Summary
Bioactive gibberellins (GAs) are involved in many developmental aspects in the life cycle of plants, acting either directly or through interaction with other hormones. One way to study the ...role of GA in specific mechanisms is to modify the levels of bioactive GA in specific tissues. We increased GA catabolism in different parts of the vascular tissue by overexpressing two different GA 2‐oxidase genes that encode oxidases with affinity for C20‐ or C19‐GA. We show that, irrespective of their localization in the vascular tissue, the expression of different members of this gene family leads to similar modifications in the primary and secondary growth of the stem of hybrid aspen. We also show that the precise localization of bioactive GA downregulation is important for the proper control of other developmental aspects, namely leaf shape and bud dormancy. Expression under the control of one of the studied promoters significantly affected both the shape of the leaves and the number of sylleptic branches. These phenotypic defects were correlated with alterations in the levels and repartitioning of auxins. We conclude that a precise localization of bioactive GA in the vasculature of the apex is necessary for the normal development of the plant through the effect of GAs on auxin transport.
Background Recent studies indicate that in-hospital exercise can mitigate the risk of functional decline in acutely hospitalized older adults. However, there is a lack of studies that compare ...different types of exercise interventions. This feasibility study was conducted in preparation for a three-armed randomized controlled trial. The aim was to examine the process feasibility (in terms of recruitment and retention rate, intervention compliance and acceptability), and scientific feasibility (in terms of presence of adverse events, and trends with 95% confidence intervals of the outcome measures) of the trial. Methods Patients aged ≥75 years, were included from geriatric medical wards at three hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants in two groups received a specialized intervention program, i.e., Simple or Comprehensive exercise program, respectively and one group received usual care. Assessments were conducted at hospital admission and discharge, and data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results In the spring 2022, 63 patients met the inclusion criteria and 39 accepted to participate (recruitment rate: 61.9%). COVID-19 affected the inclusion period. A total of 33 participants completed the study (i.e., were assessed at baseline and discharge, retention rate: 84.6%). Participants in the Simple and the Comprehensive exercise programs performed 88.9% and 80% of the possible training sessions, respectively. Both interventions were accepted by the participants and no adverse events were reported. The intervention groups showed a higher median change from admission to discharge than the control group on the Short Physical Performance Battery, the main outcome measure of the trial. Conclusion The result of this pilot study suggests that the trial design is feasible and potentially useful for preventing functional decline in acutely hospitalized older adults. A full-scale trial will, however, require some considerations with respect to routines and logistics. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, 4 May 2022, registration number NCT05366075.
Introduction
Acutely hospitalised older patients often live with frailty and have an increased risk of impaired physical function. Previous studies suggest that exercise might mitigate the risk of ...physical impairment; however, further research is needed to compare the effect of different types of exercise interventions. In this paper, we report a protocol for a trial that aims to examine (1) if multicomponent exercise interventions (interventions that include both mobility and strengthening exercises) have effects on physical function compared with usual care in older adults and (2) if a comprehensive multicomponent exercise programme is more effective than a simple multicomponent exercise programme that only include walking and sit-to-stand exercises.
Methods and analysis
This is a three-armed randomised controlled trial, with two intervention groups (comprehensive and simple exercise programme) and a control group receiving usual care. We will include 320 participants aged ≥75 years from geriatric medical departments of four hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden. Assessments will be conducted at hospital admission, discharge and 3 months thereafter concerning physical function (primary outcome), activities of daily living, health-related quality of life, sarcopenia and falls. The number of readmissions will be registered up to 1 year after discharge. Data will be analysed with linear mixed effects models, according to the intention-to-treat approach.
Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval for this trial has been granted by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (approval number 2022-03032-01). Data collection will consider the information requirement, the requirement of consent, confidentiality obligations and the utilisation requirement. Trial findings will be disseminated through multiple channels, including scientific publications and conferences, and workshops with healthcare professionals and the public.
Trial registration number
NCT05366075
There is a powerful narrative of Umeå as a progressive, gender-equal, tolerant city which has been important in relation to the investments in culture that the city has made, including the European ...Capital of Culture Year 2014. Viewing the city as process, as negotiated and contested representation, we study how narratives of gender-equality figure throughout Capital of Culture year, Umeå2014, and in the projects that were part of it. We examine how the talk about gender-equality interacts with notions of place and how they are interconnected with each other. We are interested in what happens with a major cultural project when gender-equality is emphasized as one of the key values, at the same time as the meaning and content of this concept is not specified. Studying official documents and municipal webpages concerning Umeå as European Capital of Culture, applications for co-funding of cultural projects and news articles, we scrutinize how gender-equality is used and given meaning by looking at the way it is operationalized both by the city officials and by those engaging in cultural activities. Gender equality became something that was highlighted in the bid to become European Capital of Culture and in the making of the programme for the year, and stories about the Umeå2014’s success in implementing a gender-equality perspective have been repeated and woven together into a yet another narrative of Umeå. They became part of an ongoing negotiation of the city’s identity.
Older persons with cognitive impairment (CI) risk social isolation. Strong evidence shows that perceived loneliness, or inadequate social networks, triggers and increases health problems. How ...homecare systems address social participation remains unknown; anecdotal data suggests there are significant gaps. This study's objective was to identify and describe how the assessors of homecare needs document social participation among persons with CI and how their documentation corresponds with the services actually provided to meet social needs. The research questions were: How and what kinds of social participation needs are documented on need assessment forms? What types of homecare services (with a social focus) are documented and approved? How are specified needs in social participation profiles addressed by a homecare service?
Descriptive data from need assessment forms and their attached care plans for all applicants aged 65+ were collected during a 2 month period from a large homecare agency serving a municipality in Sweden. Persons with documented CI (n = 43) in the group were identified. Qualitative data analysis was conducted to examine the research questions.
Social participation factors were not documented consistently. The relationship between recognition of limitations to social participation and approval of service eligibility was not consistent. Social participation was designated by references to social status, sometimes by social network size, and occasionally by limitations to social participation. The range of approved homecare services (with social focus) covered services such as day care center visits or companionship. Three profiles of social participation were identified: clients with, (a) no participation limitations; (b) potential limitations; and (c) marked limitations.
Given the known health harms from social isolation and the high risk of isolation among older persons with CI, this novel study's documentation of inadequate and inconsistent information in homecare social need assessments and services is sobering. The findings suggest a pressing need for initiatives to formulate best practices and standards to ensure alignment of care service systems to the health needs of the growing group of aging individuals with CI.
Rural communities in the inland areas of Northern Sweden have long suffered from a steady population decline as young people, particularly women, have moved to the growing urban areas for ...education/employment. However, in recent years, alongside strategies for survival relating to tourism/hospitality industry, refugee reception has emerged as a strategy for survival whereby these rural municipalities seek to staunch the downward spiral of decline by accepting refugees in the hope that this will provide not only job opportunities but also support for local services. Using thematic analysis, we focus on media representations of rural refugee reception in small municipalities Northern Sweden and aim to contribute to an understanding of how spatial and social relations are reproduced through these representations; to understand in how ‘the rural’ is constructed in relation to power relations such as race and gender and how these interact with a more explicit spatial power dimension. We are interested in understanding rural refugee reception as a contested hope for the future – a strategy for survival. Our analysis shows that the media highlight the stories of how the municipalities set their hopes on refugee reception to ‘save’ the place not only by bringing in new, younger inhabitants, but also employment opportunities. However, it also shows that refugee reception may become merely a short-term, temporary solution and not something that challenges or changes the more general migratory patterns in Sweden.
•Rural refugee reception as a hope for the future and a narrative of place survival.•Rural refugee reception becomes short-term, temporary solutions.•Rural refugee reception becomes a contested hope for the future.•How relations of power relating to gender and race interact with a spatial power dimension.
In Sweden, several cases of single repeat perpetrators in public spaces have raised public concern. These cases all represent situations in which one individual perpetrator affects a larger group of ...people in a specific time and place. By analysing journalistic reporting of four cities/towns described as "in fear" based on the acts of three separate serial rapists/sexual offenders and one shooter, I intersectionally examine responses and reactions to such specific threat to be able to contribute to a better understanding of how fear of violence affects urban geographical imaginations. These four cases in Sweden (The Haga Man, the Örebro Man, the Hagfors Man, and the Malmö Shooter) involve a consideration of how one specific individual influences narratives of fear and crime as a generalized pattern of gendered and racialized fear of violence in public space. The analysis revealed two different but interdependent stories, one based upon the concern to keep women "safe," and the other dependent upon racist threats and hate crimes.
"City in Fear" Sandberg, Linda
ACME an international e-journal for critical geographies,
2020, Letnik:
19, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In Sweden, several cases of single repeat perpetrators in public spaces have raised public concern. These cases all represent situations in which one individual perpetrator affects a larger group of ...people in a specific time and place. By analysing journalistic reporting of four cities/towns described as "in fear" based on the acts of three separate serial rapists/sexual offenders and one shooter, I intersectionally examine responses and reactions to such specific threat to be able to contribute to a better understanding of how fear of violence affects urban geographical imaginations. These four cases in Sweden (The Haga Man, the Örebro Man, the Hagfors Man, and the Malmö Shooter) involve a consideration of how one specific individual influences narratives of fear and crime as a generalized pattern of gendered and racialized fear of violence in public space. The analysis revealed two different but interdependent stories, one based upon the concern to keep women "safe,"and the other dependent upon racist threats and hate crimes.
Selective replication-competent adenovirus serotype 5 vectors have been used for prostate cancer therapy. Unfortunately, gene transfer is inefficient because hormone-refractory metastatic prostate ...cancer cells have minimal coxsackievirus-adenovirus receptor expression. Vectors based on species B adenoviruses are attractive tools for use in human gene therapy because the viruses have low seroprevalence and they have efficient transduction capacity. Most species B adenoviruses use ubiquitously expressed complement-regulatory CD46 protein as a cellular receptor. Here we report the transduction efficacy and oncolytic capacity of a replication-competent Ad11p (RCAd11p) vector in human prostate cancer cells. Green fluorescent protein was efficiently expressed in a dose-dependent manner in PC-3 and DU 145 cells derived from metastasis of prostate cancer to bone and brain, respectively. However, transduction was less effective in LNCaP cells derived from prostate cancer metastasis to lymph nodes. The oncolytic capacity of the RCAd11p vector was 100 times higher in PC-3 cells than in the two other cell lines. The oncolysis was independent of the level of expression of p53 in the cells or on the absence of E1B55k expression in the vector. In vivo experiments revealed significant growth inhibition of PC-3 tumors in the xenograft mouse group treated with RCAd11p vector or Ad11pwt in comparison with the untreated control group. Thus, we have demonstrated that RCAd11p vector intrinsically possesses oncolytic properties, which were active in targeting tumor cells. Consequently, the novel RCAd11p vector has great potential for the treatment of incurable metastatic prostate disease.
Recent studies indicate that in-hospital exercise can mitigate the risk of functional decline in acutely hospitalized older adults. However, there is a lack of studies that compare different types of ...exercise interventions. This feasibility study was conducted in preparation for a three-armed randomized controlled trial. The aim was to examine the process feasibility (in terms of recruitment and retention rate, intervention compliance and acceptability), and scientific feasibility (in terms of presence of adverse events, and trends with 95% confidence intervals of the outcome measures) of the trial. In the spring 2022, 63 patients met the inclusion criteria and 39 accepted to participate (recruitment rate: 61.9%). COVID-19 affected the inclusion period. A total of 33 participants completed the study (i.e., were assessed at baseline and discharge, retention rate: 84.6%). Participants in the Simple and the Comprehensive exercise programs performed 88.9% and 80% of the possible training sessions, respectively. Both interventions were accepted by the participants and no adverse events were reported. The intervention groups showed a higher median change from admission to discharge than the control group on the Short Physical Performance Battery, the main outcome measure of the trial. The result of this pilot study suggests that the trial design is feasible and potentially useful for preventing functional decline in acutely hospitalized older adults. A full-scale trial will, however, require some considerations with respect to routines and logistics. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, 4 May 2022, registration number NCT05366075.
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