Impact of Alzheimer's disease on the family caregiver's long-term quality of life: results from an ALSOVA follow-up study

Peer reviewe

Variation of Absorption Angstrom Exponent in Aerosols From Different Emission Sources

The absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) describes the spectral dependence of light absorption by aerosols. AAE is typically used to differentiate between different aerosol types for example., black carbon, brown carbon, and dust particles. In this study, the variation of AAE was investigated mainly in fresh aerosol emissions from different fuel and combustion types, including emissions from ships, buses, coal-fired power plants, and residential wood burning. The results were assembled to provide a compendium of AAE values from different emission sources. A dual-spot aethalometer (AE33) was used in all measurements to obtain the light absorption coefficients at seven wavelengths (370-950 nm). AAE(470/950) varied greatly between the different emission sources, ranging from -0.2 +/- 0.7 to 3.0 +/- 0.8. The correlation between the AAE(470/950) and AAE(370-950) results was good (R-2 = 0.95) and the mean bias error between these was 0.02. In the ship engine exhaust emissions, the highest AAE(470/950) values (up to 2.0 +/- 0.1) were observed when high sulfur content heavy fuel oil was used, whereas low sulfur content fuels had the lowest AAE(470/950) (0.9-1.1). In the diesel bus exhaust emissions, AAE(470/950) increased in the order of acceleration (0.8 +/- 0.1), deceleration (1.1 +/- 0.1), and steady driving (1.2 +/- 0.1). In the coal-fired power plant emissions, the variation of AAE(470/950) was substantial (from -0.1 +/- 2.1 to 0.9 +/- 1.6) due to the differences in the fuels and flue gas cleaning conditions. Fresh wood-burning derived aerosols had AAE(470/950) from 1.1 +/- 0.1 (modern masonry heater) to 1.4 +/- 0.1 (pellet boiler), lower than typically associated with wood burning, while the burn cycle phase affected AAE variation.Peer reviewe

Cut-off values to evaluate exercise-induced asthma in eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation test for children

Background and Aim The eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation (EVH) testing is a diagnostic tool for diagnostics of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction; while the testing has become more common among children, data on the test's feasibility among children remain limited. Our aim was to investigate EVH testing feasibility among children, diagnostic testing cut-off values, and which factors affect testing outcomes. Methods We recruited 134 patients aged 10-16 years with a history of exercise-induced dyspnoea and 100 healthy control children to undergo 6-min EVH testing. Testing feasibility was assessed by the children's ability to achieve >= 70% of the target minute ventilation of 30 times forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). Bronchoconstriction was assessed as a minimum of 8%, 10%, 12%, 15% or 20% fall in FEV1. Patient characteristics were correlated with EVH outcomes. Results Overall, 98% of the children reached >= 70%, 88% reached >= 80%, 79% reached >= 90% and 62% reached >= 100% of target ventilation in EVH testing; of children with a history of exercise-induced dyspnoea, the decline percentages were as follows: 24% (>= 8% fall), 17% (>= 10% fall), 10% (>= 12% fall), 6% (>= 15% fall) and 5% (>= 20% fall) in FEV1, compared to 11%, 4%, 3%, 1% and 0% among the healthy controls, respectively. Healthy controls and boys performed testing at higher ventilation rates (p < .05). Conclusion Eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation testing is feasible among children aged 10-16 years and has diagnostic value in evaluating exercise-induced dyspnoea among children. A minimum 10% fall in FEV1 is a good diagnostic cut-off value. Disease status appears to be important covariates

Structural Insight into CVB3-VLP Non-Adjuvanted Vaccine

Coxsackievirus B (CVB) enteroviruses are common pathogens that can cause acute and chronic myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy, aseptic meningitis, and they are hypothesized to be a causal factor in type 1 diabetes. The licensed enterovirus vaccines and those currently in clinical development are traditional inactivated or live attenuated vaccines. Even though these vaccines work well in the prevention of enterovirus diseases, new vaccine technologies, like virus-like particles (VLPs), can offer important advantages in the manufacturing and epitope engineering. We have previously produced VLPs for CVB3 and CVB1 in insect cells. Here, we describe the production of CVB3-VLPs with enhanced production yield and purity using an improved purification method consisting of tangential flow filtration and ion exchange chromatography, which is compatible with industrial scale production. We also resolved the CVB3-VLP structure by Cryo-Electron Microscopy imaging and single particle reconstruction. The VLP diameter is 30.9 nm on average, and it is similar to Coxsackievirus A VLPs and the expanded enterovirus cell-entry intermediate (the 135s particle), which is similar to 2 nm larger than the mature virion. High neutralizing and total IgG antibody levels, the latter being a predominantly Th2 type (IgG1) phenotype, were detected in C57BL/6J mice immunized with non-adjuvanted CVB3-VLP vaccine. The structural and immunogenic data presented here indicate the potential of this improved methodology to produce highly immunogenic enterovirus VLP-vaccines in the future.Peer reviewe

Contribution of brown carbon to light absorption in emissions of European residential biomass combustion appliances

Residential biomass combustion significantly contributes to light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols in the atmosphere, impacting the earth's radiative balance at regional and global levels. This study investigates the contribution of brown carbon (BrC) to the total particulate light absorption in the wavelength range of 370–950 nm (BrC370–950) and the particulate absorption Ångström exponents (AAE470/950) in 15 different European residential combustion appliances using a variety of wood-based fuels. BrC370–950 was estimated to be from 1 % to 21 % for wood log stoves and 10 % for a fully automatized residential pellet boiler. Correlations between the ratio of organic to elemental carbon (OC / EC) and BrC370–950 indicated that a one-unit increase in OC / EC corresponded to approximately a 14 % increase in BrC370–950. Additionally, BrC370–950 was clearly influenced by the fuel moisture content and the combustion efficiency, while the effect of the combustion appliance type was less prominent. AAE470/950 of wood log combustion aerosols ranged from 1.06 to 1.61. By examining the correlation between AAE470/950 and OC / EC, an AAE470/950 close to unity was found for pure black carbon (BC) particles originating from residential wood combustion. This supports the common assumption used to differentiate light absorption caused by BC and BrC. Moreover, diesel aerosols exhibited an AAE470/950 of 1.02, with BrC contributing only 0.66 % to the total absorption, aligning with the assumption employed in source apportionment. These findings provide important data to assess the BrC from residential wood combustion with different emission characteristics and confirm that BrC can be a major contributor to particulate UV and near-UV light absorption for northern European wood stove emissions with relatively high OC / EC ratios.</p

Characteristics and significance of a harvester operators' working technique in thinning

Productivity levels between harvester operators have been noted to vary significantly, by up to 40% in similar stands. It is believed that differences originate from the operators cutting techniques, motoric skills, planning of work, experience, felling order of removable trees, decision processes at the working location, machine properties and the surrounding environment. The objective of this study is to examine and compare six harvester operators and to detect those features of working technique that improve and rationalise the work. Consequently, improving the basic working technique can raise average productivity. The harvester operators' work was examined by using the normal stopwatch study method and the operators' working technique was registered for each handled tree. Working technique observations were adjoined to stopwatch the study time units as a large matrix after data collection. Results indicate that unnecessary stem movements in the felling phase should be avoided. The stem should be processed close to the stump so that the positioning-to-cut distance to next removable tree is short. This reduced positioning-to-cut time for the next felling. In processing, a productive operator can operate without big delays and the variations in processing times for same stem sizes are small. Furthermore, the productive operator avoids reversing when he is doing normal harvesting work

Cost competitiveness of harwarders in CTL-logging conditions in Finland - a discrete-event simulation study at the contractor level

pro gradu tai vast.akat

Depletion of soil phosphorus as assessed by several indices of phosporus supplying power

v2002okYhan kirjast