This thesis investigates responses to external cues in oral bacteria on a molecular level. Paper I maps Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphorylated proteins in relation to the general proteome in an oral commensal streptococcus (Streptococcus gordonii DL1). The identified phosphoproteins were involved in various bacterial processes, several associated to dysbiosis and development of biofilm-induced disease. Comparison against phosphoproteomes of other bacteria showed many similarities. This is of interest for the identification of shared phosphorylation profiles. 

Paper II studies differences between the S. gordonii DL1 general proteomes in planktonic and biofilm growth phases, and the regulatory effects of salivary mucin MUC5B on protein expression in the biofilm cells. Regulations in protein expression between the different growth conditions provides insights in bacterial mechanisms for adaptation to the biofilm lifestyle. 

Paper III examines the regulatory roles of salivary MUC5B on biofilm attachment and metabolic output in two clinical isolates of oral commensals, S. gordonii CW and Actinomyces naeslundii CW. S. gordonii facilitated adhesion of A. naeslundii to MUC5B during early attachment. Both bacteria were also able to utilize MUC5B as a sole nutrient source during early biofilm formation, individually and synergistically in a dual species biofilm. The specific responses elicited by MUC5B in paper II-III seem to promote commensal colonization while down-regulating dysbiosis-related biofilm activities. 

Microbiological studies are often focused on dysbiosis and development of disease. However, mechanisms that promote eubiosis are equally important to understand how health can be maintained. Findings associated with responses to external cues in oral bacteria may contribute to future development of novel preventative strategies and identification of predictive biomarkers for oral health. 

Parents with intellectual disabilities are seldomly heard in research about parenting. 

Based on the parents’ own voices, this thesis contributes to deepened knowledge about parenting among persons with intellectual disability. 

By listening to twenty-three parents, my purpose has been to illuminate how parents themselves understand their parenting. The study is mainly based on an interactionist perspective and focuses on how parenting is done. 

To deal with the stigmatizing perceptions and to ward off a perceived threat that the children may be taken from them, the parents use several strategies. These strategies function as a way of counteracting the questioning of their parenting, but above all the parents emphasize giving their children a good childhood. 

In general, the parents experience that their care practices work well when children’s needs are practical and arise in a routinized close to everyday reality. With higher demands on the ability to improvise and financial resources, care is perceived as a greater challenge. Experiences of being listened to and receiving support can counteract feelings of being made suspicious and can promote autonomy and security. But the support can also give rise to feelings of dependence. This is especially valid for women. 

More than 26,000 children and young people are placed in out-of-home care in Sweden every year. Several studies show that children placed in out of home care have poorer health during childhood and are generally in poorer physical condition later in life. The overall aim of this thesis was to study dental health and dental care in children in out-of-home care (OHC), through registry-based research. Paper I was a registry-based study of dental health care utilisation among young adults who as children had been placed in societal out-of-home care. These young adults had more emergency dental visits and more extractions and fewer regular scheduled dental check-ups than their peers who had never experienced OHC.

Paper II was a systematic review/HTA to evaluate organisational models intended to ensure that children and young people in out-of-home care will receive health and dental care. We were unable to identify any study, of low or medium risk of bias, which examined the effects of organisational models on provision of health and dental care for children and young people in foster care and in institutions.

Papers III and IV were validation studies of the Swedish Quality Registry for Caries and Periodontal Diseases (SKaPa), undertaken to determine the accuracy of the registry and whether it was appropriate for application in the next study (Paper V) and for other research purposes. For dft/DFT, the validation studies showed high agreement between the data in the patient records and the SKaPa registry. However, e/M in deft/DMFT was shown to be uncertain.

Paper V was a registry-based study linking different registries, to investigate dental health and dental care in children in OHC. This study showed that children in OHC have more caries and undergo fewer dental health assessments than those who have never been placed in OHC. There was a difference in dental health examinations before and after the year 2017, with higher frequencies of assessments after the legislative amendment in 2017. However, differences remain.

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has strengthened its foreign, security and defence policy in a remarkable way. Several new supranational security and defence initiatives have been launched and implemented, which have given the European Commission a new and central role in European security and defence policy. These swift developments are puzzling, since foreign policy and security and defence policy have long been understood as the ‘last bastions of sovereignty’ for EU member states and have thus been regarded as the least-likely cases for supranational integration. This thesis shows how the Commission has been the central driver behind these changes; it does so by conducting three focused case studies/articles to explore and explain the evolution of a new and enhanced role for the European Commission in EU security and defence cooperation during the period 2014–2023. By researching the establishment of the European Defence Fund, the EU Military Mobility project and the new policies and initiatives developed after Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, this dissertation analyses new competences for the European Commission within EU security and defence policy. This dissertation conceptually and analytically builds on diverse strands of integration literature, drawing on neofunctionalism, the Commission’s policy entrepreneurship and agenda setting, and crisis pressure to retrace in detail these three important empirical processes. The main contribution of this dissertation is to show how the European Commission’s initiatives and strategies have been indispensable in the strengthening of EU integration within security and defence.

This thesis consists of an introduction outlining the overall research agenda and three stand-alone articles: 

1. Håkansson, C. 2021. The European Commission’s new role in EU security and defence cooperation: The case of the European Defence Fund, European Security, Vol. 30:4, 589-608.
2. Håkansson, C. 2023a. The strengthened role of the European Union in defence: The case of the Military Mobility project, Defence Studies, Vol. 23:3, 436–456.  
3. Håkansson, C. 2023b. The Ukraine war and the emergence of the European commission as a geopolitical actor, Journal of European Integration, 1-21.