| 1. |
- Furberg, Maria, 1970-
(författare)
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Towards the Limits – Climate Change Aspects of Life and Health in Northern Sweden : studies of tularemia and regional experiences of changes in the environment
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- BackgroundIndigenous peoples with traditional lifestyles worldwide are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change effects. Large climate change impacts on the spread of infectious vector-borne diseases are expected as a health outcome. The most rapid climate changes are occurring in the Arctic regions, and as a part of this region northernmost Sweden might experience early effects. In this thesis, climate change effects on the lives of Sami reindeer herders are described and 30 years of weather changes are quantified. Epidemiology of the climate sensitive human infection tularemia is assessed, baseline serologic prevalence of tularemia is investigated and the disease burden is quantified across inhabitants in the region.MethodsPerceptions and experiences of climate change effects among the indigenous Sami reindeer herders of northern Sweden were investigated through qualitative analyses of fourteen interviews. The results were then combined with instrumental weather data from ten meteorological stations in a mixed-methods design to further illustrate climate change effects in this region. In two following studies, tularemia ecology and epidemiology were investigated. A total of 4,792 reported cases of tularemia between 1984 and 2012 were analysed and correlated to ecological regions and presence of inland water using geographical mapping. The status of tularemia in the Swedish Arctic region was further investigated through risk factor analyses of a 2012 regional outbreak and a cross-sectional serological survey to estimate the burden of disease including unreported cases.ResultsThe reindeer herders described how the winters of northern Sweden have changed since the 1970s – warmer winters with shorter snow season and cold periods, and earlier spring. The adverse effects on the reindeer herders through the obstruction of their work, the stress induced and the threat to their lifestyle was demonstrated, forcing the reindeer herders towards the limit of resilience. Weather data supported the observations of winter changes; some stations displayed a more than two full months shorter snow cover season and winter temperatures increased significantly, most pronounced in the lowest temperatures. During the same time period a near tenfold increase in national incidence of tularemia was observed in Sweden (from 0.26 to 2.47/100,000 p<0.001) with a clear overrepresentation of cases in the north versus the south (4.52 vs. 0.56/100,000 p<0.001). The incidence was positively correlated with the presence of inland water (p<0.001) and higher than expected in the alpine and boreal ecologic regions (p<0.001). In the outbreak investigation a dose-response relationship to water was identified; distance from residence to water – less than 100 m, mOR 2.86 (95% CI 1.79–4.57) and 100 to 500 m, mOR 1.63 (95% CI 1.08–2.46). The prevalence of tularemia antibodies in the two northernmost counties was 2.9% corresponding to a 16 times higher number of cases than reported indicating that the reported numbers represent only a minute fraction of the true tularemia.ConclusionsThe extensive winter changes pose a threat to reindeer herding in this region. Tularemia is increasing in Sweden, it has a strong correlation to water and northern ecoregions, and unreported tularemia cases are quite common.
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| 2. |
- Järhult, Susann J, 1971-
(författare)
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Hyperemic Brachial Artery Blood Flow Velocity
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to evaluate the blood flow velocity in the Brachial artery during reactive hyperemia. Primarily to appraise the information it might contain regarding cardiovascular function and cardiovascular risk. Ultrasonographic doppler measurements of the Brachial artery were made on the 1016 men and women aged 70 included in the prospective investigation of the vasculature in Uppsala seniors (PIVUS) study. Analysis of the blood flow velocity in the forearm was made in comparison to established methods of estimating endothelial function, clinical markers of cardiovascular risk, the Framingham risk score and global atherosclerosis determined by whole body magnetic resonance angiography. Systolic blood flow velocity was positively related to cardiovascular risk whereas the diastolic velocity was inversely correlated. However, the systolic to diastolic blood flow velocity (SDFV) ratio was more closely associated with cardiovascular risk than its components apart. Ultrasonographic markers of Carotid atherosclerosis were related to the SDFV ratio. Concentric left ventricular remodeling and left ventricular mass index were also associated with the SDFV ratio, but not to its numerator or denominator separately. A similar pattern was found when assessing SDFV ratio in relation to global atherosclerosis, as well as to established markers of arterial compliance and vasodilation. In conclusion, during reactive hyperemia of the Brachial artery, the systolic to diastolic blood flow velocity ratio appears to contain information of additional value than its components separately, independently of established cardiovascular risk factors. Possibly, the SDFV ratio could offer a promising means to estimate cardiovascular risk in aging populations.
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| 3. |
- Lindenberger, Marcus, 1975-
(författare)
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Cardiovascular responses to hypovolemic circulatory stress in women : With special reference to venous compliance and capacitance
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Acute haemorrhage is a leading cause of death in trauma. Young women (YW) seem more susceptible to hypovolemic circulatory stress than young men (YM), but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Elderly subjects are more vulnerable to haemorrhage, with a decreased defence of central blood volume in elderly men, but the defence has not been evaluated in elderly women (EW). The aims were to assess differences in cardiovascular responses to hypovolemic circulatory stress, emphasizing compensatory mechanisms to maintain central blood volume in YW, EW and in women prone to vaso‐vagal reaction (VW).Lower body negative pressure (LBNP) was used as a model for haemorrhage and to create acute hypovolemic stress. Volumetric techniques were used to assess venous compliance, capacitance and capillary fluid exchange both caused by LBNP in the calf and the response to maintain central blood volume.LBNP induced a comparable hypovolemic stimulus in YW and YM, with lower calf venous compliance and capacitance but higher net capillary fluid filtration in YW. YW responded with smaller vasoconstriction without association between P‐NE and peripheral vascular resistance in contrast to YM. Venous capacitance response was decreased with time in YW. Further, net capillary fluid absorption from peripheral tissues to central circulation was decreased in YW in response to hypovolemic stress. All in all, this indicates less efficiency to defend central blood volume in young women.Calf venous compliance and capacitance was maintained in EW compared to YW but capillary filtration was decreased, implying reduced capillary function with age. With increasing transmural pressures however, filtration and capillary filtration coefficient (CFC) increased indicating increased capillary susceptibility to transmural pressure load in dependent regions with age. Heart rate increase was attenuated in EW while peripheral vascular conductance was maintained suggesting reduced cardiovagal baroreceptor function in response to hypovolemia with age. Venous capacitance response and fluid absorption from peripheral tissues to central circulation were decreased with age, indicating less efficiency to defend central blood volume.LBNP induced a slower hypovolemic stimulus in VW compared with nonvagal women. Further, the cardiopulmonary baroreflex was less efficient, and the venous capacitance response from peripheral tissues to central circulation was decreased, which may explain their susceptibility to orthostatic challenge.
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| 4. |
- Friberg, Katarina
(författare)
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The workings of co-operation : A comparative study of consumer co-operative organisation in Britain and Sweden, 1860-1970
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the workings of co-operation. It proceeds by way of a two-case comparative study, where the units of comparison are local consumer co-operatives: the Newcastle upon Tyne Co-operative Society Ltd., situated in the north-east of England, and Konsumentföreningen Solidar in Malmö, in the south-west of Sweden. We get to follow the two societies through minutes from member meetings, and from several other data sources, from their dates of birth to 1970. This material is utilised for cross-case and within-case comparisons as we follow the interaction between the societies and their environments, between organisational structure and decision-making, and between different factions within the societies.The primary purpose is to charter, understand, and explain the complexities brought out by the empirical inquiry. But in doing so, we also discern more general underlying principles for variations in the workings of co-operation. While this makes the thesis into an exploratory endeavour, it also contains an attempt to map the historiography of co-operation in Britain and Sweden: themes and research questions are construed so as to make a contribution to both literatures. One such contribution is the description and analysis of two separate organisational logics, of their dynamics, conditions, effects, and development over time.
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| 5. |
- Zamovaro, A. M., et al.
(författare)
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Enhanced insular connectivity with speech sensorimotor regions in trained singers – a resting-state fMRI study
- 2024
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The insula contributes to the detection and integration of salient events during goaldirected behavior and facilitates the interaction between motor, multisensory, and cognitive networks. Task-fMRI studies have suggested that experience with singing can enhance access to these resources. However, the long-term effects of vocal motor training on insula-based networks are currently unknown. In thisstudy, we used restingstate fMRI to explore experience-dependent differences in insula co-activation patterns between conservatory-trained singers and non-singers. We found enhanced insula connectivity in singers compared to non-singers with constituents of the speech sensorimotor network, including the cerebellum (lobule VI, crus 2), primary somatosensory cortex, the parietal lobes, and the thalamus. Moreover, accumulated singing training correlated positively with increased co-activation in bilateral primary sensorimotor cortices in the somatotopic representations of the larynx (left dorsal anterior insula, dAI) and the diaphragm (bilateral dAI)—crucial regions for motorcortical control of complex vocalizations—together with the thalamus (bilateral posterior insula/left dAI) and the left putamen (left dAI). The results of this study support the view that the insula plays a central role in the experience-dependent modulation of sensory integration within the vocal motor system, possibly by optimizing conscious and non-conscious aspects of salience processing associated with singing-related bodily signals.
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