Living with Your Own Kind at the End of Life:

This thesis is about the global trend of the profiling of nursing homes, with specific focus on two empirical cases of profiled nursing homes in Sweden and Denmark. The profiled nursing homes, and their social dynamics, are analyzed on the basis of data collected through ethnographic fieldwork and additional documentation. The profiled nursing homes are institutional attempts to satisfy what are believed to be the elderly’s individual or cultural ‘needs’ with the application of a specific profile. Behind this concept of satisfying cultural ‘needs’ lie two distinct categorical approaches which I call ‘enclave-thinking’ or ‘individuality-thinking’. The thesis highlights the increasing segmentation of the nursing home sector into different client groups, as a result of profiling. Nursing homes must now make decisions about how to brand themselves and the target groups to which they want to appeal. Profiled nursing homes are just the latest incarnation of a general trend towards using the concept of ‘culture’ and ‘individuality’, often advertised as either ‘inclusion’ or ‘special needs’ in administrative restructuring and rebranding

Fra ‘Interkulturelle kompetencer’ til et intersektionelt blik – Om socialarbejderes sans for arabisktalende mødres positioner

The article argues that ‘intercultural’ social work could fruitfully be oriented towards the intersectional backgrounds of minority- (as well as majority-)Danish clients. In addition, it has to be based on an approach to intersectionality that emphasises the context-specific and unpredictable articulation of different category positions. Hence, rather than aiming at the acquisition of ‘intercultural competences’ in the sense of transferable, generalisable knowledge of the Other’s cultural dispositions, development projects in ‘intercultural’ social work could work from a more open set of questions concerning the differentiality of positions that make a difference in specific contexts. As ‘culture’ is indeed a category that strongly influences our frameworks of interpretation this may take the meta-competence of observing the influence of one’s own preconstructed articulations of e.g. Arabicness with other categories and with specific problem versions

Managing Brain Extracellular K(+) during Neuronal Activity:The Physiological Role of the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase Subunit Isoforms

AbstractDuring neuronal activity in the brain, extracellular K+ rises and is subsequently removed to prevent a widespread depolarization. One of the key players in regulating extracellular K+ is the Na+/K+-ATPase, although the relative involvement and physiological impact of the different subunit isoform compositions of the Na+/K+-ATPase remain unresolved. The various cell types in the brain serve a certain temporal contribution in the face of network activity; astrocytes respond directly to the immediate release of K+ from neurons, whereas the neurons themselves become the primary K+ absorbers as activity ends. The kinetic characteristics of the catalytic α subunit isoforms of the Na+/K+-ATPase are, partly, determined by the accessory β subunit with which they combine. The isoform combinations expressed by astrocytes and neurons, respectively, appear to be in line with the kinetic characteristics required to fulfill their distinct physiological roles in clearance of K+ from the extracellular space in the face of neuronal activity.Understanding the nature, impact and effects of the various Na+/K+-ATPase isoform combinations in K+ management in the central nervous system might reveal insights into pathological conditions such as epilepsy, migraine, and spreading depolarization following cerebral ischemia. In addition, particular neurological diseases occur as a result of mutations in the α2- (familial hemiplegic migraine type 2) and α3 isoforms (rapid-onset dystonia parkinsonism/alternating hemiplegia of childhood). This review addresses aspects of the Na+/K+-ATPase in the regulation of extracellular K+ in the central nervous system as well as the related pathophysiology. Understanding the physiological setting in non-pathological tissue would provide a better understanding of the pathological events occurring during disease

Evidence for the protein leverage hypothesis in preschool children prone to obesity.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The protein leverage hypothesis (PLH) proposed that strict regulation of protein intake drives energy overconsumption and obesity when diets are diluted by fat and/or carbohydrates. Evidence about the PLH has been found in adults, while studies in children are limited. Thus, we aimed to test the PLH by assessing the role of dietary protein on macronutrients, energy intake, and obesity risk using data from preschool children followed for 1.3 years. METHODS 553 preschool children aged 2-6 years from the 'Healthy Start' project were included. EXPOSURES The proportion of energy intake from protein, fat, and carbohydrates collected from a 4-day dietary record. OUTCOMES Energy intake, BMI z-score, fat mass (FM) %, waist- (WHtR) and hip-height ratio (HHtR). Power function analysis was used to test the leverage of protein on energy intake. Mixture models were used to explore interactive associations of macronutrient composition on all these outcomes, with results visualized as response surfaces on the nutritional geometry. RESULTS Evidence for the PLH was confirmed in preschool children. The distribution of protein intake (% of MJ, IQR: 3.2) varied substantially less than for carbohydrate (IQR: 5.7) or fat (IQR: 6.3) intakes, suggesting protein intake is most tightly regulated. Absolute energy intake varied inversely with dietary percentage energy from protein (L = -0.14, 95% CI: -0.25, -0.04). Compared to children with high fat or carbohydrate intakes, children with high dietary protein intake (>20% of MJ) had a greater decrease in WHtR and HHtR over the 1.3-year follow-up, offering evidence for the PLH in prospective analysis. But no association was observed between macronutrient distribution and changes in BMI z-score or FM%. CONCLUSIONS In this study in preschool children, protein intake was the most tightly regulated macronutrient, and energy intake was an inverse function of dietary protein concentration, indicating the evidence for protein leverage. Increases in WHtR and HHtR were principally associated with the dietary protein dilution, supporting the PLH. These findings highlight the importance of protein in children's diets, which seems to have significant implications for childhood obesity risk and overall health