Diversity of Skin Infections

The identification of infectious agents in cancer has been one of the most rewarding endeavors in cancer research. Currently about 20% of the global cancer burden is linked to an infection. A common characteristic of virus-induced cancer is an increased incidence in immunosuppressed patients, presumably because of impaired host control of virus. Yet non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), the cancer that increases most among the immunosuppressed, does not have an established link to infection. NMSC, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma, is the most common cancer among Caucasians. Ultraviolet radiation is an established risk factor. Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been established as the major cause of cervical cancer. Many NMSCs contain one or several cutaneous types of HPV. Exploration of a possible infectious etiology of NMSC requires an unbiased and comprehensive approach for detection of as many infections as possible in the tumor. We examined NMSCs and other presumably HPV-associated lesions for the presence of unidentified HPV types or other microorganisms, using a combination of multiple displacement amplification (MDA), which amplifies all DNA in a sample without any requirement of prior knowledge of the nucleotide sequence, degenerate “general HPV primers” PCR and high-throughput sequencing. The most common microbial DNA in NMSC was Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). We also identified sequences from at least 40 previously not described putative HPV types, of which three novel types (HPV 109, 112 and 114) and an HPV 88 isolate were cloned and completely sequenced. Prevalences and viral loads were investigated in skin and genital samples from different patient groups. S. aureus DNA was more commonly detected in SCC compared to healthy skin (odds ratio, 6.23; 95% confidence interval, 3.10 – 12.53). However, the study design could not determine the causality of the association. HPV 88, 109 and 112 were almost only found in their index patients, whereas HPV114 was found in 1.7% of the female genital samples. In summary, we find that there is a wide diversity of HPV types in the skin. The association of S. aureus with SCC raises the possibility of general susceptibility to infection in SCC. An association of NMSC with a specific infection remains to be found

Matriarkal matkultur: Den afrikanska kvinnans arbetsbörda i ett patriarkalt traditionssamhälle

En jämförelse mellan två östafrikanska författare, en manlig och en kvinnlig och deras gestaltande av kvinnans tunga arbetsbörda i det afrikanska samhället, med specifik betoning på arbetet som sker i anslutning till mat och måltider. Syftet är att se om kvinnans arbetsbörda gestaltas olika utifrån kön. Jämförelsen sker till största del med hjälp av feministisk teori men även tillämpning av postkolonial teori

Skolans hjärta? : En undersökning av skolpersonalens syn på skolbiblioteket som plats

The starting point of our master’s thesis was the recent debate regarding the school library arising from the implementation of the new version of the Swedish Education Act (Skollagen SFS 2010:800). Many have criticized the new Education Act, claiming that it puts a too large focus on the library as place. Some even claim that the school library as place is out-dated and not relevant in today’s society and should be replaced by digital resources. We believe that the school library as place is more than just a storage for books or a pedagogical resource, e.g. as a social meeting place, or a neutral place in contrast to the classroom. The aim of the master’s thesis is to study how significant the school library as place is according to school staff in Lund. We are especially interested in staff who meet the students in contexts regarding their psychological and physical health and their future, and therefore decided to contact guidance counselors, school nurses, school psychologists and counselors. We also investigate how teachers, principals and school librarians perceive the school library as place. A secondary aim is to study how the students perceive the school library. Our three research questions are: What meaning do the school staff believe that the school library as place has to the students regarding their health, well-being, comfort and future? What opinions are the most common among teachers or non-teaching staff regarding the school library as place? What connection is possible to see between the school staff’s profession and their perception of the school library as place and its meaning to the students? Our focus is on the school library as a neutral place and as a pedagogical resource in contrast to the digital school library. Our theoretical background is place-space, which can be used to discuss the relationship between humans and places and how places impact humans and their identities. We have investigated the perceptions of staff on both public and private schools in the municipality of Lund through a questionnaire. Our results indicate that the school staff do not have a clear view of what significance the school library as place has for e.g. the student’s well-being. Teachers and non-teaching staff seem to focus more on the library as a room with books compared to what principals and school librarians do. One of our conclusions is that all the different functions of the school library need to be made visible, especially the library as place

Aspirin intake and breast cancer survival – a nation-wide study using prospectively recorded data in Sweden

Background: Aspirin (ASA) use has been associated with improved breast cancer survival in several prospective studies. Methods: We conducted a nested case–control study of ASA use after a breast cancer diagnosis among women using Swedish National Registries. We assessed prospectively recorded ASA exposure during several different time windows following cancer diagnosis using conditional logistic regression with breast cancer death as the main outcome. Within each six-month period of follow-up, we categorized dispensed ASA doses into three groups: 0, less than 1, and 1 or more daily doses. Results: We included 27,426 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005 and 2009; 1,661 died of breast cancer when followed until Dec 31, 2010. There was no association between ASA use and breast cancer death when exposure was assessed either shortly after diagnosis, or 3–12 months before the end of follow-up. Only during the period 0–6 months before the end of follow-up was ASA use at least daily compared with non-use associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer death: HR (95% CI) = 0.69 (0.56-0.86). However, in the same time-frame, those using ASA less than daily had an increased risk of breast cancer death: HR (95% CI) = 1.43 (1.09-1.87). Conclusions: Contrary to other studies, we did not find that ASA use was associated with a lower risk of death from breast cancer, except when assessed short term with no delay to death/end of follow-up, which may reflect discontinuation of ASA during terminal illness

A Highly Sensitive and Specific SARS-CoV-2 Spike- and Nucleoprotein-Based Fluorescent Multiplex Immunoassay (FMIA) to Measure IgG, IgA, and IgM Class Antibodies

Validation and standardization of accurate serological assays are crucial for the surveillance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and population immunity. We describe the analytical and clinical performance of an in-house fluorescent multiplex immunoassay (FMIA) for simultaneous quantification of antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleoprotein and spike glycoprotein. Furthermore, we calibrated IgG-FMIA against World Health Organization (WHO) International Standard and compared FMIA results to an in-house enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and a microneutralization test (MNT). We also compared the MNT results of two laboratories. IgG-FMIA displayed 100% specificity and sensitivity for samples collected 13 to 150 days post-onset of symptoms (DPO). For IgA- and IgM-FMIA, 100% specificity and sensitivity were obtained for a shorter time window (13 to 36 and 13 to 28 DPO for IgA- and IgM-FMIA, respectively). FMIA and EIA results displayed moderate to strong correlation, but FMIA was overall more specific and sensitive. IgG-FMIA identified 100% of samples with neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). Anti-spike IgG concentrations correlated strongly (r = 0.77 to 0.84, P < 2.2 x 10(-16)) with NAb titers, and the two laboratories' NAb titers displayed a very strong correlation (r = 0.95, P< 2.2 x 10(-16)). Our results indicate good correlation and concordance of antibody concentrations measured with different types of in-house SARS-CoV-2 antibody assays. Calibration against the WHO international standard did not, however, improve the comparability of FMIA and EIA results. IMPORTANCE SARS-CoV-2 serological assays with excellent clinical performance are essential for reliable estimation of the persistence of immunity after infection or vaccination. In this paper we present a thoroughly validated SARS-CoV-2 serological assay with excellent clinical performance and good comparability to neutralizing antibody titers. Neutralization tests are still considered the gold standard for SARS-CoV-2 serological assays, but our assay can identify samples with neutralizing antibodies with 100% sensitivity and 96% specificity without the need for laborious and slow biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) facility-requiring analyses.Peer reviewe

Satellites reveal Earth's seasonally shifting dust emission sources

Establishing mineral dust impacts on Earth's systems requires numerical models of the dust cycle. Differences between dust optical depth (DOD) measurements and modelling the cycle of dust emission, atmospheric transport, and deposition of dust indicate large model uncertainty due partially to unrealistic model assumptions about dust emission frequency. Calibrating dust cycle models to DOD measurements typically in North Africa, are routinely used to reduce dust model magnitude. This calibration forces modelled dust emissions to match atmospheric DOD but may hide the correct magnitude and frequency of dust emission events at source, compensating biases in other modelled processes of the dust cycle. Therefore, it is essential to improve physically based dust emission modules. Here we use a global collation of satellite observations from previous studies of dust emission point source (DPS) dichotomous frequency data. We show that these DPS data have little-to-no relation with MODIS DOD frequency. We calibrate the albedo-based dust emission model using the frequency distribution of those DPS data. The global dust emission uncertainty constrained by DPS data (±3.8 kg m−2 y−1) provides a benchmark for dust emission model development. Our calibrated model results reveal much less global dust emission (29.1 ± 14.9 Tg y−1) than previous estimates, and show seasonally shifting dust emission predominance within and between hemispheres, as opposed to a persistent North African dust emission primacy widely interpreted from DOD measurements. Earth's largest dust emissions, proceed seasonally from East Asian deserts in boreal spring, to Middle Eastern and North African deserts in boreal summer and then Australian shrublands in boreal autumn-winter. This new analysis of dust emissions, from global sources of varying geochemical properties, have far-reaching implications for current and future dust-climate effects. For more reliable coupled representation of dust-climate projections, our findings suggest the need to re-evaluate dust cycle modelling and benefit from the albedo-based parameterisation

The Influence of Hormonal Factors on the Risk of Developing Cervical Cancer and Pre-Cancer: Results from the EPIC Cohort

Background: In addition to HPV, high parity and hormonal contraceptives have been associated with cervical cancer (CC). However, most of the evidence comes from retrospective case-control studies. The aim of this study is to prospectively evaluate associations between hormonal factors and risk of developing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3)/carcinoma in situ (CIS) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC). Methods and Findings: We followed a cohort of 308,036 women recruited in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study. At enrollment, participants completed a questionnaire and provided serum. After a 9-year median follow-up, 261 ICC and 804 CIN3/CIS cases were reported. In a nested case-control study, the sera from 609 cases and 1,218 matched controls were tested for L1 antibodies against HPV types 11,16,18,31,33,35,45, 52,58, and antibodies against Chlamydia trachomatis and Human herpesvirus 2. Multivariate analyses were performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR), odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). The cohort analysis showed that number of fullterm pregnancies was positively associated with CIN3/CIS risk (p-trend = 0.03). Duration of oral contraceptives use was associated with a significantly increased risk of both CIN3/CIS and ICC (HR = 1.6 and HR = 1.8 respectively for >= 15 years versus never use). Ever use of menopausal hormone therapy was associated with a reduced risk of ICC (HR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.4-0.8). A non-significant reduced risk of ICC with ever use of intrauterine devices (IUD) was found in the nested case-control analysis (OR = 0.6). Analyses restricted to all cases and HPV seropositive controls yielded similar results, revealing a significant inverse association with IUD for combined CIN3/CIS and ICC (OR = 0.7). Conclusions: Even though HPV is the necessary cause of CC, our results suggest that several hormonal factors are risk factors for cervical carcinogenesis. Adherence to current cervical cancer screening guidelines should minimize the increased risk of CC associated with these hormonal risk factors

Barns tidiga språkutveckling - hem, förskola/skola och språkstörning som påverkande faktorer

Syfte Syftet med vårt arbete är att belysa faktorer som påverkar barns språkutveckling, där vi valt att fokusera på hem, förskola/skola och språkstörning. Vi vill se hur dessa faktorer på olika sätt har en roll i barnets språkutveckling. Metod Vi har använt oss av ostrukturerat frågeformulär för att samla in ny data. De fyra informanterna som vi tillfrågat arbetar med de yngre åldrarna. Vi har även bearbetat relevant litteratur för att få inblick i den tidigare forskningen som gjorts i ämnet. Resultat Hemmet är av stor vikt för barnets språkutveckling. Att föräldrarna är engagerade i barnets skolgång och att samarbetet mellan hem och skola fungerar har även det stor betydelse för språkutvecklingen. I förskolan/skolan är sammansättningen av grupperna och klassrumsmiljön en påverkande faktor. För pedagogen gäller det att hitta ett undervisningssätt där alla elever blir utmanade och stimulerade i lärandet. Stöd av resurser är även en betydande del i barnets språkutveckling. Betydelse för läraryrket Som pedagog ska man se och möta alla elever där de befinner sig och kunna se till deras individuella behov. Detta ställer krav på pedagogen att förutom ha kunskap för att undervisa så krävs i dagens skola även en empatisk förmåga för att kunna sätta sig in i alla elevers erfarenheter.