Publikationer från Uppsala Universitet
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Assessing serum and biopsy biomarkers for predicting allergic asthma severity : a comprehensive study
No full textBACKGROUND: Allergic asthma is a chronic respiratory condition characterized by inflammation and constriction of the airways in response to specific allergens. This study aimed to assess serum and biopsy biomarkers to predict the severity of allergic asthma. METHODS: A total of 18 allergic asthma patients and 15 healthy controls (HCs) were included from April to August 2021 in Par hospital, Erbil-Iraq. The blood and bronchial biopsy were taken, the serum biopsy marker were assessed via ELISA and immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods. RESULTS: It was showed no significant difference in age between allergic asthma patients and HCs (p = 0.285), although patients with allergic asthma had a significantly higher BMI (p = 0.028). Allergic asthma patients exhibited significantly elevated levels of serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23), and fibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF-18) compared to HCs (p < 0.0001). IHC analysis revealed significantly higher levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) positive cells, activated eosinophils (EG2) positive cells, mast cells, FGF-18 positive cells, and FGF-23 positive cells in bronchial biopsy samples from allergic asthma patients compared to HCs (p < 0.0001). Additionally, serum FGF-18, EG2 positive cells, and FGF-18 positive cells were negatively correlated with lung function (FEV1/FVC), while asthma score showed a significant positive correlation with these markers. CONCLUSION: Serum FGF-18, EG2 positive cells, and FGF-18 positive cells are promising biomarkers that can predict improvements in the FEV1/FVC ratio and reductions in asthma score, highlighting their potential utility in assessing the severity of allergic asthma and guiding treatment decisions
Sustainable Excavated Soil Management : A Study on Recycling and Challenges in Sweden
No full textThis thesis examines sustainable management of excavated materials within the Swedish construction and civil engineering sector, with a focus on aligning practices with Agenda 2030 and Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Large volumes of excavated soil and rock—referred to as "schaktmassor"—are generated annually, and a significant portion is still landfilled, despite being potentially reusable or recyclable. The aim of the study is to investigate how the handling of these materials can be improved to reduce environmental impact and increase recycling rates. The study was conducted in collaboration with Skanska Industrial Solutions and is based on a combination of literature review, interviews, surveys, field observations, and internal data analysis from a resource park in central Sweden. The results show that while the majority of incoming materials are reused as fill, only a small proportion is refined into new products. Key barriers include irregular supply of quality material, technical limitations in sorting, low demand for recycled products, and insufficient coordination during early project planning stages. Despite these challenges, the study identifies significant potential. With advanced techniques such as wet screening, recycling rates could increase from approximately 24 percent to over 80 percent. Achieving this requires more efficient logistics, improved collaboration between stakeholders, greater market acceptance, and stronger policy and procurement incentives. A more circular approach to excavated material management can thereby reduce climate impact and promote resource efficiency in future construction projects
Leadership expectations in the aspiring workforce
No full textA study of 71 Swedish final-year university students explored their leadership preferences as they transition to the workforce. A three-part survey, including demographics, a modified Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and ranking tasks aligned with six leadership styles, was used to quantify valued traits. Research indicates a favoured leadership approach centred on participative and transformational elements. This core involves establishing visionary goals, demonstrating ethical behaviour, fostering intellectual growth, and promoting collaborative decision-making. This primary style is complemented by a secondary transactional component that includes contingent rewards and clearly defined expectations. Servant leadership elements, specifically self-awareness and active listening, received selective endorsement, while autocratic and laissez-faire behaviours were consistently disfavoured. Modest variations based on gender and education level were observed: women slightly favoured participative behaviours, men showed more tolerance for autonomy, and bachelor’s students valued developmental support more than master’s students. This research contributes to full-range leadership theory by indicating that emerging professionals prefer a blend of leadership styles rather than distinct alternatives, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness as a servant leadership trait. For organisations aiming to attract Generation Z talent, cultivating leaders who co-create tasks, communicate inspiring visions, offer individualised support, and recognise performance without relying on surveillance or strict authority is recommended
Complexity to Clarity : How Early-stage Digital Product Passport (DPP) Ventures Navigate Syntactic and Semantic Boundaries
No full textDigital Product Passports (DPPs) hold promise for advancing circular economy goals by enabling product lifecycle transparency. Yet, effectively communicating these complex technical systems to diverse stakeholders remains a major challenge. Early-stage ventures, often leading DPP development, must translate these systems across varied knowledge levels and institutional logics. This thesis investigates how such ventures make DPPs understandable by navigating syntactic knowledge boundaries (where standardized formats are lacking) and semantic boundaries (where shared meaning is absent), using Carlile’s (2004) boundary-spanning theory. Through qualitative analysis of digital materials from twelve European startups and interviews with ten industry practitioners, the study identifies how startups deploy communication strategies across media and stakeholder contexts. Findings reveal the use of layered strategies addressing both syntactic and semantic gaps. These include standardized terminology, structured schemas, narrative framing, technical metaphors, and ESG-aligned messaging, which are adapted by communication channel, audience, and adoption stage. This research extends boundary-spanning theory by demonstrating that communication design, beyond data infrastructure, drives stakeholder alignment in emerging regulatory environments. Practical implications include recommendations for startups developing communicative frameworks to navigate complex compliance landscapes
Blood-brain barrier injury and neuroinflammation in pre-eclampsia and eclampsia
No full textBackground Cerebral complications of pre-eclampsia are a leading cause of maternal mortality. Better understanding of the pathophysiology may enable the development of novel strategies to protect the maternal brain. We aimed to investigate blood-brain barrier injury and neuroinflammatory pathways in women with eclampsia and pre-eclampsia compared to normotensive pregnancies. Methods This observational cross-sectional study conducted between March 2021 and June 2023, included women with eclampsia, pre-eclampsia, and normotensive pregnancies admitted to Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa who underwent caesarean delivery. Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma samples were collected during caesarean delivery. Blood-brain barrier injury was assessed using immunonephelometry for albumin and ELISA assays for claudin-5 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Neuroinflammatory markers were analysed on the multiplex Bio-Plex Pro Human Cytokine-Screening assay. Data were analysed using parametric methods after log transformation and are presented as fold changes (geometric mean ratios) between groups. Findings The study included 129 women: Eleven had eclampsia, 17 had pre-eclampsia with end-organ complications, 88 had pre-eclampsia without end-organ complications, and 13 with normotensive pregnancies. Women with eclampsia had increased cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of claudin-5 (2.7-fold, 95% CI 1.4-5.1, p = 0.002 vs normotensive control) and MMP-9 (2.5-fold, 95% CI 1.1-5.3, p = 0.024 vs pre-eclampsia with end-organ complications). They also demonstrated increased cerebrospinal fluid cytokine levels compared to normotensive controls, reflecting inflammatory recruitment (Interleukin-8: 7.2-fold, 95% CI 2.7-18.5, p < 0.001), cytotoxicity (Interleukin-6: 20.7-fold, 95% CI 6.4-63.6, p < 0.001), and immune modulation (Interleukin-10: 2.0-fold, 95% CI 1.2-3.1, p = 0.004). Neuroprotective markers were reduced in eclampsia (stem cell factor: 0.5-fold, 95% CI 0.3-0.8, p = 0.005) compared to normotensive controls. There was no correlation between cytokine concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid and plasma. Women with pre-eclampsia showed less pronounced changes indicative of blood-brain barrier injury and immune modulation. Interpretation Eclampsia is associated with blood-brain barrier injury and acute neuroinflammation originating from cerebral tissue, inducing cytotoxicity. This may be an underlying mechanism for seizures and cerebral injury in eclampsia and pre-eclampsia. Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Identifiability of phenotypic adaptation from low-cell-count experiments and a stochastic model
No full textPhenotypic plasticity contributes significantly to treatment failure in many cancers. Despite the increased prevalence of experimental studies that interrogate this phenomenon, there remains a lack of applicable quantitative tools to characterise data, and importantly to distinguish between resistance as a discrete phenotype and a continuous distribution of phenotypes. To address this, we develop a stochastic individual-based model of plastic phenotype adaptation through a continuously-structured phenotype space in low-cell-count proliferation assays. That our model corresponds probabilistically to common partial differential equation models of resistance allows us to formulate a likelihood that captures the intrinsic noise ubiquitous to such experiments. We apply our framework to assess the identifiability of key model parameters in several population-level data collection regimes; in particular, parameters relating to the adaptation velocity and cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Significantly, we find that cell-to-cell heterogeneity is practically non-identifiable from both cell count and proliferation marker data, implying that population-level behaviours may be well characterised by homogeneous ordinary differential equation models. Additionally, we demonstrate that population-level data are insufficient to distinguish resistance as a discrete phenotype from a continuous distribution of phenotypes. Our results inform the design of both future experiments and future quantitative analyses that probe phenotypic plasticity in cancer
Projektledarens nya partner : En kvalitativ studie om AI:s roller och dess påverkan i projektbaserade arbetsprocesser
No full textAs artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance at a rapid pace, its impact on working life is becoming more noticeable - not least within IT project management. The aim of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of the use of AI tools within project processes. This is achieved by examining project managers’ attitudes towards the use of AI in their professional roles. The study also aims to contribute a first step towards identifying and defining the roles that AI can assume within project management. The research is based on seven semi-structured interviews with IT project managers and uses two main frameworks: the three-component model of attitudes and a self-developed four-quadrant framework, which relates AI´s role to project structure and risk level. Building on insights from previous literature, this study identifies and formally defines four distinct AI roles: organizational memory, assistant, monitoring and decision-support. While earlier studies have only indicated these roles, this study offers a framework for their analysis. The findings indicate that project managers' attitudes are closely connected to both the extent and nature of AI use. A positive mindset, technical understanding, and prior experience encourage active use, while limited knowledge, lack of support, or low trust in the technology may hinder adoption. The results show that three of the four roles are present in the practice. The monitoring role was absent in the empirical data, likely due to low trust in AI systems. Furthermore, AI´s role appears to be shaped more by individual and contextual factors than by project structure alone. This study contributes to the research field by filling a knowledge gap regarding the roles AI can take in project management - through identifying, naming and analyzing roles previously implied in the literature.
Search for a heavy charged Higgs boson decaying into a W boson and a Higgs boson in final states with leptons and b-jets in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
No full textThis article presents a search for a heavy charged Higgs boson produced in association with a top quark and a bottom quark, and decaying into a W boson and a 125 GeV Higgs boson h. The search is performed in final states with one charged lepton, missing transverse momentum, and jets using proton-proton collision data at √s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the LHC at CERN. This data set corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 140 fb-1. The search is conducted by examining the reconstructed invariant mass distribution of the Wh candidates for evidence of a localised excess in the charged Higgs boson mass range from 250 GeV to 3 TeV. No significant excess of data over the expected background is observed and 95% confidence-level upper limits between 2.8 pb and 1.2 fb are placed on the production cross-section times branching ratio for charged Higgs bosons decaying into Wh.For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2025)143</p
Characterisation of gas induced catalytic redox states in [FeFe]-hydrogenase I from Clostridium Pasteurianum using FT-IR spectroscopy
No full textThe Ionopause at Mars and Its Correlation With Magnetic Topology and Plasma Pressure
No full textWe utilize Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) observations to investigate the ionopause boundary at Mars, the formation process of which is not yet well described. We focus on the eighth deep dip campaign (DD8), which consists of 50 consecutive orbits, and we develop an automated routine to identify ionopause boundaries in electron density and temperature data. We find ionopause boundaries in 54 out of 100 ionospheric crossings and an average ionopause altitude of 368 km. Having detected the ionopause boundaries, we then examine in detail all the DD8 orbits using complementary observations from several MAVEN instruments. We show examples of two orbits, illustrating how the shapes of the topside ionosphere and ionopause can differ among ionospheric crossings and how the ionopause formation is correlated with changes in magnetic topology and the plasma pressure balance between the ionosphere and the magnetic pile-up region (MPR). We find that 70% of the detected ionopauses are formed where there are changes in magnetic topology, particularly from closed to either open or draped magnetic field lines, and 80% of the boundaries are also formed where the ionospheric plasma pressure becomes equal to the plasma pressure of the MPR. Finally, we confirm that the ionopause boundary is more likely to be formed under high solar wind dynamic pressure conditions