| 1. |
- Anrup, Roland, et al.
(author)
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Centrala universitetsvärden hotas av bolagiseringsidén
- 2013
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In: Dagens nyheter. - 1101-2447.
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Journal article (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Högskolestiftelser. Förslaget att driva svenska universitet i stiftelseform öppnar för bolagisering. Men det är ingen riktig utredning, utan en politisk pamflett utan eftertanke. Privatisering av universitet hotar både oberoendet, forskningskvaliteten och samhällsnyttan, skriver 36 forskare vid svenska högskolor och universitet.
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| 6. |
- Henningson, Maria, et al.
(author)
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Interactions between oral contraceptive status and GSTM1 and GSTT1 deletions on insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) plasma levels in young healthy women.
- 2010
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In: Growth Hormone & Igf Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 1532-2238 .- 1096-6374. ; Dec, s. 432-437
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is essential for the pubertal growth spurt and for normal mammary gland development. IGF-1 increases premenopausal breast cancer risk. Oral contraceptives (OCs) decrease IGF-1 in most women. The endogenous estrogens and their metabolites also influence IGF-1 levels. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are involved in estrogen metabolism. We aimed to study IGF-1 levels and body size in relation to GSTM1 and GSTT1 deletions, and GSTP1*1B and current oral contraceptive (OC) status. DESIGN: Questionnaires on reproductive factors and OC use were completed and blood samples were obtained during menstrual cycle day 18-23 in healthy women (≤40years) from breast cancer high-risk families. IGF-1 was analyzed with radioimmunoassay. Genetic analyses were done with PCR based methods. Initially 258 women were included. After exclusion 229 women were finally included in the analyses of IGF-1 in relation to GSTM1 and GSTT1. RESULTS: Among the 142 non-OC users, GSTM1*0/*0 or GSTT1*0/*0 alone were associated with lower IGF-1 levels while homozygous GSTM1*0/*0/GSTT1*0/*0 carriers had higher IGF-1 levels (P(interaction)=0.024). In the 87 OC users, GSTM1*0/*0 or GSTT1*0/*0 alone were associated with higher IGF-1 levels while homozygous GSTM1*0/*0/GSTT1*0/*0 carriers had lower IGF-1 levels (P(interaction)=0.010). Among all 229 women, a three-way interaction model showed an interaction between the GSTM1*0/*0/GSTT1*0/*0 genotype and OC use on IGF-1 levels (P(interaction)=0.003). GSTP1*1B was not associated with IGF-1. The GSTM1*1/GSTT1*0/*0 genotype was associated with high body weight (P=0.003) and GSTM1*0/*0/GSTT1*0/*0 was associated with early growth (P=0.003). CONCLUSION: Both OC use and GSTT1 and GSTM1 genotypes may influence IGF-1 levels. Further studies are warranted to confirm our finding and elucidate the clinical importance.
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| 8. |
- Lehmann, Fredrik, 1976, et al.
(author)
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Optimization of isochromanone based urotensin II receptor agonists.
- 2010
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In: Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry. - : Elsevier BV. - 1464-3391 .- 0968-0896. ; 18:13, s. 4844-4854
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A series of novel isochromanone based urotensin II receptor agonists have been synthesized and evaluated for their activity using a functional cell based assay (R-SAT). Several potent and efficacious derivatives were identified with 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-6,7-dimethyl-3-(2-dimethylaminoethyl)isochroman-1-one (28) being the most potent compound showing an EC(50)-value of 51nM, thereby being the most potent compound so far within the isochromanone series. In addition, two other heterocyclic systems (isochromanes and tetrahydroisoquinolinones) were investigated and these derivatives were found to be both potent and efficacious. The activity of the isochromane derivatives implies that the carbonyl group of the isochromanone is not necessary for activity. Furthermore it was found that the geometry of the heterocycles was more important for receptor interaction than the composition of the heteroatoms present.
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| 9. |
- Martin, Andrew, et al.
(author)
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Measures to improve angiotensin receptor blocker prescribing efficiency in the UK : findings and implications
- 2014
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In: Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research. - : Becaris Publishing Limited. - 2042-6305 .- 2042-6313. ; 3:1, s. 41-51
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Generic losartan provides an opportunity to enhance angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) prescribing efficiency, with all ARBs essentially being similar. Initially, there was limited activity in NHS Bury (UK). This changed in March 2011 with therapeutic switching and other measures encouraging the prescribing of losartan following generics to enhance its utilization versus patented ARBs. Aim: This study aims to assess the impact of multiple measures on losartan utilization, its price and total ARB expenditure. Methods: An interrupted time series analysis was performed. Utilization was measured as prescription items dispensed, typically 28 days. Results: No immediate change in losartan utilization was observed following generics. This changed after the multiple initiatives with losartan accounting for 65% of all single ARB items dispensed by the study end. ARB expenditure was 59% below prestudy levels by the study end, which was helped by a 92% reduction in expenditure per item for losartan. Annual net savings from the program were estimated at just under GB 290,000 pound, which is over eight-times the cost of implementation. Conclusion: Multiple measures can enhance prescribing efficiency. Health authorities cannot rely on a spillover' effect from other classes in order to affect changes in physician prescribing habits.
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- Olsson, Erika, et al.
(author)
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Pharmacist-patient communication in Swedish community pharmacies
- 2014
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In: Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1551-7411 .- 1934-8150. ; 10:1, s. 149-155
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: It is important that pharmacists counsel patients about their prescribed medicines, as it leads to improved therapeutic outcome, increases compliance, and decreases confusion and insecurity. Studies have shown that the number of patients getting any pharmaceutical counseling varies greatly. Swedish pharmacists claim that the focus of the dialog with the patient has switched from pharmaceutical counseling to economy and regulations.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the content and time disposition of the patient-pharmacist communication during dispensing of prescribed medicines at Swedish community pharmacies.Method: Non-participant observations and audio recordings were used as data-collecting methods. The content of the dialog was categorized into 2 deductively decided main categories-medicinal and non-medicinal issues-and 12 inductively decided subcategories.Results: A total of 282 pharmacy encounters were observed and recorded, of which 259 fully coincided with the inclusion criteria. After categorizing the content of each encounter the results showed that there was little or no dialog regarding medicinal issues during the pharmacy encounter in Swedish community pharmacies. Forty percent of the dialog concerns non-medical issues and almost half of the encounter was silent.Conclusion: Medicines are an essential treatment method in healthcare, and pharmaceutical expertise is available to patients who enter a community pharmacy. The results of this study show that today's pharmacy encounter is not focused on improving the use of medication, possibly resulting in the patient not gaining the most benefit from his or her treatment.
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| 14. |
- Olsson, Erika, et al.
(author)
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Pharmacists experiences and attitudes regarding generic drugs and generic substitution : Two sides of the coin
- 2012
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In: International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0961-7671 .- 2042-7174. ; 20:6, s. 377-383
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective Generic drug substitution reduces costs for medicines, but the downsides include unintentional double medication, confusion and anxiety among patients. Information from pharmacists affects patients' experiences of substitution with generic drugs. The aim of this study was to explore experiences and attitudes to generic substitution among Swedish community pharmacists. Methods An interview guide was developed. Semi-structured interviews with community pharmacists were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was inductive; extracts from the transcripts were compared and combined to form themes and subcategories. Pharmacists from a heterogeneous convenience sample of pharmacies were interviewed until data saturation had been achieved. Key findings Sixteen pharmacists were interviewed. Three main themes and twelve subcategories were identified, with the main themes being the role of the pharmacist, pharmacists' concerns regarding patients, and the generic drug. Pharmacists found it positive that generic substitution decreases the costs for pharmaceuticals but also emphasized that the switch can confuse and worry patients, which could result in less benefit from treatment. Respondents claimed that generic substitution has changed the focus in the pharmacist-patient meeting towards economics and regulations. Conclusion According to the interviewed pharmacists generic substitution is not primarily an issue of generic versus brand-name products, but concerns above all the challenges that the switch implies for patients and pharmacists. To prevent known confusion and concerns among patients it is important that community pharmacists acquire the necessary tools and knowledge to manage this situation; pharmacists themselves as well as pharmacy owners and authorities share responsibility for this.
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| 15. |
- Sawcer, Stephen, et al.
(author)
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Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis
- 2011
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 476:7359, s. 214-219
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.
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| 16. |
- Sjögren, Per, et al.
(author)
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Mediterranean and carbohydrate-restricted diets and mortality among elderly men : a cohort study in Sweden
- 2010
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In: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. - Bethesda, USA : American Society for Nutrition. - 0002-9165 .- 1938-3207. ; 92:4, s. 967-974
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Comparative studies on dietary patterns and long-term mortality are sparse.Objective: The objective was to examine the relations between 10-y mortality and adherence to the World Health Organization dietary guidelines [Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI)], a Mediterranean-like diet, and a carbohydrate-restricted (CR) diet in elderly Swedish men.Design: Dietary habits were determined by 7-d dietary records in a population-based longitudinal study of 924 Swedish men (age: 71 ± 1 y). The HDI score (–1 to 8 points), the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS; 0–8 points), and the CR score (2–20 points) were calculated for each participant. Nonadequate reporters of energy intake were identified (n = 413). Mortality was registered during a median follow-up of 10.2 y. Cox proportional hazards regression, with multivariable adjustments, was used to determine the effects of adherence to each dietary pattern.Results: Two hundred fifteen and 88 subjects died of all-cause and cardiovascular disease, respectively. In all individuals, risk relations to mortality for each SD increment in the scores were observed for only MDS, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.99). Among adequate dietary reporters (n = 511), adjusted HRs for each SD increment in scores were enhanced for MDS (ie, 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.92) for all-cause mortality and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.96) for cardiovascular mortality. Corresponding HRs for CR diet score were 1.19 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.45) for all-cause mortality and 1.44 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.02) for cardiovascular mortality.Conclusion: Adherence to a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern reduced mortality, whereas adherence to a CR dietary pattern appeared to increase mortality in elderly Swedish men, especially when only adequate dietary reporters were considered.
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| 17. |
- Svanström, Erika
(author)
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Analytical photoacoustic model of laser-induced ultrasound in a planar layered structure
- 2013
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- A way of describing photoacoustic measurement techniques is listening to light. Another way is as sensor techniques for characterisation of materials by means of light and sound interacting with the material under investigation. Photoacoustic measurements are emerging techniques and examples and suggestions of applications can be found foremost in diagnostics for medical purposes but also for industrial materials.The photoacoustic measurement techniques used in present thesis is based on the thermoelastic effect. A short light pulse is sent into a material, and energy from the light being absorbed leads to a localised heating. If the duration of the heating is short enough, a local pressure wave is built up, that propagates through the material as an ultrasonic pulse which can be detected by an ultrasound transducer and subsequently analysed.In photoacoustic measurement techniques, the advantage of high spatial resolution from measuring with ultrasound is combined with the advantage of high contrast from measuring with light. Ultrasound propagating in for example human tissue scatters less than what light does, enabling more precise positioning of the origin of the information in the measured signal. High spatial resolution is thereby achieved from measuring with ultrasound. High contrast can be reached from dierent responses to light in materials with diverse light absorption coecients. However, a disadvantage of the technique is that in biological tissue, light scattering is limiting the practically usable penetration depth.Besides for photoacoustic measurements, the thermoelastic effect can be utilised to generate laser-induced ultrasound for measurement applications. The present thesis' contribution is studies of laser-induced ultrasound in a thin semitransparent light-absorbing layer, experimentally and theoretically. To draw conclusions from measurements, one wish to know more about what happens in the absorbing layer, knowledge that could also be applied on corresponding processes in a material under study. An analytical model could thereto constitute a base for ultrasound pulse shaping, for adjusted measurements for specific applications.Through experiments on dyed polymer film, frequency spectra of laser-induced ultrasound were studied, varying thickness and light absorption coecient of the film layer structure. In the outcome of the experiments, decreased thickness was related to increased centre frequency as well as increased bandwidth of the generated ultrasound, and increased absorption together with decreased thickness was related to increased ultrasound amplitude.A one-dimensional analytical photoacoustic wave model of generation and propagation of heat-induced ultrasonic pressure wave in three material layers has been developed. From an existing model of three layers, this is an expansion enabling the two materials surrounding the light absorbing layer to be dierent. The analytical solution to the photoacoustic wave equation problem was based on a Laplace transform approach. Pressures resulting from the analytical model corresponds well to results from simulations. Analytical pressures were compared to ultrasound transducer experimental voltages, through system identication of the transducer system conversion between pressure and voltage. The system identication was however unstable. For ultrasound reception, experiments were performed on piezoelectric film with electrically conductive coatings as a transducer.
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| 18. |
- Webster, Ben, et al.
(author)
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Different roles for innate and learnt behavioral responses to odors in insect host location
- 2013
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In: Behavioral Ecology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1045-2249 .- 1465-7279. ; 24, s. 366-372
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Volatile chemical cues are used by herbivorous insects to locate and identify their host plants. Many species show a preference for volatiles experienced during development in the natal habitat. The reliability of this learnt information, however, may be limited. Many insects develop in restricted habitats, often on a single plant. Large between-plant variability in volatile emission, due to genetic differences and different exposure to biotic and abiotic factors, means that the volatile profile of a single plant may not be representative of the entire species. Insects must, therefore, balance the benefits of learning with the risks associated with its reliability. This is especially important for insects for which habitat exploration is costly. We hypothesize that information gained in the natal habitat is most likely to be utilized in situations where the cost of habitat exploration is lowest. To test this hypothesis, the black bean aphid, Aphis fabae, was reared on artificial diet while exposed to volatiles from its host, broad bean, and an unsuitable host, mustard. When offered the choice between bean and mustard leaves as adults, aphids showed a preference for the leaves whose odor they had experienced during development. When only exposed to volatiles from the two plants, in the absence of cues to indicate proximity or accessibility of the odor source, aphids preferred bean volatiles, regardless of experience. This suggests that information acquired from the natal habitat is only utilized when the perceived cost of habitat assessment is low, with innate preferences dominating otherwise.
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