‘What Happens, or Rather Doesn’t Happen’: Death and Possibility in Alice James and Christina Rossetti

The idea of the dying Victorian woman as passive victim or object of desire has justly received critical attention, but this has meant a comparative neglect of the dying Victorian woman as an active, speaking, writing subject. In response, this article focuses on the death writing of Alice James and Christina Rossetti, reading the central role of death in their work as a way of articulating a space of possibility beyond what life has to offer. In Rossetti’s death poetry and James’s Diary, death is what gives form to the text, and represents the possibility for the text and its speaker to be read and understood. The article reads James and Rossetti’s death writing as neither definitively conforming to or subverting social norms about the links between death and femininity. It suggests, however, that reading these death explorations in terms of ventures into a promising unknown creates a more complex conception of the role of women as active participants in as well as victims of Victorian death culture, and of the strategies available to women writers facing the problem of an existence that could itself seem deathlike

Multiple sclerosis -the impact of environmental- and lifestyle factors

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), likely caused by an interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Epstein-Barr virus infection, low serum vitamin D levels, smoking and obesity increase the risk of MS. However, knowledge of their effect on disease activity and progression have been limited. Objective: The main objective was to explore the role of different environmental and lifestyle factors for MS disease activity. In more detail, we sought to evaluate whether there is an association between tobacco use or body mass index (BMI) and MS disease activity. We also explored the potential of two adipokines, leptin and adiponectin as biomarkers for disease course or interferon-beta (IFNβ) treatment response in MS. Methods: All data in our studies were based on the OFAMS study, a randomized placebo-controlled multicenter study of 92 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) that was conducted between 2004 -2008. The patients were followed for 24 months with repeated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, blood tests and clinical evaluations, 6 months prior to and 18 months during IFNβ-treatment. For the current thesis, we analyzed serum samples for cotinine, a biomarker for tobacco use, and the adipokines leptin and adiponectin. For the first study, the patients were categorized as tobacco-users and non-tobacco-users according to their serum cotinine level. For the second and third study, patients were categorized based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) classification of BMI into three groups; normal weight patients (BMI30 kg/m²). All analyses were adjusted for age, gender and BMI. Results: We did not find any association between tobacco use and MRI activity (paper I). Further, there was no difference between tobacco users and non-tobacco users regarding baseline Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, EDSS-progression or relapse-rate. For tobacco users, there was no correlation between serum cotinine levels and disease activity. There was no difference in clinical and MRI activity between patients stratified by BMI prior to IFNβ-treatment. During IFNβ-treatment, 80 % of overweight or obese patients had MRI activity compared to 48 % in the group of normal weight patients (p=0.001). The number of patients obtaining NEDA (no evidence of disease activity)-status differed according to BMI; 26 % in the normal weight group compared to only 13 % in the group of overweight and obese patients (p=0.05) (paper II). There was no association between serum levels of leptin or adiponectin and MRI disease activity (paper III). The serum levels of leptin were lower and the levels of adiponectin higher during IFNβ-treatment compared to the treatment-naïve period, reflecting the anti-inflammatory effect of the drug. Conclusion: In our studies, we found no direct association between tobacco use or BMI and MS disease activity. During IFNβ-treatment fewer of the overweight and obese patients obtained NEDA-status compared to patients with normal weight, indicating that BMI could affect IFNβ-treatment response. Serum levels of leptin and adiponectin seem not to be suited as biomarkers for disease activity or IFNβ-treatment response in MS.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Low body temperature associated with severe ischemic stroke within 6 hours of onset: The Bergen NORSTROKE Study

Christopher E Kvistad, Lars Thomassen, Ulrike Waje-Andreassen, Halvor NaessDepartment of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen, Bergen, NorwayBackground: Hypothermia is considered neuroprotective and a potential treatment in cerebral ischemia. Some studies suggest that hyperthermia may promote clot lysis. We hypothesized that low body temperature would prolong time to spontaneous clot lysis resulting in an association between low body temperature and severe neurological deficits in the early phase of ischemic stroke.Methods: In this prospective study, patients (n = 516) exhibiting ischemic stroke with symptom onset within 6 hours were included. Body temperature and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score were registered on admission. Because low body temperature on admission may be secondary to immobilization due to large stroke, separate analyses were performed on patients with cerebral hemorrhage admitted within 6 hours (n = 85).Results: Linear regression showed that low body temperature on admission was independently associated with a high NIHSS score within 6 hours of stroke onset in patients with ischemic stroke (P < 0.001). The association persisted when NIHSS was measured at 24 hours after admission. No such associations were found in patients with cerebral hemorrhage admitted within 6 hours of stroke onset.Conclusion: Our study suggests that low body temperature within 6 hours of symptom onset is associated with severe ischemic stroke. This is in support of our hypothesis, although other contributing mechanisms cannot be excluded.Keywords: body temperature, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, clot lysi

Appreciating music in the streaming era

Bacheloroppgave i music business 2017The music industry is still subjected to the value gap that arose from services like Napster. At the time of writing, the issue is being addressed as a legislative one by the industry, and a rather sore one at that. There are however streaming services that employed a freemium strategy upon debut, and are still working on converting their free users to subscribers who pay. Facing the challenge outlined above, the idea of offering music as an experience as opposed to a product, has been adopted by many. An idea that stems from Pine & Gilmore’s work. (1988). We define this as the listening experience. The literature concerning how to tap into this, and the consumption of music in everyday life, is rich. Various sources examine music as a functionality, in other words a means to for instance regulate a mood, complement a setting, or to distance oneself from tedious tasks. Seeing this phenomenon in the context of the behavior possibly induced by accessibility, it’s easy to neglect those who still engage in active listening. Nonetheless how to present these people with relevant offerings. In this thesis, we seek to “further an understanding of active listening in the context of general consumption.” In doing so, we have collected questionnaires from 3629 respondents from 19 different counties in Norway. Based on the literature, we have articulated three hypotheses, that seeks to examine the relationship between active listening and three different variables; «Escapist experience», «Cognitive-Object» and «Parasocial interaction». Based on the data, we have found support for all three hypotheses

Snus, røyking og mortalitet. En prospektiv kohortstudie av mortalitetsrisiko hos snusere i et utvalg av Forsvarets ansatte

Bakgrunn: Bruk av snus er økende i Norge, særlig blant unge. Snus inneholder mange av de samme helseskadelige stoffene som røyk, og er av WHO klassifisert som karsinogent. Det er derfor grunnlag for å mistenke at bruk av snus kan medføre økt dødelighet, men forskningsgrunnlaget er svært mangelfullt. Formål: Vi ønsket å undersøke dødeligheten blant mannlige ansatte i Forsvaret som bruker snus, sammenlignet med 1) de som røyker og 2) de som ikke bruker noen tobakksprodukter. Metode: Utvalget bestod av mannlige ansatte i Forsvaret som besvarte den årlige spørreundersøkelsen utført av Forsvarets sanitet i 2003 eller 2004. Datamaterialet er utlevert av Forsvarets helseregister. 10969 menn ble fulgt opp fra 31/03 året de besvarte undersøkelsen frem til død eller endt oppfølgingstid 31/12/16. Kji-kvadrattest og uavhengig t- test ble benyttet for å sammenligne gruppene. Cox regresjonsmodell ble brukt for å beregne Hazard ratio. Tre kategoriske variabler og to kontinuerlig variabler ble inkludert i analysen: stimulantia (snus, røyk, ingen), alkoholkonsum (normalt, høyt), type ansettelse (militær, sivil), alder og kroppsmasseindeks (KMI). Resultater: I løpet av en gjennomsnittlig oppfølgingstid på 12,1 år (tilsvarende 132 765 personår) ble det registrert 228 dødsfall som følge av sykdom. Bruk av snus gav HR 0,845 (95% KI 0,333-2,143) sammenlignet med den tobakksfrie gruppen. Med røykerne som referansegruppen gav bruk av snus HR 0,465 (95% KI 0,188-1,153). Konklusjon: Det var ingen forskjell i mortalitetsrisiko mellom snuserne og de som ikke brukte tobakk, og mellom snuserne og røykerne. Det er behov for ytterligere forskning for å klarlegge hvilken effekt snus har for mortalitet og folkehelsen

Prototype of a Smithfield Nutrient Cover

Smithfield Hog Production has processing facilities throughout the state of Iowa as well as contract finishing sites where producers grow out their swine. The hog manure from these sites is pumped into a slurry store for storage until it can be pumped onto the fields in the spring or fall. The slurry stores stand 19-feet-tall, have a diameter of 120-feet, and hold 1.2-million-gallons of manure. The slurry stores have no cover so they are open to all weather like rain and snow. Most years, evaporation does not equal precipitation which results in a decreased manure holding capacity and an increased cost to pump the manure. The precipitation that accumulates in the tank also lowers the per gallon value of the nutrients as a crop fertilizer due to dilution. A cover for the slurry tanks would eliminate precipitation from entering the tank

En vanlig dag på jobb for oss, en livskrise for foreldre - når det nyfødte barnet trenger terapeutisk hypotermibehandling.

Bakgrunn: Terapeutisk hypotermi (TH) er en etablert behandlingsmetode for perinatal asfyksi. Foreldre til barn under hypotermibehandling står i en livskrise etter en traumatisk fødsel hvor barnet ofte kan sveve mellom liv og død. Foreldrene til disse barna får som oftest ikke holde barna sine under behandlingen som har en varighet på 72 timer. Hensikt og problemstilling: Å skape en større forståelse av behovet foreldre med barn under terapeutisk hypotermi har, og hva barnesykepleieren kan gjøre for å ivareta disse behovene og fremme tilknytning mellom foreldre og barn. Oppgaven har følgende problemstilling: Hvordan kan barnesykepleieren ivareta foreldrenes behov når barnet behandles med terapeutisk hypotermi? Metode: Denne studien har litteraturstudie som metode med good quality literature review som tilnærming. Strukturerte litteratursøk ble gjort i databasene PubMed og CINAHL og resulterte i elleve artikler. Både kvalitativ, kvantitativ og mixed methods artikler er inkludert. Tematisk analyse ble brukt for å identifisere aktuelle temaer fra artiklene. Konklusjon: Barnesykepleieren bør gi støtte og vise empati overfor foreldrene. Tydelig informasjon om behandlingen bør gjøres på et tidlig stadium for å redusere bekymring og stress hos foreldrene. Det vil være fordelaktig med skriftlig informasjon. Behandlingsteamet må være samkjørte når de kommuniserer og informerer foreldrene. Barnesykepleieren bør oppfordre til tilstedeværelse og avklare med foreldrene hva som forventes av dem. Familiesentrert tilnærming med foreldreinvolvering bør tilstrebes