Är Lerbodaälven verkligen en problemälv?

Lerbodaälven is a river in the municipality of Kil which, due to high phosphorus content is not meeting the requirements for good ecological status according to the Water Framework Directive. The purpose of this report is to investigate the causes for the high content of phosphorus that has been measured in Lerbodaälven between 1995-2010. Four questions will be answered in this report. 1. Does the sewage treatment work affect the phosphorus level in Lerbodaälven? The result from the time series analysis shows that the sewage treatment works have a small impact on the phosphorus level in Lerbodaälven. The reduction of phoshorus is high (94 %) and the phoshorus load from the sewage treatment works is approximately 9 kg per year. 2. Does Lerbodaälven differ from other rivers nearby? Water samples from ten other rivers close to Lerbodaälven have been collected and analysed two times during the spring 2010: one time during high water flow and one time during normal water flow. The purpose of that was to examine if Lerbodaälven differ or if similar results are shown in waters nearby, with the same kind of land use. The results from the high water flow period show that Lerbodaälven does not differ, since the results were similar in adjacent rivers. The results also show that much of the measured phosphorus is bound to particles or organic material. 3. Is the soil type the reason why the phosphorus level vary within the catchment? This was one of the first questions that came up when the project started. But due to lack of data, a local soil type map could not be done. It is therefore not possible to draw any conclusions about how the soil type affect the phosphorus levels. Although it has been verified that silty clay is the dominant soil type within the catchment, by other maps. 4. Is it the natural or man made sources that contribute the most to the phosphorus load? Both natural causes and man-made causes have been studied. The largest source of phosphorus load is farming, (1370 kg gross phosphorus/year). The net phosphorus load from the private waste water is approximately 320 kg. The atmospheric deposition and the leakage from forest, swamps and open fields is all together approximately 390 kg gross phosphorus/year, natural sources that are hard to decrease. There are a lot of lakes in the Lerbodaälven catchment and it is likely that much of the phosphorus that load the area settles. Measures. A model, such as the Fyrismodel, would give better approximations of the phosphorus load than the ones made in this report. The Fyrismodel is a tool for catchment-scale modelling of source apportioned gross and net transport of both nitrogen and phosphorus. With the Fyrismodel it is also possible to better/more precisely calculate the natural sources. An effective reduction of the phosphorus leakage from arable land would require measures that are specific to each field and that are implemented during the periods in which the flow of phosphorus is high. A dialog with the farmers about problem with phosphorus leakage could give rise to improved routines

Kartläggning av stresskällor och behov av stressreducering på två mindre arbetsplatser

De senaste åren har antalet sjukskrivningar relaterade till psykisk sjukdom ökat, och en stor del av denna ökning tillskrivs stressproblematik i arbetslivet. Syftet med denna studie var att kartlägga behovet av stresshantering på två mindre företag, samt att undersöka sambandet mellan självrapporterad stress och anställdas upplevelse av krav, kontroll, stöd och meningsfullhet. Tanken är att en sådan kartläggning ska kunna fungera som vägledning för företagen i deras arbete med stresshantering. Totalt deltog 23 anställda från två sydsvenska företag, verksamma inom branscherna tandteknik och datorhjälpmedel. Undersökningsmetoden utgjordes av en internetenkät bestående av 50 frågor med fasta svarsalternativ och tre öppna frågor. Svaren rörande stress, krav, kontroll, stöd och meningsfullhet analyserades med hjälp av multipel regression samt parvisa korrelationsundersökningar och svaren på de öppna frågorna med hjälp av en tematisk analys. Resultaten från den multipla regressionsanalysen visade att deltagarnas poäng på skalorna krav, kontroll, stöd och meningsfullhet signifikant korrelerade med deras stresspoäng. Av de fyra variablerna var det meningsfullhet som bidrog mest, vilket gör det intressant att beakta vid stressproblematik och stresshantering. Den tematiska analysen av de öppna frågorna visade att dålig ledning/struktur ansågs vara den största källan till stress och att problematiken bäst kunde hanteras genom tydligare planer och mål, samt uppföljningar i form av individuella utvecklingssamtal. På grund av undersökningens begränsade omfång och de arbetsspecifika förhållandena bör generaliseringar göras med stor försiktighet. Däremot är diskussionen kring den använda kartläggningsmetoden av särskilt intresse och relevant för vidare studier, då detta första steg i processen att kartlägga och hantera stress är avgörande för processens framskridande

{1-[1-(3-Carboxy­propanamido)eth­yl]-1′,2-bis­(diphenyl­phosphino)ferrocene-κ2 P,P′}dichloridoplatinum(II) dichloro­methane 1.25-solvate

The dinuclear title compound, [FePtCl2(C17H14P)(C23H23NO3P)]·1.25CH2Cl2, has a slightly distorted cis-PtCl2P2 square-planar geometry around the Pt atom, and the ferrocenylphosphine ligands are staggered at an angle of 29.4 (2)° about Pt. In the crystal structure, the complex forms centrosymmetric dimers via two strong inter­molecular O—H⋯O bonds resulting in R 2 2(8) rings. A weak intra­molecular N—H⋯Cl bond leads to an S(8) motif. The solvent is highly disordered and has not been modelled with discrete atoms

Dosimetry of ⁶⁴Cu-DOTA-AE105, a PET tracer for uPAR imaging

Abstract64Cu-DOTA-AE105 is a novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracer specific to the human urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). In preparation of using this tracer in humans, as a new promising method to distinguish between indolent and aggressive cancers, we have performed PET studies in mice to evaluate the in vivo biodistribution and estimate human dosimetry of 64Cu-DOTA-AE105.MethodsFive mice received iv tail injection of 64Cu-DOTA-AE105 and were PET/CT scanned 1, 4.5 and 22h post injection. Volume-of-interest (VOI) were manually drawn on the following organs: heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, intestine, muscle, bone and bladder. The activity concentrations in the mentioned organs [%ID/g] were used for the dosimetry calculation. The %ID/g of each organ at 1, 4.5 and 22h was scaled to human value based on a difference between organ and body weights. The scaled values were then exported to OLINDA software for computation of the human absorbed doses. The residence times as well as effective dose equivalent for male and female could be obtained for each organ. To validate this approach, of human projection using mouse data, five mice received iv tail injection of another 64Cu-DOTA peptide-based tracer, 64Cu-DOTA-TATE, and underwent same procedure as just described. The human dosimetry estimates were then compared with observed human dosimetry estimate recently found in a first-in-man study using 64Cu-DOTA-TATE.ResultsHuman estimates of 64Cu-DOTA-AE105 revealed the heart wall to receive the highest dose (0.0918mSv/MBq) followed by the liver (0.0815mSv/MBq), All other organs/tissue were estimated to receive doses in the range of 0.02–0.04mSv/MBq. The mean effective whole-body dose of 64Cu-DOTA-AE105 was estimated to be 0.0317mSv/MBq. Relatively good correlation between human predicted and observed dosimetry estimates for 64Cu-DOTA-TATE was found. Importantly, the effective whole body dose was predicted with very high precision (predicted value: 0.0252mSv/Mbq, Observed value: 0.0315mSv/MBq) thus validating our approach for human dosimetry estimation.ConclusionFavorable dosimetry estimates together with previously reported uPAR PET data fully support human testing of 64Cu-DOTA-AE105

A comparative study on fertility among the descendants of immigrants in Europe

This study investigates the childbearing patterns of the descendants of immigrants in selected European countries, with a focus on ethnic minority women whose parents arrived in Europe from high-fertility countries. While the fertility levels of immigrants to Europe have been examined in the recent literature, the childbearing patterns among their descendants have received little attention. Using longitudinal data from eight European countries and applying Poisson regression models, the study shows that many descendants of immigrants exhibit first-birth levels that are similar to the ‘native’ population in their respective countries; however, first-birth levels are elevated among women of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin in the UK and for those of Turkish descent in France and Belgium. Transition rates to a second child vary less across ethnic groups. Most ethnic minority women in the UK, France and Belgium show significantly higher third-birth levels than ‘natives’ in those countries. The inclusion of women’s level of education in the analysis has little effect on fertility differences across the ethnic groups. Overall, the childbearing behaviour of the descendants of immigrants falls in between the fertility pathways experienced by their parents’ generation and the respective ‘native’ populations. The analysis supports the idea that both the mainstream society and the minority subculture shape the childbearing patterns of the descendants of immigrants in Europe

Multifactorial intervention to prevent cardiovascular disease in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis:protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular morbidity is a major burden in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we compare the effect of a targeted, intensified, multifactorial intervention with that of conventional treatment of modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with early RA fulfilling the 2010 American College of Rheumatology European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) criteria. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is a prospective, randomised, open label trial with blinded end point assessment and balanced randomisation (1:1) conducted in 10 outpatient clinics in Denmark. The primary end point after 5 years of follow-up is a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke and cardiac revascularisation. Secondary outcomes are: the proportion of patients achieving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol <2.5 mmol/L, glycated haemoglobin <48 mmol/mol, blood pressure <140/90 mm  Hg for patients without diabetes and <130/80 mm Hg for patients with diabetes and normoalbuminuria (urinary albumin creatinine ratio <30 mg/g) after 1 year of follow-up and the proportion of patients in each treatment group achieving low RA disease activity after 1 year, defined as a disease activity score C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) <3.2 and a DAS28-CRP score <2.6 after 12, 24 and 60 months. Furthermore, all hospitalisations for acute and elective reasons will be adjudicated by the event committee after 12, 24 and 60 months. Three hundred treatment-naive patients with early RA will be randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either conventional treatment administered and monitored by their general practitioner according to national guidelines (control group) or a stepwise implementation administered and monitored in a quarterly rheumatological nurse-administered set-up of behaviour modification and pharmacological therapy targeting (1) hyperlipidaemia, (2) hypertension, (3) hyperglycaemia and (4) microalbuminuria (intervention group). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol is approved by the local ethics committee (DK-S-2014007) and The Danish Health and Medicines Authority. Dissemination will occur through presentations at National and International conferences and publications in international peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT0224625

In vitro selection of RNA aptamers against a conserved region of the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1

The var-gene encoding Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) is known to play a major role in the pathogenicity of the P. falciparum parasite. The protein enables the parasite to adhere to the endothelial linings of small blood vessels (cytoadherence) as well as to non-infected erythrocytes (rosetting), thus preventing clearance from the bloodstream. The development and spread of resistance towards most anti-malarial drugs used for treatment and prevention of the most severe form of malaria truly emphasise the importance of a continuous research and development of new drugs. In this study we use Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX) methodology to isolate high-affinity ligands (aptamers). To validate the results from the SELEX in vitro selection, different aptamers have been selected against PfEMP1 in a live cell assay of P. falciparum strain FCR3S1.2, a highly rosetting strain. We have been able to show the rosette disrupting capacity of these SELEX-aptamers at concentrations of 33 nM and with 100% disruption at 387 nM. The described results show that RNA aptamers are promising candidates for adjunct therapy in severe malaria