With the steppe as inspiration : to create steppe plantings in urban areas with great appearances but with low maintenance requirements

Stäppen är en halvtorr naturtyp som framförallt återfinns i Eurasien och Nordamerika. Naturtypen präglas av ett oberäkneligt klimat med oregelbunden nederbörd och stora temperaturvariationer över året. Detta ojämna och emellanåt extrema klimat delar mycket likheter med de växtförhållanden som råder i städerna, som generellt sett är både varma och torra på grund av den stora andelen hårdgjorda ytor. Stäppen har därför potential att fungera väl som förebild till planteringar för även de tuffaste platserna i staden. Detta eftersom stäppens flora har utvecklat strategier för att hantera dessa tuffa förhållandena. Att använda stäppvegetation i staden kräver dock både speciella växtbäddar och gestaltningsmetoder. Växtbäddarna behöver imitera mark- och klimatförhållandena på stäppen och gestaltningen bör fånga och förmedla essensen av sin naturliga förlaga. Ett exempel på ett karaktärsdrag som bör förmedlas i gestaltningen är stäppens naturliga skiktning. En utmaning med att använda stäppväxter i planteringar är att de överlag blommar under vår och tidig sommar. Att blanda stäppvegetation från olika världsdelar framhålls därför som en möjlighet för att förlänga blomningsperioden. Kombinationen av ett använda ståndortsanpassat växtmaterial i en lämpligt uppbyggd växtbädd gör planteringen skötselextensiv och långsiktigt hållbar.The steppe is a semi-arid biotope in primarily Eurasia and North America. It is characterized by an unpredicatable climate with irregular precipitation and great variations in temperature throughout the year. The shifting and occasionally extreme climate on the steppe shares a lot of similarities with the conditions in urban areas, which generally are hot and arid due to the large amount of hardened surfaces. Therefore, the steppe has the potential to be an inspiration for plantings for even the harshest sites in urban cities. This due to steppe plants having developed strategies for dealing with these tough conditions. Using steppe vegetation in the city requires both special plant beds and design methods though. The plant bed need to imitate the soil- and climatic conditions of the semi-arid biotope, and the design should capture and mediate the essence of the true steppe. An example of an attribute that the steppe hold, and which should be used in planting design is the natural layering. One challange when designing with steppe plants is that they all generally bloom in spring and early summer. Mixing steppe vegetation from different parts of the world i therefore pronounced as an opportunity to extend the flowering period. The combination of using site-adapted plants and a suitably constructed plant bed makes the need for maintanance low and the planting long-term sustainable

Trauma in a Scandinavian urban region : epidemiological aspects on risk factors and outcome

Trauma as a disease is a global health problem and for patients surviving the initial injury and early resuscitation phase, later complications contribute largely to morbidity and mortality. Awareness of risk factors, early recognition and appropriate treatment of complications are likely to have a significant influence on outcome. Early identification of patients at risk may contribute to optimising initial resuscitation, intensive care and long-­‐term outcome. This thesis is based on four studies using epidemiological data from local and national registries. The aims of this thesis were to study incidence and risk factors for complications and mortality in severe trauma and the influence of socioeconomic factors and comorbidity on the risk of becoming a trauma victim. Study I was a cohort study of 164 trauma patients admitted to the central intensive care unit at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. We found an incidence of multiple organ failure, acute lung injury and severe sepsis of 40.2%, 25.6% and 31.1% respectively. 30-­‐and 90-­‐day post-­‐injury mortality was 10.4 %. Intensive care unit-­‐complications and death were not uniformly affected by the different risk factors. In study II we investigated the influence of gender and comorbidity on 30-­‐and 360-­‐day survival of individuals registered in the trauma registry at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm between January 2005 and August 2008. In addition we evaluated survival over time in relation to the general population. The influence of gender and comorbidity on outcome after trauma differed over time. Male gender was an independent risk factor for mortality at one year but not at 30-­‐days post injury and the effect of gender seemed to be restricted to elderly patients. The presence of comorbidity became a significant risk factor beyond 30 days after trauma. A persistent excess mortality in comparison to the general population was seen among men one year after trauma, standardized mortality ratio 3.8 (95% CI 2.8 -­‐5.1). Our aim of study III was to report the overall incidence of pneumonia in intensive care unit-­‐treated trauma patients and to investigate risk factors for development post injury pneumonia following severe trauma. The study cohort consisted of 322 trauma patients admitted to the central intensive care unit at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm between February 2007 and July 2011. The incidence of pneumonia was 26% during their first 10 days in the ICU. Reduced consciousness was an independent risk factor for development of pneumonia after severe injury. Study IV was a case-­‐control study, cases (n = 7382) were defined as all patients 15 years or older registered in the trauma registry with a first trauma admission between January 2005 and December 2010. A random selection of 36760 age, gender and municipality matched controls were extracted from the Total population registry. Our aim was to study the influence of socioeconomic factors and comorbidity on the risk of becoming a trauma victim. Level of education and income as well as substance abuse, psychiatric, and somatic comorbidity were all independent risk factors for trauma. Active substance abuse strongly influenced the risk for trauma and had a time dependent pattern

Wolbachia in the genus Bicyclus : a forgotten player

Bicyclus butterflies are key species for studies of wing pattern development, phenotypic plasticity, speciation and the genetics of Lepidoptera. One of the key endosymbionts in butterflies, the alpha-Proteobacterium Wolbachia pipientis, is affecting many of these biological processes; however, Bicyclus butterflies have not been investigated systematically as hosts to Wolbachia. In this study, we screen for Wolbachia infection in several Bicyclus species from natural populations across Africa as well as two laboratory populations. Out of the 24 species tested, 19 were found to be infected, and no double infection was found, but both A- and B-supergroup strains colonise this butterfly group. We also show that many of the Wolbachia strains identified in Bicyclus butterflies belong to the ST19 clonal complex. We discuss the importance of our results in regard to routinely screening for Wolbachia when using Bicyclus butterflies as the study organism of research in eco-evolutionary biology.Peer reviewe

How to Deal With and Repair Broken Trust in an R&D Partnership

This article offers an actionable framework for dealing with trust violations in R&D partnerships: it explains how to turn around a conflicted R&D partnership, repair trust, and learn from the experience. As innovation becomes more open, firms increasingly find themselves involved in R&D collaborations with suppliers, customers or even competitors. Trust plays a fundamental role in such partnerships to work. Yet, trust cannot be taken for granted. In fact, trust in R&D partnerships is often violated – and without executive intervention, trust violations can soon turn even the most promising partnership into a value-destroying predicament. Although much has been written about trust formation in R&D partnerships, this article focuses instead on what to do when trust has been broken. The analysis is based on a review of academic research and is illustrated with real-life examples of trust repair processes

A longitudinal project of new venture teamwork and outcomes

This chapter present a research project dedicated to better understand how new venture teams work together to achieve desired outcomes. Teams, as opposed to an individual, start a majority of all innovative new ventures. Yet, little research or theory exists in new venture settings about how members interact with each other over time—teamwork—to produce innovative technologies, products, and services. We believe a systematic study of social and psychological processes that underlie new venture teamwork and venture outcomes is timely and important. Unique features of our research project include: (1) a team level focus on social and psychological processes, to assess relations to proximal (e.g., innovation, first sales and team satisfaction), and distal value creation outcomes (e.g., sales growth, raised capital and profits). (2) Combined qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to provide both theory building and theory testing for the relations of interest. (3) A time-sequential design with data collection every three months over one year to allow us to investigate the relations of interest for new ventures

The anxiolytic effects of a Valerian extract is based on Valerenic acid

BACKGROUND: Valerian is commonly used for the treatment of insomnia and anxiety. Valerian extracts allosterically modulate GABA-A receptors and induced an anxiolytic activity. This activity is closely related to valerenic acid. In the present experiments it was investigated whether acetoxy valerenic acid may interfere with the anxiolytic action of valerenic acid. METHODS: Situational anxiety was measured using male CD-1 mice in the elevated plus maze test after oral administration of the test substances. In addition the body core temperature was measured. For the (3)H-GABA binding assay dissected tissue from frontal cortex of male RjHan:WI rats were used. Statistical evaluation was performed by means of the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallies H-test, followed by the two-tailed Mann–Whitney U-test. RESULTS: Adding of acetoxy valerenic acid abolished the anxiolytic action of valerenic acid. There was no effect on body core temperature. Moreover, the valerian extract did not show any affinity to benzodiazepine binding sites. CONCLUSION: The determining compound for the observed anxiolytic effect of the valerian extract is its content of valerenic acid

Identification and Biosynthesis of Novel Male Specific Esters in the Wings of the Tropical Butterfly, Bicyclus martius sanaos

Representatives of the highly speciose tropical butterfly genus Bicyclus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) are characterized by morphological differences in the male androconia, a set of scales and hair pencils located on the surface of the wings. These androconia are assumed to be associated with the release of courtship pheromones. In the present study, we report the identification and biosynthetic pathways of several novel esters from the wings of male B. martius sanaos. We found that the volatile compounds in this male butterfly were similar to female-produced moth sex pheromones. Components associated with the male wing androconial areas were identified as ethyl, isobutyl and 2-phenylethyl hexadecanoates and (11Z)-11-hexadecenoates, among which the latter are novel natural products. By topical application of deuterium-labelled fatty acid and amino acid precursors, we found these pheromone candidates to be produced in patches located on the forewings of the males. Deuterium labels from hexadecanoic acid were incorporated into (11Z)-11-hexadecenoic acid, providing experimental evidence of a Δ11-desaturase being active in butterflies. This unusual desaturase was found previously to be involved in the biosynthesis of female-produced sex pheromones of moths. In the male butterflies, both hexadecanoic acid and (11Z)-11-hexadecenoic acid were then enzymatically esterified to form the ethyl, isobutyl and 2-phenylethyl esters, incorporating ethanol, isobutanol, and 2-phenylethanol, derived from the corresponding amino acids L-alanine, L-valine, and L-phenylalanine

The role of circulating anti-p53 antibodies in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and their correlation to clinical parameters and survival

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer causes approximately one million deaths each year worldwide and protein p53 has been shown to be involved in the intricate processes regulating response to radiation and/or chemotherapeutic treatment. Consequently, since antibodies against p53 (anti-p53 antibodies) are associated with mutations within the p53 gene it seems likely that these antibodies could, hypothetically, be correlated with prognosis. METHODS: Serum samples from patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) admitted to the Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden, during 1983–1996 were studied. Anti-p53 abs were measured using a sandwich ELISA (Dianova, Hamburg, Germany). RESULTS: The present study included 84 patients with stage IIIA-IV (advanced NSCLC). At least three serum samples from each patient were collected and altogether 529 serum samples were analysed for the presence of anti-p53 antibodies. The median value of anti-p53 antibodies was 0.06 (range 0 – 139.8). Seventeen percent of investigated NSCLC first serum samples (n = 84) expressed elevated levels of anti-p53 antibodies. Anti-p53 antibodies were not correlated to tumour volume or platelets. Survival analysis showed that anti-p53 antibodies were not associated with survival as revealed by univariate analysis (p = 0.29). However, patients with adenocarcinoma had a significantly poorer survival if they expressed anti-p53 antibodies (p = 0.01), whereas this was not found for patients with squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.13). In patients where the blood samples were collected during radiation therapy, a statistically significant correlation towards poorer survival was found (p = 0.05) when elevated anti-p53 antibodies levels were present. No correlations to survival were found for serum samples collected prior to radiation therapy, during chemotherapy, or during follow-up. When anti-p53 antibodies were measured continuously, no increase in median anti-p53 values was observed the closer the individual patient come to death. CONCLUSION: The result of the present retrospective study indicates that anti-p53 antibodies are not suitable for predictions concerning selection of patients with a more favourable outcome. Further prospective studies are, though, needed to fully elucidate this issue

Evaluation of simulated responses to climate forcings: a flexible statistical framework using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling – Part 2: Numerical experiment

The performance of a new statistical framework, developed for the evaluation of simulated temperature responses to climate forcings against temperature reconstructions derived from climate proxy data for the last millennium, is evaluated in a so-called pseudo-proxy experiment, where the true unobservable temperature is replaced with output data from a selected simulation with a climate model. Being an extension of the statistical model used in many detection and attribution (D&amp;A) studies, the framework under study involves two main types of statistical models, each of which is based on the concept of latent (unobservable) variables: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models and structural equation modelling (SEM) models. Within the present pseudo-proxy experiment, each statistical model was fitted to seven continental-scale regional data sets. In addition, their performance for each defined region was compared to the performance of the corresponding statistical model used in D&amp;A studies. The results of this experiment indicated that the SEM specification is the most appropriate one for describing the underlying latent structure of the simulated temperature data in question. The conclusions of the experiment have been confirmed in a cross-validation study, presuming the availability of several simulation data sets within each studied region. Since the experiment is performed only for zero noise level in the pseudo-proxy data, all statistical models, chosen as final regional models, await further investigation to thoroughly test their performance for realistic levels of added noise, similar to what is found in real proxy data for past temperature variations.</p