I dagsläget överproduceras och överkonsumeras mat, samtidigt slängs 30% av all mat som produceras i världen. Matproduktionen står för en stor del av världens miljöbelastning; främst genom animaliska produkter såsom kött och mejeriprodukter, och därför har ämnet blivit mycket omtalat. I samband med denna debatt har mjölksubstitut introducerats på marknaden. Målet med arbetet var att undersöka hur matbutiker i Stockholm arbetar med svinn och försäljning av mjölk och mjölksubstitut. En jämförelse gjordes mellan Arla Mellanmjölk, Alpro Soya och Alpro Mandeldryck. Datainsamlingsmetoden gjordes dels i kvantitativt format där siffror över försäljning och svinn samlades in, men även i kvalitativt format, i form av intervjuer med sex utvalda matbutiker. Det visade sig att svinnet för Arla Mellanmjölk, Alpro Soya och Alpro Mandeldryck var minimalt med anledning att det alltid finns efterfrågan på dessa produkter och att matbutikerna aktivt arbetar för att hålla svinnet lågt. Detta görs genom att ha ett välkalibrerat automatiskt beställningssystem som tar hand om majoriteten av butikens beställningar in, ha bra kylar i butiken, samt att regelbundet inventera butiken. De produkter som undersöktes ansågs inte behöva exponeras på något speciellt vis då de är basvaror som i princip säljer sig själva. Det är snarare ett problem att mjölksubstituten tar slut från centrallagret emellanåt när efterfrågan blir för stor. Matbutikernas primära mål är att driva ett lönsamt företag och ansträngningarna som görs sker på grund av ekonomiska fördelar. Likväl, även om minskat svinn görs med anledning att inte gå i förlust ekonomiskt blir utfallet detsamma och till fördel för miljön. Konsumenterna verkar tillsynes vara de som har mest makt i att förändra hur matbutikernas verksamhet bedrivs. Genom att välja mjölksubstitut framför mjölk kommer följaktligen miljöbelastningen från mjölkproduktionen att minska. / The food production and consumption today are excessive, while 30% of all produced food in the world goes to waste. Food production has a significant effect on the environment; primarily through animalistic products such as meat and dairy food, it is, therefore, a much-disputed subject. Milk alternatives have, as a reaction to this, been introduced on the market. This project aimed to examine how grocery stores in Stockholm handle food waste and sales of milk and milk alternatives. A comparison was made between Arla semi-skimmed milk, Alpro Soya and Alpro Almond. The data collection methods were both quantitively, as numbers of sales and waste were collected, but also qualitative, with interviews with six selected grocery stores. The food waste for Arla semi-skimmed milk, Alpro Soya and Alpro Almond was minimal as a result of constant demand for these products, and also the grocery stores active work to prevent food waste. This is accomplished through a well calibrated automatic ordering system that controls the majority of the store's orders. Additionally, new refrigerators and continuous inventory are also methods used to minimize the food waste. The grocery stores felt no reason to expose the selected products in any particular way since they are already well-known and gets sold without any effort. It is rather an issue that the demand for the milk substitutes is too high and the central warehouse has no supply. The grocery stores' primary goal is to conduct a profitable business, and when the stores put in an effort, the objective is the economic benefits. Nonetheless, even though the reduced food waste is a product of the grocery stores effort to minimize unnecessary economic losses, the outcome will be the same; a benefit for the environment. The consumers seem to have the most influence on how grocery stores conduct their businesses. By choosing a milk substitute over regular milk, the environmental impact from the production of milk will be reduced.

Plant-based meat (PBM) fulfills the criteria set by the European Union regulations for the product to be sold in the EU and is currently a highly consumed conventional meat substitute in the region. Whereas, cell-based meat (CBM), as of July 2023, does not fulfill the criteria set by the EU regulations for the product to be legally sold in the EU. This is due to CBM companies not submitting the required Novel Food application to EFSA to recieve market approval. Therefore, CBM is currently not legally sold in the EU and not consumed in the region. This thesis analyzes the impact of EU regulations and consumer behavior, and how these factors affect the growth of the PBM and CBM markets. The restriction of the thesis, the PBM and CBM markets, has been chosen due to them being the primary forms of alternative proteins that are a more sustainable choice to conventional meat. The intention of the thesis is to bring attention to the interplay between law and business, and the implications of their interconnectedness. The thesis is written with the aspiration to answer the question; to what extent have EU regulations and consumer behavior affected the expansion of the plant and cell-based meat markets? To this end, we began with determining if the legal criteria of the regulatory framework applicable to PBM and CBM constitute equal regulatory conditions for the markets to expand in the EU. The regulatory framework referred to in the thesis is restricted to the primary legislations applicable to alternative proteins, which are the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Regulation (EU) No 1829/2003, Novel Food Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, EU Food Law Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, Food Information to Consumers Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, and EU labeling requirements. We then conducted a collection of previous research on both the PBM and CBM markets restricted to sustainability, retail market, consumer behavior, financial investment, development, and production processes and costs. Thereafter, we compared the previous research and the aforementioned EU regulations to conclude the impacts of the regulations and the differences in the legal application between PBM and CBM. We also conclude how consumer behavior impacts the growth of a market in addition to the regulatory requirements, and showcase their combined effects on the market. The results suggested that compliance with EU regulations determines if the products are authorized to be legally sold in the EU while consumer behavior influences market acceptance and the extent of growth. The key regulatory difference affecting the ability of CBM to comply and experience similar growth to PBM is the Novel Food Regulation, due to it categorizing cell-based products as novel foods. As of May 2023, no companies in the EU have submitted a Novel Food application to EFSA for CBM.

As the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency continues to grow, mounting evidence supporting its link with chronic disease strengthens suggesting vitamin D’s candidacy in the prevention and treatment of multiple disease states and their complications. Dietary guidelines, however, do not take sun exposure into account. The present study sought to explore the impact of sun exposure on vitamin D status (serum 25(OH)D), and identify other significant determinants of serum levels which may have the greatest effects on overall health. Participants (n = 34) were pre-menopausal women aged 18 to 50 years (mean age 39 ± 6 years), who had their blood drawn at a local pathology lab and a follow-up appointment at a health assessment lab for the collection of other measurements. Mean serum 25(OH)D level was 64 ± 18 nmol/L, and mean dietary vitamin D intake was approximately 327 ± 229 IU/day. Although 82% of participants were below the RDA guidelines (600 IU/day for females ages 9-50 years) for dietary vitamin D intake, only 32% had serum 25(OH)D levels < 50 nmol/L (the recommended level of sufficiency for bone health) reflecting deficiency. While serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly correlated to dietary vitamin D intake (r = 0.42, p = 0.0139), it is reasonable to assume that participants obtained adequate vitamin D from sun exposure. Fasting serum insulin levels were significantly, positively correlated with BMI (r = 0.83, p < 0.0001), and sun exposure index (Body Surface Area x Minutes of Direct Sunlight) was significantly, positively correlated with serum 25(OH)D levels (fall weekend SEI: r = 0.47, p = 0.0059; spring weekend SEI: r = 0.43, p = 0.0135; average weekend SEI: r = 0.43, p = 0.013; and average overall SEI: r = 0.39, p = 0.0247). Reported sun exposure appeared to be least during winter weekdays and the most during summer weekends. Regression analysis was used to determine the strongest predictors of serum 25(OH)D levels, which were found to be sun exposure, dietary vitamin D intake, skin reflectance, age, BMI, and ethnicity (R2 = 0.58 , p = 0.0031), demonstrating that simple questionnaires, such as those employed in this study, can help to predict serum 25(OH)D status and thus be considered in the future treatment of vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin A metabolites and retinoids may slow the progression of breast cancer and elicit anti-neoplastic properties similar to those of omega-3 fatty acids. Studies using animal models show a decrease in the incidence, growth and metastisis of mammary tumors in the presence of specific fatty acids. This effect is also seen with use of retinoids, specifically all-trans retinoic acid (AtRA). Thus, fatty acids may also alter retinoid homeostasis in mammary carcinoma cells (MCF-7s). The potential for inter/co dependency among fatty acids and retinoids is considerable, and here it has been hypothesized that a decrease in cancer progression will occur in the presence of both compounds. MCF-7’s were seeded in a 48 well plate at 5,000 cells per well. After 24 hr, cells were treated with either 1 µM AtRA alone, fatty acids alone, or AtRA + fatty acids. Fatty acid treatments (Linoleic, and Linolenic) were administered at 2.5 uM concentrations. Each fatty acid treatment was also combined with 1 µM AtRA to determine if there is a synergistic effect on slowing cell growth. Both culture media and treatments were changed at 24 hour intervals over a 3 day trial. When compared to the controls, cells treated with 1 µM AtRA or 2.5 µM Linolenic acid both inhibited cell growth. Interestingly, when combined with Linolenic acid, AtRA treatment resulted in a significant (nearly 50%) additional growth inhibition when compared to treatment with AtRA alone. Our results suggest that AtRA and Linolenic acid have a inter/co dependency that significantly inhibits breast cancer cell growth in vitro by 73.4 % compared to control, and 49.7% compared to AtRA alone over 72 hours. We conclude that AtRA and linolenic acid have a combined effect in breast cancer cell proliferation in-vitro and their role in dietary prevention warrants further investigation.

In recent years, we have been able to see and hear in the media how difficult it is to get substitutes into various businesses. Employers promise high salaries and rewards for permanent staff who can find people who can be hired, but there is still a shortage of substitutes. What is the reason for this? Previous research has shown that substitutes tend to keep a certain distance from their workplaces and that they are thus not full-scale members of the working group (Alfonsson 2020, Olofsdotter, 2008). There is also research that shows that satisfaction affects the attitude we have to work (Berglund, 2001, Herzberg 1959). With this study, we want to investigate what may be the reason behind this shortage of substitutes by, with a focus on motivation and attitude to work, seeing if there are differences between hourly employees today and people who were hourly employed 10 - 20 years ago. This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with eight people who are, or have been, hourly employed in Social Care in a medium-sized Swedish municipality. We have divided the respondents into two groups where one group consists of four people who were hourly employed 10 - 20 years ago and the other of four who are hourly employed today. Based on the compilations of each group's responses, we can identify differences and similarities in motivation and attitude to work based on their position as Strangers (Simmel, 1908). This leads to a result showing what motivates the hourly substitutes and what they consider valuable in the work. Finally, we can also see that there has been a change in attitude towards work over time. / De senaste åren har vi kunnat se och höra i media hur svårt det är att få in vikarier i olika verksamheter. Arbetsgivare utlovar höga löner och belöningar för fast personal som kan hitta personer som kan anställas men det är ändå brist på vikarier. Vad beror detta på? Tidigare forskning har visat att vikarier tenderar att hålla en viss distans till sina arbetsplatser och att de på så vis inte är fullskaliga medlemmar i arbetsgruppen (Alfonsson 2020, Olofsdotter, 2008). Det finns också forskning som visar att nöjdhet påverkar vilken attityd vi har till arbetet (Berglund, 2001, Herzberg 1959). Vi vill med denna studie undersöka vad som kan ligga bakom denna brist på vikarier genom att, med fokus på motivation och attityd till arbete, se om det finns skillnader mellan timanställda idag och personer som var timanställda för 10 – 20 år sedan. Denna kvalitativa studie baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta personer som är, eller har varit, timanställda inom Social omsorg i en mellanstor svensk kommun. Vi har delat upp respondenterna i två grupper där den ena gruppen består av fyra personer som var timanställda för 10 – 20 år sedan och den andra av fyra som är timanställda idag. Utifrån sammanställningarna av respektive grupps svar kan vi identifiera skillnader och likheter i motivation och attityd till arbete utifrån deras position som Främlingar (Simmel, 1908). Detta leder till ett resultat som visar vad som motiverar timvikarierna och vad de anser är värdefullt i arbetet. Slutligen kan vi också se att det skett en förändring i attityden till arbete över tid.

The primary purpose of this research was to examine the effects of HRT in women with acute estrogen deficiency from surgically induced menopause. The secondary purpose was to evaluate how HRT improves symptoms of acute estrogen deficiency and quality of life (QOL) in women using hormone supplementation. Peer reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2017 that were written in the English language with a focus on the use of HRT in women with acute estrogen deficiency after surgical menopause were evaluated for relevance. Evidence suggests the primary reason for decreased use of HRT is the associated risks outweighing the benefits; however, this is not reflected in health care provider's (HCP's) clinical experience. HCP's were more likely to prescribe HRT for themselves or family members if they were experiencing the negative side effects of estrogen deficiency due to surgical menopause, but not to women in their care with similar clinical manifestations of menopause. Additionally, serious risks associated with HRT for acute estrogen deficiency remain incongruent with HRT for women experiencing natural menopause; although risk for breast cancer due to HRT was a universal concern. Risks of HRT related to thromboembolism, stroke and heart disease, were discussed with comparison to the undesirable clinical manifestations of menopause. Results indicate further education and research is needed that explores the risks and benefits for HRT in women with sudden onset of estrogen deficiency from surgical menopause.

Die Behandlung entzündlicher, tumorbedingter, dysmorphischer oder posttraumatischer Defekte des menschlichen Skeletts hat besonders in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten neben dem Standard der Behandlung, der Übertragung von körpereigenen Hartgeweben und in konserviertem Zustand übertragenem Spendermaterial, auch Knochenersatzmittel in der Therapie etabliert und in Qualität und Quantität der Eingriffe an Bedeutung gewonnen. Die Diskussion über die Übertragbarkeit von Infektionskrankheiten durch Gewebe aus Knochenbanken hat den Einsatz von konserviertem Spenderknochen in den Hintergrund treten lassen. Aus diesem Grunde wird immer wieder nach geeigneten Knochenersatzmaterialien gesucht. Zahlreiche Implantate aus verschiedenen physikalisch und chemisch differenten Stoffgruppen wurden auf ihre Eignung zum Knochenersatz getestet. Ein ideales Material wurde bislang nicht gefunden. Im Tierversuchsmodell und in der klinischen Anwendung beim Menschen wurden verschiedene Knochenersatzmaterialien hinsichtlich der Dynamik der Knochenumbauprozesse mittels nuklearmedizinscher und röntgenologischer Verfahren evaluiert und im Ergebnis des knöchernen Substitues histologisch bezüglich ihrer Wertigkeit für den funktionellen Knochenersatz untersucht. Im Vergleich zum autogenen Knochentransplantat entstanden im Ergebnis der Implantation osteoinduktiver und osteokonduktiv wirkender Knochenersatzmaterialien Substitute, die ausnahmslos und vor allem bei den keramischen Implantaten als unvollständige Restitution zu werten waren. / Alongside the standard donor bone transfer, bone substitutes have established themselves, improved in quality and are being increasingly used in the surgical treatment of dysmorphic defects or defects following inflammation, tumor surgery or trauma, particularly in the last three decades. With the discussion about infectious disease transmission through tissue from bone banks, the use of donor bone has receded into the background. For this reason, suitable bone substitutes are being sought constantly. Implants of many different physical and chemical substance groups have been tested for their suitability as bone substitutes, but an ideal material has yet to be found. In animal experiment models and their clinical application in humans, various bone substitutes have been evaluated for the dynamic of the resulting bone formation using nuclear medical and radiological procedures and have been examined histologically for their value as functional bone substitutes. Compared to autogenous bone grafts, the bone substitutes which have emerged as the result of the implantation of osteoinductive and osteoconductive materials have, without exception and particularly in the case the ceramic implants, shown incomplete restitution.

The WHO Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitute is a public health recommendation to reduce preventable causes of infant morbidity and mortality associated with malnutrition. Irresponsible marketing of infant formula in hospitals is a threat to exclusive breastfeeding. Nurses are mandated to support, encourage and protect breastfeeding and to familiarize themselves with their responsibilities under this Code. The researcher explored Geneva nurses' knowledge of the Code and its impact in practice. Eighty seven point seven percent of the participating nurses had poor level of knowledge of the Code. Poor knowledge of the Code impacts on the quality and consistency of information given to mothers in hospitals. Inadvertent violations of the Code were observed among a minority of the respondents: 7.3% indicated that they received gifts; 2.4% received sponsorships to conferences. Training about the Code and its application in counseling is recommended to complement the babyfriendly initiative at hospitals to improve nutrition outcomes. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

Essay 1 (with Oskar Nordström Skans): This paper provides field evidence on the causal impact of past successes on future performances. Since persistence in success or failure is likely to be linked through, potentially time-varying, ability it is intrinsically difficult to identify the causal effect of succeeding on the probability of performing well in the future. We therefore employ a regression discontinuity design on data from professional golf tournaments exploiting that almost equally skilled players are separated into successes and failures half-way into the tournaments (the “cut”). We show that players who (marginally) succeeded in making the cut substantially increased their performance in subsequent tournaments relative to players who (marginally) failed to make the cut. This success-effect is substantially larger when the subsequent (outcome) tournament involves more prize money. The results therefore suggest that past successes provide an important prerequisite when performing high-stakes tasks. Essay 2: Recent experimental evidence suggests that women in general are more discouraged than men by failures which potentially can explain why women, on average, are less likely than men to reach top-positions in firms. This paper provides the first quasi-experimental evidence from the field on this issue using data from all-female and all-male professional golf tournaments to see if this result can be replicated among competitive men and women. These top-performing men and women are active in an environment with multiple rounds of competition and the institutional set-up of the tournaments makes it possible to causally estimate the effect of the result in one tournament on the performance in the next. The results show that both male and female golfers respond negatively to a failure and that their responses are virtually identical. This finding suggests that women’s difficulties in reaching top-positions in firms are caused by external rather than internal barriers. Essay 3: Voting is a fundamental human right. Yet, individuals that are younger than 18 do typically not have this right since they are considered uninformed. However, recent evidence tentatively suggests that the political knowledge of youths is endogenous to the voting age. I test for the existence of such dynamic adjustments utilizing voting age discontinuities caused by Swedish laws. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy on Swedish register data to estimate the causal effect of early age voting right on political knowledge around age 18. The results do not support the existence of positive causal effects of early age voting right on political knowledge. Thus, we should not expect that 16-year-olds respond by acquiring more political knowledge if they are given the right to vote. This finding weakens the case for a lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16. Essay 4 (with Lena Hensvik): We postulate that firms’ production losses  from absence depend on the employees’ internal substitutability, incentivizing firms to keep absence low in positions with few substitutes. Using Swedish employer-employee data we show that absence is substantially lower in such positions even conditional on establishment and occupation fixed effects. The result reflects sorting on both entry and exit margins, with stronger separations responses when it was difficult to predict the absence of the employees beforehand. These findings highlight that internal substitution insures firms against production disruptions caused by absence and that absence costs are important aspects of firms’ hiring and separations decisions.

Les pathologies vasculaires représentent aujourd’hui l’une des principales causes de mortalité mondiale et leur nombre ne cesse d’augmenter. Les greffons autologues (disponibilité faible) et les prothèses synthétiques inadaptées pour des vaisseaux de diamètre inférieur à 6 mm ne répondent pas à la demande et il existe aujourd’hui, un réel besoin en substitut vasculaire pour les petits vaisseaux. Ainsi, le concept de l’ingénierie vasculaire semble très prometteur. Cette approche est fondée sur l’utilisation de matrices « scaffold » associées à une composante cellulaire pour construire, dans des conditions environnementales adaptées, un vaisseau qui réponde et réagisse aux contraintes physiologiques. Dans cet objectif, la fonctionnalisation d’une media vasculaire constituée de cellules musculaires lisses (CML) est prérequise. Aux CML matures qui ne sont pas de bons candidats (perte de leur phénotype contractile lors de la culture), nous avons identifié les cellules souches mésenchymateuses (CSM) de la gelée de Wharton (tissu conjonctif du cordon ombilical) comme source cellulaire majeure. Leur facilité de récupération, leur présence en grand nombre, leur faible immunogénicité et leur capacité de prolifération et différenciation en font d’excellents candidats en ingénierie tissulaire. Dans ce travail nous avons déterminé les conditions favorables à l’obtention d’un phénotype CML fonctionnelles et montré l’impact de différents paramètres environnementaux (apport en oxygène, facteurs de croissance, teneur en sérum…) sur le comportement des CSM de la gelée de Wharton. Nous avons pu montrer que 1) ces cellules étaient capables de se différencier en cellules au phénotype contractile comparable à celui des CML matures. 2) L’utilisation des films multicouches de polyéléctrolytes (FMP) en tant que support d’adhérence cellulaire a montré que les CSM de la gelée de Wharton avaient un comportement spécifique selon la charge de surface conduisant vers une cultures tridimensionnelle inadaptée sur (PAH-PSS)3 PAH et en monocouche sur films (PAH-PSS)4, 3) Ces cellules pouvaient être cultivées sur des hydrogels d’alginate fonctionnalisés par les FMP pour fournir un feuillet cellulaire susceptible de recréer une media vasculaire. / Vascular diseases represent today one of the leading causes of global mortality and the number is increasing. Autologous transplants (limited availability) and synthetic prostheses unsuitable for vessels with a diameter less than 6 mm are not sufficient and there is now a real need of vascular substitute for small vessels. Thus, the concept of vascular engineering seems very promising. This approach is based on the use of "scaffold" associated with a cellular component to build in suitable environmental conditions, a vessel that reacts with the physiological constraints. To this aim, the functionalization of an incorporated media vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) is a prerequisite. Insteag of using Mature CML which are not good candidates (loss of contractile phenotype in culture), we identified mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from Wharton's jelly (connective tissue of the umbilical cord) as a major cellular source. Their easiness of recovery, their presence in large numbers, their low immunogenicity, their proliferation and differentiation capacity make them excellent candidates for tissue engineering. In this work we determined the conditions for obtaining a functional CML phenotype and showed the impact of different environmental parameters (oxygen level, growth factors, serum content ...) on the behavior of CSM jelly Wharton. We have shown that: 1) these cells were able to differentiate into cells in contractile phenotype comparable to that of mature SMC. 2) The use of multilayer films of polyelectrolytes as cell adhesion support has shown that MSCs from the Wharton jelly had a specific behavior according to surface charge leading to an inappropriate three-dimensional cultures (PAHPSS)3-PAH and monolayer films on (PAH-PSS)4, 3) These cells could be grown on functionalized alginate hydrogels to provide a cellular sheet which may recreate a vascular media