Mechanical Translation

Contains research objectives and reports on one research project.National Science Foundatio

Polyamines: total daily intake in adolescents compared to the intake estimated from the Swedish Nutrition Recommendations Objectified (SNO)

Background: Dietary polyamines have been shown to give a significant contribution to the body pool of polyamines. Knowing the levels of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in different foods and the contribution of daily food choice to polyamine intake is of interest, due to the association of these bioactive amines to health and disease. Objective: To estimate polyamine intake and food contribution to this intake in adolescents compared to a diet fulfilling the Swedish Nutrition Recommendations. Design: A cross-sectional study of dietary intake in adolescents and an ‘ideal diet’ (Swedish nutrition recommendations objectified [SNO]) list of foods was used to compute polyamine intake using a database of polyamine contents of foods. For polyamine intake estimation, 7-day weighed food records collected from 93 adolescents were entered into dietetic software (Dietist XP) including data on polyamine contents of foods. The content of polyamines in foods recommended according to SNO was entered in the same way. Results: The adolescents’ mean daily polyamine intake was 316±170 µmol/day, while the calculated contribution according to SNO was considerably higher with an average polyamine intake of 541 µmol/day. In both adolescent's intake and SNO, fruits contributed to almost half of the total polyamine intake. The reason why the intake among the adolescents was lower than the one calculated from SNO was mainly due to the low vegetable consumption in the adolescents group. Conclusions: The average daily total polyamine intake was similar to that previously reported in Europe. With an ‘ideal’ diet according to Swedish nutrition recommendations, the intake of this bioactive non-nutrient would be higher than that reported by our adolescents and also higher than that previously reported from Europe

Distribution of ELF magnetic fields in Swedish dwellings

The purpose of this study is to assess the distribution of magnetic fields in the frequency range 10 Hz - 2000 Hz in randomly selected Swedish dwellings. The fields were measured in up to 3 rooms in each residence. In the master bedroom a 24 h logging of the fields was performed. The results show that 89 % of the measured houses have average magnetic fields below 0.2 μT with mean value of 0.11 μT and median value 0.05 μT. The comparison of magnetic fields in urban and rural area show that the lowest fields were found in rural areas with 97% of the residences have average magnetic fields below 0.2 μT with median value 0.04 μT. Comparing villas and apartments show that the median magnetic fields value for apartments is 0.07 μT compared to 0.04 μT for villas. The dominating frequency of the magnetic field was 50 Hz. The total harmonic distortion (THD) of the magnetic field was measured; the median value of THD was 10.3 %

Polyamines in foods: development of a food database

Background: Knowing the levels of polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in different foods is of interest due to the association of these bioactive nutrients to health and diseases. There is a lack of relevant information on their contents in foods. Objective: To develop a food polyamine database from published data by which polyamine intake and food contribution to this intake can be estimated, and to determine the levels of polyamines in Swedish dairy products. Design: Extensive literature search and laboratory analysis of selected Swedish dairy products. Polyamine contents in foods were collected using an extensive literature search of databases. Polyamines in different types of Swedish dairy products (milk with different fat percentages, yogurt, cheeses, and sour milk) were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with a UV detector. Results: Fruits and cheese were the highest sources of putrescine, while vegetables and meat products were found to be rich in spermidine and spermine, respectively. The content of polyamines in cheese varied considerably between studies. In analyzed Swedish dairy products, matured cheese had the highest total polyamine contents with values of 52.3, 1.2, and 2.6 mg/kg for putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, respectively. Low fat milk had higher putrescine and spermidine, 1.2 and 1.0 mg/kg, respectively, than the other types of milk. Conclusions: The database aids other researchers in their quest for information regarding polyamine intake from foods. Connecting the polyamine contents in food with the Swedish Food Database allows for estimation of polyamine contents per portion

A positive Real-Time Elastography (RTE) combined with a Prostate Cancer Gene 3 (PCA3) score above 35 convey a high probability of intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer in patient admitted for primary prostate biopsy

Background: The standard of care in patients with suspected prostate cancer (PCa) is systematic prostate biopsies. This approach leads to unnecessary biopsies in patients without PCa and also to the detection of clinical insignificant PCa. Better tools are wanted. We have evaluated the performance of real-time elastography (RTE) combined with prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3) in an initial biopsy setting with the goal of better identifying patients in need of prostate biopsies. Methods: 127 patients were included in this study; three were excluded because of not measureable PCA3 score leading to 124 evaluable patients. A cut-off value of 35 was used for PCA3. All patients were examined with a Hitachi Preirus with an endfire probe for RTE, a maximum of five targeted biopsies were obtained from suspicious lesions detected by RTE. All patients then had a 10-core systematic biopsy performed by another urologist unaware of the RTE results. The study includes follow-up data for a minimum of three years; all available histopathological data are included in the analysis. Results: There was a significant difference in PCA3 score: 26.6 for benign disease, 73.6 for cancer patients (p < 0.001). 70 patients (56 %) were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the study period, 21 (30 %) low-risk, 32 (46 %) intermediate-risk and 17 (24 %) high-risk. RTE and PCA3 were significant markers for predicting intermediate- and high-risk PCa (p = 0.001). The combination of RTE and PCA3 had a sensitivity of 96 % and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 90 % for the group of intermediate- and high-risk PCa together and a NPV for high-risk PCa of 100 %. If both parameters are positive there is a high probability of detecting intermediate- or high-risk PCa, if both parameters are negative there is only a small chance of missing prostate cancer with documented treatment benefit. Conclusions: RTE and PCA3 may be used as pre-biopsy examinations to reduce the number of prostate biopsies.publishedVersio

Failure to Find a Conditioned Placebo Analgesic Response

Background: Associative learning has, in several studies, been modulated by the sex of the participant. Consistent with this, a recent review found that conditioned nocebo effects are stronger in females than in males.Purpose: It has been suggested that conditioned placebo responses are stronger in females, and this hypothesis was investigated in the present study. Cortisol and measures of negative emotions were taken to investigate if these processes could mediate any conditioned placebo effects.Methods: Cold pain was applied to the volar forearm. The Conditioned group received inert capsules prior to two presentations of less painful stimulations, to associate intake of the capsules with reduced pain. The pain control group received the same painful stimulation as the Conditioned group, but no capsules. The Capsule control group received the capsules in the same way as the Conditioned group, but no decrease in the painful stimulation. Participant sex was crossed across groups. It was hypothesized that in the Conditioned group, an expectation of reduced pain should be induced after administration of the capsules, and this should generate placebo analgesia, and mostly so in females.Results: The Conditioned group reported lower pain during conditioning, and rated the capsules as more effective painkillers than the capsule control group. However, placebo analgesia was not reliably observed in the Conditioned group.Conclusion: The placebo capsules were rated as effective painkillers, but this did not translate into a placebo analgesic effect. This could be due to violation of response expectancies, too few conditioning trials, and differences in pain ratings in the pre-test that could be due to previous experience with painkillers

Wetland productivity determines trade-off between biodiversity support and greenhouse gas production.

Establishing wetlands for nutrient capture and biodiversity support may introduce trade-offs between environmentally beneficial functions and detrimental greenhouse gas emissions. Investigating the interaction of nutrient capture, primary production, greenhouse gas production and biodiversity support is imperative to understanding the overall function of wetlands and determining possible beneficial synergistic effects and trade-offs. Here, we present temporally replicated data from 17 wetlands in hemi-boreal Sweden. We explored the relationship between nutrient load, primary producing algae, production of methane and nitrous oxide, and emergence rates of chironomids to determine what factors affected each and how they related to each other. Chironomid emergence rates correlated positively with methane production and negatively with nitrous oxide production, where water temperature was the main driving factor. Increasing nutrient loads reduced methanogenesis through elevated nitrogen concentrations, while simultaneously enhancing nitrous oxide production. Nutrient loads only indirectly increased chironomid emergence rates through increased chlorophyll-a concentration, via increased phosphorus concentrations, with certain taxa and food preference functional groups benefitting from increased chlorophyll-a concentrations. However, water temperature seemed to be the main driving factor for chironomid emergence rates, community composition and diversity, as well as for greenhouse gas production. These findings increase our understanding of the governing relationships between biodiversity support and greenhouse gas production, and should inform future management when constructing wetlands

Geriatric Rehabilitation as an Integral Part of Geriatric Medicine in the Nordic Countries

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenObjective: Firstly to outline the theoretical and practical framework for geriatric rehabilitation in Iceland and other Nordic countries and secondly to survey the scientific medical publications for evidence based geriatric rehabilitation. Methods: Brain storming on geriatric rehabilitation in a working group of Nordic teachers in geriatric medicine. Papers on scientific programs for geriatric rehabilitation from Internet sources were collected and analyzed. All articles describing randomized studies in geriatric rehabilitation were selected for overview. The papers were divided into four groups according to diseases, infirmity and resource settings; 1) stroke, 2) hip-fractures, 3) acute admissions and 4) programs conducted in nursing homes, day hospitals and home services. Results: A spectrum of biological and social events creates the conditions underlying most causes for illness and disability in old people. The process of established geriatric services promotes the efficiency of geriatric rehabilitation. The literature survey included 27 scientific studies (8586 patients) on randomized studies with valid endpoints. Geriatric rehabilitation programs for stroke patients in geriatric settings, six studies (1138 patients), reduced mortality and the need for nursing home placement but the outcome for ADL. Function and length of stay was more variable between the studies. The outcome of geriatric rehabilitation was even more decisive in the randomized hip-fracture studies, six studies (2171 patients). Eight studies were found comparing the outcome between acute admission of frail elderly to either geriatric (GEMU, GRU) or general medical wards. The outcome as regards to mortality rate at one year, placement to a nursing home, physical function, contentment with services, readmission rate and cost was all significantly better in the geriatric settings. Internal comparisons of geriatric programs in nursing homes, day hospitals and in home service, seven studies (1261 patient), revealed some differences in outcomes in function, contentment and costs. Conclusions: Specialized geriatric rehabilitation is complicated but effective when properly performed. Interdisciplinary teamwork, targeting of patients, comprehensive assessment and intensive and patient-targeted rehabilitation seem to characterize the most effective programs. Rehabilitation of frail elderly people poses a major challenge for the future and has to be developed further for the sake of quality of life of elderly people as well as for economic reasons.Markmið: Að gera úttekt á öldrunarendurhæfingu á Íslandi og öðrum Norðurlöndum, marka hinn hugmyndafræðilega grunn, tengja hann norrænum veruleika og taka saman vísindalegar niðurstöður um árangur öldrunarendurhæfingar. Aðferð: Hugarflugsfundir vinnuhóps kennara í öldrunarlækningum um öldrunarendurhæfingu. Sértæk leit í helstu læknatímarita á Medline í greinum sem fjalla um aðferðir og meðferðarleiðir endurhæfingar fyrir aldraða á vísindalegan hátt. Um er að ræða samantekt á rannsóknum sem notast við slembiúrtök og taka til elstu aldurshópa. Greinunum var skipt niður í fjóra flokka eftir sjúkdómum, færni og staðsetningu; 1) heilablóðfall, 2) mjaðmarbrot, 3) bráðveikir og hrumir, 4) prógrömm á hjúkrunarheimilum, dagspítölum og í heimaþjónustu. Niðurstöður: Lífeðlisfræðilegir og félagslegir þættir marka veikindaferli og fötlun aldraðra. Verklag öldrunarþjónustunnar skiptir miklu um árangur öldrunarendurhæfingar. Leit í 27 tímaritsgreinum náði til 8586 sjúklinga en þær báru saman slembiúrtök og höfðu haldbærar viðmiðanir. Endurhæfing aldraðra heilablóðfallssjúklinga á öldrunarlækningadeild, sex rannsóknir (1138 sjúklingar), dró úr dánarlíkum og minnkaði þörf fyrir stofnanavist en breyting á mælanlegri færni og legudagafjöldi varð ekki afgerandi hjá öllum. Enn betri árangur náðist við endurhæfingu eftir mjaðmarbrot, sex rannsóknir (2171 sjúklingur). Átta rannsóknir (4016 sjúklingar) báru saman árangur öldrunarlækningadeilda borið saman við almennar lyflæknisdeildir í meðhöndlun bráðveikra og hrumra sjúklinga. Niðurstöður voru flestar afgerandi betri á öldrunarlækningadeildum hvað varðar dánartíðni að ári, vistun á hjúkrunarheimili, líkamlega færni, ánægju, endurinnlagnir og kostnað. Innbyrðis samanburður á endurhæfingaraðferðum fyrir aldraða á hjúkrunarheimilum, dagspítölum og í heimaþjónustu, sjö rannsóknir (1261 sjúklingur), sýndu mun á nokkrum viðmiðunum í færniþáttum, ánægju og kostnaði. Ályktanir: Sérhæfð endurhæfing aldraðra er flókin en skilar árangri þegar rétt er á haldið. Bestur árangur næst með fjölfaglegri teymisvinnu, val á þeim sjúklingum sem mestu áhættuna hafa, alhliða öldrunarmati og virkri og einstaklingsmiðaðri endurhæfingu. Endurhæfing á hrumu gömlu fólki er og verður vaxandi viðfangsefni fyrir heilbrigðisþjónustuna og mikilvægt að hún nái því markmiði að auka lífsgæði aldraðs fólks. Benda rannsóknir einnig til að við það skapist einnig efnahagslegur ávinningur fyrir land og þjóð