Sustainability integration in Innovation strategies - An analysis of sustainability aspects in Swedish innovation strategies and in Swedish healthcare sector innovation activities

The healthcare sector, currently accounting for about seven percent of global GDP expenditure, faces growing demand pressures driven by factors such as ageing populations and growing prevalence of chronic diseases. Consequently, the sector is increasingly looking for innovations that can simultaneously improve the efficiency and quality of care. Healthcare innovations could in turn make large contributions to sustainable economic, social and environmental development. This thesis therefore investigates whether and how sustainability principles are integrated with innovation policies and innovation practices of the healthcare sector, using Sweden as the case study. Data were collected by a combination of qualitative and quantitative text analyses, surveys and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Four key topics were analyzed: integration, interpretation and operationalization of sustainability principles in innovation policies and barriers to sustainability integration in healthcare innovation organizations. The findings and analysis indicate that sustainability challenges function as drivers, rather than objectives, in Swedish innovation strategies. Findings interestingly also suggest that the innovation strategies that are integrated with the regional development plans not only propose a more integrated approach to sustainability and innovation, they also display stronger interpretations of sustainability and develop more specific objectives, targets and indicators for sustainable development to which innovation shall contribute. A correlation between implementation and operationalization of sustainability suggested by the environmental policy integration literature is confirmed. The findings finally reveal that sustainably principles are poorly integrated in the analyzed healthcare innovation organizations’ practices. These organizations would benefit from clear and operational sustainability objectives, increased cross-administrative collaboration along with resources to improve organizational innovation capacity

Knäskada på smågris

Skador på framknä hos smågrisar är ett välkänt problem i de flesta besättningar. Själva skadan uppstår när smågrisarna diar eller på något annat sätt gnider sina knän mot liggytan. Det finns olika lösningar på problemet och det har gjorts flertalet försök inom området. Ett av de som har visat resultat är strategisk halmning. Syftet med vårt examensarbete är att försöka minimera dessa sårskador med hjälp av tejpning precis under framknäet. Vår förhoppning är att man ska kunna minska behandlingar samt antibiotika användningen, öka tillväxt och djurvälfärd. Vi har gjort en studie där vi följde tre gårdar under en respektive två grisningsomgångar. I vårt arbete kallas besättningarna för gård A, gård B och gård C. På gård A hade vi 20 försökssuggor varav 10 kullar med tejpade smågrisar och 10 kullar med otejpade smågrisar. Den andra omgången hade vi 18 försöksuggor varav 9 kullar med tejpade smågrisar och 9 kullar med otejpade smågrisar. På gård B hade vi 14 försökssuggor varav 7 kullar med tejpade smågrisar och 7 kullar med otejpade smågrisar. På gård C var 16 suggor med i försöket, 8 kullar med tejpade smågrisar och 8 kullar med otejpade smågrisar. Registreringen av vår studie skedde genom dokumentation vid varje grisningsbox på ett Excel-dokument som vi tagit fram för detta ändamål. Dokumentet finns med som en bilaga i arbetet. Efter avslutad studie vet vi att man kan minska sårskadorna på smågrisens knä genom att tejpa och därmed höja djurvälfärden. Om man slår ihop all data från alla kullar visar det sig att kullar med tejpade knä hade en signifikant mindre diameter i knäskador (5,9 mm vs. 8,7 mm, P=0,0003). I besättning B (3,8 mm vs. 8,7 mm) och besättning C (6,00 vs. 10,9 mm) var skillnaden störst, medan skillnaden var mindre i besättning A (omgång 1: 8,2 mm vs. 8,5 mm; omgång 2: 5,0 mm vs. 7,2 mm). Inga skillnader fanns i undersökningen i antal behandlade grisar mot ledinflammationer. För att få svar på om det finns ett samband mellan nedsatt tillväxt och sårskador krävs mer och längre studier.Damage to the carpus of piglets is a well-known problem in most herds. The actual damage occurs when they nurse or otherwise rubbed their knees against the abutment surface. There are different solutions to this problem; there have been several attempts in the art. One of those that have proven results is giving a lot of straw to the sow around farrowing. The purpose of this thesis was to try to minimize these wounds by means of taping just below the knee. We hope that by reducing these wounds the number of treatments and antibiotic use could be reduced and increase growth and welfare. We have done a study in which we follow three different herds during two and one farrowing batches. During the first batch in herd A, we had 20 sows in total with 10 litters of piglets taped and 10 litters of piglets without tape. The second time we had 18 sows per batch including 9 litters of piglets taped and 9 litters of piglets without tape. In herd B we had 16 sows with 8 litters of piglets taped and 8 litters of piglets without tape. In herd C we had 16 sows with 8 litters of piglets taped and 8 litters of piglets without tape. The registration of our study is done by documentation of each litter at every farrowing crate in an excel document that we've developed for this purpose. The document can be found in this work. Our conclusion is that you can reduce wounds on the piglet’s knee by taping which improves animal welfare. And if you add all the data from all the litters, it turns out that the litters with taped knee had a significantly smaller diameter of knee injuries (5.9 mm vs. 8.7 mm, P=0.0003). In herd B (3.8 mm vs. 8.7 mm) and herd C (6.0 mm vs. 10.9 mm) was the effect of taping largest. In herd A was the effect of taping smaller (batch 1: 8.2 mm vs. 8.5 mm; batch 2: 5.0 vs. 7.2 mm). No differences in treatments against joint inflammations was found between taped and non-taped piglets. To find out if there is a correlation between reduced growth and wounds more and longer studies are required

Breeding failures and reduced nest attendance in response to heat stress in a high-latitude seabird

Climate change research on seabirds has so far focused mainly on indirect effects acting via impacts at lower trophic levels. However, seabirds that breed in exposed sites may also be vulnerable to direct impacts from extreme weather events such as heatwaves, which are projected to increase in both severity and frequency with climate change. Yet there are relatively few field studies of how breeding seabirds respond to heatwaves. Here, we used video footage from a breeding colony of common guillemots Uria aalge in the Baltic Sea over 4 consecutive breeding seasons (2019−2022) to explore responses to air temperature and sun exposure. We found a positive relationship between temperature and 2 thermoregulatory behaviours: panting and postural changes. In addition, we show that as temperatures increase, breeding partners spend less time together at the colony. At the highest temperatures, some birds even temporarily abandon their eggs and chicks. Of 48 breeding failures recorded on video over 4 breeding seasons, we documented 13 cases directly associated with heat stress (corresponding to ca. 9% of all 150 breeding attempts recorded); 11 of these occurred during 2 periods with sunshine and particularly high temperatures in 2020 and 2022. Using a larger data set (>500 breeding attempts over 12 seasons), we also identified a clear increase in the probability of egg loss at higher temperatures. As such, the responses of breeding seabirds to heatwaves could have important demographic consequences in some populations, especially as heatwaves continue to increase in frequency and magnitude

Expression profile of the entire family of Adhesion G protein-coupled receptors in mouse and rat

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The <it>Adhesion </it>G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are membrane-bound receptors with long N termini. This family has 33 members in humans. Several <it>Adhesion </it>GPCRs are known to have important physiological functions in CNS development and immune system response mediated by large cell surface ligands. However, the majority of <it>Adhesion </it>GPCRs are still poorly studied orphans with unknown functions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we performed the extensive tissue localization analysis of the entire <it>Adhesion </it>GPCR family in rat and mouse. By applying the quantitative real-time PCR technique we have produced comparable expression profile for each of the members in the <it>Adhesion </it>family. The results are compared with literature data and data from the Allen Brain Atlas project. Our results suggest that the majority of the <it>Adhesion </it>GPCRs are either expressed in the CNS or ubiquitously. In addition the <it>Adhesion </it>GPCRs from the same phylogenetic group have either predominant CNS or peripheral expression, although each of their expression profile is unique.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings indicate that many of <it>Adhesion </it>GPCRs are expressed, and most probably, have function in CNS. The related <it>Adhesion </it>GPCRs are well conserved in their structure and interestingly have considerable overlap in their expression profiles, suggesting similarities among the physiological roles for members within many of the phylogenetically related clusters.</p

Sub-daily rainfall extremes in the Nordic–Baltic region

Short-duration rainfall extremes are associated with a range of societal hazards, notably pluvial flooding but in addition, e.g., erosion-driven nutrient transport and point-source contamination. Fundamental for all analysis, modelling and risk assessment related to short-duration rainfall extremes is the access to and analysis of high-resolution observations. In this study, sub-daily rainfall observations from 543 meteorological stations in the Nordic–Baltic region were collected, quality-controlled and consistently analyzed in terms of records, return levels, geographical and climatic dependencies, time of occurrence of maxima and trends. The results reflect the highly heterogeneous rainfall climate in the region, with longitudinal and latitudinal gradients as well as local variability, and overall agree with previous national investigations. Trend analyses in Norway and Denmark indicated predominantly positive trends in the period 1980–2018, in line with previous investigations. Gridded data sets with estimated return levels and dates of occurrence (of annual maxima) are provided open access. We encourage further efforts towards international exchange of sub-daily rainfall observations as well as consistent regional analyses in order to attain the best possible knowledge on which rainfall extremes are to be expected in present as well as future climates

Extended cleavage specificities of human granzymes A and K, two closely related enzymes with conserved but still poorly defined functions in T and NK cell-mediated immunity

Granzymes A and K are two highly homologous serine proteases expressed by mammalian cytotoxic T cells (CTL) and natural killer cells (NK). Granzyme A is the most abundant of the different granzymes (gzms) expressed by these two cell types. Gzms A and K are found in all jawed vertebrates and are the most well conserved of all hematopoietic serine proteases. Their potential functions have been studied extensively for many years, however, without clear conclusions. Gzm A was for many years thought to serve as a key component in the defense against viral infection by the induction of apoptosis in virus-infected cells, similar to gzm B. However, later studies have questioned this role and instead indicated that gzm A may act as a potent inducer of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Gzms A and K form clearly separate branches in a phylogenetic tree indicating separate functions. Transcriptional analyses presented here demonstrate the presence of gzm A and K transcripts in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. To enable screening for their primary biological targets we have made a detailed analysis of their extended cleavage specificities. Phage display analysis of the cleavage specificity of the recombinant enzymes showed that both gzms A and K are strict tryptases with high selectivity for Arg over Lys in the P1 position. The major differences in the specificities of these two enzymes are located N-terminally of the cleavage site, where gzm A prefers small amino acids such as Gly in the P3 position and shows a relatively relaxed selectivity in the P2 position. In contrast, gzm K prefers large amino acids such as Phe, Tyr, and Trp in both the P2 and P3 positions and does not tolerate negatively charged residues in the P2 position. This major distinction in extended specificities is likely reflected also in preferred in vivo targets of these two enzymes. This information can now be utilized for high-precision screening of primary targets for gzms A and K in search of their highly conserved but still poorly defined functions in vertebrate immunity

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis