Sustainable Grazing by Cattle and Sheep for Semi-Natural Grasslands in Sweden

Despite their importance for biodiversity and other ecosystem services, many semi-natural grasslands deteriorate or have even disappeared due to insufficient grazing and neglect. Preservation of grassland habitats depends on a good understanding of sustainable grazing management as well as effective agricultural policy measures that ensure long-term economic sustainability for the farmer. Through meta-evaluation and synthesis of previous investigations and discussion of scientific literature, we aimed to evaluate factors that determine the extent to which cattle and sheep in Sweden graze semi-natural grasslands instead of more productive land and what this means for biodiversity and sustainability. We also aimed to propose which practises and policy measures may be the most cost-effective to promote habitat quality and the sustainable use of grasslands. Results from a nationwide survey of Swedish farmers' attitudes towards agri-environmental payment schemes are discussed in relation to farm characteristics and other factors influencing the use of cattle and sheep for sustainable grazing. This study supports recommendations by environmental economists that payments should be targeted more strongly at the most valuable grasslands, emphasising the need for a more detailed and nuanced framework for classifying grasslands in Europe. A comparison with independent estimates of the area of agricultural land from nation-wide, sample-based monitoring shows that the data from official statistics normally used for nationwide evaluations are partly biased and of insufficient quality, underscoring the need for more sophisticated and precise methods for monitoring both overall trends and detailed environmental effects related to the preservation of semi-natural grasslands

A pooled analysis of karyotypic patterns, breakpoints and imbalances in 783 cytogenetically abnormal multiple myelomas reveals frequently involved chromosome segments as well as significant age- and sex-related differences.

The cytogenetic features (ploidy, complexity, breakpoints, imbalances) were ascertained in 783 abnormal multiple myeloma (MM) cases to identify frequently involved chromosomal regions as well as a possible impact of age/sex. The series included MM patients from the Mitelman Database of Chromosome Aberrations in Cancer and from our own laboratory. Hyperdiploidy was most common, followed by hypodiploidy, pseudodiploidy and tri-/tetraploidy. Most cases were complex, with a median of eight changes per patient. The distribution of modal numbers differed between younger and older patients, but was not related to sex. No sex- or age-related differences regarding the number of anomalies were found. The most frequent genomic breakpoints were 14q32, 11q13, 1q10, 8q24, 1p11, 1q21, 22q11, 1p13, 1q11, 19q13, 1p22, 6q21 and 17p11. Breaks in 1p13, 6q21 and 11q13 were more common in the younger age group. The most frequent imbalances were + 9, - 13, + 15, + 19, + 11 and - Y. Trisomy 11 and monosomy 16 were more common among men, while -X was more frequent among women. Loss of Y as the sole change and + 5 were more common in elderly patients, and - 14 was more frequent in the younger age group. The present findings strongly suggest that some karyotypic features of MM are influenced by endogenous and/or exogenous factors

Tensor-valued diffusion MRI in under 3 minutes: An initial survey of microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity in intracranial tumors

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of a 3-minute b-tensor encoding protocol for diffusion MRI-based assessment of the microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity in a wide range of intracranial tumors. Methods: B-tensor encoding was performed in 42 patients with intracranial tumors (gliomas, meningiomas, adenomas, metastases). Microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity were evaluated by estimating the anisotropic kurtosis ($MK_A$) and isotropic kurtosis ($MK_I$), respectively. An extensive imaging protocol was compared with a faster 3-minute protocol. Results: The fast imaging protocol yielded parameters with characteristics in terms of bias and precision similar to the full protocol. Glioblastomas had lower microscopic anisotropy than meningiomas $(MK_A = 0.29 \pm 0.06$ versus $0.45\pm0.08, p = 0.003)$. Metastases had higher tissue heterogeneity $(MK_I = 0.57\pm0.07)$ than both the glioblastomas $(0.44\pm0.06, p < 0.001)$ and meningiomas $(0.46\pm0.06, p = 0.03)$. Conclusion: Evaluation of the microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity in intracranial tumor patients is feasible in clinically relevant times frames.Comment: Submitted to Magnetic Resonance in Medicin

Chronic hepatitis C in Swedish subjects receiving opiate substitution therapy-Factors associated with advanced fibrosis.

Background: Opiate substitution therapy (OST) reduces the risk of death from directly drug-related causes in heroin users, allowing other chronic health problems to emerge. People who inject drugs (PWID) are exposed to hepatitis C virus (HCV), with an associated risk of chronic liver disease. We investigated HCV prevalence and liver-related morbidity in a cohort of OST recipients, and analyzed factors associated with significant hepatic fibrosis. Methods: All patients registered on 1 April 2008 in 4 clinics providing OST in the 3 largest cities in Sweden were eligible for inclusion. HCV viremic subjects were evaluated for fibrosis stage by liver biopsy, transient elastometry (TE), and/or a biochemical fibrosis index (Göteborg University Cirrhosis Index; GUCI). Factors associated with severity of fibrosis were determined by logistic regression analysis. Results: Out of 524 eligible patients, 277 consented to enrolment. Two hundred and thirty-six subjects (88%) were anti-HCV-positive, and 162 of these were viremic (69%). Significant liver fibrosis (defined as Ishak stages F3-F6, TE value ≥ 8.85 kPa, or GUCI > 0.33) was found in 69 out of 103 (67%) tested viremic patients, and was associated with alcohol intake (p = 0.03), higher body mass index (BMI; p = 0.04), and the presence of anti-HBc antibodies (indicating exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV); p = 0.02). Conclusions: Significant liver fibrosis was detected in two-thirds of HCV viremic OST recipients in this cohort, and was associated with alcohol use, high BMI, and exposure to HBV. These findings indicate that the management of HCV and associated risk factors should be emphasized in Swedish OST programs

Разработка и оптимизация дистанционного режима управления станцией механической очистки СУ-МОК4310V

The aim of this study was to investigate if a telemetry test battery can be used to measure effects of Parkinson’s disease (PD) treatment intervention and disease progression in patients with fluctuations. Sixty-five patients diagnosed with advanced PD were recruited in an open longitudinal 36-month study; 35 treated with levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) and 30 were candidates for switching from oral PD treatment to LCIG. They utilized a test battery, consisting of self-assessments of symptoms and fine motor tests (tapping and spiral drawings), four times per day in their homes during week-long test periods. The repeated measurements were summarized into an overall test score (OTS) to represent the global condition of the patient during a test period. Clinical assessments included ratings on Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) and 39-item PD Questionnaire (PDQ-39) scales. In LCIG-naïve patients, mean OTS compared to baseline was significantly improved from the first test period on LCIG treatment until month 24. In LCIG-non-naïve patients, there were no significant changes in mean OTS until month 36. The OTS correlated adequately with total UPDRS (rho = 0.59) and total PDQ-39 (0.59). Responsiveness measured as effect size was 0.696 and 0.536 for OTS and UPDRS respectively. The trends of the test scores were similar to the trends of clinical rating scores but dropout rate was high. Correlations between OTS and clinical rating scales were adequate indicating that the test battery contains important elements of the information of well-established scales. The responsiveness and reproducibility were better for OTS than for total UPDRS.FLOAT - Flexibel levodopa-optimerings och individanpassningstekni

High-cycle thermal fatigue in mixing tees. Large-eddy simulations compared to a new validation experiment

ABSTRACT The present paper describes new experimental data of thermal mixing in a T-junction compared with results from Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) and Detached Eddy Simulations (DES). The experimental setup was designed in order to provide data suitable for validation of CFD-calculations. The data is obtained from temperature measurements with thermocouples located near the pipe wall, velocity measurements with Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) as well as single-point concentration measurements with Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF). The LES showed good agreement with the experimental data also when fairly coarse computational meshes were used. However, grid refinement studies revealed a fairly strong sensitivity to the grid resolution, and a simulation using a fine mesh with nearly 10 million cells significantly improved the results in the entire flow domain. The sensitivity to different unsteady inlet boundary conditions was however small, which shows that the strong large-scale instabilities that are present in the mixing region are triggered independent of the applied inlet perturbations. A shortcoming in the performed simulations is insufficient near-wall resolution, which resulted in poor predictions of the near-wall mean velocity profiles and the wall-shear stress. Simulations using DES improved the near-wall velocity predictions, but failed to predict the temperature fluctuations due to high levels of modeled turbulent viscosity that restrained the formation of small scale turbulence

Hållande av sugga och smågrisar i grisningsbox

SLU:s Vetenskapliga råd för djurskydd har fått i uppdrag från Jordbruksverket att utifrån specificerade frågeställningar beskriva det vetenskapliga kunskapsläget beträffande hållande av sugga och smågrisar i grisningsbox. Den svenska lagstiftningens krav skiljer sig i flera avseenden från de krav som ställs i andra länder, varför det har varit svårt att finna vetenskapligt publicerad litteratur som äger direkt tillämpbar giltighet i svenska besättningar. I dagsläget sker heller ingen konstruktion eller tillverkning av grisningsboxar i Sverige. Rapporten har därför även inkluderat studentarbeten vid SLU, liksom arbeten publicerade i olika rapportserier. Där källan inte utgörs av vetenskapligt granskad litteratur har detta tydligt angivits. Domesticerade grisar har i stor utsträckning samma beteendebehov som vildsvin. Moderna grishållningssystem kan tillgodose flera av de beteendebehov som domesticerade grisar har, medan vissa beteendebehov är svårare att tillgodose, och det faktum att grisen hålls i en box utgör alltid en begränsande faktor. En grisningsbox utgör en kompromiss mellan bland annat suggans och smågrisarnas behov. Suggans modersegenskaper och djurskötarens skicklighet anses ha större betydelse för smågrisöverlevnaden än boxens utformning, under förutsättning att utformningen håller rimlig standard. Under perioden närmast grisning har suggan stort behov av att få röra sig och bygga bo. Boxen bör vara stor nog för att möjliggöra detta beteende, och vara konstruerad på så vis att suggan kan få tillräckligt med halm eller annat bomaterial för att kunna utföra sitt bobyggnadsbeteende. En vanlig uppfattning är att suggorna har ökat i storlek under de senaste decennierna men vetenskapligt underlag som stödjer denna uppfattning saknas. Antalet smågrisar per kull har ökat, vilket betyder att boxens storlek kan behöva utökas och att boxens funktionella delar kan behöva anpassas så att de möjliggör tillräckligt stora ytor för att tillfredsställa grisarnas olika behov av att vila, äta, gödsla, ge di etc. Smågrisarna har under tidig digivning behov av att lätt förflytta sig mellan suggans juver, smågrishörnan och gödselytan. Smågrishörnan, d.v.s. det utrymme där smågrisarna kan vistas skyddade från suggan och med extra tillskottsvärme, är en viktig del av grisningsboxen. Den ska vara tillräckligt stor för att hela kullen ska kunna ligga där samtidigt, och bör vara täckt av ett tak som har en front som är utformad så att den minskar luftrörelser och håller värmen kvar. Smågrishörnan ska vara försedd med tillskottsvärme eller en tillräcklig mängd strö för att tillgodose smågrisarnas värmebehov. Här ska också finnas möjlighet att ge tillskottsfoder till smågrisarna. Boxens utformning bör underlätta för suggan att lägga sig så att smågrisarna lätt kommer åt smågrishörnan, vilken ska vara belägen och konstruerad så att god tillsyn blir möjlig. Flera faktorer måste vägas samman vad gäller boxens placering i förhållande till inspektionsgången i syfte att erhålla god tillsyn utan att störa suggan i onödan. Vid hantering av smågrisarna är ofta den s.k. framåtvända boxen att föredra, där smågrishörnan är placerad vid inspektionsgången. Golvets konstruktion är en viktig del av boxens utformning. Den fasta golvytan består vanligen av betong. Alternativa material finns, men få har utvärderats och tillräcklig erfarenhet av dessa saknas. Golvet ska utgöras av ett jämnt och halkfritt underlag för suggan, samtidigt som underlaget inte ska medföra en skaderisk för smågrisarna. Golvet och strömedlet ska erbjuda en mjuk liggyta och samtidigt möjliggöra en god hygien. För att tillgodose smågrisarnas behov av värme kan den fasta golvytan vara 6 försedd med golvvärme, alternativt förses med extra mycket strö i samband med grisningen. Totalarean spalt, dess material och spaltöppningens bredd har betydelse för hygienen. Strömedel och bomaterial är viktigt för att tillfredsställa grisarnas behov av berikning och kan även ha betydelse för produktionsresultaten. Strömedel är vidare ett krav enligt lagstiftningen. Spalten, liggytan och boxens utgödslingssystem ska därför vara utformade för att möjliggöra användning av funktionella mängder strömaterial så att grisarnas beteendebehov tillfredsställs. Svensk smågrisproduktion har under de senaste årtiondena genomgått betydande strukturella förändringar. Besättningsstorleken har ökat och arbetet i stallarna har därmed blivit mer fysiskt krävande. Arbetsuppgifterna har blivit allt mer specialiserade och monotona. Olika boxtyper kräver olika arbetsinsats och belastningsskador p.g.a. dålig ergonomi kan vara ett problem. Så kallade framåtvända boxar minskar tidsåtgången för gödselskrapning. Den totala yta som utgörs av spaltgolv har också betydelse för den arbetsinsats som krävs. Det är även viktigt att det finns möjlighet att skydda djurskötare från aggressiva suggor vid arbete inne i boxen

Baltic cod recruitment – the impact of climate variability on key processes

Large-scale climatic conditions prevailing over the central Baltic Sea resulted in declining salinity and oxygen concentrations in spawning areas of the eastern Baltic cod stock. These changes in hydrography reduced the reproductive success and, combined with high fishing pressure, caused a decline of the stock to the lowest level on record in the early 1990s. The present study aims at disentangling the interactions between reproductive effort and hydrographic forcing leading to variable recruitment. Based on identified key processes, stock dynamics is explained using updated environmental and life stage-specific abundance and production time-series. Declining salinities and oxygen concentrations caused high egg mortalities and indirectly increased egg predation by clupeid fish. Low recruitment, despite enhanced hydrographic conditions for egg survival in the mid-1990s, was due to food limitation for larvae, caused by the decline in the abundance of the copepod Pseudocalanus sp. The case of the eastern Baltic cod stock exemplifies the multitude effects climatic variability may have on a fish stock and underscores the importance of knowledge of these processes for understanding stock dynamics