There is growing evidence that pesticides may be among the causes of worldwide bee declines, which has resulted in repeated calls for their increased scrutiny in regulatory assessments. One recurring ...concern is that the current frameworks may be biased towards assessing risks to the honey bee. This paradigm requires extrapolating toxicity information across bee species. Most research effort has therefore focused on quantifying differences in sensitivity across species. However, our understanding of how responses to pesticides may vary within a species is still very poor. Here we take the first steps towards filling this knowledge gap by comparing acute, lethal hazards in sexes and castes of the eusocial bee Bombus terrestris and in sexes of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis after oral and contact exposure to the pesticides sulfoxaflor, Amistar (azoxystrobin) and glyphosate. We show that sensitivity towards pesticides varies significantly both within and across species. Bee weight was a meaningful predictor of pesticide susceptibility. However, weight could not fully explain the observed differences, which suggests the existence of unexplored mechanisms regulating pesticide sensitivity across bee sexes and castes. Our data show that intra-specific responses are an overlooked yet important aspect of the risk assessment of pesticides in bees.
Abstract
Introduction
The risk for brain injury manifested as cerebral palsy is higher in very preterm born children than in term. Prenatal administration of magnesium sulfate (MgSO
4
) has been ...shown to be neuroprotective and reduces the proportion of very preterm born children later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A Swedish national clinical practice guideline was implemented in March 2020, stipulating the administration of a single intravenous dose of 6 g MgSO
4
1–24 h prior to delivery before gestational age 32+0, aiming for 90% treatment coverage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of this new clinical practice guideline in the first year of its implementation.
Material and methods
Data on MgSO
4
treatment were collected by reviewing the medical charts of women who gave birth to live born children in gestational age 22+0–31+6 during the period of March 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021, at five Swedish university hospitals. Women with pre‐eclampsia, eclampsia, or high elevated liver enzymes low platelets (HELLP) were excluded.
Results
A total of 388 women were eligible and 79% received treatment with MgSO
4
. Of the 21% not receiving treatment, 9% did not receive treatment due to lack of knowledge about the clinical practice guideline, 9% were not possible to treat and 3% had missing data. The proportion treated increased from 72% to 87% from the first to the last 3 months. Of those treated, 81% received the drug within the stipulated timeframe (mean 8.7 h, median 3.4 h).
Conclusions
There was a positive trend over time in the proportion of women receiving MgSO
4
treatment, but the a priori target of 90% was not reached during the first year of implementation. Our findings indicate that this target could be reached with additional information to clinicians.
Bees are under threat from agricultural intensification, and species which are pollen specialists (oligolectic) are thought to have declined disproportionately compared to pollen generalists ...(polylectic). When assessing the risks of dietary pesticide (plant protection products) exposure to non-target beneficial insects such as wild bees, effects on pollen specialist species have seldom been considered. Research and risk assessment on pesticide risk to bees mainly use a small selection of model species, only representing pollen generalist species. Moreover, the foraging preferences of the existing model species are not always adequately matched to the crops investigated, which may lead to incorrect conclusions regarding the risks posed by pesticides in pollen and nectar. Here, we propose Osmia brevicornis, an oligolectic European wild bee species specialized on Brassicaceae pollen, as a new model organism suitable for assessment of how pesticides can impact specialist pollinators, especially in oilseed rape, a mass flowering Brassicaceae crop. We demonstrate that O. brevicornis can be successfully reared in the field next to oilseed rape and that its nesting success and offspring numbers can be increased by setting out a starting population. In our field assay, nesting tube diameter affected occupation rate and the sex ratio of O. brevicornis offspring. We describe a method for housing and controlled oral administration of sucrose solution in the laboratory, facilitating future studies on pesticide exposure. We conclude that O. brevicornis is a feasible model for assessing the risk of pesticides in the laboratory and in the field, especially for those compounds used in oilseed rape cultivation, as well as for investigating the general ecology of pollen specialists. By suggesting O. brevicornis as a potential model species, we aim to encourage diversification of the species used in agricultural ecology, especially to consider pollen specialists, and encourage attention to the foraging preferences and dietary needs of selected model species when considering pesticide exposure risk and effects.
•Pollen specialist bees are rarely considered in ecotoxicological experiments.•Pollen generalist bee may not be sufficient as sole model organisms.•The pollen specialist solitary bee Osmia brevicornis is a potential model organism.•O. brevicornis can be reared in the field and housed in the laboratory.•We suggest O. brevicornis as a prospective ecotoxicological model organism.
The aim of this study was to reconstruct river flow to the Baltic Sea using data from different periods during the past thousand years. A hydrological model coupled to simulations from climate models ...was used to estimate river flow. A "millennium" simulation of past climate from the ECHO-G coupled atmosphere–ocean global climate model provided climatological inputs. Results from this global model were downscaled with the RCA3 regional climate model over northern Europe. Temperature and precipitation from the downscaled simulation results were then used in the HBV hydrological model to simulate river flows to the Baltic Sea for the periods 1000–1199 and 1551–1929. These were compared with observations for the period 1921–2002. A general conclusion from this work is that although climate has varied during the past millennium, variability in annual river flow to the Baltic Sea does not appear more pronounced in recent years than during the previous millennium, or vice versa.
The basic aim of this study was to analyse the influence of calcium on the Chl-TP relationship and to apply the findings to improve dynamic (mechanistically-based) modelling of phosphorus and lake ...eutrophication. We have analysed long-term data from 73 lakes. The influences of calcium found in these statistical analyses have been integrated into a dynamic foodweb model, the LakeWeb-model, which also includes a mass-balance model for phosphorus. Differences in the model outcome between simulations without and with considerations to the role of calcium are discussed. We can conclude that calcium is an important factor influencing both the Chl-TP relationship and Secchi depths in mesotrophic and eutrophic lakes. Our results also indicate that lakes with long-term median Ca-concentration between 10-30mg/l function as hardwater lakes. The results also stress the importance of taking a holistic view of lakes since the bedrock, soils and land-use activities in the catchment influence the calcium concentration in lakes and therefore the phosphorus cycle, water clarity and the productivity of a given lake. The predictive power of the Chl-TP regression increases markedly if hardwater lakes are omitted from the model domain. For lake foodweb and mass-balance modelling, we show that the inclusion of the presented calcium moderator clearly improved the predictions of lake TP-concentrations in water and sediments, chlorophyll and Secchi depths in Lake Erken, a hardwater lake in Sweden.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Objective
CCA, outward remodeling of capillaries that anastomose 2 arteriolar trees with different parent feed arteries, may represent a therapeutic target for patients who lack collaterals. ACCs can ...reperfuse an ischemic tree, but their functional capacity is unknown. Therefore, we determined whether ACCs mature into resistance vessels that regulate blood flow following arterial occlusion.
Methods
We ligated the lateral spinotrapezius feed artery in Balb/C mice, which induces CCA. At days 7 and 21 following occlusion, we measured vasodilation of ACCs using intravital microscopy and blood flow in the ischemic tree using LSF. We determined the presence of ACCs and neurovascular alignment with immunofluorescence.
Results
At day 7, ACCs do not vasodilate following muscle contraction and have reduced responses to endothelial‐ and smooth muscle‐dependent agents. By day 21, ACCs exhibit normal vasodilation, accompanied by normalized increases in relative blood flow to the ischemic zone. Although functioning as resistance vessels by regulating blood flow, ACCs do not appear to be innervated.
Conclusions
ACCs mature into resistance vessels that regulate blood flow to the downstream tissue. Therefore, induction of mature ACCs may be a target for reducing ischemia in patients who lack collateral networks.
Sulphite dissolving pulp was fractionated and the differences in the spectroscopic signals between the fines and bulk cellulose were investigated. Raman spectroscopy and CP/MAS 13C NMR were used as ...spectroscopic techniques while fines content and particle size was investigated using Pulpeye®. Also the molecular weight distribution was analysed with size exclusion chromatography and the carbohydrate composition was investigated using ion chromatography. The spectral data were investigated with the use of multivariate data analysis and both Raman spectroscopy and NMR measurements indicated a higher content of a cellulose II type material in the small particles than in the bulk cellulose. The molecular weight distribution measure-ments showed a higher content of low molecular weight material in the fines fractions, and this was concluded from the ion chromatography data to probably originate from both hemicelluloses and low molecular weight cellulose. As a conclusion it was hypothesised that regeneration of hemicellulose and low molecular weight cellulose, as a result of process parameters, occurred on the fines in particular.
Genom att intervjua sex förskollärare har syftet med denna studie varit att skapa större förståelse gällande förskollärares uppfattningar om hur anknytningsrelationer upprätthålls till äldre barn i ...förskolan. Studien har sin teoretiska grund i anknytningsteorin och kvalitativa intervjuer har använts som metod för att ta del av förskollärares beskrivningar. Resultatet visar att upprätthållandet av anknytningsrelationer är ett städnigt arbete som hela tiden måste vårdas. Att utläsa förbestämda konkreta metoder som antas av förskollärare i syfte att upprätthålla anknytningsrelationerna till äldre barn i förskolan blir utifrån förskollärares beskrivningar en svårighet. Det tycks snarare handla om att möta barns känslomässiga behov i stunden, vilket kan ses innebära att det inte finns förbestämda manualer för hur det ska gå till. Barnets långsiktiga och kortsiktiga behov är det som avgör och styr hur förskollärare agerar gentemot barnen i upprätthållandet av anknytningsrelationerna. Förskollärares beskrivningar visar att det inte är situationerna i sig som väcker ett behov hos barnet av att tanka trygghet hos förskollärare, utan det tycks vara känslan som situationen frambringar hos barnet som väcker behovet av trygghetstankande.
Bakgrund: Bröstcancer är idag den tredje vanligast förekommande cancersjukdomen i världen och den cancerdiagnos som uteslutande ställs till flest kvinnor. Ny forskning leder till fler och bättre ...behandlingsalternativ och allt fler kvinnor överlever sin sjukdom. Att gå vidare efter avslutad behandling innebär stora förändringar psykiskt och fysiskt som i stor utsträckning påverkar kvinnornas vardag och livskvalité. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa kvinnors erfarenheter efter avslutad bröstcancerbehandling. Metod: En litteraturstudie med kvalitativ ansats med grund i Fribergs metod genomfördes. Utifrån tre databaser resulterade sökningarna i elva artiklar som analyserades och sammanställdes i kategorier och underkategorier. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i fyra huvudkategorier; 1.Erfarenheter av en förändrad kropp, 2.En tillvaro med stora påfrestningar, 3.Strävan efter en meningsfull tillvaro, 4.Att bli lämnad av vården. Konklusion: Kunskapen om kvinnors behov efter avslutad bröstcancerbehandling krävs för att kunna individanpassa omvårdnad och för att underlätta kvinnors vardag. Detta bör belysas i syfte att bidra med kunskap som resulterar i en ökad livskvalitet hos dessa kvinnor.
Background: Breast cancer is today the third most common cancer diagnosis in the world and the most frequent diagnosis amongst women. New research is leading to more and better treatment options and results in more women surviving their disease. Moving on after completing treatment involves major changes mentally and physically that affects women's everyday lives. Aim: The aim of this study was to shed light on women's experiences after finishing a breast cancer treatment. Methods: A literature study with a qualitative approach based on Friberg´s method was conducted. Based on three databases, the searches resulted in eleven articles that were analyzed and compiled into categories and subcategories. Result: The analysis resulted in four main categories; 1.Experiences of a changed body, 2.A life with great stress, 3.The pursuit of a meaningful life, 4.To be left by healthcare. Conklusion: Knowledge of women's needs after completing their breast cancer treatment is required in order to be able to adapt nursing to individuals and to facilitate women's everyday lives. This should be highlighted in order to contribute knowledge that results in an increased quality of life for these women.
