Publikationer från Umeå universitet
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NORTHPULSE : Heart and Lung Rehabilitation Centre
No full textThe spaces we inhabit directly shape our well-being, and architecture therefore has both the agency and responsibility to support health, reduce stress and create a sense of community. This project explores how a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation centre can improve long-term recovery through restorative design. The study focuses on Västerbotten County, Sweden, a region characterised by long distances to hospitals from remote areas, an ageing population and an overwhelmed rehabilitation infrastructure. Although Swedish facilities meet clinical standards, they often lack the architectural qualities that aid patients’ recovery. Without specific guidelines focusing on people-centred architecture, tight budgets and narrow regulatory constraints keep perpetuating sterile, impersonal spaces that add to patients’ psychological strain and staff fatigue. Cardiovascular disease is Sweden’s leading cause of death. In Västerbotten County, more than 5 % of residents are affected. To alleviate hospital pressures and costs, authorities promote home-based rehabilitation, yet lack of reliable local infrastructure hinders continuous remote monitoring. A dedicated heart and lung rehabilitation centre in Skellefteå could address these challenges, offering spaces designed to motivate adherence. Four main functions: clinic, inpatient wing, rehabilitation gym and outpatient dining, pivot around a greenhouse promenade that supplies oxygen and daylight to the building. Integrating nature, sunlight, social connection and comfort reduces hospital anxiety and eases the tension associated with treatment. Through reframing architecture as an active component of therapy, this project calls for a shift in policy perspectives that link medical care with restorative environments, making recovery kinder for patients, families and staff alike
Healthcare providers’ perceptions of changes in guidelines for care of minors with gender dysphoria in Sweden : an interview study
No full textBackground: The number of youths seeking care for gender dysphoria has increased globally over the last ten years. In December 2022, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare published an updated knowledge support for the care of minors (children and adolescents) with gender dysphoria. This knowledge support recommends stricter criteria for prescribing puberty blockers and cross-gender hormones to minors, and differs both from previous healthcare practices and from international guidelines. Aim: This study aimed to explore healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the updated knowledge support and its impact on healthcare practices and the care seekers (minors with gender dysphoria). Methods: This qualitative interview study included 11 participants who worked clinically with gender-affirming care of minors (both evaluation and providing medical interventions). The participants came from different regions, different evaluation teams, and different professions. Reflexive thematic analysis was used. Results: While the new knowledge support was partly intended to solve geographical differences, different evaluation teams had implemented the new guidelines differently. New criteria around childhood debut, neuropsychiatric conditions, and hormonal treatment seemed to have partly changed the conditions for the evaluation. The greatest change had been regarding access to puberty blockers and hormonal treatment. Some participants argued for a larger shift towards psychosocial support, while others highlighted the tension between care seekers’ needs and the shrinking opportunities to help based on the new guidelines. Some participants perceived that people lacking in expert knowledge had affected the content of the knowledge support. Conclusions: Differing opinions of the knowledge support were expressed by healthcare providers working with gender-affirming care for minors. Some were pleased with the new guidelines and believed the new knowledge support to be clearer than the old one. Others were more critical, stating that the knowledge support had not taken clinical experience into consideration, was too open to interpretation, and was too restrictive
Exploring the intersection between gaming cultures and sustainability : looking beyond narrow technological utopias
No full textIn this extended abstract, we combine perspectives from sustainability studies, retrogaming cultures, and theories of imaginaries. The purpose is to explore new ways ofthinking about technology to promote environmental sustainability. First, we argue for the need for a contrast to contemporary perspectives where not-yet-existingtechnologies are believed to solve issues such as the climate crisis. Second, we propose that mindsets and practices from gaming cultures can aid us in thinkingdifferently about the relationship between technology and sustainability
A teacher guide for supporting students’ problem solving
No full textThis teacher guide aims to provide guidance for teachers who want to support students’ own mathematical reasoning during mathematical problem solving. First, starting points, purpose, and the overall structure of the guide are formulated. The guide then describes what learning about and through problem solving means, what difficulties students encounter during problem solving, and how teaching can support students’ learning. The second half of the guide presents a framework with specific diagnoses and associated suggestions for feedback for students’ difficulties. The framework is summarized in an overview on the last page of the guide.Undervisning som stödjer elevers kreativa problemlösning i matematik (Skolfi 2019-00038
Manganese-induced production of antioxidant polyene steroids in the extremophile fungus Talaromyces fuscoviridis isolated from copper-mine soil
No full textThe fungus Talaromyces fuscoviridis was isolated from soil collected in a copper-mine tailings basin in Pará State, Brazil, an extreme environment that can induce the production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Extracts and fractions obtained after cultivation were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC–HRMS) and compared using Global Natural Products Social molecular networking (GNPS), which revealed a family of seven putative polyunsaturated steroids. Isolation led to the characterization of two major steroids: the known Ergosta-3(4),5(6),7(8),14(15),22(23)-pentaene (1a) and a previously unreported metabolite, Ergosta-5(6),7(8),14(15),22(23)-tetraen-3-ol (2a). Their structures were elucidated through comprehensive spectroscopic and spectrometric methods (e.g., UV–Vis, NMR, and high-resolution mass spectrometric [HRMS]), with the structure of steroid 2a being unequivocally confirmed by single-crystal x-ray diffraction (SCXRD). Notably, the biosynthesis of these steroids was significantly enhanced when the cultivation medium was supplemented with manganese chloride (MnCl2). Furthermore, the steroids were tested for their in vitro antioxidant activity against the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical using an adapted UHPLC–DAD method, showing over 80% of the scavenging capacity of β-carotene at the lowest tested concentrations
A prospective study of the association between phosphatidylethanol concentration and risk of first-ever venous thromboembolism
No full textBackground: High alcohol intake has many negative health effects, but its association with venous thromboembolism (VTE) is based on self-reported consumption and is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between alcohol consumption measured by the biomarker phosphatidylethanol (PEth) and risk of first-ever VTE. Methods: We conducted a population-based nested case-referent study in northern Sweden. The study is based on the Västerbotten Intervention Programme VIP which includes health examinations and prospective blood sampling. Cases of objectively verified first-ever VTE between 1985 and 2014 were registered. Referents were matched for age, sex, health examination date, geographical area, and sample freeze-thaw cycles. In 2024, PEth concentrations were measured using a liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry method with a limit of quantification of 0.01 μmol/L. Results: The study included 1410 cases with objectively verified VTE and 1410 matched referents. The median age of cases at the health examination was 50.2 years, and 55.2 % of cases were men. We found an association between the highest PEth concentration category (>0.30 μmol/L) and risk of VTE (odds ratio 1.44 [95 % confidence interval 1.05–1.98]) compared to the lowest concentration category (PEth <0.01 μmol/L) in a model adjusted for education level, body mass index, smoking, hypertension, and cancer at inclusion. Conclusions: A high PEth concentration was independently associated with an increased risk of first-ever VTE. Furthermore, the study highlights the benefits of PEth as a biomarker to identify individuals with high alcohol consumption that are at an increased risk of adverse medical outcomes
Does dissolved organic matter composition help explain the concentrations of bioavailable macronutrients in organic matter-rich freshwaters?
No full textDissolved organic matter (DOM) is a major source of macronutrients to freshwaters, yet it has variable and poorly understood bioavailability. Because intrinsic variation in bioavailability is caused by chemical structures of organic nutrients, DOM composition data should improve predictions of bioavailable resource pool sizes. We hypothesized that bioavailable organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fractions are made up of freshly produced humic- and protein-like DOM, respectively, whereas bioavailable phosphorus (P) is linked to microbially-derived DOM with potential organophosphate content and/or to humic-like structures associated with DOM-Fe-phosphate complexes. These hypotheses were tested from surface waters collected at eight, unproductive and organic matter-rich stream and lake sites, from which we performed C, N and P microbial bioassays with flow cytometry in combination with analyses of DOM composition using fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) analysis. Bioavailable C followed the predicted patterns, with strong links to fluorescent features indicating recently produced DOM. Surprisingly, bioavailable N was relatively poorly related to DOM composition, including protein-like fluorescence, and was instead driven mainly by the amount of inorganic N. The bioavailable P showed patterns in support of the hypothesized link to microbially-derived organic components, whereas its relationships to free or complex-bound forms of inorganic phosphate were inconclusive. Thus, the strength of the hypothesized patterns varied. Nonetheless, in addition to the variability in bioavailable nutrient concentrations explained by standard bulk nutrient variables, we show that DOM composition variables made significant and unique contributions to explaining the variance in bioavailable C (19%), N (13%) and P (18%). Therefore, improved regression models for bioavailable nutrient concentrations could be achieved by including DOM composition among the explanatory variables. Overall, DOM composition analysis is a promising tool to improve prediction and develop our understanding of bioavailable macronutrients in organic matter-rich freshwaters
A case of tongue twisting during screening of STN-DBS for Parkinson’s disease : a unique form of pyramidal tract activation
No full textSubthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is a safe and effective therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD) in selected patients. However, various side effects such as paraesthesia, diplopia, ataxia, worsened akinesia, emotional changes, dysarthria, and muscle contractions can occur due to the current spread to the adjacent structures during the STN-DBS programming sessions. Muscle contractions result from the corticospinal and corticobulbar side effects, which can manifest due to the current spread to the pyramidal tract during DBS programming. Here, we report a case of tongue-twisting movement as a unique corticobulbar side effect of the STN-DBS programming in a patient with PD
Heat event risk perception and care adaptation among pregnant women in Nepal : baseline assessment of a longitudinal concurrent cohort
No full textBackground: Heat events have detrimental effects on maternal and neonatal health, increasing the risk for maternal complications, preterm birth, and neonatal mortality. There is an urgent need to explore pregnant women’s heat risk perceptions and adaptive measures. This study uses the Health Belief Model (HBM) to investigate pregnant women’s perception of heat risks and related prevention and mitigation strategies and identifies barriers to the adoption of such behaviours. Methods: Using a concurrent cohort design, a baseline assessment was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 745 pregnant women in a heat prone district in Nepal. The interviews collected socio-demographic information and assessed the five HBM constructs of heat event risk perception using a Likert scale. Heat maps were created to visualise perceptions, and Principal Component Analysis was undertaken to create a nominal scale score for each construct. Crude and adjusted linear regressions were performed to assess associations of socio-demographic characteristics and HBM constructs. Results: Among the pregnant women, 68% perceived dehydration due to heat as a risk to their pregnancy, and 37% perceived sunburn as a risk to foetal health. In terms of perceived benefit, 34% agreed that staying in an air-conditioned environment could reduce their chances of suffering during a heat event. Adjusted linear regression showed that wealthier women perceived higher susceptibility (adj. β = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.21; p < 0.001) and severity (adj.β = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.23; p < 0.001), and reported more barriers (adj. β = 0.16, 95%CI: 0.08, 0.23; p < 0.001). Conversely, urban residents had significantly lower perceived susceptibility (adjusted β = -0.32, 95% CI: -0.41, -0.24; p < 0.001) and severity (adj. β = -0.34, 95%CI: -0.42, -0.25; p < 0.001), fewer barriers (adj. β = -0.34, 95%CI: -0.42,-0.25; p < 0.001) towards heat events, and perceived more benefits (adj. β = 0.31, 95%CI: 0.22, 0.39; p < 0.001) from heat stress prevention and mitigation strategies compared to their rural counterparts. Conclusion: To promote adaptive behaviours in this vulnerable population and strengthen maternal and foetal resilience against the growing threat of heat, we recommend focusing on closing knowledge, availability, and accessibility gaps. Maternal health considerations should be integrated into national climate change adaptation strategies to ensure that pregnant women are prioritised in policies and interventions. Statistics: IBM SPSS statistic software for Windows version 26 and Stata/SE 18.0 were used for this study
Simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during an inner speech task
No full textInner speech, or covert speech, refers to the internal generation of language without overt articulation. Decoding inner speech has significant implications for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), particularly for assistive communication in individuals with speech and motor impairments. To facilitate research in this area, we introduce a publicly available dataset comprising simultaneously recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during inner speech production. Data were collected from three healthy, right-handed participants performing an inner speech task. The task involved silent repetition of visually presented words belonging to either a social or numerical category. The experiment consisted of 40 trials per word, with eight unique words and starts with a fixation period of two seconds. Stimuli were displayed for two seconds at the beginning of each session, followed by a 12-second rest period to allow hemodynamic responses to return to baseline. Participants were instructed to remain still and avoid movements to minimize artifacts. EEG was recorded using a 64-channel MR-compatible cap (BrainCap MR, EasyCap GmbH) at a 5 kHz sampling rate. Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals were simultaneously acquired using an additional electrode placed on the trapezius muscle to facilitate cardioballistic artifact correction. Gradient and cardioballistic artifacts were corrected using BrainVision Analyzer software. Functional MRI data were acquired using a 3T scanner with a 48-channel headcoil, and an echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence optimized for whole-brain coverage. The repetition time (TR) was 2 s. High-resolution anatomical T1-weighted images were also acquired for structural reference. The dataset is publicly available in the OpenNeuro repository. The aim of this dataset is to provide a resource for studying inner speech processing, multimodal neuroimaging, EEG-fMRI fusion techniques, and BCI-driven speech prosthesis development