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Importance: Circulating levels of neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) are important in the course of brain injury in adults, but longitudinal postnatal circulating levels in preterm infants have not been investigated. Objectives: To examine postnatal longitudinal serum levels of NfL and GFAP in preterm infants during the first 15 weeks of life and to explore possib
Production of agricultural biofuels is expected to rise due to increasing climate change mitigation ambitions. Policy interventions promoting targeted bioenergy solutions can be motivated by the large environmental externalities present in agricultural systems and the local context of biomass production co-benefits. Introducing energy crops in crop rotations in arable land with depleted Soil Organ
Background and aim: To date, few studies have focused on the health effects of pesticide exposure among avocado farmworkers. We examined the association of exposure to insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides with cognitive and mental health outcomes among these avocado workers from Michoacan, Mexico. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 105 avocado farmworkers between Ma
IMPORTANCE Moderate-grade adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) may be treated with full-time bracing. For patients who reject full-time bracing, the effects of alternative, conservative interventions are unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine whether self-mediated physical activity combined with either nighttime bracing (NB) or scoliosis-specific exercise (SSE) is superior to a control of physical activ
Net rhizodeposition corresponds to the portion of living root carbon (C) that remains in the soil after microbial processing and partial decomposition. Although it is assumed that this C input exerts an important role in the formation of soil organic matter (SOM), its contribution to distinct SOM pools is still not fully understood. In this study, we aimed to (i) quantify the retention of net rhiz
There are broad calls in national and international forest policy processes for basing decision-making on the best obtainable scientific knowledge. Simultaneously, there is also a need to accommodate plural values and objectives people and society in general have associated with forests. An essential step for building an evidence base that accommodates pluralistic understandings is to capture info
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays a central role in soil carbon (C) dynamics, serving as both a substrate for microbial decomposers and a source of material stabilised via physical protection in molecular aggregates and associations with mineral particles. It is well established that soil microorganisms play a key role in mineral-associated C aggregates; however, their impacts on molecular aggr
Agricultural intensification and expansion are regarded as main drivers of biodiversity loss. This conclusion is mainly based on observed declines of local diversity (α-diversity), while effects on community composition homogenization (decrease of β-diversity) at a larger spatial scale are less well understood. Carabid beetles and spiders represent two widespread guilds and are important predators
Resource competition between wild pollinators and managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) has the potential to detrimentally impact insect biodiversity as well as wild plant and crop pollination. As honeybees are central place foragers, their competitive impact on wild bees is expected to be structured by hive proximity, in conjunction with foraging decisions related to landscape-level resource availab
Green infrastructure (GI) is increasingly used in policymaking to promote biodiversity and enhance ecosystem services through the protection, creation, restoration and connection of natural and man-made green areas. The EU Commission adopted in 2013, the concept as a strategy. When member states apply the policy, it is translated into specific bureaucratic and political systems, creating different
Very few countries have managed to decouple economic growth from resource use and greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms and at rates to meet the climate targets of the Paris Agreement. To achieve this, technological solutions would need to be combined with sufficiency-oriented policies in a postgrowth context. This paper develops policy ideas for a sustainable welfare–work nexus via citizen e
Organic colloids are an important part of dissolved organic matter (DOM) yet many of their properties remain elusive. The main aims of this study were to assess how the colloidal properties of DOM extracted with water from an organic boreal soil horizon varied with the extraction protocol, and thereby provide insight into the nature of the DOM colloids and develop a mechanistic understanding of ho
Inflammatory processes may provoke epileptic seizures and seizures may promote an immune reaction. Hence, the systemic immune reaction is a tempting diagnostic and prognostic marker in epilepsy. We explored the immune response before and after epileptic and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). Serum samples collected from patients with videoEEG-verified temporal or frontal lobe epilepsy (T
While urbanization provides many opportunities to those arriving in thriving urban areas, a greater number of residents necessitates the expansion of housing and infrastructure. This is often achieved through densification, which can lead to increased noise, particularly through increased road traffic. A key challenge of promoting healthy urban planning is to understand potential health effects, e
Background and Objectives: There is considerable heterogeneity in the association between increasing β-amyloid (Aβ) pathology and early cognitive dysfunction in preclinical Alzheimer disease (AD). At this stage, some individuals show no signs of cognitive dysfunction, while others show clear signs of decline. The factors explaining this heterogeneity are particularly important for understanding pr
Background: Colorectal cancer screening programmes and uptake vary substantially across Europe. We aimed to compare changes over time in colorectal cancer incidence, mortality, and stage distribution in relation to colorectal cancer screening implementation in European countries. Methods: Data from nearly 3·1 million patients with colorectal cancer diagnosed from 2000 onwards (up to 2016 for most
Background: An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture results in an increased risk of developing knee osteoarthritis (OA) at an early age. Before clinical signs become apparent, the OA process has already been initiated. Therefore, it is important to look at the cascade of changes, such as the activity of cytokines and proteases, which might be associated with the later development of OA. Purpos
Uncertainty refers to any limitation in knowledge. Identifying and characterizing uncertainty in conclusions is important to ensure transparency and avoid over or under confidence in scientific assessments. Quantitative expressions of uncertainty are less ambiguous compared to uncertainty expressed qualitatively, or not at all. Subjective probability is an example of a quantitative expression of e
The improvements in GPU hardware, including hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and the push for fully dynamic realistic-looking video games, has been driving more research in the use of ray tracing in real-time applications. The work described in this thesis covers multiple aspects such as optimisations, adapting existing offline methods to real-time constraints, and adding effects which were hard
The ongoing wide-scale introduction of nonnative plants across the world may negatively influence native invertebrate fauna, due to a lack of coevolved traits related to the novel plants, e.g., unique phytochemicals or shifted phenology. Nonnative plants, specifically trees, are common in urban environments, areas that already pose novel habitats to plants and wildlife through a wide array of anth
