Physical exercise augmented cognitive behaviour therapy for older adults with generalised anxiety disorder (PEXACOG): a feasibility study for a randomized controlled trial

Background Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a frequent and severe disorder among older adults. For older adults with GAD the effect of the recommended treatment, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), is reduced. Physical exercise (PE) may enhance the effect of CBT by improving cognitive function and increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a predictor of the effect of CBT in patients with anxiety. The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating treatment effect of the combination of CBT and PE for GAD in a sample of older adults, including procedures for assessment and treatment. Methods Four participants aged 62–70 years (M = 65.5, SD = 3.2) with a primary diagnosis of GAD were included. Participants received 15 weeks of PE in combination with 10 weeks of CBT. Participants completed self-report measures, and clinical, biological, physiological and neuropsychological tests at pre-, interim- and post-treatment. Results Procedures, protocols, and results are presented. One participant dropped out during treatment. For the three participants completing, the total adherence to PE and CBT was 80% and 100%, respectively. An independent assessor concluded that the completers no longer fulfilled the criteria for GAD after treatment. Changes in self-report measures suggest symptom reduction related to anxiety and worry. The sample is considered representative for the target population. Conclusions The results indicate that combining CBT and PE for older adults with GAD is feasible, and that the procedures and tests are suitable and manageable for the current sample.publishedVersio

Hydrokinetic Turbine Effects on Fish Swimming Behaviour

Hydrokinetic turbines, targeting the kinetic energy of fast-flowing currents, are under development with some turbines already deployed at ocean sites around the world. It remains virtually unknown as to how these technologies affect fish, and rotor collisions have been postulated as a major concern. In this study the effects of a vertical axis hydrokinetic rotor with rotational speeds up to 70 rpm were tested on the swimming patterns of naturally occurring fish in a subtropical tidal channel. Fish movements were recorded with and without the rotor in place. Results showed that no fish collided with the rotor and only a few specimens passed through rotor blades. Overall, fish reduced their movements through the area when the rotor was present. This deterrent effect on fish increased with current speed. Fish that passed the rotor avoided the near-field, about 0.3 m from the rotor for benthic reef fish. Large predatory fish were particularly cautious of the rotor and never moved closer than 1.7 m in current speeds above 0.6 ms-1. The effects of the rotor differed among taxa and feeding guilds and it is suggested that fish boldness and body shape influenced responses. In conclusion, the tested hydrokinetic turbine rotor proved non-hazardous to fish during the investigated conditions. However, the results indicate that arrays comprising multiple turbines may restrict fish movements, particularly for large species, with possible effects on habitat connectivity if migration routes are exploited. Arrays of the investigated turbine type and comparable systems should therefore be designed with gaps of several metres width to allow large fish to pass through. In combination with further research the insights from this study can be used for guiding the design of hydrokinetic turbine arrays where needed, so preventing ecological impacts

Emancipation och religion. Den svenska kvinnorörelsens pionjärer i debatt om kvinnans kallelse ca 1860-1900

The purpose of the thesis is to chart the ideology that formed the basis for the initial stages of the emancipation of women in Sweden. The focus of the analysis is the debate over what constituted a woman's calling, and her place in public life. The early feminists possessed a Christian outlook with strong liberal overtones, and it was thus specifically theological arguments that the pioneering generation was to use in the debate over the emancipation of women. This debate was mainly conducted with men who argued for the official, orthodox interpretation of the Lutheran-Christian understanding of the relationship between the sexes. The pioneer emancipationists' line was firmly anchored in a Lutheran tradition that asserted that, at Creation, God destined the sexes to complete one another. This, however, was not synonymous with accepting the subordination of women. Although research into the history of Swedish women dates back to the 1960s, and numerous historians have dealt with the pioneer period of the second half of the nineteenth century, no one thus far has observed, even less analysed, the fundamentel significance of religion to an understanding of the relationship between the sexes, and the effect it was to have upon the debate about women's emancipation. In a simplistic way, religion, the church, and the priesthood have been described as being hostile to emancipation. In so doing, a glaring contradiction was missed; the women who from the mid-nineteenth century demanded emancipation had ideological roots in the very context that research has described as hostile to emancipation. The driving force behind the call for women's emancipation has been sought in other places. A case was made for economic imperatives, and another for an ideological basis for an emancipated world view that is wholly separate from Lutheran, Bible-based ideology. In the thesis, such reseach has been termed 'religious-blind', a term that takes its inspiration from the widely established term 'gender-blind'. The study shows that an analysis of people's relationship to the prevailing interpretative framework of Lutheran teaching, can provide a greater understanding of the ideology that was the basis the emancipationists' actions. The central figures are drawn from the circle around "Tidskrift för hemmet" ("Home Journal") that was published between 1859 and 1885, and its successor "Dagny", published from 1886. The circle can be seen as following the footsteps of Fredrika Bremer, and its main character is Sophie Leijonhufvud-Adlersparre. Theolocically, the circle was tied to a religious liberalism that, in demanding personal freedom, also gave support to the women's movement. Their basic theological view was based on a historical understanding of the Bible, and a critical view of history, that grew during the second half of the nineteenth century. The pioneering feminists' ideology came, by the turn of the century, to be questioned from within. The objections did not now stem from othodox theology, but instead from an increasingly secularised movement where the new emancipation ideology was described in non-theological terms and reflected an earthbound perspective