Validation of an Icelandic version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenObjective: The GDS is a widely used tool world wide, both in clinical practice and in research of the elderly. The objective was to translate and validate the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) in Iceland. The short version of the GDS was also studied. Material and methods: GDS was translated from English to Icelandic and backtranslated. Individuals, both hospitalised and healthy, born 1933 or before were included in the study. Those who had MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination) score under 23 were excluded. Seventy-one individuals were examined for depression both with a structured interview, Composite International Diagnostic Interview; 1993 (CIDI-a) and with the GDS. Results: The GDS results were comparable to the results from the interview. The cutoff score for depression was chosen 13/14 according to the most favorable values of sensitivity (0.77), specificity (0.95), positive predictive value (0.77) and kappa (0.72). One cutoff was chosen because in our study there were persons with moderate or severe depression but no one with mild depression was detected. Our cutoff score for depression was identical with the cutoff score in the original american GDS version, but the original american version included a cutoff for mild depression also. Conclusions: The Icelandic GDS is a reliable method to screen for depression among the elderly. We conclude that GDS is an useful tool in unravelling depressive illness amongst the elderly although not diagnostic per se.Markmið: Tilgangur rannsóknarinnar var að þýða og staðfæra Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) spurningalistann, en hann gefur vísbendingu um þunglyndi aldraðra og er mikið notaður erlendis bæði við lækningar og rannsóknir. Listinn samanstendur af 30 spurningum og er þægilegur í notkun, þar sem sjúklingurinn krossar við já eða nei eftir því sem við á. Stytt útgáfa GDS byggist á 15 af spurningum löngu útgáfunnar. Efniviður og aðferðir: GDS var þýddur yfir á íslensku og aftur yfir á ensku. Einstaklingar fæddir 1933 eða fyrr voru valdir til þátttöku í rannsókninni. Sjúklingar með heilabilun voru útilokaðir með MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination) prófi. Að lokum var 71 einstaklingur á aldrinum 65-87 ára metinn með tilliti til þunglyndis, annars vegar með stöðluðu geðgreiningarviðtali (CIDI-a, Composite International Diagnostic Interview; 1993) þar sem stuðst var við greiningu á þunglyndi samkvæmt alþjóðlegri tölfræðiflokkun sjúkdóma og skyldra heilbrigðisvandamála, 10. endurskoðuðu útgáfu, ICD 10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision), og DSM III (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 3. útgáfa) og hins vegar með GDS spurningalistanum. Niðurstöður: Niðurstöður sem fengnar voru með GDS spurningalistanum voru sambærilegar við niðurstöður úr viðtali. Viðmiðunargildi 13/14 var valið samkvæmt hagstæðustu gildum á næmi (0,77), sértæki (0,95), jákvæðu forspárgildi (0,77) og kappa (0,72). Í rannsókninni greindust 13 einstkalingar með meðalalvarlegt og alvarlegt þunglyndi, en enginn með vægt þunglyndi. Ályktun: Íslensk útgáfa GDS er áreiðanleg aðferð til að leita að þunglyndi hjá öldruðu

Game-based career learning support for youth: effects of playing the Youth@Work game on career adaptability

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions that youth has to take but many young people find this a hard issue to engage with. Current career counselling practice does not appear very compelling or motivating to young people. Professional games could provide a more engaging and motivating way of acquiring professional awareness and competence for career decision making and learning. We present the design and effects of playing a game that aims to increase career awareness and adaptabilities in youth (13–19 years). In a Randomized Controlled Trial, 93 high school students from Iceland and Romania were asked to carry out career-oriented activities, with half playing an interactive game and the other half performing a paper-and-pencil version of the same activities. The students were compared on career adaptability, career learning and career awareness scores before and after these interventions. Main results show that engaging players in these career-oriented activities has short term effects on outcome scores for career adaptabilities and for perceptions of career learning competences. Students who played the game report significantly faster growth on career adaptabilities that deal with “concern”, “control” and “confidence”. It can therefore be concluded that introducing game-based learning in career decision support for youth is a promising endeavour.Peer Reviewe

Retinal oxygen metabolism in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Introduction We have previously reported that retinal vessel oxygen saturation is increased in mild-to-moderate dementia of Alzheimer's type when compared with healthy individuals. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the predementia stage of the disease. The main purpose was to investigate if these changes are seen in MCI. Methods Retinal vessel oxygen saturation was measured in 42 patients with MCI and 42 healthy individuals with a noninvasive retinal oximeter, Oxymap T1. The groups were paired according to age. Results Arteriolar and venular oxygen saturation was increased in MCI patients compared to healthy individuals (arterioles: 93.1 ± 3.7% vs. 91.1 ± 3.4%, P = .01; venules: 59.6 ± 6.1% vs. 54.9 ± 6.4%, P = .001). Arteriovenous difference was decreased in MCI compared to healthy individuals (33.5 ± 4.5% vs. 36.2 ± 5.2%, P = .01). Discussion Increased retinal vessel oxygen saturation and decreased arteriovenous difference in MCI could reflect less oxygen extraction by retinal tissue. This indicates that retinal oxygen metabolism may be affected in patients with MCI.Olof Birna Olafsdottir received a grant from the Icelandic Centre for Research. The sponsor did not have any role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.Peer Reviewe

Retinal oxygen metabolism in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Introduction We have previously reported that retinal vessel oxygen saturation is increased in mild-to-moderate dementia of Alzheimer's type when compared with healthy individuals. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the predementia stage of the disease. The main purpose was to investigate if these changes are seen in MCI. Methods Retinal vessel oxygen saturation was measured in 42 patients with MCI and 42 healthy individuals with a noninvasive retinal oximeter, Oxymap T1. The groups were paired according to age. Results Arteriolar and venular oxygen saturation was increased in MCI patients compared to healthy individuals (arterioles: 93.1 ± 3.7% vs. 91.1 ± 3.4%, P = .01; venules: 59.6 ± 6.1% vs. 54.9 ± 6.4%, P = .001). Arteriovenous difference was decreased in MCI compared to healthy individuals (33.5 ± 4.5% vs. 36.2 ± 5.2%, P = .01). Discussion Increased retinal vessel oxygen saturation and decreased arteriovenous difference in MCI could reflect less oxygen extraction by retinal tissue. This indicates that retinal oxygen metabolism may be affected in patients with MCI.Olof Birna Olafsdottir received a grant from the Icelandic Centre for Research. The sponsor did not have any role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.Peer Reviewe

Mass-conservation of Archaeological Iron Artefacts A Case Study at the National Museum of Iceland

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the possible benefits and consequences of a mass-conservation system at the National Museum of Iceland through a literature review. There have been periods where few or no conservators specialized in archaeological conservation have been working at the museum. This has left the museum with a large amount of both un-conserved artefacts and artefacts in need of re-conservation. This applies to most material categories but this thesis will only look into the condition of iron and its possible massconservation and how the methods would apply in reality. The condition of iron artefacts from one site was evaluated and the information logged into a database. This was then used to gather information regarding the condition of the artefacts in the National Museum of Iceland’s collection. No actual conservation was done, as this is a theoretical thesis. General facts on iron and corrosion products are discussed. Iron conservation methods currently in common use in Northern Europe are reviewed in order to get an overview of which methods are applicable in mass-conservation. The goal of this thesis is to find a method to increase the productivity at the conservation department at the National Museum of Iceland within the limitations of low funding and a lack of conservators in the country. After looking into various treatments of archaeological iron it is recommended in this thesis that only parts of the conservation process in the National Museum of Iceland will be adapted to a mass-conservation setup. That way the process can be sped up and the condition of the artefacts can be evaluated thoroughly.Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen i Kulturvård, Konservatorsprogrammet 15 hp Institutionen för kulturvård Göteborgs universitet 2012:2

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Verkefnið er opið nemendum og starfsfólki Háskólans á Akureyr

Discrepancies between defined and actualized ecotourism: bridging the gap between theory and reality

Vistvæn ferðamennska (ecotourism) er þekkt en margrætt hugtak, misskilið af ferðamönnum, gestgjöfum þeirra og fræðimönnum. Það hefur vakið vaxandi athygli þar sem vistvæn ferðamennska hefur verið helsti vaxtarsproti ferðamannaiðnaðarins. Áhersla hefur verið lögð á að skilgreina hugtakið og afmarka það nákvæmlega í fræðilegum tilgangi. Margar skilgreiningar hafa verið settar fram, misflóknar og nákvæmar, en engin ein hefur náð almennri hylli. Bókmenntir á sviðinu hafa gjarna fjallað um tiltekin dæmi (case studies), en slík dæmi segja takmarkaða sögu þar sem enginn virðist geta kveðið uppúr um það hvað vistvæn ferðamennska sé og hvað hún felur í sér. Eitt er að skilja fyrirbærið og annað að gera “sanna” vistvæna ferðamennsku að veruleika, sem margur efasemdamaður bæði í hópi ferðalanga og fræðimanna telur óhugsandi. Þessi ritgerð freistar þess hins vegar að brúa bilið milli kenningar og veruleika hvað vistvæna ferðamennsku snertir með því að undirstrika misræmið milli þeirra

The Role of Horses in the Old Norse Sources: Transcending worlds, mortality and reality

This thesis presents the depiction and use of horses in the Old Norse sources, including their role in religion, rituals and beliefs. A close reading of the myths in the Poetic Edda and Snorra Edda shows that horses were seen as a bridge between worlds – a main form of transportation through the gaps between the living and the dead, between mythological worlds, and even beyond the boundaries of reality. In the Íslendingasǫgur, echoes of the horse’s role as a transcendent animal are also seen, since the horse is often associated with the dead and the afterlife through its ability to foretell fates and forebode death. Superstition also surrounds the horse with regards to land settlement, fertility and health, and the horse is associated with supernatural powers over the elements in some accounts. These characteristics of the horse in the Old Norse sources support the hypothesis that the horse served as much more than just a transport animal for the living and the dead, but as a shaman in Old Norse culture. This thesis will explore the ways in which horses were considered sacred and spiritual animals, providing a connection between the mortal and mythological beings to the unconscious and supernatural realms

Cross-Cultural Validation of Assessment Instruments Used in Career Counselling and Guidance in the Nordic countries : Etic and Emic Approaches

The cross-cultural application and research on assessment instruments used in career counselling and guidance in the Nordic countries is discussed. Three examples where etic and emic approaches to establish the cross-cultural validity of American instruments in Finland and Iceland are described. These are the Career Thoughts Inventory, vocational interest inventories and a measure of career adaptability. These efforts show that contextual factors influence the responses to imported measures. Emic approaches are needed to fully test the applicability of assessment instruments as well as theoretical constructs developed in other cultures, but used in career counselling in the Nordic countries.peerReviewe