11. |
- Hendry, Alexandra, et al.
(författare)
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Atypical Development of Attentional Control Associates with Later Adaptive Functioning, Autism and ADHD Traits
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of autism and developmental disorders. - : Springer Nature. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 50:11, s. 4085-4105
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism is frequently associated with difficulties with top-down attentional control, which impact on individuals’ mental health and quality of life. The developmental processes involved in these attentional difficulties are not well understood. Using a data-driven approach, 2 samples (N = 294 and 412) of infants at elevated and typical likelihood of autism were grouped according to profiles of parent report of attention at 10, 15 and 25 months. In contrast to the normative profile of increases in attentional control scores between infancy and toddlerhood, a minority (7–9%) showed plateauing attentional control scores between 10 and 25 months. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, plateaued growth of attentional control was associated with elevated autism and ADHD traits, and lower adaptive functioning at age 3 years.
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12. |
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13. |
- Henriksson, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of exercise on symptoms of anxiety in primary care patients: A randomized controlled trial.
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of affective disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1573-2517 .- 0165-0327. ; 297, s. 26-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a need for high-quality research regarding exercise interventions for persons with anxiety disorders. We investigate whether a 12-week exercise intervention, with different intensities, could reduce anxiety symptoms in patients with anxiety disorders.286 patients were recruited from primary care in Sweden. Severity of symptoms was self-assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-S). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two group exercise programs with cardiorespiratory and resistance training and one control/standard treatment non-exercise group, with 1:1:1 allocation.Patients in both exercise groups showed larger improvements in both anxiety and depressive symptoms compared to the control group. No differences in effect sizes were found between the two groups. To study a clinically relevant improvement, BAI and MADRS-S were dichotomized with the mean change in the control group as reference. In adjusted models the odds ratio for improved symptoms of anxiety after low-intensity training was 3.62 (CI 1.34-9.76) and after moderate/high intensity 4.88 (CI 1.66-14.39), for depressive symptoms 4.96 (CI 1.81-13.6) and 4.36 (CI 1.57-12.08) respectively. There was a significant intensity trend for improvement in anxiety symptoms.The use of self-rating measures which bears the risk of an under- or overestimation of symptoms.A 12-week group exercise program proved effective for patients with anxiety syndromes in primary care. These findings strengthen the view of physical exercise as an effective treatment and could be more frequently made available in clinical practice for persons with anxiety issues.
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14. |
- Holmfeldt, Karin, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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The Fennoscandian Shield deep terrestrial virosphere suggests slow motion 'boom and burst' cycles
- 2021
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2399-3642. ; 4:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The deep biosphere contains members from all three domains of life along with viruses. Here we investigate the deep terrestrial virosphere by sequencing community nucleic acids from three groundwaters of contrasting chemistries, origins, and ages. These viromes constitute a highly unique community compared to other environmental viromes and sequenced viral isolates. Viral host prediction suggests that many of the viruses are associated with Firmicutes and Patescibacteria, a superphylum lacking previously described active viruses. RNA transcript-based activity implies viral predation in the shallower marine water-fed groundwater, while the deeper and more oligotrophic waters appear to be in 'metabolic standby'. Viral encoded antibiotic production and resistance systems suggest competition and antagonistic interactions. The data demonstrate a viral community with a wide range of predicted hosts that mediates nutrient recycling to support a higher microbial turnover than previously anticipated. This suggests the presence of 'kill-the-winner' oscillations creating slow motion 'boom and burst' cycles.
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15. |
- Hötzinger, Matthias, et al.
(författare)
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Dynamics of Baltic Sea phages driven by environmental changes
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental Microbiology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1462-2912 .- 1462-2920. ; 23:8, s. 4576-4594
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phage predation constitutes a major mortality factor for bacteria in aquatic ecosystems, and thus, directly impacts nutrient cycling and microbial community dynamics. Yet, the population dynamics of specific phages across time scales from days to months remain largely unexplored, which limits our understanding of their influence on microbial succession. To investigate temporal changes in diversity and abundance of phages infecting particular host strains, we isolated 121 phage strains that infected three bacterial hosts during a Baltic Sea mesocosm experiment. Genome analysis revealed a novel Flavobacterium phage genus harboring gene sets putatively coding for synthesis of modified nucleotides and glycosylation of bacterial cell surface components. Another novel phage genus revealed a microdiversity of phage species that was largely maintained during the experiment and across mesocosms amended with different nutrients. In contrast to the newly described Flavobacterium phages, phages isolated from a Rheinheimera strain were highly similar to previously isolated genotypes, pointing to genomic consistency in this population. In the mesocosm experiment, the investigated phages were mainly detected after a phytoplankton bloom peak. This concurred with recurrent detection of the phages in the Baltic Proper during summer months, suggesting an influence on the succession of heterotrophic bacteria associated with phytoplankton blooms.
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16. |
- Israelsson, Pernilla, 1984-
(författare)
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Mechanisms for immune escape in epithelial ovarian cancer
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tumors develop mechanisms to subvert the immune system, constituting immune escape. Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), the deadliest of all gynecological malignancies, uses a variety of mechanisms to undermine immune surveillance, aiding its establishment and metastatic spreading. Despite progress in oncoimmunology, a lot remains unknown about the cancer-immune system interplay. The aim of this thesis was to study tumor-mediated mechanisms for immune escape in EOC patients, focusing on the role of cytokines and EOC- derived exosomes. Cytokines are key molecules regulating immune effector functions in health and disease. We used real-time RT-qPCR and a set of primers and probes for 12 cytokines, discriminating between different immune responses and compared the cytokine mRNA expression profiles locally in the TME and systemically in peripheral blood immune cells of EOC patients, to women with benign ovarian conditions and women with normal ovaries. The cytokine mRNA expression was in general most prominent in EOC patients, confirming the immunogenicity of EOC. We found significant dominance of inflammatory and immunosuppressive/ regulatory cytokines, known to promote tumor progression by priming and activating T regulatory cell-mediated immune suppression. In contrast, IFN-γ, crucially important for evoking a cytotoxic anti-tumor response, was not upregulated. Instead, a systemic increase of IL-4 prevailed, deviating the immune defense towards humoral immunity. With regard to our cytokine study, we performed comparative analyses of cytokine mRNA versus protein expression in the EOC cell lines OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3. We found that cytokine mRNA signals were universally detected, and in some instances translated into proteins, but the protein expression levels depended on the material analyzed and the method used. Due to the high sensitivity of real-time RT-qPCR, we suggest that cytokine mRNA expression profiles can be used for some instances, such as in studies of mechanistic pathways and in comparisons between patient groups, but cannot replace expression at the protein level. Exosomes are nanometer-sized vesicles of endosomal origin, released by virtually all cells, participating in normal and pathological processes. Like many tumors, EOC is a great exosome producer. We isolated exosomes from EOC ascitic fluid and supernatant from tumor explant cultures to study their effect on the NK cell receptors NKG2D and DNAM-1, involved in tumor killing. We found that EOC exosomes constitutively expressed NKG2D ligands on their surface while DNAM-1 ligand expression was rare and not associated with the exosomal membrane. Consistently, the major cytotoxic pathway of NKG2D-mediated killing was dysregulated by EOC exosomes while the accessory DNAM-1- mediated pathway remained unchanged. Our results provide a mechanistic explanation to the previously made observation that in EOC patients, tumor killing is only dependent on the accessory DNAM-1 pathway. Following these iii iv results, we studied NKG2D-mediated cytotoxicity in vivo in EOC patients before and after surgery. We found that the serum exosomes isolated from EOC patients were able to downregulate the NKG2D receptor and suppress NKG2D-mediated cytotoxicity in NK cells from healthy donors, in a similar way as exosomes from EOC ascites. We also found that surgery of the primary EOC tumor has a beneficial effect on the patients’ anti-tumor cytotoxic immune response. One mechanistic explanation could be a decrease in circulating NKG2D ligand- expressing exosomes, thus improving the cytotoxic NK cell function. In conclusion, our results contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms responsible for tumor immune escape in general, and in EOC patients in particular, and might be useful in developing novel antitumor therapies. Our studies highlight the prevailing immunosuppression in the local TME and the immunosuppressive role of EOC exosomes. Furthermore, they support the notion that cancer surgery is also a way of removing exosome-producing cells and reducing the serum concentration of immunosuppressive exosomes, thus boosting the patients’ cytotoxic anti-tumor response.
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17. |
- Kleberg, Johan Lundin, et al.
(författare)
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Delayed gaze shifts away from others' eyes in children and adolescents with social anxiety disorder
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Affective Disorders. - : Elsevier. - 0165-0327 .- 1573-2517. ; 278, s. 280-287
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is linked to atypical attention to other's eyes. Empirical literature about this phenomenon in childhood and adolescence is scarce. Previous studies in adults have suggested that SAD may be characterized by either rapid avoidance of eye contact, or by impaired shifting of attention away from eyes once eye contact has been established. SAD has also been linked to quick orienting towards eyes, indicating vigilant monitoring of perceived threat. Methods: In the largest eye-tracking study of youth with SAD to date, 10 to 17 year-olds with SAD (n = 88) and healthy controls (n = 62) were primed to look at either the eyes or the mouth of human faces. The latency and likelihood of a first gaze shift from, or to the eyes, was measured. Results: Individuals with SAD were slower to shift their gaze away from the eye region of faces than controls, but did not differ in orienting toward eyes. Limitations: Participants were assessed once after the onset of SAD symptoms, meaning that the longitudinal predictive value of delayed gaze shifts from others' eyes could not be examined. Conclusions: Youth with SAD may be impaired in shifting attention from other's eyes. This could contribute to the experience of eye contact as aversive, and may be a maintaining factor of childhood SAD.
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18. |
- Kleberg, Johan Lundin, et al.
(författare)
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Eye-movement indices of arousal predict ADHD and comorbid externalizing symptoms over a 2-year period
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) follows a variable course across childhood. Disrupted arousal has been hypothesized to underlie core symptoms as well as comorbid internalizing and externalizing conditions. The current study examined eye-movement and pupil-dilation metrics indexing arousal as longitudinal predictors of ADHD, externalizing, and internalizing symptoms over a 2-year period. Participants aged 8–13 years (N = 54, 30% with a diagnosis of ADHD) completed a modified version of the gap-overlap task including arousal-inducing auditory warning signals. Parents rated symptoms at the time of testing and at 2 years follow-up. Phasic alerting (reaction-time reduction after alerting cues) is an index of arousal. Here, larger phasic alerting effects predicted higher ADHD-symptom levels 2 years later. Blunted pupil-dilation responses predicted externalizing symptoms at T2, controlling for ADHD and externalizing at T1. Our results support the theory that ADHD is associated with altered arousal. Blunted arousal reactivity may be a longitudinal risk factor for externalizing problems in children with ADHD symptoms.
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19. |
- Li, Baojing, et al.
(författare)
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Educational level and the risk of mental disorders, substance use disorders and self-harm in different age-groups : A cohort study covering 1,6 million subjects in the Stockholm region
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. - : Wiley. - 1049-8931 .- 1557-0657. ; 32:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To investigate the associations between low education and risk of mental disorders, substance use disorders and self-harm in different age-groups.Methods: All subjects in Stockholm born between 1931 and 1990 were linked to their own or their parent's highest education in 2000 and followed-up for these disorders in health care registers 2001–2016. Subjects were stratified into four age-groups: 10–18, 19–27, 28–50, and 51–70 years. Hazard Ratios with 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) were estimated with Cox proportional hazard models.Results: Low education increased the risk of substance use disorders and self-harm in all age-groups. Males aged 10–18 with low education had increased risks of ADHD and conduct disorders, and females a decreased risk of anorexia, bulimia and autism. Those aged 19–27 years had increased risks of anxiety and depression, and those aged 28–50 had increased risks of all mental disorders except anorexia and bulimia in males with Hazard Ratios ranging from 1.2 (95% CIs 1.0–1.3) for bipolar disorder to 5.4 (95% CIs 5.1–5.7) for drug use disorder. Females aged 51–70 years had increased risks of schizophrenia and autism.Conclusion: Low education is associated with risk of most mental disorders, substance use disorders and self-harm in all age-groups, but especially among those aged 28–50 years.
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20. |
- Lundin, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Observations and interviews describing first-line manager’s work at hospitals where the staff rates high access to empowering structures
- 2021
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- BackgroundIn times where hospitals are struggling with recruitment as well as keeping their current workers healthy and willing to stay on, it is important to identify factors that can help work organizations in their work of providing conditions for a good work environment and for a leadership that promotes health and development.ObjectiveThe aim was to study how first-line managers act at units where the staff has rated their access to empowering structures as high and to describe this together with the first-line managers' and their staff's descriptions regarding the staff's access to empowering structures by using Kanter's theory of structural empowerment as a framework. MethodA descriptive design with a qualitative approach collecting data using both observations and interviews. The study sample consisted of five first-line managers (FLM) and 13 staff members, at hospital units in different parts of Sweden, where the staff had rated their access to empowering structures as high using the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire – II (CWEQ II) in a previous data collection.Both the first and last author conducted 80 hours of observations, following each FLM during two workdays, and 15 hours of interviewing both the FLMs and staff members. Fieldnotes of what the FLMs were doing were taken during the observations. On the third day at the unit, interviews were conducted with the FLM and two or three out of their staff. The interviews were semi-structured with questions related to the observations and questions inspired by Kanter’s theory. Data from both MP3 files and notebooks were transferred into a Word document and directed content analysis informed by Kanter’s theory was performed on the material as a whole.ResultsPreliminary results from the ongoing analysis indicate that findings in both the observations and interviews often confirm and support each other.
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