The Influence of Carboxylic Acid in Packaging Materials

Tetra Pak delivers food packing services world-wide and uses multilayer packaging materials to protect the food product from being affected by the environment. Loss of adhesion between the polymer and the aluminium layer in Tetra Paks packaging materials has proven to be a serious problem casing the package to lose its integrity and the food product to spoil. The problem is relatively unstudied but has shown to be connected to fatty and acidic products indicating a connection to the presence of carboxylic acids. This master thesis was conducted to identify the core mechanism of the delamination phenomenon and to create a base from which further studies can be conducted. Two basic hypothesis were provided by Tetra Pak for further study and evaluation. One is connected to the surface chemistry of the interface and the other is connected to changes in the mechanical properties of the polymers at the interface. A literature study was conducted and the work was delimited to the most basic carboxylic acid; acetic acid as well as the most commonly used polymer; low density polyethylene. The study indicated a connection between the presence of water and the delamination phenomena in agreement with the aluminium-water system. Three experiments where performed using two similar packaging materials produced at different times. These were exposed to food simulants containing different amounts of water to study the impact this would have on the delamination. The different experiments were then analysed using various methods to determine the mode of failure and connect these to the hypothesis. Results from peel testing showed a greater, or at least faster, loss in adhesion for the packaging materials that were exposed to food stimulants with high concentration of water. The FTIR measurements revealed interesting results for the simulant with average concentration of water showing a thin layer of polymer on the al surface at the highest peel force. This correlates with the hypothesis that the mechanics of the polymer would have changed. The FTIR measurements at the lowest peel force for the simulant with highest concentration of water however showed lower amounts of LDPE, supporting the theory that the delamination is due to surface chemistry. The FTIR findings were further supported by microscopic surface studies which showed a clearer fracture surface with less LDPE for the delaminated samples. The conclusion of this thesis shows that the setup used behaves according to the mechanism of the Al-water system which was strongly indicated by the formation of hydrogen gas and the lacking amount of polymer on the aluminium surface. The Al-water system in turn correlates with the hypothesis provided by Tetra Pak that the delamination phenomenon is due to surface chemistry.Inte hur förpackningen påverkar din mat, utan hur din mat påverkar förpackningen. Resultatet av detta arbete kan komma att ligga till grund för miljövänligare förpackningar som ger maten längre hållbarhet och förbättrar möjligheterna för att transportera mat över hela världen. Tetra Pak har länge arbetat med att leverera ett smartare och miljövänligare sätt att förpacka mat med sina pappförpackningar. I själva verket är det inte en simpel pappförpackning som skyddar maten utan ett flertal lager av plaster, lim och aluminiumfolie som alla har sin skyddande egenskap. Plast består av långa kedjor av atomer - man kan föreställa sig dem som en massa kokta spagetti. I dagens samhälle blir vi allt noggrannare med vad vi får i oss och vad som kan lossna från förpackningar och köksredskap och hamna i vår mat. Men något som många inte tänker på är hur maten kan påverka förpackningen. Denna studie undersökte ett sådant problem där mat innehållande fettsyror såsom ättiksyra, smörsyra och mjölksyra, efter en längre tid visar sig påverka förpackningen så att dess skydd bryts ned och hållbarheten på maten försämras. Det finns två hypoteser för hur man tror att fettsyror i maten bryter sammanfogningen mellan plastlagret närmast maten och det aluminiumlager som ligger närmare förpackningens utsida. Den första hypotesen är att fettsyrorna från maten tränger in mellan kolkedjorna i plastlagret, och när de når limmet som håller fast plasten i aluminiumfolien lossnar detta och fettsyrorna hamnar mellan plastlagret och aluminiumfolien, lite som hur tomatsås lägger sig i botten av tallriken och skjuter undan spagettin som annars klibbar fast i porslinet. Den andra hypotesen är att man tänker sig att kolkedjorna i plasten ligger intrasslade med varandra likt nykokt spagetti. När fettsyror tränger sig mellan kedjorna blir där ett halt glidlager likt när man häller olja på spagettin för att denna inte skall klibba. På samma sätt som spagettin, glider då kedjorna mot varandra och håller inte längre ihop lika bra, och plastlagret förstörs men lämnar kvar en mycket tunn film på aluminiumfolien. Genom att lagra lågt koncentrerad ättiksyra i kuvert gjorda av ett av Tetra Paks material kunde ättiksyrans påverkan på materialet över tid undersökas med en rad olika tester som bland annat mätte den kraft det krävdes för att separera plastlagret från aluminiumfolien och även undersöka vad för ämnen som bildats på de båda ytorna. Slutsatsen var att det i detta fall var den första hypotesen som orsakade mest skada på förpackningen. Detta bevisades delvis av att då plastlagret lossnat kom aluminiumfolien i kontakt med vattnet i den utspädda ättiksyran och det började bildas vätgas, som i sin tur fick kuverten att börja svälla upp. Detta skulle inte kunna ha skett om där var kvar en plast film som i den andra hypotesen

Relationship between commuting and health outcomes in a cross-sectional population survey in southern Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The need for a mobile workforce inevitably means that the length of the total work day (working and traveling time) will increase, but the health effects of commuting have been surprisingly little studied apart from perceived stress and the benefits of physically active commuting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used data from two cross-sectional population-based public health surveys performed in 2004 and 2008 in Scania, Sweden (56% response rate). The final study population was 21, 088 persons aged 18-65, working > 30 h/week. Duration (one-way) and mode of commuting were reported. The outcomes studied were perceived poor sleep quality, everyday stress, low vitality, mental health, self-reported health, and absence from work due to sickness during the past 12 months. Covariates indicating socioeconomic status and family situation, overtime, job strain and urban/rural residency were included in multivariate analyses. Subjects walking or cycling to work < 30 min were used as a reference category.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Monotonous relations were found between duration of public transport commuting and the health outcomes. For the category commuting > 60 min odds ratios (ORs) ranged from 1.2 - 1.6 for the different outcomes. For car commuting, the relationships were concave downward or flat, with increasing subjective health complaints up to 30-60 min (ORs ranging from 1.2 - 1.4), and lower ORs in the > 60 min category. A similar concave downward relationship was observed for sickness absence, regardless of mode of transport.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study are concordant with the few earlier studies in the field, in that associations were found between commutation and negative health outcomes. This further demonstrates the need to consider the negative side-effects of commuting when discussing policies aimed at increasing the mobility of the workforce. Studies identifying population groups with increased susceptibility are warranted.</p

Prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality by achieving healthy dietary goals for the Swedish population:A macro-simulation modelling study

The objective is to estimate the number of deaths attributable to cardiovascular diseases and diet-related cancers that could be prevented or delayed in Sweden if adults adhere to the official dietary recommendations. We used an age-group and sex-specific epidemiological macro-simulation model to estimate preventable deaths due to the discrepancies between actual intake and recommended intake of changes in food components. Data included in the model are a baseline scenario (actual dietary intake), a counterfactual scenario (recommended intake) and age- and sex-specific mortality for cardiovascular and diet-related cancer diseases together compared with the total population risk of a specific year. Monte Carlo analyses with 5000 iterations was performed to produce the 95% uncertainty intervals (UI). The model predicts that 6405 (95% UI: 5086&ndash;7086) deaths could be prevented or delayed if the Swedish population could adhere to official dietary recommendations in a year. More deaths would be saved for men than women. The recommendations for fruits and vegetables could have saved 47% of the deaths, followed by fiber intake (32%). For men, fruits and vegetables could have saved more compared to other dietary components, while for women dietary fiber was the prominent factor. Public health policies should consider ensuring healthy eating practices for the Swedish population

Genetic diversity in gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa), as estimated with SSR markers

European gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa L.) is a popular berry crop in many European countries, including Sweden, Denmark and Ukraine. There is no active gooseberry breeding programme in either Sweden or Denmark, but a successful programme is operating in Ukraine. In Sweden and Denmark, research on gooseberries is primarily focused on collection and phenotypic evaluation of genetic resources. As part of these activities, a large number of inventory finds have been collected but have not yet been characterised morphologically or molecularly. The goal of this study was thus to characterise gooseberry germplasm with 15 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. From 242 accessions analysed, 153 unique genotypes were identified. Cultivars that have been in widespread cultivation in Sweden, such as the Finnish cultivars 'Hinnonma & BULL;en Keltainen' and 'Hinnonma & BULL;en Punainen', had relatively large numbers of synonymous samples. While many inventory finds were identifiable as synonyms of known cultivars, several were found to constitute unique genotypes within the germplasm studied. The studied genotypes clustered relatively well in three posterior groups, consisting of cultivars originating before and after the American gooseberry mildew (Sphaerotheca mors-uvae) outbreak around 1900 and cultivars originating from the territory of the former Soviet Union. A fourth genetic cluster consisting mainly of inventory finds from central and northern Sweden was also identified. In addition, it was possible to verify recorded and stipulated parentages for some of the cultivars studied and to identify three likely parent-parent-child trios. Thus, inventories of local gooseberry germplasm and a subsequent genotyping proved successful in finding unique local genotypes, with potential local adaptation. The data obtained provide a foundation for future studies of gooseberry genetic re-sources, while also illustrating the importance of a well-curated and phenotypically characterised set of reference cultivars for future studies

Potential for increased connectivity between differentiated wolverine populations

Information on genetic population structure provides important knowledge for species conservation. Yet, few studies combine extensive genetic data to evaluate the structure and population dynamics of transboundary populations. Here we used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), microsatellites and mitochondrial haplotypes to analyze the genetic population structure of wolverines (Gulo gulo) across Fennoscandia using a long-term monitoring dataset of 1708 individuals. Clear population subdivision was detected between the Scandinavian and the eastern Finnish population with a steep cline in the contact zone. While the Scandinavian population showed isolation by distance, large swaths of this population were characterized by high connectivity. Areas with high resistance to gene flow are likely explained by a combination of factors, such as historical isolation and founder effects. From a conservation perspective, promoting gene flow from the population in eastern Finland to the northwest of Scandinavia could augment the less variable Scandinavian population, and increase the demographic resilience of all subpopulations. Overall, the large areas of low resistance to gene flow suggest that transboundary cooperation with aligned actions of harvest and conflict mitigation could improve genetic connectivity across Finland, Sweden, and Norway

Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project- A 40 year research summary

ISSN 1504-3312 ; Series NINA rapport; Series number: 2589[EN] The Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project (SBBRP) is one of the world's longest running research projects on brown bears. In the following report, we describe the current state of knowledge about brown bears in Scandinavia, summarize key findings, methodologies, and implications of the research conducted under the SBBRP over the last four decades, and outline future directions. This report is divided into 8 sections; each section also includes ’Key Points’ in the beginning, which summarizes important information found in each section. Section 1 provides background information, including a short history of the SBBRP and how its research and mission have evolved through time, as well as descriptions of our core study areas in Sweden, and an overview of both current and historical methodologies. Section 2 gives an overview of the brown bear population in Scandinavia. This includes details about their current and historical ranges and how those have been influenced by management, gives an overview of their population ecology including population size and demography, describes the general characteristics of brown bears, discusses health and disease, and summarizes what we know about brown bear genetics and connectivity. Section 3 discusses brown bear behavior and ecology including their diet and foraging patterns, their habitat, movement, dispersal, home range characteristics, and space use, the fundamentals of their mating system, reproduction, and overall fitness, and their social and individual behavior putting those into the context of intraspecific interactions, and describes their denning ecology. Section 4 describes the Scandinavian brown bear in the context of interactions with other species in the landscape. This includes prey species such as moose, reindeer, and livestock, as well as sympatric predators such as wolves, wolverine, and lynx. Section 5 discusses human-brown bear interactions from multiple angles. This includes how human disturbance can affect bear behavior, the effects of hunting on the bear population as well as on their behavior and evolution, and also looks at what we know about direct human-bear encounters in Scandinavia. Section 6 gives an overview of general brown bear physiology, describes what is known about ecotoxicology in bears such exposure to lead (Pb), and summarizes how bears have been used as translational models in human medical research. Section 7 is focused on research tools and ethics, highlighting how the SBBRP has been at the forefront of brown bear capture-anesthesia methodology over the last 40 years, as well as describing our research on how capture can affect bear physiology and behavior. Finally, Section 8 discusses the future and long-term goals of the SBBRP and highlights core areas of future research and development. Our long-term goal is to continue to monitor the Scandinavian brown bear population and facilitate local management decisions, contribute to the understanding of brown bear biology and ecology in the context of our changing world, and provide nature-based solutions based on brown bear physiology to the field of human medicin

Diet and body constitution in relation to subgroups of breast cancer defined by tumour grade, proliferation and key cell cycle regulators

BACKGROUND: The general lack of clear associations between diet and breast cancer in epidemiological studies may partly be explained by the fact that breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that may have disparate genetic associations and different aetiological bases. METHOD: A total of 346 incident breast cancers in a prospective cohort of 17,035 women enrolled in the Malmö Diet and Cancer study (Sweden) were subcategorized according to conventional pathology parameters, proliferation and expression of key cell cycle regulators. Subcategories were compared with prediagnostic diet and body measurements using analysis of variance. RESULTS: A large hip circumference and high body mass index were associated with high grade tumours (P = 0.03 and 0.009, respectively), whereas low energy and unadjusted fat intakes were associated with high proliferation (P = 0.03 and 0.004, respectively). Low intakes of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were also associated with high proliferation (P = 0.02, 0.004 and 0.003, respectively). Low energy and unadjusted fat intakes were associated with cyclin D(1 )overexpression (P = 0.02 and 0.007, respectively), whereas cyclin E overexpression was positively correlated with fat intake. Oestrogen receptor status and expression of the tumour suppressor gene p27 were not associated with either diet or body constitution. CONCLUSION: Low energy and low total fat (polyunsaturated fatty acids in particular) intakes, and high body mass index were associated with relatively more malignant breast tumours. Dietary behaviours and body constitution may be associated with specific types of breast cancer defined by conventional pathology parameters and cyclin D(1 )and cyclin E expression. Further studies including healthy control individuals are needed to confirm our results

Immune cells lacking Y chromosome show dysregulation of autosomal gene expression

Abstract: Epidemiological investigations show that mosaic loss of chromosome Y (LOY) in leukocytes is associated with earlier mortality and morbidity from many diseases in men. LOY is the most common acquired mutation and is associated with aberrant clonal expansion of cells, yet it remains unclear whether this mosaicism exerts a direct physiological effect. We studied DNA and RNA from leukocytes in sorted- and single-cells in vivo and in vitro. DNA analyses of sorted cells showed that men diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease was primarily affected with LOY in NK cells whereas prostate cancer patients more frequently displayed LOY in CD4 + T cells and granulocytes. Moreover, bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing in leukocytes allowed scoring of LOY from mRNA data and confirmed considerable variation in the rate of LOY across individuals and cell types. LOY-associated transcriptional effect (LATE) was observed in ~ 500 autosomal genes showing dysregulation in leukocytes with LOY. The fraction of LATE genes within specific cell types was substantially larger than the fraction of LATE genes shared between different subsets of leukocytes, suggesting that LOY might have pleiotropic effects. LATE genes are involved in immune functions but also encode proteins with roles in other diverse biological processes. Our findings highlight a surprisingly broad role for chromosome Y, challenging the view of it as a “genetic wasteland”, and support the hypothesis that altered immune function in leukocytes could be a mechanism linking LOY to increased risk for disease