An Energy Analysis of the Production of the Great Copper Mountain of Falun During the Mid 17th Century

An analysis is made of the energy inputs in the production of copper in Falun, Sweden, in the mid 17th century. This mine produced at that time more than half of the world production of copper. The dominant role of the forests is identified and the contribution to Sweden's wealth and security described, enabling Sweden to develop to the most powerful nation in Northern Europe during the period 1560-1720

Morphological characterization of intra-articular HMGB1 expression during the course of collagen-induced arthritis

High-mobility group chromosomal box protein 1 (HMGB1) is a structural nuclear protein that promotes inflammation when present extracellularly. Aberrant, extracellular HMGB1 expression has been demonstrated in human and experimental synovitis. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the temporal and spatial expression of HMGB1 compared to that of the central mediators tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1-beta (IL-1β) during the course of collagen-induced arthritis. Thus, Dark Agouti rats were immunized with homologous type II collagen and synovial tissue specimens were obtained at various time points prior to and during the course of clinical arthritis. Local cytokine responses were assessed by immunohistochemistry and by in situ hybridization. We demonstrate a distinct nuclear expression of HMGB1 at early disease-preceding time points. Preceding clinical onset by a few days, cytoplasmic HMGB1 expression was evident in synoviocytes within the non-proliferative lining layer. Pronounced cytoplasmic and additional extracellular HMGB1 expression coincided with the progression of clinical disease. In advanced arthritis, the number of cells with cytoplasmic HMGB1 expression was quantitatively comparable to that of cells expressing TNF and IL-1β. Interestingly, although HMGB1 was abundantly expressed throughout the inflamed synovium at a protein level, upregulation of HMGB1 mRNA was restricted mainly to areas of cartilage and bone destruction. In conclusion, these new findings implicate a role for HMGB1 in both inducing and perpetuating inflammatory events of significant importance in the destructive processes in chronic arthritis

The Physcomitrium patens egg cell expresses several distinct epigenetic components and utilizes homologues of BONOBO genes for cell specification

Although land plant germ cells have received much attention, knowledge about their specification is still limited. We thus identified transcripts enriched in egg cells of the bryophyte model species Physcomitrium patens, compared the results with angiosperm egg cells, and selected important candidate genes for functional analysis. We used laser-assisted microdissection to perform a cell-type-specific transcriptome analysis on egg cells for comparison with available expression profiles of vegetative tissues and male reproductive organs. We made reporter lines and knockout mutants of the two BONOBO (PbBNB) genes and studied their role in reproduction. We observed an overlap in gene activity between bryophyte and angiosperm egg cells, but also clear differences. Strikingly, several processes that are male-germline specific in Arabidopsis are active in the P. patens egg cell. Among those were the moss PbBNB genes, which control proliferation and identity of both female and male germlines. Pathways shared between male and female germlines were most likely present in the common ancestors of land plants, besides sex-specifying factors. A set of genes may also be involved in the switches between the diploid and haploid moss generations. Nonangiosperm gene networks also contribute to the specification of the P. patens egg cell

Tillstånd och trender för arter och deras livsmiljöer

2015 års upplaga av den svenska rödlistan är den fjärde i ordningen. Den är baserad på IUCN:s rödlistningskriterier och revideras vart femte år. I rödlistan bedöms risken som enskilda arter av djur, växter och svampar löper att försvinna från Sverige. Bedömningen utförs av ArtDatabankens medarbetare i samverkan med över 100 externa experter, indelade i 14 expertkommittéer för olika organismgrupper. Under arbetet med 2015 års rödlista har tillstånd och trender bedömts för 21 600 arter och 1 318 lägre taxa (apomiktiska arter, underarter och varieteter), sammanlagt ca 22 900 taxa. Av de bedömda arterna klassificerades 2 029 som hotade (kategorierna CR, EN och VU) och 4 273 som rödlistade (inkluderar även kategorierna NT, RE och DD). Förhållandet mellan antalet rödlistade och antalet bedömda arter ar 19,8 %, vilket är ungefär samma värde som 2010 och 2005. I denna rapport jämförs antalet och andelen rödlistade arter mellan olika organismgrupper, biotoper, substrat och påverkansfaktorer. Texten ar indelad i en allmän del och åtta kapitel inriktade på olika landskapstyper. Landskapstyperna utgör en grov indelning av landets miljöer enligt följande kategorier: Skog, Jordbrukslandskap, Urbana miljöer, Fjäll, Våtmarker, Sötvatten, Havsstränder och Havsmiljöer. Skogen och jordbrukslandskapet är de artrikaste landskapstyperna med 1 800 respektive 1 400 arter som har en stark anknytning dit, och ytterligare flera hundra arter som förekommer där mer sporadiskt. De faktorer som påverkar flest rödlistade arter i Sverige är skogsavverkning och igenväxning, som båda utgör ett hot mot vardera ca 30 % av de rödlistade arterna. Avverkning minskar arealen av skog där naturliga strukturer och naturlig dynamik upprätthålls, och den orsakar därmed förlust av livsmiljöer. Igenväxning orsakas av ett antal faktorer, bland annat upphörande hävd (bete och slåtter), gödsling, trädplantering och brist på naturliga störningsregimer som t.ex. regelbundna översvämningar kring vattendrag och sjöar. Andra viktiga påverkansfaktorer är fiske, torrläggning av våtmarker, tillbakagång hos värdarter (främst alm och ask som drabbats av invasiva svampsjukdomar), klimatförändringar och konkurrens från invasiva arter. IUCN:s rödlisteindex beräknas för ett urval av de bedömda organismgrupperna. Rödlisteindex visar att skillnaderna mellan rödlistorna från 2000, 2005, 2010 och 2015 är små. Ett par undantag finns dock. Groddjur och stora däggdjur har fått en något förbättrad situation sedan 2000. Totalt förefaller det ändå som att trycket mot Sveriges artstock har förblivit relativt konstant under de senaste 15 åren

Humanin skeletal muscle protein levels increase after resistance training in men with impaired glucose metabolism

Humanin (HN) is a mitochondrially encoded and secreted peptide linked to glucose metabolism and tissue protecting mechanisms. Whether skeletal muscle HN gene or protein expression is influenced by exercise remains unknown. In this intervention study we show, for the first time, that HN protein levels increase in human skeletal muscle following 12 weeks of resistance training in persons with prediabetes. Male subjects (n = 55) with impaired glucose regulation (IGR) were recruited and randomly assigned to resistance training, Nordic walking or a control group. The exercise interventions were performed three times per week for 12 weeks with progressively increased intensity during the intervention period. Biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle and venous blood samples were taken before and after the intervention. Skeletal muscle and serum protein levels of HN were analyzed as well as skeletal muscle gene expression of the mitochondrially encoded gene MT-RNR2, containing the open reading frame for HN. To elucidate mitochondrial training adaptation, mtDNA, and nuclear DNA as well as Citrate synthase were measured. Skeletal muscle HN protein levels increased by 35% after 12 weeks of resistance training. No change in humanin protein levels was seen in serum in any of the intervention groups. There was a significant correlation between humanin levels in serum and the improvements in the 2 h glucose loading test in the resistance training group. The increase in HN protein levels in skeletal muscle after regular resistance training in prediabetic males may suggest a role for HN in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Given the preventative effect of exercise on diabetes type 2, the role of HN as a mitochondrially derived peptide and an exercise-responsive mitokine warrants further investigation.</p

Assisting the implementation of screening for type 1 diabetes by using artificial intelligence on publicly available data

The type 1 diabetes community is coalescing around the benefits and advantages of early screening for disease risk. To be accepted by healthcare providers, regulatory authorities and payers, screening programmes need to show that the testing variables allow accurate risk prediction and that individualised risk-informed monitoring plans are established, as well as operational feasibility, cost-effectiveness and acceptance at population level. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to contribute to solving these issues, starting with the identification and stratification of at-risk individuals. ASSET (AI for Sustainable Prevention of Autoimmunity in the Society; www.asset.healthcare) is a public/private consortium that was established to contribute to research around screening for type 1 diabetes and particularly to how AI can drive the implementation of a precision medicine approach to disease prevention. ASSET will additionally focus on issues pertaining to operational implementation of screening. The authors of this article, researchers and clinicians active in the field of type 1 diabetes, met in an open forum to independently debate key issues around screening for type 1 diabetes and to advise ASSET. The potential use of AI in the analysis of longitudinal data from observational cohort studies to inform the design of improved, more individualised screening programmes was also discussed. A key issue was whether AI would allow the research community and industry to capitalise on large publicly available data repositories to design screening programmes that allow the early detection of individuals at high risk and enable clinical evaluation of preventive therapies. Overall, AI has the potential to revolutionise type 1 diabetes screening, in particular to help identify individuals who are at increased risk of disease and aid in the design of appropriate follow-up plans. We hope that this initiative will stimulate further research on this very timely topic. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.)Peer reviewe

Vilhelm Lundstedt’s ‘Legal Machinery’ and the Demise of Juristic Practice

This article aims to contribute to the academic debate on the general crisis faced by law schools and the legal professions by discussing why juristic practice is a matter of experience rather than knowledge. Through a critical contextualisation of Vilhelm Lundstedt’s thought under processes of globalisation and transnationalism, it is argued that the demise of the jurist’s function is related to law’s scientification as brought about by the metaphysical construction of reality. The suggested roadmap will in turn reveal that the current voiding of juristic practice and its teaching is part of the crisis regarding what makes us human

Distribution of the costs of joint forest roads according to crosswise and lengthwise road functions

(Föreliggande uppsats utgör en sammanfattning på engelska av den fullständiga rapporten: Ett förslag till kostnads-fördelning för samfällda skogsbilvägar, Rapporter och Uppsatser Nr 26/1965, Institutionen for skogsteknik, Skogshögskolan, Stockholm.) Lagen om enskilda vägar stadgar, att väghållningsskyldighet skall "fördelas med hänsyn till den omfattning, vari de (fastigheterna) beräknas komma att begagna vägen". En analys utföres över den trafikvolym, som ett skogsbestånd kan beräknas generera under olika förut-sättningar beträffande markbonitet, beståndsålder och slutenhet. Vidare belyses, hur nuvärdet av denna trafik skiftar vid olika val av planeringsperiod och räntefot. En skogsbilväg har två transportfunktioner: en funktion längs - att möjliggöra transporter på vägen - samt en funktion tvärs - att avkorta transporterna till vägen. Tvärsfunktionen uppfylles i princip av en väg av så lag standard, att den nätt och jämnt tillåter trafik med för hela vägsystemet avsedda fordon, en väg av s. k, minimistandard. Ett förslag till kostnadsfördelning framlägges, baserat på att vägbyggnadskostnaden till minimistandard skall fördelas efter den tvärsfunktion, som resp. bestånd eller fastigheter får del av, medan byggnadskostnaden för standardanpassning av vägen i syfte att uppnå en optimal vägstandard skall fördelas med hänsyn till hur skogsbestånden eller fastigheterna utnyttjar vägens längsfunktion. För gradering av skogsbeståndens andelar i trafiken har upprättats nedanstående tabell, i vilken andelen per arealenhet (hektar) uttryckes i relativa tal, s, k. trafiktal. Dessa trafiktal användes direkt för fördelning av vägbyggnadskostnad för standardanpassning