Uudenmaan kuntien tavoitteet ja sitoutuminen uusiutuvaan energiaan

Tämän työn toimeksiantaja on Hämeen ammattikorkeakoulun Uusimaa-seutu-hanke, joka pyrkii edistämään tiedonkulkua ja vuorovaikutusta Uudenmaan maaseutuyrittäjien ja maaseututoimijoiden keskuudessa. Uusimaaseutu-hanke toteutti syksyllä 2012 Uudenmaan ELY-keskukselle selvityksen uusiutuvan energian ja energiansäästämisen mahdollisuuksista Uudellamaalla. Selvitykseen haluttiin tietoa Uudenmaan kuntien suhtautumisesta uusiutuvaan energiaan ja energiansäästöön. Aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla Uudenmaan kuntien viranomaisia. Haastatteluaineisto toimi tämän opinnäytetyön materiaalina. Opinnäytteessä perehdyttiin syvemmin kuntien rooliin uusiutuvan energian edistämisessä ja energian säästämisessä. Tavoitteena oli selvittää Uudenmaan kuntien tavoitteita ja sitoutumista uusiutuvan energian käyttöön ja tuotantoon sekä energiansäästämiseen. Työssä selvitettiin, miten kunnat pyrkivät toteuttamaan tavoitteitaan, mitä ne ovat jo tehneet ja millaista hyötyä kunnissa koetaan saatavan. Teoria pohjautuu suomalaisten ja pohjoismaisten kuntien ilmastotyöstä tehtyihin tutkimuksiin. Lisäksi esitellään erilaisia kansallisia ja alueellisia tavoitteita, ohjelmia, strategioita ja hankkeita. Aineistona olivat kaikkien Uudenmaan 28 kunnan edustajien haastattelut. Haastatteluihin pyrittiin löytämään kustakin kunnasta henkilö, joka tuntee kunnan tavoitteet ja käytännön toteutukset parhaiten. Tutkimuksessa kävi ilmi, että motivoituneisuus energiansäästöön, kiinnostus ja myönteinen suhtautuminen uusiutuvaan energiaan on yhteistä kaikille Uudenmaan kunnille. Tehostaakseen ilmastotyötään useimmat kunnat voisivat kuitenkin konkretisoida etenkin uusiutuvaan energiaan liittyviä tavoitteitaan, harkita oman tai useamman kunnan yhteisen energiakoordinaattorin palkkaamista sekä panostaa kunnan sisäiseen ja kuntien väliseen yhteistyöhön.The principal of this work was the Uusimaaseutu project in HAMK University of Applied Sciences which strives to promote the flow of information and interaction among entrepreneurs and other actors in the countryside of the Uusimaa region. In autumn 2012 the Uusimaa project carried out a study for the regional Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Uusimaa about the possibilities of renewable energy and energy conservation in Uusimaa. There was a wish that the study would include information about attitudes of the municipalities of Uusimaa towards renewable energy and energy conservation. The material used in this thesis was collected by interviewing authorities in the municipalities of Uusimaa. The role of municipalities in promoting renewable energy and energy conservation was explored in more detail in the thesis. The aim was to survey the targets and establish their commitment to the use of renewable energy and energy conservation of the municipalities of Uusimaa. The municipalities were interviewed on how they strive to put the targets into action, what they have already done and how they find they are benefiting from it. The theory is based on the research conducted on climate work of Finnish and Nordic municipalities in addition to presenting different kinds of national and regional targets, agendas, strategies and projects. All the 28 municipalities of Uusimaa were interviewed. The aim was to find a person who is best acquainted with the targets as well as implementations in each municipality. In this study it came out that in all the municipalities of Uusimaa, there is motivation for energy conservation, as well as an interest and positive attitude towards renewable energy. To make their climate work more effective most municipalities could however concretize their targets especially involving renewable energy, they could consider employing an energy co-ordinator either alone or together with other municipalities and invest in internal cooperation as well as cooperation between other municipalities

Sleep apnoea is a risk factor for severe COVID-19

Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with higher body mass index (BMI), diabetes, older age and male gender, which are all risk factors for severe COVID-19.We aimed to study if OSA is an independent risk factor for COVID-19 infection or for severe COVID-19.Methods OSA diagnosis and COVID-19 infection were extracted from the hospital discharge, causes of death and infectious diseases registries in individuals who participated in the FinnGen study (n=260 405). Severe COVID-19 was defined as COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine association. Comorbidities for either COVID-19 or OSA were selected as covariates. We performed a meta-analysis with previous studies.Results We identified 445 individuals with COVID-19, and 38 (8.5%) of them with OSA of whom 19 out of 91 (20.9%) were hospitalised. OSA associated with COVID-19 hospitalisation independent from age, sex, BMI and comorbidities (p-unadjusted=5.13×10−5, OR-adjusted=2.93 (95% CI 1.02 to 8.39), p-adjusted=0.045). OSA was not associated with the risk of contracting COVID-19 (p=0.25). A meta-analysis of OSA and severe COVID-19 showed association across 15 835 COVID-19 positive controls, and n=1294 patients with OSA with severe COVID-19 (OR=2.37 (95% 1.14 to 4.95), p=0.021).Conclusion Risk for contracting COVID-19 was the same for patients with OSA and those without OSA. In contrast, among COVID-19 positive patients, OSA was associated with higher risk for hospitalisation. Our findings are in line with earlier works and suggest OSA as an independent risk factor for severe COVID-19

Genetic architecture of human plasma lipidome and its link to cardiovascular disease

Abstract Understanding genetic architecture of plasma lipidome could provide better insights into lipid metabolism and its link to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Here, we perform genome-wide association analyses of 141 lipid species (n = 2,181 individuals), followed by phenome-wide scans with 25 CVD related phenotypes (n = 511,700 individuals). We identify 35 lipid-species-associated loci (P <5 ×10−8), 10 of which associate with CVD risk including five new loci-COL5A1, GLTPD2, SPTLC3, MBOAT7 and GALNT16 (false discovery rate<0.05). We identify loci for lipid species that are shown to predict CVD e.g., SPTLC3 for CER(d18:1/24:1). We show that lipoprotein lipase (LPL) may more efficiently hydrolyze medium length triacylglycerides (TAGs) than others. Polyunsaturated lipids have highest heritability and genetic correlations, suggesting considerable genetic regulation at fatty acids levels. We find low genetic correlations between traditional lipids and lipid species. Our results show that lipidomic profiles capture information beyond traditional lipids and identify genetic variants modifying lipid levels and risk of CVD

Chromosome Xq23 is associated with lower atherogenic lipid concentrations and favorable cardiometabolic indices

Abstract Autosomal genetic analyses of blood lipids have yielded key insights for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, X chromosome genetic variation is understudied for blood lipids in large sample sizes. We now analyze genetic and blood lipid data in a high-coverage whole X chromosome sequencing study of 65,322 multi-ancestry participants and perform replication among 456,893 European participants. Common alleles on chromosome Xq23 are strongly associated with reduced total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides (min P = 8.5 × 10−72), with similar effects for males and females. Chromosome Xq23 lipid-lowering alleles are associated with reduced odds for CHD among 42,545 cases and 591,247 controls (P = 1.7 × 10−4), and reduced odds for diabetes mellitus type 2 among 54,095 cases and 573,885 controls (P = 1.4 × 10−5). Although we observe an association with increased BMI, waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI is reduced, bioimpedance analyses indicate increased gluteofemoral fat, and abdominal MRI analyses indicate reduced visceral adiposity. Co-localization analyses strongly correlate increased CHRDL1 gene expression, particularly in adipose tissue, with reduced concentrations of blood lipids