 26,558), SNPs in DOCK7 and CDH4 showed significant association for the NM/AG hypothesis (sFDR q = 1.02 × 10–2). To make the GenLang dataset more similar to Toronto, we repeated the analysis restricting to samples selected for reading/language deficits (n = 4152). In this GenLang selected subset, we found significant association for a locus intergenic between BTG3-C21orf91 for both hypotheses (sFDR q < 9.00 × 10–4). This study contributes candidate loci to the genetics of word reading. Data also suggest that, although different variants may be involved, alleles implicated in ASD risk may be found in the same genes as those implicated in word reading. This finding is limited to the Toronto sample suggesting that ascertainment influences genetic associations.
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17. |
- de Eyto, E, et al.
(author)
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The distribution of chydorids (Branchiopoda, Anomopoda) in European shallow lakes and its application to ecological quality monitoring
- 2003
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In: Archiv für Hydrobiologie. - : Schweizerbart. - 0003-9136. ; 156:2, s. 181-202
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study describes the chydorid (Branchiopoda, Anomopoda) assemblages from 66 European shallow lakes, and presents data relating the assemblages to lake type and ecological quality. Forty species, out of a total recorded European fauna of 60 species, were found in the study sites. No significant differences were found between chydorid assemblages associated with rock and plant substrata. Patterns of distribution were best explained primarily by latitude and pH. Chlorophyll-a, total phosphorus, water temperature and Secchi depth were also correlated with assemblage descriptors. Alonopsis elongata, Alona rectangula, Alonella excisa and Pleuroxus uncinatus were shown to have higher prevalence in certain lake types. The dominance of Chydorus sphaericus in a third of the study sites was linked to eutrophication and high levels of chlorophyll-a. The relationship between chydorids and lake ecological quality was more apparent at species rather than community level. This study identifies important typological factors affecting chydorid distribution, and confirms that patterns of chydorid distribution previously reported from regional studies hold true across Europe.
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18. |
- Ekeberg, Tomas, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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Observation of a single protein by ultrafast X-ray diffraction
- 2024
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In: Light. - : Springer Nature. - 2095-5545 .- 2047-7538. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The idea of using ultrashort X-ray pulses to obtain images of single proteins frozen in time has fascinated and inspired many. It was one of the arguments for building X-ray free-electron lasers. According to theory, the extremely intense pulses provide sufficient signal to dispense with using crystals as an amplifier, and the ultrashort pulse duration permits capturing the diffraction data before the sample inevitably explodes. This was first demonstrated on biological samples a decade ago on the giant mimivirus. Since then, a large collaboration has been pushing the limit of the smallest sample that can be imaged. The ability to capture snapshots on the timescale of atomic vibrations, while keeping the sample at room temperature, may allow probing the entire conformational phase space of macromolecules. Here we show the first observation of an X-ray diffraction pattern from a single protein, that of Escherichia coli GroEL which at 14 nm in diameter is the smallest biological sample ever imaged by X-rays, and demonstrate that the concept of diffraction before destruction extends to single proteins. From the pattern, it is possible to determine the approximate orientation of the protein. Our experiment demonstrates the feasibility of ultrafast imaging of single proteins, opening the way to single-molecule time-resolved studies on the femtosecond timescale.
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19. |
- Engelen, Marscha M., et al.
(author)
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The Association Between Stuttering Burden and Psychosocial Aspects of Life in Adults
- 2024
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In: Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. - 1092-4388 .- 1558-9102. ; 67:5, s. 1385-1399
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PURPOSE: Stuttering is a speech condition that can have a major impact on a person's quality of life. This descriptive study aimed to identify subgroups of people who stutter (PWS) based on stuttering burden and to investigate differences between these subgroups on psychosocial aspects of life.METHOD: The study included 618 adult participants who stutter. They completed a detailed survey examining stuttering symptomatology, impact of stuttering on anxiety, education and employment, experience of stuttering, and levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. A two-step cluster analytic procedure was performed to identify subgroups of PWS, based on self-report of stuttering frequency, severity, affect, and anxiety, four measures that together inform about stuttering burden.RESULTS: We identified a high- (n = 230) and a low-burden subgroup (n = 372). The high-burden subgroup reported a significantly higher impact of stuttering on education and employment, and higher levels of general depression, anxiety, stress, and overall impact of stuttering. These participants also reported that they trialed more different stuttering therapies than those with lower burden.CONCLUSIONS: Our results emphasize the need to be attentive to the diverse experiences and needs of PWS, rather than treating them as a homogeneous group. Our findings also stress the importance of personalized therapeutic strategies for individuals with stuttering, considering all aspects that could influence their stuttering burden. People with high-burden stuttering might, for example, have a higher need for psychological therapy to reduce stuttering-related anxiety. People with less emotional reactions but severe speech distortions may also have a moderate to high burden, but they may have a higher need for speech techniques to communicate with more ease. Future research should give more insights into the therapeutic needs of people highly burdened by their stuttering.SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25582980.
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20. |
- Euser, Anja S, et al.
(author)
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Blunted feedback processing during risky decision making in adolescents with a parental history of substance use disorders
- 2013
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In: Development and psychopathology (Print). - : Cambridge University Press. - 0954-5794 .- 1469-2198. ; 25:4 Pt 1, s. 1119-1136
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Risky decision making, a hallmark phenotype of substance use disorders (SUD), is thought to be associated with deficient feedback processing. Whether these aberrations are present prior to SUD onset or reflect merely a consequence of chronic substance use on the brain remains unclear. The present study investigated whether blunted feedback processing during risky decision making reflects a biological predisposition to SUD. We assessed event-related potentials elicited by positive and negative feedback during performance of a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) among high-risk adolescents with a parental history of SUD (HR; n = 61) and normal-risk controls (NR; n = 91). HR males made significantly more risky and faster decisions during the BART than did NR controls. Moreover, HR adolescents showed significantly reduced P300 amplitudes in response to both positive and negative feedback as compared to NR controls. These differences were not secondary to prolonged substance use exposure. Results are discussed in terms of feedback-specific processes. Reduced P300 amplitudes in the BART may reflect poor processing of feedback at the level of overall salience, which may keep people from effectively predicting the probability of future gains and losses. Though conclusions are tentative, blunted feedback processing during risky decision making may represent a promising endophenotypic vulnerability marker for SUD.
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21. |
- Euser, Anja S, et al.
(author)
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Multifactorial determinants of target and novelty-evoked P300 amplitudes in children of addicted parents
- 2013
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In: PLOS ONE. - : PLOS. - 1932-6203. ; 8:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Although P300 amplitude reductions constitute a persistent finding in children of addicted parents, relatively little is known about the specificity of this finding. The major aim of this study was to investigate the association between parental rearing, adverse life events, stress-reactivity, substance use and psychopathology on the one hand, and P300 amplitude in response to both target and novel distracter stimuli on the other hand. Moreover, we assessed whether risk group status (i.e., having a parental history of Substance Use Disorders [SUD]) uniquely contributed to P300 amplitude variation above and beyond these other variables.METHODS: Event-related potentials were recorded in high-risk adolescents with a parental history of SUD (HR;n=80) and normal-risk controls (NR;n=100) while performing a visual Novelty Oddball paradigm. Stress-evoked cortisol levels were assessed and parenting, life adversities, substance use and psychopathology were examined by using self-reports.RESULTS: HR adolescents displayed smaller P300 amplitudes in response to novel- and to target stimuli than NR controls, while the latter only approached significance. Interestingly, the effect of having a parental history of SUD on target-P300 disappeared when all other variables were taken into account. Externalizing problem behavior was a powerful predictor of target-P300. In contrast, risk group status uniquely predicted novelty-P300 amplitude reductions above and beyond all other factors.CONCLUSION: Overall, the present findings suggest that the P300 amplitude reduction to novel stimuli might be a more specific endophenotype for SUD than the target-P300 amplitude. This pattern of results underscores the importance of conducting multifactorial assessments when examining important cognitive processes in at-risk adolescents.
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23. |
- Franken, Matthias K., et al.
(author)
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Does passive sound attenuation affect responses to pitch-shifted auditory feedback?
- 2019
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In: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. - : Acoustical Society of America (ASA). - 0001-4966. ; 146:6, s. 4108-4121
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The role of auditory feedback in vocal production has mainly been investigated by altered auditory feedback (AAF) in real time. In response, speakers compensate by shifting their speech output in the opposite direction. Current theory suggests this is caused by a mismatch between expected and observed feedback. A methodological issue is the difficulty to fully isolate the speaker’s hearing so that only AAF is presented to their ears. As a result, participants may be presented with two simultaneous signals. If this is true, an alternative explanation is that responses to AAF depend on the contrast between the manipulated and the non-manipulated feedback. This hypothesis was tested by varying the passive sound attenuation (PSA). Participants vocalized while auditory feed- back was unexpectedly pitch shifted. The feedback was played through three pairs of headphones with varying amounts of PSA. The participants’ responses were not affected by the different levels of PSA. This suggests that across all three headphones, PSA is either good enough to make the manipulated feedback dominant, or differences in PSA are too small to affect the contribution of non-manipulated feedback. Overall, the results suggest that it is important to realize that non-manipulated auditory feedback could affect responses to AAF.
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24. |
- Franken, Matthias K., et al.
(author)
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Don’t blame yourself : Conscious source monitoring modulates feedback control during speech production
- 2023
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In: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. - : SAGE Publications. - 1747-0218 .- 1747-0226. ; 76:1, s. 15-27
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sensory feedback plays an important role in speech motor control. One of the main sources of evidence for this is studies in which online auditory feedback is perturbed during ongoing speech. In motor control, it is therefore crucial to distinguish between sensory feedback and externally generated sensory events. This is called source monitoring. Previous altered feedback studies have taken non-conscious source monitoring for granted, as automatic responses to altered sensory feedback imply that the feedback changes are processed as self-caused. However, the role of conscious source monitoring is unclear. The current study investigated whether conscious source monitoring modulates responses to unexpected pitch changes in auditory feedback. During the first block, some participants spontaneously attributed the pitch shifts to themselves (self-blamers) while others attributed them to an external source (other-blamers). Before Block 2, all participants were informed that the pitch shifts were experimentally induced. The self-blamers then showed a reduction in response magnitude in Block 2 compared with Block 1, while the other-blamers did not. This suggests that conscious source monitoring modulates responses to altered auditory feedback, such that consciously ascribing feedback to oneself leads to larger compensation responses. These results can be accounted for within the dominant comparator framework, where conscious source monitoring could modulate the gain on sensory feedback. Alternatively, the results can be naturally explained from an inferential framework, where conscious knowledge may bias the priors in a Bayesian process to determine the most likely source of a sensory event.
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25. |
- Franken, Matthias K., et al.
(author)
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Drifting pitch awareness after exposure to altered auditory feedback
- 2022
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In: Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1943-3921 .- 1943-393X. ; 84:6, s. 2027-2039
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Various studies have claimed that the sense of agency is based on a comparison between an internal estimate of an action’s outcome and sensory feedback. With respect to speech, this presumes that speakers have a stable prearticulatory representation of their own speech. However, recent research suggests that the sense of agency is flexible and thus in some contexts we may feel like we produced speech that was not actually produced by us. The current study tested whether the estimated pitch of one’s articulation (termed pitch awareness) is affected by manipulated auditory feedback. In four experiments, 56 participants produced isolated vowels while being exposed to pitch-shifted auditory feedback. After every vocalization, participants indicated whether they thought the feedback was higher or lower than their actual production. After exposure to a block of high-pitched auditory feedback (+500 cents pitch shift), participants were more likely to label subsequent auditory feedback as “lower than my actual production,” suggesting that prolonged exposure to high-pitched auditory feedback led to a drift in participants’ pitch awareness. The opposite pattern was found after exposure to a constant −500 cents pitch shift. This suggests that pitch awareness is not solely based on a prearticulatory representation of intended speech or on a sensory prediction, but also on sensory feedback. We propose that this drift in pitch awareness could be indicative of a sense of agency over the pitch-shifted auditory feedback in the exposure block. If so, this suggests that the sense of agency over vocal output is flexible.
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27. |
- Kappler, J, et al.
(author)
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Tenascins are associated with lipid rafts isolated from mouse brain
- 2002
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In: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. - 1090-2104. ; 294:3, s. 742-747
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lipid rafts are microdomains of the plasma membrane which are enriched in glycosphingolipids and specific proteins. The reported interactions of several raft-associated proteins (such as, e.g., F3) with tenascin C and tenascin R prompted us to consider that these oligomeric multidomain glycoproteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM) could associate with rafts. Here, we show punctate immunocytochemical distributions of tenascin C (TN-C) and tenascin R (TN-R) at the membrane surface of neural cells resembling the pattern reported for raft-associated proteins. Moreover, cholesterol depletion with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin reduced the punctate surface staining of TN-C. Consistently, TN-C was associated with lipid rafts of neonatal mouse brain according to sucrose density gradient centrifugation experiments. Furthermore, TN-R was also found in rafts prepared from myelin of adult mice. Thus, brain-derived tenascins are able to associate with lipid rafts. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
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28. |
- Kessler, Jan H., et al.
(author)
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Antigen processing by nardilysin and thimet oligopeptidase generates cytotoxic T cell epitopes
- 2010
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In: Nature Immunology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1529-2908 .- 1529-2916. ; 12:1, s. 45-53
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) recognize peptides presented by HLA class I molecules on the cell surface. The C terminus of these CTL epitopes is considered to be produced by the proteasome. Here we demonstrate that the cytosolic endopeptidases nardilysin and thimet oligopeptidase (TOP) complemented proteasome activity. Nardilysin and TOP were required, either together or alone, for the generation of a tumor-specific CTL epitope from PRAME, an immunodominant CTL epitope from Epstein-Barr virus protein EBNA3C, and a clinically important epitope from the melanoma protein MART-1. TOP functioned as C-terminal trimming peptidase in antigen processing, and nardilysin contributed to both the C-terminal and N-terminal generation of CTL epitopes. By broadening the antigenic peptide repertoire, nardilysin and TOP strengthen the immune defense against intracellular pathogens and cancer.
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32. |
- Moss, B, et al.
(author)
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The determination of ecological status in shallow lakes - a tested system (ECOFRAME) for implementation of the European Water Framework Directive
- 2003
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In: Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. - : Wiley. - 1052-7613. ; 13:6, s. 507-549
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 1. The European Water Framework Directive requires the determination of ecological status in European fresh and saline waters. This is to be through the establishment of a typology of surface water bodies, the determination of reference (high status) conditions in each element (ecotype) of the typology and of lower grades of status (good, moderate, poor and bad) for each ecotype. It then requires classification of the status of the water bodies and their restoration to at least 'good status' in a specified period. 2. Though there are many methods for assessing water quality, none has the scope of that defined in the Directive. The provisions of the Directive require a wide range of variables to be measured and give only general guidance as to how systems of classification should be established. This raises issues of comparability across States and of the costs of making the determinations. 3. Using expert workshops and subsequent field testing, a practicable pan-European typology and classification system has been developed for shallow lakes, which can easily be extended to all lakes. It is parsimonious in its choice of determinands, but based on current limnological understanding and therefore as cost-effective as possible. 4. A core typology is described, which can be expanded easily in particular States to meet local conditions. The core includes 48 ecotypes across the entire European climate gradient and incorporates climate, lake area, geology of the catchment and conductivity. 5. The classification system is founded on a liberal interpretation of Annexes in the Directive and uses variables that are inexpensive to measure and ecologically relevant. The need for taxonomic expertise is minimized. 6. The scheme has been through eight iterations, two of which were tested in the field on tranches of 66 lakes. The final version, Version 8, is offered for operational testing and further refinement by statutory authorities.
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33. |
- Tägil, Kristina, et al.
(author)
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A decision support system improves the interpretation of myocardial perfusion imaging.
- 2008
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In: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-7070 .- 1619-7089. ; 35:9, s. 1602-1607
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of a computer-based decision support system (DSS) on performance and inter-observer variability of interpretations regarding ischaemia and infarction in myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). METHODS: Seven physicians independently interpreted 97 MPS studies, first without and then with the advice of a DSS. Four physicians had long experience and three had limited experience in the interpretation of MPS. Each study was interpreted regarding myocardial ischaemia and infarction in five myocardial regions. The patients had undergone a gated MPS using a 2-day stress/gated rest (99m)Tc sestamibi protocol. The gold standard used was the interpretations made by one experienced nuclear medicine specialist on the basis of all available clinical and image information. RESULTS: The sensitivity for ischaemia of the seven readers increased from 81% without the DSS to 86% with the DSS (p = 0.01). The increase in sensitivity was higher for the three inexperienced physicians (9%) than for the four experienced physicians (2%). There was no significant change in specificity between the interpretations. The interpretations of ischaemia made with the advice of the DSS showed less inter-observer variability than those made without advice. CONCLUSION: This study shows that a DSS can improve performance and reduces the inter-observer variability of interpretations in myocardial perfusion imaging. Both experienced and, especially, inexperienced physicians can improve their interpretation with the advice from such a system.
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34. |
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