Social sustainability in urban planning processes : a case study of Mary Andersson’s park, Malmö

Begreppet hållbar utveckling, tillika den sociala dimensionen av hållbarhet är komplexa begrepp utan entydig definition och som präglas av konflikt sett till intresse, mål och värde. Bortom debatten om innebörd är social hållbarhet idag ett centralt begrepp inom politiken och har en viktig funktion i diskussioner om mål och syften gällande planering och samhällsutveckling. Syftet med denna studie var att förstå hur olika aktörer arbetar med och förhåller sig till social hållbarhet i planeringen av offentliga rum genom litteraturstudier och en exempelstudie av planeringsprocessen av Mary Anderssons park i Sorgenfri, Malmö. Exempelstudien utgjordes av tre semi-strukturerade intervjuer och dokumentstudier. Utifrån litteraturstudien delades social hållbarhet upp i två huvudkategorier för en teoretisk förståelse av vad som kan ses som social hållbarhet i den fysiska planeringen; social rättvisa och social sammanhållning. Mary Anderssons park kan ses ett framgångsrikt projekt som på flera sätt relaterar till en socialt hållbar utveckling av offentliga rum. Lärdomar från projektet innefattade bland annat att omfattande dialog och planeringsprocesser kräver långsiktighet, resurser, drivande aktörer samt gränsöverskridande samarbete. Dialog och samskapande genererade och upprätthöll engagemang, något som bidrar till att platser kan ses som socialt hållbara över tid. Att ta vara på invånarnas idéer och platsens lokalhistoria genererade en lokal stolthet och förankrade platsen i området. Lärdomarna kan sammanfattas till en brist på övergripande direktiv som underlättar för den här typen av gränsöverskridande planeringsprocesser och att sociala vinster inte alltid är mätbara.The concept of sustainable development, as well as the social dimension of sustainability, are complex concepts without a clear definition and characterized by conflict in terms of interest, goals and value. Beyond the debate on meaning, social sustainability is today a central concept in politics and has an important function in discussions about goals and aims regarding planning and social development. The purpose of this study was to understand how different actors work with and relate to social sustainability in the planning of public spaces, through literature studies and an example study of the planning process of Mary Andersson’s park in Sorgenfri, Malmö. The example study consisted of three semi-structured interviews and document studies. Based on the literature study, social sustainability was divided into two main categories for a theoretical understanding of what can be seen as social sustainability in physical planning: social justice and sustainability of community. Mary Andersson’s park can be seen as a successful project that in several ways relates to social sustainable development of public spaces. Lessons from the project included, among other things, that extensive dialogue and planning processes require long-term perspectives, resources, driving actors and crossborder cooperation. Dialogue and co-creation generated and maintained involvement, something that contributes to that places can be seen as social sustainable over time. As well as taking advantage of the residents' ideas and the local history of the place generated a local pride and anchored the place in the area. The lessons can be summed up in a lack of comprehensive directives that facilitate this type of cross-border planning processes and that social gains are not always measurable

Food Chain Transport of Nanoparticles Affects Behaviour and Fat Metabolism in Fish

Nano-sized (10−9–10−7 m) particles offer many technical and biomedical advances over the bulk material. The use of nanoparticles in cosmetics, detergents, food and other commercial products is rapidly increasing despite little knowledge of their effect on organism metabolism. We show here that commercially manufactured polystyrene nanoparticles, transported through an aquatic food chain from algae, through zooplankton to fish, affect lipid metabolism and behaviour of the top consumer. At least three independent metabolic parameters differed between control and test fish: the weight loss, the triglycerides∶cholesterol ratio in blood serum, and the distribution of cholesterol between muscle and liver. Moreover, we demonstrate that nanoparticles bind to apolipoprotein A-I in fish serum in-vitro, thereby restraining them from properly utilising their fat reserves if absorbed through ingestion. In addition to the metabolic effects, we show that consumption of nanoparticle-containing zooplankton affects the feeding behaviour of the fish. The time it took the fish to consume 95% of the food presented to them was more than doubled for nanoparticle-exposed compared to control fish. Since many nano-sized products will, through the sewage system, end up in freshwater and marine habitats, our study provides a potential bioassay for testing new nano-sized material before manufacturing. In conclusion, our study shows that from knowledge of the molecular composition of the protein corona around nanoparticles it is possible to make a testable molecular hypothesis and bioassay of the potential biological risks of a defined nanoparticle at the organism and ecosystem level

High Resolution Structural Characterization of Aβ₄₂ Amyloid Fibrils by Magic Angle Spinning NMR

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (EB-003151)National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (EB-001960)National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (EB-002026

Biocompatibility of mannan nanogel : safe interaction with plasma proteins

BACKGROUND: Self-assembled mannan nanogels are designed to provide a therapeutic or vaccine delivery platform based on the bioactive properties of mannan to target mannose receptor expressed on the surface of antigen-presenting cells, combined with the performance of nanogels as carriers of biologically active agents. METHODS: Proteins in the corona around mannan nanogel formed in human plasma were identified by mass spectrometry after size exclusion chromatography or centrifugation followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Structural changes and time dependent binding of human apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) and human serum albumin (HSA) to mannan nanogel were studied using intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The mannan nanogel effect on blood coagulation and fibrillation of Alzheimer's disease-associated amyloid β peptide and hemodialysis-associated amyloidosis β2 microglobulin was evaluated using thrombin generation assay or thioflavin T fluorescence assay, respectively. RESULTS: The protein corona around mannan nanogel is formed through a slow process, is quite specific comprising apolipoproteins B-100, A-I and E and HSA, evolves over time, and the equilibrium is reached after hours to days. Structural changes and time dependent binding of apoA-I and HSA to mannan nanogel are minor. The mannan nanogel does not affect blood coagulation and retards the fibril formation. CONCLUSIONS: Mannan nanogel has a high biosafety and biocompatibility, which is mandatory for nanomaterials to be used in biomedical applications. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: Our research provides a molecular approach to evaluate the safety aspects of nanomaterials, which is of general concern in society and science.The authors thank the financial support by International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), through PTDC, European Science Foundation (ESF) for the activity entitled 'Mapping the detailed composition of Surface-Absorbed Protein Layers on Biomaterials and Nanoparticles', the Crafoord Foundation, and Lund and Nano Vaccine Center, Denmark. The NIPAM coated gold particle is a kind gift from Colloidal Chemistry Group from Vigo University, Spain

Internet Use and Anxiety in People with Melanoma and Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87178/1/j.1524-4725.2011.02124.x.pd

Autocatalytic amplification of Alzheimer-associated Aβ42 peptide aggregation in human cerebrospinal fluid

Alzheimer’s disease is linked to amyloid β (Aβ) peptide aggregation in the brain, and a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanism of Aβ aggregation may lead to improved diagnostics and therapeutics. While previous studies have been performed in pure buffer, we approach the mechanism in vivo using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We investigated the aggregation mechanism of Aβ42 in human CSF through kinetic experiments at several Aβ42 monomer concentrations (0.8–10 µM). The data were subjected to global kinetic analysis and found consistent with an aggregation mechanism involving secondary nucleation of monomers on the fibril surface. A mechanism only including primary nucleation was ruled out. We find that the aggregation process is composed of the same microscopic steps in CSF as in pure buffer, but the rate constant of secondary nucleation is decreased. Most importantly, the autocatalytic amplification of aggregate number through catalysis on the fibril surface is prevalent also in CSF

Effect of glucocorticoids on the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides in amphibian skin

AbstractGene-encoded peptide antibiotics are widespread in insects, plants and vertebrates and confer protection against bacterial and fungal infections. NF-κB is an important transcription factor for many immunity-related mammalian proteins and also for insect immune genes. The activity of NF-κB is regulated by the interaction with an inhibitor, IκB. It was recently demonstrated that glucocorticoids induce the synthesis of IκB in human cell lines. So far, all genes for peptide antibiotics have promoter motifs with NF-κB binding sites, but its actual function in peptide regulation has been studied only in insects. Here we show that glucocorticoid treatment of the frog Rana esculenta inhibits the transcription of all genes encoding antibacterial peptides by inducing the synthesis of IκBα. These results suggest that also in vertebrates peptide-mediated innate immunity is controlled by NF-κB-regulated transcription