Publikationer från Uppsala Universitet
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The use of testicular organoids in advancing future treatments for male factor infertility
No full textTesticular organoids represent advanced in vitro platforms designed to recapitulate the complex structural and functional aspects of testicular tissues. Over the past decade, various methodologies employing hydrogels, extracellular matrices, microfluidics, and advanced culture conditions have been developed with the aim to generate robust organoid systems for the testis. These platforms have emerged as promising tools to study spermatogenesis, hormone regulation, reproductive toxicology, and infection dynamics. Despite considerable progress, significant hurdles remain regarding the precise replication and efficiency of spermatogenic processes, long-term viability, and the clinical translation of organoid technologies. This review aimed to summarize the current state-of-the-art testicular organoids culture techniques; outline species-specific advancements; evaluate their clinical potential, in areas such as fertility preservation strategies, regenerative medicine, and personalized therapeutic interventions; and discuss current limitations and strategies for refinement
The Biopolitics of Sexual Consent in Lydia Maria Child's Reform Fiction
No full textLucia Hodgson contrasts two seduction stories by Lydia Maria Child: “The Quadroons” (1842), an anti-slavery story that features a Black heroine, and “Rosenglory” (1846), an anti-prostitution story which features a white heroine. Hodgson asserts that while Child sought to bring to light “the oppressive circumstances that drove enslaved and poor girls to consent to illicit sexual activity,” Child also “developed biological explanations for why her heroines were susceptible to seduction.” These explanations racialized the capacity to withhold sexual consent outside the bounds of marriage. In Child’s stories, Black girls inherit an inability to control their sexual impulses or resist sexual overtures. White girls are born sexually innocent with a strong biological capacity to withhold sexual consent, but exposure to illicit sex and illicit relations erodes that capacity. As a result, Black girls and sexually experienced white girls are presented as incapable of being sexually violated and well-suited to sexual exploitation. Hodgson argues that Child’s anti-seduction stories limited later reforms in seduction law
Association between asthma and type 2 diabetes in a Swedish adult population : a register-based cross-sectional study
No full textOBJECTIVE: Asthma and type 2 diabetes are two important causes of morbidity globally. We examined both the association of type 2 diabetes with asthma in Swedish adults and the familial co-aggregation of the diseases. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of all adults aged 25-85 in Sweden between 2009 and 2013. Asthma and type 2 diabetes status were ascertained from the health registers. Models were adjusted for sex, age, education level, income and country of birth and in a subset, for body mass index (BMI). We further conducted a familial coaggregation analysis to determine if shared familial factors could explain any observed findings. RESULTS: The study included 5 299 245 participants, 25 292 (0.5%) had both asthma and type 2 diabetes. In the total population, the OR for the association between type 2 diabetes and asthma was 1.47 (95% CI 1.45 to 1.49); in the population of men (1.30 (95% CI 1.27 to 1.32)) and women (1.63 (95% CI 1.60 to 1.66)). The ORs were slightly higher among men (1.51 (95% CI 1.45 to 1.56)) and women (2.04 (95% CI 1.96 to 2.11)) for whom BMI measurements were available but attenuated with adjustment for BMI (1.45 (95% CI 1.40 to 1.51)) and (1.76 (95% CI 1.68 to 1.84)). Diabetes was more likely if a full sibling had asthma than if the sibling did not (1.13 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.15)). CONCLUSIONS: We found an association between asthma and type 2 diabetes that was sustained after adjusting for BMI, indicating that BMI alone does not explain this relationship. We also found that the two conditions coaggregate in siblings, indicating that the association is partly due to shared familial genetic and environmental risk factors
Optimizing amorphous multidrug formulations : A particle engineering approach through spray drying
No full textDespite advances in the field of multidrug formulations, developing and manufacturing them still poses substantial challenges, particularly for drugs with low aqueous solubility. Here, this critical issue was addressed by engineering amorphous multidrug formulations with optimized performance at the site of absorption using the spray drying technique. Formulations containing atazanavir and ritonavir, alone or in combination, were produced by spray drying. Excipient content in aqueous solution was optimized to generate a stable feed suspension of amorphous particles with controlled particle size. The powder formulations were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermal analysis, laser diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The drug content was assayed, and a dissolution study was performed. Dynamic light scattering was used to measure particle size of the colloidal phase in the feed suspension and after dissolution of powder. A stability study was conducted at 25 °C/60 % RH and 40 °C/75 % RH condition for 4 weeks. DSC and PXRD confirmed the formulations to be amorphous. Drug content in the spray-dried formulations ranged from 98 to 108 %. Laser diffraction measured the particles to be from 5–10 µm and SEM showed they had wrinkled and irregularly shaped surfaces. The particle size of the colloidal phase formed upon dissolution of combination formulation was stable at 900 nm over 120 min. The formulations remained amorphous under both studied conditions throughout the stability study period. These findings highlight the potential of particle engineering, where a mechanistically informed selection of excipients is combined with an appropriate spray-drying process, to achieve highly stable and robust amorphous multidrug formulations —critical for ensuring effective drug performance and patient treatment
The persona of the physician in the early German Enlightenment : An analysis of the mediation of epistemic strategies in medical textbooks and advice literature
No full textThis article uses medical textbooks and advice literature to analyze the persona of the physician in the early German Enlightenment. The article pursues three lines of argument. First, it uses medical textbooks to situate the physician in the context of early modern observational life, focusing in particular on epistemic virtues, techniques, and technologies for conducting and documenting observations. Second, it introduces the concept of epistemic advantage to analyze the ways in which medical advice literature – ranging from ideal accounts of the political physician to satirical portrayals of the Machiavellian physician – mediated strategies for using medical knowledge to shape people’s conceptions of disease as well as of the physician as a medical authority. Third, it launches the concept epistemic contestation to capture situations of distrust and dispute, in which the physician’s authority was challenged both by patients and by other medical practitioners. Such mediation of epistemic virtues, techniques, technologies, and strategies in medical textbooks and advice literature must be understood in relation to an emerging media landscape that fundamentally affected the conditions for cultivating and performing a medical persona. By adopting this comprehensive approach to medical personhood, the article appeals to readers interested in early modern and Enlightenment medicine as well as those concerned with the broader intersections of medical persona, authority, power, and knowledge
Introducing internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for problematic alcohol use within an employee assistance program : perspectives of employees, employers and assessment psychologists
No full textBackground: Employee assistance programs (EAP's) are resources where employers can receive help when encountering substance abuse among their employees. Such help often entails in-person counselling delivered within the EAP. Internet-delivered cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT), shown to have a robust evidence base and currently being implemented in various health care settings, could potentially serve as an alternative to in-person counselling in EAP's. However, until now, no studies have investigated ICBT in an EAP context. Methods: The present qualitative study examined experiences of therapist-guided ICBT for employees with problematic alcohol use delivered within an EAP in Sweden. Interviews were conducted with the employees receiving the ICBT (n = 7), with each employee's employer representative (n = 6), and with psychologists (n = 3) involved in the recruitment and referral of employees to ICBT. The interviews were analyzed for each of these three categories (employees, employer representatives, psychologists) using thematic analysis. Results: Most employees found ICBT useful and reported that their awareness of the negative consequences of excessive drinking had increased during treatment, in parallel with acquisition of tools to reduce their alcohol consumption. Perceived advantages included ICBT anonymity and flexibility, as well as the therapist guidance provided. Although employer representatives expressed some initial skepticism towards using the online delivery format to address alcohol problems, they mainly found ICBT beneficial. The psychologists appeared hesitant to recruit employees to ICBT as they either deemed alcohol problems of employees to be too severe for ICBT or stated that employees had psychiatric comorbidity leading to more complex needs. Conclusions: ICBT for problematic alcohol use appeared beneficial for employees when delivered within an EAP. However, there was initial skepticism among employer representatives and psychologists were hesitant to recommend ICBT
Should we offer oat drink? : Exploring availability and positioning as strategies to reduce milk consumption at a self-service lunch restaurant
No full textDairy products are the second greatest contributor to the environmental burden of food in Europe, surpassed only by meat. The objective of this field study was to explore availability and positioning as strategies to promote thesubstitution of milk for a plant-based alternative on the coffee counter of a weekday self-service restaurant. Data on consumption of milk and oat drink of 6147 meals were collected in four different conditions: only milk(control), only oat drink, both beverages on both sides, both beverages on different sides of the coffee counter. Results show a 38 % decrease in milk consumption per paying customer on days when both beverages were available compared to control, leading to an estimated 32 % decrease in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Contrary to hypothesized, the total volume of beverages was 12 % lower on days when both milk and oat drink were served compared to control days, causing a 9 % decrease in total costs. The ratio of milk by oat drink was also 21 % lower when each beverage was served on different sides of the counter compared to when both were served on both sides. Our study suggests that serving a plant-based alternative and creating small barriers to milk are promising strategies to reduce GHGE in day-to-day gastronomic venues.PAN SWEDEN, plant-based proteins for health and well-bein
Historic Urban Landscapes and Heritage Systems as the Basis for Sustainable Urban Development
No full textSince the 1970s, the understanding of cultural heritage (CH) has expanded from a focus on monumental conservation to a systemic, socially constructed concept shaped by communities and dynamic values. While recognized as a resource for sustainable development, CH remains marginal in global policy agendas, notably in the UN's 2030 Agenda. This paper explores how the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach and broader heritage systems can function as enablers of sustainable urban development, moving beyond heritage-as-object to heritage-as-process. It synthesizes conceptual advances, policy frameworks, and empirical cases-such as Capitals of Culture programs, adaptive reuse initiatives, and circular economy models-to analyze how heritage systems contribute to environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Drawing on a value-based and people-centered framework, the paper identifies key principles, models, and success factors for integrating CH into urban planning. Case studies from Europe and Asia illustrate the potential of heritage to foster inclusive governance, community resilience, and innovation, while also exposing challenges such as institutional fragmentation, gentrification, and policy-practice gaps. The findings highlight the need for holistic, cross-sectoral, and participatory strategies to embed CH meaningfully in urban transformation processes, offering concrete insights for advancing heritage-led sustainable development through the lens of systems thinking
Nebular Spectra of Kilonovae with Detailed Recombination Rates : I. Light r-process Composition
No full textTo investigate spectra of kilonovae in the nonlocal thermal equilibrium phase (t ≳ 1 week), we perform atomic calculations for dielectronic recombination (DR) rates for the light r-process elements Se (Z = 34), Rb (Z = 37), Sr (Z = 38), Y (Z = 39), and Zr (Z = 40) using the HULLAC code. For the different elements, our results for the DR rate coefficients for recombining from the ionization states of II to I, III to II, and IV to III vary between 2 × 10−12–5 × 10−11 cm3 s−1, 10−13–5 × 10−11 cm3 s−1, and 2 × 10−15–10−11 cm3 s−1, respectively, at a temperature of T = 10,000 K. Using this new atomic data (DR), we study the impact on kilonova model spectra at phases of t = 10 days and t = 25 days after the merger using the spectral synthesis code SUMO. Compared to models using the previous treatment of recombination as a constant rate, the new models show significant changes in ionization and temperature, and, correspondingly, in emergent spectra. With the new rates, we find that Zr (Z = 40) plays a yet more dominant role in kilonova spectra for light r-process compositions. Furthermore, we show that previously predicted mid-infrared (e.g., [Se III] 4.55 μm) and optical (e.g., Rb I 7802, 7949 Å) lines weaken in the new model. Instead, [Se I] 5.03 μm emerges as a signature. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the detailed microphysics for modelling and interpreting the late-time kilonova spectra
A Global Map of Average Electron Densities in the Magnetosphere of Saturn
No full textMeasurements from the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) experiment obtained during the entire orbital phase of the Cassini mission around Saturn (13.2 years) are processed into a meridional map of plasma densities, comprising the innermost region of the ring ionosphere, the Enceladus plasma torus, and the outer magnetosphere, up to a dipole L-shell of 30. We combine data from RPWS wave observations, such as whistler-mode waves and upper hybrid electrostatic emissions, and from the RPWS Langmuir probe when operated in the proxy mode, providing an estimate for the spacecraft potential. In the region between dipole L-shells of 2.4 and 30, observed electron densities are described by an analytic model that fits two functions, one for the water group ions and one for the protons, to observed densities across latitude on each magnetic field line. The derived electron density profiles are then augmented by a model for the cold core electron temperature as a function of L-shell to obtain a meridional map of the electrostatic potential of the ambipolar electric field. The potential is extrapolated to the inner region of the rings, i.e., to below L=2.4 , to solve for the distribution of electron density in the ring ionosphere. A solution is based on a diffusive equilibrium model for the electrons and two ion species, and on observations from Cassini along the Saturn Orbit Insertion trajectory. A combination of analytic and diffusive equilibrium results finally yields an average global picture for the distribution of electron density in Saturn's magnetosphere