Detecting Seasonal Flow Pathways in Road Structures Using Tracer Tests and ERT.

Roads and traffic can be a source of water-bound pollutants, which can percolate through the unsaturated zone to groundwater. Deicing salt is widely used on roads in northern Europe during winter and is usually applied at a time when the temperature is below zero and the soil is partly frozen. Understanding the mechanism by which water-bound pollutants such as deicing salt are transferred from roads to groundwater is highly important for groundwater protection, environmental sustainability and road maintenance.

Spread of Water-Borne Pollutants at Traffic Accidents on Roads.

Traffic accidents sometimes lead to the spread of hazardous compounds to the environment. Accidental spills of hazardous compounds on roads in the vicinity of vulnerable objects such as water supplies pose a serious threat to water quality and have to be assessed. This study compared three different assessment methods, electrical resistivity measurements, analytical flow calculations, and 1D and 2D dynamic flow modeling, to describe rapid transport processes in the road shoulder and roadside verge after a major spill.

Natural Hazard Susceptibility Assessment for Road Planning Using Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis.

Inadequate infrastructural networks can be detrimental to society if transport between locations becomes hindered or delayed, especially due to natural hazards which are difficult to control. Thus determining natural hazard susceptible areas and incorporating them in the initial planning process, may reduce infrastructural damages in the long run. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of expert judgments for assessing natural hazard susceptibility through a spatial multi-criteria analysis approach using hydrological, geological, and land use factors.

Climate-induced warming imposes a threat to north European spring ecosystems.

Interest in climate change effects on groundwater has increased dramatically during the last decade. The mechanisms of climate-related groundwater depletion have been thoroughly reviewed, but the influence of global warming on groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) remains poorly known. Here we report long-term water temperature trends in 66 northern European cold-water springs.

Impact of Groundwater Flow and Energy Load on Multiple Borehole Heat Exchangers.

The effect of array configuration, that is, number, layout, and spacing, on the performance of multiple borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) is generally known under the assumption of fully conductive transport. The effect of groundwater flow on BHE performance is also well established, but most commonly for single BHEs. In multiple-BHE systems the effect of groundwater advection can be more complicated due to the induced thermal interference between the boreholes.

Groundwater Resources Potential in Hard Rock Terrain: A Multivariate Approach.

Groundwater resources are limited and difficult to predict in crystalline bedrock due to heterogeneity and anisotropy in rock fracture systems. Municipal-level governments often lack the resources for traditional hydrogeological tests when planning for sustainable use of water resources. A new methodology for assessing groundwater resources potential (GRP) based on geological and topographical factors using principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was developed and tested.

On the utilization of hydrological modelling for road drainage design under climate and land use change.

Road drainage structures are often designed using methods that do not consider process-based representations of a landscape's hydrological response. This may create inadequately sized structures as coupled land cover and climate changes can lead to an amplified hydrological response. This study aims to quantify potential increases of runoff in response to future extreme rain events in a 61 km(2) catchment (40% forested) in southwest Sweden using a physically-based hydrological modelling approach.

A method for mapping flood hazard along roads.

A method was developed for estimating and mapping flood hazard probability along roads using road and catchment characteristics as physical catchment descriptors (PCDs). The method uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to derive candidate PCDs and then identifies those PCDs that significantly predict road flooding using a statistical modelling approach. The method thus allows flood hazards to be estimated and also provides insights into the relative roles of landscape characteristics in determining road-related flood hazards.

Accuracy of death certificates of cardiovascular disease in a community intervention in Sweden.

Aim: The aim was to investigate the possibility to evaluate the mortality pattern in a community intervention programme against cardiovascular disease by official death certificates.

Methods: For all deceased in the intervention area (Norsjö), the accuracy of the official death certificates were compared with matched controls in the rest of Västerbotten. The official causes of death were compared with new certificates, based on the last clinical record, issued by three of the authors, and coded by one of the authors, all four accordingly blinded.

Arrhythmia--a pitfall in tests of cardiac autonomic function after liver transplantation for familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy: a long-term follow-up of Swedish patients.

Liver transplantation (LT) is a potentially curative treatment for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis, of which familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) is the most common form in Sweden. This study investigated the long-term development in heart rate variability (HRV) after LT in Swedish FAP patients. HRV was analyzed before LT, and during a first (<40 months) and a second (>40 months) follow-up recording after transplantation, respectively.

Cardiac autonomic function does not improve after liver transplantation for familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy.

Objective: Liver transplantation is the only potentially curative treatment for familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP). We investigated cardiac autonomic function in 63 transplanted Swedish FAP patients.

Methods: Heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded between 1-17 (mean 8) months before, and 10-40 (mean 20) months after transplantation.

Profound cardiac conduction delay predicts mortality in myotonic dystrophy type 1.

Background: Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is known to affect mainly the musculoskeletal system. Early mortality is related to respiratory disease and possibly additional cardiovascular complications.

Aims: To identify possible cardiovascular disturbances that could predict survival of DM1 patients.

Ventricular dysfunction in type 1 myotonic dystrophy: electrical, mechanical, or both?

Background: Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a systemic disease which affects the heart and may be a cause of sudden death. Conduction disturbances are the major cardiac abnormalities seen in this condition. We sought to assess electrical and mechanical cardiac functions to identify abnormalities that might explain sudden cardiac death in DM1.

Myocardial hypertrophy and function are related to age at onset in familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy.

Heart complications are frequently encountered in hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis. Lately, reports of late onset familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) cases presenting with a phenotype similar to that observed in senile systemic amyloidosis have emerged. The aim of the present study was to evaluate morphological and functional features of the heart by echocardiography including myocardial strain measurements, and to compare the outcome for early with those of late onset FAP cases.

A prediction method for radon in groundwater using GIS and multivariate statistics.

Radon (222Rn) in groundwater constitutes a source of natural radioactivity to indoor air. It is difficult to make predictions of radon levels in groundwater due to the heterogeneous distribution of uranium and radium, flow patterns and varying geochemical conditions. High radon concentrations in groundwater are not always associated with high uranium content in the bedrock, since groundwater with a high radon content has been found in regions with low to moderate uranium concentrations in the bedrock.

Pulsed tissue Doppler and strain imaging discloses early signs of infiltrative cardiac disease: a study on patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy.

Background: Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is a hereditary systemic amyloidosis with cardiac involvement. As early identification of the cardiac involvement is of major clinical interest we performed this study to test the hypothesis that tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and strain imaging (SI) might disclose cardiac involvement in patients with early stages of FAP.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with FAP and 36 healthy controls were studied.

Amyloid deposits in transthyretin-derived amyloidosis: cleaved transthyretin is associated with distinct amyloid morphology.

The pathological fibrillar deposits found in the heart and other organs of patients with senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA) and Swedish familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) contain wild-type (wt) and a mutant form of transthyretin (TTR), respectively. Previously, it was reported that these two forms of amyloid have different molecular features and it was thus postulated that the mechanism responsible for TTR fibrillogenesis in SSA and FAP may differ. To document further the nature of the amyloid in these entities, detailed morphological, histochemical, immunological, and structural analyses of specimens obtained from 14 individuals with SSA and 11 Swedish FAP patients have been performed.

Parasympathetic dysfunction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy assessed by heart rate variability: comparison between short-term and 24-h measurements.

In this study, we evaluate cardiac autonomic function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) by assessing heart rate variability (HRV), comparing a short-term laboratory method with an ambulatory (24-h) method, in patients with and without beta-blockade. Reduced HRV is a risk factor for adverse events in some cardiac diseases, but is not a proven risk indicator in HCM. Analysis of HRV has been based on either short- or long-term electrocardiographic recordings and previous studies in HCM have shown conflicting results.

The ethics of research using biobanks: reason to question the importance attributed to informed consent.

Background: During the past decade, the use of stored tissue has become an object of increased ethical query. A Swedish biobank and a biotech company have been praised for solving the ethical problems with explicit informed consent procedures, and we decided to investigate donors' perceptions of the system.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to a randomized sample of 1200 donors who had donated blood and signed informed consent forms.

Outcome of exercise electrocardiography in familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy patients, Portuguese type, under evaluation for liver transplantation.

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is a dominantly inherited systemic amyloidosis caused by mutated transthyretin (TTR). Liver transplantation is currently the only available treatment that halts the progress of the disease. Cardiovascular complications are common in FAP, and cardiac arrhythmias are typical complications in FAP Val30Met.

Liver transplantation does not prevent the development of life-threatening arrhythmia in familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, Portuguese-type (ATTR Val30Met) patients.

Background: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is today the only available treatment to halt the progress of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP). Because heart arrhythmia and conduction disturbances are well-known manifestations of FAP, the aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and development of heart conduction and rhythm disturbances in Swedish FAP patients who underwent liver transplantation.

Methods: Ambulatory 24-hour electrocardiography (ECG) recordings (Holter-ECGs) were available from 30 patients, who had been investigated before and reexamined after OLT.

Informed consent and biobanks: a population-based study of attitudes towards tissue donation for genetic research.

Aims: The procurement and usage of tissue samples has begun receiving increasing legal and ethical attention. The authors' aim was to develop an empirically based understanding of public attitudes to the use of tissue for research.

Method: A questionnaire was distributed to a randomized sample (n=1,000) of the population in the age group 18-85 in Västerbotten County, Sweden.

[Research Ethics Committees--who is to represent the community?].

The Swedish Government has proposed a law for the ethical regulation of research on human beings. The proposal entails changes in the composition of Research Ethics Committees with regard to community representation. A study indicates that healthcare staff with no ties to research would appear to merit particular public confidence, as would representatives of the legal profession, moral philosophers and priests.

Progression of cardiomyopathy after liver transplantation in patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, Portuguese type.

Background: Transthyretin amyloidosis is today an accepted indication for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). For several mutations progression of the cardiomyopathy has been observed after OLT. The aim of this study was to assess the course of cardiac involvement in Swedish familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP), Portuguese type, after OLT.