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Background: Growing evidence suggests that pesticide exposure may influence respiratory health, but data in young children are very limited. We examined the association of prenatal pesticide exposure with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) and wheeze at one year of age in children from the Infants' Environmental Health (ISA) study in Costa Rica. Methods: We measured seven pesticide metabol

Introduction: Dystonia-deafness syndrome is a distinct clinical presentation within the dystonia-spectrum. Although several genetic and acquired causes have been reported, etiology remains unknown in the majority of patients. Objectives: To describe two patients with dystonia-deafness syndrome due to a beta-actin gene mutation. Methods: We report on disease course, genetic testing, and management

To contribute to contemporary rural development debates, the present thesis conducts a contextual analysis of rural development using Kenya as a case study from the colonial era to today. To perform the analysis, two critical trends in rural Africa are focused on: socioeconomic differentiation and rural income diversification, with a particular focus on large-scale farm employment. By pointing to

Background and purpose We investigated the clinical applicability of a novel liquid fiducial marker (LFM) for image-guided pencil beam scanned (PBS) proton therapy (PBSPT) of locally advanced lung cancer (LALC). Materials and methods The relative proton stopping power (RSP) of the LFM was calculated and measured. Dose perturbations of the LFM and three solid markers, in a phantom, were measured. P

Background: Many individuals who will experience a first episode of psychosis (FEP) are not detected before occurrence, limiting the effect of preventive interventions. The combination of machine-learning methods and electronic health records (EHRs) could help address this gap. Methods: This case-control development and validation study is based on EHR data from IBM Explorys. The IBM Explorys Plat

Epigenetic modifications triggered by high glucose may predispose to diabetes risk by regulating gene expression activity. A growing body of evidence suggests that histone modification which is an essential component of epigenetic mechanism may play an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its complications. In this thesis, the overarching aim is to map histone modificatio

Information on late onset liver complications after childhood cancer is scarce. To ensure an appropriate follow-up of childhood cancer survivors and reducing late liver complications, the need for comprehensive and accurate information is presented. We evaluate the risk of liver diseases in a large childhood cancer survivor cohort. We included all 1-year survivors of childhood cancer treated in th

Joint Species Distribution Modelling (JSDM) is becoming an increasingly popular statistical method for analysing data in community ecology. Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) is a general and flexible framework for fitting JSDMs. HMSC allows the integration of community ecology data with data on environmental covariates, species traits, phylogenetic relationships and the spatio-t

Writing over a century ago, Darwin hypothesized that vocal expression of emotion dates back to our earliest terrestrial ancestors. If this hypothesis is true, we should expect to find cross-species acoustic universals in emotional vocalizations. Studies suggest that acoustic attributes of aroused vocalizations are shared across many mammalian species, and that humans can use these attributes to in

We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the structure and the lattice dynamics in the complex metallic alloy Mg2Zn 11, by means of neutron and x-ray scattering, as well as ab initio and empirical potential calculations. Mg2Zn11 can be seen as an intermediate step in structural complexity between the simple Laves-phase MgZn2 on one side, and the complex 1/1 approximants and quas

Aggregation of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide into plaques is believed to play a crucial role in Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid plaques consist of fibrils of full length Aβ peptides as well as N-terminally truncated species. β-Site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme (BACE1) cleaves amyloid precursor protein in the first step in Aβ peptide production and is an attractive therapeutic target to limi

Background Risk factors included in the cardiovascular (CHA2DS2‐VASc) score, currently used for atrial fibrillation (AF), may predispose to cardiovascular events whether or not AF is present. The aim was to explore the predictive role of CHA2DS2‐VASc score on cardiovascular outcomes in diabetic patients without AF. Methods We accessed individual data from 610 diabetic patients without AF at baseli

In this work, the effects of Si doping in GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown on GaAs (111)B by molecular beam epitaxy with different Si doping levels (nominal free carrier concentrations of 1 × 1016, 8 × 1016, 1 × 1018 and 5 × 1018 cm-3) are deeply investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GID), photoluminescence (PL

Climate change will alter precipitation patterns with consequences for soil C cycling. An understanding of how fluctuating soil moisture affects microbial processes is therefore critical to predict responses to future global change. We investigated how long-term experimental field drought influences microbial tolerance to lower moisture levels (“resistance”) and ability to recover when rewetted af

Background: The risks of thromboembolic and hemorrhagic events in patients with atrial fibrillation both increase with age; therefore, net clinical benefit analyses of anticoagulant treatments in the elderly population are crucial to guide treatment. We evaluated the 1-year clinical outcomes with non-vitamin-K antagonist and vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs vs VKAs) in elderly (≥75

On Zn-polluted soils, populations of the ectomycorrhizal basidiomycete Suillus bovinus exhibit an elevated Zn tolerance when compared to populations on non-polluted sites. To elucidate the mechanism of Zn tolerance, the time-course of Zn uptake was studied in isolates with contrasting Zn tolerance. Unidirectional fluxes and subcellular compartmentation of Zn were investigated through radiotracer f

Ecosystem responses to changes in species diversity are often studied individually. However, changes in species diversity can simultaneously influence multiple interdependent ecosystem functions. Therefore, an important challenge is to determine when and how changes in species diversity that influence one function will also drive changes in other functions. By providing the underlying structure of

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex disease with widespread physiological insults to the regulation of metabolic homeostasis, above all glycaemic regulation. The pathogenesis of T2D and its progression is broadly understood to be through a gradual decrease in peripheral insulin sensitivity, a compensatory rise in insulin secretion, and a gradual decline in beta-cell function, resulting in glycaemic