Energy Use in Swedish Forestry in 1972 and 1997

A comparison is made of energy usage and the contribution made to the global warming potential (GWP) by present (1997) and past (1972) forestry operations (including secondary haulage) in Sweden. The results are expressed in units of one cubic metre (solid u.b.) of harvested timber. The results indicate that, since 1972, improvements in fully mechanized forestry operations, particularly logging, have led to a reduction in total energy use from 1972 (236 MJ). In fact, the energy used by today's (1997) mechanized logging systems (147-200 MJ) is roughly the same as that used by motormanual systems back in 1972 (156-177 MJ). The same is true as regards the contribution made to global warming potential: more fossil carbon was released in mechanized forestry (22 GWP) in 1972 than in 1997 (13-17 GWP). What's more, the contribution to GWP in 1997 is on the same level as that made by motormanual systems in 1972 (15-16 GWP). It is accepted that forest management in Sweden mitigates the global warming potential. This is because the resulting sequestration effect in forest biomass is greater than the level of emissions from forestry operations

QKI-7 Regulates Expression of Interferon-Related Genes in Human Astrocyte Glioma Cells

The human QKI gene, called quaking homolog, KH domain RNA binding (mouse), is a candidate gene for schizophrenia encoding an RNA-binding protein. This gene was shown to be essential for myelination in oligodendrocytes. QKI is also highly expressed in astrocytes, but its function in these cells is not known.We studied the effect of small interference RNA (siRNA)-mediated QKI depletion on global gene expression in human astrocyte glioma cells. Microarray measurements were confirmed with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The presence of QKI binding sites (QRE) was assessed by a bioinformatic approach. Viability and cell morphology were also studied. The most significant alteration after QKI silencing was the decreased expression of genes involved in interferon (IFN) induction (P = 6.3E-10), including IFIT1, IFIT2, MX1, MX2, G1P2, G1P3, GBP1 and IFIH1. All eight genes were down-regulated after silencing of the splice variant QKI-7, but were not affected by QKI-5 silencing. Interestingly, four of them were up-regulated after treatment with the antipsychotic agent haloperidol that also resulted in increased QKI-7 mRNA levels.The coordinated expression of QKI-7 splice variant and IFN-related genes supports the idea that this particular splice variant has specific functions in astrocytes. Furthermore, a role of QKI-7 as a regulator of an inflammatory gene pathway in astrocytes is suggested. This hypothesis is well in line with growing experimental evidence on the role of inflammatory components in schizophrenia

Parallel imaging: is GRAPPA a useful acquisition tool for MR imaging intended for volumetric brain analysis?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The work presented here investigates parallel imaging applied to T1-weighted high resolution imaging for use in longitudinal volumetric clinical studies involving Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients. This was in an effort to shorten acquisition times to minimise the risk of motion artefacts caused by patient discomfort and disorientation. The principle question is, "Can parallel imaging be used to acquire images at 1.5 T of sufficient quality to allow volumetric analysis of patient brains?"</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Optimisation studies were performed on a young healthy volunteer and the selected protocol (including the use of two different parallel imaging acceleration factors) was then tested on a cohort of 15 elderly volunteers including MCI and AD patients. In addition to automatic brain segmentation, hippocampus volumes were manually outlined and measured in all patients. The 15 patients were scanned on a second occasion approximately one week later using the same protocol and evaluated in the same manner to test repeatability of measurement using images acquired with the GRAPPA parallel imaging technique applied to the MPRAGE sequence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Intraclass correlation tests show that almost perfect agreement between repeated measurements of both segmented brain parenchyma fraction and regional measurement of hippocampi. The protocol is suitable for both global and regional volumetric measurement dementia patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, these results indicate that parallel imaging can be used without detrimental effect to brain tissue segmentation and volumetric measurement and should be considered for both clinical and research studies where longitudinal measurements of brain tissue volumes are of interest.</p

Haematological malignancies in patients with psoriatic arthritis overall and treated with TNF inhibitors : a Nordic cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the risk of haematological malignancies in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) overall, and in relation to treatment with tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi). METHODS: We identified that patients with PsA starting a first TNFi from the clinical rheumatology registers (CRR) in the five Nordic countries (n=10 621) and biologics-naïve PsA patients from (1) the CRR (n=18 705) and (2) the national patient registers (NPR, n=27 286, Sweden and Denmark) from 2006 through 2019. For Sweden and Denmark, general population comparators were matched 5:1 to PsA patients on birth year, year at start of follow-up and sex. By linkage to the national cancer registers in all countries, we collected information on haematological malignancies overall, and categorised into lymphoid or myeloid types. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% CIs using modified Poisson regression for TNFi-treated versus biologics-naïve PsA patients and versus the general population adjusted for age, sex, calendar period and country. RESULTS: During 59 827 person-years, 40 haematological malignancies occurred among TNFi-treated patients with PsA resulting in a pooled IRR of 0.96 (0.68-1.35) versus biologics-naïve PsA from CRR and an IRR of 0.84 (0.64-1.10) versus biologics-naïve PsA from NPR. The IRR of haematological malignancies in PsA overall versus general population comparators was 1.35 (1.17-1.55). The estimates were largely similar for lymphoid and myeloid malignancies. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with TNFi in patients with PsA was not associated with an increased incidence of haematological malignancies. Conversely, a moderately increased underlying risk was seen in patients with PsA compared with the general population.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Yoga jam: remixing Kirtan in the Art of Living

Yoga Jam are a group of musicians in the United Kingdom who are active members of the Art of Living, a transnational Hindu-derived meditation group. Yoga Jam organize events—also referred to as yoga raves and yoga remixes—that combine Hindu devotional songs (bhajans) and chants (mantras) with modern Western popular musical genres, such as soul, rock, and particularly electronic dance music. This hybrid music is often played in a clublike setting, and dancing is interspersed with yoga and meditation. Yoga jams are creative fusions of what at first sight seem to be two incompatible phenomena—modern electronic dance music culture and ancient yogic traditions. However, yoga jams make sense if the Durkheimian distinction between the sacred and the profane is challenged, and if tradition and modernity are not understood as existing in a sort of inverse relationship. This paper argues that yoga raves are authenticated through the somatic experience of the modern popular cultural phenomenon of clubbing combined with therapeutic yoga practices and validated by identifying this experience with a reimagined Vedic tradition

Trends in invasive bacterial diseases during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: analyses of prospective surveillance data from 30 countries and territories in the IRIS Consortium.

BACKGROUND The Invasive Respiratory Infection Surveillance (IRIS) Consortium was established to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on invasive diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Streptococcus agalactiae. We aimed to analyse the incidence and distribution of these diseases during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the 2 years preceding the pandemic. METHODS For this prospective analysis, laboratories in 30 countries and territories representing five continents submitted surveillance data from Jan 1, 2018, to Jan 2, 2022, to private projects within databases in PubMLST. The impact of COVID-19 containment measures on the overall number of cases was analysed, and changes in disease distributions by patient age and serotype or group were examined. Interrupted time-series analyses were done to quantify the impact of pandemic response measures and their relaxation on disease rates, and autoregressive integrated moving average models were used to estimate effect sizes and forecast counterfactual trends by hemisphere. FINDINGS Overall, 116 841 cases were analysed: 76 481 in 2018-19, before the pandemic, and 40 360 in 2020-21, during the pandemic. During the pandemic there was a significant reduction in the risk of disease caused by S pneumoniae (risk ratio 0·47; 95% CI 0·40-0·55), H influenzae (0·51; 0·40-0·66) and N meningitidis (0·26; 0·21-0·31), while no significant changes were observed for S agalactiae (1·02; 0·75-1·40), which is not transmitted via the respiratory route. No major changes in the distribution of cases were observed when stratified by patient age or serotype or group. An estimated 36 289 (95% prediction interval 17 145-55 434) cases of invasive bacterial disease were averted during the first 2 years of the pandemic among IRIS-participating countries and territories. INTERPRETATION COVID-19 containment measures were associated with a sustained decrease in the incidence of invasive disease caused by S pneumoniae, H influenzae, and N meningitidis during the first 2 years of the pandemic, but cases began to increase in some countries towards the end of 2021 as pandemic restrictions were lifted. These IRIS data provide a better understanding of microbial transmission, will inform vaccine development and implementation, and can contribute to health-care service planning and provision of policies. FUNDING Wellcome Trust, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Torsten Söderberg Foundation, Stockholm County Council, Swedish Research Council, German Federal Ministry of Health, Robert Koch Institute, Pfizer, Merck, and the Greek National Public Health Organization