‘Pricing Nature at What Price?’ A study of undergraduate students’ conceptions of economics

This paper focuses on undergraduate students’ conceptions of, and learning in, economics. Reviews in the field of environmental education research have made clear that insufficient attention has been paid to the question of learning. In particular, there have been very few empirical investigations into the process (as opposed to the outcomes). There has also been a failure by environmental education researchers to engage with learning theory. Furthermore, it has been concluded that little research conducted within the realm of social science has included issues that relate to the environment in comparison to research in the natural sciences. In the light of this situation, this paper reports findings from a research project on undergraduate students’ learning in economics and environmental science, focusing in particular on conceptions of learning in economics. The results show that, among a group of 11 students entering a masters course on Sustainable Enterprising at Stockholm University, a majority of the students having a major in the natural sciences found economics to be challenging in various ways. All the students addressed the concept of ‘price’ as particularly challenging as it does not give ‘accurate’ value to nature and resources. The paper ends by discussing the students’ conceptions of the subject and reflects on challenges for learning in general when topics and content are found to be in conflict with personal values

Pre-eclampsia and risk of early-childhood asthma: A register study with sibling comparison and an exploration of intermediate variables

Background: We aimed to study whether pre-eclampsia is associated with childhood asthma, allergic and non-Allergic asthma, accounting for family factors and intermediate variables. Methods: The study population comprised 779 711 children born in 2005-2012, identified from Swedish national health registers (n = 14 823/7410 exposed to mild/moderate and severe pre-eclampsia, respectively). We used Cox regression to estimate the associations of mild/moderate and severe pre-eclampsia with incident asthma, before and after age 2 years. Cox regressions were controlled for familial factors using sibling comparisons, then stratified on high and low risk for intermediate variables: caesarean section, prematurity and small for gestational age. We used logistic regression for allergic and non-Allergic prevalent asthma at 6 years as a measure of more established asthma. Results: The incidence of asthma in children was 7.7% (n = 60 239). The associations varied from adjusted hazard ratio (adjHR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00, 1.24 for mild/moderate pre-eclampsia and asthma at >2 years age, to adjHR 1.78, 95% CI: 1.64, 1.95 for severe pre-eclampsia and asthma at <2 years age. Sibling comparisons attenuated most estimates except for the association between severe pre-eclampsia and asthma at <2 years age (adjHR 1.45, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.90), which also remained when stratifying for the risk of intermediates. Mild/moderate and severe pre-eclampsia were associated with prevalent non-Allergic (but not allergic) asthma at 6 years, with adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) 1.17, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.36 and adjOR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.23, 1.84, respectively. Conclusions: We found evidence that severe, but not mild/moderate, pre-eclampsia is associated with asthma regardless of familial factors and confounders

Early-Life Adversity Due to Bereavement and Inflammatory Diseases in the Next Generation: A Population Study in Transgenerational Stress Exposure

Emerging evidence suggests that trauma experienced in childhood has negative transgenerational implications for offspring mental and physical health. We aimed to investigate whether early-life adversity experienced as bereavement is associated with chronic inflammatory health in offspring. The study population included 3 generations of Swedish families with a base population of 453,516 children (generation 3) born in 2001-2012. Exposure was defined as the middle generation's (generation 2) experiencing bereavement in childhood due to the death of a parent (generation 1). Outcomes in generation 3 included 2 diagnoses of inflammatory diseases, including asthma, allergic diseases, eczema, and autoimmune diseases. Survival analysis was used to identify causal pathways, including investigation of mediation by generation 2 mood disorders and socioeconomic status (SES). We found that early-life bereavement experienced by women was associated with early-onset offspring asthma (hazard ratio = 1.15, 95% confidence interval: 1.08, 1.23); mediation analysis revealed that 28%-33% of the association may be mediated by SES and 9%-20% by mood disorders. Early-life bereavement experienced by men was associated with autoimmune diseases in offspring (hazard ratio = 1.31, 95% confidence interval: 1.06, 1.62), with no evidence of mediation. In conclusion, adversity experienced early in life may contribute to an increased risk of inflammatory diseases which is partly mediated by mood disorders and SES

Cancer and systemic inflammation: treat the tumour and treat the host

Determinants of cancer progression and survival are multifactorial and host responses are increasingly appreciated to have a major role. Indeed, the development and maintenance of a systemic inflammatory response has been consistently observed to confer poorer outcome, in both early and advanced stage disease. For patients, cancer-associated symptoms are of particular importance resulting in a marked impact on day-to-day quality of life and are also associated with poorer outcome. These symptoms are now recognised to cluster with one another with anorexia, weight loss and physical function forming a recognised cluster whereas fatigue, pain and depression forming another. Importantly, it has become apparent that these symptom clusters are associated with presence of a systemic inflammatory response in the patient with cancer. Given the understanding of the above, there is now a need to intervene to moderate systemic inflammatory responses, where present. In this context the rationale for therapeutic intervention using nonselective anti-inflammatory agents is clear and compelling and likely to become a part of routine clinical practice in the near future. The published literature on therapeutic intervention using anti-inflammatory agents for cancer-associated symptoms was reviewed. There are important parallels with the development of useful treatments for the systemic inflammatory response in patients with rheumatological disease and cardiovascular disease

The relationship between the insulin-like growth factor-1 axis, weight loss, an inflammation-based score and survival in patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer

&lt;b&gt;Background &#38; aims:&lt;/b&gt; The involvement of a systemic inflammatory response, as evidenced by the Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), is associated with weight loss and poor outcome in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. There is good evidence that nutritional and functional decline in patients with advanced malignant disease is associated with catabolic changes in metabolism. However, defects in anabolism may also contribute towards nutritional decline in patients with cancer. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between IGF-1 and IGFBP-3, performance status, mGPS and survival in patients with inoperable NSCLC. &lt;b&gt;Methods:&lt;/b&gt; 56 patients with inoperable NSCLC were studied. The plasma concentrations of IGF-1, IGFBP-3 and leptin were measured using ELISA and RIA. &lt;b&gt;Results:&lt;/b&gt; The patients were predominantly male (61%), over 60 years old (80%), with advanced (stage III or IV) disease (98%), with a BMI≥20 (84%), an ECOG-ps of 0 or 1 (79%), a haemoglobin (59%) and white cell count (79%) in the reference range. On follow-up 43 patients died of their cancer. On univariate analysis, BMI (p&#60;0.05), Stage (p&#60;0.05), ECOG-ps (p&#60;0.05), haemoglobin (p&#60;0.05), white cell count (p&#60;0.05) and mGPS (p&#60;0.05) were associated with cancer specific survival. There was no association between age, sex, treatment, IGF-1, IGFBP-3, IGF-1:IGFBP-3 ratio, or leptin and cancer specific survival. With an increasing mGPS concentrations of haemoglobin (p&#60;0.005) and IGFBP-3 (p&#60;0.05) decreased. mGPS was not associated with either IGF-1(p&#62;0.20), or leptin (p&#62;0.20). &lt;b&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/b&gt; In summary, the results of this study suggest that anabolism (IGF-1 axis) does not play a significant role in the relationship between nutritional and functional decline, systemic inflammation and poor survival in patients with inoperable NSCLC

Predictors of adolescents’ consent to use health records for research and results from data collection in a Swedish twin cohort

INTRODUCTION: Non-random selection into a study population due to differences between consenters and non-consenters may introduce participation bias. Past investigations of factors predicting consent to collection of medical health records for research imply that age, sex, health status, and education are of importance for participation, but disagree on the direction of effects. Very little is known about influences on consent from adolescents. METHODS: Two cohorts of Swedish 15-year-old twins (total n = 4,611) previously invited to the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) responded to a questionnaire with information on sex, individual's health, height, weight, and parental factors. The questionnaire included a question for consent to collection of medical health records. Predictors for consent were analyzed using logistic regression. Additionally, regional differences in the collection of health records of consenters were evaluated. RESULTS: Males were significantly less likely to consent compared to females (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.64-0.85). The twin siblings' decision to consent was strongly associated with consent (OR 10.9, 95% CI 8.76-13.5), and individuals whose parents had responded to the original CATSS study were more likely to consent to record collection at age 15 (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.81-2.75). Results of the subsequent collection of consenters' medical health records varied between geographical regions of Sweden. CONCLUSION: We identified several predictors for adolescents' consent to collection of their medical health records. Further selection was introduced through the subsequent record collection. Whether this will induce participation bias in future studies depends on the research questions' relationship to the identified predictors.NoneAccepte

Effect of dietary omega-3 fatty acids on castrate-resistant prostate cancer and tumor-associated macrophages.

BackgroundM2-like macrophages are associated with the pathogenesis of castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). We sought to determine if dietary omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FAs) delay the development and progression of CRPC and inhibit tumor-associated M2-like macrophages.MethodsMycCap cells were grown subcutaneously in immunocompetent FVB mice. Mice were castrated when tumors reached 300 mm2. To study effects of dietary ω-3 FAs on development of CRPC, ω-3 or ω-6 diets were started 2 days after castration and mice sacrificed after early regrowth of tumors. To study ω-3 FA effects on progression of CRPC, tumors were allowed to regrow after castration before starting the diets. M2 (CD206+) macrophages were isolated from allografts to examine ω-3 FA effects on macrophage function. Omega-3 fatty acid effects on androgen-deprived RAW264.7 M2 macrophages were studied by RT-qPCR and a migration/ invasion assay.ResultsThe ω-3 diet combined with castration lead to greater MycCap tumor regression (tumor volume reduction: 182.2 ± 33.6 mm3) than the ω-6 diet (tumor volume reduction: 148.3 ± 35.2; p = 0.003) and significantly delayed the time to CRPC (p = 0.006). Likewise, the ω-3 diet significantly delayed progression of established castrate-resistant MycCaP tumors (p = 0.003). The ω-3 diet (as compared to the ω-6 diet) significantly reduced tumor-associated M2-like macrophage expression of CSF-1R in the CRPC development model, and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the CRPC progression model. Migration of androgen-depleted RAW264.7 M2 macrophages towards MycCaP cells was reversed by addition of docosahexaenoic acid (ω-3).ConclusionsDietary omega-3 FAs (as compared to omega-6 FAs) decreased the development and progression of CRPC in an immunocompetent mouse model, and had inhibitory effects on M2-like macrophage function. Clinical trials are warranted evaluating if a fish oil-based diet can delay the time to castration resistance in men on androgen deprivation therapy, whereas further preclinical studies are warranted evaluating fish oil for more advanced CRPC

Mode of obstetrical delivery and type 1 diabetes : a sibling design study

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the association between cesarean section (CS) and type 1 diabetes (T1D), and if the association remains after accounting for familial confounding by using a sibling-control design. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study of all singleton live births in Sweden between 1982 and 2009, followed by sibling-control analyses. T1D diagnoses were identified from the Swedish National Patient Register. Mode of delivery was categorized into unassisted vaginal delivery (reference group), instrumental vaginal delivery (IVD), emergency CS, and elective CS. The statistical analysis was conducted in 2 steps: firstly log-linear Poisson regression with aggregated person-years by using the full cohort; secondly, conditional logistic regression for sibling-control analyses. The sibling analysis included siblings who were discordant for both mode of delivery and T1D. RESULTS: In the cohort analyses (N = 2 638 083), there was an increased risk of childhood T1D among children born by elective CS (adjusted relative risk [RR] = 1.15 [95% confidence interval: 1.06-1.25]) and IVD (RR=1.14 [1.06-1.23]) but not emergency CS (RR = 1.02 [0.95-1.11]) when compared with children born by unassisted vaginal birth. However, the effect of elective CS and IVD on childhood T1D almost disappeared and became nonsignificant in the sibling-control analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest a small association between elective CS and IVD and T1D. The sibling-control results, however, suggest that these findings are not consistent with causal effects of mode of delivery on T1D and may be due to familial confounders such as genetic susceptibility and environmental factors.NoneAccepte

Causal Effects of the Timing of Life-course Events Age at Retirement and Subsequent Health

In this article, we combine the extensive literature on the analysis of life-course trajectories as sequences with the literature on causal inference and propose a new matching approach to investigate the causal effect of the timing of life-course events on subsequent outcomes. Our matching approach takes into account pre-event confounders that are both time-independent and time-dependent as well as life-course trajectories. After matching, treated and control individuals can be compared using standard statistical tests or regression models. We apply our approach to the study of the consequences of the age at retirement on subsequent health outcomes, using a unique data set from Swedish administrative registers. Once selectivity in the timing of retirement is taken into account, effects on hospitalization are small, while early retirement has negative effects on survival. Our approach also allows for heterogeneous treatment effects. We show that the effects of early retirement differ according to preretirement income, with higher income individuals tending to benefit from early retirement, while the opposite is true for individuals with lower income