Subjective Well-Being, Income and Economic Margins

This paper uses the Swedish Level of Living Survey to study how satisfaction with living conditions and daily life covary with economic resources, in the cross-section and in a decade-long panel. We find that self-reported lack of economic margins is a powerful determinant of satisfaction, its magnitude being comparable even to that of marriage or cohabitation. In contrast, although income is positively associated with satisfaction, the relationship is less robust than for economic margins, and the estimated gradients vary substantially depending on the choice of satisfaction measure, income measure and model specification.-

Recent advances in vasoactive intestinal peptide physiology and pathophysiology: focus on the gastrointestinal system.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a gut peptide hormone originally reported as a vasodilator in 1970, has multiple physiological and pathological effects on development, growth, and the control of neuronal, epithelial, and endocrine cell functions that in turn regulate ion secretion, nutrient absorption, gut motility, glycemic control, carcinogenesis, immune responses, and circadian rhythms. Genetic ablation of this peptide and its receptors in mice also provides new insights into the contribution of VIP towards physiological signaling and the pathogenesis of related diseases. Here, we discuss the impact of VIP on gastrointestinal function and diseases based on recent findings, also providing insight into its possible therapeutic application to diabetes, autoimmune diseases and cancer

Multirate Control of a DVD Player

In this master theses an existing control system of a DVD player has been modified such that it has become more feasible to implement using limited hardware resources. The discrete controller has already been implemented for evaluation purposes using FPGA technology, and is working well. So far however, low resource consuption has not been a major concern. This is gradually changing though, as more features are being planned for the same hardware, potentially taking up more resources than currently available. The approach taken here is to use high level software tools and a powerful general purpose real-time processor to create a new software implementation of the controller and use it to control the real DVD drive. Using this setup, some interesting design parameters for possible custom hardware implementations has been evaluated under real circumstances. One notable such parameter, which is highly correlated to the size of the resulting FPGA implementation, is the choice of wordlength for the representation of signals, states and coefficients in the controller. To efficiently reduce this parameter, the design of the controller has been altered somewhat to make it less sensitive to the lower numerical accuracies introduced, leading to a multirate controller. To analyse what impact the suggested changes would have on the performance of the control system, extensive tests has been made with different design parameters. This includes experiments with trackjumps, which are highly dependent on the properties of the controller. The tests have indicated what savings that seem possible to achieve under the prevailing conditions. Sammanfattning I detta examensarbete har ett reglersystem för en DVD-spelare modifierats så att det bättre lämpar sig att implementeras med begränsade hårdvaruresurser. Den diskreta regulatorn finns redan implementerad med FPGA-teknik i utvärderingssyfte, och fungerar bra. Hittills har dock inte låg resursförbrukning varit av högsta prioritet. Detta håller på att förändras då fler funktioner, som kan behöva mer resurser än vad som finns tillgängliga i nuläget, planeras för samma hårdvara. Tillvägagångssättet har varit att använda avancerade programvaruverktyg och en kraftfull generell realtidsprocessor för att skapa en ny mjukvaruimplementation av regulatorn och använda denna för att styra den riktiga processen. Med denna uppsättning har sedan vissa intressanta designparametrar för potentiella hårdvaruimplementationer kunnat studeras under verkliga förhållanden. En speciellt intressant sådan parameter, som i hög grad påverkar storleken på den resulterande FPGA-kretsen, är valet av ordlängd för signaler, tillstånd och koefficienter i regulatorn. För att effektivt kunna minska denna parameter har designen av regulatorn behövt ändras något för att göra den mindre känslig mot högre numerisk osäkerhet, vilket lett till en multirateregulator. För att analysera vilka effekter de föreslagna ändringarna skulle ha på regulatorns prestanda, har tester gjorts med olika designparametrar. Även tester av spårhopp har gjorts då dessa är särskilt beroende av regulatorns egenskaper. Dessa tester har gett en fingervisning om hur stora besparingar som verkar möjliga att uppnå under gällande omständigheter

Endoscopic and clinical evaluation of treatment and prognosis of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome: a Japanese nationwide survey.

BackgroundFirst reported in 1955, Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS), a rare syndrome characterized by ectodermal abnormalities and inflammatory changes of the gastrointestinal tract mucosa, has been associated with a poor prognosis and life-threatening malignant complications. In a large population survey, we endeavored to characterize the course and treatment outcome of CCS through clinical and endoscopic assessment, and to explore its optimal treatment and surveillance strategy.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 210 patients with CCS was conducted via a questionnaire-based nationwide survey of 983 teaching hospitals located throughout Japan. We assessed clinical features, endoscopic findings, treatments used, and short- and long-term outcomes.ResultsThe average age at diagnosis was 63.5 years. In all cases, upper or lower gastrointestinal tract polyposis was confirmed, accompanied by characteristic ectodermal abnormalities. Of the treatments used, oral corticosteroids (30-49 mg/day) were the most effective treatment for active disease, with adjunctive nutritional support considered beneficial. With corticosteroid treatment, abdominal symptoms were relieved within a few months, whereas polyp regression often required more than 6 months. Maintenance of endoscopic remission with or without steroids for 3 years significantly lowered the development of CCS-related cancer, compared with relapsers or nonresponders, underscoring the importance of sustained endoscopic remission for cancer prevention.ConclusionsThe prognosis of CCS has greatly improved through the use of improved medical treatment. Although CCS continues to be relentlessly progressive, carrying a high cancer risk, a sufficient dose and duration of corticosteroid therapy accompanied by nutritional support and periodic endoscopic surveillance appears to improve its natural history

Belting i undervisning En studie i syn- och arbetssätt

Title: Belting in teaching. A study of views and teaching-procedure. The purpose of this study is to map how the singing teachers at a Swedish college of music describe and implement the vocal technique 'belting' in their curriculum. This study is based on watching and interviewing six different teachers. The theoretical part deals with voice physiology and four different theories surrounding belting. The results show that the descriptions of belting vary between teachers and experts alike. Education and background play a huge part in how much weight and time the individual teacher spends teaching different techniques, such as belting, and also how they choose to teach and work around the aforementioned. One of the sources often refers to the research and theories of Jo Estill. Estill is widely considered the leading expert on the topic, although her definition of belting deviates from what many other experts consider 'right'. Another source is educated in Alexander technique, and also has a great understanding of the body's reflexes, and her responses and thoughts are driven by a strong perspective of health. She speaks a lot of finding the optimal balance in your body, regardless of technique preferred or used. The experience of belting greatly varies among the informants. Some are unsure as to what belting is about, others have just scratched the topic while some, according to themselves, have a good understanding and knowledge of it. Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga hur pedagogerna vid en musikhögskola i Sverige beskriver och använder sångtekniken Belting i sin undervisning. Intresset ligger i att undersöka och jämföra peda-gogernas syn- och arbetssätt. Denna uppsats är baserad på en kvalitativ metod, med intervjuer av sex stycken pedagoger. I teori-delen beskrivs röstfysiologin och fyra olika röstforskares teorier kring belting. Resultaten visar att beskrivningarna av belting skiljer sig mellan de olika pedagogerna, precis som i forskarvärlden. Utbildning och bakgrund spelar stor roll när det gäller hur stor vikt pedagogerna lägger vid att definiera olika sångtekniker, däribland belting, och även när det gäller deras arbetssätt. En av informanterna hänvisar mycket till Jo Estills forskning. Estill anses av många vara den ledan-de röstforskaren på området. Hennes beskrivning av belting ser dock annorlunda ut än den som många andra röstforskare anser vara den rätta. En annan av mina informanter är utbildad i Alexan-derteknik och har även stor kunskap om kroppens reflexer. Hennes svar genomsyras av ett hälsoper-spektiv och hon pratar mycket om att hitta den optimala balansen i kroppen, oavsett vilken sångtek-nik man använder sig av. Det skiljer en hel del mellan hur mycket erfarenhet informanterna har av belting. Några har gått fortbildningskurser där de snuddat vid ämnet, någon har gått långa utbildningar där det lagts relativt stort fokus på denna sångteknik och någon är inte riktigt säker på vad belting är för något

Aggression replacement training (ART) for reducing antisocial behavior in adolescents and adults: A systematic review

AbstractObjectiveAggression Replacement Training (ART) is a multimodal program aiming at replacing antisocial behaviors by actively teaching desirable behaviors. The program is frequently used and has been provided within a wide variety of settings, but its effectiveness in its own right has not been addressed in previous reviews. This systematic review examines the effect of ART on antisocial behavior in young people and adults.MethodsPublished and unpublished literature was searched to identify randomized and non-randomized studies comparing ART for adults and youth with usual care, other interventions, or no intervention. Primary outcomes included recidivism in antisocial behavior, while secondary outcomes were related to social skills, anger management and moral reasoning.FindingsThis review identified 16 studies with considerable clinical and methodological diversity. The methodological quality and the post-intervention follow-up of the studies were limited. Almost half of the studies were conducted by researchers who have vested interests in the intervention.ConclusionsThere is an insufficient evidence-base to substantiate the hypothesis that ART has a positive impact on recidivism, self-control, social skills or moral development in adolescents and adults. Further research is warranted by independent investigators exploring the effects of ART on clearly-defined target groups using high standard evaluation designs

Combined treatment with dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitor sitagliptin and elemental diets reduced indomethacin-induced intestinal injury in rats via the increase of mucosal glucagon-like peptide-2 concentration.

The gut incretin glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and the intestinotropic hormone GLP-2 are released from enteroendocrine L cells in response to ingested nutrients. Treatment with an exogenous GLP-2 analogue increases intestinal villous mass and prevents intestinal injury. Since GLP-2 is rapidly degraded by dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), DPP4 inhibition may be an effective treatment for intestinal ulcers. We measured mRNA expression and DPP enzymatic activity in intestinal segments. Mucosal DPP activity and GLP concentrations were measured after administration of the DPP4 inhibitor sitagliptin (STG). Small intestinal ulcers were induced by indomethacin (IM) injection. STG was given before IM treatment, or orally administered after IM treatment with or without an elemental diet (ED). DPP4 mRNA expression and enzymatic activity were high in the jejunum and ileum. STG dose-dependently suppressed ileal mucosal enzyme activity. Treatment with STG prior to IM reduced small intestinal ulcer scores. Combined treatment with STG and ED accelerated intestinal ulcer healing, accompanied by increased mucosal GLP-2 concentrations. The reduction of ulcers by ED and STG was reversed by co-administration of the GLP-2 receptor antagonist. DPP4 inhibition combined with luminal nutrients, which up-regulate mucosal concentrations of GLP-2, may be an effective therapy for the treatment of small intestinal ulcers