Evaluation of the efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on osteoarthritis and post-ESWT analgesia in animal models

Therapeutic use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) was first reported for the treatment of uroliths in humans in the 1970s and has been used in human orthopedics for over 10 years. ESWT has had promising results treating a wide variety of musculoskeletal diseases resulting in bone remodeling, neovascularization of bone-tendon interfaces, and orthopedic pain relief. ESWT has been applied to musculoskeletal diseases in animals in the United States for over 7 years. Although, ESWT has been used extensively in human and veterinary medicine, questions regarding efficacy and mechanism of action remain. Osteoarthritis is a significant cause of lameness in humans and animals. Interestingly, studies evaluating the ESWT for osteoarthritis are lacking in literature and further trials are necessary. In Chapter 3, we have evaluated the effect of ESWT on naturally occurring osteoarthritis in the stifle joints of dogs. Analgesia has recently been identified as a potential side effect of ESWT. There are no studies that objectively evaluate analgesia following ESWT. In Chapter 4, we have evaluated the analgesic effect analgesic effect of ESWT in horses. There remains much to be learned about ESWT, as it becomes a widely accepted treatment for musculoskeletal disorders. This manuscript explores the efficacy of ESWT on osteoarthritis and characterizes post treatment analgesia effects

DNA methylation-based subtype prediction for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.We present a method that utilizes DNA methylation profiling for prediction of the cytogenetic subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells from pediatric ALL patients. The primary aim of our study was to improve risk stratification of ALL patients into treatment groups using DNA methylation as a complement to current diagnostic methods. A secondary aim was to gain insight into the functional role of DNA methylation in ALL.We used the methylation status of ~450,000 CpG sites in 546 well-characterized patients with T-ALL or seven recurrent B-cell precursor ALL subtypes to design and validate sensitive and accurate DNA methylation classifiers. After repeated cross-validation, a final classifier was derived that consisted of only 246 CpG sites. The mean sensitivity and specificity of the classifier across the known subtypes was 0.90 and 0.99, respectively. We then used DNA methylation classification to screen for subtype membership of 210 patients with undefined karyotype (normal or no result) or non-recurrent cytogenetic aberrations ('other' subtype). Nearly half (n = 106) of the patients lacking cytogenetic subgrouping displayed highly similar methylation profiles as the patients in the known recurrent groups. We verified the subtype of 20% of the newly classified patients by examination of diagnostic karyotypes, array-based copy number analysis, and detection of fusion genes by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). Using RNA-seq data from ALL patients where cytogenetic subtype and DNA methylation classification did not agree, we discovered several novel fusion genes involving ETV6, RUNX1, and PAX5.Our findings indicate that DNA methylation profiling contributes to the clarification of the heterogeneity in cytogenetically undefined ALL patient groups and could be implemented as a complementary method for diagnosis of ALL. The results of our study provide clues to the origin and development of leukemic transformation. The methylation status of the CpG sites constituting the classifiers also highlight relevant biological characteristics in otherwise unclassified ALL patients.Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research RBc08-008 Swedish Cancer Society CAN2010/592 Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation 11098 Swedish Research Council for Science and Technology 90559401 Swedish Research Council FORTE Swedish Research Council FORMAS Swedish Research Council VINNOVA Swedish Research Council VR 259-2012-2

DNA methylation-based subtype prediction for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Peer reviewe

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km² resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e., offset) between in-situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km² pixels (summarized from 8500 unique temperature sensors) across all the world’s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in-situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world\u27s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Global maps of soil temperature.

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Omgivningens stöd : ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Whiplashskadade kvinnor berättar om sin väg tillbaka till sysselsättning

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilken betydelse omgivningens stöd har för en fungerande återgång till sysselsättning för whiplashskadade kvinnor. Fem kvinnor som alla har återgått till sysselsättning efter sin whiplashskada deltog i en kvalitativ intervju med öppna frågor kring betydelsen av omgivningens stöd och andra bidragande faktorer. Jag har haft Antonovskys teori om KASAM samt Putnams teori om socialt stöd som teoretisk grund. Då fokus har legat på att få fram deras upplevelse av omgivningens stöd genom min tolkning och förståelse har hermeneutiken använts som metod. Resultatet visade att omgivningens stöd i olika former var en viktig faktor för en lyckad återgång. Det handlade främst om praktiskt eller emotionellt stöd från myndigheter, familj och vänner. Det visade sig också att personliga förhållningssätt spelade in, såsom envishet och positivt tänkande

Bättre rådlös än rådvill? : Utvärdering av Naturvårdsverkets allmänna råd 2003:16 om vattenskyddsområden

Havs- och vattenmyndigheten är den centrala myndighet som har vägledningsansvar i arbetet med att inrätta och förvalta vattenskyddsområden.  Att inrätta vattenskyddsområden utgör en viktig del i samhällets arbete med att säkerställa en robust och väl fungerande dricksvattenförsörjning. Havs- och vattenmyndighetens uppgift är att ge stöd och tillsynsvägledning till de myndigheter och andra aktörer som på olika sätt arbetar för att säkra landets dricksvattenförsörjning.   Naturvårdsverkets allmänna råd 2003:16 om vattenskyddsområden utgör en central del i det vägledningsmaterial som finns inom sakområdet. Det är nu drygt 10 år sedan de allmänna råden skrevs och Havs- och vattenmyndigheten har bedömt att det finns behov av att se över rådens aktualitet. Denna analys är ett försök att utvärdera dels om råden utgör ett bra stöd i arbetet med att inrätta vattenskyddsområden med tillhörande föreskrifter och dels om råden kan tillämpas utan att man hamnar i konflikt med annan miljölagstiftning som tillkommit sedan de publicerades år 2003.  Syftet med att publicera utvärderingen i form av en rapport är att myndigheten bedömer att de slutsatser som dras i utvärderingen kan utgöra ett stöd i vattenskyddsarbetet. Många aktörer som verkar inom området efterfrågar mer nationell vägledning fr.a. kopplat till riskvärdering och utformning av vattenskyddsföreskrifter. Även stöttning i det efterföljande tillsyns- och prövningsarbetet baserat på fastställda vattenskyddsföreskrifter efterfrågas. Att ta fram nytt vägledningsmaterial i alla dessa delar är ett omfattande arbete som ställer krav både på sammanställning av kunskapsläget inom vissa områden och på metodutveckling. Havs- och vattenmyndighetens förhoppning är att denna rapport, till dess att ett nytt vägledningsmaterial inom sakområdet kan publiceras, kan bidra till att underlätta vattenskyddsarbetet i vissa delar.   Innehållet i rapporten har sammanställts av Havs- och vattenmyndigheten. Myndigheten vill dock framhålla att många centrala aktörer har bidragit med sin tid och kunskap. Detta har varit en viktig förutsättning för att få en god genomlysning av de olika frågeställningar som tagits upp inom ramen för utvärderingen. Myndigheten vill därför passa på att tacka för det engagemang som alla tillfrågade aktörer visat under arbetets gång.   Tills sist vill myndigheten tydliggöra att Naturvårdsverkets allmänna råd 2003:16 om vattenskyddsområden inte har upphävts utan fortfarande utgör en del av det nationella vägledningsmaterial som finns kopplat till vattenskyddsprocessen. Björn Sjöberg den 15 december 201