Nordic monitoring of diet, physical activity and overweight:First collection of data in all Nordic Countries 2011

The report describes the results of the first collection of data in the joint Nordic monitoring study of diet, physical activity and overweight. The study provides baseline data for frequency of intake in selected foods, physical activity level and prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Nordic countries. Telephone interviews were performed in the Nordic countries with the same validated questionnaire using simple indicator questions. The interviews were carried out in the autumn of 2011 including 9153 adults and 2479 children. The results show that all countries are far from the goals in the Nordic Plan of Action and there are areas to be improved in all countries. The study gives a good status for dietary intake indicators, indicators for physical activity, sedentary time and overweight which makes it possible follow changes in these parameters over time in the Nordic countries

Diversity and community biomass depend on dispersal and disturbance in microalgal communities

The evidence for species diversity effects on ecosystem functions is mainly based on studies not explicitly addressing local or regional processes regulating coexistence or the importance of community structure in terms of species evenness. In experimental communities of marine benthic microalgae, we altered the successional stages and thus the strength of local species interactions by manipulating rates of dispersal and disturbance. The treatments altered realized species richness, evenness and community biomass. For species richness, dispersal mattered only at high disturbance rates; when opening new space, dispersal led to maximized richness at intermediate dispersal rates. Evenness, in contrast, decreased with dispersal at low or no disturbance, i.e. at late successional stages. Community biomass showed a nonlinear hump-shaped response to increasing dispersal at all disturbance levels.We found a positive correlation between richness and biomass at early succession, and a strong negative correlation between evenness and biomass at late succession. In early succession both community biomass and richness depend directly on dispersal from the regional pool, whereas the late successional pattern shows that if interactions allow the most productive species to become dominant, diverting resources from this species (i.e. higher evenness) reduces production. Our study emphasizes the difference in biodiversity–function relationships over time, as different mechanisms contribute to the regulation of richness and evenness in early and late successional stages

Avoidable cancers in the Nordic countries-the potential impact of increased physical activity on postmenopausal breast, colon and endometrial cancer

Background: Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of colon, endometrial and postmenopausal breast cancer. The aim of this study was to quantify the proportion of the cancer burden in the Nordic countries linked to insufficient levels of leisure time physical activity and estimate the potential for cancer prevention for these three sites by increasing physical activity levels. Methods: Using the Prevent macrosimulation model, the number of cancer cases in the Nordic countries over a 30-year period (2016-2045) was modelled, under different scenarios of increasing physical activity levels in the population, and compared with the projected number of cases if constant physical activity prevailed. Physical activity (moderate and vigorous) was categorised according to metabolic equivalents (MET) hours in groups with sufficient physical activity (15+ MET-hours/week), low deficit (9 to Results: If no one had insufficient levels of physical activity, about 11,000 colon, endometrial and postmenopausal breast cancer cases could be avoided in the Nordic countries in a 30-year period, which is 1% of the expected cases for the three cancer types. With a 50% reduction in all deficit groups by 2025 or a 100% reduction in the group of high deficit, approximately 0.5% of the expected cases for the three cancer types could be avoided. The number and percentage of avoidable cases was highest for colon cancer. Conclusion: 11,000 cancer cases could be avoided in the Nordic countries in a 30-year period, if deficit in physical activity was eliminated. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Pleistocene glaciations in the western Arctic Oceans: Tentative age model of marine glacial landforms

Recently glacial landforms were presented and interpreted as complex pattern of Pleistocene glaciations in the western Arctic Ocean along the continental margin of the East Siberian and Chukchi seas, (Niessen et al. 2013, Dove et al. 2014). These landforms include moraines, drumlins, glacigenic debris flows, till wedges and mega-scale glacial lineations. Orientations of some of the landforms suggest the presence of former ice sheets on the Chukchi Borderland and the East Siberian shelf. Here we present a tentative age model for some of the younger glacial events by correlation of sediment cores with glacial landforms as seen in subbottom profiles. The database was obtained during RV „Polarstern“ cruise ARK-XIII/3 (2008) and RV "Araon" cruise ARA03B (2012), which investigated an area between the Chukchi Borderland and the East Siberian Sea between 165°W and 170°E. The stratigraphic correlation of sediment cores is based on physical properties (wet-bulk density and magnetic susceptibility), lithology and color. The chronology of the area has been proposed by Stein et al. (2010)for a core from the Chukchi Abyssal Plain (PS72/340-5) and includes brown layers B1 to B9 (marine isotope stages MIS 1 to MIS 7), which are used as marker horizons for lateral core correlation. Our tentative age model suggests that the youngest and shallowest (480 m below present water level; mbpwl) grounding event of an ice sheet on the Chukchi Borderland is younger than B2 (interpreted as Last Glacial Maximum; LGM). There is no clear evidence for a LGM glaciation along the East Siberian margin because intensive post LGM iceberg scouring occurred above 350 m present water level. On the slopes of the East Siberian Sea two northerly directed ice advances occurred, both of which are older and younger than B2 and B3, respectively. The younger advance grounded to about 700 m present water depth along the continental slope and the older to 900 m and 1100 m on the Arlis Plateau and the East Siberian continental margin, respectively. We interpret these advances as Middle Weichselian glaciations on the Beringian shelf (MIS 4 to 3). Two older glaciations can be dated as Early Weichselian (MIS 5b to 5d), of which the younger event is older and younger than B3 and B4, respectively. This glaciation can be traced by glacial wedges, streamlined lineations in up to 1200 mbpsl and subglacial diamicton along the East Siberian margin, the Arlis Plateau, and the Mendeleev Ridge. There are at least three older glaciation visible in acoustic images from the East Siberian continental margin, which probably predate the Weichselian. The available cores did not penetrate these events and the ages remain speculative

Preoperative systemic inflammation predicts postoperative infectious complications in patients undergoing curative resection for colorectal cancer

The presence of systemic inflammation before surgery, as evidenced by the glasgow prognostic score (mGPS), predicts poor long-term survival in colorectal cancer. The aim was to examine the relationship between the preoperative mGPS and the development of postoperative complications in patients undergoing potentially curative resection for colorectal cancer. Patients (n=455) who underwent potentially curative resections between 2003 and 2007 were assessed consecutively, and details were recorded in a database. The majority of patients presented for elective surgery (85%) were over the age of 65 years (70%), were male (58%), were deprived (53%), and had TNM stage I/II disease (61%), had preoperative haemoglobin (56%), white cell count (87%) and mGPS 0 (58%) in the normal range. After surgery, 86 (19%) patients developed a postoperative complication; 70 (81%) of which were infectious complications. On multivariate analysis, peritoneal soiling (P<0.01), elevated preoperative white cell count (P<0.05) and mGPS (P<0.01) were independently associated with increased risk of developing a postoperative infection. In elective patients, only the mGPS (OR=1.75, 95% CI=1.17-2.63, P=0.007) was significantly associated with increased risk of developing a postoperative infection. Preoperative elevated mGPS predicts increased postoperative infectious complications in patients undergoing potentially curative resection for colorectal cancer