Prevalence, physical activity and work in patients with spondyloarthritis

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of interrelated inflammatory rheumatic diseases with the sub-diagnoses ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), arthritis-associated inflammatory bowel disease (Aa-IBD), undifferentiated SpA (USpA), where stiffness and pain are key symptoms. Insidious onset back pain, morning stiffness, waking up at night, and improvement from exercise are common characteristics. The disease is life-long, often with early onset, and can cause limitations in physical function, affecting the ability to work, and has a negative effect on health-related quality of life. The overall aim of the present work was to describe the prevalence of SpA and to study the consequences for the individual and society regarding physical activity and work in a population-based cohort of patients seeking health care. The studies are based on a cohort of patients with SpA, identified through the Skåne Health Care Register by searching for 12 ICD-10 codes for SpA that had led to a doctor’s consultation 2003–2007. Two questionnaire surveys in 2009 and 2011 were sent to all the patients in the cohort >18 years and data from these formed the basis of the studies II, III, and IV. Study I: The estimation of SpA prevalence based on almost 4,000 patients was 0.45% in adults (≥ 15 years), and equally common in women and men. The prevalence in different subgroups was 0.12% in AS, 0.25% in PsA, 0.0015% in Aa-IBD, and 0.10% in USpA. Study II dealt with the proportion of patients who met the WHO recommendations for physical activity. Seven out of ten patients with SpA met the recommendations, more frequently in women than in men, and with a somewhat higher proportion in the SpAScania cohort than in the general Swedish population. Studies III and IV examined the patterns of reduced productivity at work both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Just under half of the patients with SpA reported reduced productivity at work, and more reduction was reported in women than in men. Reduced productivity at work was associated with, and could be predicted from several patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) such as reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL), higher disease activity, lower physical function, lower self-efficacy, worse mental health and low education level. To conclude, 45 individuals out of 10,000 have a diagnosis of SpA, and affected individuals report significant consequences of the disease. The findings presented in this thesis could help clinicians to identify patients at an early stage at risk of a worse prognosis using simple clinical questions in routine practice, and tailor the activities, treatment, and care for patients with SpA

Work productivity in a population-based cohort of patients with spondyloarthritis.

Objective. To assess work productivity and associated factors in patients with SpA.Methods. This cross-sectional postal survey included 1773 patients with SpA identified in a regional health care register. Items on presenteeism (reduced productivity at work, 0-100%, 0 = no reduction) were answered by 1447 individuals. Absenteeism was defined as register-based sick leave using data from a national register. Disease duration, disease activity (BASDAI), physical function (BASFI), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D), anxiety (HAD-a), depression (HAD-d), self-efficacy [Arthritis Self-efficacy Scale (ASES) pain and symptom], physical activity and education were also measured.Results. Forty-five per cent reported reduced productivity at work with a mean reduction of 20% (95% CI 18, 21) and women reported a higher mean reduction than men (mean 23% vs 17%, P < 0.001). Worse quality of life, disease activity, physical function and anxiety all correlated with reduced productivity (r = 0.52-0.66, P < 0.001), while sick leave did not. Worse outcomes on the EQ-5D (β-est -9.6, P < 0.001), BASDAI (β-est 7.8, P < 0.001), BASFI (β-est 7.3, P < 0.001), ASES pain (β-est -0.5, P < 0.001) and HAD-d (β-est 3.4, P < 0.001) were associated with reduced productivity at work in patients with SpA regardless of age, gender and disease subgroup. ASES symptoms, HAD-a and education level <12 years were associated with reduced productivity but were not significant in all strata for age, gender and disease subgroup.Conclusion. Work productivity was reduced in patients with SpA and more so in women. Worse quality of life, disease activity, physical function, self-efficacy and depression were all associated with reduced productivity at work in patients with SpA

Identification of highly brominated analogues of Q1 in marine mammals

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Pollution 144 (2006): 336-344, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2005.10.052.Three novel halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) have been identified in the blubber of marine mammals from coastal New England with the molecular formulae C9H3N2Br6Cl, C9H3N2Br7, and C9H4N2Br5Cl. They were identified using high and low resolution electron ionization (EI) and electron capture negative ionization (ECNI) gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and appear to be highly brominated analogues of Q1, a heptachlorinated HOC that has been suspected to be naturally-produced. These new compounds were found in Atlantic white sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus), bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus), harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) and a potential food source (Loligo pealei) with concentrations as high as 2.7 μg/g (lipid weight). The regiospecificity of C9H3N2Br6Cl is suggestive of a biogenic origin. Debromination of C9H3N2Br6Cl may be significant in the formation of C9H4N2Br5Cl.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE-0221181), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Life Institute, the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at WHOI (with funding from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. and The J. Seward Johnson Fund) (ELT) and The Island Foundation, Inc (BEP)

Non-target screening with high-resolution mass spectrometry: critical review using a collaborative trial on water analysis

In this article, a dataset from a collaborative nontarget screening trial organised by the NORMAN Association is used to review the state-of-the-art and discuss future perspectives of non-target screening using high-resolution mass spectrometry in water analysis. A total of 18 institutes from 12 European countries analysed an extract of the same water sample collected from the River Danube with either one or both of liquid and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection. This article focuses mainly on the use of high resolution screening techniques with target, suspect, and non-target workflows to identify substances in environmental samples. Specific examples are given to emphasise major challenges including isobaric and co-eluting substances, dependence on target and suspect lists, formula assignment, the use of retention information, and the confidence of identification. Approaches and methods applicable to unit resolution data are also discussed. Although most substances were identified using high resolution data with target and suspect-screening approaches, some participants proposed tentative non-target identifications. This comprehensive dataset revealed that nontarget analytical techniques are already substantially harmonised between the participants, but the data processing remains time-consuming. Although the objective of a Bfullyautomated identification workflow^ remains elusive in the short term, important steps in this direction have been taken, exemplified by the growing popularity of suspect screening approaches. Major recommendations to improve non-target screening include better integration and connection of desired features into software packages, the exchange of target and suspect lists, and the contribution of more spectra from standard substances into (openly accessible) databases.This work was supported in part by the SOLUTIONS project, which received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 603437

Copy number variant discrepancy resolution using the ClinGen dosage sensitivity map results in updated clinical interpretations in ClinVar

Conflict resolution in genomic variant interpretation is a critical step toward improving patient care. Evaluating interpretation discrepancies in copy number variants (CNVs) typically involves assessing overlapping genomic content with focus on genes/regions that may be subject to dosage sensitivity (haploinsufficiency (HI) and/or triplosensitivity (TS)). CNVs containing dosage sensitive genes/regions are generally interpreted as â likely pathogenicâ (LP) or â pathogenicâ (P), and CNVs involving the same known dosage sensitive gene(s) should receive the same clinical interpretation. We compared the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) Dosage Map, a publicly available resource documenting known HI and TS genes/regions, against germline, clinical CNV interpretations within the ClinVar database. We identified 251 CNVs overlapping known dosage sensitive genes/regions but not classified as LP or P; these were sent back to their original submitting laboratories for reâ evaluation. Of 246 CNVs reâ evaluated, an updated clinical classification was warranted in 157 cases (63.8%); no change was made to the current classification in 79 cases (32.1%); and 10 cases (4.1%) resulted in other types of updates to ClinVar records. This effort will add curated interpretation data into the public domain and allow laboratories to focus attention on more complex discrepancies.The ClinGen Dosage Sensitivity (DS) Map provides evidenceâ based assessments of the haploinsufficiency and triplosensitivity of genes/genomic regions. We identified 251 clinical copy number variants (CNVs) in ClinVar that overlapped known DS genes/regions but were not interpreted as â likely pathogenicâ or â pathogenic;â these were sent back to their original laboratories for reâ evaluation. Of the 246 that were reâ evaluated, 63.0% resulted in updated classifications, showing that the ClinGen DS Map can be an effective initial step in CNV classification discrepancy resolution.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146425/1/humu23610_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146425/2/humu23610.pd

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry

Background: The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-.network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-.network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for "suspect screening" lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide.Results: The NORMAN-SLE contains 99 separate suspect list collections (as of May 2022) from over 70 contributors around the world, totalling over 100,000 unique substances. The substance classes include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, natural toxins, high production volume substances covered under the European REACH regulation (EC: 1272/2008), priority contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and regulatory lists from NORMAN partners. Several lists focus on transformation products (TPs) and complex features detected in the environment with various levels of provenance and structural information. Each list is available for separate download. The merged, curated collection is also available as the NORMAN Substance Database (NORMAN SusDat). Both the NORMAN-SLE and NORMAN SusDat are integrated within the NORMAN Database System (NDS). The individual NORMAN-SLE lists receive digital object identifiers (DOIs) and traceable versioning via a Zenodo community (https:// zenodo.org/communities/norman-.sle), with a total of > 40,000 unique views, > 50,000 unique downloads and 40 citations (May 2022). NORMAN-SLE content is progressively integrated into large open chemical databases such as PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and the US EPA's CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (https://comptox. epa.gov/dashboard/), enabling further access to these lists, along with the additional functionality and calculated properties these resources offer. PubChem has also integrated significant annotation content from the NORMAN-SLE, including a classification browser (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/classification/#hid=101).Conclusions: The NORMAN-SLE offers a specialized service for hosting suspect screening lists of relevance for the environmental community in an open, FAIR manner that allows integration with other major chemical resources. These efforts foster the exchange of information between scientists and regulators, supporting the paradigm shift to the "one substance, one assessment" approach. New submissions are welcome via the contacts provided on the NORMAN-SLE website (https://www.norman-.network.com/nds/SLE/)

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): Facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry

Background: The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for “suspect screening” lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide. Results: The NORMAN-SLE contains 99 separate suspect list collections (as of May 2022) from over 70 contributors around the world, totalling over 100,000 unique substances. The substance classes include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, natural toxins, high production volume substances covered under the European REACH regulation (EC: 1272/2008), priority contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and regulatory lists from NORMAN partners. Several lists focus on transformation products (TPs) and complex features detected in the environment with various levels of provenance and structural information. Each list is available for separate download. The merged, curated collection is also available as the NORMAN Substance Database (NORMAN SusDat). Both the NORMAN-SLE and NORMAN SusDat are integrated within the NORMAN Database System (NDS). The individual NORMAN-SLE lists receive digital object identifiers (DOIs) and traceable versioning via a Zenodo community (https://zenodo.org/communities/norman-sle), with a total of > 40,000 unique views, > 50,000 unique downloads and 40 citations (May 2022). NORMAN-SLE content is progressively integrated into large open chemical databases such as PubChem (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and the US EPA’s CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/), enabling further access to these lists, along with the additional functionality and calculated properties these resources offer. PubChem has also integrated significant annotation content from the NORMAN-SLE, including a classification browser (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/classification/#hid=101). Conclusions: The NORMAN-SLE offers a specialized service for hosting suspect screening lists of relevance for the environmental community in an open, FAIR manner that allows integration with other major chemical resources. These efforts foster the exchange of information between scientists and regulators, supporting the paradigm shift to the “one substance, one assessment” approach. New submissions are welcome via the contacts provided on the NORMAN-SLE website (https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/)

The NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE): facilitating European and worldwide collaboration on suspect screening in high resolution mass spectrometry

The NORMAN Association (https://www.norman-network.com/) initiated the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (NORMAN-SLE; https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE/) in 2015, following the NORMAN collaborative trial on non-target screening of environmental water samples by mass spectrometry. Since then, this exchange of information on chemicals that are expected to occur in the environment, along with the accompanying expert knowledge and references, has become a valuable knowledge base for "suspect screening" lists. The NORMAN-SLE now serves as a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) chemical information resource worldwide.The NORMAN-SLE project has received funding from the NORMAN Association via its joint proposal of activities. HMT and ELS are supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) for project A18/BM/12341006. ELS, PC, SEH, HPHA, ZW acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036756, project ZeroPM: Zero pollution of persistent, mobile substances. The work of EEB, TC, QL, BAS, PAT, and JZ was supported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). JOB is the recipient of an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship (EL1 2009209). KVT and JOB acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council (DP190102476). The Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Queensland Department of Health. NR is supported by a Miguel Servet contract (CP19/00060) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-financed by the European Union through Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). MM and TR gratefully acknowledge financial support by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF, Bonn) through the project “Persistente mobile organische Chemikalien in der aquatischen Umwelt (PROTECT)” (FKz: 02WRS1495 A/B/E). LiB acknowledges funding through a Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) fellowship (11G1821N). JAP and JMcL acknowledge financial support from the NIH for CCSCompendium (S50 CCSCOMPEND) via grants NIH NIGMS R01GM092218 and NIH NCI 1R03CA222452-01, as well as the Vanderbilt Chemical Biology Interface training program (5T32GM065086-16), plus use of resources of the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) at Vanderbilt University. TJ was (partly) supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), project number 15747. UFZ (TS, MaK, WB) received funding from SOLUTIONS project (European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 603437). TS, MaK, WB, JPA, RCHV, JJV, JeM and MHL acknowledge HBM4EU (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement no. 733032). TS acknowledges funding from NFDI4Chem—Chemistry Consortium in the NFDI (supported by the DFG under project number 441958208). TS, MaK, WB and EMLJ acknowledge NaToxAq (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 722493). S36 and S63 (HPHA, SEH, MN, IS) were funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Project No. (FKZ) 3716 67 416 0, updates to S36 (HPHA, SEH, MN, IS) by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) Project No. (FKZ) 3719 65 408 0. MiK acknowledges financial support from the EU Cohesion Funds within the project Monitoring and assessment of water body status (No. 310011A366 Phase III). The work related to S60 and S82 was funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), KK and JH acknowledge the input of Kathrin Fenner’s group (Eawag) in compiling transformation products from European pesticides registration dossiers. DSW and YDF were supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Genome Canada. The work related to S49, S48 and S77 was funded by the MAVA foundation; for S77 also the Valery Foundation (KG, JaM, BG). DML acknowledges National Science Foundation Grant RUI-1306074. YL acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22193051 and 21906177), and the Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M650863). WLC acknowledges research project 108C002871 supported by the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. Taiwan (Taiwan EPA). JG acknowledges funding from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. AJW was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. LuB, AC and FH acknowledge the financial support of the Generalitat Valenciana (Research Group of Excellence, Prometeo 2019/040). KN (S89) acknowledges the PhD fellowship through Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 859891 (MSCA-ETN). Exposome-Explorer (S34) was funded by the European Commission projects EXPOsOMICS FP7-KBBE-2012 [308610]; NutriTech FP7-KBBE-2011-5 [289511]; Joint Programming Initiative FOODBALL 2014–17. CP acknowledges grant RYC2020-028901-I funded by MCIN/AEI/1.0.13039/501100011033 and “ESF investing in your future”, and August T Larsson Guest Researcher Programme from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The work of ML, MaSe, SG, TL and WS creating and filling the STOFF-IDENT database (S2) mostly sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the RiSKWa program (funding codes 02WRS1273 and 02WRS1354). XT acknowledges The National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. MaSch acknowledges funding by the RECETOX research infrastructure (the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, LM2018121), the CETOCOEN PLUS project (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469), and the CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE Teaming 2 project supported by the Czech ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (No CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632).Peer reviewe

Do we have a plan b(ee) for biodiversity? : green area index, green roofs and bees, how are they affected by each other?

Gröna ytor i svenska städer blir mindre samtidigt som befolkningen ökar. För att möta behovet av bostäder och samtidigt planera hållbara städer används arbetsredskapet grönytefaktor i de flesta städer i Sverige. Grönytefaktor inkluderar flera aspekter för att bidra till en hållbar stad, dagvatten hantering, buller och biologisk mångfald. Det sistnämnda är fokuset för detta kandidatarbete. Grönytefaktor inkluderar gröna tak som ett sätt att säkerställa gröna kvalitéter i staden, men det är oklart om värderingen stämmer överens med hur bra gröna tak är för biologisk mångfald. Detta kandidatarbete syftar därför till att undersöka hur gröna tak påverkar biologisk mångfald, speciellt med avseende på bin. Bin kan nämligen vara en sorts indikator på hur god biologisk mångfald som finns inom ett område. Sex olika kategorier av gröna tak presenteras och värderas enligt hur goda habitat de kan vara för bin. Därefter jämförs de med hur tre olika städer i Sverige värderar gröna tak i grönytefaktor och om det stämmer överens med deras potential som habitat för bin. Genom att göra en utförlig litteraturstudie för vad för krav bin har på habitat och hur gröna tak kan utformas har resultatet av detta kandidatarbete arbetats fram. Litteraturstudien har även gett en insikt i olika gröna taks potential att vara goda habitat för bin. Vidare undersökts även grönytefaktors uppkomst dessutom jämförs tre städer i Sverige för att förstå hur verktyget används idag. Informationen analyseras och resulterar i de slutsatser kring gröna taks utformning samt inkludering i grönytefaktor som presenteras. Slutsatsen som dras utifrån detta arbete är att gröna taks värdering till stor del stämmer överens med potentialen olika gröna tak har som habitat för bin. Däremot argumenteras det också för att en viktig aspekt saknas i grönytefaktor, nämligen kontexten till resten av staden. För att bidra med biologisk mångfald i staden behöver dels gröna tak utformas på ett, för bin, fördelaktigt sätt men också ha en diversitet av växtlighet och agera som steppings stones eller gröna korridorer i staden.Green areas in Swedish cities are decreasing while the population is increasing. In order to meet the need for housing but at the same time plan sustainable cities, the work tool green area index is used in most cities in Sweden. Green area index includes several aspects to contribute to a sustainable city, stormwater management, noise and biodiversity. The latter is the focus of this bachelor's thesis. The green area index includes green roofs as a way of ensuring green qualities in the city, but it is unclear whether the valuation is consistent with how well green roofs meet biodiversity. This bachelor thesis therefore aims to investigate how green roofs affect biodiversity, especially in regard to bees. Namely, bees can be a kind of indicator of how well biodiversity is within an area. Six different categories of green roofs are presented and rated according to how good a habitat they can be for bees. They are then compared with how three different cities in Sweden value green roofs in terms of green area index and whether this is consistent with their potential as a habitat for bees. By doing a detailed literature study for what kind of habitat requirements bees have and how green roofs can be designed, the results of this bachelor's thesis have been worked out. The literature study has also provided an insight into the potential of various green roofs to be good habitats for bees. Furthermore, the emergence of the green area index was also investigated, and three cities in Sweden were compared to understand how the tool is used today. The information is analyzed and results in the conclusions regarding green roof design and inclusion in the green area index that are presented. The conclusion drawn from this work is that the valuation of green roofs is largely consistent with the potential different green roofs have as a habitat for bees. However, it is also argued that an important aspect is missing in the green area index, namely the context to the rest of the city. In order to contribute to biodiversity in the city, green roofs need to be designed in a way that is advantageous for bees, but also have a diversity of vegetation and act as stepping stones or green corridors in the city