AbstractObjectives: Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs) have higher risk of serious infections than healthy individuals due to their illness, comorbidities and treatments. Streptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for 30-50% of community aquired pneumonia in Europe.The proportion of patients with IRD receiving vaccination against pneumococci is still estimated to be suboptimal. The

STUDY DESIGN: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial and a prospective cohort. BACKGROUND: The number of arthroscopic surgical procedures for patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) has significantly increased worldwide, but high-quality evidence of the effect of such interventions is lacking. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective will be to determine the efficacy of hip a

In order to develop reliable communications links for high speed railway (HSR) systems, accurate models for the propagation channel are required. The radio channel properties in HSR scenarios are different from those in cellular scenarios not only due to the high velocity, but also due to the special construction elements and the type of surroundings along the train lines. This paper focuses on th

Technology is a compulsory subject at Swedish elementary schools and, according to the syllabus, helps students develop their ability to examine different technological solutions and reason how these solutions affect society, environment, and humans. An important challenge for educational research is to analyse and understand the consequences and impacts of technologies on students’ learning, well

The aim of this study is to explore how tertiary science students’ use of metaphors in their popular science article writing may influence their understanding of subject matter. For this purpose, six popular articles written by students in physics or geology were analysed by means of a close textual analysis and a metaphor analysis. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the s

Background: The widely used Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale (RSES) has not been evaluated for psychometric properties in Sweden. Aims: This study aimed at analyzing its factor structure, internal consistency, criterion, convergent and discriminant validity, sensitivity to change, and whether a four-graded Likert-type response scale increased its reliability and validity compared to a yes/no response

Writings on the fringe Jewish settler grassroots network known as the Hilltop Youth have proliferated in recent years, following the increase in violent activism associated with the network. But knowledge on this violent activism, called Price Tag, has remained conflicting and problematic. Central questions persist: What is the meaning of Price Tag violence? What explains the increase in the rate

Background and objectives: Food is the major factor driving the metabolism of the gut microbiota. In Mexico, nixtamalized corn products are widely consumed. Changes in antioxidant capacity (AOX) in 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), pH values, short-chain fatty acid concentration, and relative metabolite production during in vitro colonic ferment

Objective. We aim to determine the correlation between ST-segment changes in leads V4–V6 and the extent of myocardial injury by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients with inferior ST elevation (STE) myocardial infarction (iSTEMI). Design. Admission electrocardiogram and CMR data from the MITOCARE trial were used. Differences in mean myocardium at risk, infarct size, ejection fraction and my

Background: Asphalt workers are exposed to polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from hot mix asphalt via both inhalation and dermal absorption. The use of crumb rubber modified (CRM) asphalt may result in higher exposure to PAHs and more adverse effects. Our aim is to assess occupational exposure to PAHs from conventional and CRM asphalt paving by measuring PAH metabolites in urine, and to investigate

Traditional matrix factorization methods approximate high dimensional data with a low dimensional subspace. This imposes constraints on the matrix elements which allow for estimation of missing entries. A lower rank provides stronger constraints and makes estimation of the missing entries less ambiguous at the cost of measurement fit. In this paper we propose a new factorization model that further

Parallel evolution occurs when a similar trait emerges in independent evolutionary lineages. Although changes in protein coding and gene transcription have been investigated as underlying mechanisms for parallel evolution, parallel changes in chromatin structure have never been reported. Here, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a distantly related yeast species, Dekkera bruxellensis, are investigated be

Data driven studies of heavy-ion results has played a big role in highlighting interesting features of these complex systems. In this proceeding, a simple QGP-brick interpretation of the RAA and v2 at high pT (pT≈10 GeV/c) is presented. This interpretation draws attention to two fundamental questions: is there an effect of the asymmetric QGP expansion on the v2 at high pT? is there an energy loss

In the process of understanding nuclear collisions, reliable extrapolations from pp collisions, based on Glauber models, are highly desirable, though seldomly accurate. We review the inclusion of diffractive excitations and argue that they provide an important contribution to centrality observables in pA collisions. We present a method for distinguishing between diffractively and non-diffractively

Steam-diluted combustion in gas turbine systems is an effective approach to control pollutant emissions and improve the gas turbine efficiency. The primary purpose of the present research is to analyze the influence of steam dilution on the combustion stability, flame structures, and CO emissions of a swirl-stabilized gas turbine model combustor under atmospheric pressure conditions. The premixed

This paper compares the signal-to-noise ratio obtained using an InSb photodiode for infrared (IR) polarization spectroscopy to that obtained using an upconversion detector, and shows a factor 64 improvement by the change. Upconversion detection is based on using sum frequency generation to move the IR optical signal to near-visible wavelengths to improve the sensitivity.

Diode laser-based two-line atomic fluorescence (TLAF) thermometry applied to flames of combusting wood pellets is demonstrated. The temperature above burning wood pellets placed in the hot product gas of gallium seeded laminar flames is measured. The calibration-free technique provides spatially resolved temperatures in one dimension with sufficient temporal resolution to resolve all combustion st