European health professionals’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about perinatal depression and body image concerns

Objective: Health professionals who work with women in pregnancy and postpartum are rarely educated in psychosocial aspects of body image and mental health, despite this being a time of significant bodily change for women. This study presents the results of a needs assessment to determine the extent, nature, and format of health professional education in relation to body image and perinatal mental health. Method: Participants were N = 257 health professionals (89% female) from 16 European countries, recruited through the authors professional networks, who completed an online survey about their existing knowledge and experience, and preferences for further education. Results: Current knowledge about body image was low, and open-ended comments indicated that body image was integrated into pregnancy and postpartum care within the context of encouraging weight loss. Health professionals saw opportunities for the inclusion of conversations about body image and mental health within their clinical care and a need for training about ‘what to say’ to mothers, as well as recommendations for diagnostic and referral pathways, and more general information about postpartum body image and mental health that could inform their practice. Discussion: This research indicates the need for health professional education in relation to perinatal body image and mental health.peer-reviewe

Interkulturell pedagogik i praktiken -tre grundskolelärares pedagogiska verklighet och hur de arbetar interkulturellt

Mitt examensarbete handlar om tre olika lärare på tre olika skolor i centrala Malmö 2011. Mitt syfte är att undersöka vilken kunskap om och vilka redskap läraren har för att arbeta interkulturellt och vilket stöd de får för detta arbete. Vilken interkulturell kompetens har läraren och hur ser den dagliga praktiken i klassrummet ut. Vilket förhållningssätt och attityd har läraren till sitt arbete i en mångkulturell miljö? Intresset för det här ämnet har sakta växt fram under min utbildning till lärare och ett par års erfarenhet av vikariat på olika grundskolor i Malmö och anledningen till att jag gör den här undersökningen nu är att jag snart kommer att vara lärare själv och vill skaffa mig förståelse för och kunskap om vad interkulturell pedagogik är.Genom att intervjua tre olika lärare på grundskolor i centrala Malmö om hur de arbetar interkulturellt vill jag skaffa mig denna förståelse. Min ambition är inte att fastställa någon form av sanning, eller att gradera lärarna i min undersökning, utan snarare att få förståelse för hur det fungerar i verkligheten. Resultatet visar att mina tre informanter, är att även om de har olika hög teoretisk förkunskap för interkulturell pedagogik, arbetar på ett praktiskt medvetet sätt, som gynnar elever på en mångkulturell skola samt att det finns brister i lärarutbildningen vad det gäller att ge lärarna den kompetens som krävs.My interest in this topic has slowly emerged during my education and during a couple of years as a substitute at different schools in Malmö. The reason I do this study now, is that I soon will begin to work as a teacher and want to build my understanding and knowledge of what intercultural education is. By interviewing three teachers at elementary schools in central Malmö on how they work interculturaly, I intend to obtain this understanding. My ambition is not to establish any form of truth, nor is it to grade the investigated teachers, but rather to get an understanding of how it works in reality. The results shows that my informants, although they have different levels of theoretical prerequisites on intercultural pedagogy, work in a practically conscious way, which favors students at a multicultural school and that there are deficiencies in teacher training in terms of giving teachers the competence required

En studie om 1968. Tre personliga berättelser och erfarenheter samt innebörden av året 1968

Min uppsats handlar om Sverige året 1968 och om hur tre olika personer som delar erfarenheten av att ha varit unga och aktiva politiskt då, upplevde året för egen del. Mitt syfte är att undersöka hur deras erfarenheter av 1968 ser ut och hur de minns dessa. Det finns enligt mig en etablerad bild och ett kollektivt minne av 1968, kårhusockupationen i Stockholm, studentprotester ochVietnamdemonstrationer. Denna uppfattning förstärktes under jubileumsåret 2008 då media uppmärksammade dessa händelser. Min ambition är inte att komma fram till vad 1968 var och vad som bör anses vara viktigt eller varför vissa saker hände eller inte. Min ambition är att undersöka berättelser vid sidan av det etablerade kollektiva minnet av 1968. Jag har därför valt tre informanter som var aktiva inom vad som måste anses vara etablerade politiska grupperingar, Moderaterna, Folkpartiet och LO. De har hjälpt mig med att skapa en kompletterande bild av året 1968, under intervjuer med dem där mitt mål varit att få dem att dela med sig av sina erfarenheter och minnenfrån året. Genom att använda mig av diskursanalytiska redskap har jag riktat in mig på att förstå hur och varför de har en viss verklighetsuppfattning och varför de beskriver sina erfarenheter på ett visst sätt. Resultatet är tre berättelser som korsar varandra på ett par olika områden, med gemensamma men samtidigt annorlunda bilder av 1968. En gemensam kontext för alla informanter, är att de alla förhåller sig till socialdemokratin på ett eller annat sätt, som en central del av deras liv 1968 och att 1968 innebar en framtidsoptimism som saknas idag, samt ett hårt politiskt arbete för attförändra samhället i önskad riktning.My essay is about Sweden and the year 1968 and how three different persons who share the experience of being young and politically active at that time, experienced the year then. My purpose is to investigate their experiences of 1968 and how they remember them. I claim there that there is and established image and an collective memory of 1968, with the squatting of the student union building in Stockholm, various student protests and the Vietnam demonstrations. This perception was reinforced during the anniversary year 2008 when swedish media covered certain events over and over from 1968. My ambition is not to come to a conclusion of what 1968 was and what is to be remembered as important or not. My ambition is to explore stories beside the collective memory of 1968. I therefore selected three informants whom where active in what I assume must be regarded as established politics, the conservatives, the liberals and the social democratic trade union. The helped me put together an additional picture of the year 1968. By using discourse analytic tools I focused mainly on understanding how and why they have a certain perception of reality and why they describe their experiences in a certain way. This resulted in three different testimonies that cross each other in different parts, with common but at the same time different images of 1968. A common context for all three informants is that they all have a relationship with the social democracy in one way or another as an important part in their lives and that the year ment optimism that they all say is lost today, as well as hard political work to change the society in their on desired way

From past to present under our sky blue banner. : -A study of male and female football fan culture in postwar Sweden.

Min studie syftar till att undersöka hur den svenska fotbollens supporterkulturs könsfördelning mellan män och kvinnor sett ut årtiondena efter Andra världskriget, hur maskulinitet har konstruerats idenna kontext samt hur synen på genus bland supportrarna såg ut under denna tid. Undersökningen bidrar till forskningsläget med en outforskad period, där andra forskare undersökt tidigare och senare perioder med fokus på kopplingen mellan maskulinitet och våld. Jag ser en hypotetisk koppling till skötsamhetskultur som upplevde sina glansdagar under samma period. För att närma mig frågorna har jag som metod arbetat med muntlig historia med utgång i framförallt Malin Thor och Lars Hansson samt Robert Perks och Alistair Thompson och djupintervjuer med 6 personer som var aktiva i supporterkulturen kring Malmö FF under nämnd tid. Som teoretisk grund för förståelsen av empirin har jag använt genus- och maskulinitetsteorier från Raewyn Connell, Rebecca Pearseoch Michael A. Messner och populärvetenskapliga skribenter som Marcus Priftis och Stephan Mendel-Elk. För att förstå den förändring som skett inom den maskulinitet som dominerar svenska fotbollsläktare har jag använt Raewyn Connells kristeorier. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att män och kvinnor förr var mer skilda åt, både vad det gäller fysiska rum och genom striktare uppfattningar om könsroller. Detta började förändras under 70-talet i takt med att samhället och dess sociala strukturer förändrades. Förut kunde män känna sig trygga i sin maskulinitet, som var av en mer hierarkisk karaktär. Att uttrycka maskulinitet genom våldsutövning behövdes inte. Idrottsarenor, arbetsplatser och hem var ohotade könssegregerade platser som aktivt konstruerade genus. I dessa kontexter var skötsamhet och återhållsamhet en central del av maskuliniteten. Kvinnor ansågs länge i bästa fall vara andra klassens supportrar, oftast där som ett bihang till fotbollsintresserade pojkvänner eller män. Fotboll skapades aktivt som en manlig institution för att fostra en viss sorts manlighet. När samhällets sociala strukturer började förändras på 70-talet och kvinnor började ta plats i manliga kontexter uppstod en kris i maskuliniteten. Därför kan vi idag se en extremare form av verbal och fysisk manlighet. Idag går långt fler kvinnor och tjejer för att se på fotboll och deltar aktivt i supporterkulturer kring denna och damfotbollen har långt fler aktiva än de pionjärer som spelade fotbollunder tiden för min undersökning. Genus är inte statiskt utan förändras konstant och idag har positionerna i de sociala relationerna som genus utgör förflyttats. I och med att skillnaderna och avståndet mellan män och kvinnor idag har minskat har de för vissa blivit viktigare än förut.The purpose of my study is to examine how gender division was reflected in Swedish football supporter culture across the decades after World War Two. It also examines how masculinity was constructedin this context and how supporters during this time perceived existing gender structures. The study contributes to the field by examining a yet unexamined period where other researchers focused on times before or after, with a focus on the connection between masculinity and violence. I see a hypothetic connection to respectablility, having it’s glory days these same years. To answer these questions, I sought oral accounts from Malin Thor, Lars Hansson as well as Robert Perks and Alistair Thompson. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with six individuals who were active in the supporter culture of Malmö FF during these years. The the oretical foundation for my research and the understanding of my empiricism are gender- masculinity and crisis theories from Raewyn Connell, Rebecca Pearse and Michael A. Messner and popular science authors such as Marcus Priftis and Stephan Mendel-Elk. Raewyn Connell’s crisis theories were used to understand the transformation of the Swedish terraces from the fifties to today. The results show that men and women were more separated before, physically and through perceptions of gender roles. During the seventies, these social structures began to change. Violence became more relevant as an expression of masculinity for the men who used to feel secure in fixed gender roles and overt hierarchies. Sporting arenas, work places and homes were all places segregated by gender and active agents in constructin ggender roles. In these contexts, good character and restraint were central parts of masculinity. At the same time, women were, at best, second-class supporters. Often, they were looked uponas girl friends, wives or appendages to male supporters. When society rapidly began to change in its social structures during the seventies, a crisis in masculinity arose. This explains the more extreme form of verbal and physical expressions from men today. Today, far more women attend football games and play football compared to a few decades ago. Gender is not static but in constant change. Social structure positions have shifted. Because of the fact that distance and differences between men and women have been reduced, it has become more important than ever to highlight these forcertain groups of people

The matter of white matter in Alzheimer's disease. -On white matter disease from neuropathology and neuroimaging to clinical presentation.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent type of dementing disorder. The cortical pathology of AD has been recognized for almost a century. In later years, an associated pathological feature of AD has been identified which affects the white matter. This white matter disease (WMD), defined in the microscope, consists of a subtotal tissue loss of the white matter structural components. WMD is observed in more than 50 % of AD cases upon neuropathological investigation, but it has been more difficult to diagnose in the living patient. The mild but widespread pathology that constitutes WMD could be difficult to discriminate with computerised tomoraphy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The new MRI technique diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was thought to be suitable for the detection of WMD, both post-mortem and in-vivo. However, studies which evaluate the potential of DTI to detect true white matter pathology are lacking. The overall aim of the thesis was to find methods to translate the knowledge gained by microscopic analysis of WMD to a clinical setting to ascertain potential clinical outcome in the dementia profile of AD. This was done using neuropathology (study I, II, III and IV), post-mortem DTI (study V) and clinical DTI and symptomatology (study VI). In neuropathological study I, WMD in AD cases was shown to correspond to a significant reduction of oligodendrocytes and an increase of astrocytes compared to control cases. In neuropathological study II, it was demonstrated that increasing severity of WMD in AD cases was associated with a statistically significant reduction in myelin density. In neuropathological study III, increasing degrees of WMD in AD cases were found to correspond to gradually decreasing numbers of small vessels in the white matter. In neuropathological study IV, the regional distribution of WMD in AD was studied. WMD was found to be most pronounced in the frontal white matter followed by parietal-, frontoparietal-, temporal- and finally the occipital white matter. In the correlative neuropathological/post-mortem DTI study V, true white matter pathology verified by microscopic assessment was shown to correspond to findings on DTI. In the clinical study VI, frontal white matter changes detected by DTI, but not by conventional MRI, were found to correlate with reduced performance on tests of executive function in both AD and healthy age-matched control cases. The overall result from the neuropathological studies demonstrates that it is possible to quantitate the structural components that constitute WMD in AD with the use of neuropathological morphological methods. Specifically, WMD in AD corresponds to a quantifiable reduction of oligodendrocytes, myelin and small vessels. WMD is distributed in large regions of the brain, with accentuation in the frontal lobes. The findings of reduced numbers of small vessels that parallel increasing severity of WMD support the hypothesis of an alleged ischemic origin for WMD in AD. The correlative neuropathological/post-mortem DTI study demonstrates that DTI has the potential to detect true white matter pathology. The clinical study reveals that DTI seems to be a suitable method for detection of white matter changes which correspond to measures of cognitive dysfunction. Frontal white matter changes seem to have influence on the clinical presentation, both in AD and in healthy aging. In summary, this thesis explores WMD in AD from neuropathology via post-mortem and clinical imaging to clinical presentation

Alzheimer's disease and the cerebellum: a morphologic study on neuronal and glial changes

Structural manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD) including neuronal loss were investigated in 12 cases of AD and in 10 healthy age-matched controls, with focus on the cerebellum. Linear Purkinje cell (PC) density was measured in the vermis and cerebellar hemispheres. Neurons were also counted in the inferior olivary nucleus. In vermis of the AD cases, the mean PC number was significantly lower (p = 0.019) than in the controls. The neurons in the inferior olive were similarly fewer, though not significantly (p = 0.13). Molecular layer gliosis and atrophy in the vermis was clearly severer in AD than in the controls. Features typical of cerebral Alzheimer encephalopathy (plaques, tangles and microvacuolization) were inconspicious. The structural cerebellar changes in the AD cases were thus neuronal loss, atrophy and gliosis, judged to represent the disease process, and with a main involvement in the vermis. This may be reflected in some of the symptoms and signs seen in AD, signs that are generally overlooked or judged to be of noncerebellar origin