To stress the importance of nature

As a consequence of drastic labour market changes in the late 1990s, many employees experienced more stress in the workplace. Prolonged exposure to stress can lead to physical and mental health problems, and rehabilitation takes a long time. The lack of established rehabilitation programmes for patients with stress-related mental disorders has opened up for the use of garden/nature in a multimodal rehabilitation context (Nature- Based Therapy, NBT). The aim of Study I was to explore how participants in an Nature-Based Rehabilitation (NBR) experienced their rehabilitation. Study II aimed to explore effects on burnout, work ability, stress-related health symptoms, and sick leave from participation in a nature-based stress management course (NBSC) and to investigate how the nature/garden content was experienced. Study III aimed to explore the effects of NBR in individuals with long sick leave due to stress-related mental disorders and to explore the development of sick leave and health care utilization. Study IV aimed to examine potential environmental effects on directed attention and physiological measures of relaxation in nature and indoors. Validated self-assessment instruments, data from regional and national registers and semi-structured interviews were used. Education about nature opened up for new perspectives on life; thus, nature triggered existential reflection, which enhanced the recovery process. Nature and garden were experienced as supportive environments. Results for participants in the NBSC showed decreased burnout-scores and long-term sick leaves, and increased work ability; furthermore less stress-related symptoms were reported. The same pattern was seen for the NBR participants concerning burnout and also for depression, anxiety and wellbeing, reduced health care utilization, and a movement from ordinary sickness benefit to rehabilitation benefit was seen. Improved directed attention after relaxation in nature was seen. No environmental effects were seen for blood pressure or heart rate. The results indicate that the NBT in this thesis was successful in both prevention and rehabilitation, and in restarting a stalled rehabilitation process

Nature-Based Stress Management Course for Individuals at Risk of Adverse Health Effects from Work-Related Stress

Sick leave due to stress-related disorders is increasing in Sweden after a period of decrease. To avoid that individuals living under heavy stress develop more severe stress-related disorders, different stress management interventions are offered. Self-assessed health, burnout-scores and well-being are commonly used as outcome measures. Few studies have used sick-leave to compare effects of stress interventions. A new approach is to use nature and garden in a multimodal stress management context. This study aimed to explore effects on burnout, work ability, stress-related health symptoms, and sick leave for 33 women participating in a 12-weeks nature based stress management course and to investigate how the nature/garden activities were experienced. A mixed method approach was used. Measures were taken at course start and three follow-ups. Results showed decreased burnout-scores and long-term sick leaves, and increased work ability; furthermore less stress-related symptoms were reported. Tools and strategies to better handle stress were achieved and were widely at use at all follow-ups. The garden and nature content played an important role for stress relief and for tools and strategies to develop. The results from this study points to beneficial effects of using garden activities and natural environments in a stress management intervention

UNG-initiated base excision repair is the major repair route for 5-fluorouracil in DNA, but 5-fluorouracil cytotoxicity depends mainly on RNA incorporation

Cytotoxicity of 5-fluorouracil (FU) and 5-fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine (FdUrd) due to DNA fragmentation during DNA repair has been proposed as an alternative to effects from thymidylate synthase (TS) inhibition or RNA incorporation. The goal of the present study was to investigate the relative contribution of the proposed mechanisms for cytotoxicity of 5-fluoropyrimidines. We demonstrate that in human cancer cells, base excision repair (BER) initiated by the uracil–DNA glycosylase UNG is the major route for FU–DNA repair in vitro and in vivo. SMUG1, TDG and MBD4 contributed modestly in vitro and not detectably in vivo. Contribution from mismatch repair was limited to FU:G contexts at best. Surprisingly, knockdown of individual uracil–DNA glycosylases or MSH2 did not affect sensitivity to FU or FdUrd. Inhibitors of common steps of BER or DNA damage signalling affected sensitivity to FdUrd and HmdUrd, but not to FU. In support of predominantly RNA-mediated cytotoxicity, FU-treated cells accumulated ~3000- to 15 000-fold more FU in RNA than in DNA. Moreover, FU-cytotoxicity was partially reversed by ribonucleosides, but not deoxyribonucleosides and FU displayed modest TS-inhibition compared to FdUrd. In conclusion, UNG-initiated BER is the major route for FU–DNA repair, but cytotoxicity of FU is predominantly RNA-mediated, while DNA-mediated effects are limited to FdUrd

Some strategic national initiatives for the Swedish education in the geodata field

This paper describes national cooperation in Sweden launched by its universities and authorities, aimed at improving geodata education. These initiatives have been focused upon providing common access to geodata, the production of teaching materials in Swedish and organizing annual meetings for teachers. We argue that this type of cooperation is vital to providing high quality education for a poorly recognized subject in a country with a relatively small population

Antibodies against Alpha-Synuclein Reduce Oligomerization in Living Cells

Recent research implicates soluble aggregated forms of α-synuclein as neurotoxic species with a central role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and related disorders. The pathway by which α-synuclein aggregates is believed to follow a step-wise pattern, in which dimers and smaller oligomers are initially formed. Here, we used H4 neuroglioma cells expressing α-synuclein fused to hemi:GFP constructs to study the effects of α-synuclein monoclonal antibodies on the early stages of aggregation, as quantified by Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation assay. Widefield and confocal microscopy revealed that cells treated for 48 h with monoclonal antibodies internalized antibodies to various degrees. C-terminal and oligomer-selective α-synuclein antibodies reduced the extent of α-synuclein dimerization/oligomerization, as indicated by decreased GFP fluorescence signal. Furthermore, ELISA measurements on lysates and conditioned media from antibody treated cells displayed lower α-synuclein levels compared to untreated cells, suggesting increased protein turnover. Taken together, our results propose that extracellular administration of monoclonal antibodies can modify or inhibit early steps in the aggregation process of α-synuclein, thus providing further support for passive immunization against diseases with α-synuclein pathology

Some strategic national initiatives for the Swedish education in the geodata field

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.This paper describes national cooperation in Sweden launched by its universities and authorities, aimed at improving geodata education. These initiatives have been focused upon providing common access to geodata, the production of teaching materials in Swedish and organizing annual meetings for teachers. We argue that this type of cooperation is vital to providing high quality education for a poorly recognized subject in a country with a relatively small population

Könsskillnader i upplevelse och användande av socialt stöd på arbetsplatsen

This study examines gender differences in the perception and utilization of social support in traditional female- and male workplaces. This study confirms results from earlier studies which suggest that there are gender differences. The survey instrument measures four types of social support: informational, instrumental, appraisal and emotional among 314 working women and men. Women report higher levels of social support on all four types. There is a significant difference in instrumental support between women working in female dominated workplaces compared to men working in male-dominated workplaces and between some of the trades. Otherwise no significant differences were found