Sponsorship of Medical Textbooks by Drug or Device Companies

Background: To study whether medical textbooks are sponsored by drug or device companies, and if so, whether they have tried to influence their contents. Methods: Cross-sectional study of the medical textbooks written in Danish for graduate clinical courses at the University of Copenhagen and anonymous web-based survey of editors. For sponsored books, we also contacted the authors.  Results: Eleven of 71 medical textbooks (15%) were sponsored. We contacted 11 editors, and for 8 books that had authors that were not editors, we also contacted one author. Ten editors and 5 authors replied. One editor was contacted 5 times by the various sponsors concerning the content of specific chapters and in another case the sponsor had the content of a chapter changed regarding its own drug. Two of the authors noted that they did not know that the book was sponsored. Conclusions: Sponsorship of medical textbooks was not uncommon and may lead to lack of academic freedom. Medical students may be particularly vulnerable to commercial influences, as they have had little or no training in commercial biases and generally believe what they read in textbooks

Encounters with texts outside of school in English in 8th-10th grade: Influences and potential for working with texts in ELT.

Master i grunnskolelærerutdanning 5-10, Engelsk. Nord universitet 202

Adequacy of authors’ replies to criticism raised in electronic letters to the editor: cohort study

Objective To investigate whether substantive criticism in electronic letters to the editor, defined as a problem that could invalidate the research or reduce its reliability, is adequately addressed by the authors

Starpdisciplinārie pētījumi medicīnas koledžās

Konference un tēžu krājums tapis ar Latvijas Universitātes un Valsts pētījumu pro­grammas “ResProd” Nr. 2014.10­4/VPP ­6/4 1. projekta GEO atbalst

A new stocking compression system with a low well-defined resting pressure and a high working pressure

Compression stockings should preferably apply the intended pressure regardless of leg shape and circumference. This may require custom fitting. Today’s sizing system is focusing on the exerted pressure at the ankle region. A ready-made stocking may therefore exert correct pressure at the ankle, but the pressure at the calf may be well exceeded due to the actual size of the calf, leading to a tourniquet effect, ischemia or even increased risk of thrombosis. Even with a perfectly-fitted stocking, the problem with changes in leg circumference due to the increase/decrease in oedema is not resolved. Stocking donning problems vary with compression class and elasticity of the material used. Added pressure over the calf area has been reported to improve venous pumping function more than graduated compression. Adding stiffness over the calf area may also improve the pumping function. H\ue4fner et.al. stated that “Hemodynamically optimal compression products will make medical compression therapy an even more useful tool in the field of phlebology”. With new smart textiles, the pressure can be controlled. The aim was therefore to evaluate a prototype of a stocking compression system with specified well-defined target resting pressure and supposedly high working pressure created by stiffness

Good-bye slippage - a new fusion to tackle bandage slippage on the foot

Not availabl

Chain Reaction - En multipel fallstudie av slack i försörjningskedjan

Uppsatsen har en deskriptiv karaktär och det empiriska materialet är av kvalitativ art då vi använt oss av en multipel fallstudie och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Vi har vidare intagit ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv med abduktiv ansats vid genomförandet av studien. Uppsatsen utgår i stor utsträckning från de tre perspektiv som Oerlemans & Pretorius nämner avseende slack. Slack studeras i försörjningskedjan vilket är studiens andra teoretiska område. Studien baseras på femton semistrukturerade intervjuer med nyckelpersoner hos nio svenska tillverkningsföretag. Attityden till slack i försörjningskedjan är divergerande och är ofta kopplat till företagens interna syn på fenomenet. Vi har funnit tre distinkta grupper där åsikterna går från en positiv inställning där företagen skapar slack till negativ där företag eliminerar allt slack. Vi har funnit belägg för att slack hos leverantörer inte är alltid accepterat

Content and strength of conflict of interest policies at Scandinavian Medical Schools: a cross sectional study

BackgroundConcerns around staffs’ and students’ interactions with commercial entities, for example drug companies, have led several North American medical schools to implement conflict of interest (COI) policies. However, little is known about COI policies at European medical schools. We analysed the content and strength of COI policies at Scandinavian medical schools.MethodsWe searched the websites of medical schools in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden and emailed the Deans for additional information. Using comparable methodology to previous studies, the strength of the COI policies was rated on a scale from 0 to 2 across 11 items (higher score more restrictive); we also assessed the presence of oversight mechanisms and sanctions.ResultsWe identified 77 unique policies for 15 medical schools (range 2–8 per school). Most of the policies (n = 72; 94%) were University wide and only five (6%) were specific for the medical schools. For six of eleven items one or more schools had a restrictive policy (score of two). None of the schools had a restrictive policy for the five additional items (speaking relationships, sales representatives, on-site education activities, medical school curriculum, and drug samples). Honoraria was the item with the highest score, with eight of the 15 schools having a score of two. Thirteen of the 15 schools had policies that identified a party responsible for policy oversight and mentioned sanctions for non-compliance.ConclusionOur study provides the first evaluation of all Scandinavian medical schools’ COI policies. We found that the content of COI policies varies widely and still has shortcomings. We encourage Scandinavian medical schools to develop more stringent COI policies to regulate industry interactions with both faculty and students

Motsättningen mellan styrning och innovationsförmåga - en multipel fallstudie

Syftet med uppsatsen är att påvisa hur innovativa företag arbetar med motsättningen mellan behovet av styrning kontra behovet av innovationsförmåga. Utifrån empirin har vi funnit belägg som stödjer vårt antagande om att det finns en motsättning mellan behovet av styrning kontra behovet av innovationsförmåga. Företagen handskas generellt med motsättningen genom att i stor utsträckning använda sig av styrformer som anses vara mer lösa i kombination med nyckelpersoner som driver innovationsprocessen