Electromechanical film sensor device for dynamic force recordings from canine limbs

An equipment based on the electromechanical film (EMF) sensors was designed for the measurementof forces acting upon canine limbs. EMF forms an elastic electret, which generates on its surface an electric charge proportional to the the force applied on it. The EMF sensors were calibrated using a conventional material testing device with cyclic loads. The beagles were trained on a treadmill working at horizontal position or with either 15° uphill or downhill inclination. The treadmill belt speed varied from 2.5 km/h to 7.5 km/h. The force under the canine paws varied depending on the inclination of the treadmill. When the dogs ran uphill, weight-bearing on hind1imbs increased 11% but the weight-bearing 0n forelimbs did not change. Downhill running increased weight-bearing on forelimbs by 8% and decreased weight-bcaring of the hindlimbs by 5%. Immobilization of the right hind] imb increased weightbearing on both forelimbs by 7-25% and on the left hindlimb by 56%. One month after a 30° valgus osteotomy operation at the right tibia, the dynamic force recorded From the operated hindlimb was 69% of the control value. Three months after osteotomy, the weight-bearing of the operated limb approachednormal situation. Our results suggest that the EMF sensor is a reliable method for the measurement of dynamic forces acting on the weight-bearing limbs of the dogs

A New Application of the Gursey and Radicati Mass Formula

We study the spin- and flavour- dependent SU(6) violations in the baryon spectrum by means of a G\"ursey Radicati mass formula. The average energy of each SU(6)-multiplet is described using the SU(6) invariant interaction given by a hypercentral potential containing a linear and a hypercoulomb term. We show that the non strange and strange baryon masses are in general fairly well reproduced and moreover that the G\"ursey Radicati formula holds in a satisfactory way also for the excited states up to 2 GeV. The coefficients of the G\"ursey Radicati SU(6) breaking part obtained by the fit of the three-quark spectrum can be used to evaluate in first approximation the splitting within multiplets also for exotic baryon systems.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 2 table, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Spectroscopy of pentaquark states

We construct a complete classification of pentaquark states in terms of the spin-flavour SU(6) representations. We find that only some definite SU(3) representations are allowed, singlets, octets, decuplets, anti-decuplets, 27-plets and 35-plets. The latter three contain exotic states, which cannot be constructed from three quarks only. This complete classification scheme is general and model independent and is useful both for model builders and experimentalists. The mass spectrum is obtained from a Gursey-Radicati type mass formula, whose coefficients have been determined previously by a study of qqq baryons. The ground state pentaquark which is identified with the recently observed Theta(1540) state, is predicted to be an isosinglet anti-decuplet state. Its parity depends on the interplay between the spin-flavour and orbital contributions to the mass operator.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, 11 tables, revised version with 2 extra tables, an updated list of references and expanded discussion of the results. Accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

Going carless in different urban fabrics : socio-demographics of household car ownership

Diverse physical features of urban areas alongside socio-demographic characteristics affect car ownership, and hence the daily mobility choices. As a case of sustainable mobility, we explore how various urban environments and socio-demographics associate with the spatial and social distribution of household car ownership and carlessness in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. Three urban fabrics characterizing the study area are established based on the transportation mode (walking, public transportation, or automobile) the physical urban environment primarily supports. The national level Monitoring System of Spatial Structure and Urban Form database, and the National Travel Survey (2016) are utilized to further include spatial and socio-demographic variables into our analysis across these fabrics. Our results show that households with and without cars differ in terms of residential distance to the city center, neighborhood density, house type, and socio-demographic profiles. Single pensioners and students are most likely to be carless, whereas families represent the opposite. Within the carless households the differences are also evident between different groups. For the more affluent households residing in dense and well-connected areas, and mostly possessing driver's licenses, carlessness is presumably a choice. Contrarily, many other carless households represent the less affluent often located in the more distant, low-density, and less accessible areas, while also possessing less driver's licenses, making carlessness more of a constraint, as the local urban fabric does not support such lifestyle. Consequently, carless households should be increasingly recognized as a focus group in sustainable urban planning in terms of identifiable best practices and potential vulnerability.Peer reviewe

Meson exchange and nucleon polarizabilities in the quark model

Modifications to the nucleon electric polarizability induced by pion and sigma exchange in the q-q potentials are studied by means of sum rule techniques within a non-relativistic quark model. Contributions from meson exchange interactions are found to be small and in general reduce the quark core polarizability for a number of hybrid and one-boson-exchange q-q models. These results can be explained by the constraints that the baryonic spectrum impose on the short range behavior of the mesonic interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure added, expanded discussio

Population‐based study of anastomotic stricture rates after minimally invasive and open oesophagectomy for cancer

Background The population‐based incidence of anastomotic stricture after minimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIO) and open oesophagectomy (OO) is not known. The aim of this study was to compare rates of anastomotic stricture requiring dilatation after the two approaches in an unselected cohort using nationwide data from Finland and Sweden. Methods All patients who had MIO or OO for oesophageal cancer between 2007 and 2014 were identified from nationwide registries in Finland and Sweden. Outcomes were the overall rate of anastomotic stricture and need for single or repeated (3 or more) dilatations for stricture within the first year after surgery. Multivariable Cox regression provided hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 per cent confidence intervals, adjusted for age, sex, co‐morbidity, histology, stage, year, country, hospital volume, length of hospital stay and readmissions. Results Some 239 patients underwent MIO and 1430 had an open procedure. The incidence of strictures requiring one dilatation was 16·7 per cent, and that for strictures requiring three or more dilatations was 6·6 per cent. The HR for strictures requiring one dilatation was not increased after MIO compared with that after OO (HR 1·19, 95 per cent c.i. 0·66 to 2·12), but was threefold higher for repeated dilatations (HR 3·25, 1·43 to 7·36). Of 18 strictures following MIO, 14 (78 per cent) occurred during the first 2 years after initiating this approach. Conclusion The need for endoscopic anastomotic dilatation after oesophagectomy was common, and the need for repeated dilatation was higher after MIO than following OO. The increased risk after MIO may reflect a learning curve. </div

More Active Mobility in Everyday Life: Finland Benefits from Reducing Car Use

The Ministry of Transport and Communications’ National Programme for the Promotion of Walking and Cycling aims to increase the combined modal share of walking and cycling from the current 30% to 35–38% by 2030. In order to achieve the target, the current measures are not enough. Without more decisive action, the health, economic, and environmental benefits of increasing walking and cycling will remain a dream. Cities have a long tradition of car-based transport and urban planning. This is reflected in the reduced physical activity and, consequently, the decline in public health and increasing health care costs. While the car-centric lifestyle still prevails, there are weak signals of a shift towards more active, healthy, and sustainable mobility patterns: carlessness is becoming more common in dense and large cities. In the Oulu region, the popularity of cycling is significant compared to other urban areas in Finland. In Helsinki, the conditions for reducing car use have increased. According to the recent national studies measuring school children’s physical activity, children in urban areas are more active than those in rural areas. Behaviour change takes time. To bring about and consolidate change, we need to better understand people’s daily lives as well as create long-term plans across different sectors and levels of government to support active travel. This policy brief is the first in its series from the Healthy Lifestyles to Boost Sustainable Growth (STYLE) project, combining interdisciplinary knowledge on trends in transport and physical activity. Interpreting them through infrastructure and service designs and changing lifestyles, we generate insight on novel business opportunities and intervention models that induce physical activity. This provides innovative pathways towards current national policy targets and promotion of the societal vision. The project is funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland. Read more: www.styletutkimus.fi/e

Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of motivating eye gaze in young children on autism spectrum through parent-mediated intervention

We studied the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a brief parent-mediated intervention to improve the orienting towards faces in young autistic children. Twenty (aged 3–6) autistic children were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. The intervention group parents were trained to perform three types of practices with their children for four months. The feasibility of recruitment, data collection and analysis procedures, acceptability and adherence were investigated. To study the usability and preliminary efficacy of two outcome measures, eye gaze and state of engagement with parents were observed during a 10-minute free-play session at baseline, after 4–6 months, and after two years. The results indicated support for the feasibility and efficacy, demonstrating a significant increase in eye gaze and engagement in the intervention group but not in the control group. It is an encouraging preliminary finding that the engagement increased after supporting the orientation towards the eye region, indicating beneficial effects for further social-communicative development in autistic children.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Penta-quark states with hidden charm and beauty

More and more hadron states are found to be difficult to be accommodated by the quenched quark models which describe baryons as 3-quark states and mesons as antiquark-quark states. Dragging out an antiquark-quark pair from the gluon field in hadrons should be an important excitation mechanism for hadron spectroscopy. Our recent progress on the penta-quark states with hidden charm and beauty is reviewed.Comment: Plenary talk at the 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics 2011 (APFB2011), 22-26 Aug., 2011, Seoul, Kore

Oral Health Care Reform in Finland – aiming to reduce inequity in care provision

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Finland, dental services are provided by a public (PDS) and a private sector. In the past, children, young adults and special needs groups were entitled to care and treatment from the public dental services (PDS). A major reform in 2001 – 2002 opened the PDS and extended subsidies for private dental services to all adults. It aimed to increase equity by improving adults' access to oral health care and reducing cost barriers. The aim of this study was to assess the impacts of the reform on the utilization of publicly funded and private dental services, numbers and distribution of personnel and costs in 2000 and in 2004, before and after the oral health care reform. An evaluation was made of how the health political goals of the reform: integrating oral health care into general health care, improving adults' access to care and lowering cost barriers had been fulfilled during the study period.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>National registers were used as data sources for the study. Use of dental services, personnel resources and costs in 2000 (before the reform) and in 2004 (after the reform) were compared.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2000, when access to publicly subsidised dental services was restricted to those born in 1956 or later, every third adult used the PDS or subsidised private services. By 2004, when subsidies had been extended to the whole adult population, this increased to almost every second adult. The PDS reported having seen 118 076 more adult patients in 2004 than in 2000. The private sector had the same number of patients but 542 656 of them had not previously been entitled to partial reimbursement of fees.</p> <p>The use of both public and subsidised private services increased most in big cities and urban municipalities where access to the PDS had been poor and the number of private practitioners was high. The PDS employed more dentists (6.5%) and the number of private practitioners fell by 6.9%. The total dental care expenditure (PDS plus private) increased by 21% during the study period. Private patients who had previously not been entitled to reimbursements seemed to gain most from the reform.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study indicate that implementation of a substantial reform, that changes the traditionally defined tasks of the public and private sectors in an established oral health care provision system, proceeds slowly, is expensive and probably requires more stringent steering than was the case in Finland 2001 – 2004. However, the equity and fairness of the oral health care provision system improved and access to services and cost-sharing improved slightly.</p