Risti peale kirjutas: Ühel papil oli peni... Eesti loomakalmistukultuurist

While in Finland pet cemeteries were common phenomena already in the 1990s, the first pet cemetery in Estonia was established only in 1995. The article discusses a rather marginal aspect of death culture - the funeral traditions and cemetery culture of pets in the late 20th and early 21st century Estonian society. Native Estonians, who came from the village society, had mostly practical relationships with their domestic animals, whereas local Balto-German estate owners are known to have buried their expensive pedigree dogs and horses. Urbanised people have estranged from the natural environment, and try to fill the void with caring for pets. In our Postmodernist and technocratic world the relationships with pets are often of anthropomorphic nature - animals are often attributed human characteristics. The first animal cemeteries in the western society were established in the late 20th century. The first charity pet cemetery in Estonia, used mostly for burying cats and dogs, but also various smaller pets, was founded in 1995. The graves of pets are often decorated with crosses and gravestones. And though the semantics of the cross sign has lost its sacral Christian meaning for modern people, and has become to symbolise mourning, the Christians consider the use of the cross symbol in pet cemetery culture as inappropriate. The burial tradition of pets appears to depend on the ethnic and religious affinity of their owners and largely copies the traditional funeral tradition of the corresponding ethnic group. Various popular beliefs are associated with buried pets, for instance, excessive dedication to a pet may inhibit its owner's chance of having children. While the Estonian society has largely accepted the practical need for pet cemeteries in urbanised environment, the pet burial traditions are still considered as something alien, perhaps because of their lavishness. The burial traditions and customs largely copy the human funeral traditions. Pet owners also use figurative and euphemistic expressions to talk about the death of their animals. When a person dies, obituaries are published in daily newspapers. Similar obituaries and condolences are published in specialised magazines for animal owners. Comparing the Estonian pet cemetery culture with that of the Finnish, several similarities but also some differences in tradition and customs can be noticed

Semantics of Separation-Logic Typing and Higher-order Frame Rules for<br> Algol-like Languages

We show how to give a coherent semantics to programs that are well-specified in a version of separation logic for a language with higher types: idealized algol extended with heaps (but with immutable stack variables). In particular, we provide simple sound rules for deriving higher-order frame rules, allowing for local reasoning

Shunt quantification in congenital heart disease based on two-dimensional speckle tracking

In this work we investigated how high frame rate speckle tracking based on plane wave imaging could be used to improve the quantification of peak velocities in shunt flows due to septal defects. Simulated jet flow was used to optimize acquisition and tracking parameters. In vivo, a packet based acquisition scheme was used where focused B-mode scans were interleaved high frame rate flow images (100 fps). Results showed that speckle tracking provides calibrated velocities in the shunt flow throughout the cardiac cycle, and improved estimates of peak velocities used for diagnosing shunt severity were acquired

Development of YLL due to suicide in young people in Norway

Tross en generell nedgang i selvmord i Norge siden slutten av åttitallet speiler ikke dette nødvendigvis alle aldersgrupper i befolkningen. Blant unge i Norge er de senere års nedadgående trend mindre tydelig. Det kan se ut som om selvmord blant unge er et proporsjonelt større samfunnsproblem i dag enn for noen tiår tilbake. Senere tids forskning har introdusert Years of Life Lost (YLL) som en proxy for å måle de samfunnsmessige konsekvensene av prematur død. I motsetning til den mer tradisjonell dødsraten måles ikke dødelighet i antall individer, men i antall år regnet tapt som følge av at en person dør i tidlig alder. YLL som metode kan slik hevdes å fremheve de samfunnsmessige konsekvensene av tidlig død. Når vi ikke kan se at dette perspektivet er benyttet innen studier her i Norge mener vi det er av betydning å se nærmere på utviklingen av YLL som følge av selvmord blant unge. Døds-data for selvmord ble hentet fra det norske dødsårsaksregisteret i perioden 1970 til 2011. YLL ble regnet ut i samsvar med rammeverket tidligere benyttet av Verdens Helseorganisasjon (WHO). Data ble stratifisert for alder og kjønn, med særlig fokus på aldersgruppene 10-19 og 20-29 år. For å måle den relative størrelsen av YLL som selvmord blant unge har bidratt til, har vi gjort sammenlikning med selvmord i alle aldersgrupper og som følge av alle dødsårsaker. I samsvar med tidligere studier vedrørende selvmordsrate i Norge fant vi en markant økning i YLL fra tidlig syttitall til sent åttitall. Senere år viste en generell nedgang, med en mer stabil trend de siste årene. Menn stod for en større del av antall år tapt enn det vi fant hos kvinner. Aldersgruppe 20-29 år, begge kjønn, stod for større del av antall år mistet enn det vi fant blant aldersgruppe 10-19 år. Kvinner 10-19 år pekte seg ut som eneste gruppe med relativt jevn vekst hele tidsperioden. Våre funn indikerer at mens YLL som følge av alle dødsårsaker minsket i tidsperioden 1970-2011, var ikke dette tilfelle med selvmord. Dette vil medføre at selvmord blant unge i aktuell tidsperiode har blitt et proporsjonelt større samfunnsproblem, hvilket fordrer ytterligere tiltak for å forebygge selvmord blant unge

Organotypic Cultures as a Model of Parkinson´s Disease. A Twist to an Old Model

Organotypic cultures from the ventral mesencephalon (VM) are widely used to model Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this method, neurotoxic compounds have traditionally been applied to the media to induce a uniform dopaminergic (DAergic) cell death in the tissue slices, regardless of the variation existing among slices. This study demonstrates a refinement of the toxic induction technique. We show that unilateral application of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) at the tissue surface by means of a microelectrode causes a precisely localized cell death that closely resembles an in vivo stereotactic model. This technique introduces an internal control that accounts for variation between slices and enables a precise quantification of the cell loss due to the toxin in use. We characterized organotypic VM cultures in terms of effects of 6-OHDA toxicity and number of DAergic neurons as judged by immunofluorescence and Western blots. Our findings illustrate that this new application technique greatly improves the representativeness of organotypic cultures as a model for PD

Do individual programme effects exceed the costs? Norwegian evidence on long run effects of labour market training

Individual long run effects of a labour market training programme targeted at unemployed adults are evaluated by comparing mean post-training earnings for matched samples of participants and non-participants. Average training effects on the trained are positive and persistent over the posttraining period of 5 years. Participants without recent work experience, prior to the training, gain less. For participants with recent work experience the present value of the 5 years accumulated earnings effect exceeds the direct costs of the training