Optic nerve hypoplasia: Risk factors and epidemiology.

OBJECTIVES: To study the epidemiology of optic nerve hypoplasia. DESIGN AND METHODS: Children with optic nerve hypoplasia and visual impairment were identified through the Swedish Register of Visually Impaired Children. Pre- and perinatal characteristics were obtained from the Medical Birth Registry and by scrutinizing pregnancy and delivery records. Clinical characteristics of children with optic nerve hypoplasia are described. The following risk factors were studied: maternal age, parity, maternal smoking, gestational duration, birth weight, delivery method, Apgar score, maternal disease during pregnancy, drugs used in early pregnancy. RESULTS: Young maternal age, first parity, maternal smoking, preterm birth and factors associated with preterm birth were risk factors for optic nerve hypoplasia. There was an indicated association with the use of fertility drugs and antidepressant drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Optic nerve hypoplasia is apparently associated not only with other anomolies, notably of the central nervous system, but also with signs of general disturbance in fetal development

Inactivation of Pmel Alters Melanosome Shape But Has Only a Subtle Effect on Visible Pigmentation

PMEL is an amyloidogenic protein that appears to be exclusively expressed in pigment cells and forms intralumenal fibrils within early stage melanosomes upon which eumelanins deposit in later stages. PMEL is well conserved among vertebrates, and allelic variants in several species are associated with reduced levels of eumelanin in epidermal tissues. However, in most of these cases it is not clear whether the allelic variants reflect gain-of-function or loss-of-function, and no complete PMEL loss-of-function has been reported in a mammal. Here, we have created a mouse line in which the Pmel gene has been inactivated (Pmel−/−). These mice are fully viable, fertile, and display no obvious developmental defects. Melanosomes within Pmel−/− melanocytes are spherical in contrast to the oblong shape present in wild-type animals. This feature was documented in primary cultures of skin-derived melanocytes as well as in retinal pigment epithelium cells and in uveal melanocytes. Inactivation of Pmel has only a mild effect on the coat color phenotype in four different genetic backgrounds, with the clearest effect in mice also carrying the brown/Tyrp1 mutation. This phenotype, which is similar to that observed with the spontaneous silver mutation in mice, strongly suggests that other previously described alleles in vertebrates with more striking effects on pigmentation are dominant-negative mutations. Despite a mild effect on visible pigmentation, inactivation of Pmel led to a substantial reduction in eumelanin content in hair, which demonstrates that PMEL has a critical role for maintaining efficient epidermal pigmentation

D7.4 How to be FAIR with your data. A teaching and training handbook for higher education institutions

This handbook aims to support higher education institutions with the integration of FAIR-related content in their curricula and teaching. It was written and edited by a group of about 40 collaborators in a series of six book sprint events that took place between 1 and 10 June 2021. The document provides practical material, such as competence profiles, learning outcomes and lesson plans, and supporting information. It incorporates community feedback received during the public consultation which ran from 27 July to 12 September 2021

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Min man från Mellanöstern : - en religionsvetenskaplig analys av två skildringar om blandäktenskap

Måste det nödvändigtvis vara invecklat och svårt med interkulturella relationer? Innebär kärleksrelationer över gränserna mer komplikationer än andra förhållanden där man delar kultur, religion och etnicitet? Det finns uppenbarligen många människor som fattar tycker för varandra oavsett nationalitet och tro, men i flera skönlitterära romaner skildras en bild av att det är mer eller mindre omöjligt att få ett sådant förhållande att fungera. Jag vill dock gärna fortsätta att tro att kärleken beror mer på en sorts personkemi och attraktion människor emellan, något som man inte direkt kan sätta fingret på men som ändå finns där. I min uppsats skildrar och analyserar jag två populära och spridda romaner för att ta reda på vilken bild som framställs när det gäller kärleken mellan en mörkhyad muslimsk man och en vit kristen kvinna. I diskussionen redogör jag för mina egna tankar och åsikter om romanerna, samt beskriver hur jag tror de påverkar människor som tar del av dem genom bok eller film. Resultatet av romananalyserna visar att de båda redogör för en väldigt negativ och mörk bild vad det gäller de kärlekspar som det handlar om, och det är framförallt männen i historierna som presenteras på ett negativt sätt, och som kan bekräfta islamofoba och invandrarfientliga uppfattningar som finns i samhället.Does it always have to be complicated with intercultural relations? Is it so difficult with love when it comes to people with different religions, backgrounds and cultures? True, many persons fall in love whatever the nationality or faith happen to be, but is it like the popular books and movies describes – more or less impossible to fulfill a intercultural relationship? I don’t think so, and I will still keep on believing that love is something that depends on other things like the chemistry of human beings, and the strong feelings between two people, that make them cross the borders and just feel the love. In my essay I will analyze and describe how two popular and worldwide spread novels describes and presents the love between a dark-skinned Muslim man and a white Christian women, and I will also discuss what I think these two will represent, and what kind of signals they give to the people who read about them and see them on film. The result of the investigation turns out to be that these two novels describe a very negative and dark picture of the two couples that the novels are about. And it is particularly the two men in the stories who is presented in a negative way, and which also can confirm islamophobic and anti-immigrant views

Perspiratio - A part of the fluid balance? : A survey on intensive care units for adults in sweden

Bakgrund: I intensivvårdssjuksköterskans arbetsuppgifter ingår att räkna och registrera vätskebalans. Normal perspiratio är mellan 800-1100ml/dygn. Vätskeförlust via perspiratio är svårberäknad och hos den kritiskt sjuka patienten är de individuella skillnaderna ännu större och perspiratio kan bli större än normalt. Syfte: Att undersöka om perspiratio räknas in i vätskebalansen samt vilka faktorer som påverkar beräkningen. Metod: En empirisk, deskriptiv och analytisk studie med kvantitativ ansats. Datainsamlingen skedde genom frågeformulär utdelade till vårdenhetschefer på intensivvårdsavdelningar i Sverige. Resultat: Studien visar att på intensivvårdsavdelningarna var det vanligast att vätskeförlust via perspiratio räknas in i vätskebalansen. På dessa intensivvårdsavdelningar fanns skillnader i vilka faktorer som påverkade beräkningen. Vanligast förekommande var att beräkningen påverkades av patientens temp, andningsfrekvens och kroppsvikt. Slutsats: Att räkna med perspiratio som en del i vätskebalansen förefaller allmänt förekomma på intensivvårdsavdelningar i Sverige. Alla intensivvårdsavdelningar har inte riktlinjer för hur vätskebalans skall räknas. Det finns skillnader i vilka faktorer som påverkar beräkningen av perspiratio och detta stödjer det faktum att perspiratio är svårt att beräkna. Det finns även ett starkt samband mellan att ha riktlinjer och att räkna perspiratio. Klinisk betydelse: Det kan finnas ett intresse för intensivvårdssjuksköterskor att ta del av hur andra intensivvårdsavdelningar förhåller sig till perspiratio i vätskebalansen.  Background: In the intensive care nurse's duties measuring and register fluid balance is included. Normal perspiration is between 800-1100ml/24h. Fluid loss through perspiration is difficult to quantify and in the critically ill patient the individual differences are large and perspiration can exceed the normal amount. Purpose: To investigate if perspiration is accounted for in the fluid balance and which factors affects the estimate. Method: An empirical, descriptive and analytical study with quantitative approach. Data collection was done through questionnaires distributed to heads of wards in intensive care units in Sweden Results: The survey showed that most intensive care units included fluid loss through perspiration in the fluid balance. In these intensive care units there were differences in which factors that affect the calculation. Most common was that the calculation was influenced by the patient's temperature, respiration rate and weight. Conclusion: Register perspiration as part of the fluid balance seems generally to occur in intensive care units in Sweden. Not all intensive care units have guidelines how to measure fluid balance. There are differences in the factors that affect the calculation of perspiratio and this supports the fact that perspiratio is difficult to calculate. There is also a strong correlation between having guidelines and counting. Clinical significance: There may be an interest for intensive care nurses to learn about how other intensive care units relate to perspiration in the fluid balance

Hur unga kvinnor diskuterar och reflekterar om reklambilder där ett idealiserat kvinnligt kroppsideal förekommer

Studien handlar om unga kvinnors relation till reklambilder. I diskussionen exemplifieras hur idealet internaliseras. Artikeln har sin grund på en undersökning om hur unga kvinnor i fokusgrupper diskuterar och reflekterar kring reklambilder. Den avser att diskutera kvinnors förhållningssätt till idealiserade bilder och om det har en förbindelse till deras kroppsuppfattning och självkänsla. Detta är en empirisk undersökning baserad på fokusgrupper. Materialet har analyserats utifrån en tematisk analys där social jämförelse och objektifiering används för att ge ett underlag till att förklara unga kvinnors relation till mediala bilder.  I diskussionen kan det antas att respondenterna har en förförståelse kring idealets utformning. Respondenterna benämner unga kvinnor som en påverkbar grupp där en del blir mer fixerade vid att följa utseendet hos idealet än andra. Hos de unga kvinnorna fanns en betoning på att kritiskt granska det egna utseendet.