Where are the men? A qualitative study of the role of men and masculinities in building a culture of peace in colombia

The purpose of this thesis is to build on the debate on the importance of gender awareness in peacebuilding and explore the role of men and masculinities in challenging norms of violence and building a culture of peace in Colombia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Bogotá with seven organisations working with masculinities and eleven organisations working with women’s rights. The data gained was later analysed through a framework combining peace, gender and masculinity theories. This study found that organisations working with masculinities engage men through self-reflective activities to change behaviours and attitudes. The aim is to create new or alternative masculinities as opposed to the violent hegemonic masculinity they find being destructive for men as well as women. Within organisations working with women’s rights the role of men and masculinities is fairly absent. By working with individual and collective empowerment of women they aim to eliminate norms allowing for structural, cultural and direct violence against women. Lastly, to balance an increased focus on men and masculinities with the need to maintain autonomous spaces for women, as highlighted by organisations working with women’s rights, will be a challenge

Ikääntyvän leikkauspotilaan ohjaaminen : Verkko-oppimateriaali sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoille

Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli lisätä opiskelijoiden tietoisuutta ikääntyneen leikkauspotilaan ohjaamisesta ja tarkoituksena oli tuottaa sähköistä oppimateriaalia sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoille ikääntyvän leikkauspotilaan ohjaamisesta. Oppimateriaalin on tarkoitus tukea opiskelua kirurgisen hoitotyön kurssilla. Opinnäytetyöllä oli kolme tehtävää: millaista on hyvä leikkauspotilaan ohjaus, miten ikä otetaan huomioon leikkauspotilaan ohjauksessa ja millainen on hyvä verkko-oppimateriaali. Opinnäytetyön tuloksena syntyi PowerPoint-esitys työn tilaajan Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulun käyttöön. Leikkauspotilaan ohjauksesta pyritään muodostamaan tilanne, jossa potilas ottaa vastuun omasta terveydestään ja löytää omia voimavarojaan. Ikä tulee ottaa huomioon ohjaamisessa kiinnittämällä huomiota ohjaamistilanteeseen sekä fyysisiin ja psyykkisiin rajoitteisiin, muun muassa muistiongelmaan. Hyvä verkko-oppimateriaali on selkeää ja helppokäyttöistä ja hyödyttää mahdollisimman montaa opiskelijaa. Kirurgisen hoitotyön opettajat pystyvät hyödyntämään tuotosta opetustilanteissa. Tuotos tukee erilaisia oppimistyylejä ja on täten hyödyllinen mahdollisimman monelle opiskelijalle. Verkko-oppimateriaalina PowerPoint-esitys toimii hyvin, sillä se on helppo jakaa verkossa ja on täten helposti opiskelijoiden saatavilla. Tulevaisuudessa olisi hyödyllistä tehdä potilaskysely ikääntyneille leikkauspotilaille ohjaamisen laadusta sairaalassa.The aim of this study was to create electronic learning material for nursing students about how to counsel an elderly surgical patient. The purpose of the learning material is to support students’ learning process in surgical nursing. The study was made for Tam-pere University of Applied Sciences. The theoretical section examines on three objectives: what is good counselling of an elderly surgical patient like, how is age considered in the counselling of a surgical patient, and what are the characteristics of a successful electronic learning material. As a result of this study, a PowerPoint-presentation was created. The presentation is easy to use for self-studying and for teachers to use as an electronic learning material. In this thesis, a variety of learning styles were considered and therefore the PowerPoint-presentation can be useful for as many students as possible. In future, it could be useful to conduct an enquiry on elderly surgical patients’ views about the quality and usefulness of counselling. The enquiry could be used to find out potential suggestions for improvement of counselling. The obtained results could be utilised to improve counselling

Föräldrars upplevelser av hur deras barns föreningsaktiviteter påverkar deras aktivitetsbalans i vardagen

Bakgrund: Många föräldrar upplever att det är svårt att få en balans mellan arbete och familjeliv. Barnens intressen kräver även föräldrars engagemang och ett fullspäckat eftermiddagsschema med barnens föreningsaktiviteter kan alltså leda till en upplevd aktivitetsobalans och stress. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur föräldrar upplevde att deras barns föreningsaktiviteter påverkade aktivitetsbalansen i vardagen. Upplevelserna beskrevs utifrån arbetsterapimodellen ValMO. Metod: En kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie har genomförts för att kunna sammanställa upplevelserna utifrån ett stickprov. Resultat: Resultatet visade att 34 % upplevde att barnens föreningsaktiviteter påverkade balansen i vardagen så pass att de ibland eller ofta upplevde stress. Många föräldrar spenderade mer tid i och kring föreningsaktiviteterna än vad barnen själva gjorde. Majoriteten av föräldrarna upplever i hög grad att de känner glädje, njutning och att de får uppskattning i aktiviteter i och kring barnens föreningsutövande. Konklusion: Det är vanligt att man som förälder i mer eller mindre grad upplever stress och obalans i samband med barnens föreningsutövanden. Det finns många olika aspekter som spelar in på upplevd obalans, men generellt är det att passa bestämda tider, transport till och från aktiviteter och hänsynstagande till syskon

Dog Owners' Perceptions of Canine Body Composition and Effect of Standardized Education for Dog Owners on Body Condition Assessment of Their Own Dogs

Simple Summary Overweight is a growing problem in dogs worldwide and negative health effects associated with excess body weight are common. The body condition score (BCS) scale is a time- and resource-effective method to assess if a dog is overweight, but its precision among dog owners has been found to vary. The aim of this study was to investigate dog owners' perceptions of various body compositions in dogs and evaluate if a short education on how to use the 9-point BCS scale might change these perceptions. This study included one survey and one clinical study of Swedish dog owners. In the indirect assessment based on photos, normal-weight dogs were underestimated by three-quarters of dog owners, and about half of the dog owners underestimated overweight dogs. Before receiving the standardized education, one-third of the owners underestimated the body composition of their own dogs, mainly for dogs with excess adiposity. The dog owners responded well to the practical education given and, thereafter, performed assessments comparable to veterinary health care personnel. These results indicate that perception of what an "ideal weight" dog should look like is sliding and that the ability to identify overweight dogs might be limited when owners evaluate body composition without previous education. Overweight in dogs is an increasing problem, with a prevalence of about 30% in Sweden. To prevent the negative health effects of overweight, it is important to identify and treat canine overweight. Dog owners are essential for such interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate dog owners' perceptions of various canine body compositions via indirect assessment based on photos and direct assessment of their own dogs. A second aim was to evaluate the effect of a standardized practical education for dog owners on body condition score (BCS) assessment of their own dogs. The 9-point BCS scale was used, and two study samples were recruited: one was a survey sample where 564 dog owners assessed the BCS of dogs using photos, and one sample was a separate clinical sample where 82 dogs were assessed by their owners and by veterinary health care personnel. The initial BCS assessment by the dog owners in the clinical sample (mean & PLUSMN; SD) was significantly lower (4.6 & PLUSMN; 1.0) than the BCS assessed by the veterinary health care personnel (5.2 & PLUSMN; 1.1), but the owners improved significantly after receiving the standardized education (5.1 & PLUSMN; 1.0) (both p < 0.0001) and performed as accurately as the veterinary health care personnel (p = 0.99). The results should be verified in the broader dog owner population based on a randomized selection of participants. "Weight blindness", defined here as an underassessment of normal-weight dogs and an inability to identify overweight dogs, is likely to have a negative impact on canine overweight prevalence. Deeper knowledge about dog owners' perceptions can inform the development of new strategies to help prevent and manage canine overweight, whereof standardized practical education on BCS assessment is shown here to be one example

Microbiological characterization of a rearing system for the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus: a support to technical production regulations redaction and system monitoring

Objective: The overexploitation of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus stock, as a consequence of the growing market demand for roe, has boosted the research for echinoderm rearing. The chemical, physical, and microbiological characteristics of land-based facilities are crucial for sea urchins' health and human consumption of their products. In Italy, health-hygienic regulations for P. lividus rearing are still to be perfected by the authorities. In this context, we characterized the microbiological quality of a pilot land-based facility for sea urchin production at the University of Cagliari (Italy) to support the development of technical production regulations.Materials and Methods The accredited Hygiene Laboratory of Cagliari University collected and analyzed the samples in June 2023. Mesophilic bacteria, yeasts, and molds were searched for in air and on surfaces. Total coliforms and Escherichia coli, Enterococci, Pseudomonadaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, sulfite-reducing Clostridia, and Vibrio spp. were identified in water samples. We searched forVibrio spp. and Pseudomonas spp. in the gonads and coelomic fluid of sea urchins.Results Although air, surfaces, and water quality were satisfactory overall, some critical points should be monitored more strictly. Enterococci concentration was 250 CFU/100 mL in the water reserve, suggesting animal contamination (other than humans). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most resistant to filtration processes, with a residual concentration of 6 CFU/250 mL after the second filtration. No colonies of Vibrio spp. or Pseudomonas spp. were isolated in sea urchins' gonads or coelomic fluid.Conclusions Starting from the results, we provided targeted advice for developing technical production regulations, system monitoring, and facility routine maintenance in accordance with the 'best practice' approach. This analysis could be considered a first step toward the elaboration of common regulations about the minimal standards for the breeding environment of P. lividus by national and regional authorities

Hur stress påverkar motivation till lärande och utveckling: en studie utförd inom en kommunal förvaltning

Följande uppsats behandlar begreppet stress och hur arbetsrelaterad stress påverkar motivationen till lärande och utveckling på arbetsplatsen. Efter ett möte med vår kontaktperson vid den kommunala förvaltningen framkom det att det fanns en möjlighet att utföra en studie inom en specifik enhet där medarbetarna påtalat en hög stressnivå. Syftet blev således att utifrån ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv studera hur medarbetarna inom vald enhet uppfattar arbetsrelaterad stress samt vilka arbetsrelaterade faktorer som skapar stress. Syftet blev vidare att försöka förstå på vilket sätt arbetsrelaterad stress påverkar medarbetarnas motivation till lärande och utveckling på arbetsplatsen. En kvalitativ ansats har använts och datainsamlingen har utgjorts av åtta semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Vad gäller resultaten visade det sig att medarbetarna genomgått en påfrestande situation och saknat kompetens för arbetsuppgifterna vilket i sin tur har skapat en hög stressnivå. Brist på kunskap och ett glapp mellan beslutsfattare och verksamheten har lett till en uppgiven känsla och energibrist bland medarbetarna, vilket i sin tur har hämmat motivationen att utvecklas på arbetsplatsen. Som åtgärdsförslag föreslås bland annat större möjligheter för medarbetarna att påverka det dagliga arbetet. För framtida forskning föreslås ett mer kvalitativt angreppssätt vad gäller stress kopplat till arbetslivspedagogik då stress som fenomen har visat sig vara ett komplext begrepp då det är högst subjektivt

Composition and short-term stability of gut microbiota in lean and spontaneously overweight healthy Labrador retriever dogs

Background The gut microbiota and its metabolic end-products act in close collaboration with the nutrient metabolism of the animal. A relationship between excess adiposity and alterations in gut microbiota composition has been identified in humans and rodents, but data are scarce for overweight dogs. This study compared composition and temporal variations of gut microbiota in healthy lean and spontaneously overweight dogs. The analysis was based on three individual fresh faeces samples from each dog during a 10-day period. Twenty-seven healthy and intact male Labrador retriever dogs were included, 12 of which were classified as lean (body condition score (BCS) 4-5 on a 9-point scale) and 15 as overweight (BCS 6-8). Gut microbiota was analysed by Illumina sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Results Lean and overweight groups of dogs were not separated by principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), analysis of similarity (one-way ANOSIM, P = 0.99) or species indicator analysis (IndVal) using operational taxonomic units (OTU) data. Gut microbial taxa at phylum, family or genus level did not differ between lean and overweight dogs in mixed-model repeated measures analyses. Short-term stability, evaluated by similarity index, did not differ between lean and overweight dogs over the 10-day period. Pooled Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio was 3.1 +/- 3.7 in overweight dogs and 2.1 +/- 1.2 in lean dogs (P = 0.83). Individual dogs, irrespective of body condition (lean or overweight), displayed variation in mean alpha diversity (Chao-1 index range 122-245, Shannon index range 2.6-3.6) and mean similarity index (range 44-85%). Conclusions Healthy lean and spontaneously overweight Labrador retriever dogs had comparable gut microbiota composition and short-term stability over a 10-day sampling period. There were no alterations in microbial diversity or in relative abundance of specific taxa at phylum, family or genus level in overweight compared to lean dogs. Our findings suggest that there are few detectable differences in gut microbiota composition between healthy spontaneously overweight and lean dogs by the current method. Future application of metagenomic or metabolomic techniques could be used to investigate microbial genes or microbial end-products that may differ even when microbiota compositional analyses fail to detect a significant difference between lean and overweight dogs

Stellar population astrophysics (SPA) with the TNG. Abundance analysis of nearby red giants and red clump stars: combining high resolution spectroscopy and asteroseismology

Context: Asteroseismology, a powerful approach for obtaining internal structure and stellar properties, requires surface temperature and chemical composition information to determine mass and age. High-resolution spectroscopy is a valuable technique for precise stellar parameters (including surface temperature) and chemical composition analysis. Aim: We aim to combine spectroscopic parameters with asteroseismology to test stellar models. Method: Using high-resolution optical and near-IR spectra from GIARPS at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, we conducted a detailed spectroscopic analysis of 16 stars photometrically selected to be on the red giant and red clump. Stellar parameters and chemical abundances for light elements (Li, C, N, F), Fe peak, $\alpha$ and n-capture elements were derived using a combination of equivalent widths and spectral synthesis techniques, based on atomic and molecular features. Ages were determined through asteroseismic scaling relations and compared with ages based on chemical clocks, [Y/Mg] and [C/N]. Results: Spectroscopic parameters confirmed the stars as part of the red giant branch and red clump. Two objects, HD 22045 and HD 24680 exhibited relatively high Li abundances, with HD 24680 potentially being a Li-rich giant resulting from mass transfer with an intermediate-mass companion, which already underwent its AGB phase. Stellar parameters derived from scaling different sets of relations were consistent with each other. For what concerns ages, the values based on asteroseismology were in excellent agreement with those derived from theoretical evolutionary tracks, but did not align with ages derived from the chemical clocks [Y/Mg] and [C/N].Comment: 24 pages, 23 figures, Accepted for Publication in A&

Treatment with embryonic stem-like cells into osteochondral defects in sheep femoral condyles

Background Articular cartilage has poor intrinsic capacity for regeneration because of its avascularity and very slow cellular turnover. Defects deriving from trauma or joint disease tend to be repaired with fibrocartilage rather than hyaline cartilage. Consequent degenerative processes are related to the width and depth of the defect. Since mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) deriving from patients affected by osteoarthritis have a lower proliferative and chondrogenic activity, the systemic or local delivery of heterologous cells may enhance regeneration or inhibit the progressive loss of joint tissue. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are very promising, since they can self-renew for prolonged periods without differentiation and can differentiate into tissues from all the 3 germ layers. To date only a few experiments have used ESCs for the study of the cartilage regeneration in animal models and most of them used laboratory animals. Sheep, due to their anatomical, physiological and immunological similarity to humans, represent a valid model for translational studies. This experiment aimed to evaluate if the local delivery of male sheep embryonic stem-like (ES-like) cells into osteochondral defects in the femoral condyles of adult sheep can enhance the regeneration of articular cartilage. Twenty-two ewes were divided into 5 groups (1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 months after surgery). Newly formed tissue was evaluated by macroscopic, histological, immunohistochemical (collagen type II) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assays. Results Regenerated tissue was ultimately evaluated on 17 sheep. Samples engrafted with ES-like cells had significantly better histologic evidence of regeneration with respect to empty defects, used as controls, at all time periods. Conclusions Histological assessments demonstrated that the local delivery of ES-like cells into osteochondral defects in sheep femoral condyles enhances the regeneration of the articular hyaline cartilage, without signs of immune rejection or teratoma for 24 months after engraftment.</br

Laparoscopic management of isolated nodal recurrence in gynecological malignancies is safe and feasible even for large metastatic nodes up to 8 cm: A prospective case series

The surgical treatment of isolated lymph node recurrence (ILNR) of gynecological malignancies is still debated. The feasibility and effectiveness of minimally invasive lymphadenectomy have been reported by few studies; however, it remains unclear what the upper tumor size limit is for a minimally invasive approach. We prospectively analyzed cases of ILNR treated by laparoscopy in our unit while focusing on the safety and feasibility of resecting large tumors suspected of recurrence using a minimally invasive approach