Background: An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in China in 2020 has led to an unprecedented shortage of nadroparin. Most patients, especially those kept in hospital for surgery, are currently treated with prophylactic anticoagulation (AC). In search of alternatives for nadroparin (fraxiparine), we found no sufficient data on alternatives for neurosurgical patients, such as tinzaparin of European origin. We compared nadroparin and tinzaparin concerning adverse events (bleeding versus thromboembolic events) in neurosurgical patients. Methods: Between 2012 and 2018, 517 neurosurgical patients with benign and malignant brain tumors as well as 297 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) were treated in the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Leipzig, receiving prophylactic anticoagulation within 48 h. In 2015, prophylactic anticoagulation was switched from nadroparin to tinzaparin throughout the university hospital. In a retrospective manner, the frequency and occurrence of adverse events (rebleeding and thromboembolic events) in connection with the substance used were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher’s exact test and the chi-squared test. Results: Rebleeding rates were similar in both nadroparin and tinzaparin cohorts in patients being treated for meningioma, glioma, and SAH combined (8.8% vs. 10.3%). Accordingly, the rates of overall thromboembolic events were not significantly different (5.5% vs. 4.3%). The severity of rebleeding did not vary. There was no significant difference among subgroups when compared for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE). Conclusion: In this retrospective study, tinzaparin seems to be a safe alternative to nadroparin for AC in patients undergoing brain tumor surgery or suffering from SAH.

No description available.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur skogen kan användas för att gestalta en bild avidentiteten. För att göra det analyseras musikvideor av Fever Ray och Iamamiwhoami.Gestaltningen består av två noveller. I dessa undersöks relationen till skogen på ettmer individuellt plan. Metoden är mer sökande än teoretiserande. Uppsatsen analyserarmusikvideor ur ett genusperspektiv, som bilder och metaforer. Teoretiker som används ärbland annat Jean Baudrillard, Timothy Morton och Judith Butler. Från deras teorier undersöksvilka värderingar och antaganden som kan sägas ligga till grund för representationen avidentiteten och skogen. Resultatet är bilden av en värld som är splittrad och ovillig att kommatill konkreta ståndpunkter. Å ena sidan visar musikvideorna individer som arbetar medkulturellt betingade bilder av genus och skogen och försöker göra dem till sina egna. Å andrasidan syns en vilja att röra sig bort från dem. Likaså porträtterar gestaltningen personer somkämpar för att komma tillrätta med sin plats i den givna ordningen men aldrig riktigt lyckas. / The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the forest can be used to mirror the identity. Indoing so, music videos by Fever Ray and Iamamiwhoami are being analyzed. The portrayalconsists of two short stories. In these, the relation to the forest is investigated on a moreindividual level. The method is more searching than theorizing. The essay analyzes musicvideos, with a gender perspective, as images and metaphors. Theorists used are amongothers Jean Baudrillard, Timothy Morton and Judith Butler. From their theories the thesisinvestigates the values and assumptions that can be said to constitute the representation of theforest and the identity in the videos. The result is the image of a fragmented world, unwillingto come to concrete conclusions. On one hand the music videos show individuals who workswith the overtaking of given cultural images of the forest and gender. On the other hand a willto reject the same images can be seen. Likewise, the portrayal shows individuals who struggleto come to terms with their place in the given order but never really succeeds.

I den svenska skogen förekommer ett stort antal djurarter som påverkar skogen och människan. I Västmanland, som studien behandlade, förekommer bland annat älg, rådjur, varg och vildsvin. Dessa viltarter påverkar markägare i olika uträckning. Västmanland drabbades hösten 2023 av det första fallet av afrikansk svinpest i Sverige. En sjukdom som är väldigt smittsam och med hög dödlighet för vildsvin. Syftet med studien var att beskriva upplevelsen av afrikansk svinpest och dess påverkan på skogsbruket, samt generell attityd till vilt hos privata skogsägare i Västmanland. Denna studie var av kvalitativ karaktär och baserades på semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sex respondenter medverkade i studien. Det transkriberade materialet bearbetades i en innehållsanalys, där fyra teman identifierades. Slutsatserna för studien är att afrikanska svinpesten har haft stor påverkan på skogsägare inom smittområdet, främst genom begränsningar i vardagslivet och skogsbruket. Hjortdjur ses som en fördel och tillgång. Vargen däremot är ett infekterat ämne. Vildsvin väckte inga större känslor, trots utbrottet.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a negative-sense RNA virus that is classified as an overlap select agent by the USDA and the HHS. It was first discovered in the Rift Valley of Kenya in the early 1930s. RVFV is an arbovirus that is transmitted by mosquitoes and infects ruminants and humans. RVFV in humans causes an acute self-limiting febrile illness but in a small percentage of cases, a severe version is noted by ocular disease, hepatitis, hemorrhagic fever, and death. In ruminants, the disease is similar with young livestock being the most susceptible. RVFV is also known to cause "abortion storms" where infected pregnant ruminants abort their fetuses with a near 100% fatality rate. Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites utilizing host-factors to replicate. This study identified three host-protein interactors of the viral Gn and L proteins that aid in viral replication. UBR4 was determined to be an interactor of Gn via immunoprecipitation followed by either LC/MS/MS or western blot analysis. Its inhibition via siRNA or CRISPR-Cas9 knockout showed a reduction of viral titers and viral RNA production. It was determined that UBR4 specifically affects viral RNA production and not entry or egress. Conversely, CK1α and PP1α were identified as binding partners of the L protein using similar methods. CK1α, a kinase, and PP1α, a phosphatase, were chosen for further verification due to data demonstrating the L protein is phosphorylated on at least one serine residue, in addition to PP1α already being shown to impact RVFV replication. Inhibition of CK1 and PP1 via small molecule inhibitors, D4476 and 1E7-03, respectively, showed a decrease in viral titers and RNA production. Strand-specific RT-qPCR demonstrates that CK1 and PP1 impact genomic replication. Upon treatment with D4476 a decrease in L protein phosphorylation was observed. Additionally, it has already been shown that treatment with 1E7-03 increases L protein phosphorylation. These data indicate that CK1 and PP1 modulate L protein phosphorylation, contributing to changes in RVFV replication. This study identifies three host-proteins that affect viral replication, which could be used as a foundation for host-based therapeutic and vaccine development. / Doctor of Philosophy / Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a major biological threat due to its ability to infect both livestock and humans and be passed by mosquito bite. RVFV was first discovered in Africa in the early 1930s. To date, there is no approved therapeutic or vaccine. RVFV usually causes very mild disease but in a small percentage of cases, it progresses to include liver disease, vision loss, swelling of the brain, bleeding, and death. A virus itself is not alive; it needs a living host in order to replicate. To do this, it utilizes things naturally occurring inside the host. The purpose of this study is to identify host-factors that the virus uses in order to efficiently make more viruses. The first viral protein of interest is the glycoprotein, Gn, which is important for viral entry and assembly of the viral particles. It was determined that the host-protein UBR4 is an interactor of Gn and that the inhibition of UBR4 decreases the amount of infectious virus being produced. Similarly, the host-proteins, CK1α and PP1α, were found to be interactors of the viral L protein. The L protein is responsible for synthesizing the building blocks of the virus. It was determined that when CK1 and PP1 are inhibited, the L protein is less efficient at making these building blocks. Understanding the host-factors the virus utilizes is important to the basic understanding of how RVFV infects the host and the development of therapeutics to combat an outbreak.

Malaria is endemic in Uganda. The study attempted to determine how Ugandan caregivers managed home-based care of fever. Structured interviews were conducted with sixty caregivers of children under five. In 15 (25.0%) out of the 60 interviewed households, at least one child had reportedly died from malaria. Caregivers’ decisions were influenced by health education, family members, community leaders and other caregivers. Most caregivers knew about malaria, but lacked knowledge about its danger signs, and about the services of village drug distributors. Most caregivers initiated treatment for fever at home before taking the children to health units. Mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying and other malaria preventive measures were rarely used due to lack of funds. The recommendations include that anti-malaria drugs should always be available and accessible, the services of village drug distributors should be improved, health education should be enhanced, malaria preventive measures should be implemented and sustained. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

西方自從1970年代末期逐漸重視華語電影，國內外影評、輿論經常以「中國電影熱」形容這個現象，本研究將此現象置入歷史文化的脈絡中分析，認為這個現象肇因於當時西方面對封閉而陌生的中國，一種交織過去文化想像、殖民經驗、神秘氛圍、現實需求（戰略考量、廣大的市場）所形塑的心理動機，並展現在許多不同領域，而電影「中國熱」是在此情況下的一個環節。 另一方面，本研究以「中心╱邊陲」的後殖民思考架構，視「中國熱」現象為華語電影走向世界的過程中的四個階段－「重新被發現、新電影運動與西方中級影展、納入主流藝術電影院線、與好萊塢電影工業接軌」。同時，本研究也將進一步探討背後的文化意涵及其所代表的意義。 / Since late 1970s, the Western has gradually put more and more concentration on the Chinese films. The film reviews and the public opinions always regard the phenomenon as the “Chinese Cinema Fever”. This article, on the one hand, analyzes the phenomenon in the historical and cultural veins. While facing China, a state once made the western feel so distant and unfamiliar before, a kind of mentality in the “Western” has been molded by the cultural imagination, colonial experience, mysterious atmosphere, and realistic demand (such like strategic consideration and large-scale market, et al.), and displayed in the various fields. Meanwhile, the “Chinese Cinema Fever” is being a part in such complicated situation. On the other hand, the phenomenon, the Chinese Cinema Fever in the Western Film Festivals since late 1970s, will be considered under the framework of “Center-Periphery” and be regarded as a process of the Chinese film toward the world, which is composed of re-discovering, re-emphasizing, including into the mainstream in the system of the Art Theatre. Nowadays, the Chinese films have turned into a part of the worldwide culture and universal consumption. At the same time, I would like to go a step further to discuss the cultural meanings behind the appearance.

A number of emerging vector-borne diseases have the potential to be transmitted in the UK by native mosquitoes. Human infection by some of these diseases requires the presence of communities of multiple vector mosquito species. Mitigating the risk posed by these diseases requires an understanding of the spatial distributions of the UK mosquito fauna. Little empirical data is available from which to determine the distributions of mosquito species in the UK. Identifying areas at risk from mosquito-borne disease therefore requires statistical modelling to investigate and predict mosquito distributions. This thesis investigates the distributions of potential vector mosquitoes in the UK at landscape to national scales. A number of new methodological approaches for species distri- bution modelling are developed. These methods are then used to map and understand the distributions of mosquito communities with the potential to transmit diseases to humans. Chapter 2 reports the establishment of substantial populations of the West Nile virus (WNV) vector mosquito Culex modestus in wetlands in southern England. This represents a drastic shift in the species’ known range and an increase in the risk of WNV transmission where Cx. modestus is present. Chapter 3 develops and applies a new species interaction distribution model which identifies fish and ditch shrimp of the genus Palaemonetes as predators which may restrict the distribution of the potential WNV vector community in these wetlands. Chapter 4 develops a number of methods to make robust predictions of the probability of presence of a species from presence-only data, by eliciting and applying estimates of the species’ prevalence. Chapter 5 introduces a new Bayesian species distribution modelling approach which outperforms existing methods and has number of useful features for dealing with poor- quality data. Chapter 6 applies methods developed in the previous two chapters to produce the first high-resolution distribution maps of potential vector mosquitoes in the UK. These maps identify several wetland areas where vector communities exist which could maintain WNV transmission in birds and transmit it to humans. This thesis makes significant contributions to our understanding of the distributions of UK mosquito species. It also provides methods for species distribution modelling which could be widely applied in ecology and epidemiology.

Salmonella enterica sérovar Typhi (Typhi) est une bactérie pathogène spécifique à l’homme. Typhi est l’agent étiologique de la fièvre typhoïde chez l’humain, causant plus de 16 millions de nouveaux cas par année et plus de 600 000 morts. Il a été démontré que pour causer une infection systémique, Salmonella doit nécessairement survivre dans les macrophages de l'hôte. Paradoxalement, S. enterica sérovar Typhimurium, très apparenté à Typhi (près de 90 % d’homologie), n’a pas la capacité de se disséminer dans l’organisme humain et peut infecter plusieurs espèces animales. Nous avons antérieurement identifié 36 gènes uniques à Typhi (absents chez Typhimurium) situés sur 15 régions différentes et exprimés sélectivement lors de l’infection de macrophages humains. Ainsi, l’une de ces régions a suscité notre attention, soit la région sty4217-4222 et plus particulièrement le produit du gène sty4221, une aminotransférase hypothétique. Ce dernier gène est d’intérêt dû à l’homologie qu’il détient avec une hémolysine connue (Hly) produite par Treponema denticola, possédant elle-même une activité d’aminotransférase. Chez T. denticola, Hly dégrade la cystéine et produit du H2S qui est toxique pour l’hôte. Notre hypothèse est que la spécificité d’hôte et la capacité de produire une infection systémique de Typhi sont dues à l’expression de gènes qui ne se retrouvent pas chez d’autres salmonelles. Le but de cette étude était donc de caractériser le gène sty4221 quant à son activité hémolytique, cytotoxique et tenter de déterminer son rôle dans la virulence de cette bactérie. Le gène sty4221 a été cloné sous le contrôle d’un promoteur inductible à l’arabinose et exprimé par E. coli. L’activité hémolytique du clone a été déterminée par simple observation sur gélose sang. Ce clone a également permis d’observer l’effet cytotoxique du surnageant de culture sur différentes lignées cellulaires, par quantification de la relâche de LDH. Le gène sty4221 a été muté chez la souche sauvage de Typhi, ISP1820, l’implication pathogénique du gène a ainsi pu être étudiée. Des tests de phagocytose, d’invasion et de survie dans des macrophages humains ont été effectués, ainsi que des tests d’adhésion et d’invasion sur des cellules HeLa. Par ailleurs, une première tentative de purification de la protéine a été entreprise. En somme, nous savons maintenant que STY4221 a des propriétés hémolytiques, augmentées par la présence de cystéine. De plus, STY4221 a un effet cytotoxique sur les macrophages THP-I, mais aucun effet sur les HeLa. Or, sty4221 ne semble pas impliqué dans les étapes d’adhésion, d’invasion, de phagocytose ou de survie. La caractérisation de sty4221 permettra sans doute d’approfondir nos connaissances sur les toxines trouvées uniquement chez Typhi. / Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Typhi) is a human restricted pathogen causing typhoid fever, a systemic infection. Annually, at least 16 million new cases with 600, 000 associated deaths are reported. It has been demonstrated that Salmonella has to survive in the macrophages of its host, in order to produce a systemic disease. This ability to cause a disseminated infection in human is unique to Typhi. Our laboratory had isolated 36 genes that were unique to Typhi (absent from Typhimurium’s genome), and that were expressed during human macrophages infection. One of these genes, sty4221, a putative aminotransferase, was of high interest since it shares sequence similarities with a known hemolysin (Hly), which also possesses an aminotransferase activity. That hemolysin is produced by Treponema denticola, it catabolizes cysteine and produces H2S, a toxic metabolite for the host. Our hypothesis is that host specificity and the ability to cause a systemic infection might be explained by the expression of genes that are not found in other salmonellas. The goal of this study was to characterize the gene sty4221, in terms of hemolytic and cytotoxic activity and to determine its role in virulence. The sty4221gene has been cloned in a vector under an arabinose inducible promoter and transformed in a strain of E. coli. The hemolytic activity has been investigated on blood-agar medium. To evaluate the cytotoxicity of the STY4221 protein on human cultured cells, direct observation by photonic microscopy was done. The cytotoxicity activity on human cultured cells has been quantitatively measured with a lactate dehydrogenase release assay. Moreover, the sty4221 gene has been deleted in order to study its implication in the infection and the survival within human macrophages and for adhesion/invasion on epithelial. Protein purification was also attempted. We now know that protein STY4221 has a hemolytic activity that is enhanced by cysteine. Also, we proved that the expression of sty4221 has a cytotoxic effect on THP-I macrophages, but not on epithelial HeLa cells. Meanwhile, sty4221 does not seem to be important during adhesion, invasion, infection nor survival. The characterization of protein STY4221 might extend the list of known exotoxin of Typhi.

Coxiella burnetii est une bactérie zoonotique affectant un grand nombre d’espèces animales. Chez les ruminants domestiques, l’infection est généralement asymptomatique, mais parfois associée à des problèmes reproducteurs. Néanmoins, le cycle de transmission de l’infection chez ceux-ci demeure peu connu. Dans ce contexte, nous avons réalisé une étude auprès de fermes bovines, ovines et caprines dans deux régions administratives du Québec afin d’estimer les prévalences de cette infection et d’identifier les facteurs de risque, aux niveaux individuel et troupeau, associés à la positivité. Nous avons estimé une prévalence de positivité au niveau troupeau de 44.6 % (IC95%=33.0-56.6) chez les bovins, de 70.8 % (IC95% =48.9-87.4) chez les ovins et de 66.7 % (IC95% =22.3-95.7) chez les caprins. Une association a été observée chez les troupeaux bovins entre leur positivité et la densité de petits ruminants par kilomètre carré dans un rayon de cinq kilomètres entourant la ferme. Chez les petits ruminants, une association avec la positivité des troupeaux a été observée avec la taille des troupeaux et la présence d’un chien sur la ferme. Au niveau individuel, le nombre de jours en lait ainsi que l’âge des petits ruminants étaient associés à la positivité, et ce dernier facteur était modulé par l’accès des animaux au pâturage. Aucun agrégat spatial de fermes positives n’a été détecté chez aucune des trois espèces. L’infection par Coxiella burnetii est donc fréquente dans les troupeaux de ruminants domestiques québécois et semble associée à certaines pratiques de régie et à la présence, ou proximité, d’autres animaux domestiques. / Coxiella burnetii is a zoonotic bacteria affecting a vast range of animal species. In domestic ruminants, the infection is usually asymptomatic, but sometimes linked with reproductive disorders. However, the transmission cycle of infection among them remains unclear. In that context, we conducted a study among dairy cattle, sheep and goats farms in two administrative regions of Québec to estimate the infection prevalence and identify the risk factors associated with farms and animals positivity. We estimated a herd prevalence of 44.6 % (95%CI=33.0 to 56.6) in dairy cattle, 70.8 % (95%CI=48.9 to 87.4) in sheep and 66.7 % (95%CI=22.3-95.7) in goats. On dairy cattle farms, we observed an association between their positivity and the density of small ruminants per square kilometer within a five kilometers radius around the farm. In small ruminants, at herd level, we observed an association with positivity and herd’s size and the presence of a dog on the farm. At the individual level, an association with positivity was found with the number of days in milk for small ruminants and their age, but the latter was also modulated by the individual’s previous access to pasture. No spatial cluster of positive farms was detected significant among dairy cattle nor small ruminants. The infection by Coxiella burnetii is therefore common on dodmestic ruminants’ farms in Québec and associated with some farm management practices and the presence, or proximity, of other domestic animals.