Birth outcome in relation to licorice consumption during pregnancy.

A role for glucocorticoids is suspected in the etiology of low birth weight. The authors tested whether maternal consumption of glycyrrhizin (an inhibitor of cortisol metabolism) in licorice affects birth weight in humans. A sample of 1,049 Finnish women and their healthy singleton infants was studied in 1998. Glycyrrhizin intake was calculated from detailed questionnaires on licorice consumption. Glycyrrhizin exposure was grouped into three levels: low ( or =500 mg/week; n = 110). Birth weight and gestational age (from ultrasound measurements) were obtained from hospital records. Babies with heavy exposure to glycyrrhizin were not significantly lighter at birth, but they were significantly more likely to be born earlier: The odds ratio for being born before 38 weeks' gestation was 2.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.1, 5.5; p = 0.03). Although the effect of heavy glycyrrhizin intake on mean duration of gestation was small (2.52 days) when expressed as an effect on the mean, this shift to the left of the distribution of duration of gestation was sufficient to double the risk of being born before 38 weeks. The association remained in multivariate analyses. In conclusion, heavy glycyrrhizin exposure during pregnancy did not significantly affect birth weight or maternal blood pressure, but it was significantly associated with lower gestational age

Archaeobotanical study of a late Iron Age agricultural complex at Orijärvi, Eastern Finland

Peer reviewe

The Citrus longhorn beetle in Europe and North America

vo

Moron, Haiti after the hurricane Matthew : Creating place in news images

Pro gradu -tutkielmani käsittelee visuaalista ja kielellistä viestintää ja sitä, mitä todellisuuksia ja merkityksiä ne luovat yhdessä. Tutkimukseni aihe on ranskalaisen Le Monde-lehden verkkoversio ja siinä julkaistu uutistarina Haitin yli pyyhkineestä Matthew-hurrikaanista lokakuussa 2016. Tutkimusmateriaalina toimivat verkkolehdessä julkaistut uutiskuvat ja niiden kuvatekstit. Multimodaalisen analyysin avulla tutkin, mitä kuvat ja sanat viestivät yhdessä, niitä tuottaneiden toimittajien, kuvaajien ja toimituksen avulla. Tutkielman ytimessä on yhteiskuntatieteiden, erityisesti ihmismaantieteen paikka-käsite. Paikka, on tässä kontekstissa enemmän kuin arkikielen piste kartalla. Se on käsite, jolla tutkitaan merkityksiä, muistoja, ja jäsennellään maailmaa. Tutkimuskysymys onkin: millaista paikkaa uutiskuvissa ja niiden kuvateksteissä rakennetaan? Ranskalaisen valtavirtamedian kertomassa tarinassa maan entisestä siirtomaasta Haitista, sanan ja vallan aspekti on myös otettu huomioon. Pääasiallisen materiaalin, eli uutiskuvien, takana olevat kuvaajat ovat kuitenkin paikallisia. Tämä on otettu huomioon tutkielman analyysissä. Tutkimusmateriaalista löytyi erilaisia kategorioita, joiden mukaan kuvat on lajiteltu ja analysoitu. Hurrikaanin vavisuttama Haiti näyttäytyy niin tuhon, pelastuksen kuin toivonkin paikkana, jota katselevat ja tulkitsevat niin paikalliset kuin ulkopuolisetkin silmät

EU-Russia Relations in the Context of Energy Security : Analysis of Energy Securitization Discourses 2014-2017

For long energy trade has been viewed as an important element of EU– (Soviet) Russia relations. The West European energy engagement with what was then Soviet Union that emerged in late 1960s over the next decades evolved into an important strategic partnership in between the European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation (Russia), with considerable degree of interdependence surrounding their energy ties. Although the EU-Russia energy relations are, in general, concerned with both oil and natural gas, in the present research the author narrowed down the notion of energy to natural gas assigning this commodity a unique importance in the analysis of energy politics between the two. This is given the difference in the structural and economic terms of its trade when compared to other types of fossil fuels, which leads to path-dependent nature of energy relations between the actors involved. The disruptions of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe in 2006 and 2009 as a result of Ukraine-Russia gas disputes already contributed to concerns in regards to security of Russian energy supplies and corresponding natural gas demand from the side of the EU in the light of long-standing interdependence of the energy trade between the two. That being said, the subsequent 2014 Ukrainian crisis involving Russia’s annexation of Crimea and yet another Ukraine-Russia gas dispute can be seen as a turning point in the EU-Russia relations in the context of energy trade. The present study drew from previous research on the topic and, using a securitization theory coined by Copenhagen School of Security Studies as an analytical framework, deploys discourse analysis as a methodological tool in order to examine series of political rhetoric over the years 2014-2017 pertaining to the issue of EU-Russia relations when it comes to security of energy supplies. The analysis of the content of both EU’s and Russia’s energy securitization discourses revealed a presence of some cross related key themes that demonstrate certain similarities as well as differences in actors’ interpretations of their mutual energy trade and the implications of such for each of the party’s respective energy securities. It may be argued that over the years 2014-2017 Russia has been going through the process of de-securitization of its energy relations with the European Union. That being said over the same period the EU has been going through the processes of securitization of its relations with Russian Federation

The Asian longhorn beetle in Europe and North-America

vo

Charred seeds in Mikkeli Orijärvi : A study of subsistence strategies of an Iron Age settlement in East Finland

In this study the over 350 macrofossil samples, containing over 2300 charred plant remains from an Iron Age settlement containing fossil fields in Mikkeli Orijärvi Kihlinpelto, were studied archaeobotanically. The aim was to get more information about subsistence strategies, especially agriculture and study differences in the plant combinations in the different structures and use the archaeobotanical theory to interpret these structures. The methodological question was to study the taphonomy of the charred plant material. The results gave a diverse impression of the agriculture and subsistence strategies of the settlement in Orijärvi, where barley was the most important cereal with rye, wheat and oat cultivated as minor crops. The arable weed assemblage indicates that the fields were situated in different kinds of soils and the crops were cultivated when different kind of weather conditions were prevailing. Ergot was found with the cereals, and it was growing on some of the arable crops and it also indicates wet climate. Hemp and flax were cultivated and wild plants were collected. The meadow and wetland plants found in the material derive most probably from animal fodder. Tubers of bulbous oat-grass were interesting, because they are usually found in graves. Comparison with other Iron Age settlements and graves indicates that the plant material found from the ancient field layers derives most probably from dwellings and graves, which were taken into cultivation.Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa käsitellään Mikkelin Orijärven Kihlinpellon rautakautiselta asuinpaikka- ja muinaispeltokohteelta tutkittua yli 350 makrofossiilinäytettä, joista löytyi yli 2300 hiiltynyttä kasvinosaa. Työn tavoitteena on saada lisää tietoa toimeentulostrategioista, etenkin maataloudesta ja vertailla eri rakenteiden makrofossiilisisältöä toisiinsa ja käyttää arkeobotaanista teoriaa näiden rakenteiden tulkitsemiseen. Metodologisena kysymyksena on tarkastella hiiltyneen kasvimateriaalin tafonomiaa. Tulosten perusteella saatiin monipuolinen kuva Orijärven asuinpaikan maataloudesta ja elinkeinostrategioista. Monilukuisin viljakasvi on ollut ohra, jonka lisäksi on viljelty myös ruista, vehnää ja kauraa. Rikkaruohojen perusteella peltojen maaperä on vaihdellut ja viljelyä on harjoitettu monenlaisissa sääolosuhteissa. Materiaalista löytyi torajyvää, jonka isäntäkasvina on ollut jokin viljakasvi ja se osoittaa että ilmasto-olosuhteet ovat olleet kosteat. Paikalla on viljelty hamppua ja pellavaa ja alueelta on keräilty kasveja. Niitty- ja kosteikkokasvien siemenet viittaavat mitä todennäköisimmin kasvien käyttöön eläinten rehuna. Heinäkauran (Arrhenatherum elatius var. bulbosum) varsimukulat olivat kiinnostavia, koska niitä löydetään yleensä haudoista. Vertailu muihin rautakautisiin asuinpaikkoihin ja hautoihin osoitti, että muinaispelloista löytynyt kasvimateriaali mitä todennäköisimmin on peräisin viljelykäyttöön otetuista asumuksista ja haudoista

The Roots of Democracy in India

no abstrac

Emerging Joint Expertise? Multiagency Collaboration Described in Local Integration Programmes in Finland

Multiagency collaboration is seen as an essential way of working to promote the two-way integration of newcomers and a receiving society. The term multiagency collaboration underlines the diversity of actors in cooperation. Cross-sectorial networks are mentioned in higher strategies as well as in the local programmes or plans for action. But how is multiagency work structured at the local level? This article looks at the examples of multiagency collaboration in the written documents of local integration programmes in the Finnish context. The examples are chosen from different areas. It seems that collaboration is widely emphasized as a goal or a working method. Whereas expertise in integration work is relatively novel in Finland, more analytical awareness of multiagency collaboration could support learning in networks and developing hybrid practices in this emerging field of knowledge