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To identify the occurrence of recurrent falls and the determinants in the acute phase poststroke that are associated with recurrent falls within the first year poststroke. Prospective follow-up study. Stroke unit and community. Patients (N=504) with acute stroke. Not applicable. The dependent variable was recurrent falls, defined as ≥2 falls, within the first year poststroke. The independent baseline variables were related to function, activity, participation, personal and environmental factors, and comorbidity and were assessed within 4 days after admission to a stroke unit. Fall data were registered at the stroke unit, and self-reported fall data were collected during follow-up using a standardized questionnaire. Determinants of recurrent falls were identified using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. Within 12 months poststroke, 95 of 348 participants (27%) had experienced recurrent falls. Poor postural control (odds ratio [OR] 5.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.84-12.02; P <.0001), moderate postural control (OR 2.41; 95% CI, 1.21-4.80; P =.012), and using a walking aid in the acute phase (OR 2.51; 95% CI, 1.45-4.36; P =.0010) are statistically significant determinants that are associated with recurrent falls within the first year poststroke. The determinant of using a walking aid appears to be primarily driven by those younger than 80 years. In addition to impaired postural control and using a walking aid, a fall at the stroke unit is a determinant associated with recurrent falls after discharge within 6 months poststroke. More than 1 in 4 individuals with stroke experienced recurrent falls within the first year poststroke. Impaired postural control, using a walking aid in the acute phase, and fall during hospitalization are determinants associated with recurrent falls during follow-up. The determinants differ somewhat at different ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Prospective life cycle assessment was conducted for three SIBs and LIBs between 2020 and 2050. • Battery dimensioning model was developed for making a fair comparison. • Four scenarios were developed to capture the potential future changes in background processes and battery performance. • SIBs outperform LIBs under optimal performance scenarios. • Improving battery performance can mitigate more GHG emissions than decarbonizing background production processes. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have emerged as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their promising performance in terms of battery cycle lifetime, safety, operating in wider temperature range, as well as the abundant and low-cost of sodium resources. This study evaluated the climate impacts of three SIBs, and compared to two LIBs under four scenarios with considering potential changes in battery performance and background productions between 2020 and 2050. To ensure a fair comparison, all batteries were modeled in the 21,700 form, and a battery dimensioning model was developed to calculate the required amount of components for each battery. We found that equal to lower GHG emissions result from the use of SIBs compared to LIBs under optimal performance scenarios. From 2020 to 2050, the climate impacts of SIBs decreased by 43–57 %. The relative contribution of the battery manufacturing process decreases from 18–32 % to 2–4 % due to the increasingly share of clean energy in the electricity grid, while the relative contribution of key battery component materials increases over time, especially for cathode active materials. These results emphasize the significance of decarbonizing the electric grid, and suggest that future investment in SIBs is promising from an environmental point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use affects the global climate through greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions, as well as through changes in biophysical properties of the surface. Anthropogenic land use change over time has caused substantial climate forcing related to albedo, i.e. the share of solar radiation reflected back off the ground. There is growing concern that albedo change may offset climate benefits provided by afforestation, bioenergy or other emission reduction measures that affect land cover. Conversely, land could be managed actively to increase albedo as a strategy to combat global warming. Albedo change can be directly linked to radiative forcing, which allows its climate impact to be compared with that of greenhouse gases in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). However, the most common LCA methods are static and linear and thus fail to account for the spatial and temporal dependence of albedo change and its strength as a climate forcer. This study sought to develop analytical methods that better estimate radiative forcing from albedo change by accounting for spatial and temporal variations in albedo, solar irradiance and transmission through the atmosphere. Simplifications concerning the temporal resolution and aggregation procedures of input data were evaluated. The results highlight the importance of spatial and temporal variations in determining the climate impact of albedo change in LCA. Irradiance and atmospheric transmittance depend on season, latitude and climate zone, and they co-vary with instantaneous albedo. Ignoring these dependencies led to case-specific errors in radiative forcing. Extreme errors doubled the climate cooling of albedo change or resulted in warming rather than cooling in two Swedish cases considered. Further research is needed to understand how different land use strategies affect the climate due to albedo, and how this compares to the effect of greenhouse gases. Given that albedo change and greenhouse gases act on different time scales, LCAs can provide better information in relation to climate targets if the timing of flows is considered in life cycle inventory analysis and impact assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify whether, and to what extent, treatment with cardiovascular drugs and neurotropic drugs are associated with postural control and falls in patients with acute stroke. Observational cohort study. A stroke unit at a university hospital. A consecutive sample of patients (N=504) with acute stroke. Not applicable. Postural control was assessed using the modified version of the Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients. Data including baseline characteristics, all drug treatments, and falls were derived from medical records. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the association of drug treatment and baseline characteristics with postural control and with falls. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, factors significantly associated with impaired postural control were treatment with neurotropic drugs (eg, opioids, sedatives, hypnotics, antidepressants) with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.73 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-2.97, P =.046); treatment with opioids (OR 9.23, 95% CI, 1.58-54.00, P =0.014); age (OR 1.09, 95% CI, 1.07-1.12, P <.0001), stroke severity, which had a high National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale-score (OR 1.29, 95% CI, 1.15-1.45, P <.0001), and sedentary life style (OR 4.32, 95% CI, 1.32-14.17, P =.016). No association was found between neurotropic drugs or cardiovascular drugs and falls. Treatment with neurotropic drugs, particularly opioids, in the acute phase after stroke, is associated with impaired postural control. Since impaired postural control is the major cause of falls in patients with acute stroke, these results suggest opioids should be used with caution in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although several biomarkers, including natriuretic peptides and inflammatory biomarkers, have proven to be useful prognostic predictors in patients with heart failure (HF), their predictive value for incident HF has not been extensively studied.Methods and Results: The "Study of Men Born in 1943" is a longitudinal, prospective study of men living in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. A panel of biomarkers consisting of interleukin-6 (IL-6), cystatin C, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) was analyzed from blood samples collected in 1993 in men aged 50 years. Incident HF was recorded from multiple sources, including an echocardiographic assessment in 2014. A total of 747 (94%) of the 798 participants with no previous history of HF were included. Of these 747 participants, 85 (11.4%) developed HF over a 21-year follow-up. After adjustment for body mass index (BMI) and hypertension at baseline, NT-proBNP ≥25 ng/L was associated with a higher risk of HF (odds ratio [OR] 2.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.30-3.36; P = .0024), as was hs-CRP >3 mg/L (OR 2.61, 95% CI 1.59-4.29; P = .0002). In a multivariable model, the expected probability of HF was 0.33 (95% CI 0.23-0.45) in hypertensive patients with hs-CRP >3 mg/L, NT-proBNP ≥25 ng/L, and BMI ≥25 kg/m2, compared with a probability of 0.04 (95% CI 0.02-0.07) in nonhypertensive patients with hs-CRP ≤3 mg/L, NT-proBNP <25 ng/L, and BMI <25 kg/m.2 CONCLUSIONS: NT-proBNP ≥25 ng/L and elevated hs-CRP levels in men aged 50 years were predictive biomarkers for HF over a 2one year follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the disappointing history of translation in pain research has undergone significant scrutiny. The escalation of knowledge and understanding related to presumed pain in neuropathic and inflammatory animal models contrasted with the unsatisfactory record of "bench-to-bedside" translation has raised many questions about the validity and clinical relevance of preclinical models and methods of behavioral assessment. Although many opinions have been expressed one of the overriding concerns and greatest barriers to the widening gap between preclinical research and the development of new interventions has been the underappreciated distinction between pain and nociception. As a result of these shortcomings, the distance between mechanism-based research and patient-centered product development has been referred to as the "valley of death." The reasons for the disappointing record of translation are many and easy to point out, but the changes needed and the strategies necessary to accomplish translational goals are much more difficult to identify. One of the challenges of translational pain research that has garnered a lot of attention relates to strategies of behavioral assessment which, with few exceptions, has remained basically unchanged for more than 3 decades. Other issues important to the discussion include but are not limited to the predictive validity of preclinical models, and the neglect of gender, age, and comorbidities in the design of preclinical studies. On the clinical side, the lack of sanitization of phenotypes in clinical trials has also contributed to the insufficient success of efforts to translate basic research to the clinic. The current review will discuss these and other issues believed to have contributed to the existing obstacles and challenges facing pain research along with making recommendations for the future.Perspective: In this review the challenges of preclinical pain research and the reasons for the disappointing record of translation are examined. Important to this discussion is recognizing the scope of clinical characteristics associated with chronic pain conditions and the need for more clinically relevant models and methods of pain assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Little is known about which factors are associated with a patient’s fear of falling (FoF) after acute stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate baseline variables and their association with FoF during rehabilitation in acute stroke. Patients and methods: The study population consisted of the 462 patients with acute stroke who were admitted to a stroke unit, included in the observational study “The Fall Study in Gothenburg (FallsGOT)” and were able to answer a single question: “Are you afraid of falling?” (Yes/No). To analyze any association between FoF and clinical variables, univariable and multivariable stepwise multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: In the stepwise multivariable regression analysis, only female sex (OR = 2.25 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.46-3.46, p = 0.0002]), the use of a walking aid (OR 3.40, [95% CI 2.12-5.43, p < 0.0001]), and postural control as assessed with the SwePASS total score were statistically significant associated with FoF. Among patients with a SwePASS score of 24 or less, the OR was 9.41 [95% CI 5.13-17.25, p < 0.0001] for FoF compared to patients with a SwePASS score of 31 or above; among the patients with a SwePASS score of 25-30, the OR was 2.29 [95% CI = 1.36-3.83, p = 0.0017]. Conclusions: Our findings provide valuable insight for those involved in stroke rehabilitation during the acute phase after stroke. FoF is associated with poor postural control, female sex and the use of a walking aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree stump harvesting could significantly increase the amount of bioenergy feedstock that forestry can supply to substitute for fossil alternatives. However, the climate mitigation potential of using stumps for bioenergy has been debated due to their often long residence time in the forest caused by slow decomposition. This study evaluated the climate effect over time of utilising stumps for bioenergy using ecosystem forest carbon modelling and time-dependent LCA methodology, including uncertainties in soil carbon changes. Different climate impact metrics were used (global mean temperature change, global warming potential and cumulative radiative forcing) and evaluations were made for single harvest as well as continuous supply over a landscape. Stump harvesting scenarios for spruce forests across Sweden were simulated and the forest net carbon balance was estimated as the difference compared with a reference scenario where the stumps were left to decompose in the forest. The results showed that using stump residues from commercial forestry in Sweden gives a climate benefit when they substitute for fossil fuel, even in a shorter perspective of around two decades. The temperature impact from using stumps for bioenergy at the stand level peaked after 10–15 years and then declined steadily to ∼15% of the maximum level during the following 4–5 decades. The remaining long-term climate impact was small compared to using fossil fuel. An immediate climate benefit was achieved when replacing fossil coal, whereas the parity time, i.e. the time to reach climate benefit was 12–16 years (±2 years) when replacing natural gas, depending on geographical location. For continuous supply of stump bioenergy over a landscape, the corresponding parity time was 22–28 years. There was a higher impact on global climate for northern Sweden, although the absolute difference was small. Sensitivity analysis indicated a moderate additional climate warming effect from the soil disturbance caused by stump harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food waste is a major problem and therefore measures are needed to reduce it. Since expired best-before date is a frequently cited cause of food waste in supermarkets, prolonging shelf life could reduce food waste. Longer shelf life could be achieved in different ways, e.g. reduced storage temperature. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the extent to which longer shelf life actually leads to reduced food waste, and whether the benefits of reduced waste exceed the increased energy costs of maintaining reduced storage temperature. Therefore this study calculated the net effect of reducing food waste in supermarkets by reducing the storage temperature through simulating the relationships between food waste reduction, longer shelf life, reduced storage temperature and increased energy costs. A case study was performed using three years of data on cheese, dairy, deli and meat product waste in six Swedish supermarkets, together with published data on microbiological growth at different temperatures and on the energy requirement for cold storage at different temperatures. Food waste was found to be reduced with lower storage temperature for all food products tested. This measure gave increasing net savings in terms of money and greenhouse gas emissions for meat products with decreasing storage temperature. Deli products had net savings close to zero, while for dairy and cheese products there were net losses, since the costs of reducing storage temperature exceeded the potential savings. Therefore, reducing storage temperature has the potential to reduce waste, but at a total net cost. However, a net benefit can be achieved if the measure is only introduced for products with high relative waste, low turnover and high value per unit mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the environmental impacts of recycling the plant nutrients in anaerobically digested food waste as fertilizer in agriculture. This was compared with the impacts of using chemical fertilizer, where the food waste was incinerated, producing heat. The study site was a biogas plant in central Sweden and life cycle assessment methodology was used. The impacts studied were primary energy use, global warming potential (GWP), potential acidification, potential eutrophication, cadmium flow to farmland and use of phosphate rock. Use of digested food waste as fertilizer proved to have larger negative results than use of chemical fertilizer in all categories assessed except use of non-renewable phosphate rock. Sensitivity analyses showed that the scenarios were comparable in terms of primary energy use and better for GWP if some improvements in the anaerobic digestion system were made. However, acidification and eutrophication caused by digestate handling and the cadmium content of digestate should still be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of this research was to study how mobile technology shapes, changes, and develops informal learning outside the classroom and school environment. In this study we provided each of the 30 Kenyan elite runners with a simple Android smartphone and free Internet for one year. This research project was a developmental intervention with a participatory action research approach, and aimed to facilitate innovation and examine how the runners developed their training, informal learning, and economic opportunities using a smartphone. Logs and tracking of smartphone usage recorded quantitative data, and interviews and participatory observations gathered qualitative data. Key findings were that the smartphone improved the runners' training and race performance and created business opportunities. Second, a smartphone with an Internet connection empowered marginalized groups and augmented informal learning opportunities. Third, that a smartphone was not a significant technological hurdle for impoverished or uneducated individuals. Fourth, the participants were able to learn with little or no guidance or scaffolding. Fifth, the tracking log data indicated both a breadth and depth to individual learning. This participatory action research made a significant impact on the participants' lives and the most common statement from the interviews was the statement "it helps us a lot". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Waste of organic animal products was investigated in six Swedish supermarkets. [•] Organic animal products had higher percentage waste than their conventional counterparts. [•] Low turnover increased the risk of high percentage waste. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The structure of interest is a thin, metallic coating of fcc copper, of thickness of a few nanometers only, resting on a much stiffer substrate. The elastic and plastic properties of the thin coating is investigated for three different crystallographic orientations for two different coating thicknesses using nanoindentation. The force-displacement curve and the atomic arrangement are monitored during the indentation process and the precise conditions for the occurrence of so called pop-ins during loading and pop-outs during unloading are investigated. To simulate the nanoindentation process, a molecular dynamics approach is used, where an infinitely stiff spherical indenter is pushed into the coating under displacement control. The coating is modeled as a thin rectangular plate, with the bottom atom layers locked from movement in all directions, simulating the much stiffer substrate, and periodic boundary conditions are applied in the plane of the plate, simulating an infinitely large plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The demand for risk-reducing mastectomy (RRM) to avoid breast cancer has increased over the last several years, and knowledge of the outcome after this prophylactic surgical procedure is important. The primary aim of this study was to prospectively compare breast sensibility before and after RRM in a consecutive series of women. The study also investigated whether the nipples were less numb if the nipple areola complexes (NACs) were spared compared with regrafted nipple tips. Forty-six women who selected bilateral RRM with immediate reconstruction using implants at the Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden, were included in the study. The median patient age at the time of surgery was 39 years (range 26–58). All patients were evaluated preoperatively and at least 2 years postoperatively (median 29 months). Tactile, thermal and nociceptive cutaneous sensibilities were studied with quantitative techniques. The patients at the postoperative evaluation completed a questionnaire about subjective feelings in both breasts. The results showed that breast sensibility is significantly impaired after RRM. Additionally, the ability to experience sexual sensations in the breast is often lost. An NAC-sparing surgery did not result in better nipple sensibility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To prevent retail food wastage, better understanding of waste patterns is necessary. Flows of fruit and vegetables at six Swedish retail stores were analysed in this study, both by analysing recorded data and by performing physical measurements. Total wasted fresh fruits and vegetables were 4.3% of delivered quantity. The largest category was pre-store waste (goods rejected at delivery; 3.01%), followed by recorded in-store waste (0.99%) and unrecorded in-store waste (0.3%). A positive correlation between unrecorded in-store waste and total waste was found, indicating that a thorough recording of waste could be an effective way to reduce retail waste of fresh fruits and vegetables. The praxis allowing large amounts of reclamations of delivered goods was recognised as the main reason for waste, since pre-store waste contributed with the majority of the waste flow. Initiatives to reduce fresh fruit and vegetable waste in the studied retail chain thus need to focus on the pre-store waste to be efficient. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Introduction: In order to develop valid experimental human pain models, i.e., models potentially reflecting mechanisms underlying certain expressions of clinical pain conditions, similarities and discrepancies of symptoms/signs must first and foremost be evaluated comparing the two. In a situation where symptoms/signs appear to be similar, a potential pitfall with surrogate models would be that pathophysiological mechanisms in clinical conditions and experimental models might differ, i.e., one symptom/sign may be due to several different mechanisms. Symptoms and signs caused by intradermally injected capsaicin have been suggested to reflect aspects of the clinical phenomenology of neuropathic pain, e.g., dynamic mechanical allodynia. Psychophysical characteristics of brush-evoked pain in the pain area in patients with painful peripheral neuropathy were compared with brush-evoked pain in the secondary hyperalgesic area in capsaicin-treated skin in patients and in healthy subjects using different temporo-spatial stimulus parameters. Method: Nine patients were examined in the area of painful neuropathy and subsequently in the corresponding contralateral secondary site, i.e., the secondary hyperalgesic area after an intradermal capsaicin injection. Nine healthy age- and sex-matched subjects were examined in a corresponding area after capsaicin injection. Brush-evoked allodynia was induced by lightly stroking 2 different distances of the skin 2 or 4 times with brushes of 2 different widths. Intensity and duration of brush-evoked allodynia was recorded using a computerized visual analogue scale. The total brush-evoked pain intensity, including aftersensation was calculated as the area under the curve. In addition, similarities and discrepancies in the selection of sensory-discriminative and affective descriptors of the painful experience have been surveyed in the area of neuropathy and in the area of secondary hyperalgesia. Results: All patients reported brush-evoked pain in their area of painful neuropathy during all stimuli. Eight out of 9 patients reported brush-evoked pain in an area outside the flare in the capsaicin treated skin and only 3 out of 9 healthy subjects reported brush-evoked pain in an area outside the flare. Within patients there was no significant difference between sides regarding the influence of the various temporo-spatial stimulus parameters on the total brush-evoked pain intensity. Of all parameters tested, only increased number of strokes resulted in significantly higher brush-evoked pain intensity. The most commonly used sensory-discriminative descriptors during brush-evoked pain in the area of painful neuropathy and in the capsaicin-induced secondary hyperalgesic area in patients and controls were smarting and burning and for the affective descriptors troublesome and annoying. Conclusions: Similarities were found regarding the influence of temporo-spatial stimulus parameters on brush-evoked allodynia in the capsaicin-induced secondary hyperalgesic area contralateral to the area of painful neuropathy and their influence when testing the area of neuropathic pain. Only 3/9 healthy subjects reported brush-evoked pain after capsaicin injection, a finding that may be related to this group reporting less spontaneous pain than the patients after injection. A hyperexcitable nervous system due to the contralateral clinical condition may also have a bearing on the frequent finding of capsaicin-induced allodynia in the patients (8/9). Implications: The low prevalence of tactile allodynia in healthy volunteers makes the capsaicin model an unattractive strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background and aim: Pain due to a usually non-painful mechanical stimulus, mechanical allodynia, is an oppressive symptom in subgroups of patients with neuropathic pain. Dynamic mechanical allodynia (DMA) is evoked by a normally innocuous light moving mechanical stimulus on the skin and static mechanical allodynia (SMA) by a sustained, normally innocuous pressure against the skin. DMA is claimed to be mediated by myelinated fibres and SMA by C-fibres. Also A-delta fibres have been implicated in the static subtype. A low intensity vertically applied stimulus of 1 second (s) is expected to activate predominantly rapidly adapting A-beta mechanoreceptors thus recruiting the same peripheral substrate as a horizontally moving brush on top of the skin. In patients with SMA we assumed an activation of C- but also A-delta fibres from a static 10s von Frey filament stimulus. The aim was to investigate if DMA and SMA could be assessed at perception threshold level using short or longer lasting usually non-painful von Frey filament prodding of the neuropathic skin. Patients and methods: Eighteen patients with painful unilateral partial peripheral traumatic nerve injury suffering from SMA (n =9) and/or DMA (n =18) in a limb were studied. A compression/ischemia-induced (differential) nerve block in conjunction with repeated quantitative sensory testing of A-delta and C-fibre function using cold and warm stimuli was used to assess which nerve fibre population that contributes to pain at perception threshold level using 1s (vF1) and 10s (vF10) von Frey filament stimulation of the skin. Results: The main outcome was the finding that elevation of vF1 and vF10 occurred simultaneously and significantly prior to an increase in the perception level to cold or warmth during the continuous nerve block. Single patients demonstrated a slight decrease in cold perception levels at the time of elevation of vF1 or vF10 and a possible contribution to mechanical allodynia from A-delta-fibres can therefore not completely be ruled out although the recorded alterations were minor. None of the patients reported an elevation of the perception level to warmth at the time of elevation of vF1 or vF10 excluding contribution from C-fibres. Further, only patients with clinically established SMA (n =9) reported continuous pain to a sustained 10s von Frey filament stimulation (vF10). Patients with only DMA (n =9) reported pain merely for the initial 1–3s of the total stimulus duration of 10s and for a few seconds after the filament was lifted from the skin. Conclusions: These findings support the role of A-beta fibres as peripheral mediators of both vF1 and vF10 although different receptor organs may be involved, i.e., rapidly (RA) and slowly (SA-I) adapting mechanoreceptors. Implications: Techniques to quantify the different allodynias at perception threshold level deserve further attention as possible adjuncts to suprathreshold stimuli in intervention studies aimed at modifying these stimulus-evoked phenomena. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A school principal has to play many different roles, such as a decision maker, problem solver, instructional leader and change agent. Research studies on profiles and preparation of school leaders have demonstrated many similarities and some differences between school leaders in different contexts. This study undertaken in Sweden, the third largest country in Europe, but with a small population with particular problems of her own, focuses on the profiles and pre-service and in-service training received, and how the school leaders perceive that their future professional development programs requirements to be designed and provided. The sample includes both principals and vice-principals in Swedish schools. Results suggest that the most important reasons for becoming principals were to transform society and the attraction of higher salaries. Only one third had undergone some sort of pre-service training whereas almost all have undergone in-service training. In their view 'Human resources management'; 'Introduction and management of reforms'; 'An induction program'; and 'Ethics, morals and values for educational leaders' were the most important topics for pre-service programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Inoculation experiments were performed to compare the growth of snow blight (Phacidium infestans Karst.) mycelium on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings on sites with or without undergrowth and green logging slash. Inoculations were performed on Scots pine seedlings planted within undergrowth of Scots pine, Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and birch (Betula sp.). Snow depth and temperature were recorded in uncleaned and cleaned environments. No significant effect of retained undergrowth was found. However, snow blight growth was enhanced by artificially added birch stems, mimicking an uncleaned environment. There were no differences in snow depth between cleaned and uncleaned areas. Mean daily snow temperature did not differ between treatments. However, the snow temperature variation was significantly higher in an uncleaned area. Occasions with temperatures above 0°C were equally frequent in uncleaned and cleaned environments. Temperatures above the lower limit for mycelial growth (−5°C) were more frequent in the cleaned environment. Fresh logging slash of Scots pine enhanced snow blight infection. It is concluded that the practice to leave 1–3m high undergrowth after harvest (in order to increase biodiversity) will probably not result in dramatically enhanced snow blight growth in Scots pine regenerations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]