Liikunta lasten tunnetaitojen vahvistajana

Tiivistelmä. Tämä kandidaatintutkielma käsittelee liikunnan ja tunnetaitojen yhteyttä sekä varhaiskasvatuksen ohjatun liikunnan keinoja toimia lapsen tunnetaitojen vahvistajana. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten varhaiskasvatuksen ohjattu liikunta voi toimia lapsen tunnetaitojen vahvistajana. Tutkielma toteutettiin kuvailevana kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Kirjallisuuden valintaa ohjasivat varhaiskasvatuksen kontekstissa ilmenevät liikuntatuokiot sekä lasten tunnetaitojen tarkastelu. Aineistoina toimivataiheeseen liittyvä kotimainen ja kansainvälinen kirjallisuus sekätutkimusartikkelit. Kirjallisuutena on käytetty nykyaikaisia ja vertaisarviota lähteitä. Tutkittaessa liikunnan ja tunnetaitojen yhteyttä todettiin liikunnan olevan lapselle luonteva tapa ilmaista tunteitaan. Tunteiden säätely ja itsetunto kehittyvät lapsen toimiessa vuorovaikutuksessa muiden kanssa. Tutkimustulokset osoittivat motoristen taitojen ja tunnetaitojen välisen yhteyden. Toisena tutkimusongelmana oli selvittää, miten liikunnallisilla keinoilla voidaan tukea lapsen tunnetaitoja varhaiskasvatuksessa. Aiheeseen liittyvien tutkimustulosten tarkastelussa ilmeni, että varhaiskasvattajalla on merkittävä rooli lasten liikuntakasvattajana ja positiivisten tunnetaitojen vahvistajana. Ympäristön, ilmapiirin ja palautteen merkitys nousivat myös tärkeiksi keinoiksi tukea lasten tunnetaitoja liikuntatuokioilla

Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) in the Emergency Department (Ed): A Tool for the Assessment of Elderly Patients

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a global issue setting challenges to all care providers. Elderly patients are frequent visitors of the ED and their risk stratification is demanding due to insufficient assessment methods. A prospective cohort study was conducted to determine the risk-predicting value of a prognostic biomarker, soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), in the ED, concentrating on elderly patients. SuPAR levels were determined as part of standard blood sampling of 1858 ED patients. The outcomes were assessed in the group o

Reduction of Cross-Reactive Carbohydrate Determinants in Plant Foodstuff: Elucidation of Clinical Relevance and Implications for Allergy Diagnosis

Background: A longstanding debate in allergy is whether or not specific immunoglobulin-E antibodies (sIgE), recognizing cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD), are able to elicit clinical symptoms. In pollen and food allergy, $20% of patients display in-vitro CCD reactivity based on presence of a1,3-fucose and/or b1,2-xylose residues on N-glycans of plant (xylose/fucose) and insect (fucose) glycoproteins. Because the allergenicity of tomato glycoallergen Lyc e 2 was ascribed to N-glycan chains alone, this study aimed at evaluating clinical relevance of CCD-reduced foodstuff in patients with carbohydrate-specific IgE (CCD-sIgE). Methodology/Principal Findings: Tomato and/or potato plants with stable reduction of Lyc e 2 (tomato) or CCD formation in general were obtained via RNA interference, and gene-silencing was confirmed by immunoblot analyses. Two different CCD-positive patient groups were compared: one with tomato and/or potato food allergy and another with hymenopteravenom allergy (the latter to distinguish between CCD- and peptide-specific reactions in the food-allergic group). Nonallergic and CCD-negative food-allergic patients served as controls for immunoblot, basophil activation, and ImmunoCAP analyses. Basophil activation tests (BAT) revealed that Lyc e 2 is no key player among other tomato (glyco)allergens. CCDpositive patients showed decreased (re)activity with CCD-reduced foodstuff, most obvious in the hymenoptera venomallergic but less in the food-allergic group, suggesting that in-vivo reactivity is primarily based on peptide- and not CCDsIgE. Peptide epitopes remained unaffected in CCD-reduced plants, because CCD-negative patient sera showed reactivity similar to wild-type. In-house-made ImmunoCAPs, applied to investigate feasibility in routine diagnosis, confirmed BAT results at the sIgE level. Conclusions/Significance: CCD-positive hymenoptera venom-allergic patients (control group) showed basophil activation despite no allergic symptoms towards tomato and potato. Therefore, this proof-of-principle study demonstrates feasibility of CCD-reduced foodstuff to minimize ‘false-positive results’ in routine serum tests. Despite confirming low clinical relevance of CCD antibodies, we identified one patient with ambiguous in-vitro results, indicating need for further component-resolved diagnosis

Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) in the Emergency Department (Ed): A Tool for the Assessment of Elderly Patients

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a global issue setting challenges to all care providers. Elderly patients are frequent visitors of the ED and their risk stratification is demanding due to insufficient assessment methods. A prospective cohort study was conducted to determine the risk-predicting value of a prognostic biomarker, soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), in the ED, concentrating on elderly patients. SuPAR levels were determined as part of standard blood sampling of 1858 ED patients. The outcomes were assessed in the group of <75 years (=younger) and ≥75 years (=elderly). The elderly had higher median suPAR levels than the younger (5.4 ng/mL vs. 3.7 ng/mL, p < 0.001). Increasing suPAR levels were associated with higher probability for 30-day mortality and hospital admission in all age groups. SuPAR also predicted 30-day mortality when adjusted to other clinical factors. SuPAR acts successfully as a nonspecific risk predictor for 30-day mortality, independently and with other risk-assessment tools. Low suPAR levels predict positive outcomes and could be used in the discharging process. A cut-off value of 4 ng/mL could be used for all ED patients, 5 ng/mL being a potential alternative in elderly patients

Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) in the Emergency Department (Ed): A Tool for the Assessment of Elderly Patients

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a global issue setting challenges to all care providers. Elderly patients are frequent visitors of the ED and their risk stratification is demanding due to insufficient assessment methods. A prospective cohort study was conducted to determine the risk-predicting value of a prognostic biomarker, soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), in the ED, concentrating on elderly patients. SuPAR levels were determined as part of standard blood sampling of 1858 ED patients. The outcomes were assessed in the group o

Manure and energy crops for biogas production : Status and barriers

This study has evaluated the development of biogas technology in three Nordic countries and analysed the effects of using nine model energy crops in biogas plants. The study compares the global warming impacts and the energy balance for the nine crops used for heat and power production. The energy balances and impacts on greenhouse gases of the studied crops differ between the countries. In Sweden and Denmark, the same crops turned out to be the most promising in terms of energy yield and impact on greenhouse gases. In general, the same crops that score high in terms of energy yield also score high in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases. Based on the examined parameters, it can be concluded that the most promising crops are Jerusalem artichoke, beets, maize, and, in Finland, reed canary grass as well