Mobilization immediately after elective abdominal surgery : respiratory effects and patients´ and healthcare professionals´ experiences

To prevent postoperative complications after abdominal surgery, mobilization is highly recommended and suggested to start as soon as possible. However, few studies have investigated the respiratory effects of immediate postoperative mobilization among patients undergoing elective open or robot-assisted laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Nor have patients´ and healthcare professionals´ experiences of such an early mobilization procedure been investigated. Participants in study I to III were recruited from an out-patient pre-anesthesia clinic at Karolinska University Hospital Solna, Stockholm. For paper IV, the participants were recruited from the postoperative recovery unit at the same hospital. Paper I was a 3-armed RCT, consecutively including 214 patients who underwent elective open or robot-assistedlaparoscopic gynecological, urological, or endocrinological abdominal surgery with ananesthetic duration of >2 hours. Patients were randomized to mobilization only (to sit in a chair) (n = 76), mobilization (to sit in a chair) in combination with breathing exercises (n = 73), or to be controls (no treatment) (n = 65). The interventions started within 2 hours after arrival at the postoperative recovery unit. The results showed that compared with the controls, SpO2 and PaO2 improved for patients in the intervention groups. Paper II was a secondary analysis of data from the RCT including the patients who were assigned to and complied with the mobilization interventions (n = 137). Mobilization initiation time and duration of mobilization were investigated in relation to SpO2 and PaO2. The results indicated that mobilization within the first hour after surgery was not superior to being mobilized within the second hour regarding SpO2 and PaO2. Further, SpO2 and PaO2 were similar between the groups irrespective of whether the patients were mobilized for less than 30 minutes, between 30 and 90 minutes, or longer than 90 minutes. Paper III included face-to-face interviews with 23 patients who were randomized to one of the mobilization interventions. The overarching theme that emerged from the content analysis was “To do whatever it takes to get home earlier”, which was built on the three categories; “The impact of mobilization”, “To feel safe and be confident with the mobilization process”, and “Experiences and motivational factors”. Paper IV, was an interview study of 17 healthcare professionals who had been involved in mobilization of patients in the RCT. The interviews were analyzed with content analysis and resulted in the overarching theme “A changed mindset” which represented a turning point when the healthcare professionals observed that mobilization was safe and beneficial for the patients, and their safety concerns were reduced. The overall conclusion of this thesis was that mobilization immediately after abdominal surgery improved SpO2 and PaO2. Initiation time and duration of mobilization seemed to be of less importance. Patients found that it improved their physical and mental well-being. The healthcare professionals ‘experienced the postoperative recovery unit was a safe place for initiating mobilization as long as they had access to sufficient resources and a wellfunctioning multiprofessional team of nurses, assistant nurses and physiotherapists

An even colder war? Specialization and scientization in the training methods of cross-country skiing from the 1940s in Sweden and the Soviet Union.

This work analyzes the official training advice given to prospective elite skiers in Sweden and the Soviet Union from the late 1940s until the 1970s. How was training scientized in relation to the Cold War context? In what ways did neutral Sweden differ from the Soviet Union? What type of organizations took an interest in the rationalization of training and why? The sportification process accelerated during the Cold War period in both the Soviet Union and Sweden, despite their many differences in political system, international relations, tradition and economy. It is also clear that the scientific contribution to sport, not least skiing, was vital in both countries. As the knowledge about Soviet sport science and training development increases, this also sheds new light on the Cold War era and its impact on sport. For the developments in cross-country skiing as well as sport science, the conscious effort by the Soviet Union to be the avant-garde of scientized training directly affected other countries such as Sweden into accelerating their own efforts. The Cold War was therefore not only fought in space or by military means, but also in labs and skiing tracks. What is particularly interesting is that similar research on athletes was motivated in radically different ways. In Soviet, sports and thus also sport science was highly political. In Sweden, it was framed as neutral, relating more to rationality and scientific ideals than to sport performance

Trade and ethnozoological use of African lorisiformes in the last 20 years

Trade in primates is considered a major impediment to primate conservation globally. The bushmeat trade in West and Central Africa is considered largely unsustainable and represents one of the main threats to biodiversity. Furthermore, the use of primates in traditional practices and medicine includes a third of the African primate species. Little is known about the trade in the African mainland lorisiforms; pottos, angwantibos and galagos. Aiming to fill this knowledge gap we created an online survey, conducted a literature review, and analyzed CITES trade records, focusing on the last two decades. We obtained 188 questionnaire responses from researchers and people working in 31 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We found a total of 33 publications reporting on trade in African lorisiforms, and CITES records indicate that almost 2000 lorisiforms were traded internationally from African range countries. Fifty-three percent of respondents provided meaningful details about aspects of the trade in African lorisiforms from 50% of the range countries. Galagos were reported by respondents in larger numbers than pottos and angwantibos, and mainly occurred in the pet trade. Pottos were the most frequently mentioned taxon in the literature, when all trade types were combined. Across all of the sources (online survey, literature and CITES database), trade in pottos and angwantibos was reported from 12 countries, and galagos from 23 countries. Trade was reported to occur mainly within rural settings (64%), potentially indicating that demand is not high enough to fuel long distance trading. However, as seen in the Asian lorisiforms, once quantitative studies were conducted, the threat that trade posed became alarmingly apparent and is now considered a major impediment to their conservation. Our insight into the trade of African lorisiforms should be followed up with concerted studies, with an emphasis on quantifying trade to the species level

Hydration of an amphiphilic excipient, Gelucire 44/14

The hydration behavior of an amphiphilic excipient, Gelucire 44/14, has been investigated. Two types of hydration processes were studied: one with increasing humidity to investigate the conditions during storage, and one with increasing water contents to study the behavior during dissolution. In addition, the main components of the excipient were investigated separately. These were polyethylene glycol (PEG), PEG monolaurate and PEG dilaurate (PEG esters), trilaurin (glyceride) and glycerol. The water uptake of Gelucire 44/14 at humidity ratios less than 60%RH was very low (about 1 wt%), which was attributed to the dissolution of the most hydrophilic component, glycerol. The water uptake increased substantially above 70%RH as PEG started to dissolve, followed by the PEG esters. It was concluded that each component equilibrates separately with the aqueous solution, which itself is in equilibrium with the humid air. Hence, a liquid phase can form between the crystals with a chemical potential decided by the humidity ratio. The water uptake of Gelucire 44/14 could be described as a sum of the uptake of the individual components, weighted according to their relative amounts in the mixture. Phase maps of the Gelucire 44/14 and its components at different water contents were constructed. Dry Gelucire 44/14 contains lamellar crystals of mainly PEG and PEG esters which melt at 44 ºC. The crystals do not swell at increasing humidity, but dissolve above 75%RH at a water content of 5 wt% in the excipient. At increasing water contents Gelucire 44/14 forms white gels composed of hexagonal and lamellar mesophases dispersed in a continuous liquid phase. These liquid crystalline phases dissolve at 35 ºC, i.e. below physiological temperatures. A dramatic viscosity maximum was observed in the lamellar region at 50 wt% water, which may be attributed to the formation of networks of PEG esters. The pure PEG esters were found to form cubic mesophases at 50 wt% water. The instruments used in this study were Dynamic Vapor Sorption (DVS), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Small- and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SWAXS) and Optical Microscopy

Moving Usability Testing onto the Web

Abstract: In order to remotely obtain detailed usability data by tracking user behaviors within a given web site, a server-based usability testing environment has been created. Web pages are annotated in such a way that arbitrary user actions (such as "mouse over link" or "click back button") can be selected for logging. In addition, the system allows the experiment designer to interleave interactive questions into the usability evaluation, which for instance could be triggered by a particular sequence of actions. The system works in conjunction with clustering and visualization algorithms that can be applied to the resulting log file data. A first version of the system has been used successfully to carry out a web usability evaluation

Student teachers’ preconceptions of programming as a content in the subject technology

In many countries, student teachers are not adequately prepared to teach programming in technology education once they have completed their training. There is a corresponding inadequacy of research regarding pre-service programming education in technology, although in recent years research in this area has increased. There is a lack of research specifically regarding student teachers’ experiences and development of knowledge during programming sessions in their teacher education. A knowledge important for developing competences needed for teaching in technology. This article presents a study with the aim of describing student teachers’ preconceptions about teaching programming in technology.The study uses a phenomenographic approach investigating eight student teachers’ experiences after a five-week technology course preparing for primary education, grades 4-6 (teaching pupils aged 10-12). Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with student teachers from two different higher education institutions in Sweden. From the first step of the analysis, three tentative categories have been obtained, describing student teachers’ experiences as: 1) an understanding of a language and/or a tool, 2) an understanding and use of language or tool to solve technological problems, and as 3) a way of understanding and describing a technological environment.   The results of the study will contribute to new approaches on how to vary and design the teaching of programming in technology for student teachers to develop skills that are important for their future profession

Postprandial lipid responses to an alpha-linolenic acid-rich oil, olive oil and butter in women: A randomized crossover trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postprandial lipaemia varies with gender and the composition of dietary fat due to the partitioning of fatty acids between beta-oxidation and incorporation into triacylglycerols (TAGs). Increasing evidence highlights the importance of postprandial measurements to evaluate atherogenic risk. Postprandial effects of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in women are poorly characterized. We therefore studied the postprandial lipid response of women to an ALA-rich oil in comparison with olive oil and butter, and characterized the fatty acid composition of total lipids, TAGs, and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) in plasma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A randomized crossover design (n = 19) was used to compare the postprandial effects of 3 meals containing 35 g fat. Blood samples were collected at regular intervals for 7 h. Statistical analysis was carried out with ANOVA (significant difference = P < 0.05).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant difference was seen in incremental area under the curve (iAUC) plasma-TAG between the meals. ALA and oleic acid levels were significantly increased in plasma after ALA-rich oil and olive oil meals, respectively. Palmitic acid was significantly increased in plasma-TAG after the butter meal. The ratios of 18:2 n-6 to18:3 n-3 in plasma-TAGs, three and seven hours after the ALA-rich oil meal, were 1.5 and 2.4, respectively. The corresponding values after the olive oil meal were: 13.8 and 16.9; and after the butter meal: 9.0 and 11.6.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The postprandial p-TAG and NEFA response in healthy pre-menopausal women was not significantly different after the intake of an ALA-rich oil, olive oil and butter. The ALA-rich oil significantly affected different plasma lipid fractions and improved the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids several hours postprandially.</p

Life and afterlife in the Nordic Bronze Age : Proceedings of the 15th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium held in Lund, Sweden, June 11-15, 2019

Life and afterlife in the Nordic Bronze Age contains some of the papers presented at the 15th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium, June 2019. Over these five days approximately 100 researchers of the Bronze Age gathered to present papers and discuss traditional research questions as well as current topics that have been brought about by the breakthrough of the third scientific revolution of archaeology over the last 20 years

Impacts of Greenhouse and Local Gases Mitigation Options on Air Pollution in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area: Valuation of Human Health Effects

The objective of this work is to assess through the "avoided health cost method" what would be the economic benefits of undertaking greenhouse (and local) gases mitigation policies in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. To do so, we have developed six steps: Mitigation Scenarios (which policies to undertake), Emissions Inventory according to those, an Ambient Air Pollution Model to calculate the physical impacts, Health Effects Estimation to assess the health consequences of reducing air pollution, and Economic Valuation of those health impacts. The mitigation measures valued have to do with the transportation sector (greater penetration of compressed natural gas, consumption improvements, and some mode substitution) and the energy sector (the introduction of new dams and the rational use of energy by reducing energy consumption in residential, commercial and public buildings). There are three scenarios: a Baseline or Business-as-Usual scenario, a scenario that considers GHG mitigation options for Argentina with impacts in terms of local pollution, and an Integrated scenario which in addition to GHG mitigation includes policies related to local air quality and rational use of energy programs. All scenarios were built up to the year 2012. Particulate matter is the pollutant whose impact is valued.

Modulatory effects on dendritic cells by human herpesvirus 6

Human herpesvirus 6A and 6B are β-herpesviruses approaching 100% seroprevalance worldwide. These viruses are involved in several clinical syndromes and have important immunomodulatory effects. Dendritic cells (DC) are key players in innate and adaptive immunity. Accordingly, DC are implicated in the pathogenesis of many human diseases, including infections. In this review the effects of HHV-6 infection on DC will be discussed