Hunden i statens tjänst

I statens tjänst används idag hundar inom polisen, försvaret, Tullverket och kriminalvården. Med hjälp av statliga medel utbildas även ledarhundar. Vi har valt att rikta in oss på polisens, försvarets och Tullverkets hundar. Då vi inte vet så mycket om dessa hundar och inte heller har så mycket information om deras hälsa vill vi med detta arbete bilda oss en uppfattning om ämnet. Om vi ska kunna förstå om hundarnas liv som tjänstehundar är bra för dem eller inte måste vi ha kunskap om deras grundläggande behov. Det bör vi få genom att skapa oss en bild av deras evolutionära utveckling och naturliga beteenden. Vi vill ta reda på vilka raser som används, hur hundarna väljs ut till tjänstehundar och vilka egenskaper hundarna måste ha. Har de raser som används rätt förutsättningar när det gäller lynne och rasegenskaper? Vidare vill vi veta mer om tjänstehundarnas utbildning och arbetsuppgifter för att kunna diskutera vilka effekter det kan ha för deras välbefinnande. Blir hundarna genom sin utbildning tillräckligt förberedda för kommande arbetsuppgifter? Vi vet att sällskapshundar omfattas av många lagtexter men väldigt lite om hur tjänstehundarna är skyddade av svenska lagar och förordningar. Det är inte heller känt för oss hur de svenska tjänstehundarnas livssituation ser ut utanför tjänst.All our domesticated dogs origin from the Gray wolf (Savolainen et al., 2002). Humans and wolves started to hunt together because the wolves could help humans by tracking the prey and the humans could provide the wolves with food and protection (Clutton-Brock, 1995). By the biological and cultural process the wolf developed into a domesticated dog and about 4000 – 3000 years ago different breeds began to develop (Harcourt, 1974 in Clutton-Brock, 1995 & Clutton-Brock, 1995). Trough artificial breeding we today got several breeds with different characteristics (Clutton-Brock, 1995). Today the Swedish government uses dogs in policework, customs, militarywork and correctional systems. They are used partly to defend their handler, partly to prevent criminals from running away, but in front of all to use their extra-ordinary sense of smell to track different kinds of substances and persons. The dogs have to pass several tests to assure their ability to manage the work (SOU 2005:75). Once the dogs have passed their tests they are put in training within their different work areas and get to pass through plenty of tests before they are put in service (SOU 2005:75). The police, customs and military are using several different breeds, depending on what they are suitable for, but the most common breed is the German shepherd (SOU 2005:75). Dogs at the governments’ service are occasionally excluded from the Swedish animal protection laws (DFS 2004:5; DFS 2004:18). This partly implies that there are no inspections to control how the dogs are cared for and partly that there are no laws that control how the military dogs are kept (SOU 2005:75). We have gathered information in this subject to be able to discuss and reflect on how these working dogs are used and what things that could affect them. Are the dogs suitable for the work in the police, customs and military according to an evolutionary view and are their everyday life and work accommodated to their natural needs and behaviours

A paradoxical effect of levetiracetam may be seen in both children and adults with refractory epilepsy

AbstractThe aim of this prospective, uncontrolled clinical study was to evaluate the tolerability and the efficacy of levetiracetam as add-on treatment in 78 adults and 44 children with intractable epilepsy. The patients’ seizure frequency in the 8 weeks baseline period was compared to their seizure frequency after a mean follow-up of 8 months of treatment.A greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency was achieved in 31 adults (40%) and 9 children (20%), of whom 7 adults (9%) and 3 children (7%) became seizure free. Most often levetiracetam was well tolerated, somnolence being the most frequently reported side effect (18% in adults and 7% in children). However, in 14 adults (18%) and 19 children (43%) levetiracetam was associated with an increase (>25%) in seizure frequency. Such a paradoxical effect, including the development of status epilepticus in three adults and four children, appeared most often in mentally retarded patients during the first 2 months of treatment, and on relatively high doses. Two children developed status epilepticus after 5 and 7 months, respectively.In conclusion, levetiracetam is usually well tolerated as add-on treatment in patients with difficult-to-treat partial onset seizures. By using a lower initial dose and a slower dose escalation than recommended by the manufacturer, a paradoxical effect may perhaps be avoided. In children, doses >20mgkg−1 per day should be introduced with caution

Run-Off Replication of Host-Adaptability Genes Is Associated with Gene Transfer Agents in the Genome of Mouse-Infecting Bartonella grahamii

The genus Bartonella comprises facultative intracellular bacteria adapted to mammals, including previously recognized and emerging human pathogens. We report the 2,341,328 bp genome sequence of Bartonella grahamii, one of the most prevalent Bartonella species in wild rodents. Comparative genomics revealed that rodent-associated Bartonella species have higher copy numbers of genes for putative host-adaptability factors than the related human-specific pathogens. Many of these gene clusters are located in a highly dynamic region of 461 kb. Using hybridization to a microarray designed for the B. grahamii genome, we observed a massive, putatively phage-derived run-off replication of this region. We also identified a novel gene transfer agent, which packages the bacterial genome, with an over-representation of the amplified DNA, in 14 kb pieces. This is the first observation associating the products of run-off replication with a gene transfer agent. Because of the high concentration of gene clusters for host-adaptation proteins in the amplified region, and since the genes encoding the gene transfer agent and the phage origin are well conserved in Bartonella, we hypothesize that these systems are driven by selection. We propose that the coupling of run-off replication with gene transfer agents promotes diversification and rapid spread of host-adaptability factors, facilitating host shifts in Bartonella

National trends in total cholesterol obscure heterogeneous changes in HDL and non-HDL cholesterol and total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio : a pooled analysis of 458 population-based studies in Asian and Western countries

Background: Although high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and non-HDL cholesterol have opposite associations with coronary heart disease, multi-country reports of lipid trends only use total cholesterol (TC). Our aim was to compare trends in total, HDL and nonHDL cholesterol and the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio in Asian and Western countries. Methods: We pooled 458 population-based studies with 82.1 million participants in 23 Asian and Western countries. We estimated changes in mean total, HDL and non-HDL cholesterol and mean total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio by country, sex and age group. Results: Since similar to 1980, mean TC increased in Asian countries. In Japan and South Korea, the TC rise was due to rising HDL cholesterol, which increased by up to 0.17 mmol/L per decade in Japanese women; in China, it was due to rising non-HDL cholesterol. TC declined in Western countries, except in Polish men. The decline was largest in Finland and Norway, at similar to 0.4 mmol/L per decade. The decline in TC in most Western countries was the net effect of an increase in HDL cholesterol and a decline in non-HDL cholesterol, with the HDL cholesterol increase largest in New Zealand and Switzerland. Mean total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio declined in Japan, South Korea and most Western countries, by as much as similar to 0.7 per decade in Swiss men (equivalent to similar to 26% decline in coronary heart disease risk per decade). The ratio increased in China. Conclusions: HDL cholesterol has risen and the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio has declined in many Western countries, Japan and South Korea, with only a weak correlation with changes in TC or non-HDL cholesterol.Peer reviewe

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe