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- Wijnhoven, T. M. A., et al.
(author)
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WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative 2008: weight, height and body mass index in 6-9-year-old children
- 2013
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In: Pediatric Obesity. - : Wiley. - 2047-6310 .- 2047-6302. ; 8:2, s. 79-97
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Nutritional surveillance in school-age children, using measured weight and height, is not common in the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO Regional Office for Europe has therefore initiated the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative. Objective To present the anthropometric results of data collected in 2007/2008 and to investigate whether there exist differences across countries and between the sexes. Methods Weight and height were measured in 69-year-old children in 12 countries. Prevalence of overweight, obesity, stunting, thinness and underweight as well as mean Z-scores of anthropometric indices of height, weight and body mass index were calculated. Results A total of 168832 children were included in the analyses and a school participation rate of more than 95% was obtained in 8 out of 12 countries. Stunting, underweight and thinness were rarely prevalent. However, 19.349.0% of boys and 18.442.5% of girls were overweight (including obesity and based on the 2007 WHO growth reference).The prevalence of obesity ranged from 6.0 to 26.6% among boys and from 4.6 to 17.3% among girls. Multi-country comparisons suggest the presence of a northsouth gradient with the highest level of overweight found in southern European countries. Conclusions Overweight among 69-year-old children is a serious public health concern and its variation across the European Region highly depends on the country. Comparable monitoring of child growth is possible across Europe and should be emphasized in national policies and implemented as part of action plans.
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- Fogelberg, T., et al.
(author)
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Energy Efficient Transformers and Reactors : Some incentive models and case studies to show the long term profitability of such designs
- 2012
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In: CIGRE 2012 Proceedings. - Paris, France : CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems).
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- During the coming decades energy efficiency will be a critical factor in reducing carbon emissions and fighting global warming. The power generation industry and transmission and distribution industries (T&D) contribute to a large part of energy losses in the society. The losses in T&D systems alone are total 10 % of a global average of the T&D energy transferred. One-third of these T&D losses have their origin in transformers and shunt reactors.This report emphasizes the need to bring in appropriate financial incentives and directives to utilities, in order to encourage investment in energy efficient electrical power systems. A critical financial parameter is the internal interest rate. In some countries there are directives from the authorities that internalinterest rates shall be 5 %. If this is to be applied together with the current prevailing electricityprices in Europe, capitalized cost of total transformer losses should increase by 2-3times of the average value used in the European market today. It isshown that the capitalized cost of losses may vary from 8,000 to 17,000 €/kW today or even higherin the future.This paper highlights cases where low and high capitalized costs of losses are used and the implications for cost related factors of transformer and shunt reactor are analyzed. It isshown that the transformer losses and total ownership cost (TOC) can be substantially reduced with an increase in price(first cost) of the transformers or shunt reactors. With increased value of losses, accuracy of loss measurement will play a much more important business role and require action to improve International Standards. New energy efficientsolutions to combat network losses will require further research and development. Different focus and strategies regarding interest rates and electricityprices in transmission companies lead to very different investment decisions. Without clear regulations promoting reductions in power loss, there might notbe enough incentive for more aggressive innovation in the field of transformer and electrical system technology and efficiency.
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- Albani, M, et al.
(author)
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Concepts for polarising sheets & “dual-gridded” reflectors for circular polarisation
- 2011
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In: 2010 Conference Proceedings ICECom, 20th International Conference on Applied Electromagnetics and Communications. - 9789536037582 - 9781612849980 ; , s. 1-4
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- C-, Ku- and Ka-band communications and broadcast satellites use so-called dual-gridded reflector antennas for linear polarisation to provide independent reflector surfaces and/or independent feeds for the two orthogonal polarisations. This paper describes initial work to extend this concept to circular polarisation. First we set up preliminary specifications and identify several antenna concepts based upon planar transmission sheet polarisers. Next we identify a number of polarisers of which the most promising is the meander-line, the L+C strip-grids and the parallel-plate polariser. Finally we review the conclusions of the analyses and preliminary designs of the sheet polarisers - on the antenna level as part of a reflector antenna system, on the polariser level, and on the sheet level inside the polariser.
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- Christensson, Anders, et al.
(author)
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Association of cancer with moderately impaired renal function at baseline in a large, representative, population-based cohort followed for up to 30 years.
- 2013
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136. ; 133:6, s. 1452-1458
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Patients with chronic renal failure show a greater incidence of malignancies. We evaluated whether moderately impaired renal function at baseline influenced risk of all cancers during long-term follow in young persons. Our cohort included 33,346 subjects, aged 26-61 years at baseline, in a representative, population-based study enrolling subjects from 1974 to 1992. Median follow-up time was 28 years. Plasma creatinine was analysed as a single measure at baseline. Incident cases of cancer were identified from the Swedish Cancer Registry. We studied 24,552 subjects from the cohort. To account for the unique sampling design, participants were divided by sex and age at baseline into 1,132 older men (age 60), 14,254 younger men (age 40-52), 7,498 older women (age 47-57) and 1,688 younger women (age 35-43). Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated using the CKD-EPI formula. Patients were classified as having either normal to mildly impaired kidney function (eGFR≥60 mL/min/1.73m(2) ), or moderate kidney dysfunction (eGFR<60 mL/min/1.73m(2) ). We calculated the risk of all cancers using competing risks regression. Overall, 6,595 participants were diagnosed with cancer, and 854 subjects (3.5%) had moderately impaired renal dysfunction at baseline. There was a significant association between moderately decreased GFR and subsequent risk of kidney cancer in younger men (hazard ratio, 3.38; 95% CI, 1.48 to 7.71; P=0.004). However, we found no association with overall long-term cancer risk. Our confirmation of an association between moderately impaired renal function and risk of kidney cancer in younger men requires further exploration of high-risk groups and biological mechanisms. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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- Fujita, S., et al.
(author)
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Spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation rate on the East Antarctic ice divide between Dome Fuji and EPICA DML
- 2011
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In: The Cryosphere. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1994-0416 .- 1994-0424. ; 5:4, s. 1057-1081
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To better understand the spatio-temporal variability of the glaciological environment in Dronning Maud Land (DML), East Antarctica, a 2800-km-long Japanese-Swedish traverse was carried out. The route includes ice divides between two ice-coring sites at Dome Fuji and EPICA DML. We determined the surface mass balance (SMB) averaged over various time scales in the late Holocene based on studies of snow pits and firn cores, in addition to radar data. We find that the large-scale distribution of the SMB depends on the surface elevation and continentality, and that the SMB differs between the windward and leeward sides of ice divides for strong-wind events. We suggest that the SMB is highly influenced by interactions between the large-scale surface topography of ice divides and the wind field of strong-wind events that are often associated with high-precipitation events. Local variations in the SMB are governed by the local surface topography, which is influenced by the bedrock topography. In the eastern part of DML, the accumulation rate in the second half of the 20th century is found to be higher by similar to 15% than averages over longer periods of 722 a or 7.9 ka before AD 2008. A similar increasing trend has been reported for many inland plateau sites in Antarctica with the exception of several sites on the leeward side of the ice divides.
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- Larsson, M., et al.
(author)
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Brain Response to Expectation and Delivery of Rectal Distensions Before and After Hypnotherapy and Education Intervention in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) : an fMRI Study
- 2011
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim & MethodsWe aimed to determine the effect of standardized hypnosis treatment (HYP) on symptom outcomes and brain activity compared to an education intervention (EDU). Twenty-seven women with IBS were evaluated before and after treatment with hypnotherapy (n=17) or educational intervention (n=10). Behavioural treatment outcomes were determined by Severity Scoring System (IBS-SSS). A decrease of 50 points in SSS score was considered clinically significant treatment response. Blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) signal were acquired by using a 1.5 T magnetic resonance scanner during expectation and delivery of large rectal distension (45 mmHg). Group comparisons of treatment effects were performed within the general linear model in SPM8. Region of interest analyses were performed with significance threshold of p<0.05, family-wise error corrected.ResultsThere were no group differences in baseline SSS scores. Clinically significant change in SSS was observed in HYP (82%, n=14) and EDU (60%, n=6). Mean improvement in SSS was 108 (range -277 to 29) in HYP and 62 (range -250 to 79) in EDU (ns). During cued expectation of rectal distension, HYP was associated with significantly decreased activation in the left dorsal and ventral anterior insula, left mid insula, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Respectively, the EDU group showed less BOLD activity in the left ventral anterior insula after treatment. No significant treatment effect on brain response to the 45 mmHg distension was observed.ConclusionWhile both treatments improve IBS symptoms, the standardized hypnosis treatment has a more widespread central effect compared to education. The brain effects are seen during the expectation of rectal discomfort, but not during the experience of aversive rectal distensions. These findings are consistent with a HYP-induced reduction in pain expectation, rather than pain perception
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- Olds, T, et al.
(author)
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Evidence that the prevalence of childhood overweight is plateauing: data from nine countries.
- 2011
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In: Int Journal of pediatric obesity. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1747-7166 .- 1747-7174. ; 6:5-6, s. 342-60
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Until quite recently, there has been a widespread belief in the popular media and scientific literature that the prevalence of childhood obesity is rapidly increasing. However, high quality evidence has emerged from several countries suggesting that the rise in the prevalence has slowed appreciably, or even plateaued. This review brings together such data from nine countries (Australia, China, England, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and USA), with data from 467,294 children aged 2-19 years. The mean unweighted rate of change in prevalence of overweight and obesity was +0.00 (0.49)% per year across all age ×sex groups and all countries between 1995 and 2008. For overweight alone, the figure was +0.01 (0.56)%, and for obesity alone -0.01 (0.24)%. Rates of change differed by sex, age, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. While the prevalence of overweight and obesity appears to be stabilizing at different levels in different countries, it remains high, and a significant public health issue. Possible reasons for the apparent flattening are hypothesised.
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