Comparison of high and low molar activity TSPO tracer [18F]F-DPA in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

[18F]F-DPA, a novel translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO)-specific radioligand for imaging neuroinflammation, has to date been synthesized with low to moderate molar activities (Am’s). In certain cases, low Am can skew the estimation of specific binding. The high proportion of the non-radioactive component can reduce the apparent-specific binding by competitively binding to receptors. We developed a nucleophilic synthesis of [18F]F-DPA resulting in high Am (990 ± 150 GBq/µmol) and performed in vivo comparison with low Am (9.0 ± 2.9 GBq/µmol) [18F]F-DPA in the same APP/PS1-21 and wild-type mice (injected masses: 0.34 ± 0.13 µg/kg and 38 ± 15 µg/kg, respectively). The high level of microgliosis in the APP/PS1-21 mouse model enables good differentiation between diseased and healthy animals and serves better to distinguish the effect of differing Am on specific binding. The differing injected masses affect the washout profile and shape of the time–activity curves. Ratios of standardized uptake values obtained with high and low Am [18F]F-DPA demonstrate that there is a 1.5-fold higher uptake of radioactivity in the brains of APP/PS1-21 animals when imaging is carried out with high Am [18F]F-DPA. The differences between APP/PS1-21 and wild-type animals showed higher significance when high Am was used.</p

Monitoring of IVF birth outcomes in Finland: a data quality study

BACKGROUND: The collection of information on infertility treatments is important for the surveillance of potential health consequences and to monitor service provision. STUDY DESIGN: We compared the coverage and outcomes of IVF children reported in aggregated IVF statistics, the Medical Birth Register (subsequently: MBR) and research data based on reimbursements for IVF treatments in Finland in 1996–1998. RESULTS: The number of newborns were nearly equal in the three data sources (N = 4331–4384), but the linkage between the MBR and the research data revealed that almost 40% of the reported IVF children were not the same individuals. The perinatal outcomes in the three data sources were similar, excluding the much lower incidence of major congenital anomalies in the IVF statistics (157/10 000 newborns) compared to other sources (409–422/10 000 newborns). CONCLUSION: The differences in perinatal outcomes in the three data sets were in general minor, which suggests that the observed non-recording in the MBR is most likely unbiased

A European study investigating patterns of transition from home care towards institutional dementia care: the protocol of a RightTimePlaceCare study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health care policies in many countries aim to enable people with dementia to live in their own homes as long as possible. However, at some point during the disease the needs of a significant number of people with dementia cannot be appropriately met at home and institutional care is required. Evidence as to best practice strategies enabling people with dementia to live at home as long as possible and also identifying the right time to trigger admission to a long-term nursing care facility is therefore urgently required. The current paper presents the rationale and methods of a study generating primary data for best-practice development in the transition from home towards institutional nursing care for people with dementia and their informal caregivers. The study has two main objectives: 1) investigate country-specific factors influencing institutionalization and 2) investigate the circumstances of people with dementia and their informal caregivers in eight European countries. Additionally, data for economic evaluation purposes are being collected.</p> <p>Methods/design</p> <p>This paper describes a prospective study, conducted in eight European countries (Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, United Kingdom). A baseline assessment and follow-up measurement after 3 months will be performed. Two groups of people with dementia and their informal caregivers will be included: 1) newly admitted to institutional long-term nursing care facilities; and 2) receiving professional long-term home care, and being at risk for institutionalization. Data will be collected on outcomes for people with dementia (e.g. quality of life, quality of care), informal caregivers (e.g. caregiver burden, quality of life) and costs (e.g. resource utilization). Statistical analyses consist of descriptive and multivariate regression techniques and cross-country comparisons.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The current study, which is part of a large European project 'RightTimePlaceCare', generates primary data on outcomes and costs of long-term nursing care for people with dementia and their informal caregivers, specifically focusing on the transition from home towards institutional care. Together with data collected in three other work packages, knowledge gathered in this study will be used to inform and empower patients, professionals, policy and related decision makers to manage and improve health and social dementia care services.</p

Lost in translation?:the arse-mothering, fuck-nosed, bugger-sucking challenge of translating swear words in Stephen Fry’s autobiography “Moab is my Washpot”

This pro gradu thesis studies the characteristics of swear words and their translation. The material under analysis is drawn from Stephen Fry’s autobiography Moab is my Washpot and its Finnish translation Koppava kloppi by Titia Schuurman. The research is divided into two parts. The first part of the work concentrates on analysing the reasons for omitting so many swear words from the Finnish version. The second part of the research takes a closer look at how the unusual English swearing, which includes swear words invented by the original author, is translated into Finnish. The applied theory includes Ljung’s (2011) swear word definition and his categorisation of swearing into pragmatic functions. Additionally, findings of Hjort’s (2006) survey on the factors that influence Finnish translators’ word choices in swear word translation are applied in the analysis. Close reading of both the original English text and its Finnish translation was used in order to find all swearing utterances from the texts. In the thesis the translated utterances are compared to the original ones in order to find out whether the translated words may be considered swear words and in order to find explanations for the omissions. Regarding the more unusual English swearing, the translations are analysed in order to answer the question of what characteristics of the original utterances are conveyed into the translation. The aim of this research is to find out how swearing is translated in an autobiography whose author is known for witty language use and who employs swearing in his work to a great extent. The analysis is performed on a limited material which is based on a single work of one original author and one translator. Therefore, the aim of the research is not to suggest general instructions or rules to swear word translation. Similar analysis performed on another data might result in a different outcome. Based on the results of this research, it could be argued that swear words are omitted from the Finnish translation because of differences in swearing vocabulary and in swearing structures. Finnish does not always have expletives that would convey a similar epithet meaning or denote a similar action as are indicated by the English expletives. English also uses the name-calling swearing construction of noun support, which combines and adjective and a swear word. But since the swearing structure does not exist in Finnish, it means that the act of swearing is lost in translation and the Finnish version can only convey the characteristic conveyed by the adjective of the original utterance. Also, the use of mild swear words in the original text is argued to be one explanation for the omission of swear words from the Finnish text. The more unusual swear words and swearing utterances in the English text are translated as mostly discarding the oddities of the original utterance. It could be stated that some of the expressiveness of these utterances suffers as a result; however, reducing the oddities is a way to produce a translation that is fluent in the target language.Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa perehdytään kirosanoihin ja niiden kääntämiseen. Tutkimuksen aineisto on peräisin Stephen Fryn omaelämäkerrasta Moab is my Washpot sekä Titia Schuurmanin siitä tekemästä suomenkielisestä käännöksestä Koppava kloppi. Tutkielma jakautuu kahteen osaan ja sen ensimmäisessä osassa keskitytään analysoimaan sitä, miksi niin paljon kirosanoja on jätetty kääntämättä. Toisessa osassa perehdytään siihen, kuinka alkuperäiskirjailijan itse keksimät oudot kirosanat on käännetty suomeen. Tähän tutkimukseen sovellettuun teoriaan kuuluu Ljungin (2011) määritelmä kirosanoista sekä hänen määrittelemänsä kiroilun käyttötapojen kategoriat. Analyysin apuna on myös Hjortin (2006) tutkimustulokset kirosanojen kääntämisen vaikuttimista. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin lähilukua, jolla alkuperäisteoksesta ja käännöksestä etsittiin kaikki kirosanailmaukset. Tutkielmassa suomenkielisestä teoksesta löytyneitä vastineita verrataan alkuperäisiin ilmauksiin. Vertailussa tarkastellaan sitä, voidaanko käytettyjä suomenkielisiä sanoja pitää kirosanoina, sekä kääntämättä jätettyjen kirosanojen osalta selvitetään, miksi ne on jätetty kääntämättä. Erikoisempien alkuperäiskirosanailmauksien kohdalla analysoidaan, mitä ominaisuuksia ilmauksista välitetään suomen kielelle. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten kiroilua käännetään omaelämäkertateoksessa, jonka alkuperäiskirjailija on tunnettu kielelläleikittelytaidoistaan ja joka käyttää kiroilua teoksessaan huomattavan paljon. Aineisto on pieni ja perustuu yhden alkuperäiskirjailijan ja yhden kääntäjän tuotoksiin, joten tutkielman tarkoitus ei ole esittää yleispäteviä ohjeita tai sääntöjä kiroilun kääntämiseen. Erilaiseen aineistoon pohjautuessaan tutkimuksen tulokset voisivat olla erilaiset. Tutkimustulosten perusteella vaikuttaa siltä, että kirosanailmauksia jätetään kääntämättä siksi, että alkuperäinen ilmaus yhdistää kirosanan sellaiseen haukkumasanaan tai verbiin, jota ei suomeksi voida ilmaista kirosanan määritelmään sopivalla sanalla. Englannin kielen kiroilussa käytetään lisäksi sellaista haukkumarakennetta, jota suomen kielessä ei ole käytössä. Tästä johtuen alkuperäinen täytesanana käytetty kirosana jää kääntämättä suomen kieleen. Myös se, että alkuperäiskirosana mielletään loukkaavuudeltaan lieväksi näyttäisi vaikuttavan siihen, että ilmaus käännetään suomeen ilman kirosanaa. Alkuperäiskirjailijan itse keksimät, oudot kirosanat on käännetty suomeen pääosin niin, että outouksia on karsittu. Tämän voidaan sanoa johtuvan kääntäjän pyrkimyksestä tuottaa käännöksessään sujuvaa suomen kieltä

Regional variation in surgical procedure rates in Finland.

The aim was to describe the regional variation of population based surgery rates in Finland with special reference to the comparison of surgical activities in individual hospitals. Data on 11 common procedures covering all Finnish hospitals were obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and the Finnish Medical Birth Register of the years 1987 and 1988. The variations of age and sex standardized procedure rates were studied across the procedure specific hospital service areas. The variation was estimated by three methods: extremal quotient, coefficient of variation, and systematic component of variation. The statistical significance of the variation measures was tested with a computerized simulation model. The variation was small for mastectomy, inguinal hernia repair, and hip replacement due to fracture, and large for lumbar disc operations, haemorrhoidectomies, and uterus operations. The results are similar to those of comparable studies elsewhere. The results indicate that there are clear differences in surgical activities between Finnish hospitals. </jats:p

Molecular identification of Gliocladium and Nectria isolates in Finland

julkaistu myös Sari Paavanen-Huhtalan väitöskirjassa, 2000, Turun yliopistovo