Team Work in Business Negotiations

This is a case study of an authentic Swedish business negotiation, stretched over a time of nearly one year and divided into three sessions. The study traces and describes the phases within the negotiation process and it shows that the phase structure of each session is related to the global structure of the entire negotiation. The second part of the study concerns cooperative talk within the negotiating teams, teamtalk, and cooperative talk across the teams, grouptalk. It describes the relationship between the phases in the negotiation process and the development of different types of cooperative talk. The third part of the study indicates the relationship between the interactional character of the negotiation and the different phases. It shows how a monological interaction pattern with several instances of teamtalk in the presentation phase, gradually changes into a dialogical interaction pattern with many instances of grouptalk in the closing phase

Incipient miscommunication as a resource in international negotiations

This paper presents a categorization of sequences of incipient miscommunication according to their sources and to how they are indicated, thematized and solved in cross-cultural negotiating activities between native and non-native speakers of English. It was found that cross-cultural miscommunicative instances were an intrinsic part of the establishing of consensus and therefore they could be used as a communicative resource. Moreover, the importance of the problems presented by the issues at hand overrides the significance of the problems presented by the participants’ language inadequacies. However, miscommunication related to differences in socio-cultural background and to divergent degrees of unawareness regarding the miscommunication often has more serious interactional consequences than a varying or insufficient language proficiency

The Death Knell For the Death Penalty and the Significance of Global Realism to its Abolition from Glossip v. Gross to Brumfield v. Cain

Objectives For the last decade a host of different projects have been launched to allow persons who are concerned about their hearing status to quickly and at a low cost test their hearing ability. Most often, this is carried out without collecting complementary information that could be correlated with hearing impairment. In this two-part study we first, present the development and validation of a novel Internet-based hearing test, and second, report on the associations between this test and phonological representation, quality of life and self-reported hearing difficulties. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting An opportunity sample of participants was recruited at the Stockholm central station for the first study. All parts of the second study were conducted via the Internet, with testing and self-report forms adapted for online use. Participants The first part of the study was carried out in direct contact with the participants, and participants from the second study were recruited by means of advertisements in newspapers and on webpages. The only exclusion criterion was that participants had to be over 18 years old. Most participants were between 60 and 69 years old. There were almost an equal number of men and women (total n=316). Outcome measures 48 participants failed the Internet-based hearing screening test. The group failing the test reported more problems on the Amsterdam Inventory of Auditory Disability. In addition, they were found to have diminished phonological representational skills. However, no difference in quality of life was found. Conclusions Almost one in five participants was in need of contacting their local hearing clinic. This group had more complaints regarding tinnitus and hyperacusis, rated their own hearing as worse than those who passed, and had a poorer capability of generating accurate phonological representations. This study suggests that it is feasible to screen for hearing status online, and obtain valid data

Модернізація стоматологічної установки УС- 30

Background: The novel chemokine CXCL17 acts as chemoattractant for monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. CXCL17 also has a role in angiogenesis of importance for tumour development. Methods: Expression of CXCL17, CXCL10, CXCL9 and CCL2 was assessed in primary colon cancer tumours, colon carcinoma cell lines and normal colon tissue at mRNA and protein levels by real-time qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, two-colour immunofluorescence and immunomorphometry. Results: CXCL17 mRNA was expressed at 8000 times higher levels in primary tumours than in normal colon (P<0.0001). CXCL17 protein was seen in 17.2% of cells in tumours as compared with 0.07% in normal colon (P = 0.0002). CXCL10, CXCL9 and CCL2 mRNAs were elevated in tumours but did not reach the levels of CXCL17. CXCL17 and CCL2 mRNA levels were significantly correlated in tumours. Concordant with the mRNA results, CXCL10-and CXCL9-positive cells were detected in tumour tissue, but at significantly lower numbers than CXCL17. Two-colour immunofluorescence and single-colour staining of consecutive sections for CXCL17 and the epithelial cell markers carcinoembryonic antigen and BerEP4 demonstrated that colon carcinoma tumour cells indeed expressed CXCL17. Conclusions: CXCL17 is ectopically expressed in primary colon cancer tumours. As CXCL17 enhances angiogenesis and attracts immune cells, its expression could be informative for prognosis in colon cancer patients

Development of an electronic frailty index for hospitalized older adults in Sweden

publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Two Years with COVID-19 : The Electronic Frailty Index Identifies High-Risk Patients in the Stockholm GeroCovid Study

INTRODUCTION: Frailty, a measure of biological aging, has been linked to worse COVID-19 outcomes. However, as the mortality differs across the COVID-19 waves, it is less clear whether a medical record-based electronic frailty index (eFI) that we have previously developed for older adults could be used for risk stratification in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to examine the association of frailty with mortality, readmission, and length of stay in older COVID-19 patients and to compare the predictive accuracy of the eFI to other frailty and comorbidity measures. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using electronic health records (EHRs) from nine geriatric clinics in Stockholm, Sweden, comprising 3,980 COVID-19 patients (mean age 81.6 years) admitted between March 2020 and March 2022. Frailty was assessed using a 48-item eFI developed for Swedish geriatric patients, the Clinical Frailty Scale, and the Hospital Frailty Risk Score. Comorbidity was measured using the Charlson Comorbidity Index. We analyzed in-hospital mortality and 30-day readmission using logistic regression, 30-day and 6-month mortality using Cox regression, and the length of stay using linear regression. Predictive accuracy of the logistic regression and Cox models was evaluated by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and Harrell's C-statistic, respectively. RESULTS: Across the study period, the in-hospital mortality rate decreased from 13.9% in the first wave to 3.6% in the latest (Omicron) wave. Controlling for age and sex, a 10% increment in the eFI was significantly associated with higher risks of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio = 2.95; 95% confidence interval = 2.42-3.62), 30-day mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.39; 2.08-2.74), 6-month mortality (HR = 2.29; 2.04-2.56), and a longer length of stay (β-coefficient = 2.00; 1.65-2.34) but not with 30-day readmission. The association between the eFI and in-hospital mortality remained robust across the waves, even after the vaccination rollout. Among all measures, the eFI had the best discrimination for in-hospital (AUC = 0.780), 30-day (Harrell's C = 0.733), and 6-month mortality (Harrell's C = 0.719). CONCLUSION: An eFI based on routinely collected EHRs can be applied in identifying high-risk older COVID-19 patients during the continuing pandemic.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Life satisfaction of women of working age shortly after breast cancer surgery

PURPOSE: To explore, among women of working age, satisfaction with life as a whole and with different life domains, and its associations with social and health variables, shortly after breast cancer surgery. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 605 women, aged 20–63 years, who had had breast cancer surgery with no distant metastasis, pre-surgical chemotherapy, or previous breast cancer. Associations between LiSat-11 and demographic and social factors as well as health- and treatment-related variables were analysed by multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Compared with Swedish reference levels, the women were, after breast cancer surgery, less satisfied with life, particularly sexual life. Women working shortly after breast cancer surgery were more often satisfied with life in provision domains compared with the reference population. Although most included variables showed associations with satisfaction, after adjustment for all significantly associated variables, only six variables—having children, being in work, having emotional and informational social support, and having good physical and emotional functioning—were positively associated with satisfaction with life as a whole. The odds ratios for satisfaction were higher in most life domains if the woman had social support and good emotional and cognitive functioning. CONCLUSIONS: One month after breast cancer surgery, satisfaction with different life domains was associated primarily with social support and health-related functioning. However, this soon after surgery, treatment-related variables showed no significant associations with life satisfaction. These results are useful for planning interventions to enhance e.g. social support and emotional as well as cognitive functioning

Validation of the Swedish Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (Screening Version) and Evaluation of Its Effect in Hearing Aid Rehabilitation

Self-reports of subjective hearing difficulties by people with hearing loss may be a useful complement to audiometry in hearing aid rehabilitation. To be useful, such self-reports need to be reliable. This study investigated the reliability and the validity of the Swedish Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (Screening Version; HHIE-S). Sixty-nine participants completed a questionnaire before hearing aid rehabilitation. Of these individuals, 49 completed hearing aid rehabilitation (aged between 23 and 94 years), and 41 of these 49 participants completed the questionnaire after completing the rehabilitation. The Swedish HHIE-S exhibited good internal consistency (Cronbachs alpha coefficient of .77). The questionnaire was effective for evaluating hearing aid rehabilitation, and a statistically significant reduction in hearing difficulties was observed. The clinicians found the questionnaire easy to administer and effective in hearing aid rehabilitation. The findings from the study support the use of the HHIE-S in clinical practice.Funding Agencies|Ostergotland County Council Research Foundation</p