Validation of an open source, remote web‐based eye‐tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured goal-based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal-directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in-lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web-based (42%) than the in-lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time-locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web-based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web-based eye-tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop-out rate

Att arbeta i dödens närhet : Rutiner och ritualer i äldreomsorg

This study is based mainly on observations and interviews accomplished on two occasions with nursing assistants employed at two group living units for older people suffering from dementia in Sweden. The interviews and observations were carried out one year apart, before and after a project that also included supervision of managers and nursing assistants. I interviewed 12 nursing assistants, 8 of them in two occasions. In a supplementary study, that was part of another research project at another unit for older people, I have performed group interviews on two occasions with two managers and four nursing assistants. The questions used in the later study were the result of questions raised by the first project and were especially concerned with how being close to death affects the staff and their daily work. The aim was an attempt to describe and analyse the daily work practice of nursing assistants at special units for older people. Questions that assisted me in formulating the material were 1) what function do working routines have for the staff, 2) what is the relationship between working routines and the habits of the older people and 3) what is the relationship between the work of the nursing assistants and the frailty, the dying process of the older people? Apart from a description of the daily routines based on empirical studies, the report contains an introduction of the attitudes to ageing, the dying process and the death, as well as a summary of existing, relevant and closely related research.An attempt to summarise my interpretations and conclusions from the empirical studies went like this: The function of routines is, among other things, to maintain an illusion of predictability. Routines are also a function to give a feeling of security at work. The dying process in this context forms a natural part of daily work. The group living units in this study were, for ideological reasons, architectonically formed to afford no space for staff or, according to Goffman’s (1963) concept of "backstage", somewhere staff can retire for a break, rest or reflection. I consider working with older people suffering from dementia to be an extremely demanding work and I am surprised that screens and backstage areas that exist in most other service and care facilities are absent in this case. My interpretation of the function of routine tasks is that they can be seen as a kind of mental screen, you can "shut yourself in" with the necessary tasks and justifiably be inattentive towards the older people, because of the tasks that must be done. This inattentiveness can often be seen as showing consideration, when a friendly nod is given without participating in a more demanding communications scenario

En fallstudie av Södertörns högskolas intranät Kurswebben

We have made a qualitative study of what the students at Södertörns högskola use Södertörns högskola’s intranet Kurswebben for and how they experience the use of it. For this purpose we have made a qualitative interview examination with six students. The empirical material has been analysed according to our own analytic model which is based on existing usability theories and consists of the tree parts content, function and design. Our conclusion is that the students use Kurswebben mainly to keep themselves updated, download teaching material and schedules. According to our study, the students most of the time experience their use of Kurswebben as simple, but sometimes have a reluctance to visit it. The reason is that the students experience that Kurswebben is complicated, boring and many functions do not work or are experienced as unnecessary and irritating. Through a usability examination and a restructuring of Kurswebben´s content, function and design the needs of the students could be met

Att veta är bra - Att lära nytt ger hopp om bättring

Syftet med projektet var att synliggöra lärandeprocesser hos personal inom organisationer verksamma i socialt arbete. Tre förvaltningar i Helsingborgs stad samt Socialhögskolan vid Lunds universitet, Campus Helsingborg, studerades. Projektet genomfördes med hjälp av skuggning (shadowing), reflekterande lärandecirklar och en återkopplande lärandefestival. Perspektivsättningen i rapporten, och den teoretiska grunden för projektet, hämtades från pragmatismens idéer om pedagogik. Resultatet visar att många lärandeprocesser pågår, att personal vill lära, men att det av olika skäl skapas och/eller upprätthålls strukturella hinder för lärandet, ambitioner och viljor om motsatsen många gånger till trots

A longitudinal study of fecal calprotectin and the development of inflammatory bowel disease in ankylosing spondylitis

Background: Patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are at increased risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to determine the variation in fecal calprotectin in AS over 5 years in relation to disease activity and medication and also to study the incidence of and predictors for development of IBD. Methods: Fecal calprotectin was assessed at baseline (n = 204) and at 5-year follow-up (n = 164). The patients answered questionnaires and underwent clinical evaluations. At baseline and at 5-year follow-up, ileocolonoscopy was performed in patients with fecal calprotectin = 500 mg/kg and = 200 mg/kg, respectively. The medical records were checked for diagnoses of IBD during the follow-up period. Results: Fecal calprotectin &gt; 50 mg/kg was found in two-thirds of the patients at both study visits. In 80% of the patients, fecal calprotectin changed by &lt; 200 mg/kg between the two measuring points. Baseline fecal calprotectin was positively correlated with Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score based on C-reactive protein, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and fecal calprotectin at 5-year follow-up. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was associated with higher fecal calprotectin, and 3-week cessation of NSAIDs resulted in a drop of a median 116 mg/kg in fecal calprotectin. The use of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers was associated with lower fecal calprotectin at both visits, but the users of TNF receptor fusion proteins had significantly higher fecal calprotectin than users of anti-TNF antibodies at 5-year follow-up. The 5-year incidence of Crohn's disease (CD) was 1.5% and was predicted by high fecal calprotectin. Conclusions: Fecal calprotectin was elevated in a majority of the patients and was associated with disease activity and medication at both visits. CD developed in 1.5% of the patients with AS, and a high fecal calprotectin was the main predictor thereof. The results support a link between inflammation in the gut and the musculoskeletal system in AS. We propose that fecal calprotectin may be a potential biomarker to identify patients with AS at risk of developing IBD.CC BY 4.0</p

A distinct gut microbiota composition in patients with ankylosing spondylitis is associated with increased levels of fecal calprotectin

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) shares many characteristics with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Intestinal microbiota most likely plays an important role in the development of IBDs and may also be involved in the pathogenesis of AS. We aimed to define and compare the fecal microbiota composition in patients with AS, ulcerative colitis (UC), and healthy controls (HC) and to determine relationships between fecal microbiota, fecal calprotectin, and disease-related variables in AS. Methods: Fecal microbiota composition was assessed with GA-map™ Dysbiosis Test (Genetic Analysis, Oslo, Norway), which also reports the degree of deviation of the microbiota composition compared with a healthy control population, a Dysbiosis Index (DI) score 1–5. The AS patients were assessed with questionnaires, back mobility tests, fecal calprotectin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP). Results: Totally, 150 patients with AS (55% men, median age 55.5 years, median BASDAI 3.2), 18 patients with UC (56% men, median age 30.5 years), and 17 HC (65% men, median age 22 years) were included. Principal component analysis showed highly separate clustering of fecal microbiota from the patients with AS, UC, and HC. Compared with HC, fecal microbiota in AS was characterized by a higher abundance of Proteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Bacilli, Streptococcus species, and Actinobacteria, but lower abundance of Bacteroides and Lachnospiraceae. Further, fecal microbiota composition differed between patients with normal (≤ 50 mg/kg, n = 57) and increased (≥ 200 mg/kg, n = 36) fecal calprotectin. Patients with increased fecal calprotectin had lower abundance of bacteria with anti-inflammatory properties such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Clostridium and higher abundance of the genus Streptococcus. No association was found between the fecal microbiota composition and HLAB27 status, disease activity, function, or medication. Dysbiosis (defined as DI ≥ 3) was found in 87% of AS patients. Conclusions: Patients with AS have a distinct fecal microbiota signature, which is linked to fecal calprotectin levels, a marker of intestinal inflammation, but not to other clinical parameters. These findings suggest a local interplay between intestinal microbiota and gut inflammation in AS