Ipsilateralt vaskulariserat ulna autograft vid behandling av osteosarkom i distala radius hos hund

Limb-sparing surgery aims to provide a functional pain free leg for the patient after removal of a local tumour in the leg. Reasons to perform limb-sparing instead of amputation can be arthrosis or hipdysplasia or other problems with the locomotor apparatus that makes the patient unsuitable for amputataion. Owner reluctance to amputate is another reason for limb-sparing. This master's thesis is a case study of a dog with an osteosarcoma in its distal radius. The dog was treated by a limb-sparing method that uses the ipsilateral ulna as a vascularized roll-over autograft. The operation was performed at the Small animal clinic at Sveriges Lantbruks Universitet (SLU). There were only three reported cases of this surgical method before, all in the US. The dog was treated with carboplatin postoperatively as adjuvant treatment. The thesis also includes the preoperative staging and assessment as well as a thorough follow up with scintigraphy and radiography for more than one year postoperatively. The dog retained excellent function of the operated limb and had a good quality of life until it was euthanised 408 days after the limb-spare surgery due to disease unrelated to the osteosarcoma and the limb-spare procedure.Limbsparing är ett samlingsnamn för de kirurgiska metoder som kan användas som alternativ till amputation av ett ben som skadats eller angripits av en tumör. Målet är att bevara benet med relativt god funktionalitet efter att tumören avlägsnats. Orsaker till att en hund inte anses vara en lämplig kandidat för amputation kan vara artroser, höftledsproblem eller liknande som gör att hunden behöver fyra ben för att kunna röra sig på ett tillfredställande sätt. Ägarens önskan att undvika amputation kan vara en annan anledning till att utföra limbsparing. Detta arbete är en fallstudie av en hund med ett osteosarkom i distala radius som genomgått en limbsparingoperation. Operationen bygger på att ipsilaterala ulna används som ett autograft med bibehållen vaskularisering. Operationen utfördes vid Institutionen för smådjurskirurgi vid Sveriges Lantbruks Universitet (SLU). Vid tidpunkten för operationen fanns endast tre fall beskrivna som var opererade enligt den här nya metoden, alla i USA. Postoperativt fick hunden adjuvantbehandling med Carboplatin. Fallstudien inkluderar även de preoperativa undersökningar som gjordes samt en noggrann uppföljning av fallet med hjälp av både scintigrafi och röntgen under mer än ett år postoperativt. Hunden hade efter avläkning mycket god funktion i det opererade benet. Hundens livskvalitet var god fram till att den 408 dagar efter operationen avlivades till följd av sjukdom som ej var relaterad till osteosarkomet eller limbsparing kirurgin

A New Sandwich ELISA for Quantification of Thymidine Kinase 1 Protein Levels in Sera from Dogs with Different Malignancies Can Aid in Disease Management

Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is a DNA precursor enzyme whose expression is closely correlated with cell proliferation and cell turnover. Sensitive serum TK1 activity assays have been used for monitoring and prognosis of hematological malignancies in both humans and dogs. Here we describe the development of a specific sandwich TK1-ELISA for the quantification of TK1 protein levels in sera from dogs with different malignancies. A combination of rabbit polyclonal anti-dog TK1 antibody and a mouse monoclonal anti-human TK1 antibody was used. Different concentrations of recombinant canine TK1 was used as standard. Clinical evaluation of the ELISA was done by using sera from 42 healthy dogs, 43 dogs with hematological tumors and 55 with solid tumors. An established [3H]-dThd phosphorylation assay was used to determine the TK1 activity levels in the same sera. The mean TK1 activities in dogs with hematological tumors were significantly higher than those found in healthy dogs. In agreement with earlier studies, no significant difference was observed in serum TK1 activities between healthy dogs and dogs with solid tumors. However, the mean TK1 protein levels determined by new TK1-ELISA were significantly higher not only in hematological tumors but also in solid tumors compared to healthy dogs (mean ± SD = 1.30 ± 1.16, 0.67 ± 0.55 and 0.27± 0.10 ng/mL, respectively). Moreover, TK1-ELISA had significantly higher ability to distinguish lymphoma cases from healthy based on receiver operating characteristic analyses (area under the curve, AUC, of 0.96) to that of the activity assay (AUC, 0.84). Furthermore, fluctuations in TK1 protein levels during the course of chemotherapy in dogs with lymphoma closely associated with clinical outcome. Overall, the TK1-ELISA showed significant linear correlation with the TK1 activity assay (rs= 0.6, p<0.0001). Thus, the new TK1-ELISA has sufficient sensitivity and specificity for routine clinical use in veterinary oncology

Further investigations of the relation between polymorphisms in sex steroid related genes and autistic-like traits

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are more prevalent in boys than in girls, indicating that high levels of testosterone during early development may be a risk factor. Evidence for this hypothesis comes from studies showing associations between fetal testosterone levels, as well as indirect measures of prenatal androgenization, and ASDs and autistic-like traits (ALTs). In a recent study we reported associations between ALTs and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes encoding estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), steroid-5-alpha-reductase, type 2 (SRD5A2) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in a subset (n=1771) from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS). The aim of the present study was to try to replicate these findings in an additional, larger, sample of individuals from the CATSS (n=10 654), as well as to analyze additional SNPs of functional importance in SHBG and SRD5A2. No associations between the previously associated SNPs in the genes ESR1 and SRD5A2 and ALTs could be seen in the large replication sample. Still, our results show that two non-linked SNPs (rs6259 and rs9901675) at the SHBG gene locus might be of importance for language impairment problems in boys. The results of the present study do not point towards a major role for the investigated SNPs in the genes ESR1 and SRD5A2 in ALTs, but a possible influence of genetic variation in SHBG, especially for language impairment problems in boys, cannot be ruled out.NoneAccepte

Critical, Engaged and Change-oriented Scholarship in Environmental Communication. Six Methodological Dilemmas to Think With

While calls for critical, engaged and change-oriented scholarship in environmental communication (EC) abound, few articles discuss what this may practically entail. With this article, we aim to contribute to a discussion in EC about the methodological implications of such scholarship. Based on our combined experience in EC research and drawing from a variety of academic fields, we describe six methodological dilemmas that we encounter in our research practice and that we believe are inherent to such scholarship. These dilemmas are (1) grasping communication; (2) representing others; (3) involving people in research; (4) co-producing knowledge; (5) engaging critically; and (6) relating to conflict. This article does not offer solutions to these complex dilemmas. Rather, our dilemma descriptions are meant to help researchers think through methodological issues in critical, engaged and change-oriented EC research. The article also helps to translate the dilemmas to the reality of research projects through a set of questions, aimed to support a sensitivity to, and understanding of, the dilemmas in context. critical, engaged, change-oriented, methodology, dillemmaspublishedVersio

Att applicera en chatbot för hjälp vid onboarding av nyanställda på ett företag

It has previously been shown that the quality of the onboarding process affects the chances of a new hire staying at a company, yet it is common that companies have problems in succeeding to maintain a well-organized onboarding. To aid new hires in their onboarding, and to lower the amount of work for the HR personnel, chatbots can be used. In this project, a chatbot was developed for the onboarding process of a large company. Interviews were held with new hires and HR personnel which were used to create requirements for the chatbot. These were divided into two categories; information and functional requirements. A third category, non-functional requirements, was created based on Microsoft’s guidelines for development of conversational AI. Based on the requirements, a chatbot prototype was built using Microsoft Bot Framework with the use of two cognitive services, LUIS and QnA Maker. Both the requirements and the prototype were created iteratively. The information that the interview participants requested from the chatbot was eitherpractical or personal information, or information about the employer, the internal systems, or other employees. It was revealed that the chatbot mainly needed to answer simple questions and didn’t demand any procedural conversation flow which made the use of QnA Maker appropriate. However, for questions and tasks that would benefit or require a procedural flow QnA Maker’s follow-up prompts could be used in future work to create multi-turn conversations

Att applicera en chatbot för hjälp vid onboarding av nyanställda på ett företag

It has previously been shown that the quality of the onboarding process affects the chances of a new hire staying at a company, yet it is common that companies have problems in succeeding to maintain a well-organized onboarding. To aid new hires in their onboarding, and to lower the amount of work for the HR personnel, chatbots can be used. In this project, a chatbot was developed for the onboarding process of a large company. Interviews were held with new hires and HR personnel which were used to create requirements for the chatbot. These were divided into two categories; information and functional requirements. A third category, non-functional requirements, was created based on Microsoft’s guidelines for development of conversational AI. Based on the requirements, a chatbot prototype was built using Microsoft Bot Framework with the use of two cognitive services, LUIS and QnA Maker. Both the requirements and the prototype were created iteratively. The information that the interview participants requested from the chatbot was eitherpractical or personal information, or information about the employer, the internal systems, or other employees. It was revealed that the chatbot mainly needed to answer simple questions and didn’t demand any procedural conversation flow which made the use of QnA Maker appropriate. However, for questions and tasks that would benefit or require a procedural flow QnA Maker’s follow-up prompts could be used in future work to create multi-turn conversations

Att applicera en chatbot för hjälp vid onboarding av nyanställda på ett företag

It has previously been shown that the quality of the onboarding process affects the chances of a new hire staying at a company, yet it is common that companies have problems in succeeding to maintain a well-organized onboarding. To aid new hires in their onboarding, and to lower the amount of work for the HR personnel, chatbots can be used. In this project, a chatbot was developed for the onboarding process of a large company. Interviews were held with new hires and HR personnel which were used to create requirements for the chatbot. These were divided into two categories; information and functional requirements. A third category, non-functional requirements, was created based on Microsoft’s guidelines for development of conversational AI. Based on the requirements, a chatbot prototype was built using Microsoft Bot Framework with the use of two cognitive services, LUIS and QnA Maker. Both the requirements and the prototype were created iteratively. The information that the interview participants requested from the chatbot was eitherpractical or personal information, or information about the employer, the internal systems, or other employees. It was revealed that the chatbot mainly needed to answer simple questions and didn’t demand any procedural conversation flow which made the use of QnA Maker appropriate. However, for questions and tasks that would benefit or require a procedural flow QnA Maker’s follow-up prompts could be used in future work to create multi-turn conversations

Vägen ut ur kriminalitet

The purpose of our qualitative study was to look more closely at what the process looks like when an individual wants to leave criminality. Our two research questions highlights the meaningful factors to take a step back from criminality, but we also have one question that highlights what kind of support the individual who wants to leave criminality gets. Our main themes are based on experience and events from our seven respondents that work with individuals that wants to leave the criminal life. We analyzed our interviews with a thematic analyze method to answer our questions. To do that, we also used the labeling theory, the theory of social bonds, “turning points”, “desistance” and “knifing off”. The results we got was; the threat is a big contributory factor for a person to make the decision that he/she wants to leave the criminal life, but the family was also a contributory factor. However, the friendship circle and a normal job are some obstacles that could block the process of leaving criminality. Furthermore, the age of an individual seemed to affect the reasons why they wanted to leave the criminal life but also what kind of support they could get