Sweden’s excess mortality in 2020–2022 and reporting in the media

Aim: The aim was to scrutinize the report in March 2023 that Sweden’s excess mortality was lowest in 2020–2022 compared with other European Union and Nordic countries, a report that received great national and international attention. Study design: Comparison of excess mortality in Sweden and Norway. Methods: Excess mortality for 2020–2022 was calculated for Sweden and Norway, the country with per-capita excess mortality closest to Sweden’s, compared with the average mortality for 2017–2019 in the respective country, following the definitions by Statistics Sweden reported in a daily newspaper. Results: Excess mortality is a measure with low misclassification compared with other pandemic outcome measures. Following the definitions, total excess mortality for the years 2020–2022 was 11,897 individuals in Sweden and 6089 in Norway. However, the distributions of excess mortality across the 3 years strongly differed. In Sweden, 60% of excess mortality was observed in 2020, 8% in 2021 and 32% in 2022. In sharp contrast, 0% of excess mortality was observed in Norway in 2020, 20% in 2021 and 80% in 2022. If the relative distribution of excess mortality in Sweden had been the same as in Norway in 2020–2022, approximately 7000 individuals who died in 2020 would instead have died as excess mortality in 2022, saving approximately 14,000 person-years in Sweden. Conclusions: The report disregards residual confounding due to the broad definition of the period 2020–2022. Mass media should avoid one-sided reporting

Purification of lipid oil using ion exchange resins

Oil upgrading technologies for fuel production from second-generation feedstocks require pretreatments, such as the removal of ash metals in crude oil, to improve the catalytic performance in the process. The aim of this work was to purify lipid crude oil, derived from black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), from calcium by dry washing using ion exchange resins. Commercially available ion exchange resins suitable for organic liquids, namely GF 202 and Amberlyst 15DRY (AL 15), were selected for the purification experiments. The lipid material dissolved in nonanoic acid in different concentrations of mixtures was passed through a resin-filled plug-flow reactor at 50 °C and 75 °C with a liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) of 4 h−1. The oil samples were analyzed for calcium using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, while the resin surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy. AL 15 showed a better overall performance and led to a case where over 99% of calcium was removed. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)

Plant-insect interactions in grassland ecosystems : Assessing consequences of landscape change and environmental stressors

Plant-insect interactions are crucial for sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in grassland ecosystems. Mutualistic pollination and antagonistic herbivory drive ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, community assembly, and food web stability. However, anthropogenic pressures, including land-use change, agricultural intensification, and environmental stressors like drought and nutrient deposition, are disrupting these interactions, impacting ecosystem resilience and productivity. This thesis explores how landscape composition and local environmental factors influence plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore interactions across spatial scales, integrating field surveys and experimental approaches to uncover biodiversity patterns and ecosystem stability mechanisms in semi-natural grasslands. Field surveys across 18 semi-natural grasslands in southern Sweden reveal that landscape composition profoundly shapes herbivore communities and interaction networks. Arable fields increased beetle abundance but reduced leafhopper diversity, while forested areas and permanent grasslands enhanced species richness and stabilized interaction networks. Permanent grasslands promoted greater leaf and stem herbivory, whereas arable crop cover suppressed herbivory intensity. Despite changes in network structure, plant-herbivore networks exhibited resilience, driven by generalist herbivores buffering against specialist declines. Structural equation modeling highlighted indirect landscape effects on herbivory via shifts in plant community composition and functional traits, with taller plants and those with higher specific leaf area being disproportionately targeted. A mesocosm experiment complemented these findings, assessing the interactive effects of drought, nutrient availability, and herbivory on plant reproductive performance and pollinator visitation. Drought increased pollinator visitation, likely due to floral enhancement under water stress, while nutrient enrichment boosted flower production. However, herbivory reduced viable flowers, limiting the reproductive benefits of nutrient addition. Seed production was highly sensitive to drought-nutrient interactions, with drought suppressing seed pod formation under low nutrients but exerting negligible effects under high nutrient availability. This thesis underscores the intricate and context-dependent nature of plant-insect interactions, highlighting the joint roles of landscape composition and local stressors in shaping herbivory, pollination, and plant reproduction. By demonstrating the importance of preserving semi-natural grasslands and promoting habitat heterogeneity, this work offers valuable insights for mitigating the adverse effects of land-use change and ensuring the stability of plant-insect networks amidst global change

Para athlete concussion care following the Amsterdam 2022 International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport: an urgent need for inclusivity within concussion research

The Amsterdam 2022 International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport (6th International Conference on Concussion in Sport) was the first Concussion in Sport Group (CISG) consensus to consider the para athlete.1 To date, a lack of research in para sport on most aspects of concussion has prevented the development of evidence-informed consensus on any aspects of concussion care for para athletes, resulting in a reliance on expert opinion.2 3 Prior to 2023, all CISG guidelines used the default that athletes all have ‘normal’ cognitive and neuromuscular (central and peripheral) functions. This default is not representative of the global population, and discounts para athletes who have impairments with wide heterogeneity, which may be visible or invisible.In 2021 the Concussion in Para Sport (CIPS) group, an international, voluntary, multidisciplinary group of para concussion-focused clinicians, researchers and athletes published the first position statement on concussion in para sport, which built on the 2017 CISG Consensus Statement.4 The prospective International Paralympic Committee injury and illness surveillance studies started in 2012, and while concussions were reported at the Pyeong Chang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games (n=4),5 the first detailed concussion information was reported for the Tokyo 2020 (n=9) and Beijing 2022 (n=4) Paralympic Games.6 7Following publication of the Amsterdam 2022 Consensus on Concussion in Sport, the CIPS group present this editorial to (1) highlight that the guidance outlined in the first CIPS Position Statement can be adapted and applied to this most recent Amsterdam 2022 Consensus Statement

Evidence for an active ice margin during the last deglaciation : the Vimmerby Moraine, South Swedish Uplands

The Vimmerby Moraine is the only significant ice-marginal moraine on the eastern side of southern Sweden, but no detailed studies exist on its formation during the final deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. Through ground-penetrating radar surveys and detailed sediment logging, we provide evidence for an active, oscillating ice margin during the formation of the Vimmerby Moraine, suggesting that the deglaciation of the South Swedish Uplands was, at least in some regions, dynamic. Ground-penetrating radar surveys enabled imaging of internal sediment and delineation of the bedrock surface. These were complemented by common mid-point surveys and sediment logging, as well as lithofacies analysis at three exposures in agravel pit. This approach revealed multiple subglacial till units partially separated by intercalated glacifluvial deposits. The glacifluvial sediments exhibit evidence of glaciotectonism, suggesting active overriding by the last ice sheet. Further evidence of an active ice margin is provided by the ground-penetrating radar profiles collected perpendicular to the moraine crest. These contain a series of northerly dipping reflectors, which we interpret as evidence of repeated basal freeze-on and melt-out of sediment slabs during ice margin oscillations, as has been observed at contemporary glacier margins in Iceland, Norway, and the Alps. The data presented here demonstrate that the last Fennoscandian Ice Sheet remained active around the time of the Vimmerby Moraine formation. This work highlights the benefits of including detailed sediment logging and near-surface geophysical surveys in the interpretation of deglaciation dynamics

FreDESS : a clinical tool for perceptual evaluation of stuttering

Aim: Stuttering is a communication disorder that involves both manifest speech disfluencies and associated symptoms. The purpose of the present study was to introduce an easily administered and ecologically valid assessment tool designed for perceptual evaluation of stuttered speech, FreDESS (frequency of stuttering events, duration of events, effort, secondary behaviours, and severity). More specifically, we wanted to study its reliability and validity. Method: Video recordings of conversations with 38 people who stutter (PWS), 19 females and 19 males aged 13–25, were assessed by three speech language pathologists (SLP). Inter- and intrajudge reliability was estimated with intraclass correlation, standard error of measurement, and agreement between listeners. Internal consistency for the FreDESS parameters was estimated with Cronbach’s alpha (α). To test the validity of FreDESS, the relationships between the average estimated parameters of frequency, duration, secondary behaviours, and severity of FreDESS and the Stuttering Severity Instrument (SSI-3), were analysed using intraclass correlation. Results: The interjudge reliability was good, especially for the frequency, duration, and severity parameters (90 per cent + agreement given 1 scale point difference). All parameters of the FreDESS had strong intrajudge reliability (ICC = 0.86–0.94) and the overall internal consistency was high (α = 0.98). The average ratings on the two assessment scales were in line with each other (r = 0.90–0.96), indicating high concurrent validity. Conclusion: The FreDESS scale for the assessment of stuttered speech may be a valuable tool in clinical and research contexts. It is a valid and more time-efficient assessment instrument than the more commonly used SSI

Light extinction and scattering to determine nanoparticle formation rates during droplet jetting in aluminum dust flames

The combustion of aluminum powder enables a CO2-free generation of heat and electricity. To understand the asymmetric combustion of burning aluminum particles, we imaged light extinction and scattering with high speed and magnification. In the flame, particles melt, ignite, and build up a spherical flame sheet of condensed-phase alumina around the droplet. Shortly thereafter, the asymmetric stage occurs where the flame locally extinguishes, the droplet accelerates, i.e., droplet jetting, and leaves behind a condensation trail of alumina particles. Two alternately pulsed LEDs were used to image light extinction and scattering in the condensation trail at 200000 frames per second. This yields quasi-simultaneous images of transmission and scattered light. The geometry of the light-scattering experiment and Mie theory yield the collection efficiency of scattered light as a function of the particle size. An iterative calculation of the collection efficiency and the single-scattering albedo, the ratio of scattering and extinction, converges and yields the particle diameter in the Rayleigh regime. The correction for total scattered-light in the extinction yields the absorbance from which the nanoparticle volume is derived. Nanoparticles appear at the onset of the trails near the droplet and grow along the trail from around 40 nm to 110 nm until they are outside the Rayleigh regime. The nanoparticle formation rate is 50 % of the total alumina formation rate during the symmetric phase. The large occurrence frequency of droplet jetting makes it an important contribution to nanoparticle formation and to the total heat release in aluminum combustion