Tulevaisuuden vaihtoehtoiset ruokavaliot Suomessa

Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on heikkojen signaalien ja ennakointimenetelmän avulla saada tietoa tulevaisuuden vaihtoehtoisista ruokavalioista ja suosituista raaka-aineista. Mediaseurannan ja heikkojen signaalien avulla tehdään kolmen vuoden päähän ennuste. Mediaseurantaa tehtiin viiden kuukauden ajan kymmenestä eri ruokablogista sekä sanoma- ja aikakausilehdestä. Blogien päivityksistä ja lehdistä kerättiin kaikki ruokapäivitykset, joissa esiintyi reseptejä. Valituista lehdistä poimittiin lisäksi kaikki ruokauutiset. Työn teoriaosuudessa selvitetään ruokaan liittyviä käsitteitä, sähköisen ja painetun median historiaa ja nykypäivää. Myös kuluttajakäyttäytymisen osa-alueita otetaan esille, jotta lukijan on helpompi ymmärtää kuluttajan kuluttamisen tarvetta. Työssä kerrotaan myös ruokakäyttäytymisestä ja siitä, mitkä asiat vaikuttavat ihmisen ruokavalintoihin. Mediaseurannasta saadaan laajasti tietoja nykypäivän ja tulevaisuuden vaihtoehtoisista ruokavalioista ja siitä, mitkä raaka-aineet ovat tällä hetkellä pinnalla ja kuluttajien suosiossa. Tulokset purettiin auki Excel-taulukoiksi, joista tehtiin kuviota. Näin lukijan on helppo ymmärtää tutkimuksen tuloksia. Ruokalajit haluttiin ottaa mukaan tutkimukseen työn tekijöiden oman mielenkiinnon vuoksi. Ruokalajit avattiin kirjallisesti ja niistä voidaan huomata, mitkä ruokalajit ovat trendikkäitä. Ruokavalioiden osalta tulokset olivat ennalta arvattavia. Raaka-aineiden osalta saatiin uutta tietoa. Opinnäytetyö tehtiin toimeksiantona ja yritys voi hyödyntää tuloksia tuotekehityksessään. Tietosuojaan vedoten toimeksiantajan nimeä ei mainita opinnäytetyössä. Opinnäytetyön aihe on ainutlaatuinen eikä samanlaista tutkimusta aiheesta löytynyt. Opinnäytetyön tekeminen uudesta aiheesta todettiin haastavaksi, opettavaiseksi sekä erittäin mielenkiintoiseksi. Opinnäytetyö tehtiin parityönä yrityksen toiveen sekä työn laajuuden vuoksi. Työn aloitus hetkellä tutkimusprosessi jaettiin kahteen osaan. Sonja Ilanen seurasi blogeja ja kirjoitti niihin liittyvän teorian ja Sara Nyberg seurasi lehtiä ja kirjoitti niiden teoria osuuden. Koko opinnäytetyöprosessin ajan opinnäytetyön tekijät pitivät yhteyttä, tekivät osioita yhdessä ja päättivät tutkimustavoista ja sisällöstä kasvokkain.The purpose of this thesis was to find out alternative future diets as well as new food ingredients, which are used by customers today and in the future. As the research method of the thesis media monitoring and anticipation were utilized. Media monitoring included blogs, magazines and newspapers. Updates, which had food recipes or food news, were gathered from blogs and newspapers. Food news was collected only from newspapers and magazines. Media monitoring lasted five months. After the monitoring period was over, the frail signal data was collected into an Excel file for further conclusions. In this research frail signals concerned only ingredients and diets. In the theoretical section, food concepts, history and present of the electronic media and print media are explained. The theory also deals with consumer behavior as well as food behavior and factors that affect person’s food choices. The media tracking gave a lot of information about alternative diets of today. The results showed which food ingredients were popular during the media tracking period. Due to the thesis writers’ own interest, the study also took into account complete food dishes. The diet results were similar as expected at the beginning of the work. Food ingredient monitoring gave a lot of new knowledge which in the future will hopefully have heavyweight novelty value. The thesis subject was innovative, and there was no earlier study on the subject, which made the writing of this thesis very challenging, instructive and interesting. In the future this topic could be enriched further as a study that deals with the effects of food diets on the customers. The thesis was made in co-operation with a company, who wanted to stay anonymous. The thesis will be useful for the company and they will use the results of the study in their product development

Förbättring av sotblåsarna i tertiäröverhettaren

Examensarbetet berör problem med sotningsutrustningen vid en biobränsleanläggning. Syftet var att reda ut orsaken till sotblåsningslansarnas upprepade brott och deformationer. Arbetet genomfördes med hjälp av litteraturstudier, kontroller och mätningar på plats, samt kontakt med leverantören och andra personer med erfarenhet inom området. Genom samråd med tillverkarens tekniska avdelning samt mätningar inne i överhettaren kunde det konstateras att dysrörens stödkonstruktion inte överensstämde med tillverkarens angivelser. Detta har lett till att belastningen på dysrören har varit för hög i förhållande till den i överhettaren rådande temperaturen. Den felaktiga belastningen har gett upphov till materialkrypning, vilket har resulterat i deformationer som i vissa fall har lett till brott. Problemet kan således åtgärdas genom en korrekt placering av stöden. Det har även gjorts utredningar om huruvida kondensat kan ha blivit kvar i ångrören och orsakat skada på utrustningen. I examensarbetet behandlas därtill ångförbrukning vid sotblåsning, det ekonomiska värdet av ångan samt möjligheter till inbesparingar.Opinnäytetyö käsittelee biolaitoksen nuohousvarustuksessa esiintyvää ongelmaa. Tarkoituksena oli selvittää nuohouspeitseissä toistuvasti esiintyviä murtumia ja epämuodostumia. Työn toteutukseen käytettiin kirjallisuus opintoja, paikan päällä suoritettuja tarkistuksia ja mittauksia sekä yhteyttä toimittajaan ynnä alan kokemusta omaaviin henkilöihin. Neuvottelemalla tuottajan teknisen osaston kanssa sekä tulistimessa tehtyjen mittausten avulla voitiin todeta, että suutinputkien tukirakennelma ei ollut yhtäpitävä tuottajan ilmoituksen mukaan. Tämä on johtanut suutinputkien ylirasitukseen suhteessa tulistimessa vallitsevaan lämpötilaan. Epäsuhtainen rasitus on aiheuttanut materiaalin virumista, minkä seurauksena on syntynyt epämuodostumia, jotka tietyissä tapauksissa ovat johtaneet katkoon. Ongelma pystytään ratkaisemaan tukien oikealla sijoittamisella. Selvitettiin myös mikäli lauhdetta on jäänyt höyryputkiin näin vaurioittaen varustusta. Opinnäytetyössä käsitellään lisäksi nuohouksen höyrykulutus, höyryn taloudellinen arvo sekä säästömahdollisuudet.This thesis deals with problems with the soot blowing equipment in a biofueled power plant. The aim of this project was to investigate the cause of the repeated deformation and fracture of the soot blowers’ nozzle lances. The work was carried out by means of literature reviews, inspections and measurements on site and through contact with the supplier and other persons with experience in the field. Through consultation with the manufacturer's technical department and measurements inside the superheater, it was discovered that the nozzle lances’ bearing construction is not consistent with the manufacturer's specifications. This has resulted in the congestion on the nozzle lances being too high in relation to the prevailing temperature in the superheater. The incorrect congestion has caused material creep, which has resulted in deformation that in some cases has led to broken nozzle lances. The problem can thus be addressed through proper placement of the bearings. Inquiries have also been made into whether the condensate may have remained in the steam pipes and caused damage to the equipment. The thesis also deals with steam consumption at soot blowing, the economic value of the steam and the opportunities for savings

Telehealthcare in COPD: A systematic review and meta-analysis on physical outcomes and dyspnea

SummaryBackgroundOnly a minority of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have access to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Home-based solutions such as telehealthcare, have been used in efforts to make PR more available. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of telehealthcare on physical activity level, physical capacity and dyspnea in patients with COPD, and to describe the interventions used.MethodsRandomized controlled trials were identified through database searches, reference lists and included authors. Articles were reviewed based on eligibility criteria by three authors. Risk of bias was assessed by two authors. Standardized mean differences (SMD) or mean differences (MD) with 95% CI were calculated. Forest plots were used to present data visually.ResultsNine studies (982 patients) were included. For physical activity level, there was a significant effect favoring telehealthcare (MD, 64.7 min; 95% CI, 54.4–74.9). No difference between groups was found for physical capacity (MD, −1.3 m; 95% CI, −8.1–5.5) and dyspnea (SMD, 0.088; 95% CI, −0.056–0.233). Telehealthcare was promoted through phone calls, websites or mobile phones, often combined with education and/or exercise training. Comparators were ordinary care, exercise training and/or education.ConclusionsThe use of telehealthcare may lead to improvements in physical activity level, although the results should be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity in studies. This is an important area of research and further studies of the effect of telehealthcare for patients with COPD would be beneficial.RegistrationIn PROSPERO 2012: CRD42012003294. Study protocol: http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPEROFILES/3294_PROTOCOL_20121016.pdf

Enclosures in West Pokot, Kenya: Transforming land, livestock and livelihoods in drylands

Dryland livestock production systems are changing in many parts of the world, as a result of growing human populations and associated pressure on water and land. Based on a combination of social and natural science methods, we studied a 30-year transformation process from pastoralism to a livestock-based agro-pastoral system in northwestern Kenya, with the overall aim to increase the understanding of the ongoing transition towards intensified agro-pastoralist production systems in dryland East Africa. Key to this transformation was the use of enclosures for land rehabilitation, fodder production, and land and livestock management. Enclosures have more soil carbon and a higher vegetation cover than adjacent areas with open grazing. The level of adoption of enclosures as a management tool has been very high, and their use has enabled agricultural diversification, e.g. increased crop agriculture, poultry production and the inclusion of improved livestock. Following the use of enclosures, livelihoods have become less dependent on livestock migration, are increasingly directed towards agribusinesses and present new opportunities and constraints for women. These livelihood changes are closely associated with, and depend on, an ongoing privatization of land under different tenure regimes. The results indicate that the observed transformation provides opportunities for a pathway towards a sustainable livestock-based agro-pastoral system that could be valid in many dryland areas in East Africa. However, we also show that emergent risks of conflicts and inequalities in relation to land, triggered by the weakening of collective property rights, pose a threat to the sustainability of this pathway

Late-adolescent risk factors for suicide and self-harm in middle-aged men: explorative prospective population-based study

BackgroundRecent reports show alarmingly high rates of suicide in middle-aged men, yet there are few long-term prospective studies that focus on suicidal behaviour in men in this age group.AimsTo prospectively explore associations of potential risk factors at age 18 with suicide and self-harm in middle-aged men.MethodA population-based Swedish longitudinal cohort study of male conscripts with no history of self-harm at enlistment in 1968–1989 (n= 987 583). Conscription examinations included measures of cognitive performance, stress resilience, psychiatric diagnoses, body mass index (BMI), cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength. Suicides and self-harm at age 45–65 years were identified in the National Hospital Register and Swedish Cause of Death Register. Risks were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models.ResultsLow stress resilience (cause-specific hazard ratio CHR = 2.31, 95% CI 1.95–2.74), low cognitive ability (CHR = 2.01, 95% CI 1.71–2.37) as well as psychiatric disorders and low cardiovascular fitness in late adolescence were associated with increased risk for suicide in middle-aged men. Similar risk estimates were obtained for self-harm. In addition, high and low BMI as well as low muscle strength were associated with increased risk of self-harm. Associations also remained significant after exclusion of men with self-harm before age 45.ConclusionsThis prospective study provides life-course perspective support that psychological and physical characteristics in late adolescence may have long-lasting consequences for suicidal behaviour in middle-aged men, a very large population at heightened risk of suicide

A Similarity-Based Process for Human Judgment in the Parietal Cortex

One important distinction in psychology is between inferences based on associative memory and inferences based on analysis and rules. Much previous empirical work conceive of associative and analytical processes as two exclusive ways of addressing a judgment task, where only one process is selected and engaged at a time, in an either-or fashion. However, related work indicate that the processes are better understood as being in interplay and simultaneously engaged. Based on computational modeling and brain imaging of spontaneously adopted judgment strategies together with analyses of brain activity elicited in tasks where participants were explicitly instructed to perform similarity-based associative judgments or rule-based judgments (n = 74), we identified brain regions related to the two types of processes. We observed considerable overlap in activity patterns. The precuneus was activated for both types of judgments, and its activity predicted how well a similarity-based model fit the judgments. Activity in the superior frontal gyrus predicted the fit of a rule-based judgment model. The results suggest the precuneus as a key node for similarity-based judgments, engaged both when overt responses are guided by similarity-based and rule-based processes. These results are interpreted such that similarity-based processes are engaged in parallel to rule-based-processes, a finding with direct implications for cognitive theories of judgment

Gendered relations? Associations between Swedish parents, siblings, and adolescents' time spent sedentary and physically active

IntroductionThe family is assumed to be fundamental in youth socialization processes and development, connected to social and cultural practices such as healthy lifestyles and physical activity. However, gender patterns in physical activity among adolescents and the structural drivers of gender inequality (e.g., parentage and siblingship) are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to explore further how gender structures relate to adolescents' time spent being sedentary and physically active, using contemporary gender theory.MethodsThis cross-sectional study involved 1,139 adolescents aged 13-14 and their parents, including 815 mothers and 572 fathers. Physical activity and time spent sedentary were assessed through accelerometry among adolescents and through a self-report questionnaire for parents validated against accelerometry.ResultsThe results showed significant relationships between mothers' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and girls' MVPA on weekdays and weekends, and fathers' MVPA was significantly related to girls' MVPA on weekdays. Our results imply that the relationship between Swedish parents' and adolescent girls' physical activity in higher intensities are to some extent gendered practices. However, time spent sedentary does not seem to show any patterns of being performed according to binary ideas of gender. Further, our exploratory analyses suggest that these results somewhat intersect with parents' educational level and relate to intra-categorical aspects of doing gender. The results also indicate slight gendered patterns in the “doing” of brotherhood for time spent sedentary, however, for boys only on weekends.DiscussionThe study contributes to the understanding of gender norms as constraints and enablers for adolescents' participation in physical activity. The results can spur public health and physical activity research to apply a contemporary gender theory approach, and to expand the research agenda connected to what relates to gender inequalities in physical activity practices

Determination of the Wound Healing Potentials of Medicinal Plants Historically Used in Ghana

The present study was carried out to investigate the wound healing potentials of 17 medicinal plants historically used in Ghana for wound healing. Warm and cold water extracts were prepared from the 17 dried plant species and tested in vitro in the scratch assay with NIH 3T3 fibroblasts from mice. The wound healing scratch assay was used to evaluate the effect of the plants on cell proliferation and/or migration in vitro, as a test for potential wound healing properties. After 21 hours of incubation increased proliferation and/or migration of fibroblasts in the scratch assay was obtained for 5 out of the 17 plant species. HPLC separation of the most active plant extract, which was a warm water extract of Philenoptera cyanescens, revealed the wound healing activity to be attributed to rutin and a triglycoside of quercetin. The present study suggests that Allophylus spicatus, Philenoptera cyanescens, Melanthera scandens, Ocimum gratissimum, and Jasminum dichotomum have wound healing activity in vitro

Determination of the Wound Healing Potentials of Medicinal Plants Historically Used in Ghana

The present study was carried out to investigate the wound healing potentials of 17 medicinal plants historically used in Ghana for wound healing. Warm and cold water extracts were prepared from the 17 dried plant species and tested in vitro in the scratch assay with NIH 3T3 fibroblasts from mice. The wound healing scratch assay was used to evaluate the effect of the plants on cell proliferation and/or migration in vitro, as a test for potential wound healing properties. After 21 hours of incubation increased proliferation and/or migration of fibroblasts in the scratch assay was obtained for 5 out of the 17 plant species. HPLC separation of the most active plant extract, which was a warm water extract of Philenoptera cyanescens, revealed the wound healing activity to be attributed to rutin and a triglycoside of quercetin. The present study suggests that Allophylus spicatus, Philenoptera cyanescens, Melanthera scandens, Ocimum gratissimum, and Jasminum dichotomum have wound healing activity in vitro

Identification of fusion genes in breast cancer by paired-end RNA-sequencing

Background Until recently, chromosomal translocations and fusion genes have been an underappreciated class of mutations in solid tumors. Next-generation sequencing technologies provide an opportunity for systematic characterization of cancer cell transcriptomes, including the discovery of expressed fusion genes resulting from underlying genomic rearrangements. Results We applied paired-end RNA-seq to identify 24 novel and 3 previously known fusion genes in breast cancer cells. Supported by an improved bioinformatic approach, we had a 95% success rate of validating gene fusions initially detected by RNA-seq. Fusion partner genes were found to contribute promoters (5' UTR), coding sequences and 3' UTRs. Most fusion genes were associated with copy number transitions and were particularly common in high-level DNA amplifications. This suggests that fusion events may contribute to the selective advantage provided by DNA amplifications and deletions. Some of the fusion partner genes, such as GSDMB in the TATDN1-GSDMB fusion and IKZF3 in the VAPB-IKZF3 fusion, were only detected as a fusion transcript, indicating activation of a dormant gene by the fusion event. A number of fusion gene partners have either been previously observed in oncogenic gene fusions, mostly in leukemias, or otherwise reported to be oncogenic. RNA interference-mediated knock-down of the VAPB-IKZF3 fusion gene indicated that it may be necessary for cancer cell growth and survival. Conclusions In summary, using RNA-sequencing and improved bioinformatic stratification, we have discovered a number of novel fusion genes in breast cancer, and identified VAPB-IKZF3 as a potential fusion gene with importance for the growth and survival of breast cancer cells