Lund University Research Articles

Jutta Haider and Olof Sundin. Invisible Search and Online Search Engines: The Ubiquity of Search in Everyday Life. London, New York: Routledge, 2019. 160p. Hardcover, $160.00 (ISBN: 978-1-138-32860-0).

What is the most recent thing you searched for online? A recipe to try? A favorite brand of clothes on sale? Contact information for your dentist’s office? A movie to watch? Jutta Haider and Olof Sundin, Professors of Information Studies at Lund University, use this prompt in focus group studies with people of different age groups and professions, as one illustration of their central thesis: search engines and online search are deeply embedded in our daily lives, often without our recognition. The responses represent the array of information that is sought online throughout a given day, indicative of the search-ification of everyday life , a key concept explored in this book. Platforms such as Google gather personal data on an immeasurable scale, learning every monetizable component of our lives to more efficiently sell us things while maintaining our attention and driving our continued use. Search engines know so much about our interests, desires, and day-to-day existence. Shouldn’t we know more about them?

Between Lenin and Bandera: Decommunization and Multivocality in (post)Euromaidan Ukraine

Per Anders Rudling, Wallenberg Academy Fellow at Lund University, reviews Between Lenin and Bandera: Decommunisation and Multivocality in (post)Euromaidan Ukraine written by Anna Kutina.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC STAFF IN SWEDEN ON EXAMPLE OF RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

The article deals with the professional development of teaching staff in Sweden on the example of Lund Research University. The author reveals the national strategy for the development and support of higher education staff in Sweden, as well as the features of the educational activities of Swedish higher education teachers on the example of Lund University. The author reveals the university's approach to improving the activities of teachers, namely the introduction of a teaching course in higher education is mandatory for all who teach at Lund University. We are talking about the course "Teaching and learning in higher education" or "Development of a course in higher education". Accordingly, teachers who supervise doctoral students must undergo special teacher training.

Молекулярные подтипы уротелиальных карцином мочевого пузыря у пациентов молодого возраста

Urothelial carcinomas in young patients are characterized by specifi c clinical and morphological and genetic features in contrast to their counterparts in elderly patients. Molecular profi ling of tumors in 56 patients under 45 years has been performed using the method of Swedish researchers from the Lund University, the molecular classifi cation of the Lundgroup of researchers using immunophenotyping has been adapted to the cohort of young patients for the fi rst time and clear reproducibility of urothelial carcinoma molecular subtypes occurring in the elderly group of patients has been demonstrated. The urothelial-like A subtype of bladder cancer (78%, p = 0.005), which is associated with an early pathological stage, a favorable prognosis, and the best survival rate, was found to signifi cantly predominate in young patients. Within the urothelial-like subtype, a specifi c tumor variant (so-called CK5/6+/p16+) (7%) was identifi ed, differing in immunophenotypic and clinical features, tending to a more aggressive biological behavior and probably refl ecting a different progression pathway of some urothelial carcinomas in contrast to the elderly patients. The frequency of adverse subtypes (urothelial-like B, genomically unstable, basal/squamous cell-like, mesenchymal-like) in the young group was not more than 6%; their occurrence in patients over 30 years of age with an age-proportional dependence was noted. The performed molecular profi ling of bladder cancer in young patients showed its diagnostic signifi cance, possibility of prognostic stratifi cation and, therefore, reasonable practicality.

Does sensorimotor function predict graft rupture, contra-lateral injury or failure to return to sports after ACL reconstruction? A protocol for the STOP Graft Rupture study

IntroductionPeople with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) are at high risk of sustaining a graft rupture and/or contra-lateral ACL injury. The main factors that may predispose individuals for subsequent...

The Significant and Profound Impacts of Gordon Life Science Institute

The “Gordon Life Science” or “GLS” Institute is the first Internet Institute in the world. Established by Prof. Dr. Kuo-Chen Chou in 2003, right after he was retired from “Pfizer Global Research and Development” in San Diego, California. There is a very interesting story for the name of Institute as elaborated below. After the “gangs of four” (including Mao Zedong's wife) was smashed and the complete failure of Mao “Cultural Revolution”, China was under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, who took the policy of “韬光养晦”starting to open China’s door, the founder was invited by Professor Sture Forsén, the then “Chairman of Nobel Prize Committee”, to work in Chemical Center of Lund University as a Visiting Professor. It was very difficult for Swedish people to pronounce “Kuo-Chen Chou”. In order for his colleagues and friends there easier to pronounce his name, Professor Chou used “Gordon” as his name in Sweden. In 2003, about a quarter of century later, the same name was used for the Institute, meaning that Deng’s “韬光养晦” policy can stimulate a lot of great creativities.

School outcomes of adolescents with cerebral palsy in Sweden.

AimTo study school outcomes of adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) compared with a matched comparison group from the general population, and to observe to what extent sociodemographic and disability‐specific factors are associated with school outcomes.MethodThis was a register study of persons with CP in Sweden, born between 1990 and 1999, with a matched comparison group. Logistic regressions were used to estimate the associations between CP and disability‐specific factors and school outcomes (receiving final grades, grade scores, fulfilling the requirements for progressing to secondary school/university, and attending secondary school).ResultsChildren with CP had substantially lower school achievement compared with a general population sample. Much of the difference can be attributed to intellectual disability; however, CP remained strongly negatively associated with school outcomes. Ability to communicate in an effective manner explained most of the variation in children with CP, whereas motor function played a smaller role.InterpretationThe results suggest that school achievements might be improved if the communication barrier could be reduced, for example by ascertaining access to appropriate communication devices and by educators being aware that communicative difficulties do not necessarily imply intellectual disability. This might enhance the school experience and create an environment where children with CP can reach their full potential.What this study adds There are reduced educational outcomes associated with cerebral palsy.Negative outcomes are mainly driven by reduced communicative and intellectual ability.Gross motor function is associated with outcomes, but plays a smaller part.

Political and Politicized?: Two Perspectives on the Church of Sweden in the Twenty-First Century

Political and Politicized?: Two Perspectives on the Church of Sweden in the Twenty-First Century Klas Hansson Klas Hansson KLAS HANSSON (BTh, Lund University, Sweden; PhD, Uppsala University, Sweden) is Associate Professor in Church History at Uppsala University klas.hansson@telia.com https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-7103 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Church and State, csaa084, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csaa084 Published: 09 December 2020

BATCH PROCESSING OF TREE-RING SAMPLES FOR RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS

ABSTRACTWe here present a comparison of methods for the pretreatment of a batch of tree rings for high-precision measurement of radiocarbon at the Aarhus AMS Centre (AARAMS), Aarhus University, Denmark. The aim was to develop an efficient and high-throughput method able to pretreat ca. 50 samples at a time. We tested two methods for extracting α-cellulose from wood to find the most optimal for our use. One method used acetic acid, the other used HCl acid for the delignification. The testing was conducted on background 14C samples, in order to assess the effect of the different pretreatment methods on low-activity samples. Furthermore, the extracted wood and cellulose fractions were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, which showed a successful extraction of α-cellulose from the samples. Cellulose samples were pretreated at AARAMS, and the graphitization and radiocarbon analysis of these samples were done at both AARAMS and the radiocarbon dating laboratory at Lund University to compare the graphitization and AMS machine performance. No significant offset was found between the two sets of measurements. Based on these tests, the pretreatment of tree rings for high-precision radiocarbon analysis at AARAMS will henceforth use HCI for the delignification.

Multi-Scattering software: part I: online accelerated Monte Carlo simulation of light transport through scattering media.

In this article we present and describe an online freely accessible software called Multi-Scattering for the modeling of light propagation in scattering and absorbing media. Part II of this article series focuses on the validation of the model by rigorously comparing the simulated results with experimental data. The model is based on the use of the Monte Carlo method, where billions of photon packets are being tracked through simulated cubic volumes. Simulations are accelerated by the use of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units, reducing the computation time by a factor up to 200x in comparison with a single central processing unit thread. By using four graphic cards on a single computer, the simulation speed increases by a factor of 800x. For an anisotropy factor g = 0.86, this enables the transport path of one billion photons to be computed in 10 seconds for optical depth OD = 10 and in 20 minutes for OD = 500. Another feature of Multi-Scattering is the integration and implementation of the Lorenz-Mie theory in the software to generate the scattering phase functions from spherical particles. The simulations are run from a computer server at Lund University, allowing researchers to log in and use it freely without any prior need for programming skills or specific software/hardware installations. There are countless types of scattering media in which this model can be used to predict light transport, including medical tissues, blood samples, clouds, smoke, fog, turbid liquids, spray systems, etc. An example of simulation results is given here for photon propagation through a piece of human head. The software also includes features for modeling image formation by inserting a virtual collecting lens and a detection matrix which simulate a camera objective and a sensor array respectively. The user interface for setting-up simulations and for displaying the corresponding results is found at: https://multi-scattering.com/.

Quantification of tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 using a novel ultrasensitive immunoassay distinguishes Alzheimer’s disease from healthy controls

AbstractBackgroundOne of the major neuropathological hallmarks of a brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which are composed of aggregated, and sometimes truncated, hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Clinical diagnosis of AD is often aided by the use of biomarkers. One of the three core cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for AD, tau phosphorylated at amino acid 181 (p‐tauT181), shows quite a high sensitivity and specificity for AD but there is also a relatively large overlap between AD non‐demented subjects. Recently, tau species phosphorylated at amino acid 217 (p‐tauT217) quantified by mass spectrometry was shown to correlate with amyloid and tau lesions in the brain and clinical disease progression, and thus seem to be a new potential AD biomarker. Here, we present a novel immunoassay used to quantify p‐tauT217 in CSF and show that it outperforms the classical AD biomarkers.MethodCSF samples from AD, healthy controls (Co) (cohort1 [Lund University] and cohort2 [TRIAD cohort, McGill University]), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (cohort2) were analysed by a novel ultrasensitive immunoassay on the Single molecule array (Simoa) platform. The Simoa assay was based on two in‐house generated monoclonal antibodies.ResultCSF levels of p‐tauT217 were significantly increased in AD compared with Co in both cohort1 (p<0.0001, 4.3‐fold increase) and cohort2 (p=0.0003, 3.5‐fold increase). In cohort2, p‐tauT217 was also increased in AD compared with FTD (p=0.0059) and amyloid PET‐negative MCI (p=0.0203, 4.8‐fold increase), and in amyloid PET‐positive MCI compared with Co (p<0.0001, 3.9‐fold increase), amyloid PET‐negative MCI (p=0.0035, 5.2‐fold increase) and FTD (p=0.0011).ConclusionWe present performance data on a novel ultrasensitive immunoassay capable of quantifying p‐tauT217 in CSF. There was much less overlap between AD patients and healthy controls, as well as between amyloid PET‐positive and ‐negative MCI when using p‐tauT217 compared with p‐tauT181 in both cohorts, thus indicating that p‐tauT217 reflects the presence of AD pathology better. In conclusion, p‐tauT217 is a very promising new biomarker for AD, which potentially could be used to aid clinical diagnosis, even at pre‐dementia stages of the disease.

Recurring urothelial carcinomas are clonal but incompatible with a direct relationship

To describe the genetic relationship between the primary and recurrent bladder tumors and to identify their origins, different models such as the field cancerization, seeding, and intraepithelial migration have been proposed. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic relationship in syn- and metachronous bladder tumors using different types of data, and to highlight supportive evidence for the proposed models. The exophytic part of primary and recurrence urothelial tumors were collected by cold-cup biopsy from patients undergoing transurethral resection at the Lund University Hospital, Sweden, between 2001 and 2007. In total, 49 tumors from 18 patients and their 18 matched normal samples obtained from peripheral blood were collected and hybridized on HumanCNV370-Duo Genotyping BeadChips (Illumina Inc.). Gene expression data were generated using Illumina HumanHT-12 Expression BeadChip. Tumors were classified according the Lund classification system. For 27 tumor samples and matched normal blood samples from 10 patients, a custom target captured panel was used to sequence 1697 cancer genes. We used the fact that patients with non-muscle invasive bladder tumors show frequent local recurrences and often have multiple tumors to study re-initiation of tumor growth from the same urothelium. By extensive genomic analyses we show that tumors from the same patient are clonal. We show that gross genomic chromosomal aberrations may be present then absent in a recurrent tumor. By analyses of incompatible changes i.e., genomic alterations that cannot be reversed, we show that almost all tumors from a single patient may show such changes, thus the tumors cannot have originated from each other. As recurring tumors share both genomic alterations and driver gene mutations these must have been present in the urothelium in periods with no overt tumor growth. The presence of similar mutational and CN profiles combined with incompatible events suggests that the primary and the recurrent tumors have a shared ancestry but are not originating from each other. This supports a model that includes a growing and evolving field of urothelial cells that occasionally, and locally, produce bursts of cellular growth leading to overt tumors.

Predictive and Prognostic Performance of IHC3 Immunohistochemistry-based Molecular Subtyping in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Luminal/basal molecular subtyping in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) has shown important relationships to prognosis and chemosensitivity, where tumours of the basal subtype have been reported to be more aggressive, yet more sensitive to cytotoxic therapy. Despite this, molecular subtyping of MIBCs has yet to play a role in clinical treatment selection, largely limited by the complexity and artifacts associated with transcriptomic profiling methods. These shortcomings have in part been addressed by a group form Lund University who validated their subtyping using immunohistochemistry (IHC) to identify 3 key intrinsic subtypes of MIBC: Urothelial-like (URO), Genomically Unstable (GU) and Basal/Squamous cell carcinoma like (SCCL). We aimed to assess the ability of a simplified IHC-based algorithm, termed “IHC3” to identify key intrinsic molecular subtypes and explore the relationships of this classification to prognosis and treatment outcomes. 3 tissue microarrays (TMAs) were constructed from (n=133) individual samples from trans-urethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) and cystectomy specimens from 87 patients. TMAs were stained using clinical grade IHC assays for GATA3, KRT5 and p16. Scoring was conducted with visual and digital image analysis using percentage positive tumour cells, staining intensity and spatial localization. IHC3 identified 3 subtypes of MIBC with prognostic differences. Whether given before (NACT) or after surgery (ACT) no significant association between subtype and survival benefit from chemotherapy treatment. Nevertheless, because of their inferior prognosis, Basal/SCCL and GU subtypes might derive the most benefit from an effective systemic therapy. Using just three antibodies, IHC3 identified key molecular subtypes with prognostic significance, where GU and Basal subtypes showed poor prognosis compared to URO, which showed good prognosis. Application of IHC3 to an expanded cohort of 500+ patients will allow the extension of this work to further explore the predictive significance of IHC3 subtypes and confirm their potential clinical utility.

The Precision Health and Everyday Democracy (PHED) Project: Protocol for a Transdisciplinary Collaboration on Health Equity and the Role of Health in Society.

BackgroundThe project “Precision Health and Everyday Democracy” (PHED) is a transdisciplinary partnership that combines a diverse range of perspectives necessary for understanding the increasingly complex societal role played by modern health care and medical research. The term “precision health” is being increasingly used to express the need for greater awareness of environmental and genomic characteristics that may lead to divergent health outcomes between different groups within a population. Enhancing awareness of diversity has parallels with calls for “health democracy” and greater patient-public participation within health care and medical research. Approaching health care in this way goes beyond a narrow focus on the societal determinants of health, since it requires considering health as a deliberative space, which occurs often at the banal or everyday level. As an initial empirical focus, PHED is directed toward the health needs of marginalized migrants (including refugees and asylum seekers, as well as migrants with temporary residency, often involving a legally or economically precarious situation) as vulnerable groups that are often overlooked by health care. Developing new transdisciplinary knowledge on these groups provides the potential to enhance their wellbeing and benefit the wider society through challenging the exclusions of these groups that create pockets of extreme ill-health, which, as we see with COVID-19, should be better understood as “acts of self-harm” for the wider negative impact on humanity.ObjectiveWe aim to establish and identify precision health strategies, as well as promote equal access to quality health care, drawing upon knowledge gained from studying the health care of marginalized migrants.MethodsThe project is based in Sweden at Malmö and Lund Universities. At the outset, the network activities do not require ethical approval where they will not involve data collection, since the purpose of PHED is to strengthen international research contacts, establish new research within precision strategies, and construct educational research activities for junior colleagues within academia. However, whenever new research is funded and started, ethical approval for that specific data collection will be sought.ResultsThe PHED project has been funded from January 1, 2019. Results of the transdisciplinary collaboration will be disseminated via a series of international conferences, workshops, and web-based materials. To ensure the network project advances toward applied research, a major goal of dissemination is to produce tools for applied research, including information to enhance health accessibility for vulnerable communities, such as marginalized migrant populations in Sweden.ConclusionsThere is a need to identify tools to enable the prevention and treatment of a wide spectrum of health-related outcomes and their link to social as well as environmental issues. There is also a need to identify and investigate barriers to precision health based on democratic principles.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/17324

Advanced reperfusion strategies for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and refractory ventricular fibrillation (ARREST): a phase 2, single centre, open-label, randomised controlled trial

Among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and ventricular fibrillation, more than half present with refractory ventricular fibrillation unresponsive to initial standard advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) treatment. We did the first randomised clinical trial in the USA of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-facilitated resuscitation versus standard ACLS treatment in patients with OHCA and refractory ventricular fibrillation. For this phase 2, single centre, open-label, adaptive, safety and efficacy randomised clinical trial, we included adults aged 18-75 years presenting to the University of Minnesota Medical Center (MN, USA) with OHCA and refractory ventricular fibrillation, no return of spontaneous circulation after three shocks, automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation with a Lund University Cardiac Arrest System, and estimated transfer time shorter than 30 min. Patients were randomly assigned to early ECMO-facilitated resuscitation or standard ACLS treatment on hospital arrival by use of a secure schedule generated with permuted blocks of randomly varying block sizes. Allocation concealment was achieved by use of a randomisation schedule that required scratching off an opaque layer to reveal assignment. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes were safety, survival, and functional assessment at hospital discharge and at 3 months and 6 months after discharge. All analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. The study qualified for exception from informed consent (21 Code of Federal Regulations 50.24). The ARREST trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03880565. Between Aug 8, 2019, and June 14, 2020, 36 patients were assessed for inclusion. After exclusion of six patients, 30 were randomly assigned to standard ACLS treatment (n=15) or to early ECMO-facilitated resuscitation (n=15). One patient in the ECMO-facilitated resuscitation group withdrew from the study before discharge. The mean age was 59 years (range 36-73), and 25 (83%) of 30 patients were men. Survival to hospital discharge was observed in one (7%) of 15 patients (95% credible interval 1·6-30·2) in the standard ACLS treatment group versus six (43%) of 14 patients (21·3-67·7) in the early ECMO-facilitated resuscitation group (risk difference 36·2%, 3·7-59·2; posterior probability of ECMO superiority 0·9861). The study was terminated at the first preplanned interim analysis by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute after unanimous recommendation from the Data Safety Monitoring Board after enrolling 30 patients because the posterior probability of ECMO superiority exceeded the prespecified monitoring boundary. Cumulative 6-month survival was significantly better in the early ECMO group than in the standard ACLS group. No unanticipated serious adverse events were observed. Early ECMO-facilitated resuscitation for patients with OHCA and refractory ventricular fibrillation significantly improved survival to hospital discharge compared with standard ACLS treatment. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The Minnesota mobile extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation consortium for treatment of out-of-hospital refractory ventricular fibrillation: Program description, performance, and outcomes.

BackgroundWe describe implementation, evaluate performance, and report outcomes from the first program serving an entire metropolitan area designed to rapidly deliver extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-facilitated resuscitation to patients with refractory ventricular fibrillation/ventricular tachycardia (VF/VT) out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).MethodsThis observational cohort study analyzed consecutive patients prospectively enrolled in the Minnesota Mobile Resuscitation Consortium's ECMO-facilitated resuscitation program. Entry criteria included: 1) adults (aged 18–75), 2) VF/VT OHCA, 3) no return of spontaneous circulation following 3 shocks, 4) automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation with a Lund University Cardiac Arrest System (LUCAS™), and 5) estimated transfer time of < 30 min. The primary endpoint was functionally favorable survival to hospital discharge with Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) 1 or 2. Secondary endpoints included 3-month functionally favorable survival, program benchmarks, ECMO cannulation rate, and safety. Essential program components included emergency medical services, 3 community ECMO Initiation Hospitals with emergency department ECMO cannulation sites and 24/7 cardiac catheterization laboratories, a 24/7 mobile ECMO cannulation team, and a single, centralized ECMO intensive care unit.FindingsFrom December 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020, 63 consecutive patients were transported and 58 (97%) met criteria and were treated by the mobile ECMO service. Mean age was 57 ± 1.8 years; 46/58 (79%) were male. Program benchmarks were variably met, 100% of patients were successfully cannulated, and no safety issues were identified. Of the 58 patients, 25/58 (43% [CI:31–56%]) were both discharged from the hospital and alive at 3 months with CPC 1 or 2.InterpretationThis first, community-wide ECMO-facilitated resuscitation program in the US demonstrated 100% successful cannulation, 43% functionally favorable survival rates at hospital discharge and 3 months, as well as safety. The program provides a potential model of this approach for other communities.FundingThe Helmsley Charitable Trust

Cerebroplacental ratio as predictor of adverse perinatal outcome in the third trimester.

IntroductionFetal growth restriction is associated with adverse perinatal outcome and the clinical management of these pregnancies is a challenge. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) to predict adverse perinatal outcome in high‐risk pregnancies in the third trimester. Another aim was to study whether the CPR has better predictive value than its components, middle cerebral artery (MCA) pulsatility index (PI) and umbilical artery (UA) PI.Material and methodsThe study was a retrospective cohort study including 1573 singleton high‐risk pregnancies with Doppler examinations performed at 32+0 to 40+6 gestational weeks at Lund University Hospital and the University Hospital of Malmö between 29 December 1994 and 31 December 2017. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were used to investigate the predictive value of the gestational age‐specific z‐scores for CPR, UA PI and MCA PI, respectively, for the primary outcome “perinatal asphyxia/mortality” and the secondary outcomes “birthweight small for gestational age (SGA)” and two composite outcomes: “appropriate for gestational age/large for gestational age liveborn infants with neonatal morbidity” and “SGA liveborn infants with neonatal morbidity.”ResultsThe performance in predicting perinatal asphyxia/mortality was poor for all three variables and did not differ significantly. The ROC area under curve (AUC) was 0.56, 0.55 and 0.53 for CPR, UA PI and MCA PI z‐scores, respectively. The ROC AUC for CPR z‐scores to predict SGA was 0.73, significantly higher than that for either UA PI or MCA PI (P < .001). The ability of CPR and the MCA PI to predict appropriate for gestational age/large for gestational age infant morbidity and SGA infant morbidity was similar and significantly better than UA PI (P < .001).ConclusionsIn the present study, none of the three Doppler measures proved to be useful in predicting perinatal asphyxia and mortality. CPR and MCA PI were equally good in predicting neonatal morbidity, especially in SGA pregnancies, and both were significantly better predictors than the UA PI. CPR had a high predictive value for SGA at birth, better than that of its two components, UA PI and MCA PI.

The implementation of a low emission zone in a medium-sized Swedish city: estimated effects on mortality and morbidity

Title: The introduction of a low emission zone in a medium-sized Swedish city: estimated effects on morbidity and mortalityAuthors: Anna Oudin1,2, Erin Flanagan1, Ebba Malmqvist11.Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Sweden2.Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, SwedenAir pollution is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The introduction of low emission zones has been implemented in some cities as a measure to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by air pollution. In other cities, such measures are being considered to be implemented. We undertook a health impact assessment to estimate effects on mortality and morbidity in Malmö by introducing a low emission zone. This was done in dialogue with the Malmö city’s environmental department, assuming adjusted emission factors according to the Handbook Emission Factors for Road Transport version 3.3 with all vehicles on municipal roads being euro6 or better and a mix of vehicles on state roads. The intervention would lead to decreased nitrogen dioxide-levels by in average 2.1 mikrogr/m3 per person (minimum: 0.2, maximum: 5.1 mikrogr/m3). We estimated that the cleaner air would prevent 1-2% of all deaths, depending on what dose-response function was assumed. This corresponds to 26-37 lives per year in Malmö. In comparison in average 7 people die in Malmö each year from traffic accidents. We will also present results regarding how morbidity would be affected.

Interpreting the concept of sedimentation in Husserl’s Origin of Geometry

In the influential text Origin of Geometry, Edmund Husserl argues that even the invariant meaning found in theoretical disciplines like geometry has a historical becoming: through gradual abstraction and stabilization, ending in a completely rational discipline. This is a process which Husserl proposes is due to language and other symbolic systems. In the absence of a system allowing for stable communication of meaning, geometry or any other tradition would constantly have to begin anew. At the same time Husserl also sees the historical process of meaning stabilization in linguistic form as detrimental. It allows for a reception of an established meaning, which simultaneously entails the forgetfulness of the experiential basis and intuitive knowledge that made ideality possible in the first place. Husserl calls this Janus-faced dialectical process between discovery and forgetfulness sedimentation. This paper analyzes this concept in Origin of Geometry and places it in the context of Husserl’s thought more generally. In contrast to Husserl’s negative view of the effects that sedimentation has for an authentic meaning, I discuss four interpretations of sedimentation that provide more constructive perspectives on the concept. These interpretations also differ considerably from one another, a fact which speaks both to the richness and the tensions in Origin of Geometry.&#x0D; &#x0D; Author Biography&#x0D; Johan Blomberg has a PhD in General Linguistics from 2014, for the dissertation Motion in Language and Experience. He has since then worked in the Division for Cognitive Semiotics at Lund University, to which he continues to be affiliated. His main interests include motion semantics and the relations between language and thought, on which he has published extensively in journals like Cognitive Linguistics, Frontiers of Psychology and Language and Communication.

Predictors of health care practitioners’ normative attitudes and practices towards sexual and reproductive health and rights: a cross-sectional study of participants from low-income countries enrolled in a capacity-building program

ABSTRACT Background: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is a concept of human rights applied to sexuality and reproduction. Suboptimal access to SRHR services in many low-income countries results in poor health outcomes. Sustainable development goals (3.7 and 5.6) give a new impetus to the aspiration of universal access to high-quality SRHR services. Indispensable stakeholders in this process are healthcare practitioners who, through their actions or inactions, determine a population’s health choices. Often times, healthcare practitioners’ SRHR decisions are rooted in religious and cultural influences. We seek to understand whether religious and cultural influences differ significantly according to individuals’ characteristics and work environment. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of healthcare practitioners’ individual characteristics and their work environment in predicting normative SRHR attitudes and behaviours (practices). We hypothesized that religion and culture could be significant predictors of SRHR attitudes and practices. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study of 115 participants from ten low-income countries attending a capacity-building programme at Lund University Sweden was conducted. Linear regression models were used to assess for the predictive values of different individual characteristics and workplace environment factors for normative SRHR attitudes and SRHR practices. Results: Self-rated SRHR knowledge was the strongest predictor for both normative SRHR attitudes and normative SRHR practices. However, when adjusted for other individual characteristics, self-rated knowledge lost its significant association with SRHR practices, instead normative SRHR attitudes and active knowledge-seeking behaviour independently predicted normative SRHR practices. Contrary to our hypothesis, importance of religion or culture in an individual’s life was not correlated with the measured SRHR attitudes and practices. Conclusion: Healthcare practitioners’ cultural and religious beliefs, which are often depicted as barriers for implementing full coverage of SRHR services, seem to be modified by active knowledge-seeking behaviour and accumulated working experience with SRHR over time.