Histology of adipose tissue inflammation in Dercum's disease, obesity and normal weight controls: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dercum's disease (DD) is characterised by obesity and chronic pain (> 3 months) in the adipose tissue. The pathogenesis of DD is unknown, but inflammatory components have been proposed. In previous reports and studies, an inconsistent picture of the histological appearance of the adipose tissue in DD has been described. The aim of this investigation was to examine the histological appearance of adipose tissue in patients with DD, with particular focus on inflammatory signs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fat biopsies were sampled from painful regions from 53 patients with DD. In 28 of the patients, a control adipose tissue biopsy was taken from a location where the patient did not experience any pain. In addition, fat biopsies were sampled from 41 healthy pain-free obese control patients and 11 healthy pain-free normal weight control patients. The extent of inflammation was evaluated on histological sections stained with haematoxylin-eosin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was no statistically significant difference in the extent of inflammation between the biopsies from the painful knee and the biopsies from the non-painful area (p = 0.5), nor between the biopsies from the abdomen, and the biopsies from the non-painful area (p = 0.4), in patients with DD. A statistically significant difference in extent of inflammation was observed between DD and obese control patients regarding the abdomen (p = 0.022), but not the knee (p = 0.33). There were no differences in extent of inflammation between DD patients and normal weight controls (p = 0.81).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings suggest that there is an inflammatory response in the adipose tissue in DD. However, this response is not more pronounced than that in healthy obese controls. This contradicts inflammation as the aetiology of DD.</p

Closed-loop design for scalable performance of vehicular formations

This paper presents a novel control design for vehicular formations, which is an alternative to the conventional second-order consensus protocol. The design is motivated by the closed-loop system, which we construct as first-order systems connected in series, and is therefore called serial consensus. The serial consensus design will guarantee stability of the closed-loop system under the minimum requirement of the underlying communication graphs each containing a connected spanning tree -- something that is not true in general for the conventional consensus protocols. Here, we show that the serial consensus design also gives guarantees on the worst-case transient behavior of the formation, which are independent of the number of vehicles and the underlying graph structure. In particular this shows that the serial consensus design can be used to guarantee string stability of the formation, and is therefore suitable for directed formations. We show that it can be implemented through message passing or measurements to neighbors at most two hops away. The results are illustrated through numerical examples.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Control of Network System

An investigation of how the Emergency Team within UNFPA could achieve a more effective balancing of supply and demand

Bakgrund: Emergency Teamet skickar ut ERH-Kits då en efterfrågan från kunden uppstår, exempelvis efter en katastrofsituation. Emergency Teamet har blivit kritiserade för att inte ha svarat tillräckligt snabbt på efterfrågan och därför har Executive Director för UNFPA gett nya direktiv för att UNFPA ska svara snabbare och skapa bättre förutsättningar för att leverera snabbt i katastrofsituationer. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera och föreslå förbättringar för en effektivare balansering av tillgång och efterfrågan av ERH-Kits för Emergency Teamet inom UNFPA. Forskningsfrågor: 1: Vad är viktigt att ta hänsyn till för att stärka balansen mellan hanteringen av tillgång och efterfrågan för ERH-Kits och samtidigt hantera osäkerheten i efterfrågan samt risken av att hålla varor i lager som riskerar att bli för gamla? 2: Vilka faktorer är viktiga för utvecklingen av ett stödverktyg och hur kan detta sättas samman för att hjälpa Emergency Teamet i sin hantering av ERH-Kits? Metod: Utifrån studiens syfte har en fallstudie genomförts för att jämföra Emergency Teamets aktiviteter med den tillgängliga teorin. Intervjuer utfördes för att förstå de utmaningar som finns för Emergency Teamet och för att få en djupare förståelse för dessa. Historisk data analyserades för en mer noggrann analys av studieobjektet. En jämförelse gjordes därefter mellan litteraturstudien och den empiriska studien för att identifiera potentiella förbättringsåtgärder. I samband med en workshop samlades åsikter och idéer från Emergency Teamet och därefter utvecklades ett beslutsverktyg med syfte att stödja Emergency Teamet i dess arbete för förbättringar. Slutsatser: Fallstudien har identifierat reaktionsförmåga och efterfrågestyrning som de viktigaste områdena för att balansera tillgång och efterfrågan. De viktigaste faktorerna inom dessa områden för Emergency Teamet har identifierats som; synligheten och hastigheten i värdekedjan, lagerhantering, identifiering av framgångsfaktorer, förståelse för efterfrågan, varierande källor, lämpliga prognosmetoder samt ett krossfunktionellt arbetssätt. Det framtagna beslutsstödet ska ge vägledning för hur Emergency Teamet kan effektivisera balansen mellan tillgång och efterfrågan utifrån de tre beslutsnivåerna, strategisk, taktisk och operationell.Background: The Emergency Team within UNFPA operates when crisis strikes by distributing ERH-Kits to people in need. The Emergency Team has in the past been criticized of not responding rapidly enough to requests for ERH-Kits and the Executive Director of UNFPA has given new directives that UNFPA needs to become more responsive in its activities and create better prerequisites to deliver fast in emergency situations. Purpose: To analyse and find improvements for a more effective balancing of supply and demand of ERH-Kits for the Emergency Team within UNFPA. Research questions: 1: What is important to consider in order to strengthen the balancing of supply and demand regarding the ERH-Kits, while managing the uncertainty in demand and the risk of having expired goods in stock? 2: What factors are important in the development of a support tool and how could this be put together to help the Emergency Team to manage the ERH-Kits? Methodology: For the purpose of this study, the single case study method is used to enable a comparison of the activities within the Emergency Team and existing theory. Interviews were conducted in order to understand the challenging areas within the team and get a deeper understanding of these. Historical data was also extracted to analyse the activities more thoroughly. When the literature study and the data were collected a gap analysis was done, followed by a workshop to integrate thoughts and ideas from the Emergency Team. The most important potential improvements from this comparison were thereafter used as inputs in the support tool. Conclusions: The study result is that the two most important areas for balancing supply and demand are Responsiveness and Demand Management. For the Emergency Team the most crucial concepts identified were visibility, velocity, managing inventory and associated risk, performance metrics, understand demand and uncertainty, use various sources of data, establish appropriate forecasting techniques, processes, systems and training and using a cross functional approach. The support tool presents guidance for how the Emergency Team can improve its effectiveness in balancing supply and demand on the three decision levels, strategic, tactical and operational

Matsvinn på förskolor : en fallstudie av kvantiteter och orsaker i Knivsta kommun

Ungefär en tredjedel av all mat som produceras globalt varje år slängs istället för att utnyttjas till föda. I Sverige slängdes år 2012 ca 1,2 miljoner ton mat. Ungefär 22 000 ton av detta var matsvinn, mat som hade kunnat ätas men som istället blir till avfall, från skolkök och förskolekök. En skolportion antas väga 300 g. Livsmedelsproduktion påverkar miljön och klimatet genom utsläpp av olika ämnen och förbrukande av resurser. Matsvinn medför att dessa resurser har använts i onödan och utsläppen hade kunnat undvikas. Livsmedelsproduktion kan kopplas till flera av Sveriges nationella miljömål såsom Begränsad klimatpåverkan, Giftfri miljö, Ingen övergödning, Ett rikt odlingslandskap och Ett rikt växt- och djurliv. Det finns få exempel på vetenskapliga mätningar av matsvinn från skolkök och än färre från förskolekök. Målet med studien var därför att få ökad förståelse om matsvinn från förskolekök, gällande kvantitet samt hur vissa yttre faktorer såsom personalens attityd till maten påverkar svinnet. Studien ska även bidra till utveckling och förbättring av mätmetoder för förskolekök. Fyra förskolor, två med egna tillagningskök och två som får mat levererad från en närliggande skola, deltog i studien och matsvinn mättes i tre kategorier; säkerhetssvinn, serveringssvinn och tallrikssvinn. Intervjuer utfördes både med kökspersonal och pedagoger för att undersöka hur och om de arbetade med att minska matsvinnet samt vad de tyckte om maten. De fyra förskolornas resultat varierade väldigt och i genomsnitt slängs 145 g/portion, den största andelen som serveringssvinn. Mottagningsköken har ett något högre svinn än tillagningsköken, dock lägre tallrikssvinn. Personalen på förskolorna med tillagningskök var överlag mer positivt inställda till maten. Det förefaller dock inte påverka mängden matsvinn. I intervjuer och observationer framkom vikten av att mätmetoden är enkel och tidseffektiv. Slutsatserna av studien är att alla förskolor bör minska sin matproduktion för att motverka överproduktion av livsmedel. Utöver detta är de viktigaste åtgärderna för att minska matsvinnet att laga god mat, anpassa portionsstorlekarna, tillaga mat efter recept, ha närvarande personal på luncherna samt att lära barnen att inte lägga upp för mycket mat på tallriken på en gång. Mätmetoderna måste vara enkla och tidseffektiva men samtidigt få in mycket information. Den viktigaste slutsatsen från studien är att överproduktion av livsmedel med matsvinn som följd är ett stort miljöproblem som medvetenheten måste öka kring, inte minst för att öka motivationen att utföra mätningar och vetenskapliga undersökningar.Approximately one third of all globally produced food per year is lost/wasted. In Sweden 1,2 million tons food were wasted in the year 2012. Roughly 22 000 tons were food waste from school canteens and kindergarten kitchens. A school portion is assumed to weigh 300 g. Food production and agriculture affects the environment and the climate through emissions and the use of natural resources. Food waste means that resources have been used in vain and that the emissions could have been avoided. Food production affects several of the Swedish national Environment goals and the reduce of food waste is a part of the European Commission’s goal about food safety as well as a part of the United Nation’s goal Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. There are few examples of scientific studies of food waste from school kitchens and even fewer from kindergartens. The aim of the study is therefore to get a better understanding about food waste from kindergartens, concerning quantity and how some external factors, such as the employee’s attitudes towards the food, affects the food waste. The study will also contribute to development and improvement of measuring techniques for kindergartens. Four kindergartens, two with canteens and two who receives food from a nearby school, participated in the study and the waste was measured in three categories; safety-waste, serving-waste and plate scrapings. Interviews were conducted with both kitchen staff and kindergarten teachers to learn how or if they worked with waste reduction and what they felt about the food. The results varied and in average 145 g/portion was wasted, mostly from serving. The receiving kitchens had a somewhat higher waste than the canteens, however lower plate scrapings. The employees at the kindergartens with canteens were overall more positive towards the food. However, that didn’t seem to effect the food waste. In interviews and observations, it appeared that it is important that the measuring technique is simple and time efficient. The conclusion of the study is that the kindergartens should reduce their production to discourage the overproduction of food. Beyond this, the most important steps to reduce the food waste is to cook tasty food, adjust the portion sizes, cook after recipes, present staff during the lunches and teaching the children not to put too much food on their plates. The measuring techniques must be simple, time efficient and gather a lot of information. The most important conclusion is that overproduction of food with food waste as a result is a major environmental problem. The awareness about food waste must increase in order to increase the motivation to perform scientific studies

Kyrkogårdsrekreation

Trenden är tydlig, i takt med att våra städer förtätas minskar andelen parkområden och grönytor. Samtidigt ökar människans behov av rekreation. En lösning på denna problematik skulle kunna vara kyrkogården, som med sitt lagstadgade exploateringsskydd och många värden utgör en yta som i allra högsta grad är aktuell för rekreation. Arbetet fokuserar på hur kyrkogårdsförvaltningarna ser på att kyrkogården används i rekreativt syfte. Den behandlar även problem och möjligheter som en sådan användning kan medföra och vilka utvecklingsmöjligheter som ges. En litteraturstudie, intervjuer med tre chefer inom kyrkogårdsförvaltning samt observationer på tre kyrkogårdar ligger till grund för studien. De tre förvaltningarna representerade i studien är positivt inställda till att anläggningarna används för rekreation. Med förbehållet att det inte påverkar fridfullheten på kyrkogården eller respekten för platsen. Så länge friden bevaras och kyrkogården inte blir alltför lik en park, ser medverkande förvaltningar positivt på ett ökat användande av anläggningarna. De i studien besökta kyrkogårdarna visar alla tre att förutsättningar för rekreation finns, i form av t ex speciella värden och outnyttjade ytor. Sittplatser, skyltning, belysning och gestaltning bedöms vara de områden inom vilka det finns störst utvecklingsmöjligheter. Sittplatser saknar i flera fall en inbjudande och tilltalande utsikt, skyltningen på och i anslutning till anläggningarna är ofta på undermålig nivå och belysning saknas helt eller används inte i någon större utsträckning. Genomtänkt gestaltning som tar till vara platsens förutsättningar ges det däremot flera bra exempel på och är något att fortsätta att arbeta utifrån. Information, ett engagemang i tidig ålder och en genomtänkt utformning av anläggningarna skulle dra besökare till kyrkogården samtidigt som människor i sorg inte kommer till korta. Kyrkogården skulle bli en naturlig plats för rekreation och befästa sin plats i samhället och inte enbart vara ett ställe dit människor går för att besöka en grav. Arbetet kan med sin ringa omfattning och geografiska begränsning inte sägas representera landet i stort men ger en bild av förhållandena på de tre förvaltningarna i sydvästra Skåne som ingår i studien.The trend speaks for itself. As our cities densify the quota of park and green areas decrease. At the same time our recreational need increases. A solution to this problem could be the cemetery, which with its statutory protection against exploitation along with the many values offered is an area of immediate interest for recreational use. The study focuses on how cemetery managements review the cemeteries being used for recreational purposes. It also discusses the difficulties and opportunities such a use could entail and what developing possibilities it can lead to. A literary study, interviews with three administration managers and observations at three cemeteries form the basis of the study. The three managements represented in the study have a positive attitude towards the cemeteries being used for recreation. Provided it doesn’t affect the serenity of the cemetery or the respect for the place itself. As long as the serenity is preserved and the cemetery doesn’t verge the park in too great of an extent, the participating managements think positive of an increased usage of the cemetery grounds. The cemeteries visited in the study all three show signs of recreation qualities, e.g. special values and unutilized areas. Seating facilities, signboards, lighting and formation are said to be the areas in which the greatest developing opportunities lay. In several cases seating facilities don’t offer an inviting and attractive view, the signboards at and around the cemetery grounds are often of poor quality and lighting is completely lacking or is not used to a greater extent. A well thought-out formation that preserves the qualifications of the place is however well represented and is something to continue developing. Information, an active participation at an early age and a well thought-out design of the cemetery grounds should increase the number of visitors but without people in grief being affected in a negative way. The cemetery would then become a natural place of choice for recreation and simultaneously strengthen its place in society and no longer be just a place where one goes to visit a grave. The study can with its insignificant extent and geographical limitations in no regards be said to represent the country in general. However, it does paint a picture of the conditions of the three managements in southwest Skåne taking part

Från överflöd till minimalism - en studie av två interiörer för den ekonomiska eliten

This essay's primary purpose is to find out if there are any typical features that can be seen in the expensive homes belonging to the upper class. What makes these homes feel specifically luxurious? Is there something we can call "luxury" that is timeless? I have analysed two interiors from two different eras, both inhabited by the upper class. The concept of luxury and "good taste" has been investigated by using theories on luxury, looking on luxury products from a marketing point of view and also by applying Pierre Bourdieu's theories on cultural and economic capital. The two domiciles are highly contrasting: Hallwylska Palatset was built in 1893 and shows the typical sumptuous eclecticism of styles that was common back then. The contemporary interior of Villa Björkeberga represents a more minimalistic and restrained style, where the expression "less is more" is omnipresent. The two interiors have been compared and analysed from different perspectives and the conclusion I have reached is that some timeless attributes seem to be applied by the upper class, regardless of trends. Regarding different styles, they come and go out of fashion and should not necessarily be seen as typical expressions for good/bad taste or luxury. On the other hand, what becomes fashion seems to be decided by the ones with the most cultural and economic capital, in other words the upper class

La ristrutturazione nel dialetto veneziano

Scopo e quadro generale: Il fenomeno linguistico ?della ristrutturazione si verifica spesso in italiano. Eppure, in alcuni dialetti parlati in Italia non è un fenomeno sempre presente. Il fine della presente tesi è di investigare, con l'ausilio di un questionario, i meccanismi del fenomeno di ristrutturazione nel dialetto veneziano e di paragonare il veneziano con l'italiano standard per quanto riguarda la ristrutturazione ed il transfer eventuale che potrebbe esserci tra le due lingue che coesistono a Venezia- Risultati e conclusioni: Questa indagine propone che la ristrutturazione non esiste su larga scala nel veneziano. Per esempio, la scelta del verbo ausiliare non è mai facoltativa in veneziano, come accade per l'italiano standard. Pertanto, la passiva lunga potrebbe esistere nel veneziano ma non è usata in quanto la forma attiva della terza persona è preferita quando il soggetto è sconosciuto per il parlante oppure per l?ascoltatore. Per quanto riguarda la salita del clitico, la ristrutturazione potrebbe essere permessa per alcuni verbi. Infine, la tesi propone che la sintassi italiana potrebbe essere influenzata da quella del veneziano in certi contesti. ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH Background and aim: The linguistic phenomenon known as restructuring frequently occurs in Italian. However, some of the dialects spoken on the Italian peninsula lack restructuring. The aim of the present essay is to investigate to what extent restructuring exists in Venetian language and if there is any transfer between Venetian and Italian, the two languages that co-exist in Venice. The investigation is conducted by means of a questionnaire. Results and conclusion: The investigation suggests that restructuring rarely occurs in Venetian. For example, the choice of auxiliar verb is never optional in Venetian, as it sometimes is in Italian and the active form of the third person singular is prefered to long object preposing in se constructions, when the subject is unknown for the speaker or for the listener. However, clitic climbing could be acceptable for certain verbs. Finally, the essay concludes that the Italian syntax could be influenced by the Venetian syntax in certain contexts

Which knowledge counts? : a critical discourse analysis of a conflict between a wind power development company and Sami communities

Sweden has ambitious climate and energy policies, for example 100 percent fossil free electricity production by 2040. A central part of the policies are wind power developments. However, wind power is not unproblematic either in an environmental or a social perspective as it negatively affects the indigenous practice of reindeer herding in Northern Sweden. With a focus on traditional knowledge, I have studied power and knowledge relations in a conflict between a wind power company and indigenous Sami reindeer herding communities in Gabrielsberget, Nordmaling’s municipality. I have utilised the theoretical, as well as methodological, framework of critical discourse analysis, drawing on the work of Fairclough. Furthermore, Foucault’s work on power and knowledge is used to analyze the dominant discourses regarding knowledge claims and its implications for the environmental permit process. The analysis of legal documents and recordings of court hearings shows that traditional knowledge is seen as a secondary source of knowledge and that reindeer herding is commonly constructed as a business, hiding its cultural values and connection to traditional knowledge. To be viewed as legitimate actor and have their claims and stakes taken into account, the Sami communities had to align with discourses constructing reindeer herding as a business and build their arguments on science instead of traditional knowledge. As discourses are socially constitutive, this will have implications both for how environmental permit processes plays out in the future but also for the status of traditional knowledge and reindeer herding

Development of a pressure-measuring device to optimize compression treatment of lymphedema and evaluation of change in garment pressure with simulated wear and tear.

The use of compression garments in treating lymphedema following treatment of genital (penis, testes, uterus, cervical) and breast cancer treatment is a well-established practice. Although compression garments are classified in compression classes, little is known about the actual subgarment pressure exerted along the extremity. The aims of this study were to establish an in vitro method for measuring subgarment pressure along the extremity and to analyze initial and over time subgarment pressure of compression garments from three manufacturers. The measurements were performed with I-scan(®) (Tekscan Inc.) pressure measuring equipment once a week during a period of 4 weeks. Wear and tear was simulated by washing and putting on the garments on plastic legs every day. There was a statistically significant difference between the garments of some of manufacturers. There was no difference between garments from the same manufacturer. No significant decrease of subgarment pressure was observed during the trial period. The study demonstrated that Tekscan pressure-measuring equipment could measure subgarment pressure in vitro. The results may indicate that there was a difference in subgarment pressure exerted by garments from different manufacturers and that there was no clear decrease in subgarment pressure during the first four weeks of usage