Advancing Circular Business

In this world of scarce resources, circular economy (CE) has been identified as an important means for increasing resource efficiency and reducing the use of natural resources. What, however, does implementing circular business and operational models mean for companies’ business execution, mindsets, and competitive edges? This publication presents the practical case studies of several different CE business implementations. The focus on this exploration was to identify the role of information management in successful CE business implementation. The outcomes offer a chance for different representatives of different firms to learn from practical cases of CE implementation in operational and business models. This publication aims to show the pathway toward CE by providing 1. a description of CE 2. an explanation of its impact on business execution 3. stories about the role of information in the creation of CE business 4. practical tools for the creation of CE business The structure of the publication tracks similar logic to, and presents practical case examples from, the field of CE business. Tools and methods were applied and further developed within the case companies: BMH Technology, Fortum, Solita, and UPM. The publication presents the major results of research and development work performed within the “From Data to Wisdom—Approaches Enabling Circular Economy” project (D2W). The project was initiated in August 2016 and continued until January 2019. The research work was conducted by VTT, LUT University, and Tampere University as part of the BioNets program of Business Finland. The project provided a good overview of the demands of CE business in a multidisciplinary multi-company setting. It focused on three approaches for examining circular business: innovation and business models, relationships and networks, and data and wisdom. Since D2W had a broad scope, some of these approaches should be developed further to provide practical tools for business developers (companies and organizations). The work of D2W will therefore continue. Case-specific projects are being considered to develop practical results for the needs of practitioners interested in improving their capabilities for CE business creation. Examples of new topics for the subsequent steps of research include, for example: • Key performance indicators of CE and sustainable development • Governance of CE business ecosystems • New artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, opportunities and requirements in CE business implementationpublishedVersio

Prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes after exposure to interferon beta prior to or during pregnancy in women with MS : Stratification by maternal and newborn characteristics in a register-based cohort study in Finland and Sweden

Background: Previous studies reported no increase in the prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes after exposure to interferon-beta (IFN-beta). However, no study has investigated if the prevalence of these outcomes after IFN-beta exposure is modified by maternal and newborn characteristics. Our objective was to describe the stratified prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes among women with multiple sclerosis (MS) exposed only to IFN-beta or unexposed to any MS disease modifying drugs (MSDMDs). Methods: This population-based cohort study using Finnish (1996-2014) and Swedish (2005-2014) register data included pregnancies of women with MS exposed only to IFN-beta 6 months before or during pregnancy (n=718) or unexposed to MSDMDs (n=1397). The outcome prevalences were described stratified by maternal and newborn characteristics, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Confounder-adjusted analyses were performed if the prevalence results indicated modified effect of IFN-beta in specific strata. Results: The stratified analysis indicated that the prevalence of serious (anomaly or stillbirth) and other adverse pregnancy outcomes was similar among the exposed and unexposed, with no statistically significant difference. Among women treated for MS >5 years, serious adverse pregnancy outcomes occurred in 4.3% (95%CI: 1.98.3%) of pregnancies exposed only to IFN-beta 6 months before or during pregnancy and in 2.7% (95%CI: 1.25.0%) of unexposed pregnancies. The confounder adjusted analyses did not support the hypothesis that MSPeer reviewe

Concordance and discordance in how patients and therapists experience the psychotherapy process in the treatment of depression

Despite the extensive literature on the outcome and process of psychotherapy in the treatment of depression, little is known about how the underlying factors of depression and the therapy process are experienced by the patients and therapists. In particular, the recognition of themes that are discordantly experienced by patients and therapists may have practical significance for how the therapy process should be conducted. We have previously developed a process description questionnaire to explore the views of patients with major depression and their therapists during the psychodynamic therapy process. In this study, we used factor analysis on the data collected with the process description questionnaire to explore the perceptions of the patients and therapists at different stages of the therapy process. We derived 15 clusters of variables from the questionnaire, on which we conducted primary and secondary factor analysis. The formation of the factors was found to be largely consistent between the patients and therapists regarding the alliance and affectively neutral aspects of the treatment process, whereas the variables of the patients vs. therapists concerning symptoms of depression and their underlying factors dispersed to a greater extent into separate factors. Dispersion was found especially in the experience of processing affectively laden themes and the developmental background factors underlying depression. Our findings refer to a defective insight of the patients into the developmental, interactional and affective factors underlying their symptoms. These factors should be especially targeted in psychotherapy of depression

Pregnancy outcomes after exposure to interferon beta : a register-based cohort study among women with MS in Finland and Sweden

Background Our aim was to estimate and compare the prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women with multiple sclerosis (MS) exposed to interferon beta (IFNB) and among women with MS unexposed to any MS disease-modifying drug (MSDMD). Methods This cohort study used Finnish (1996-2014) and Swedish (2005-2014) national register data. Women with MS having IFNB dispensed 6 months before or during pregnancy as the only medication were considered as IFNB exposed (only IFNB-exposed), whereas women with MS unexposed to any MSDMD were considered unexposed (MSDMD-unexposed). Prevalence was described and compared using log-binomial or logistic regression and adjusted for potential confounders including maternal age and comorbidity. Results Among 2831 pregnancies, 2.2% of the only IFNB-exposed and 4.0% of the MSDMD-unexposed women had serious adverse pregnancy outcomes [elective termination of pregnancy due to foetal anomaly (TOPFA), major congenital anomaly (MCA) in live, or stillbirth]. After adjustments, the prevalence of serious adverse pregnancy outcomes was lower among the only IFNB-exposed compared with the MSDMD-unexposed [relative risk 0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31-0.96]. The prevalence of individual outcomes, including MCA, spontaneous abortions, and stillbirths was not increased with IFNB exposure. Women with MS exposed to IFNB appeared more likely to terminate their pregnancy for reasons other than foetal anomaly, compared with MSDMD-unexposed pregnant MS patients (odds ratio 1.71, 95% CI 1.06-2.78). Conclusion In this large cohort study, no increase in the prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes was observed in women with MS exposed to IFNB compared with MS patients unexposed to any MSDMDs. This study together with other evidence led to a change in the labels of the IFNB products in September 2019 in the European Union, and IFNB use today may be considered during pregnancy, if clinically needed.Peer reviewe

The association between exposure to interferon-beta during pregnancy and birth measurements in offspring of women with multiple sclerosis

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Improved chromosome-level genome assembly of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) integrating Pacific Biosciences long reads and a high-density linkage map

Background The Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome-level assembly of the butterfly's genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses. Results The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO indicates that the genome contains 92-94% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,810 genes using the MAKER pipeline and manually curated 1,232 of these gene models. Conclusions The genome and its annotated gene models are a valuable resource for future comparative genomics, molecular biology, transcriptome, and genetics studies on this species.Peer reviewe

The Glanville fritillary genome retains ancient karyotype and reveals selective chromosomal fusions in Lepidoptera

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Patients with type 1 diabetes show signs of vascular dysfunction in response to multiple high-fat meals

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New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms