Time for gender mainstreaming in editorial policies

The HIV epidemic has been continuously growing among women, and in some parts of the world, HIV-infected women outnumber men. Women's greater vulnerability to HIV, both biologically and socially, influences their health risk and health outcome. This disparity between sexes has been established for other diseases, for example, autoimmune diseases, malignancies and cardiovascular diseases. Differences in drug effects and treatment outcomes have also been demonstrated

The malaise of Malta : social divisions, weak institutions, and political partisanship

“There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.” These words were published on the popular blog of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on the 16 October 2017 at 2.35 pm. Ten minutes later, and less than a hundred meters from her house in the rural hamlet of Bidnija, her car was up in flames. Mrs Caruana Galizia had just left her home to run an errand. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a much-debated figure in Malta. Highly polarising and hugely controversial she was critical of the actions of various government and opposition officials. She used her blog, in addition to a bi-weekly column in The Malta Independent, to highlight corruption allegations against various politicians, judges, people in business and political apparatchiks. Caruana Galizia was highly critical of the way the country was being government as well as the weakening of the rule of law.peer-reviewe

病棟スタッフの声かけが患者の作業療法の参加に及ぼす影響―精神科療養病棟での実践―

当院の精神科療養病棟において，病棟スタッフが患者に対して声かけを行い，作業療法棟での集団活動への参加を促す取り組みを行った。声かけは日々の病棟業務の1 つとして患者に声をかけて回る誘導係と参加が困難な患者の担当看護師や介護職員によって行われた。結果的に作業療法棟での集団活動に参加する患者が有意に増加した。事例を通してその背景には，心配してくれる身近な存在の者への期待に応えようとする患者の思い，病棟スタッフの愛のある厳しい言葉，作業療法士の患者の能力を見極め安心して活動に取り組むための援助，作業療法士と病棟スタッフとの連携が存在していると考えられた。We implemented a trial at a long-term care ward of a psychiatric hospital where the ward staff asked the patients to participate in group activities at an occupational therapy ward. We set a person in charge of asking patients to participate as a staff member’s daily work every weekday. The trial was offered by the ward staff in charge of each day. In addition, each nursing and care staff member offered the activity to their own patients if they had diffi culty participating in group activities. As a result, the number of patients who participated in group activities at the occupational therapy ward significantly increased. Through some cases, we considered that there were some background factors: 1) patients’ attitude that they try to live up to the expectations of their own staff who worry about them, 2) ward staff’s strict words with love, 3) assessment and support of occupational therapists in order that patients engage in activities at their ease, 4) cooperation with occupational therapists and ward staff.資

Supporting Frequency Stability With Batteries in Low Inertia Power Systems

As the share of power electronics-based renewableenergy sources increases in power systems, the system inertiaprovided by conventional generation is reduced. Inertia is animportant factor in the grid’s frequency stability, and with its reductioncomes challenges to ensure the reliability of the grid. Thefrequency stabilising service of frequency containment reserveswill need to work in conjunction with the faster, stabilising serviceof fast frequency reserves to avoid power failures in case ofsudden disturbances. This project aims to examine the impact ofinertia and methods of improving frequency stability in a futurelow inertia power system. The frequency behaviour is studiedusing a simplified and linearised model of the Nordic powersystem implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The model is extendedby implementing supplementary battery control to support thefrequency response. The simulation results show that there isan evident correlation between the reduction of system inertiaand frequency instability. Moreover, it is concluded that theimplemented battery support is successful in stabilising frequencyfollowing a disturbance.Då andelen kraftelektronikbaserade‌‌‌ förnybara energikällor ökar i kraftsystem så kommer systemets tröghet, tillfört av konventionell generering av elektricitet, att minska. Trögheten är en viktig faktor för elnätets frekvensstabilitet. Då trögheten minskar utmanas tillförlitligheten av elnätet. Frekvensstabiliserande frekvenshållningsreserver behöver fungera i samspel med de snabbare och stabiliserade frekvensreserverna för att undvika strömavbrott vid plötsliga störningar. Projektet ämnar undersöka trögheten och metoder som används vid förbättring av frekvensstabilitet i framtida kraftsystem med låg tröghet. Beteendet hos frekvenser studeras med en förenklad och linjäriserad modell av det nordiska kraftsystemet implementerat i Matlab/Simulink. Modellen utökas genom att inkludera en batterikontrollmetod för att tillförse ett snabbt frekvenssvar. Resultatet av simuleringarna visar att det finns en korrelation mellan minskning av systemets tröghet och frekvensinstabilitet. Vidare visas det att implementationen av batteristöd lyckas förbättra frekvensen i fallet av en störning.Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2022, KTH, Stockhol

A methodology to study impactor particle reentrainment and a proposed stage coating for the NGI

Abstract Background: Mass-weighted aerodynamic particle-size distribution (APSD) is a key attribute for pharmaceutical products developed to deliver drugs to or through the lungs. In development and quality control, APSD is primarily determined using multistage cascade impactors. For impactor techniques, particle reentrainment is critical because it may lead to an overestimation of the respirable fraction. To avoid reentrainment, the collection surfaces need to be coated with a suitable material. Methods: In this study a method was developed to test flow dependence of particle reentrainment in the Next Generation Pharmaceutical Impactor (NGI) at flow rates ranging from 20 to 80 L/min, and was used to test three coating materials: glycerol coating, aqueous coating with, and without soaked filter paper. Uncoated cups were also tested. In the experimental setup a Vilnius Aerosol Generator generated a flow-independent dry powder aerosol, consisting of micronized insulin. Results: The glycerol coating was not well suited to reduce particle reentrainment at flows >/=40 L/min. The soaked filter paper coating was found to give nearly the same particle size distributions regardless of flow and was therefore judged to be the best of those tested. Using liquid only, without the filter paper, gave the same particle size distributions as soaked filter paper for flows /=60 L/min particle reentrainment increased with flow. However, for most applications liquid coating reduced particle reentrainment to an extent at which further reduction was irrelevant. Particle reentrainment was prevalent for uncoated cups at all flow rates tested. Conclusions: This study shows the advantage of using a stable and flow-independent aerosol generation method to examine particle reentrainment at various flows through the NGI. For insulin dry powder, the use of an aqueous solution as cup coating, preferably with a filter, reduced particle reentrainment to a minimum. The results were confirmed in a study with a DPI