Project Eastern Svealand: Development of the Holocene landscape

Stratigraphical studies connected with archaeological excavations in the Stockholm region and Eastern Svealand have resulted in a preliminary reassessment of the holocene development. An apparant interaction of climate, shore displacement and altitudes of dwelling sites has been traced. The main aim of the project is to construct a reliable curve of shore displacement for the time period 9 000 B.P . to modern times. The investigation has started in the Södertörn area south of Stockholm. Reference areas north of Stockhol , north of Uppsala and west of Nyköping have been included in the project. At present stratigraphical studies combined with diatom analysis, organic carbon measurements and radiocarbon datings are being carried out on sediment cores from 20 lakes in the Södertörn area. The lakes investigated are situated between the altitude of 85 m a .s. l. and down to the present sea-level. Furthermore the study will be completed with vegetational development by means of pollen analysis. Some of the lakes studied also contain varved sediments which can be used for counting and absolute dating. The investigation is included in the IGCP (International Geological Correlation Programme) 158 B project »Palaeohydrological changes in the temperate zone in the last 15 000 years. B. Lake and mire environments», in which the Stockholm region is a reference area

Festigkeitsuntersuchungen an Pins aus boviner Kompakta und biodegradablen Polymeren nach intramedullärer und intramuskulärer Implantation am Kaninchen

In der hier beschriebenen tierexperimentellen Studie am Kaninchen wurden erstmals biolo¬gisch abbaubare Polymere und Implantate aus boviner Tibia-Kompakta hinsichtlich ihrer biomechanischen Eigenschaften direkt verglichen. Als biologisch abbaubare Polymere ka¬men selbstverstärkte Pins aus Poly-L-Laktid (Bionx-Pins®) und Pins aus einem Poly-L-/Poly-D-Laktid Gemisch (Polypin 2.0®) mit einem Poly-D-Laktidanteil von 30% zum Einsatz. Als Pins aus boviner Tibia-Kompakta (Complete Biological) wurden be¬strahlte CB-Pins (Strahlendosis: 17,8 Mrad) und ethylenoxidbehandelte CB-Pins aus bovi¬ner Tibia-Kompakta verwendet. Die Behandlungszeit mit 100% Ethylenoxid betrug sechs Stunden, die Auslüftungszeit betrug mehrere Monate. Nach Implantation der Pins für ma¬ximal zweiunddreißig Wochen im Weichteillager und im knöchernen Lager am Kaninchen wurde eine biomechanische Untersuchung im Drei-Punkt-Biegeversuch und im Scherver¬such in Anlehnung an DIN 53457 durchgeführt. Zwar zeichneten sich die Bionx-Pins® durch eine hervorragende Stabilität aus, der fehlende Festigkeitsverlust bis zum Zeitpunkt von sechzehn Wochen nach der Implantation könnte jedoch beim klinischen Einsatz eine Kraftübertragung auf den heilenden Knochen in die¬sem Zeitraum verhindern. Eine fehlende Durchmesserzunahme der Bionx-Pins® durch Quellung kurz nach der Implantation und das fehlende Einwachsverhalten verhindern eine Verankerung der Implantate in ihrem Lager. Durch das hohe Maß an plastischer Verform¬barkeit kann der Bionx-Pin® nur bedingt die auf ihn wirkenden Kräfte ohne irreversible Verformung absorbieren. Die ethylenoxidbehandelten CB-Pins zeichneten sich durch eine hervorragende Abbaudy¬namik aus. Man kann davon ausgehen, dass diese Implantate zu einer schrittweisen Kraft¬übertragung auf den heilenden Knochen führen würden. Auch die Ausgangsstabilität dieser Pins war sehr hoch. Es kam allerdings in den ersten 24 Stunden nach der Implantation zu großen, nicht erklärbaren Stabilitätsverlusten. Diese Stabilitätseinbußen sind hinsichtlich der Eignung dieser Pins zur Frakturstabilisierung als nachteilig zu bewerten. Die Quellung der ethylenoxidbehandelten CB-Pins in den ersten zwei Wochen nach der Implantation und die anschließend einsetzenden Resorptionsprozesse könnten zur besseren Verankerung der Implantate beim Einsatz im Rahmen von Osteosynthesen beitragen. Die bestrahlten CB-Pins und die Polypins® schnitten aus biomechanischer Sicht nicht so gut ab, wie die ethylenoxidbehandelten CB-Pins und die Bionx-Pins®. Die bestrahlten CB-Pins waren äußerst spröde. Dies änderte sich auch nach der Implanta¬tion im Rahmen des physiologischerweise ablaufenden Rehydratationsprozesses („Flüssig¬keitseinlagerung“) nicht. Wahrscheinlich zerstört der Bestrahlungsprozeß die Binnenstruk¬tur eines CB-Pins derart, dass auch eine Rehydratation keinerlei Einfluß mehr auf die Mate¬rialeigenschaften hat. Ebenso wie bei den ethylenoxidbehandelten CB-Pins konnte auch bei den bestrahlten CB-Pins innerhalb der ersten 24 Stunden nach der Implantation ein sich nachteilig auswirkender großer Festigkeitsverlust nachgewiesen werden, der nicht durch den in dieser Zeit ablaufenden Rehydratationsprozeß erklärbar war. Bestrahlte CB-Pins er¬reichten zumeist nicht die Stabilität der ethylenoxidbehandelten CB-Pins. Der Polypin® hatte von allen verwendeten Implantatarten die geringste biomechanische Wertigkeit. Geringe Festigkeitswerte im gesamten Versuchszeitraum, eine starke Neigung zu irreversibler Verformung und eine den Bionx-Pins® vergleichbar ungünstige Abbaudy¬namik führten zum schlechten Abschneiden dieser Implantate

Self-Rated Mental Health, School Adjustment, and Substance Use in Hard-of-Hearing Adolescents

This survey, “Life and Health—Young People 2005,” included all 15/16-year-old adolescents in mainstream schools in the county of Örebro, Sweden. Just students with a slight/mild or moderate hearing loss were included. There were 56 (1.9%) “hard-of-hearing (HH) students with multiple disabilities,” 93 (3.1%) students who were “just HH,” 282 (9.7%) students with some “other disability than HH,” and 2,488 (85.2%) students with “no disability.” “HH with multiple disabilities” reported considerably higher scores for mental symptoms, substance use, and school problems than the “no disability” group. Those with “just HH” and those with “other disability than HH” had more mental symptoms and school problems than the “no disability” group but no significant differences in substance use. In conclusion, the combination of a hearing loss and some other disability strongly increases the risk for mental symptoms, school problems, and substance use. This group, thus, is an important target for preventive measures

Sodium pentosan polysulfate resulted in cartilage improvement in knee osteoarthritis - An open clinical trial-

BACKGROUND: Pentosan polysulfate sodium (pentosan) is a semi-synthetic drug manufactured from beech-wood hemicellulose by sulfate esterification of the xylopyranose hydroxyl groups. From in vitro and animal model studies, pentosan has been proposed as a disease modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD). The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy, safety, and patient satisfaction in patients with mild radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA) findings and OA-associated symptoms and signs. METHODS: Twenty patients were assessed clinically at Nagasaki University Hospital. The radiographic indications of OA were grade 1 to 3 using the Kellgren-Lawrence Grading System (K/L grade). Pentosan used in this study was manufactured and supplied in sterile injectable vials (100 mg/ml) by bene GmbH, Munich, Germany. The study was a single-center, open-label trial. Treatment consisted of 6 weekly subcutaneous injections (sc) of pentosan (2 mg/kg). Patients were clinically assessed at entry and 1 to 8, 11, 15, 24 & 52 weeks post treatment. The results were analyzed using one way ANOVA and Dunnett's method. RESULTS: Hydrarthroses were reduced quickly in all cases. The clinical assessments, i.e., knee flexion, pain while walking, pain after climbing up and down stairs, etc, were improved significantly and these clinical improvements continued for almost one year. The dose used in this study affected the blood coagulation test, but was within safe levels. Slightly abnormal findings were noted in serum triglycerides. CONCLUSIONS: Pentosan treatment in twenty patients with mild knee OA seemed to provide improvements in clinical assessments and C2C level of cartilage metabolism

Gabapentin for tinnitus: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: The main aim of this study was to assess the effect of gabapentin on tinnitus via a systematic review. METHOD: An electronic search of literature as well as a hand search were conducted. Only double-blind randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that met all of the inclusion criteria were included in this review. The Cochrane Collaboration tool for risk of bias assessment was used to investigate the validity of the included studies. Meta-analysis was not appropriate due to inadequate details in reporting the data in the included studies. Hence, qualitative synthesis and interpretation of the data were carried out. RESULTS: Two studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in the review. Fourteen studies were excluded. There were substantive within-study clinical heterogeneities with regard to the baseline tinnitus handicap scores, duration of tinnitus, and severity of hearing loss in the included double-blind RCTs. CONCLUSION: The authors of both studies reported that gabapentin was not superior to placebo in their primary outcomes. However, following the assessment of risk of bias and within-study clinical heterogeneities, this review concludes that there is insufficient evidence regarding the effect of gabapentin on tinnitus

Measurement of the femoral anteversion angle in medium and large dog breeds using computed tomography

To promote the development of an optimally functional total hip prosthesis for medium and large dog breeds, accurate measurements of the normal anatomy of the proximal femur and acetabular retroversion are essential. The aim of the current study was to obtain precise normal values of the femoral anteversion angle using computed tomography on cadavers of mature dogs with normal hip joints of both medium and large breeds. Based on the length of their femora 58 dogs were allocated either to group I: ≤195 mm or group II: >195 mm. In the study the femoral anteversion angle (FAA) was measured on each femur using multi-slice spiral computed tomography (CT). The data were processed as multi-planar and three-dimensional reconstructions using Advantage Workstation software. The CT measurements showed that the mean ± standard deviation (SD) FAA of group I was 31.34 ± 5.47° and in group II it was 31.02 ± 4.95°. There were no significant mean difference associations between the length of the femur and the femoral neck angle in either group (P > 0.05). The data suggest that a prosthesis FAA of 31 degrees would be suitable for a wide range of dog sizes