The diagnosis of early pregnancy and missed abortion in European and Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus and Rangifer tarandus platyrhyncus

Progesterone levels in peripheral plasma from a total of 38 pregnant an non-pregnant Norwegian and Svalbard reindeer (R. tarandus tarandus and R. t. platyrhyncbus, respectively), were measured 5 to 6 times between November and May, and the size of 18 corresponding fetuses determined. The serum levels of progesterone were similar in the two subspecies, and increased from 1.5 nmol/1 (non-pregnant level) to 10—30 nmol/1 in November in pregnant animals. A maximum of 40—80 nmol/1 was reached in April whereafter the levels declined as time of delivery (beginning of June) approached. Animals with «missed» abortions had progesterone levels in serum of 5—6 nmol/1 in November. The size of the fetuses in November (average 3.7 and 30.7 mm) makes delayed implantation in reindeer unlikely.Tidlig diagnostisering av drektighet og skjult abort i europeisk rein og Svalbardrein (Rangifer tarandus tarandus og Rangifer tarandus platyrhuncus).Abstract in Norwegian / Sammendrag: Progesteron er det viktigste drektighetshormon hos pattedyr, og allerede tidlig i drektighetsperioden kan man hos en rekke arter påvise en økning i konsentrasjonen av dette hormon i blodet. Det har vært diskutert om det samme var tilfelle hos rein. Hvis det var så, ville det være mulig ved hjelp av en enkelt blodprøve på høsten å bestemme om dyret var drektig eller ei, og således ha et bedre grunnlag for å velge ut simler for slakt. Formålet med de forsøkene som er beskrevet i denne artikkel var derfor å måle progesteron-verdiene i blodet hos drektige og ikke-drektige simler for å se om de førstnevnte hadde høyere nivå, og dernest å se om det var en sammenheng mellom fosterets størrelse og progesteron-nivået. Til forsøkene ble det brukt tretti V2—2V2 år gamle simler fra reineier John Nordfjells flokk på Røros, samt åtte Svalbard-rein simler. Fra de norske rein ble blodprøver og fostre samlet under slaktning d. 26. november 1979, og fra Svalbard-reinen ble det tatt blodprøver 5—6 ganger mellom januar og mai 1980. Svalbard-reinen ble ikke slaktet, og i begynnelsen av juni nedkom 3 av dem med kalv. Fostrene fra de norske rein ble veiet og målt etter fixering i formalin. Blodprøvene av samtlige dyr ble analysert for innhold av progesteron på Sentrallaboratoriet Aker Sykehus, Oslo. Det ble funnet at progesteron-verdiene økte fra 1.5 nmol/lhos ikke-drektige dyr til 10—30 nmol i november og 40—80 nmol/1 i april hos drektige dyr. Hos simler, som hadde mistet kalven (abortert) var verdiene 5—6 nmol i november. Det ble også funnet at det ikke var noen sammenheng mellom fosterets størrelse og simlas progesteron-nivå i blodet. Den gjennomsnittlige (antall fostre = 18) fosterlengde i november var 30.7 mm og fostervekt 3.7 g.Tiineyden ja sikion varhaiskuoleman varhaisesta diagnostisoimisesta eurooppalaisella porolla ja Huippuvuorten peuralla (Rangifer tarandus tarandus ja Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus).Abstract in Finnish / Yhteenveto: Progesteroni on nisakkäiden tärkein raskaushormoni ja jo heti raskauden alussa voidaan monilla lajeilla osoittaa veressä tämän hormonin konsentraation kohoaminen. On pohdittu, olisiko tilanne sama myös poron suhteen. Jos niin olisi, olisi mahdollista yksinkertaisen syksyllä otettavan verinäytteen perusteella määrittää onko eläin tiineenä vai ei ja siten hankkia paremmat perusteet teurasvaadinten valinnalle. Nyt tässä artikkelissa selostettavien kokeiden tarkoituksena oli mitata tiineiden ja mahojen vaadinten veren progesteroni-arvo, jotta voitaisiin havaita, olisiko ensiksimainitun arvo korkeampi kuin viimeksimainitun ja edelleen olisiko progesteronitason ja sikiön koon välillä mahdollisesti tietty riippuvuus. Kokeissa käytettiin 30, iältään 0,5—2,5 vuotiasta Rørosilaisen poronomistaja John Nordfjellin laumaan kuuluvaa vaadinta sekä kahdeksan Huippuvuorten peura-vaadinta. Norjalaisista poroista otettiin verinäytteet ja sikiöt, kun eläimet teurastettiin 26. marraskuuta 1979. Huippuvuorten peuroista verinäytteitä otettiin 5—6 kertaa tammikuun ja toukokuun välisenä aikana 1980. Peuroja ei teurastettu ja kesäkuun alussa kolme niistä synnytti vasan. Norjalaisten porojen sikiöt punnittiin ja mitattiin formaliinifikseerauksen jälkeen. Kaikkien eläinten verinäytteet analysoitiin progesteronin määrittämiseksi Aker-sairaalan keskuslaboratoriossa Oslossa. Poroilla, jotka eivät olleet tiineinä, havaittiin progesteronitason kohoaminen 1.5nmol/l-arvostalukemaan 10-30 nmol marraskuussa ja tiineillä arvoon 40-80 nmol/1 huhtikuussa. Vaatimilla, jotka olivat luoneet sikiönsä, arvo oli 5-6 nmol/1 marraskuussa. Kokeissa todettiin edelleen, että sikiön koon ja vaatimen veren progesteroni-tason välillä ei ollut yhteyttä. Keskimääräinen sikiön pituus (18 sikiötä) marraskuussa oli 30.7 mm ja paino 3.7 g

The association between health anxiety, physical disease and cardiovascular risk factors in the general population – a cross-sectional analysis from the Tromsø study: Tromsø 7

Background: Health anxiety (HA) is defined as a worry of disease. An association between HA and mental illness has been reported, but few have looked at the association between HA and physical disease. Objective: To examine the association between HA and number of diseases, different disease categories and cardiovascular risk factors in a large sample of the general population. Methods: This study used cross-sectional data from 18,432 participants aged 40 years or older in the seventh survey of the Tromsø study. HA was measured using a revised version of the Whiteley Index-6 (WI-6-R). Participants reported previous and current status regarding a variety of different diseases. We performed exponential regression analyses looking at the independent variables 1) number of diseases, 2) disease category (cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes or kidney disease, respiratory disease, rheumatism, and migraine), and 3) cardiovascular risk factors (high blood pressure or use of cholesterol- or blood pressure lowering medication). Results: Compared to the healthy reference group, number of diseases, different disease categories, and cardiovascular risk factors were consistently associated with higher HA scores. Most previous diseases were also significantly associated with increased HA score. People with current cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes or kidney disease had the highest HA scores, being 109, 50, and 60% higher than the reference group, respectively. Conclusion: In our general adult population, we found consistent associations between HA, as a continuous measure, and physical disease, all disease categories measured and cardiovascular risk factors

High referral rates to secondary care by general practitioners in Norway are associated with GPs' gender and specialist qualifications in family medicine, a study of 4350 consultations

This article is part of Unni Ringberg's doctoral thesis which is available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/7607Referral rates of general practitioners (GPs) are an important determinant of secondary care utilization. The variation in these rates across GPs is considerable, and cannot be explained by patient morbidity alone. The main objective of this study was to assess the GPs’ referral rate to secondary care in Norway, any associations between the referral decision and patient, GP, health care characteristics and who initiated the referring issue in the consultation. The probabilities of referral to secondary care and/or radiological examination were examined in 100 consecutive consultations of 44 randomly chosen Norwegian GPs. The GPs recorded whether the issue of referral was introduced, who introduced it and if the patient was referred. Multilevel and naive multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to explore associations between the probability of referral and patient, GP and health care characteristics. Of the 4350 consultations included, 13.7% (GP range 4.0%-28.0%) of patients were referred to secondary somatic and psychiatric care. Female GPs referred significantly more frequently than male GPs (16.0% versus 12.6%, adjusted odds ratio, AOR, 1.25), specialists in family medicine less frequently than their counterparts (12.5% versus 14.9%, AOR 0.76) and salaried GPs more frequently than private practitioners (16.2% versus 12.1%, AOR 1.36). In 4.2% (GP range 0%-12.9%) of the consultations, patients were referred to radiological examination. Specialists in family medicine, salaried GPs and GPs with a Norwegian medical degree referred significantly more frequently to radiological examination than their counterparts (AOR 1.93, 2.00 and 1.73, respectively). The issue of referral was introduced in 23% of the consultations, and in 70.6% of these cases by the GP. The high referrers introduced the referral issue significantly more frequently and also referred a significantly larger proportion when the issue was introduced. The main finding of the present study was a high overall referral rate, and a striking range among the GPs. Male GPs and specialists in family medicine referred significantly less frequently to secondary care, but the latter referred more frequently to radiological examination. Our findings indicate that intervention on high referrers is a potential area for quality improvement, and there is a need to explore the referral decision process itself

The Embodied Simulation of Verticality

The existing literature suggests that metaphorical effects are mediated by semantic priming and embodied simulation is not necessary for these effects to occur. We qualify this prediction by showing that embodied simulation is necessary for dynamic metaphorical effects (i.e., moving down)and activates regulatory goals that increase preferences for status consumption

Adaptive Anomaly Detection via Self-Calibration and Dynamic Updating

The deployment and use of Anomaly Detection (AD) sensors often requires the intervention of a human expert to manually calibrate and optimize their performance. Depending on the site and the type of traffic it receives, the operators might have to provide recent and sanitized training data sets, the characteristics of expected traffic (i.e. outlier ratio), and exceptions or even expected future modifications of system's behavior. In this paper, we study the potential performance issues that stem from fully automating the AD sensors' day-to-day maintenance and calibration. Our goal is to remove the dependence on human operator using an unlabeled, and thus potentially dirty, sample of incoming traffic. To that end, we propose to enhance the training phase of AD sensors with a self-calibration phase, leading to the automatic determination of the optimal AD parameters. We show how this novel calibration phase can be employed in conjunction with previously proposed methods for training data sanitization resulting in a fully automated AD maintenance cycle. Our approach is completely agnostic to the underlying AD sensor algorithm. Furthermore, the self-calibration can be applied in an online fashion to ensure that the resulting AD models reflect changes in the system's behavior which would otherwise render the sensor's internal state inconsistent. We verify the validity of our approach through a series of experiments where we compare the manually obtained optimal parameters with the ones computed from the self-calibration phase. Modeling traffic from two different sources, the fully automated calibration shows a 7.08% reduction in detection rate and a 0.06% increase in false positives, in the worst case, when compared to the optimal selection of parameters. Finally, our adaptive models outperform the statically generated ones retaining the gains in performance from the sanitization process over time

Offshoring av redovisning - dess påverkan på revisionen

Syfte Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att beskriva och analysera hur revisionen av företag påverkas då företaget har genomfört en outsourcing av delar eller hela sin redovisning till ett bolag, inom koncernen, i utlandet. Genom att studera ett företag, som genomfört denna form av outsourcing, samt att undersöka de fyra stora revisionsbolagens erfarenheter på området, ämnar uppsatsen uppfylla detta syfte. Metod Denna studie grundar sig på den kvalitativa metoden. En illustrationsstudie samt en flerfallstudie har genomförts tillsammans med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Valet av våra intervjuobjekt vid flerfallsstudien grundar sig i företagens storlek. Kravet vid val av illustrationsföretaget var att de genomfört en offshoring. Teori Uppsatsen är uppdelad på två teorikapitel, ett angående offshoring och shared service center samt ett som beskriver revisionsprocessen och dess olika steg. Denna uppdelning är till för att ge läsaren en tydligare bild av de olika delarna. Empiri Det empiriska materialet som samlats in baseras på dels ett stort internationellt företag som nyligen genomfört en offshoring, samt erfarenheter kring ämnet från de fyra stora revisionsbyråerna i Sverige. Resultat Då ett företag väljer att offshora redovisningsfunktioner påverkar detta samtliga steg i revisionsprocessen. Förändringen blir emellertid inte så tydlig för företaget som genomfört omorganisationen men däremot för dennes revisor. Den mest påtagliga förändring ligger i det faktiska granskningsarbetet som även det till viss del offshoras