Publikationer från Uppsala Universitet
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An "obliging and knowledgeable man" : Northern Swedish priests in scientific communities during the late 18th century
No full textThis thesis explores how parish priests in northern Sweden communicated with and took part in national and international scientific communities during the late 18th century, and how this affected the communication of knowledge between northern Sweden and scientific centres like Stockholm and Uppsala. The thesis analyses both distant and in person meetings between the parish priests and metropolitan scientists through letters and travelogues written by scientific travellers. It uses the concept of “communities of practice” to explore how diverse people could fit inside the scientific community’s fluid boundaries simply by performing the same practices, as well as how those fluid boundaries could be used by members of the community to both include and exclude different people from it. The source material shows that the parish priests often formed patron-klient relations with their correspondents in scientific centres, where they exchanged observations and items for both practical aid, for example in the form of promotions, and scientific status. The travelogues also show that the priests often met and aided travellers, even though those types of meetings did not develop into patron-client relations like the correspondence. The priests could act as stationary go-betweens and use their local knowledge to gain access to parts of the scientific community that they would otherwise not have access to. Thus their peripheral geographic location both hindered from and helped them to take part in the scientific community. At the same time, metropolitan scientists often had an ambivalent attitude towards the priests. They sought contact in order to obtain information of and items from isolated locations, but did not always see the priests as fellow scientists, and thus mistrusted their scientific abilities. This is not to say they tarred all of the priests with the same brush; this perception was often highly individual both to the metropolitan scientist and to the priest, and seems to have depended at least partly on the priest’s social status.Denna uppsats undersöker hur norrländska sockenpräster kommunicerade med och deltog i nationella och internationella vetenskapliga gemenskaper under det sena 1700-talet, samt hur detta påverkade kunskapsförmedlingen mellan norra Sverige och vetenskapliga centrum som Stockholm och Uppsala. Uppsatsen analyserar både personliga möten och kontakter på distans mellan sockenprästerna och mer etablerade vetenskapsmän från olika städer genom att använda sig av brev och reseberättelser som källmaterial. Den använder konceptet kring “praxisgemenskaper” för att undersöka den vetenskapliga gemenskapens diffusa gränser, hur olika personer kunde ingå i denna gemenskap genom att använda samma praxis, samt hur dessa diffusa gränser kunde användas av medlemmar i den vetenskapliga gemenskapen för att både inkludera och exkludera andra från gemenskapen. Källmaterialet visar att sockenprästerna ofta utvecklade klientrelationer med deras korrespondenter i vetenskapliga centrum, genom vilka de bytte observationer och naturalier mot praktisk hjälp med att exempelvis få befordringar eller vetenskaplig status. Reseberättelserna visar också att prästerna mötte och hjälpte vetenskapliga resenärer, även om dessa möten oftast inte utvecklades till klientrelationer. Prästerna kunde agera som stationära mellanhänder och använda sin lokala kunskap för att få tillgång till olika delar av den vetenskapliga gemenskapen de annars inte skulle ha haft tillgång till. Deras geografiska position kunde därmed både hindra dem från och hjälpa dem att delta i den vetenskapliga gemenskapen. De etablerade vetenskapsmännen i vetenskapliga centrum hade dock ofta en ambivalent attityd gentemot prästerna. De sökte kontakt för att få tillgång till prästernas lokala information och naturalier, samtidigt som de inte alltid såg prästerna som vetenskapsmän av samma dignitet som dem själva och inte litade på prästernas vetenskapliga kompetens. Detta var dock inte en generell eller likvärdig misstro, utan berodde mycket på den individuella prästen och vetenskapsmannen. Hur en präst uppfattades av andra vetenskapsmän verkar också delvis ha berott på hans sociala status
Sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av palliativ vård : En litteraturöversikt
No full textIntroduction: Approximately 90,000 individuals die annually in Sweden, with 80 % requiring palliative care. Palliative care aims to alleviate suffering and improve the quality of life for individuals with incurable illness. It is divided into early and late phases, with the later focusing on symptom relief. The care should follow a holistic approach, addressing physical, psychological, social and existential needs. Key components include the four cornerstones of palliative care, guidelines from National Board of Health and Welfare, and relevant legislation. The healthcare system plays a crucial role in promoting a good death for these patients . Aim: To explore nurses experiences of palliative care. Method: A descriptive design was used in this qualitative literature review. Ten scientific articles published between 2016 and 2025 were included. The literature search was conducted in the databases Pubmed and CINAHL. Data were analyzed through a systematic process to develop categories. Result: Six main categories emerged; varying experiences of symptom relief, mixed experiences of emotional and existential support, person-centered care as a basis for quality nursing, experience of providing family support, nurses experiences of the significance of the physical environment and nurses experiences of structural barriers. Conclusion: The findings show that palliative care requires a holistic perspective to promote person-centered care and good death. There are clear guidelines and a willingness among nurses to enable good palliative care. At the same time, there are obstacles that make it difficult to achieve this in practice. Introduktion: Drygt 90 000 personer avlider årligen i Sverige. 80 % av dessa är i behov av palliativ vård. Palliativ vård definieras som hälso- och sjukvård med fokus att minska lidande och öka livskvaliteten hos personer med en obotlig sjukdom och delas upp i en tidig och sen fas. I den sena palliativa fasen ligger fokus på symtomlindring. Vården bör vila på ett helhetsperspektiv där fysiska, psykiska, sociala och existentiella behov ska beaktas. Den palliativa vårdens centrala delar innefattar de fyra hörnstenarna, socialstyrelsens riktlinjer och lagstiftning. Hälso- och sjukvården har en central roll att främja en god död för patienter som vårdas palliativt. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av palliativ vård. Metod: Studien har en deskriptiv design och genomfördes som en litteraturöversikt med kvalitativ ansats. Tio vetenskapliga artiklar publicerade mellan 2016-2025 inkluderades. Sökningarna gjordes i databaserna PubMed och CINAHL. Resultatet analyseras genom en systematisk process för att ta fram kategorier. Resultat: Sex kategorier identifierades; Symtomlindring upplevs på olika sätt, blandade erfarenhet av emotionellt och existentiellt stöd, personcentrerad vård ger god omvårdnad, sjuksköterskans erfarenheter av att ge familjestöd, Sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av den fysiska miljöns betydelse och sjuksköterskan erfarenheter av strukturella hinder. Slutsats: Litteraturöversikten visar att palliativ vård kräver ett helhetsperspektiv för att främja en personcentrerad vård och en god död. Det finns både tydliga riktlinjer och en vilja hos sjuksköterskan att möjliggöra en god palliativ. Samtidigt finns hinder som försvårar möjligheten att uppnå detta i praktiken
On the road to blood biomarkers in myasthenia gravis (MG) : Beyond clinical scales
No full textMyasthenia Gravis (MG) is a heterogeneous neuromuscular autoimmune disorder characterized by fluctuating skeletal muscle weakness and a highly variable disease course. MG subgroups are defined by antibody type, age at onset, clinical phenotype, and thymus pathology. Given the unpredictable disease course, disease-specific objective biomarkers are needed to enable personalized treatment strategies and improve clinical trial outcomes beyond conventional clinical scales. Biomarkers are measurable indicators of physiological processes, disease states, and therapy responses. Despite significant advances in MG diagnostics and therapeutics, predictive biomarkers for personalized treatment remain underdeveloped. This review explores the progress and challenges in identifying blood-based biomarkers for MG, highlighting their potential applications in diagnosis and disease monitoring. Established diagnostic blood biomarkers include autoantibodies against acetylcholine receptors (AChR) and muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK), which confirm MG diagnosis and guide initial treatment decisions. Prognostic biomarkers, such as microRNAs (miR-150-5p and miR-30e-5p), show promise in predicting disease progression. Pharmacodynamic biomarkers, including CD20+ B cell counts, may enhance treatment precision for therapies like Rituximab. Furthermore, emerging research on metabolites, T and B-cell markers, complement factors, and proteomics offer new avenues to refine MG subtyping and identify molecular signatures predictive of treatment response to novel immunosuppressants. While the journey toward clinically useful blood biomarkers in MG remains complex, ongoing collaborative efforts within the MG research community hold the potential to revolutionize disease management. Future studies integrating multi-omics approaches, large-scale longitudinal cohorts, and disease controls will be critical to translating these biomarkers from research into routine clinical practice
Insulin-regulated aminopeptidase inhibitor C9 restores cellular activity in methadone-damaged primary cell cultures
No full textInsulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) is emerging as a pharmaceutical target for treatment of neurotoxic- and neurodegenerative symptoms commonly seen in cognitive impairments. Ligands of IRAP, such as Angiotensin IV and similar analogues, bind to the active site of IRAP and causes an inhibition of its enzymatic activity, which is suggested to improve cognitive functions. Opioids are widely used in the clinic to treat for example pain and opioid use disorder, however opioid use have been associated with cognitive impairments, impaired neuronal development, and neuronal damage. To evaluate the potential of the macrocyclic IRAP inhibitor compound 9 (C9), the present study examined the restorative effects of C9 after opioid-induced cell toxicity. The toxic impact of the commonly used opioids methadone and buprenorphine was determined in rat primary hippocampal and cortical cells, along with the effects on various viability markers after subsequent treatment with C9. The metabolism of tetrazolium bromide salt (MTT) was measured to assess mitochondrial activity, and the level of membrane damage was assessed by measuring lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the cell media. Fluorescent calcein dye was used to evaluate intracellular esterase activity. In conclusion, this study demonstrate that methadone and buprenorphine induce toxic effects in primary hippocampal and cortical cell cultures and that IRAP inhibitor C9 has a restorative effect on intracellular esterase activity in methadone-damaged cells
Caring for history : A domain analysis of Hagströmerbiblioteket
No full textThis master thesis surveys the Hagströmer library, a medicohistorical library and museum, with the purpose of examining how medical history is mediated and created whithin this particular institutional context. The research questions relate to the organisation and presentation of the library’s collections and their inherent knowledge, as well as the duality of the Hagströmer library being both a library and a museum. A domain analytic framework was used to conduct this study. To complement the methodology, the study was carried out through observations of the Hagströmer library documented through notes, videos and photos. I also had a few documented informal conversations with the staff as well as a recorded interview with one representative. The analysis is divided into four parts: the first one examines the history of the library and associatedhistorical organisations, the second one examines the institutional aspects of the library, the third part surveys the materials kept by the library and the final one its knowledge organisation. The results of this study suggest that Hagströmerbiblioteket is a postmodern institution showcasing varied perspectives on its own collections. The library’s knowledge organisation is indicative of this variation, as it consists of a collage of pieces constructed over a long time for different purposes. This variation promotes a flexible understanding and construction of medicinal and scientific history. The institutional duality of the Hagströmer library provides a foundation for a dedication to the medicohistorical cultural heritage that transgresses the norms related to understandings of what constitutes a library and a museum respectively
“Magude isn't like it used to be” : Intersections of social and climate change in Mozambique
No full textThis thesis examines how rural communities in Magude, southern Mozambique, experience, interpret, and respond to climate change. Drawing on eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork that combined participant observation, in-depth interviews, and oral testimonies, it explores how smallholder farmers, herders, and fishermen perceive and cope with environmental disruptions such as droughts, irregular rainfall, and extreme weather. The study shows how these experiences are shaped by historical memory, cultural beliefs, and everyday struggles, highlighting the importance of traditional ecological knowledge and lived experience in shaping local responses to climate change. Community narratives reveal that climatic changes are understood not only as environmental phenomena but also as social and moral events, often linked to divine punishment, conflict, and the erosion of traditional values. Situated within the anthropology of climate change and informed by political ecology and critical development studies, the thesis employs four interrelated analytical concepts: adaptation, resilience, local knowledge, and climate justice. It examines how communities draw on culturally embedded knowledge systems to interpret and respond to climate variability and how these responses are constrained by economic marginalisation, land tenure insecurity, and limited state support. Adaptation is treated not as a technical adjustment but as a relational and politically situated process shaped by inequality and power. The study further interrogates the interaction between local coping practices and formal climate governance, revealing tensions between top-down adaptation programs and bottom-up strategies. It argues that local knowledge is frequently overlooked or instrumentalised in official interventions, while rural communities are expected to be “resilient” without structural support. Empirically, the thesis demonstrates that recurrent droughts, declining crop yields, and rising livestock diseases have disrupted the foundations of Magude’s rural economy, leading to an increased reliance on activities such as charcoal production, fishing, and small business. These practices reflect both creativity and constraint within contexts of enduring vulnerability. By centring the voices and experiences of rural Mozambicans, the thesis rehumanises the climate debate and challenges technocratic paradigms through a context-sensitive, ethnographically grounded account of adaptation. The findings have implications for both climate justice scholarship and policy efforts seeking more inclusive and equitable responses to the global climate crisis
Exploring potential sex differences in Hirschsprung disease : a national cohort study of diagnostic patterns and early postoperative outcome
No full textPurpose: There are limited data to show how sex impacts the early clinical course of patients with Hirschsprung disease (HSCR). This study aimed to explore potential sex related disparities in the preoperative, surgical, and early postoperative course of HSCR patients. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data of HSCR patients who underwent pull-through surgery at pediatric surgery centers in Sweden from July 1st, 2013, to June 30th, 2023. Male and female patients were compared regarding diagnostics, surgical treatment, unplanned procedures under general anesthesia or readmissions within 90 days after pull-through, and complications (Clavien-Madadi grade ≥3) up to 30 days after pull-through. Results: A total of 197 patients were included from four treating centers (158 males, 39 females). Females had a higher prevalence of familial disease (28.2% vs. 8.2%; p < 0.01) and RET gene mutations (15.4% vs. 2.5%; p = 0.02). No differences were observed in age at biopsy, need for re-biopsy, preoperative stoma rates, or age at diagnosis. Time from diagnosis to pull-through was longer in females (median 48.5 vs. 28 days; p = 0.02), but age at pull-through did not differ. No significant differences were found in postoperative hospital stay, severe complications within 30 days, nor unplanned procedures, HAEC, or readmissions within 90 days. Conclusion: The early clinical course of HSCR patients does not appear to be sex dependent. Although females had a longer interval from diagnosis to pull-through, their age at pull-through was comparable to males. As expected, a higher proportion of females reported familial disease and had a verified RET-mutation. Level of evidence Level III
Detailed Luminescence Dating of Late Quaternary Loess at Belcroute, Jersey, Channel Islands
No full textAtmospheric mineral dust is an important component of the Earth’s climate system, both driving and responding to climate change. Under the present climate warming, dust emission from ice-marginal regions in the high-latitudes is expected to increase due to enhanced release of sediment rich meltwater from decaying glaciers and subsequent deflation from floodplains. The terrestrial dust deposits then formed, loess, therefore represent a valuable archive of past changes in ice-margin regions. However, uncertainties over the age of these deposits often limit their potential for reconstruction of past dustactivity, climate and environments.This thesis presents detailed optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and stratigraphical analyses of ice sheet-derived last glacial loess from Belcroute, Jersey located in the English Channel basin. Luminescence dating and age modelling results reveal that the loess was deposited very rapidly during the late last glacial in two main accumulation phases, between ~20 to19ka and ~18.7 to 16.7ka, coincident with dust accumulation phases from other nearby loess deposits. During this period the Eurasian Ice Sheet covered large parts of northern Europe. Ice-sheet derived sediments produced by glacial grinding were transported by extensive the meltwater networks throughout the exposed English Channel basin towards the North Atlantic. Dust deflation from floodplain sediments potentially caused nearby loess deposition. Specifically, the timing of dust accumulation phases reported from Belcroute coincides with EIS meltwater pulses that released extraordinary amounts of meltwater and sediment into the proglacial drainage system. This suggests that dust accumulation phases are likely to be a function of this proglacial sediment supply. Furthermore, specific stratigraphic features found in Belcroute are likely linked to past cryogenic processes on the loess deposits, witnessing past landscape dynamics in NW Europe during the late last glacial and early deglaciation
Electric Vehicle Battery State of Health Estimation Using LSTM: Comparing Centralized and Federated Approaches
No full textAccurate estimation of battery State of Health is important for range planning, safety margins, warranty handling, and second life use. This work compares centralised and federated training of the same Long Short Term Memory model for State of Health prediction using the MIT battery degradation dataset. Time series of voltage, current, and temperature and other features are transformed into fixed length windows, and models are trained under a matched protocol. The split is done in the cell level to avoid leakage with an 80/10/10 split for train, validation, and test. Federated learning is configured with three clients, one per experimental batch, and synchronous weighted averaging. Under this matched design, the centralised model attains lower error in absolute terms, while the federated model reaches similar explained variance. On the held out test set, the centralised model achieves MAE = 0.0049 Ah, RMSE = 0.0091 Ah, and R² = 0.83. The federated model achieves MAE = 0.00622 Ah, RMSE = 0.01019 Ah, and R² = 0.82. The federated setting entails higher coordination cost, observed as additional communication payload and longer wall clock time per effective improvement. These results indicate that, for this dataset and split policy, federated training preserves most predictive performance relative to a centralised baseline while keeping raw data local. When data minimisation or locality requirements preclude central aggregation, federated learning offers a viable alternative with a modest accuracy gap and explicit communication and timing costs
Performance study of silicon based semiconductor transmission detectors used for alpha particle identification at GANIL-NFS.
No full textIn the present research work, a performance investigation of ORTEC B Series Totally Depleted Silicon Surface Barrier Detectors and Micron Semiconductor Ltd Single Sided, Single Element Circular MSD Series Silicon Pad Detectors is carried out. The detectors, which are sensitive to alpha particles, are exposed to a triple alpha source consisting of the three radionuclides Pu-239, Am-241, and Cm-244 in two different experimental approaches. Using a designed data analysis code, the pulse height (energy resolution), rise, middle and fall time are determined and a pulse parameterisation (slopes, fit coefficients, MAPE) is made possible. In Experiment I, the detectors are irradiated completely and without any colliminator in order to be able to evaluate the general detector response as a function of the detector bias voltage with regard to the detected alpha particle spectrum. The results reveal that the pulse height decreases and energy resolution worsens with reducing the detector bias voltage, whereas the rise time, for example, increases. Furthermore, it can be seen that with increasing usage time and irradiation within GANIL beam exposures, the detectors wear out and the bias voltage must be increased above the manufacturer's recommended value in order to achieve the saturation level of energy resolution and rise time with regard to bias voltage. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the detected pulse height can be maximised with increased bias voltage. In particular, it was found that the thickness of the active detector layer (approx. 1000 micron, 400 micron, 60 micron and 20 micron) influences the pulse height spectrum but leads to resemble dependency patterns, for example with regard to the multiparametric relationship between pulse height and rise time. The Experiment II is used for local detector surface investigation, whereby a 5mm step-by-step scan is carried out with the aid of a motorised sample-collimator holder device. Following on from Experiment I series, this approach attempts to identify whether the globally recognisable detection mode can also be recognised locally, or whether there are homogeneous and inhomogeneous areas on the detector, for example with regard to detection rate, pulse height, energy resolution and rise time. It becomes evident that the tested detector types with thicknesses of 1000 micron, 400 micron, and 20 micron are primarily similar in terms of detection rate and exhibit a uniform detection function. In general, a difference can be observed in all measurements between the central detector field and the detector edge areas for neighboring detector locations. However, it should be emphasized that, unexpectedly, significant differences between the energy resolution and rise time maps of the individual detectors could be identified. Here, the detector with a thickness of 400 micron still shows a homogeneous distribution of values for all local measurement points. In contrast, however, the detectors with thicknesses of 1000 micron and 20 micron exhibit starkly inhomogeneous, uneven value distributions. The differences do not appear randomly, and follow a specific pattern in each case