År 1966 publicerade den amerikanske ekonomen Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) sin inflytelserika essä ”The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth” med ett budskap som skulle landa mitt i en politisk omvälvningsfas, där civilisationskritiska perspektiv skulle låta göra sig alltmer gällande. Bouldings essä är en föregångare till dagens miljödiskussion.

The response to atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment is differing widely among patients, and a better understanding of the factors that contribute to these differences is needed. One important factor may be differences in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. The atrioventricular (AV) node plays an important role during AF in modulating heart rate. To study the effect of the ANS-induced activ

Overvoltage is becoming increasingly prevalent in distribution networks with high penetration of renewable distributed energy sources (DERs). Local control of converter-based resources is a flexible and scalable method to prevent this growing issue. Reactive power is used for voltage control in many local control schemes. However, the typical range of R/X ratios for distribution power lines indica

We investigate how experiencing parental death in infancy, childhood, or adolescence affected individuals' health using two distinct measures: mortality before age 20 and young adult height. Using two complementary indicators of health enables us to gain more insights into processes of selection and the scarring of health. Employing nationally representative data for the Netherlands for the 1850-1

Purpose: Varicocele is a common problem among infertile men. Varicocele repair (VR) is frequently performed to improve semen parameters and the chances of pregnancy. However, there is a lack of consensus about the diagnosis, indications for VR and its outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore global practice patterns on the management of varicocele in the context of male infertility. Material

Contact nurses in cancer care were vital in sustaining cancer care in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to investigate their experiences of providing care to people with cancer in these exceptional circumstances to identify emerging challenges and opportunities that must be addressed moving forward. A survey distributed to contact nurses was supplemented with questions

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays a central role in the vertebrate adaptive immune system and has been of long-term interest in evolutionary biology. While several protocols have been developed for MHC genotyping, there is a lack of transparent and standardized tools for downstream analysis of MHC data. Here, we present the r package mhctools and demonstrate the use of its functions

Lecanoraceae is one of the largest families of the Lecanoromycetes, with about 30 accepted genera, many of which, however, have uncertain status and/or circumscriptions. We assess the phylogenetic position of the genus Bryonora and its segregate Bryodina for the first time, using a six-locus phylogeny comprising the Lecanoraceae as well as closely related families. We find strong support for the p

Aims/hypothesis: Observational studies have found an increased risk of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) associated with low birthweight and adult overweight/obese status. We aimed to investigate whether these associations are causal, using a two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) design. In addition, we compared results for LADA and type 2 diabetes. Methods: We identified 43 SNPs actin

Background: Endothelial and microvascular dysfunction are pivotal causes of major adverse cardiac events predicted by coronary flow reserve (CFR). Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) have been studied extensively in the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease. However, little is known on the impact of the non-coding RNA content of EVs with respect to CFR. Methods: We carried out a study among 120 pati

Background: Multimorbidity is a rising global phenomenon, placing strains on countries’ population health and finances. This systematic review provides insight into the costs of multimorbidity through addressing the following primary and secondary research questions: What evidence exists on the costs of multimorbidity? How do costs of specific disease combinations vary across countries? How do mul

Big Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have become the focus of recent research due to the large amount of data. Dimensionality reduction techniques are recognized as an important step in these analyses. The multidimensional nature of Quality of Experience (QoE) is based on a set of Influence Factors (IFs) whose dimensionality is preferable to be higher due to better QoE

The subject of the present thesis is children’s rights in the process of debt collection. The main focus of the thesis is article 3.1 of Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its legal relevance in proportionality tests prior to decisions on seizure and sales of houses and apartments in Swedish insolvency law. The thesis is based on two studies. One legal dogmatic study on Swedish enforc

Wetlands are an important carbon sink for greenhouse gases (GHGs), and embedding microbial fuel cell (MFC) into constructed wetland (CW) has become a new technology to control methane (CH4) emission. Rhizosphere anode CW–MFC was constructed by selecting rhizome-type wetland plants with strong hypoxia tolerance, which could provide photosynthetic organics as alternative fuel. Compared with non-plan

Background: Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) does not currently have clinical prognostic biomarkers or disease-modifying drugs, though promising candidates such as dexamethasone (Dex) exist. Many challenges in studying and treating this disease stem from tissue interactions that complicate understanding of drug effects. We present an ex vivo human osteochondral model of PTOA to investigate dis

Background: In Sweden, core treatment for osteoarthritis is offered through a Supported Osteoarthritis Self-Management Programme (SOASP), combining education and exercise to provide patients with coping strategies in self-managing the disease. The aim was to study enablement and empowerment among patients with osteoarthritis in the hip and/or knee participating in a SOASP. An additional aim was to