Weed problems in various tillage systems in the Nordic countries

There is an increasing use of various forms of reduced tillage or no-tillage in the Nordic countries. This will favour the growth of grass weed species and perennial species. Perennial creeping weeds like Elymus repens, Cirsium arvense, and Sonchus arvensis are important in all Nordic countries. Stationary weeds such as Taraxacum spp., Artemisia vulgaris and volunteer grassland species increase in areas with reduced tillage and especially no-tillage systems. Winter annual and biennial species such as Matricaria perforata, Poa annua, Alopecurus geniculatus and Stellaria media are frequently occuring weeds in reduced tillage systems in all countries, while Alopecurus myosuroides and Apera spica-venti are problems in Denmark and Southern parts of Sweden and Finland

Decreasing trend in the incidence of serious pneumonias in Finnish children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

OBJECTIVES: Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) may be predisposed to serious pneumonia due to modern disease-modifying anti-rheumatic treatment. In this nationwide retrospective study with clinical data, we describe the pneumonia episodes among children with JIA. METHODS: Patients under 18 years of age with JIA and pneumonia during 1998-2014 were identified in the National Hospital Discharge Register in Finland. Each individual patient record was reviewed, and detailed data on patients with JIA and pneumonia were retrieved, recorded, and analyzed. If the patient was hospitalized or received intravenous antibiotics, the pneumonia was considered serious. RESULTS: There were 157 episodes of pneumonia among 140 children with JIA; 111 episodes (71%) were serious (80% in 1998-2006 and 66% in 2007-2014). The mean age of the patients was 9 years. Forty-eight percent had active JIA and 46% had comorbidities. Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) were used at the time of 135 episodes (86%): methotrexate (MTX) by 62% and biologic DMARDs (bDMARD) by 30%. There was no significant difference in the use of bDMARDs, MTX and glucocorticoids between the patient groups with serious and non-serious pneumonia episodes. During six of the episodes, intensive care was needed. Two patients (1.3%) died, the remaining ones recovered fully. CONCLUSIONS: Although the incidence of pneumonia and the use of immunosuppressive treatment among children with JIA increased from 1998 to 2014, the proportion of serious pneumonias in these patients decreased. There was no significant difference in the use of anti-rheumatic medication between patients with serious and non-serious pneumonia.Key Points• The incidence of serious pneumonias decreased from 1998 to 2014 among children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).• There was no significant difference in the use of the disease-modifying anti-rheumatic medication between JIA patients with serious and non-serious pneumonias.• Active JIA, comorbidities, and combination medication were associated with nearly half of the pneumonias.Peer reviewe

Enhanced dielectrophoresis of nanocolloids by dimer formation

We investigate the dielectrophoretic motion of charge-neutral, polarizable nanocolloids through molecular dynamics simulations. Comparison to analytical results derived for continuum systems shows that the discrete charge distributions on the nanocolloids have a significant impact on their coupling to the external field. Aggregation of nanocolloids leads to enhanced dielectrophoretic transport, provided that increase in the dipole moment upon aggregation can overcome the related increase in friction. The dimer orientation and the exact structure of the nanocolloid charge distribution are shown to be important in the enhanced transport

Variability of the Spectral Energy Distribution of the Blazar S5 0716+714

The emission from blazars is known to be variable at all wavelengths. The flux variability is often accompanied by spectral changes. Spectral energy distribution (SED) changes must be associated with changes in the spectra of emitting electrons and/or the physical parameters of the jet. Meaningful modeling of blazar broadband spectra is required to understand the extreme conditions within the emission region. Not only is the broadband SED crucial, but also information about its variability is needed to understand how the highest states of emission occur and how they differ from the low states. This may help in discriminating between models. Here we present the results of our SED modeling of the blazar S5 0716+714 during various phases of its activity. The SEDs are classified into different bins depending on the optical brightness state of the source.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, contributed talk presented at the conference Multifrequency Variability of Blazars, Guangzhou, China, September 22-24, 2010. To appear in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (JAA

The relationship between gambling expenditure, socio-demographics, health-related correlates and gambling behaviour-a cross-sectional population-based survey in Finland

 Aims: To investigate gambling expenditure and its relationship with socio-demographics, health-related correlates and past-year gambling behaviour. Design: Cross-sectional population survey. Setting: Population-based survey in Finland. Participants: Finnish people aged 15–74 years drawn randomly from the Population Information System. The participants in this study were past-year gamblers with gambling expenditure data available (n = 3251, 1418 women and 1833 men). Measurements: Expenditure shares, means of weekly gambling expenditure (WGE, €) and monthly gambling expenditure as a percentage of net income (MGE/NI, %) were calculated. The correlates used were perceived health, smoking, mental health [Mental Health Inventory (MHI)-5], alcohol use [Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)-C], game types, gambling frequency, gambling mode and gambling severity [South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS)]. Findings: Gender (men versus women) was found to be associated significantly with gambling expenditure, with exp(β) = 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.29, 1.52 and P Conclusions: In Finland, male gender is associated significantly with both weekly gambling expenditure and monthly gambling expenditure related to net income. People in Finland with lower incomes contribute proportionally more of their income to gambling compared with middle- and high-income groups.In Finland, male gender is associated significantly with both weekly gambling expenditure and monthly gambling expenditure related to net income. People in Finland with lower incomes contribute proportionally more of their income to gambling compared with middle- and high-income groups.</p

Low maximal oxygen uptake is associated with elevated depressive symptoms in middle-aged men

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55399/1/Tolmunen T, Low maximal oxygen uptake, 2006.pd

Statistical analyses of long-term variability of AGN at high radio frequencies

We present a study of variability time scales in a large sample of Active Galactic Nuclei at several frequencies between 4.8 and 230 GHz. We investigate the differences of various AGN types and frequencies and correlate the measured time scales with physical parameters such as the luminosity and the Lorentz factor. Our sample consists of both high and low polarization quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies. The basis of this work is the 22 GHz, 37 GHz and 87 GHz monitoring data from the Metsahovi Radio Observatory spanning over 25 years. In addition,we used higher 90 GHz and 230 GHz frequency data obtained with the SEST-telescope between 1987 and 2003. Further lower frequency data at 4.8 GHz, 8 GHz and 14.5 GHz from the University of Michigan monitoring programme have been used. We have applied three different statistical methods to study the time scales: The structure function, the discrete correlation function and the Lomb-Scargle periodogram. We discuss also the differences and relative merits of these three methods. Our study reveals that smaller flux density variations occur in these sources on short time scales of 1-2 years, but larger outbursts happen quite rarely, on the average only once in every 6 years. We do not find any significant differences in the time scales between the source classes. The time scales are also only weakly related to the luminosity suggesting that the shock formation is caused by jet instabilities rather than the central black hole.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in A&