| 1. |
- Ekman, Jörgen, et al.
(författare)
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Retention of Pb isotopes in glass surfaces for retrospective assessment of radon exposure
- 2006
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B. - : Elsevier. - 0168-583X .- 1872-9584. ; 249:1-2, s. 544-547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years there has been increasing interest in radio-epidemiological techniques to retrospectively measure the radon dose exposure by determining the activity of 210Pb, the longest-lived 222Rn progeny, in glass surface layers. In this study the diffusion of 39 keV 209Pb+ ions implanted into glass using the IGISOL facility has been studied under conditions that mimic the recoil implantation of 210Pb from 222Rn. The resulting depth distributions of 209Pb were then measured after heat treatment in vacuum at different temperatures by a sputter erosion technique. The diffusion coefficient could be described by an Arrhenius equation D = D0exp(−H/kT) where and H = 2.81 ± 0.11 eV. No statistically significant loss of 209Pb from the sample was observed for annealing between 470 and 600 °C.
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| 2. |
- Väänänen, Riikka, et al.
(författare)
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Analysis of particle size distribution changes between three measurement sites in Northern Scandinavia
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols - 19th International Conference. - : AIP. - 1551-7616 .- 0094-243X. - 9780735411524 ; 1527, s. 531-534
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measured aerosol size distributions from three measurement stations and modeled air mass trajectory data were combined to study aerosol dynamics in the boreal forest zone in Northern Scandinavia. Three approaches were used: investigation of new particle formation events, analysis of air masses arriving from ocean to continent, and study of changes in the aerosol size distributions when air masses travel from one measurement site to another. The statistical analysis of air masses travelling either from the Atlantic Ocean to measurement sites or from one site to another showed that on average the condensational growth was present during the summer season, and it was not restricted only to the days when evident new particle formation was observed. The rate of this average apparent growth of particle diameter was 3-7 times smaller than the growth rate of nucleation mode particles during the new particle formation events.
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| 3. |
- Almeida, Joao, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular understanding of sulphuric acid-amine particle nucleation in the atmosphere
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 502:7471, s. 359-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nucleation of aerosol particles from trace atmospheric vapours is thought to provide up to half of global cloud condensation nuclei(1). Aerosols can cause a net cooling of climate by scattering sunlight and by leading to smaller but more numerous cloud droplets, which makes clouds brighter and extends their lifetimes(2). Atmospheric aerosols derived from human activities are thought to have compensated for a large fraction of the warming caused by greenhouse gases(2). However, despite its importance for climate, atmospheric nucleation is poorly understood. Recently, it has been shown that sulphuric acid and ammonia cannot explain particle formation rates observed in the lower atmosphere(3). It is thought that amines may enhance nucleation(4-16), but until now there has been no direct evidence for amine ternary nucleation under atmospheric conditions. Here we use the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber at CERN and find that dimethylamine above three parts per trillion by volume can enhance particle formation rates more than 1,000-fold compared with ammonia, sufficient to account for the particle formation rates observed in the atmosphere. Molecular analysis of the clusters reveals that the faster nucleation is explained by a base-stabilization mechanism involving acid-amine pairs, which strongly decrease evaporation. The ion-induced contribution is generally small, reflecting the high stability of sulphuric acid-dimethylamine clusters and indicating that galactic cosmic rays exert only a small influence on their formation, except at low overall formation rates. Our experimental measurements are well reproduced by a dynamical model based on quantum chemical calculations of binding energies of molecular clusters, without any fitted parameters. These results show that, in regions of the atmosphere near amine sources, both amines and sulphur dioxide should be considered when assessing the impact of anthropogenic activities on particle formation.
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| 4. |
- Joshi, Peter K, et al.
(författare)
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Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 523:7561, s. 459-462
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10(-300), 2.1 × 10(-6), 2.5 × 10(-10) and 1.8 × 10(-10), respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.
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| 5. |
- Karhula, Sakari, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of articular cartilage constituents on phosphotungstic acid enhanced micro-computed tomography
- 2017
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (CEμCT) with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) has shown potential for detecting collagen distribution of articular cartilage. However, the selectivity of the PTA staining to articular cartilage constituents remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the dependence of PTA for the collagen content in bovine articular cartilage. Adjacent bovine articular cartilage samples were treated with chondroitinase ABC and collagenase to degrade the proteoglycan and the collagen constituents in articular cartilage, respectively. Enzymatically degraded samples were compared to the untreated samples using CEμCT and reference methods, such as Fourier-transform infrared imaging. Decrease in the X-ray attenuation of PTA in articular cartilage and collagen content was observed in cartilage depth of 0-13% and deeper in tissue after collagen degradation. Increase in the X-ray attenuation of PTA was observed in the cartilage depth of 13-39% after proteoglycan degradation. The X-ray attenuation of PTA-labelled articular cartilage in CEμCT is associated mainly with collagen content but the proteoglycans have a minor effect on the X-ray attenuation of the PTA-labelled articular cartilage. In conclusion, the PTA labeling provides a feasible CEμCT method for 3D characterization of articular cartilage.
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| 6. |
- Kirkby, Jasper, et al.
(författare)
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Ion-induced nucleation of pure biogenic particles
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 533:7604, s. 521-526
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atmospheric aerosols and their effect on clouds are thought to be important for anthropogenic radiative forcing of the climate, yet remain poorly understood(1). Globally, around half of cloud condensation nuclei originate from nucleation of atmospheric vapours(2). It is thought that sulfuric acid is essential to initiate most particle formation in the atmosphere(3,4), and that ions have a relatively minor role(5). Some laboratory studies, however, have reported organic particle formation without the intentional addition of sulfuric acid, although contamination could not be excluded(6,7). Here we present evidence for the formation of aerosol particles from highly oxidized biogenic vapours in the absence of sulfuric acid in a large chamber under atmospheric conditions. The highly oxygenated molecules (HOMs) are produced by ozonolysis of a-pinene. We find that ions from Galactic cosmic rays increase the nucleation rate by one to two orders of magnitude compared with neutral nucleation. Our experimental findings are supported by quantum chemical calculations of the cluster binding energies of representative HOMs. Ion-induced nucleation of pure organic particles constitutes a potentially widespread source of aerosol particles in terrestrial environments with low sulfuric acid pollution.
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| 7. |
- Kulmala, Markku, et al.
(författare)
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Direct Observations of Atmospheric Aerosol Nucleation
- 2013
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 339:6122, s. 943-946
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atmospheric nucleation is the dominant source of aerosol particles in the global atmosphere and an important player in aerosol climatic effects. The key steps of this process occur in the sub-2-nanometer (nm) size range, in which direct size-segregated observations have not been possible until very recently. Here, we present detailed observations of atmospheric nanoparticles and clusters down to 1-nm mobility diameter. We identified three separate size regimes below 2-nm diameter that build up a physically, chemically, and dynamically consistent framework on atmospheric nucleation-more specifically, aerosol formation via neutral pathways. Our findings emphasize the important role of organic compounds in atmospheric aerosol formation, subsequent aerosol growth, radiative forcing and associated feedbacks between biogenic emissions, clouds, and climate.
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| 8. |
- Kulmala, Markku, et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of the nucleation of atmospheric aerosol particles
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature Protocols. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1754-2189 .- 1750-2799. ; 7:9, s. 1651-1667
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The formation of new atmospheric aerosol particles and their subsequent growth have been observed frequently at various locations all over the world. The atmospheric nucleation rate (or formation rate) and growth rate (GR) are key parameters to characterize the phenomenon. Recent progress in measurement techniques enables us to measure atmospheric nucleation at the size (mobility diameter) of 1.5 (+/- 0.4) nm. The detection limit has decreased from 3 to 1 nm within the past 10 years. In this protocol, we describe the procedures for identifying new-particle-formation (NPF) events, and for determining the nucleation, formation and growth rates during such events under atmospheric conditions. We describe the present instrumentation, best practices and other tools used to investigate atmospheric nucleation and NPF at a certain mobility diameter (1.5, 2.0 or 3.0 nm). The key instruments comprise devices capable of measuring the number concentration of the formed nanoparticles and their size, such as a suite of modern condensation particle counters (CPCs) and air ion spectrometers, and devices for characterizing the pre-existing particle number concentration distribution, such as a differential mobility particle sizer (DMPS). We also discuss the reliability of the methods used and requirements for proper measurements and data analysis. The time scale for realizing this procedure is 1 year.
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| 9. |
- Lango Allen, Hana, et al.
(författare)
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Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 467:7317, s. 832-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits, but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait. The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P<0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways.
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| 10. |
- Laurén, Ari, et al.
(författare)
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Nitrogen and Carbon Dynamics and the Role of Enchytraeid Worms in Decomposition of L, F and H Layers of Boreal Mor
- 2012
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Ingår i: Water, Air and Soil Pollution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0049-6979 .- 1573-2932. ; 223:7, s. 3701-3719
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Decomposition of organic material releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and ammonium (NH4-N) into soil water. Each of the decomposition products contributes differently to overall export of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) to water courses. Our aim was to study the quantity and composition of the released C and N as affected by the organic material and soil fauna, represented by enchytraeid worms. We measured the release rate of carbon dioxide, and calculated the release rates for DOC and dissolved N in soil from repeated measurements of DOC and N pools during laboratory incubation of litter (L), fermented (F) and humus (H) layers of boreal forest mor. The intermediate decomposition products, DOC and DON, were characterised according to the molecule size. The release rate of the decomposition products was higher for fresh than for old organic material. The majority of N and C were released as NH4-N and CO2, respectively. The amount of extractable organic N in soil decreased by time but DON increased. Enchytraeids stimulated N mineralisation and the release of large molecule size DOC, particularly in L layer. The results suggest that organic N in extractable form biodegrades effectively, and that soil fauna have an important role in the decomposition. The results were interpreted from the water quality point of view and the implications of the results to modelling of decomposition and export of DOC and dissolved N to recipient water bodies are discussed. In the modelling context, the novelty of the study is the description of the intermediate decomposition products and the division of the dissolved organic compounds into low molecular weight and high molecular weight fractions.
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