Landscapes of Hope: Youths’ Small Agencies of Online Futures in Finland

Our article aims to offer counter-narratives to the risks and hardships of digital youth by scrutinizing how hope is present in youth’s lives in different online environments and everyday practices. We trace young people’s landscapes of hope by asking what kind of hopes and ideas of the digital future young people have about online environments and how they practice and cherish hope. To achieve these objectives, we draw on both qualitative and quantitative data produced in 2021–2022 among Finnish ninth graders. Our findings emphasize that young people’s online landscapes of hope are oriented toward the future, and they are in a constant state of co-becoming with different kinds of contexts, agencies, practices, and intensities

Sameness of plot in indirect translation. What events remain in complex translation chains?

This paper deals with a central aspect related to translation that has been given surprisingly little attention in Translation Studies: sameness. We study sameness in a type of translation that according to previous studies entails additional shifts and losses - indirect translation. By indirect translation we mean a 'translation based on a text (or texts) other than (only) the ultimate source text' Our aim is to identify what stays the same in indirect literary translation in terms of plot. Our article is based on two case studies that comprehend particularly fuzzy chains of texts: the first Finnish translations of Robinson Crusoe and Peter Pan. Our main units of analysis are the plots of both works. We approach plot from a structural perspective and utilize plot function theory in our analysis. Our main research questions are: What in the plots of the two works studied has remained unaltered throughout the textual chain? What is the relation between plot elements that have been altered versus plot elements that have remained the same

Digitaalinen etnografia tarttumapintana nuorten arkeen

Verkko on nuorille tärkeä tila ja toimintaympäristö. Digitaalinen etnografia on yksi mahdollinen menetelmä, kun tutkitaan nuorten verkon käyttöä ja heidän digitaalista arkeaan. Digitaalisesta etnografiasta on kirjoitettu jo paljon, mutta jo sen moninaisista nimityksistä johtuen menetelmän määrittely on varsin sekavaa.  Tässä metodologisessa artikkelissamme selvitämme, millaisia erityispiirteitä digitaalisen etnografiaan liittyy tutkittaessa erityisesti nuoria ja miten tavoittaa ja havainnoida nuorten digitaalista arkea. Artikkelimme on osa DEQUAL-tutkimushanketta, jossa tutkimme digitalisaation eriarvoistavaa vaikutusta yhdeksäsluokkalaisten nuorten elämässä eri puolilla Suomea. Verkossa tehtävä etnografinen tutkimus vaati tutkijalta ”perinteisen” etnografian ymmärtämisen lisäksi teknistä osaamista. Omassa tutkimuksessa havaitsimme, että teknisen osaamisen vaatimus voi myös syventää vuorovaikutusta tutkijan ja tutkimukseen osallistuvien nuorten välillä ja avata samalla polkuja kanssatutkijuudelle, kun nuoret ovat tutkimusprosessissa oman elämänsä asiantuntijoita ja kyvykkäitä toimijoita

Pet ownership supports quality of life in home-dwelling people with Alzheimer's disease

Objectives: Human-animal interactions have beneficial psychosocial and psychophysiological effects on individuals in both the presence and absence of medical health conditions. No previous prospective studies with long follow-up have investigated the effects of domestic pets on individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) who live at home. We examined the effects of pets on quality of life (QoL) and general well-being during a 5-year follow-up of home-dwelling persons with AD. Methods: In a prospective study including 223 patients with very mild (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale [CDR] 0.5) or mild (CDR 1) AD at baseline who participated in the ALSOVA study, 40 (18%) had a pet. Self- and proxy-rated QoL in AD quality of life-AD (QoL-AD), 15D, and self-rated visual analogic scale (VAS) were assessed annually for 3 years and after 5 years. The Mini-Mental State Examination, Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and CDR sum of boxes (CDR sum of boxes) were measured at the same visits. Results: A significant positive effect of pet ownership (p = 0.003, proxy-rated QoL-AD) on QoL was found over the entire follow-up. However, self-rated QoL-AD, 15D, and VAS did not significantly differ between pet owners and non-pet owners. Conclusions: The findings suggest that having a pet may support QoL in home-dwelling persons with AD. Self-rated or general QoL or well-being measurements are not an accurate method for studying QoL in individuals with dementia over time due to a lack of insight. Adding proxy-rated evaluations to this kind of study is recommended.Peer reviewe

Impact of Alzheimer's disease on the family caregiver's long-term quality of life: results from an ALSOVA follow-up study

Peer reviewe

Hypoalbuminemia is a frequent marker of increased mortality in cardiogenic shock

Introduction The prevalence of hypoalbuminemia, early changes of plasma albumin (P-Alb) levels, and their effects on mortality in cardiogenic shock are unknown. Materials and methods P-Alb was measured from serial blood samples in 178 patients from a prospective multinational study on cardiogenic shock. The association of hypoalbuminemia with clinical characteristics and course of hospital stay including treatment and procedures was assessed. The primary outcome was all-cause 90-day mortality. Results Hypoalbuminemia (P-Alb < 34g/L) was very frequent (75%) at baseline in patients with cardiogenic shock. Patients with hypoalbuminemia had higher mortality than patients with normal albumin levels (48% vs. 23%, p = 0.004). Odds ratio for death at 90 days was 2.4 [95% CI 1.5–4.1] per 10 g/L decrease in baseline P-Alb. The association with increased mortality remained independent in regression models adjusted for clinical risk scores developed for cardiogenic shock (CardShock score adjusted odds ratio 2.0 [95% CI 1.1–3.8], IABP-SHOCK II score adjusted odds ratio 2.5 [95%CI 1.2–5.0]) and variables associated with hypoalbuminemia at baseline (adjusted odds ratio 2.9 [95%CI 1.2–7.1]). In serial measurements, albumin levels decreased at a similar rate between 0h and 72h in both survivors and nonsurvivors (ΔP-Alb -4.6 g/L vs. 5.4 g/L, p = 0.5). While the decrease was higher for patients with normal P-Alb at baseline (p<0.001 compared to patients with hypoalbuminemia at baseline), the rate of albumin decrease was not associated with outcome. Conclusions Hypoalbuminemia was a frequent finding early in cardiogenic shock, and P-Alb levels decreased during hospital stay. Low P-Alb at baseline was associated with mortality independently of other previously described risk factors. Thus, plasma albumin measurement should be part of the initial evaluation in patients with cardiogenic shock. Trial registration NCT01374867 at ClinicalTrials.gov.Peer reviewe

The Progression of Alzheimer's Disease Can Be Assessed with a Short Version of the CERAD Neuropsychological Battery: The Kuopio ALSOVA Study

Background/Aims: Measuring and predicting Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression is important in order to adjust treatment and allocate care resources. We aimed to identify a combination of subtests from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Neuropsychological Battery (CERAD-NB) that best correlated with AD progression in follow-up as well as to predict AD progression. Method: A total of 236 participants with very mild [Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) = 0.5] or mild AD (CDR = 1.0) at baseline were followed up for 3 years. The CERAD-NB and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were used to assess cognition, and the CDR scale sum of boxes (CDR-sb) was employed to evaluate AD progression. Generalized estimating equations were used to develop models to predict and follow up disease progression. Results: Performance declined on all CERAD-NB subtests. The ability of the separate subtests to distinguish between groups (baseline CDR = 0.5 or 1.0) diminished during follow-up. The best combination of subtests that explained 62% of CDR-sb variance in follow-up included verbal fluency, constructional praxis, the clock drawing test, and the MMSE. Baseline values of the same combination predicted 37% of the CDR-sb change. Conclusion: A short version of the CERAD-NB subtests provides a promising and time-efficient alternative for measuring cognitive deterioration during AD follow-up. Although the initial signs of AD include memory difficulties, it may be useful to assess non-memory tasks in follow-up