Perceptions of interconnected sustainability : Students’ narratives bridging transition and education

As sustainability becomes a focal point and important aspect of educational development in several disciplines and universities globally, it is important to critically reflect on the different utilisations of sustainability education. Research on educational aims and the potential transformative impact of sustainability courses is quite timely. Among several others, the theory of interconnected learning has been gaining traction as an approach to transformative sustainability education, as it employs a distinct approach to systemic sustainability awareness. This approach aims to further express the plurality of sustainability, with the aim to foster a deeper comprehension beyond the dichotomous thinking often typical in disciplined science. The aim of our research was to study the efficiency of employing the pedagogy of interconnected learning on the types of sustainability transition narratives produced by the students attending an online sustainability course. The sustainability transition narratives, as expressed through fifty-eight students’ course assignments, were studied pre- and post-course, and analysed against a collection of established narratives drawn from transition studies. The comparison from the pre-to post-course answers revealed that while some of the student narratives remained unchanged, the majority of the narratives were expanded during the course experience. Our analysis revealed that while most of the students’ answers referenced a single type of transition narrative, some students produced narratives that hybridised two or more types of narratives. Additionally, some of the students produced elements of a pathway for a transition narrative that are currently unarticulated in the transition narrative framework employed herein. The elements of this newly articulated narrative focused on changes in the societal mindset, achievable through sustainability education.Peer reviewe

Ensisynnyttäjien kokemuksia nyyttiryhmän merkityksestä synnytyspelon hoidossa:laadullinen tutkimus

Tiivistelmä. Synnytyspelko on yleinen odottavien naisten keskuudessa. Arviolta noin 6–10 % synnyttäjistä kokee vaikeaa synnytyspelkoa. Synnytyspelon taustalla voi olla useita erilaisia syitä ja pelkoa voi esiintyä sekä ensi- että uudelleensynnyttäjillä. Ensisynnyttäjillä synnytyspelon taustalla voi olla jo lapsuudesta peräisin oleva pelko ja tämä pelko voi estää jopa halun tulla raskaaksi. Uudelleensynnyttäjällä pelon taustalla on usein traumaattinen synnytyskokemus. Synnyttämiseen liittyvistä peloista ensisynnyttäjät kuvailevat pelon syyksi esimerkiksi pelon tuntemattomasta prosessista, kivun pelko tai tilanteen hallitsemattomuus. Synnytyspelko voi vaikuttaa muun muassa naisen synnytystapaan ja synnytyksen jälkeiseen aikaan. Synnytyspelolla voi olla haitallista vaikutusta varhaiseen vuorovaikutukseen sekä kiintymyssuhteeseen vastasyntyneen kanssa. Synnytyspelon hoidossa pyritään ottamaan yksilölliset tarpeet ja vahvistamaan naisen luottamusta synnyttäjänä. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata ensisynnyttäjien kokemuksia Nyyttiryhmän merkityksestä synnytyspelon hoidossa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tuottaa tietoa ensisynnyttäjien synnytyspelon hoidosta. Aineisto on kerätty teemahaastattelulla. Aineiston tuotti Nyyttiryhmään osallistuneet ensisynnyttäjät ja saatu aineisto analysoitiin aineistolähtöisellä sisällönanalyysilla. Tutkimuksessa nousi esille viisi pääluokkaa kuvaamaan synnytyspelon syitä: tuntemattomuus, hallitsematon tilanne, synnytyksen aikainen kipu, epäluottamus hoitohenkilökuntaan ja epäluottamus itseensä synnyttäjänä. Tulosten mukaan Nyyttiryhmästä oli apua ensisynnyttäjien synnytyspelon hoidossa. Ryhmä vaikutti positiivisesti heidän synnytyskokemukseensa. Nyyttiryhmästä synnytyspelon hoidon interventiona, on tämän laadullisen tutkimuksen mukaan apua synnytyspelkoisille ensisynnyttäjille.Experiences of nulliparous women on the role of Nyyttiryhmä in the treatment of fear of childbirth : qualitative study. Abstract. Fear of childbirth (FOB) is common among pregnant women. About 6–10 % of them experience severe fear of childbirth. There may be several reasons causing the fear of childbirth. Both nulliparous and parous may suffer severe fear of childbirth. The fear of childbirth of the nulliparous women may be rooted in childhood and this fear can even affect the desire to get pregnant. Parous women usually experience fear of childbirth because of the previous traumatic delivery experiences. Nulliparous women describe the cause of fear as fear of unknown process, fear of pain, or uncontrollability of the situation. Fear of childbirth can affect, among other things, the method of childbirth or the period after childbirth. Fear of the childbirth without treatment can have detrimental effect on early interaction and attachment to the newborn. In the treatment of fear of childbirth, the aim is to take into account the individual needs and strengthen a woman’s confidence to be a mother. The purpose of this research was to describe how nulliparous women experienced the role of Nyyttiryhmä in the treatment of fear of childbirth. The aim of the study was to provide more information about the treatment of fear of childbirth in nulliparous women. The qualitative data was collected by interviews of nulliparous women, who have participated in Nyyttiryhmä. The data was analyzed by inductive content analysis. The results show that there are five main categories as causes of fear of childbirth: unfamiliarity of the situation, uncontrollable situation, pain during delivery, distrust of medical staff, and low self-confidence regarding the childbirth. Nyyttiryhmä was found to reduce fear of childbirth and the group had positive influence to delivery experiences. This research shows that the above-mentioned psycho-educative group as intervention and treatment of fear of childbirth is helpful for nulliparous women who have severe fear of childbirth

C6 peptide enzyme immunoassay in Lyme borreliosis serology

The cut-off values used in C6 peptide-based enzyme immunoassay (EIA), a widely used test in Lyme borreliosis (LB) serology, have not been thoroughly analysed. The objective of the study was to examine the performance of the C6 EIA, and to determine optimal cut-off values for the test. The analysed data contained results of 1368 serum samples. C6 EIA index values were compared statistically with the immunoblot (IB) test results. The identified cut-off values were further tested in a well-defined LB patient cohort. Cut-off value 1.6 appeared to be optimal when C6 EIA was used as a stand-alone test. When using C6 EIA as the first-tier test, the optimal cut-off values were 0.9 and 2.4 for negative and positive results. When C6 EIA was used as a second-tier test, samples yielding C6 index values >= 3.0 could be considered positive. The identified cut-off values had also a high sensitivity to identify seropositivity among definite LB patients. The identified cut-off values refine the role of C6 EIA in LB serology. Importantly, the use of C6 EIA leads to a reduction in the number of samples that need to be analysed using an IB, thus also reducing the costs. Two alternative workflows for LB serology including the C6 EIA are suggested.Peer reviewe

Biogeophysical impacts of peatland forestation on regional climate changes in Finland

Land cover changes can impact the climate by influencing the surface energy and water balance. Naturally treeless or sparsely treed peatlands were extensively drained to stimulate forest growth in Finland over the second half of 20th century. The aim of this study is to investigate the biogeophysical effects of peatland forestation on regional climate in Finland. Two sets of 18-year climate simulations were done with the regional climate model REMO by using land cover data based on pre-drainage (1920s) and post-drainage (2000s) Finnish national forest inventories. In the most intensive peatland forestation area, located in the middle west of Finland, the results show a warming in April of up to 0.43 K in monthly-averaged daily mean 2 m air temperature, whereas a slight cooling from May to October of less than 0.1 K in general is found. Consequently, snow clearance days over that area are advanced up to 5 days in the mean of 15 years. No clear signal is found for precipitation. Through analysing the simulated temperature and energy balance terms, as well as snow depth over five selected subregions, a positive feedback induced by peatland forestation is found between decreased surface albedo and increased surface air temperature in the snow-melting period. Our modelled results show good qualitative agreements with the observational data. In general, decreased surface albedo in the snow-melting period and increased evapotranspiration in the growing period are the most important biogeophysical aspects induced by peatland forestation that cause changes in climate. The results from this study can be further integrally analysed with biogeochemical effects of peatland forestation to provide background information for adapting future forest management to mitigate climate warming effects. Moreover, they provide insights about the impacts of projected forestation of tundra at high latitudes due to climate change

Analysis of nucleation events in the European boundary layer using the regional aerosol-climate model REMO-HAM with a solar radiation-driven OH-proxy

This work describes improvements in the regional aerosol–climate model REMO-HAM in order to simulate more realistically the process of atmospheric new particle formation (NPF). A new scheme was implemented to simulate OH radical concentrations using a proxy approach based on observations and also accounting for the effects of clouds upon OH concentrations. Second, the nucleation rate calculation was modified to directly simulate the formation rates of 3 nm particles, which removes some unnecessary steps in the formation rate calculations used earlier in the model. Using the updated model version, NPF over Europe was simulated for the periods 2003–2004 and 2008–2009. The statistics of the simulated particle formation events were subsequently compared to observations from 13 ground-based measurement sites. The new model shows improved agreement with the observed NPF rates compared to former versions and can simulate the event statistics realistically for most parts of Europe

Parachlamydia acanthamoebae Detected during a Pneumonia Outbreak in Southeastern Finland, in 2017–2018

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common disease responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. However, the definite etiology of CAP often remains unresolved, suggesting that unknown agents of pneumonia remain to be identified. The recently discovered members of the order Chlamydiales, Chlamydia-related bacteria (CRB), are considered as possible emerging agents of CAP. Parachlamydia acanthamoebae is the most studied candidate. It survives and replicates inside free-living amoeba, which it might potentially use as a vehicle to infect animals and humans. A Mycoplasma pneumoniae outbreak was observed in Kymenlaakso region in Southeastern Finland during August 2017–January 2018. We determined the occurrence of Chlamydiales bacteria and their natural host, free-living amoeba in respiratory specimens collected during this outbreak with molecular methods. Altogether, 22/278 (7.9%) of the samples contained Chlamydiales DNA. By sequence analysis, majority of the CRBs detected were members of the Parachlamydiaceae family. Amoebal DNA was not detected within the sample material. Our study further proposes that Parachlamydiaceae could be a potential agent causing atypical CAP in children and adolescents

Clinical performance and analytical accuracy of a C6 peptide-based point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay in Lyme borreliosis serology

We evaluated the analytical accuracy and the clinical performance of a ReaScan+ C6 LYME IgG point-of-care immunoassay (Reagena; index test). Analytical accuracy was evaluated in comparison to a C6 Lyme ELISA™ reference method (Oxford Immunotec) with retrospectively identified serum and CSF samples. The clinical performance was evaluated by using Lyme borreliosis patient and control subject serum and CSF samples. The study was conducted by following the 2015 Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies procedure. The sensitivity and specificity of the index test with serum samples were 83% and 91.6%, respectively, when C6 Lyme ELISA™ was used as a reference. The clinical sensitivity of the index test was 97.2%/96.8% for identifying Borrelia specific antibodies in definite/possible Lyme neuroborreliosis. With CSF samples, the clinical sensitivity was 97.2% for definite and 87.1% for possible Lyme neuroborreliosis. The clinical specificity of the assay was 96.1% with serum and 100% with CSF samples.</p

Driving factors of aerosol properties over the foothills of central Himalayas based on 8.5 years continuous measurements

This study presents analysis of in situ measurements conducted over the period 2005–2014 in the Indian Himalayas to give a thorough overview of the factors and causes that drive aerosol properties. Aerosol extensive properties (namely, particle number concentration, scattering coefficient, equivalent black carbon, PM2.5, and PM10) have 1.5–2 times higher values in the early to late afternoon than during the night, and a strong seasonality. The interannual variability is ±20% for both PM2.5 and total particle number concentration. Analysis of the data shows statistically significant decreasing trends of −2.3 μg m−3 year−1 and −2.7 μg m−3 year−1 for PM2.5 and PM10, respectively, over the study period. The mountainous terrain site (Mukteshwar, MUK) is primarily under the influence of air from the plains. This is due to convective transport processes that are enhanced by local and mesoscale topography, leading to pronounced valley/mountain winds and consequently to atmospheric boundary layer air lifting from the plains below. The transport from plains is evident in seasonal‐diurnal patterns observed at MUK. The timing of the patterns corresponds with changes in turbulence and water vapor (q). According to our analysis, using these as proxies is a viable method for examining boundary layer influence in the absence of direct atmospheric boundary layer height measurements. Comparing the measurements with climate models shows that even regional climate models have problems capturing the orographic influence accurately at MUK, highlighting the importance of long‐term direct measurements at multiple points to understand aerosol behavior in mountainous areas

Borrelia burgdorferi Infection in Biglycan Knockout Mice

Background: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato spirochetes (Borrelia) causing Lyme borreliosis are able to disseminate from the initial entry site to distant organs in the host. Outer-surface adhesins are crucial in the bacterial dissemination and adhesion to various tissues. Two well-characterized Borrelia adhesins, decorin-binding proteins A and B, have been shown to bind to 2 host receptors, decorin and biglycan. However, the role of biglycan in Borrelia infection has not been characterized in vivo.Methods: We infected biglycan knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) C3H mice with strains representing 3 Borrelia genospecies, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia garinii, and Borrelia afzelii. The infection was monitored by measuring joint swelling, Borrelia culture, polymerase chain reaction analysis, and serologic analysis. The host immune responses were analyzed by histological scoring of the inflammation in tissues and by cytokine profiling.Results: B. burgdorferi sensu stricto and B. garinii established long-term infection in mice of both genotypes, while B. afzelii failed to disseminate in KO mice. Further, the B. burgdorferi sensu stricto–infected KO mice had persistent inflammation in the joints.Conclusions: The dissemination and tissue colonization of Borrelia and the inflammatory response of the host differ in a mouse biglycan expression– and Borrelia genospecies–dependent manner.</p

C6 peptide enzyme immunoassay in Lyme borreliosis serology

The cut-off values used in C6 peptide-based enzyme immunoassay (EIA), a widely used test in Lyme borreliosis (LB) serology, have not been thoroughly analysed. The objective of the study was to examine the performance of the C6 EIA, and to determine optimal cut-off values for the test. The analysed data contained results of 1368 serum samples. C6 EIA index values were compared statistically with the immunoblot (IB) test results. The identified cut-off values were further tested in a well-defined LB patient cohort. Cut-off value 1.6 appeared to be optimal when C6 EIA was used as a stand-alone test. When using C6 EIA as the first-tier test, the optimal cut-off values were 0.9 and 2.4 for negative and positive results. When C6 EIA was used as a second-tier test, samples yielding C6 index values ≥3.0 could be considered positive. The identified cut-off values had also a high sensitivity to identify seropositivity among definite LB patients. The identified cut-off values refine the role of C6 EIA in LB serology. Importantly, the use of C6 EIA leads to a reduction in the number of samples that need to be analysed using an IB, thus also reducing the costs. Two alternative workflows for LB serology including the C6 EIA are suggested.</p