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Background: Air pollution has been linked to breast cancer risk, but previous studies have seldom considered specific exposure windows, like pregnancy. During pregnancy the breast undergoes substantial changes and exposures may have a stronger impact than if they occurred during other time periods. This study aims to identify associations between ambient air pollution exposure during pregnancy and
Old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees provide important habitat structures in boreal forest ecosystems, yet long-term intensive forest management in Sweden has made such trees increasingly rare and difficult to locate across large forest landscapes. Although field-based inventories can identify old trees reliably, they are time-consuming, costly, and spatially limited. This creates a need for
The deep sea is the largest habitat on earth. Its three great faunal environments - the twilight mesopelagic zone, the dark bathypelagic zone and the vast flat expanses of the benthic habitat- are home to a rich fauna of vertebrates and invertebrates. In the mesopelagic zone (150-1000 in), the down-welling daylight creates an extended scene that becomes increasingly dimmer and bluer with depth. Th
Importance: Aortic stiffness, as assessed by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, is an independent predictor of future events in individuals with hypertension. Recent data suggest a predictive role of estimated pulse wave velocity (ePWV) calculated by previously published equations using age and blood pressure in future events in individuals with hypertension. Objective: To investigate whether eP
COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan City in December 2019 and spread throughout Hubei Province and other parts of China. After causing significant morbidity and mortality in China, by February 2020, it had spread to numerous other countries, infecting millions of people and causing a large number of deaths across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic put a burden on almost all areas of the world inc
Aims/hypothesis: Monogenic forms of diabetes (MODY, neonatal diabetes mellitus and syndromic forms) are rare, and affected individuals may be misclassified and treated suboptimally. The prevalence of type 1 diabetes is high in Finnish children but systematic screening for monogenic diabetes has not been conducted. We assessed the prevalence and clinical manifestations of monogenic diabetes in chil
Methane emissions from boreal and arctic wetlands, lakes, and rivers are expected to increase in response to warming and associated permafrost thaw. However, the lack of appropriate land cover datasets for scaling field-measured methane emissions to circumpolar scales has contributed to a large uncertainty for our understanding of present-day and future methane emissions. Here we present the Borea
Dynamic global vegetation models are a common tool to assess the effect of climate and land use change on vegetation. Though most applications of dynamic global vegetation models use plant functional types, some also simulate species occurrences. While the current development aims to include more processes, e.g. the nitrogen cycle, the models still typically assume an ample seed supply allowing al
Large herbivores can control plant community composition and, under certain conditions, even induce vegetation shifts to alternative ecosystem states. As different plant assemblages maintain contrasting carbon (C) cycling patterns, herbivores have the potential to alter C sequestration at regional scales. Their influence is of particular interest in the Arctic tundra, where a large share of the wo
BACKGROUND: Following the economic crisis in Greece in 2010, the country's ongoing austerity measures include a substantial contraction of health-care expenditure, with reports of subsequent negative health consequences. A comprehensive evaluation of mortality and morbidity is required to understand the current challenges of public health in Greece.METHODS: We used the results of the Global Burden
Reliable quantification of the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), including that of their trends and uncertainties, is essential to monitoring the progress in mitigating anthropogenic emissions under the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. This study provides a consolidated synthesis of estimates for all anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks of CO2 for the European Un
Background: Estrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ) and the cooperating protein GATA-binding factor 3 (GATA3) have been implicated in bladder carcinogenesis and tumour progression. GATA3 and ER have been functionally linked in the establishment of luminal fate in breast tissue, but to date their relationship in bladder cancer has not been established. This information will be useful to advan
Nuclear technology and the use of radiation sources have been extensively adopted in the modern world. Despite that, a number of radiological accidents, significantly affecting population and the environment, has happened. Few of the most known are accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants. As a result, significant areas are still contaminated with some residential areas evacuated.
The movement and distribution of ecologically important herbivores such as elephants are of great significance to conservation biologist seeking to understand the fundamental triggers that influence their mobility and the extent to which these parameters affect how they utilize their immediate and surrounding resources. The recent advancement in animal tracking technology coupled with the availabi
Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure encryption key generation process to be used by two users in the presence of an eavesdropper. The no-cloning theorem allows the sender "Alice" to securely send qubits with single photons to the receiver "Bob". However, due to real-life imperfections, it is not always possible to have a single-photon source with its properties matching Since the dawn of the first civilizations, the security of information has proven vital to the success of any given community. History records the first attempts at using cryptography techniques in a 1900 BC to 600 BC time frame. In ancient times, the working mechanism of this technique involved the use of letters in the alphabet. To secure the information, these techniques shifted the letters’ nu
Inom bygg- och anläggningsbranschen är det ett välkänt problem att entreprenadprojekt ofta drabbas av tvister. För att få bukt med problemet med tvister som hämmar projekten finns det i de allmänt använda standardavtalen tvistelösningsklausuler som föreskriver andra tvistelösningsmetoder än de två konventionella sätten skiljeförfarande och allmän domstol. Uppsatsen syftar till att jämföra två av dIn today’s construction industry, it is a well-known problem that construction projects are often troubled by disputes. In order to overcome the problem of disputes that hamper project, the regularly used standard form of contracts include dispute settlement clauses that provide alternative dispute settlement methods other than the two traditional one’s arbitration and court procedure. The focus o
Saltmarshes are areas of coastal grassland that are regularly flooded by seawater. They support a large number of resident and migratory bird species, both overwintering and breeding. The Mersey Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is situated in North West England and it supports nationally significant numbers of overwintering wildfowl and waders. Decline of three overwintering bird
År 2015 antog FN:s länder en agenda för hållbar utveckling som idag kallas för Agenda 2030. Agendan omfattar 17 globala mål samt 169 delmål som skapades för att världen över kunna uppnå en ekonomisk, social samt ekologisk hållbarhet. Dessa mål bygger på millenniemålen där syftet är att slutföra det som inte uppnåddes. Begreppet hållbarhet kan definieras på olika sätt och kan därmed uppfattas olikaIn 2015, the UN countries adopted an agenda for sustainable development, it is today called the 2030 Agenda. The agenda includes 17 global goals and 169 targets that were created to achieve economic, social and ecological sustainability worldwide. These goals are based on the Millennium Development Goals, the purpose of which is to complete what was not achieved. The concept of sustainability can
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that plays a major role in climate change. Significant uncertainty exists in the estimates of emissions from natural methane sources. This uncertainty in data is one of the primary scientific challenges in climate model. Geological seepage considered as the second largest natural source of methane after wetlands and today is recognized as a major contributor to a
Intradialytic hypotension (IDH) is a major drawback of haemodialysis and occurs in more than every fifth dialysis treatment. There is a need for real-time measurement, with an ability to detect IDH before it occurs. Photoplethysmography (PPG) may provide sufficient information about hemodynamic status to prevent IDH. In particular, the venous component may be useful. This thesis aims to investiga
