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Tiivistelmä. Match ja mismatch hypoteesi (MM-hypoteesi) on viime aikoina ilmastonmuutoksen ohella kasvanut puheenaihe. Se koskee ilmaston lämpenemisestä aiheutuvia fenologisia muutoksia, jotka voivat johtaa ongelmiin lajienvälisten ja lajiensisäisten vuorovaikutussuhteiden välillä. Ongelma on suuri varsinkin lintujen ja niiden pesinnän kohdalla. Lintujenpoikasten pääasiallisena ravintona toimivat hyönteiset reagoivat ilmaston lämpenemiseen eri tavoin, joka johtaa lintujen ja hyönteisten väliseen epäsynkroniaan. Tämä johtuu pääasiallisesti fysiologioissa esiintyvien erojen vuoksi. Fysiologiassa esiintyvien erilaisuuksien lisäksi muutoksia synkroniassa voi aiheuttaa ilmastossa ja säässä tapahtuvat äkilliset muutokset, jotka ovat yleistyneet ilmaston lämmetessä. Tällöin tietyllä alueella elävillä populaatioilla voi mennä toisia paremmin tai huonommin, riippuen ilmasto-oloista. Lintujen tulee kyetä aloittamaan pesintä oikeaan aikaan keväällä, jotta se onnistuu hyvin ja ravintoa on poikasten kuoriuduttua paljon. Tällöin lajien välinen synkronia tapahtuu. Jos pesinnän ajoitus epäonnistuu, ja lintujen ja hyönteisten välillä esiintyy epäsynkroniaa, pesintä todennäköisesti huononee ja johtaa kelpoisuuden laskuun. Kelpoisuuksissa esiintyvät erot voivat lopulta johtaa evolutiivisiin muutoksiin, jos luonnonvalinta suosii jotakin toista yksilöä tai populaatiota toista enemmän. Pääasiallisesti evolutiivisia muutoksia ei olla vielä havaittu, vaan muutoksia on tapahtunut käytännössä vain fenologisessa plastisuudessa, joka kuvaa eliön kykyä mukautua ympäristön muutoksiin. Tulevaisuudessa fenologinen joustavuus ei välttämättä enää riitä, vaan eliöiden on joko mukauduttava ympäristön luomiin muutoksiin, muutettava muualle, tai kuolla. Vaikka aiheesta on tehty paljon tutkimusta, sitä tarvitaan paljon lisää, jotta voidaan ymmärtää paremmin ilmastonmuutoksesta aiheutuvia ilmiöitä. Nykyinen tutkimus kohdistuu vahvasti eliöiden välisiin suhteisiin. Erilaisia evoluutioon vaikuttavia tekijöitä on tutkittu liian vähän ja olisi toivottavaa, että tutkimuksia tehtäisiin enemmän tällä osa-alueella ja että tietämystä lisättäisiin. MM-hypoteesi koskettaa lintujen lisäksi hyvin suurta osaa maailman eliöstöstä. Toisia se koskee enemmän ja toisia vähemmän. Tämän ymmärtäminen on erityisen tärkeää lajimonimuotoisuuden säilyvyyden kannalta ja on tärkeää, että tietoa saadaan aiheesta lisää.

Despite remarkable progress in digital linguistics, extensive databases of geographical language distributions are missing. This hampers both studies on language spatiality and public outreach of language diversity. We present best practices for creating and sharing digital spatial language data by collecting and harmonizing Uralic language distributions as case study. Language distribution studies have utilized various methodologies, and the results are often available as printed maps or written descriptions. In order to analyze language spatiality, the information must be digitized into geospatial data, which contains location, time and other parameters. When compiled and harmonized, this data can be used to study changes in languages’ distribution, and combined with, for example, population and environmental data. We also utilized the knowledge of language experts to adjust previous and new information of language distributions into state-of-the-art maps. The extensive database, including the distribution datasets and detailed map visualizations of the Uralic languages are introduced alongside this article, and they are freely available.

Background. Polysensitization, defined as being allergic to three or more haptens from the European baseline series, is considered to reflect increased susceptibility to developing a contact allergy, and is likely to be associated with an impaired quality of life.Objectives. To evaluate the prevalences of polysensitization across Europe and to analyse factors associated with polysensitization.Methods. Patch test data collected by the European Surveillance System on Contact Allergies (ESSCA; www.essca-dc.org) in consecutively patch tested patients from January 2009 to December 2014, comprising 11 countries and 57 departments, were retrospectively analysed.Results. A total of 86 416 patients were available for analysis, showing a standardized prevalence of polysensitization of 7.02%, ranging from 12.7% (Austria) to 4.6% (Italy). Allergen pairs with the strongest association are reported for the total population, for South Europe, and for North/Central Europe. Overall, polysensitized patients showed a higher percentage of extreme (+++) positive patch test reactions than oligosensitized patients. Female sex, occupational dermatitis and age > 40 years were risk factors for polysensitization.Conclusions. The varying prevalences of polysensitization across Europe most likely reflect differences in patient characteristics and referral patterns between departments. Knownrisk factors for polysensitization are confirmed in a European dermatitis population.

Background: Lung function is highly heritable and differs between the sexes throughout life. However, little is known about sex-differential genetic effects on lung function. We aimed to conduct the first genome-wide genotype-by-sex interaction study on lung function to identify genetic effects that differ between males and females. Methods: We tested for interactions between 7,745,864 variants and sex on spirometry-based measures of lung function in UK Biobank (N=303,612), and sought replication in 75,696 independent individuals from the SpiroMeta consortium. Results: Five independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showed genome-wide significant (P

Purpose: The Finnish National Esophago-Gastric Cancer Cohort (FINEGO) was established to combine the available registry data with detailed patient information to form a comprehensive, retrospective, population-based research platform of surgically treated oesophageal and gastric cancer in Finland. This cohort profile describes the 2045 surgically treated patients with oesophageal cancer included in the FINEGO cohort. Participants: Registry data were collected from the National Cancer, Patient, Education and Death Registries from 1 January 1987 to 31 December 2016. All patients over 18 years of age, who had either curative surgery, palliative surgery or salvage surgery for primary cancer in the oesophagus are included in this study. Findings to date: 2045 patients had surgery for oesophageal cancer in the selected time period. 67.2% were man, and the majority had only minor comorbidities. The proportions of adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas were 43.1% and 44.4%, respectively, and 12.5% had other or missing histology. Only about 23% of patients received neoadjuvant therapy. Oesophagectomy was the treatment of choice and most patients were treated at low-volume centres, but median annual hospital volume increased over time. Median overall survival was 23 months, 5-year survival for all patients in the cohort was 32.9% and cancer-specific survival was 36.5%. Future plans: Even though Finland only has a population of 5.5 million, surgery for oesophageal carcinoma has not been centralised and therefore previously reported results have mostly been small, single-centre cohorts. Because of FINEGO, we now have a population-based, unselected cohort of surgically treated patients, enabling research on national trends over time regarding oesophageal cancer, including patient characteristics, tumour histology, stage and neoadjuvant treatment, surgical techniques, hospital volumes and patient mortality. Data collection is ongoing, and the cohort will be expanded to include more detailed data from patient records and national biobanks.

Telomere length has been suggested a biomarker of aging and is associated with several chronic diseases. However, the association between telomere length and physical performance is not well known. Using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, we studied 582 women and 453 men from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study at two time-points; a baseline examination in 2001–2004 at a mean age of 61 years and a follow-up examination approximately 10 years later in 2011–2013. Telomere length was measured both at baseline and at follow-up using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Physical performance was evaluated only at follow-up using the Senior Fitness Test (SFT), which assesses strength, flexibility and endurance. In women, shorter telomere length at follow-up (p = 0.044) and greater telomere attrition during follow-up time (p = 0.022) were associated with poorer physical performance after adjusting for covariates (age at baseline, smoking status, body mass index at baseline, follow-up time and educational attainment). No similar associations were found for men. This indicates that, at least in women, telomere length could potentially be used as a biomarker for physical performance, however, more longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this association.