Looking at Noise: Human Ecological Issues when Assessing the Impact of Seismic Surveys Effects on Oceanic Whales

This thesis introduces different issues regarding the impact of anthropogenic sound pollution on oceanic cetaceans (whales). It involves looking at the problems of anthropocentrism and the notion of Umwelt when trying to assess the well-being of a western culturally important species, and the relationship between that species and the industrialization of the ocean. The thesis is specifically focusing on seismic surveys conducted when prospecting for submarine reserves of natural gas and oil. Six semi-structured interviews have been made with professionally active individuals who have different expertise experience regarding the issue. Material from interviews have been intertwined with secondary data in the field of research to address human ecological aspects of the problems when assessing seismic surveys impact on oceanic cetaceans. The thesis aims to work as an introductory component for further human ecological research in the field of research of seismic surveys impact on oceanic cetaceans

Diet and the risk of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) : studies on the association with fish and sweetened beverages

Diabetes is an increasing public health problem affecting a breathtaking number of people worldwide. The knowledge about modifiable lifestyle factors influencing diabetes risk is extensive for type 2 diabetes, but limited for autoimmune forms of diabetes such as type 1 diabetes. Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a hybrid form of diabetes with characteristics of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Diet has an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes but its role in autoimmune diabetes is largely unknown. The aim of this thesis was to study the risk of LADA in relation to intakes of fish and sweetened beverages, two commonly consumed foods hypothesized to play a role in the development of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Analyses were based mainly on ESTRID, a Swedish case-control study with incident cases of LADA and type 2 diabetes, and population-based controls. All participants in ESTRID were aged ≥ 35 years and LADA was defined by the presence of glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GADA) and a level of C-peptide indicating remaining insulin secretion. Data on intakes of fish and sweetened beverages were available from questionnaires and investigated in relation to risk of LADA and type 2 diabetes. One study was based on data from EPIC-InterAct, a case-cohort study with prospective data from eight European countries. In EPIC-InterAct, we assessed the interaction of baseline GADA positivity and self-reported dietary fish or plasma n-3 PUFA in relation to the risk of adult onset diabetes. Based on ESTRID, weekly fatty fish intake was associated with 49% reduced risk of LADA (odds ratio [OR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.30-0.87), whereas no association was found for type 2 diabetes (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.74-1.39). These findings were supported by the results from EPIC-InterAct; low fatty fish intake was found to interact with GADA positivity on the risk of adult onset diabetes (attributable proportion due to interaction [AP] 0.48, 95% CI 0.24-0.72), and findings were similar for plasma n-3 PUFA. In ESTRID, sweetened beverage intake was positively associated with both LADA and type 2 diabetes. For LADA, the increased risk was evident only among carriers of low/intermediate risk HLA genotypes (OR per one daily serving 1.32, 95% CI 1.06-1.64). BMI was suggested to only partly mediate the associations between sweetened beverages and risk of LADA and type 2 diabetes, indicating that there may also be direct effects on glucose homeostasis. In conclusion, these results suggest that long-chain n-3 PUFAs from fish may decrease the risk of LADA whereas intake of sweetened beverages may increase the risk. Importantly, these findings indicate that diet may be a modifiable lifestyle factor influencing the development of LADA and hence be a target for preventive strategies

Uniformity of optical absorption in HgCdTe epilayer measured by infrared spectromicroscopy

Infrared absorption in HgCdTe epitaxial material has been investigated using infrared spectromicroscopy to study the uniformity at dimensions representative of typical infrared detectors. Infrared transmission measurements were performed on HgCdTe material using an infrared beam diameter of 9 μm. Line scans and area maps of transmission spectra were obtained to investigate statistical variations in infrared absorption. The HgCdTe material demonstrates a high degree of uniformity, with a standard deviation in absorption coefficient near the sensitive turn-on region of less than 3% and standard deviation in extracted Hg1-xCdxTeHg1-xCdxTe compositon of 3×10−4.3×10−4. © 2003 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69699/2/APPLAB-83-18-3701-1.pd

Prospects of micromass culture technology in tissue engineering

Tissue engineering of bone and cartilage tissue for subsequent implantation is of growing interest in cranio- and maxillofacial surgery. Commonly it is performed by using cells coaxed with scaffolds. Recently, there is a controversy concerning the use of artificial scaffolds compared to the use of a natural matrix. Therefore, new approaches called micromass technology have been invented to overcome these problems by avoiding the need for scaffolds. Technically, cells are dissociated and the dispersed cells are then reaggregated into cellular spheres. The micromass technology approach enables investigators to follow tissue formation from single cell sources to organised spheres in a controlled environment. Thus, the inherent fundamentals of tissue engineering are better revealed. Additionally, as the newly formed tissue is devoid of an artificial material, it resembles more closely the in vivo situation. The purpose of this review is to provide an insight into the fundamentals and the technique of micromass cell culture used to study bone tissue engineering

Applications of sensory and physiological measurement in oral‐facial dental pain

Dentists regularly employ a variety of self‐report and sensory techniques to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of tooth‐related disease. Many of these techniques leverage principles borrowed from psychophysics, the quantitative measurement of the relationship between stimuli and evoked sensations, which falls under the larger umbrella of quantitative sensory testing (QST). However, most clinicians fail to meet the bar for what could be considered quantitative sensory testing, and instead focus on qualitative and dichotomous “yes/no” aspects of sensory experience. With our current subjective measurements for pain assessments, diagnosis and treatment of dental pain in young children and individuals (any age) with severe cognitive impairment rely extensively on third‐party observations. Consequently, the limitation of inadequate pain diagnosis can lead to poor pain management. In this review, it discusses mechanisms that underlie acute and chronic dental pain. It details the measurement of somatosensory responses and pulpal blood flow as objective measures of tooth health and pain. It proposes that bridging these varied methodologies will significantly improve diagnosis and treatment of orofacial pain and pathology. It concludes that improving the precision of sensory measurements could yield important improvements in diagnostic challenges in pulpal pathology for noncommunicative and cognitively impaired individuals.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146659/1/scd12323.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146659/2/scd12323_am.pd