Building a family with gamete donation : perspectives of parents and offspring

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the long-term psychosocial consequences for heterosexual couple families following oocyte donation (OD) and sperm donation (SD), in the context of the Swedish legislation. An additional aim was to explore how heterosexual couple families following SD experience the process of obtaining identifying information about the donor. Methods: As part of a prospective longitudinal study, two cross-sectional studies assessed aspects of psychosocial well-being among OD and SD families with seven-yearold children (Study I) and 13 to 17-year-old adolescents (Study II). Two qualitative interview studies explored the experiences of obtaining identifying information about the donor from the perspective of 29 adult children (Study III) and 23 parents (Study IV). Results: Study I showed that donor conception families’ psychosocial well-being is within normal levels and is not related to whether or not the parents have disclosed the use of donor conception to their seven-yearold child. Study II revealed that donor conception families’ psychosocial wellbeing is within normal levels and similar to a reference group of parents using IVF with own gametes, but that SD mothers to a significantly higher extent reported symptoms of anxiety indicating clinically relevant levels (31%) compared to OD mothers (7%) (p=.018). Study III described that searching for donor information could fill varying needs for the adult donor conceived person and that the process of obtaining donor information meant having to balance interests of different stakeholders. Study IV showed that parents’ experiences were influenced by how they perceived parenthood in the context of nature and nurture, which was related to how the parents managed the presence of the donor. Conclusions: Donor conception does not appear to be detrimental to the psychosocial well-being of families. However, both parents and their adult children face several challenges in the process of obtaining identifying information about the donor

Intramedullary Nailing of Paediatric Tibial Fractures : Comparison between Flexible and Rigid Nails

Purpose: To describe patient characteristics and to compare outcomes of children undergoing rigid intramedullary nailing of tibial fractures as compared with those operated on using elastic intramedullary nailing. Methods: A retrospective review of 26 children who have undergone flexible intramedullary nailing of tibial fractures and 30 children with rigid nailing at our university hospital between 2008 and 2017. The patient charts and radiographs were evaluated to identify demographic characteristics and several variables were measured preoperatively, as well as 6-12 weeks postoperatively in addition to final follow-up radiographs. Results: Twenty-six patients (26/26, 100%) treated with a flexible nail and 14 patients (14/30, 46.7%) treated with a rigid nail had open proximal tibial physis (p <0.001). An acceptable postoperative alignment was obtained in 20 patients (20/26, 76.9%) in the elastic stable intramedullary nail group and in 29 patients (29/30, 96.7%) in the rigid group (p = 0.026). Some complications occurred in four patients (4/26, 15%) in the elastic stable intramedullary nail population and seven patients (7/30, 23%) in the rigid intramedullary nail population (p = 0.46). Malunion occurred in six patients (6/26, 23%) in the elastic stable intramedullary nail group and in none of the patients treated with a rigid intramedullary nail (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Younger children with tibial fractures who weight 50 kg or less and with proximal tibial growth plates wide open can be treated with elastic stable intramedullary nail while more mature adolescents benefit from rigid intramedullary nailing.Peer reviewe

Farms cooperating in the Loimijoki project. Environmental management on farms: an R&D project

Maatilayhteistyö toteutettiin Loimijoki-projektin yhtenä osahankkeena vuosina 1993-1996. Loimijoki-projektin tavoitteena on ollut hajakuormituksen vähentäminen, paikallisen jokivesistön tilan parantaminen sekä maaseutuympäristöön liittyvän tutkimuksen monitieteinen kehittäminen. Tilayhteistyöhankkeen kautta haluttiin päästä mahdollisimman konkreettisella tavalla kehittämään maatilojen ympäristönhoitoa sekä tehostaa ajankohtaisen ympäristötiedon siirtoa tutkimuksesta käytäntöön. Hankkeen tuli osoittaa, miten tavanomainen maatila voi toimia yrityksenä taloudellisesti ja tehokkaasti sekä samalla hoitaa myös velvoitteensa ympäristönhoidossa. Hankkeen teoreettisen viitekehyksen muodostaa osallistuvan tutkimuksen ja tilatutkimuksen teoriatausta. Siirtyminen koekentiltä käytännön tilanteisiin ja kiinteän vuorovaikutuksen rakentaminen tutkimuksen, neuvonnan ja maatilojen välille on osoittautunut tarpeelliseksi, koska ympäristönhoidon ongelmissa biologisen ja tuotantoteknisen osaamisen lisäksi tarvitaan myös sosioekonomisten tekijöiden ymmärtämistä. Tilatutkimuksessa ulkopuolinen ammattiauttaja (tutkija, neuvoja) pääsee parhaiten sisälle kokonaisuuteen, jossa maatila toimii ja tekee päätöksensä. Viljelijän mukanaolo ja omakohtainen sitoutuminen ympäristönhoidon kehittämiseen on puolestaan erittäin tärkeää, koska viime kädessä juuri viljelijä päättää tieteen tuottamien tulosten käyttöönotosta ja ympäristön tilan kehittymisestä pitkällä tähtäimellä. Loimijoki-projektin nelivuotisessa tilayhteistyöhankkeessa perehdyttiin yhdeksällä lounaishämäläisellä maatilalla mm. maanrakenteen hoitoon, lannoitukseen, kasvinsuojeluun, uusien viljelykasvien käyttöön ja vesiensuojelutoimenpiteisiin. Viljelytoimenpiteiden kehittämisen ohella tuotettiin tietoa yksittäisen maatilan ympäristövaikutuksista. Tarkennetun ympäristötiedon tuottamiseen käytettiin mm. vesianalyysejä, pellon pinta- ja pohjamaan viljavuusanalyysiä, mineraalitypen mittausta, lanta-analyysiä sekä ravinnetaseita ja GIS-järjestelmän (Geographical Information System) tuomia uusia mahdollisuuksia. Käytännön toteutuksesta huolehtivat Maatalouden tutkimuskeskus ja Hämeen maaseutukeskus. Kokeilu- ja kehittämisluonteinen hanke oli ennen kaikkea oppimisprosessi mukana olleille tutkijoille, neuvojille, virkamiehille ja maatilayrittäjille. Neuvontajärjestö koki positiivisena mahdollisuudet tiedon nopeaan välittämiseen ja käytäntöön soveltamiseen. Ympäristönhoidon kehittäminen maatilayrittäjien kanssa, jotka itse olivat hankkeessa aktiivisesti mukana, oli molemminpuolisesti palkitseva kokemus. Myös maatilayrittäjät kokivat tämäntyyppisen yhteistyön neuvonnan ja tutkimuksen kanssa erittäin tarpeelliseksi ja toivoivat enemmän tällaisia hankkeita.Model farm research and development (R&D farms) were a subproject of the multidisciplinary Loimijoki project in 1993-1996. The main aims of this project are to find ways of reducing the dispersed load in rural areas and improving the state of the local river, the Loimijoki. The purpose of the R&D farms was to develop environmental management on the farms in a cost-effective and ecologically sustainable manner and also to find new ways of putting scientific knowledge to practical use. The theoretical background of the project lies in participatory research and in the methods of farm research. The transfer from research plots to real situations and close cooperation between researchers, advisory boards and farmers are needed because biological and technical knowledge is as important in environmental problems as is understanding of socio-economic facts. In farm research the professionals (researchers, advisers, officials) are able to work with the real situation in which the farmer acts and makes decisions. Participation of farmers is needed because tangible changes in the rural environment are up to them and their concern for their own environment. Nine R&D farms near the Agricultural Research Centre were asked to join the Loimijoki project. On these farms much attention was paid to best management practices such as fertilization, soil management, plant protection and the making of buffer strips and sedimentation ponds. Interest also focused on measuring the environmental impacts of single farms. This information was collected by water sampling, testing the nutrients in soil and manure, calculating nutrient balances and exploiting the potential of the GIS (Geographical Information System). Since this was a pilot project, learning new working methods and ways of cooperation were probably the most important results. The advisory board found the project an effective and meaningful way to apply new scientific knowledge of environmental management. The farmers hoped for further similar cooperation with research and advisory boards at a practical level.vokMyynti MTT:n kirjast

Top-down and bottom-up control of infauna varies across the saltmarsh landscape

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 357 (2008): 20-34, doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2007.12.003.Responses of infaunal saltmarsh benthic invertebrates to whole-ecosystem fertilization and predator removal were quantified in Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts, USA. Throughout a growing season, we enriched an experimental creek on each flooding tide to 70 mM NO3 - and 4 mM PO4 -3 (a 10 x increase in loading above background), and we reduced Fundulus heteroclitus density by 60% in a branch of the fertilized and a reference creek. Macroinfauna and meiofauna were sampled in creek (mudflat and creek wall), marsh edge (tall form Spartina alterniflora) and marsh platform (Spartina patens and stunted S. alterniflora) habitats before and after treatments were begun; responses were tested with BACI-design statistics. Treatment effects were most common in the mid-range of the inundation gradient. Most fertilization effects were on creek wall where ostracod abundance increased, indices of copepod reproduction increased and copepod and annelid communities were altered. These taxa may use epiphytes (that respond rapidly to fertilization) of filamentous algae as a food source. Killifish reduction effects on meiobenthic copepod abundance were detected at the marsh edge and suggest predator limitation. Fish reduction effects on annelids did not suggest top-down regulation in any habitat; however, fish reduction may have stimulated an increased predation rate on annelids by grass shrimp. Interactions between fertilization and fish reduction occurred under S. patens canopy where indirect predator reduction effects on annelids were indicated. No effects were observed in mudflat or stunted S. alterniflora habitats. Although the responses of infauna to fertilization and predator removal were largely independent and of similar mild intensity, our data suggests that the effects of ecological stressors vary across the marsh landscape.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 0213767 and 9726921

Carbon sources of Antarctic nematodes as revealed by natural carbon isotope ratios and a pulse-chase experiment

δ13C of nematode communities in 27 sites was analyzed, spanning a large depth range (from 130 to 2,021 m) in five Antarctic regions, and compared to isotopic signatures of sediment organic matter. Sediment organic matter δ13C ranged from −24.4 to −21.9‰ without significant differences between regions, substrate types or depths. Nematode δ13C showed a larger range, from −34.6 to −19.3‰, and was more depleted than sediment organic matter typically by 1‰ and by up to 3‰ in silty substrata. These, and the isotopically heavy meiofauna at some stations, suggest substantial selectivity of some meiofauna for specific components of the sedimenting plankton. However, 13C-depletion in lipids and a potential contribution of chemoautotrophic carbon in the diet of the abundant genus Sabatieria may confound this interpretation. Carbon sources for Antarctic nematodes were also explored by means of an experiment in which the fate of a fresh pulse of labile carbon to the benthos was followed. This organic carbon was remineralized at a rate (11–20 mg C m−2 day−1) comparable to mineralization rates in continental slope sediments. There was no lag between sedimentation and mineralization; uptake by nematodes, however, did show such a lag. Nematodes contributed negligibly to benthic carbon mineralization

Deep-Sea Nematodes Actively Colonise Sediments, Irrespective of the Presence of a Pulse of Organic Matter: Results from an In-Situ Experiment

A colonisation experiment was performed in situ at 2500 m water depth at the Arctic deep-sea long-term observatory HAUSGARTEN to determine the response of deep-sea nematodes to disturbed, newly available patches, enriched with organic matter. Cylindrical tubes,laterally covered with a 500 µm mesh, were filled with azoic deep-sea sediment and 13C-labelled food sources (diatoms and bacteria). After 10 days of incubation the tubes were analysed for nematode response in terms of colonisation and uptake. Nematodes actively colonised the tubes,however with densities that only accounted for a maximum of 2.13% (51 ind.10 cm−2) of the ambient nematode assemblages. Densities did not differ according to the presence or absence of organic matter, nor according to the type of organic matter added. The fact that the organic matter did not function as an attractant to nematodes was confirmed by the absence of notable 13C assimilation by the colonising nematodes. Overall, colonisationappears to be a process that yields reproducible abundance and diversity patterns, with certain taxa showing more efficiency. Together with the high variability between the colonising nematode assemblages, this lends experimental support to the existence of a spatio-temporal mosaic that emerges from highly localised, partially stochastic community dynamics