Filetype
Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic and slowly progressive disease for which biomarkers may be able to provide a more rapid indication of therapeutic responses to therapy than is currently available; this could accelerate and facilitate OA drug discovery and development programs. The goal of this document is to provide a summary and guide to the application of in vitro (biochemical and oth
This study compares students' experiences of two types of criteria-based assessment: in text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback, in an assessment design combining the two feedback channels. The main aim is to use students' responses to shed light on how feedback strategies for formative assessment can be optimised. Following action research methodology, the study discusses key categories o
This study analyzes the socioeconomic gradient in drug utilization. We use The Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, merged with the Survey of Living Conditions (the ULF), and the study sample consists of 8138 individuals. We find a positive education gradient (but no income gradient) in drug utilization, after controlling for health indicators. Whereas high-educated men use a larger number of drugs,
Background/Aims: Psychosocial intervention has shown positive effects on the caregivers' burden and satisfaction. The aims of this study were to describe the cost and cost-effectiveness of such an intervention. Methods: We analyzed resource use and costs of formal care for 308 persons with dementia and their caregivers' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Results: The costs of home help servic
The present work was aimed at developing industrial S. cerevisiae strains with improved tolerance to two types of stressors encountered during the fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass that affect ethanol yield and productivity, namely hydrolysate-derived inhibitors and high temperature, and at understanding the response of yeast and mechanisms of adaptation to such stressors. In one part of the
The use of enzymes in industrial applications has been recognised for providing clean processes with minimal impact on the environment. This thesis presents studies on engineering of enzymes and enzyme-based processes in the light of green chemistry and environmental sustainability, and focuses on three hydrolases: esterase, lipase and phytase. The use of esterase has been investigated to provide
Introduction: the aim of this study was to identify whether factors beyond anatomical abnormalities are associated with low back pain (LBP) and LBP with sciatica (SCI) in older men. Material and methods: Mister Osteoporosis Sweden includes 3,014 men aged 69-81 years. They answered questionnaires on lifestyle and whether they had experienced LBP and SCI during the preceding 12 months. About 3,007 m
III-V semiconductor nanowires are a platform for next-generation photovoltaics. An interesting research direction is to embed a nanowire array in a transparent polymer, either to act as a stand-alone flexible solar cell, or to be stacked on top of a conventional Si bottom cell to create a tandem structure. To optimize the tandem cell performance, high energy photons should be absorbed in the nanow
What is the role of arthroscopic surgery in degenerative knee disease? An expert panel produced these recommendations based on a linked systematic review triggered by a randomised trial published in The BMJ in June 2016, which found that, among patients with a degenerative medial meniscus tear, knee arthroscopy was no better than exercise therapy. The panel make a strong recommendation against art
BACKGROUND: Analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) is a promising prognostic marker in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The aim of this study was to investigate CTC detection and phenotyping as prognostic biomarkers for response to primary androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) of metastatic prostate cancer (PC). METHODS: PC patients presenting with a prostate specific antigen (PSA) >80
Background Previous viscoelastic haemostatic tests studies have often indicated a hypercoagulative test signal with citrated blood, which could influence clinical decision makings. Purpose The aim of this study was to compare fresh and citrated whole blood using two non-automated viscoelastic ROTEM and Sonoclot tests. Our hypothesis was that citrated blood would demonstrate a hypercoagulative resp
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in coronary artery disease (CAD) had identified 66 loci at 'genome-wide significance' (P < 5 × 10 '8) at the time of this analysis, but a much larger number of putative loci at a false discovery rate (FDR) of 5% (refs. 1,2,3,4). Here we leverage an interim release of UK Biobank (UKBB) data to evaluate the validity of the FDR approach. We tested a CAD phenotyp
Abstract. Frontal cortex activity in the left hemisphere during depression is reduced. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that can increase frontal cortex activity. Therapy based on tDCS and positive psychology (PP) therapy was applied improving patients’ quality of life. The present study compared three conditions 29 participants with clinicFrontal cortex activity in the left hemisphere during depression is reduced. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that can increase frontal cortex activity. Therapy based on tDCS and positive psychology (PP) therapy was applied improving patients’ quality of life. The present study compared three conditions participants with clinical depression
BACKGROUND: Early life risk factors are associated with cardiometabolic disease, but have not been fully studied in atrial fibrillation (AF). There are discordant results from existing studies of birth weight and AF, and the impact of maternal body size, gestational age, placental size, and birth length is unknown.METHODS AND RESULTS: The Helsinki Birth Cohort Study includes 13 345 people born as
This chapter describes the basic principles inside the VEG extension to the ForSAFE model system. It allows changes in ground vegetation to be calculated, an important part of biodiversity. In the VEG model, the basis for modelling ground vegetation dynamics is a competition strength model based on soil chemistry promoting and retarding factors, nutrients, water and light. The strength is used in
The LHCb system requires high efficiency muon detection into LHC bunch crossing: 95% into a 25 ns time window. To reach such efficiency many parameters of the detector readout apparatus have to be calibrated and adjusted and its channels must be aligned in time. In addition, essential characteristics must be monitored to guarantee a good working condition of the apparatus (to avoid loss of efficie
Background and purpose — Recent evidence has questioned the effect of arthroscopic knee surgery for middle-aged and older patients with degenerative meniscal tears with or without concomitant radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA). We investigated the prevalence of early or more established knee OA and patients’ characteristics in a cohort of patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery for a meniscal
Osteoinduction can be enhanced by combining scaffolds with bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2). However, BMP's are known to also cause bone resorption. This can be controlled using bisphosphonates like zoledronic acid (ZA). In this study, we produced two different scaffolds containing silk-fibroin, chitosan, agarose and hydroxyapatite (HA) with and without bioactive glass. The aims of the study wer
