| 1. |
- Björklund, Martin, 1961-, et al.
(author)
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Office-cycling while working : An innovative concept to prevent and reduce musculoskeletal pain in office workers - a controlled feasibility study
- 2015
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: According to the World Health Organization, WHO, a sedentary lifestyle is the single largest health risk for a number of diseases including musculoskeletal disorders and metabolic diseases. The negative health effects of excessive sitting are not compensated for by shorter bouts of increased physical activity. However, evidence shows that increased physical activity reduces musculoskeletal pain, which is very prevalent in those who are inactive. About 50-70 % of those who work at a computer report musculoskeletal pain and spend on average about 5 hours/day with very low energy metabolism. Work places are therefore an important arena for prevention and intervention by means of reducing sedentary time and increasing physical activity both for general health benefits and effects on the musculoskeletal pain.Purpose: To test the feasibility of office-cycling in an office work place and explore its potential effects on musculoskeletal pain in office workers.Methods: Twenty office workers (ages 27-61, 5 males) with musculoskeletal pain participated in this three-week controlled pilot field study. The intervention group (n=10), had access to an innovative customized cycle ergometer (OfficeBiking®) at their regular office workstation whilst performing their usual work tasks. Offie-cycling was an alternative to sitting/standing by their height adjustable office desk; they were instructed to bike as often as comfortable. The control group (n=10) was instructed to continue to work as usual. The experiences of office-cycling and how it influenced work performance was studied with a questionnaire. Musculoskeletal pain was evaluated using pain drawings and pain ratings and participants' total pain was calculated by adding each individuals' self-reported pain from their three most painful areas (NRS 0-10).Results: Importantly, office-cycling did not reduce self-reported work performance; the majority (9/10) would like daily access; and made suggestions to improve the user-friendliness of the bike. Office-cycling was used regularly (median, 11/15 workdays; median active time 59 min/day IQR 39;91). There was no observed difference regarding either number of self-reported areas of pain (NSAP) or general musculoskeletal pain (GMP) between the intervention group and the control group at baseline. Self-reported GMP decreased in 8 persons in the intervention group which was one more than in the control group (n=7). NSAP decreased in the intervention group (n=7; md -1,0 IQR -2,3;0,0); and the control group (n=5; md -0,5 IQR -1,3;0,3). The difference in total pain (intervention end-baseline) revealed a clinically important change in the intervention group (NRS -2,5, IQR -8,8;4,0) but not in the control group (NRS 0,0 IQR -6,2;2,5).Conclusions: The results suggest that office-cycling is a feasible method for use in work place interventions with some promising results. Future research suggestions are: underlying mechanisms regarding effects of physical activity on pain in parallel with controlled studies in laboratory environments to investigate dose-effects for metabolic expenditure and optimal pain reduction whilst office-cycling.Implications: The results in this feasibility study indicate a promising potential of the innovative office-cycling concept to prevent and reduce musculoskeletal pain in sedentary office workers.
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| 2. |
- Björkman, Lena, 1965, et al.
(author)
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The Neutrophil Response Induced by an Agonist for Free Fatty Acid Receptor 2 (GPR43) Is Primed by Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha and by Receptor Uncoupling from the Cytoskeleton but Attenuated by Tissue Recruitment
- 2016
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In: Molecular and Cellular Biology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0270-7306 .- 1098-5549. ; 36:20, s. 2583-2595
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ligands with improved potency and selectivity for free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFA2R) have become available, and we here characterize the neutrophil responses induced by one such agonist (Cmp1) and one antagonist (CATPB). Cmp1 triggered an increase in the cytosolic concentration of Ca2+, and the neutrophils were then desensitized to Cmp1 and to acetate, a naturally occurring FFA2R agonist. The antagonist CATPB selectively inhibited responses induced by Cmp1 or acetate. The activated FFA2R induced superoxide anion secretion at a low level in naive blood neutrophils. This response was largely increased by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in a process associated with a recruitment of easily mobilizable granules, but neutrophils recruited to an aseptic inflammation in vivo were nonresponding. Superoxide production induced by Cmp1 was increased in latrunculin A-treated neutrophils, but no reactivation of desensitized FFA2R was induced by this drug, suggesting that the cytoskeleton is not directly involved in terminating the response. The functional and regulatory differences between the receptors that recognize short-chain fatty acids and formylated peptides, respectively, imply different roles of these receptors in the orchestration of inflammation and confirm the usefulness of a selective FFA2R agonist and antagonist as tools for the exploration of the precise role of the FFA2R.
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| 3. |
- Fogelström, Elsa, et al.
(author)
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Plant-herbivore synchrony and selection on plant flowering phenology
- 2017
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In: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 98:3, s. 703-711
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Temporal variation in natural selection has profound effects on the evolutionary trajectories of populations. One potential source of variation in selection is that differences in thermal reaction norms and temperature influence the relative phenology of interacting species. We manipulated the phenology of the butterfly herbivore Anthocharis cardamines relative to genetically identical populations of its host plant, Cardamine pratensis, and examined the effects on butterfly preferences and selection acting on the host plant. We found that butterflies preferred plants at an intermediate flowering stage, regardless of the timing of butterfly flight relative to flowering onset of the population. Consequently, the probability that plant genotypes differing in timing of flowering should experience a butterfly attack depended strongly on relative phenology. These results suggest that differences in spring temperature influence the direction of herbivore-mediated selection on flowering phenology, and that climatic conditions can influence natural selection also when phenotypic preferences remain constant.
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| 5. |
- Gustavsson, Martin G. H., et al.
(author)
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Revenue Management for Electric Road Systems
- 2019
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In: Proc. EVS32.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Electric Road Systems (ERS) is a technology area that has the potential to significantly reduce fossil fuel dependency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce air pollution, reduce noise in urban environments, and increase energy efficiency in the transport sector. ERS deployed in commercial operation will need to charge for the use of infrastructure, electric energy and potentially other services. An ERS revenue management solution need to handle use cases with multiple actors, roles and commercial relationships. In addition, the future revenue management solutions should be interoperable and independent of business models in order to flexibly meet the needs of new situations for emerging ERS.
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| 6. |
- Hammar, Linus, 1979, et al.
(author)
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Introducing ocean energy industries to a busy marine environment
- 2017
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In: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 1879-0690 .- 1364-0321. ; 74, s. 178-185
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The immense energy potential of the oceans is being increasingly recognized the world over, at the same time the integrity of marine ecosystems is challenged by pressure from multiple human activities. For good reasons environmental licensing procedures are precautionary and new industries must declare their detrimental impacts and provide mitigation measures. New ocean energy industries target renewable energy sources thus, on a grand scale, partly mitigating climate change. However, on-site environmental impacts are yet to be established. In this review we compare ocean energy industries with a wide range of conventional, better understood, human activities and outline environmental risks and research priorities. Results show that ocean energy systems are thought to incur many pressures, some familiar and others with yet unknown effects. Particular uncertainties regard ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and large fast-moving turbines. Ocean energy industries should not be considered in isolation because the significance of environmental impacts depend on the full spectra of human activities in each area. Marine spatial planning provides a platform for holistic assessments and may facilitate the establishment of ocean energy industries, as long as risk-related uncertainties are reduced.
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| 9. |
- Martin, Michael, et al.
(author)
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Environmental implications of Swedish food consumption and dietary choices
- 2016
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In recent years, a growing interest from consumers to know the origins and contents of foods has put alternative choices such as organic foods and dietary changes in the agenda. Dietary choices are important to address as many studies find that activities related to food production account for nearly 20-30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, while GHG emissions are important, often other environmental impact categories are not used to assess the sustainability of different foods, diets and choices. This study therefore aims to understand the implications of dietary choices for Swedish food consumption on a broad range of environmental impact categories to provide insight into the impacts associated with certain food products and dietary choices. The study reviews dietary choices based on Swedish consumption statistics and assesses the implications using a number of scenarios. These include scenarios related to increasing organic and regional food consumption in addition to reducing meat, vegetarian diets and eating based on nutritional guidelines. Life cycle methodology is used to review environmental impacts of Swedish food consumption (from both domestic and imported products) in the year 2015 and 2020.
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