Factors Affecting the Absorption of Subcutaneously Administered Insulin:Effect on Variability

Variability in the effect of subcutaneously administered insulin represents a major challenge in insulin therapy where precise dosing is required in order to achieve targeted glucose levels. Since this variability is largely influenced by the absorption of insulin, a deeper understanding of the factors affecting the absorption of insulin from the subcutaneous tissue is necessary in order to improve glycaemic control and the long-term prognosis in people with diabetes. These factors can be related to either the insulin preparation, the injection site/patient, or the injection technique. This review highlights the factors affecting insulin absorption with special attention on the physiological factors at the injection site. In addition, it also provides a detailed description of the insulin absorption process and the various modifications to this process that have been utilized by the different insulin preparations available

Phytoestrogens

Collectively, plants contain several different families of natural products among which are compounds with weak estrogenic or antiestrogenic activity toward mammals. These compounds, termed phytoestrogens, include certain isoflavonoids, flavonoids, stilbenes, and lignans. The best-studied dietary phytoestrogens are the soy isoflavones and the flaxseed lignans. Their perceived health beneficial properties extend beyond hormone-dependent breast and prostate cancers and osteoporosis to include cognitive function, cardiovascular disease, immunity and inflammation, and reproduction and fertility. In the future, metabolic engineering of plants could generate novel and exquisitely controlled dietary sources with which to better assess the potential health beneficial effects of phytoestrogens

From representing views to representativeness of views: illustrating a new (Q2S) approach in the context of health care priority setting in nine European countries

Governments across Europe are required to make decisions about how best to allocate scarce health care resources. There are legitimate arguments for eliciting societal vales in relation to health care resource allocation given the roles of the general public as payers and potential patients. However, relatively little is known about the views of the general public on general principles which could guide these decisions. In this paper we present five societal viewpoints on principles for health care resources allocation and develop a new approach, Q2S, designed to investigate the extent to which these views are held across a range of European countries. An online survey was developed, based on a previously completed study Q methodology, and delivered between November 2009 and February 2010 across nine countries to 33,515 respondents. The largest proportion of our respondents (44%), were found to most associate themselves with an egalitarian perspective. Differences in views were more strongly associated with countries than with socio-demographic characteristics. These results provide information which could be useful for decision makers in understanding the pluralistic context in which they are making health care resource allocation decisions and how different groups in society may respond to such decisions

Økologisk mælkeproduktion baseret på 100% økologisk fodring og 100% selvforsyning - konsekvenser på malkekøers fodring, produktion og sundhed i tidlig laktation med fokus på subklinisk ketose

Afhandlinger indeholder et litteraturstudie omkring fodring, produktion og sundhed ved 100% økologiske foderrationer til højtydende malkekøer. Det efterfølges af resultater fra et forsøg med forskellige mængder af byg, rapsfrø og rapskage som tilskud til ensilage givet efter ædelyst

Does question order influence sensitivity to scope? Empirical findings from a web-based contingent valuation study

This paper examines the relationship between question order and sensitivity to scope in a large-scale web-based stated preference survey using an Internet panel. Results are presented from a contingent valuation survey in which each individual was asked to value two independent gains in life expectancy. Using split-sample data for question order we are able to study sensitivity to scope by carrying out an internal as well as an external scope test, and to examine whether question order influences sensitivity to scope. Finally, we address whether our results raise some specific concerns regarding the use of web-based surveys. Overall we find that choice of elicitation approach - in this case bottom-up versus top-down - influences the stated willingness-to-pay values leading to order effects and differences in scope sensitivity. Our findings demonstrate that elicitation approach affects the decision-making strategy, suggesting that preferences at least to some extent are reference dependent and constructed during the elicitation task. In addition, our findings indicate some relation between scope insensitivity, time spent on filling out the questionnaire and experience as an Internet panel member.contingent valuation, scope sensitivity, order effect; web-based survey, willingness-to-pay,