Middle Managers’ Views on Participation in a Home Visiting Program for First-Time Parents in Scania, Sweden

Family home visiting programs delivering early childhood services are supported by politicians and policy makers in many countries. This study focuses on a home visiting program for first-time parents in a county in Sweden. The program comprises six home visits conducted by interprofessional teams, including child healthcare nurses, midwives, social workers and dental hygienists, with the aim to increase accessibility to child healthcare and to promote more equal health in young children. Child healthcare, maternal care, social services and dental care organisations participated voluntarily in the program. This study explores how middle managers of the participating organisations view the program. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with ten middle managers. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis as a method. The results show that the middle managers saw the home visiting program as beneficial for society, parents and children, and the participating organisations and professionals. In other words, they expressed both altruistic goals and a self-interest in participating. The study is of importance as middle managers’ decision to participate in a home visiting program might be grounded on their perceptions of the program

Sensory meat quality, ultimate pH values, blood metabolites and carcass parametersin reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) fed various diets

This investigation was made to study and compare the effects of different diets on sensory meat quality and ultimate pH values in reindeer muscles and to relate stress-induced blood metabolites and carcass parameters to the meat quality traits measured. Altogether 23 female reindeer calves were included in the study. During an adaptation period, all reindeer were allowed free access to a mimicked natural diet containing 80% lichens (lichen diet). On January 28, 8 reindeer (group Cjan) were slaughtered. Five reindeer (group C.Mar) were allowed continuous free access to the lichen diet throughout the experiment. During 8 days, the other reindeer (groups PL and PS) were given the lichen diet, half of the amount offered to the control group, and were then starved for one day. Thereafter, these reindeer were fed 80% commercial reindeer feed (pellets) and either 20% lichens (group PL), or 20% silage (group PS) for 5 weeks. After this, all animals were slaughtered. The average carcass weight and dressing percentage in the group fed commercial reindeer feed and lichens (PL) were higher than in group CMar- Fat registrations were generally higher in groups PL and PS than in the groups Cj2n and CMar- Ultimate pH values in M. triceps brachii and M. longissimus were significantly lower in the group CMST than in PL. The levels of all blood metabolites (urea, ASAT and Cortisol) were generally higher in groups PL and PS than in groups Cja„ and CMEF- NO significant differences were found in any of sensory attributes of the meat (monitored according to ISO standards). The present study shows that muscle and fat depots in reindeer can be improved by feeding a diet based on reindeer pellets but suggests that a feeding period of 35 days might be too short to affect the sensory properties of reindeer meat

Lactic acid bacteria in Swedish honey bees during outbreaks of American foulbrood

The honey bee microbiota is involved in several important functions, and alterations in the composition could have a severe effect on honey bee health. Among the bacteria identified in the honey bee microbiome are a group of non-pathogenic honey bee-specific lactic acid bacteria (hbs-LAB) that have been shown to inhibit the growth of bacterial pathogens such as Paenibacillus larvae, the causative agent of American foulbrood (AFB). While P. larvae only causes disease in larvae and not in adult honey bees, there are reports of the pathogen causing changes in the microbiota composition of the adults. The aim of this study was to investigate how AFB in the colony affect the hbs-LAB composition in adult honey bees. Adult bees were collected from colonies with and without AFB during three outbreaks of AFB in Sweden. The hbs-LAB was analyzed using qPCR to detect and quantify the number of ten hbs-LAB (five Lactobacilli, two Apilactobacilli, one Bombilactobacilli, and two Bifidobacterium). The hbs-LAB composition was compared between AFB outbreaks and depending on the AFB status of the honeybee colony at the time of sampling. The data analyses revealed differences in the abundance of individual hbs-LAB between outbreaks and an overall difference in bacterial community composition depending on AFB status. Also, a higher hbs-LAB diversity was observed in samples that were P. larvae culture positive.To investigate if the bacterial disease American foulbrood (AFB) affects lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in honeybees, adult bees were collected from colonies with and without AFB during outbreaks in Sweden. We found differences in the abundance of the individual LAB between the different outbreaks.imag

Behaviour, physiology and carotenoid pigmentation in Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus

The behaviour during an exploration task and the response to a confinement stress of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus were evaluated. Behaviour of individuals during 90 min of exploration was classified into high and low activity. High-activity individuals had higher plasma cortisol levels following stress compared to low-activity individuals. This indicates that high- and low-activity individuals correspond to reactive and proactive stress-coping styles. Further, a pigmentation analysis showed that high-activity individuals had a higher number of carotenoid spots cm(-2) than low-activity individuals. Thus, carotenoid pigmentation, as melanin pigmentation in other salmonids, could be linked to stress-coping style in S. alpinus. (C) 2013 The Fisheries Society of the British Isle

Global Development Paradigms in Local Realities : A Case Study of the MDGs in Tanzania

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Denna pro gradu -avhandlings främsta målsättning är att analysera och förklara förhållandet mellan två centrala utvecklingsparadigm - det neoliberala och mänskliga paradigmet. Analysen baserar sig på en fallstudie av FN:s Millenniemål i Tanzania. Millenniemålen är ett konkret resultat av det mänskliga utvecklingsparadigmet och utgör därför ett intressant forskningsobjekt för denna studie. Utgångspunkten är att det neoliberala utvecklingsparadigmet har dominerat biståndssamarbetet sedan början av 1980-talet, men att det mänskliga paradigmet som varit dess alternativ, nu verkar ha tagit en starkare roll åtminstone i den offentliga debatten. Vilken roll dessa mål sedan fått i praktiskt biståndssamarbete på lokal nivå och huruvida det mänskliga utvecklingsparadigmet förstärkts genom att dessa mål har lanserats, är centrala frågor för denna studie. I denna avhandling utgår jag ifrån att de olika paradigmen och deras uppkomst baserar sig på historiska trender inom utvecklingsteorier. De neoliberala och mänskliga utvecklingsparadigmen är normativa paradigm som stöds av Världsbanken respektive FN. De är direkt kopplade till biståndssamarbetet, som är en normativ, politisk process. Analysen av dessa paradigms roller görs ur en neo-Gramsciansk referensram. Den neo-Gramscianska teorin om hegemoni ger analytiska redskap att förklara de maktrelationer som definierar paradigmens roller. Det neoliberala paradigmet representerar intellektuell hegemoni medan det mänskliga paradigmet utgör en mot-hegemonisk kraft till den. Avhandlingens främsta slutsats är att det mänskliga utvecklingsparadigmets roll är fortfarande svag jämfört med det neoliberala paradigmet. Jag hävdar att det neoliberala paradigmet har lyckats absorbera de centrala dragen av det mänskliga paradigmet för sin egen nytta. Detta innebär att FN och Millenniemålen inte idag representerar ett alternativ till neoliberal utveckling, utan legitimerar den i stället. Millenniemålens roll har förblivit främst retorisk, medan neoliberala reformer har fortskridit i Tanzania. När den offentliga diskussionen fokuserar sig på Millenniemålen, finns det en risk att biståndssamarbetes verkliga substans blir i skymundan. Samtidigt framstår FN:s roll i att skapa världsomfattande utvecklingsnormer som relativt svag. Avhandlingen är gjord med kvalitativa metoder. En central del av forskningsmaterialet består av intervjuer som gjorts i Tanzania under sommaren 2007. Förutom dessa intervjuer, har Tanzanias två fattigdomsstrategier (poverty reduction strategies) analyserats

Benefits and constrains of covalency: the role of loop length in protein stability and ligand binding

Protein folding is governed by non-covalent interactions under the benefits and constraints of the covalent linkage of the backbone chain. In the current work we investigate the influence of loop length variation on the free energies of folding and ligand binding in a small globular single-domain protein containing two EF-hand subdomains-calbindin D-9k. We introduce a linker extension between the subdomains and vary its length between 1 to 16 glycine residues. We find a close to linear relationship between the linker length and the free energy of folding of the Ca2+-free protein. In contrast, the linker length has only a marginal effect on the Ca2+ affinity and cooperativity. The variant with a single-glycine extension displays slightly increased Ca2+ affinity, suggesting that the slightly extended linker allows optimized packing of the Ca2+-bound state. For the extreme case of disconnected subdomains, Ca2+ binding becomes coupled to folding and assembly. Still, a high affinity between the EF-hands causes the non-covalent pair to retain a relatively high apparent Ca2+ affinity. Our results imply that loop length variation could be an evolutionary option for modulating properties such as protein stability and turnover without compromising the energetics of the specific function of the protein