(1) Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), in which a rupture of atherosclerotic plaques and oxidative stress play a role in the initiation and progression of the disorder. Circulating levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO), as an oxidative stress marker, as well as matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), as a destabilizer of plaques, are known to

Objective: The mechanisms and metabolomic profile underlying early vascular ageing have not been explored in the general population. We aimed to investigate the plasma metabolomic profile in aortic stiffness (vascular ageing) and associated risk of incident cardiovascular disease and mortality in the general population.Design and method: We analysed 108 metabolites in plasma of 5172 individuals fr

Background: There is considerable evidence for the importance of the DNA methylome in metabolic health, for example, a robust methylation signature has been associated with body mass index (BMI). However, visceral fat (VF) mass accumulation is a greater risk factor for metabolic disease than BMI alone. In this study, we dissect the subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) methylome signature relevant to

Background: Accumulation of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in the liver is known to induce hepatic steatosis and inflammation causing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Although SFAs have been shown to affect the epigenome in whole blood, pancreatic islets, and adipose tissue in humans, and genome-wide DNA methylation studies have linked epigenetic ch

Background: Family risks for urinary tract cancers (excluding kidney cancers) are known, but less is known about whether rare urinary tract cancer subtypes are also familial and if urinary tract cancers share familial risk for other (discordant) cancers. Objective: To investigate the impact of family history on urinary tract cancers (International Classification of Diseases version 7 code 181) and

Rationale: Proinflammatory cytokines have been identified as potential targets for lowering vascular risk. Experimental evidence and Mendelian randomization suggest a role of MCP-1 (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) in atherosclerosis and stroke. However, data from large-scale observational studies are lacking. Objective: To determine whether circulating levels of MCP-1 are associated with risk

Background: The efficacy of cervical cancer screening programs is dependent on the participation rate. To increase participation among women not attending cervical cancer screening, self-collected samples for detection of high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) may be an option. The aims of this study were: to investigate the response rate to sending a self-collected vaginal sample for hr-HPV mRNA

Background: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) activity has been shown to predict calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS) outcomes. Our objective was to test the association between plasma Lp-PLA2 activity and genetically elevated Lp-PLA2 mass/activity with CAVS in humans. Methods and results: Lp-PLA2 activity was measured in 890 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, including 476 pati

For effective clinical management of patients being treated with 223Ra, there is a need for radiographic response biomarkers to minimize disease progression and to stratify patients for subsequent treatment options. The objective of this study was to evaluate an automated bone scan index (aBSI) as a quantitative assessment of bone scans for radiographic response in patients with metastatic castrat

Germline mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 predispose individuals to a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and elevated risk of other cancers, including those of the pancreas and prostate. BRCA2 mutation carriers may have increased risk of uveal melanoma (UM) and cutaneous melanoma (CM), but associations with these cancers in BRCA1 mutation carriers have been mixed. Here, we further assessed whethe

Today, there are increased expectations that welfare employees should conduct service innovative improvements that enable more effective ways to meet the needs of children.In this study we use the definition of ‘service innovation’ as a way to change the value-adding process of the user so that it becomes better for the end-user than it was before, such as easier to handle things or situations. In

Aim: Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) quantify various domains of health related quality of life (HRQOL) from the patient perspective. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate patient reported outcomes (PROs) in patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P). Method: PROs were investigated in the CL/P population with PROMs and interviews. Health care professional (HCP) experience o

Background: Few studies have investigated the effect of hydration status on appetite for food in healthy adults. Prior work suggests hydration status does not alter appetite or energy intake, with mixed findings regarding appetite hormone secretion. However, an extensive investigation into both the psychological and physiological appetitive responses to hydration status has never been conducted. O

In this paper we answer the call for a micro-level perspective on regional economic change, in peripheral regions in particular. Using an in-depth and comparative case study approach, we investigate how agency shapes regional development paths, and how agency is in turn shaped by local context. The performance of a single labor market often hides the very different strategies taken by decision-mak

The project How to think about a place not yet concerns the mechanisms and attitudes adopted by the professional designer in an urban design process – i.e. how intuitive and affective response in a design process delimit the range of plausible designs. The affordances of the environment are suited to the particular acting space of an individual and communicate the possibilities and capacities for

After the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, significant policy and scientific attention has been given to ‘green growth’, which aims at the concurrent achievement of economic growth and GHG emissions reductions via de-coupling. Despite ambitious aims, there is a lack of empirical knowledge about the effects and the potential of green growth climate mitigation policies.This thesis aims at providin

Objective To explore genetic and lifestyle risk factors of MRI-defined brain infarcts (BI) in large population-based cohorts. Methods We performed meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and examined associations of vascular risk factors and their genetic risk scores (GRS) with MRI-defined BI and a subset of BI, namely, small subcortical BI (SSBI), in 18 population-based cohorts (n