| 11. |
- Zhdanov, Vladimir, 1952
(author)
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Spatio-temporal aspects of the interplay of cancer and the immune system
- 2019
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In: Journal of Biological Physics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0092-0606 .- 1573-0689. ; 45:4, s. 395-400
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The conventional mean-field kinetic models describing the interplay of cancer and the immune system are temporal and predict exponential growth or elimination of the population of tumour cells provided their number is small and their effect on the immune system is negligible. More complex kinetics are associated with non-linear features of the response of the immune system. The generic model presented in this communication takes into account that the rates of the birth and death of tumour cells inside a tumour spheroid can significantly depend on the radial coordinate due to diffusion limitations in the supply of nutrients and/or transport of the species (cells and proteins) belonging to the immune system. In this case, non-trivial kinetic regimes are shown to be possible even without appreciable perturbation of the immune system.
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| 12. |
- Linton, Steven J, 1952-, et al.
(author)
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Early Workplace Communication and Problem Solving to Prevent Back Disability : Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial Among High-Risk Workers and Their Supervisors
- 2016
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In: Journal of occupational rehabilitation. - New York, USA : Springer. - 1053-0487 .- 1573-3688. ; 26:2, s. 150-159
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: There is a clear need for interventions that successfully prevent the development of disability due to back pain. We hypothesized that an intervention aimed at both the worker and the workplace could be effective. Hence, we tested the effects of a new early intervention, based on the misdirected problem solving model, aimed at both workers at risk of long-term impairments and their workplace.Methods: Supervisors of volunteers with back pain, no red flags, and a high score on a screen (Örebro Musculoskeletal Screening Questionnaire) were randomized to either an evidence based treatment as usual (TAU) or to a worker and workplace package (WWP). The WWP intervention included communication and problem solving skills for the patient and their immediate supervisor. The key outcome variables of work absence due to pain, health-care utilization, perceived health, and pain intensity were collected before, after and at a 6 month follow up.Results: The WWP showed significantly larger improvements relative to the TAU for work absence due to pain, perceived health, and health-care utilization. Both groups improved on pain ratings but there was no significant difference between the groups. The WWP not only had significantly fewer participants utilizing health care and work absence due to pain, but the number of health care visits and days absent were also significantly lower than the TAU.Conclusions: The WWP with problem solving and communication skills resulted in fewer days off work, fewer health care visits and better perceived health. This supports the misdirected problem solving model and indicates that screening combined with an active intervention to enhance skills is quite successful and likely cost-effective. Future research should replicate and extend these findings with health-economic analyses.
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| 13. |
- Linton, Steven J., 1952-, et al.
(author)
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Understanding Co-occurring Emotion and Pain : The Role of Context Sensitivity from a Transdiagnostic Perspective
- 2016
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In: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. - : Springer. - 0022-0116 .- 1573-3564. ; 46:3, s. 129-137
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Co-occurring emotional distress and chronic pain are a true challenge in the clinic. This combination of symptoms is quite common but associated with poor treatment results, frequent relapses and costly dysfunction. This paper describes a transdiagnostic approach to the problem by focusing on psychological processes that drive both the emotional as well as the pain problem. Avoidance and context (in)sensitivity are suggested as potential transdiagnostic factors that might be targeted in treatment. Since both pain and distress are aversive, they may be avoided. This may be helpful in the short-term, but paradoxically the avoidance maintains the problem in the long-term. Context sensitivity concerns how well our responses are in tune with the changing demands of the environment. We propose that context insensitivity may drive emotional distress and pain problems. We present data that show that disclosure of pain is important emotionally, but that it is also a challenge to respond in manner that is sensitive to the social context. Indeed, disclosing how we feel emotionally or concerning pain might be helpful in some situations, but enhance the problem in others. Finally, we outline a hybrid treatment that combines exposure for pain (feared movements) and emotions (disclosure) with context sensitivity training. While such new treatments are promising, there remains a dire need for more clinical research to test and improve treatments for co-occurring emotional distress and pain.
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| 14. |
- Appelgren Engström, Heléne, 1968-, et al.
(author)
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Mothers in Same-Sex Relationships Describe the Process of Forming a Family as a Stressful Journey in a Heteronormative World : A Swedish Grounded Theory Study
- 2018
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In: Maternal and Child Health Journal. - : Springer. - 1092-7875 .- 1573-6628. ; 22:10, s. 1444-1450
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives The aim of this study was to gain insight into how women in same-sex relationships experience the process of forming a family through the use of assisted reproduction technique (ART), from planning the pregnancy to parenthood, and their experience of parental support from healthcare professionals. Methods The participants were 20 women in a same-sex relationship who had conceived through ART at a Swedish clinic. Semi-structured interviews including open questions about pregnancy, parenthood and support from healthcare professionals were conducted. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed according to grounded theory. Results The core category, A stressful journey through a heteronormative world, emerged from the analysis, as did three subcategories: A journey fraught with difficulties and decisions; The nuclear family as the norm; and A need for psychological support. Same-sex parents expressed a need for more information about how to access ART in Sweden. Both the healthcare organization and treatment were perceived as heteronormative. In particular, these women lacked psychological support during the demanding process of utilizing a sperm donor to conceive. Conclusions for Practice Professionals in antenatal care should undergo mandatory cultural competency training to ensure cultural sensitivity and the provision of updated information, tailored brochures and early parental support for families with same-sex parents. All parents need guidance and support from competent, caring personnel throughout the entire process of forming a family.
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| 15. |
- Bergbom, Sofia, 1982-, et al.
(author)
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When matching fails : understanding the process of matching pain-disability treatment to risk profile
- 2015
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In: Journal of occupational rehabilitation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1053-0487 .- 1573-3688. ; 25:3, s. 518-526
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: A previous study (Bergbom et al. in J Occup Rehabil, 2013) showed that matching people at risk for pain-related disability to an intervention aimed at targeting their psychological problem profile did not, as hypothesized, improve the effect of the intervention. Methodological issues were suggested to explain the lack of differential effect. It was questioned whether the profiles used to allocate people to treatment were adequate. The aim of this study was to investigate if the risk profiles used to determine matching were sufficiently stable and valid by comparing the original profiles with profiles constructed using other methods.Methods: Ninety-five people suffering musculoskeletal problems were screened, profiled, and matched to workplace based early interventions according to profiles. We studied stability and validity of their psychological risk profiles by investigating their concordance at different time points. People were originally assigned to profiles at inclusion, using a brief screening questionnaire. Then, they were profiled just before treatment start, using the same items. Finally, they were profiled again at treatment start, using extensive questionnaires. Concordance among the three sets of profiles was investigated.Results: Profiles at inclusion were unstable until treatment start. People moved from profiles with more severe elevations in psychological variables, to a profile with moderate elevations. Concordance between the two means of profiling at treatment start was better; the brief screening and the extensive questionnaires assigned people to similar profiles.Conclusions: Risk level may be determined with brief instruments at an early stage of problem development. However, profiles and targets for interventions should be determined immediately prior to treatment start, preferably using full questionnaires.
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| 16. |
- Bohlin, Gustav, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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A conceptual characterization of online videos explaining natural selection
- 2017
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In: Science & Education. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0926-7220 .- 1573-1901. ; 26:7-9, s. 975-999
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this study, we therefore analyzed the content of 60 videos accessed through the Internet, using a criteria catalog with 38 operationalized variables derived from research literature. The variables were sorted into four categories: (a) key concepts (e.g. limited resources and inherited variation), (b) threshold concepts (abstract concepts with a transforming and integrative function), (c) misconceptions (e.g. that evolution is driven by need), and (d) organismal context (e.g. animal or plant). The results indicate that some concepts are frequently communicated, and certain taxa are commonly used to illustrate concepts, while others are seldom included. In addition, evolutionary phenomena at small temporal and spatial scales, such as subcellular processes, are rarely covered. Rather, the focus is on population-level events over time scales spanning years or longer. This is consistent with an observed lack of explanations regarding how randomly occurring mutations provide the basis for variation (and thus natural selection). The findings imply, among other things, that some components of natural selection warrant far more attention in biology teaching and science education research.
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| 17. |
- Bonilla, J, et al.
(author)
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Technical synergies and trade-offs between abatement of global and local air pollution
- 2018
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In: Environmental and Resource Economics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0924-6460 .- 1573-1502. ; 70:1, s. 191-221
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we explore the synergies and tradeoffs between abatement of global and local pollution. We build a unique dataset of Swedish combined heat and power plants with detailed boiler-level data 2001–2009 on not only production and inputs but also on emissions of CO2 and NOx. Both pollutants are regulated by strict policies in Sweden. CO2 is subject to theEuropean UnionEmissionTrading Scheme and Swedish carbon taxes;NOx— as a precursor of acid rain and eutrophication—is regulated by a heavy fee. Using a quadratic directional output distance function, we characterize changes in technical efficiency as well as patterns of substitutability in response to the policies mentioned. The fact that generating units face a trade-off between the pollutants indicates the need for policy coordination.
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| 18. |
- Burda, P, et al.
(author)
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Characterization and review of MTHFD1 deficiency: four new patients, cellular delineation and response to folic and folinic acid treatment.
- 2015
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In: Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease. - : Wiley. - 0141-8955 .- 1573-2665. ; 38:5, s. 863-872
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the folate cycle MTHFD1, encoded by MTHFD1, is a trifunctional enzyme containing 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, 5,10-methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase and 10-formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase activity. To date, only one patient with MTHFD1 deficiency, presenting with hyperhomocysteinemia, megaloblastic anaemia, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and severe combined immunodeficiency, has been identified (Watkins et al J Med Genet 48:590-2, 2011). We now describe four additional patients from two different families. The second patient presented with hyperhomocysteinemia, megaloblastic anaemia, HUS, microangiopathy and retinopathy; all except the retinopathy resolved after treatment with hydroxocobalamin, betaine and folinic acid. The third patient developed megaloblastic anaemia, infection, autoimmune disease and moderate liver fibrosis but not hyperhomocysteinemia, and was successfully treated with a regime that included and was eventually reduced to folic acid. The other two, elder siblings of the third patient, died at 9weeks of age with megaloblastic anaemia, infection and severe acidosis and had MTFHD1 deficiency diagnosed retrospectively. We identified a missense mutation (c.806C>T, p.Thr296Ile) and a splice site mutation (c.1674G>A) leading to exon skipping in the second patient, while the other three harboured a missense mutation (c.146C>T, p.Ser49Phe) and a premature stop mutation (c.673G>T, p.Glu225*), all of which were novel. Patient fibroblast studies revealed severely reduced methionine formation from [(14)C]-formate, which did not increase in cobalamin supplemented culture medium but was responsive to folic and folinic acid. These additional cases increase the clinical spectrum of this intriguing defect, provide in vitro evidence of disturbed methionine synthesis and substantiate the effectiveness of folic or folinic acid treatment.
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| 19. |
- Geers, Christine, 1982, et al.
(author)
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Properties of Alumina/Chromia Scales in N2-Containing Low Oxygen Activity Environment Investigated by Experiment and Theory
- 2017
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In: Oxidation of Metals. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-4889 .- 0030-770X. ; 87:3-4, s. 321-332
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The FeCrAl alloy Kanthal APMT™ was exposed to N2–5%H2 at 900 °C. Trace oxygen in the gases supplied an oxygen activity which was sufficient to render alumina and chromia thermodynamically stable. The exposures revealed that the oxide scale was penetrated by nitrogen exclusively at chromia domains. Microscopic analyses of the oxide scale did not reveal micro-cracks that could serve as points-of-entry for nitrogen. Instead it is suggested that nitrogen is transported through a dense chromia layer. Density functional theory was employed to investigate decisive nitrogen surface chemistry and transport properties in chromia and alumina. The study was used to validate that the complex redox chemistry of Cr3+ as opposed to Al3+ is a sufficient discriminating factor between alumina and chromia, facilitating N2 dissociation and mobility of N in chromia.
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| 20. |
- Hellström, Kristina M, 1971, et al.
(author)
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Oxidation of a Dispersion-Strengthened Powder Metallurgical FeCrAl Alloy in the Presence of O2 at 1,100°C: The Influence of Water Vapour
- 2015
-
In: Oxidation of Metals. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-4889 .- 0030-770X. ; 83:5-6, s. 533-558
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The oxidation behaviour of the FeCrAl alloy Kanthal(A (R)) APMT in O-2 + N-2 and O-2 + N-2 + H2O environments at 1,100 A degrees C was investigated using thermogravimetry and detailed analyses of the scale morphology with SEM/EDX and STEM/EDX. Wrought FeCrAl alloy Kanthal(A (R)) AF was used as a reference. Exposure time was up to 168 h. Water vapour influenced the early oxide growth kinetics. This effect is explained in terms of water acting as an oxidant, simultaneously with O-2. During later stages of the exposures, H2O had no effect on the kinetics of oxidation.
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