Impaired child, disabled parent? Parents’ perceptions of having a child with disability in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Having a child with disability (CWD) gives rise to implications for the parents. Social and psychological challenges are known factors, together with financial constraints and employment issues, which increase the risk of poverty. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore parents’ perception of and how their lives have been impacted by having a CWD. The methods consisted of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with parents of CWD specifically in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The ecological theory structured the analysis and used the concepts of stigma, marginalization and normalization to understand parents’ perceptions. Challenges described by parents were lack of governmental support, insufficient public services, the burden of care and financial issues. Opinions and reactions from society were stigmatizing and resulted in strained relationships with neighbors, friends and relatives. The feelings involved were worry and sorrows, but also hope, love and happiness. The found coping strategies were mainly to strive for public services and sufficient income, in combination with acceptance, retaining hope and turning to God. The study concluded that even if the parents were not impaired themselves, their experiences were many times similar to that of a person with disabilities

Emotionell intelligens - den avgörande ledarkompetensen?

Syftet med denna uppgiften är att uppmärksamma emotionell intelligens som kompetens och vilken påverkan den har i ett allt mer teknologiskt arbetsliv. Det blir specifikt belyst i förhållande till ledarrollen och om det eventuellt kan påverka prestation. Vi behandlar begreppet EI som en form av kompetens då vi önskar att se på det ur ett organisatoriskt perspektiv där värdeskapning är målet. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i denna uppsatsen baserar sig i stor grad på tidigare forskning om ändring i kompetensbehov och efterfrågan, samt ledarskapsteori. Vårt huvudbidrag när det kommer till emotionell intelligens är en rapport av James T. Kunnanatt som även beskriver en kompetensbaserad modell av begreppet. Vi har valt att använda oss av kvalitativ metod och datainsamlingen har varit intervjuer med ett antal ledare inom försäkringsbranschen. Resultatet av vår undersökning visade oss att ledarna ansåg att emotionell intelligens som kompetens är viktig, men att krav om EI-kompetens varierar beroende på vilken typ av ledarroll man har. Vi ser ett sammanhang mellan de ökande kraven om teknologisk kompetens och EI. Detta i takt med att ledarrollen verkar ha utvecklats och blivit allt mer komplex. Det visas även till att ledare kan fungera utan EI, men att kompetensen kan bidra till ökad prestation om vissa förutsättningar och omständigheter är på plats. Vi berör i tillägg temat om utveckling av EI. Undersökningen har bidragit till insikt i vilka utmaningar och fördelar EI-kompetens kan föra med sig, både för organisationen och ledaren. Vi hoppas att dem fynden vi har gjort ska kunna användas som ett strategiskt perspektiv på hur man kan arbeta med emotionell intelligens

Interpretable Subgroup Discovery in Treatment Effect Estimation with Application to Opioid Prescribing Guidelines

The dearth of prescribing guidelines for physicians is one key driver of the current opioid epidemic in the United States. In this work, we analyze medical and pharmaceutical claims data to draw insights on characteristics of patients who are more prone to adverse outcomes after an initial synthetic opioid prescription. Toward this end, we propose a generative model that allows discovery from observational data of subgroups that demonstrate an enhanced or diminished causal effect due to treatment. Our approach models these sub-populations as a mixture distribution, using sparsity to enhance interpretability, while jointly learning nonlinear predictors of the potential outcomes to better adjust for confounding. The approach leads to human-interpretable insights on discovered subgroups, improving the practical utility for decision suppor

An inverse association between plasma benzoxazinoid metabolites and PSA after rye intake in men with prostate cancer revealed with a new method

Prostate cancer (PC) is a common cancer among men, and preventive strategies are warranted. Benzoxazinoids (BXs) in rye have shown potential against PC in vitro but human studies are lacking. The aim was to establish a quantitative method for analysis of BXs and investigate their plasma levels after a whole grain/bran rye vs refined wheat intervention, as well as exploring their association with PSA, in men with PC. A quantitative method for analysis of 22 BXs, including novel metabolites identified by mass spectrometry and NMR, was established, and applied to plasma samples from a randomized crossover study where patients with indolent PC (n = 17) consumed 485 g whole grain rye/rye bran or fiber supplemented refined wheat daily for 6 wk. Most BXs were significantly higher in plasma after rye (0.3-19.4 nmol/L in plasma) vs. refined wheat (0.05-2.9 nmol/L) intake. HBOA-glc, 2-HHPAA, HBOA-glcA, 2-HPAA-glcA were inversely correlated to PSA in plasma (p < 0.04). To conclude, BXs in plasma, including metabolites not previously analyzed, were quantified. BX metabolites were significantly higher after rye vs refined wheat consumption. Four BX-related metabolites were inversely associated with PSA, which merits further investigation

Genetic Diversity of Sapovirus in Children, Australia

Sapovirus was detected in 7 of 95 stool specimens from children with gastroenteritis of unknown etiology in Sydney, Australia, from August 2001 to August 2002 and from February 2004 to August 2004, by using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. Sequence analysis of the N-terminal capsid region showed all human sapovirus genogroups

Genetics of circulating inflammatory proteins identifies drivers of immune-mediated disease risk and therapeutic targets

Circulating proteins have important functions in inflammation and a broad range of diseases. To identify genetic influences on inflammation-related proteins, we conducted a genome-wide protein quantitative trait locus (pQTL) study of 91 plasma proteins measured using the Olink Target platform in 14,824 participants. We identified 180 pQTLs (59 cis, 121 trans). Integration of pQTL data with eQTL and disease genome-wide association studies provided insight into pathogenesis, implicating lymphotoxin-alpha in multiple sclerosis. Using Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess causality in disease etiology, we identified both shared and distinct effects of specific proteins across immune-mediated diseases, including directionally discordant effects of CD40 on risk of rheumatoid arthritis versus multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. MR implicated CXCL5 in the etiology of ulcerative colitis (UC) and we show elevated gut CXCL5 transcript expression in patients with UC. These results identify targets of existing drugs and provide a powerful resource to facilitate future drug target prioritization. Here the authors identify genetic effectors of the level of inflammation-related plasma proteins and use Mendelian randomization to identify proteins that contribute to immune-mediated disease risk

Life expectancy and disease burden in the Nordic countries : results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017

Background The Nordic countries have commonalities in gender equality, economy, welfare, and health care, but differ in culture and lifestyle, which might create country-wise health differences. This study compared life expectancy, disease burden, and risk factors in the Nordic region. Methods Life expectancy in years and age-standardised rates of overall, cause-specific, and risk factor-specific estimates of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were analysed in the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017. Data were extracted for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (ie, the Nordic countries), and Greenland, an autonomous area of Denmark. Estimates were compared with global, high-income region, and Nordic regional estimates, including Greenland. Findings All Nordic countries exceeded the global life expectancy; in 2017, the highest life expectancy was in Iceland among females (85.9 years [95% uncertainty interval [UI] 85.5-86.4] vs 75.6 years [75.3-75.9] globally) and Sweden among males (80.8 years [80.2-81.4] vs 70.5 years [70.1-70.8] globally). Females (82.7 years [81.9-83.4]) and males (78.8 years [78.1-79.5]) in Denmark and males in Finland (78.6 years [77.8-79.2]) had lower life expectancy than in the other Nordic countries. The lowest life expectancy in the Nordic region was in Greenland (females 77.2 years [76.2-78.0], males 70.8 years [70.3-71.4]). Overall disease burden was lower in the Nordic countries than globally, with the lowest age-standardised DALY rates among Swedish males (18 555.7 DALYs [95% UI 15 968.6-21 426.8] per 100 000 population vs 35 834.3 DALYs [33 218.2-38 740.7] globally) and Icelandic females (16 074.1 DALYs [13 216.4-19 240.8] vs 29 934.6 DALYs [26 981.9-33 211.2] globally). Greenland had substantially higher DALY rates (26 666.6 DALYs [23 478.4-30 218.8] among females, 33 101.3 DALYs [30 182.3-36 218.6] among males) than the Nordic countries. Country variation was primarily due to differences in causes that largely contributed to DALYs through mortality, such as ischaemic heart disease. These causes dominated male disease burden, whereas non-fatal causes such as low back pain were important for female disease burden. Smoking and metabolic risk factors were high-ranking risk factors across all countries. DALYs attributable to alcohol use and smoking were particularly high among the Danes, as was alcohol use among Finnish males. Interpretation Risk factor differences might drive differences in life expectancy and disease burden that merit attention also in high-income settings such as the Nordic countries. Special attention should be given to the high disease burden in Greenland. Copyright (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe