| 1. |
- Addelyan Rasi, Hamideh, et al.
(författare)
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Can a psychosocial intervention programme teaching coping strategies improve the quality of life of Iranian women? : A non-randomised quasi-experimental study
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMJ Open. - : BMJ Publishing Group. - 2044-6055. ; 3:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: To assess whether a psychosocial intervention teaching coping strategies to women can improve quality of life (QOL) in groups of Iranian women exposed to social pressures. Design: Quasi-experimental non-randomised group design involving two categories of Iranian women, each category represented by non-equivalent intervention and comparison groups. Setting: A large urban area in Iran. Participants: 44 women; 25 single mothers and 19 newly married women. Interventions: Seventh-month psychosocial intervention aimed at providing coping strategies. Primary outcome measures: Effect sizes in four specific health-related domains and two overall perceptions of QOL and health measured by the WHOQOL-BREF instrument. Results: Large effect sizes were observed among the women exposed to the intervention in the WHOQOLBREF subdomains measuring physical health (r=0.68; p<0.001), psychological health (r=0.72; p<0.001), social relationships (r=0.52; p<0.01), environmental health (r=0.55; p<0.01) and in the overall perception of QOL (r=0.72; p<0.001); the effect size regarding overall perception of health was between small and medium (r=0.20; not significant). Small and not statistically significant effect sizes were observed in the women provided with traditional social welfare services. Conclusions: Teaching coping strategies can improve the QOL of women in societies where gender discrimination is prevalent. The findings require reproduction in studies with a more rigorous design before the intervention model can be recommended for widespread distribution.
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| 2. |
- Adolfsson, Ann-Sofie, et al.
(författare)
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Applicability of general grief theory to Swedish women’s experiences after early miscarriage, with factor analysis of Bonanno´s taxonomy, using the Perinatal Grief Scale.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences. - : Uppsala Medical Society. - 0300-9734 .- 2000-1967. ; 115:3, s. 201-209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background. Grief is a normal phenomenon but showing great variation depending on cultural and personal features. Bonanno and Kaltman have nonetheless proposed five aspects of normal grief. The aim of this study was to investigate if women with miscarriage experience normal grief. Material and methods. Content analyses of 25 transcribed conversations with women 4 weeks after their early miscarriages were classified depending on the meaning-bearing units according to Bonanno and Kaltman's categories. In the factor analyses, these categories were compared with the Perinatal Grief Scale and women's age, number of children and number of miscarriages, and gestational weeks. Results. Women with miscarriage fulfill the criteria for having normal grief according to Bonanno and Kaltman. All of the 25 women had meaning-bearing units that were classified as cognitive disorganization, dysphoria, and health deficits, whereas disrupted social and occupational functioning and positive aspects of bereavement were represented in 22 of 25 women. From the factor analysis, there are no differences in the expression of the intensity of the grief, irrespective of whether or not the women were primiparous, younger, or had suffered a first miscarriage. Conclusion. Women's experience of grief after miscarriage is similar to general grief after death. After her loss, the woman must have the possibility of expressing and working through her grief before she can finish her pregnancy emotionally. The care-giver must facilitate this process and accept that the intensity of the grief is not dependent on the woman's age, or her number of earlier miscarriages.
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| 3. |
- Berg, Sofia, et al.
(författare)
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Using sensitivity analysis to identify keystone species and keystone links in size-based food webs
- 2011
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Ingår i: Oikos. - : Wiley. - 0030-1299 .- 1600-0706. ; 120:4, s. 510-519
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human-induced alterations in the birth and mortality rates of species and in the strength of interactions within and between species can lead to changes in the structure and resilience of ecological communities. Recent research points to the importance of considering the distribution of body sizes of species when exploring the response of communities to such perturbations. Here, we present a new size-based approach for assessing the sensitivity and elasticity of community structure (species equilibrium abundances) and resilience (rate of return to equilibrium) to changes in the intrinsic growth rate of species and in the strengths of species interactions. We apply this approach on two natural systems, the pelagic communities of the Baltic Sea and Lake Vättern, to illustrate how it can be used to identify potential keystone species and keystone links. We find that the keystone status of a species is closely linked to its body size. The analysis also suggests that communities are structurally and dynamically more sensitive to changes in the effects of prey on their consumers than in the effects of consumers on their prey. Moreover, we discuss how community sensitivity analysis can be used to study and compare the fragility of communities with different body size distributions by measuring the mean sensitivity or elasticity over all species or all interaction links in a community. We believe that the community sensitivity analysis developed here holds some promise for identifying species and links that are critical for the structural and dynamic robustness of ecological communities.
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| 4. |
- Dahlström, Örjan, et al.
(författare)
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Is "Football for All" Safe for All? : Cross-Sectional Study of Disparities as Determinants of 1-Year Injury Prevalence in Youth Football Programs
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PLOS. - 1932-6203. ; 7:8, s. e43795-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Football (soccer) is endorsed as a health-promoting physical activity worldwide. When football programs are introduced as part of general health promotion programs, equal access and limitation of pre-participation disparities with regard to injury risk are important. The aim of this study was to explore if disparity with regard to parents’ educational level, player body mass index (BMI), and self-reported health are determinants of football injury in community-based football programs, separately or in interaction with age or gender.Methodology/Principal Findings: Four community football clubs with 1230 youth players agreed to participate in the cross-sectional study during the 2006 season. The study constructs (parents’ educational level, player BMI, and self-reported health) were operationalized into questionnaire items. The 1-year prevalence of football injury was defined as the primary outcome measure. Data were collected via a postal survey and analyzed using a series of hierarchical statistical computations investigating associations with the primary outcome measure and interactions between the study variables. The survey was returned by 827 (67.2%) youth players. The 1-year injury prevalence increased with age. For youths with parents with higher formal education, boys reported more injuries and girls reported fewer injuries than expected; for youths with lower educated parents there was a tendency towards the opposite pattern. Youths reporting injuries had higher standardized BMI compared with youths not reporting injuries. Children not reporting full health were slightly overrepresented among those reporting injuries and underrepresented for those reporting no injury.Conclusion: Pre-participation disparities in terms of parents’ educational level, through interaction with gender, BMI, and self-reported general health are associated with increased injury risk in community-based youth football. When introduced as a general health promotion, football associations should adjust community-based youth programs to accommodate children and adolescents with increased pre-participation injury risk.
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| 5. |
- Dalal, Koustuv, et al.
(författare)
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Economic empowerment of women and utilization of maternal delivery care in Bangladesh
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Preventive Medicine. - : Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS). - 2008-7802 .- 2008-8213. ; 3:9, s. 628-636
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Maternal mortality is a major public health problem in low-income countries, such as Bangladesh. Women's empowerment in relation to enhanced utilization of delivery care is underexplored. This study investigates the associations between women's economic empowerment and their utilization of maternal health care services in Bangladesh. Methods: In total, 4925 women (15-49 years of age) with at least one child from whole Bangladesh constituted the study sample. Home delivery without skilled birth attendant and use of institutional delivery services were the main outcome variables used for the analyses. Economic empowerment, neighborhood socioeconomic status, household economic status, and demographic factors were considered as explanatory variables. The chi square test and unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were applied at the collected data. Results: In the adjusted model, respondent's and husband's education, household economic status, and residency emerged as important predictors for utilization of delivery care services. In the unadjusted model, economically empowered working and microfinanced women displayed more home delivery. Conclusion: The current study shows that use of delivery care services is associated with socioeconomic development and can be enhanced by societies that focus on general issues such as schooling, economic wellbeing, and gender-based discrimination.
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| 6. |
- Eriksson, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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The prevalence of BV in the population on the Åland Islands during a 15-year period
- 2010
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Ingår i: Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica (APMIS). - Malden, USA : John Wiley & Sons. - 0903-4641 .- 1600-0463. ; 118:11, s. 903-908
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the study was to describe the prevalence and age distribution of bacterial vaginosis (BV) during an observation period of 15 years in a population study with cross-sectional samples of adult women living on the Åland Islands. The Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea and are a province of Finland. Every fifth year, specific age groups in the adult female population are invited to participate in a screening program for early diagnosis of cervical cancer using a papanicolaou (PAP)-stained vaginal smear. Women in the age groups of 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 years are called each year. BV diagnosis of the PAP-stained smears uses the classification according to Nugent. The PAP-stained smears from the screening program of cervical cancer 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008 were used in this study. A total of 3456 slides were investigated and 271 women could be followed for the 15-year observation period. The prevalence of BV declined from 15.6% in 1993 to 8.6% in 2008. The highest prevalence occurred among the age groups of 35 and 50 years. Among the 271 women who could be followed for the 15-year observation period, two-third showed normal/intermediate flora and one-third were infected with BV at least once. As this is a cross-sectional population study spanning 15 years, the prevalence of BV in the female adult population of the Åland Islands can be estimated. The prevalence has declined between 1993 and 2008 from 15.6% to 8.6%.
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| 7. |
- Eriksson, Katarina, et al.
(författare)
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Vaginal retention of locally administered clindamycin
- 2011
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Ingår i: Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica (APMIS). - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0903-4641 .- 1600-0463. ; 119:6, s. 373-376
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since bacterial vaginosis (BV) is characterized by a lack of, or very few, lactobacilli and high numbers of small, mostly anaerobic bacteria, an obvious treatment modality would be eradication of the BV-associated bacterial flora followed by reintroduction of lactobacilli vaginally. As probiotic treatment with lactobacilli is one tool for improving the cure rate when treating BV, it is necessary to know the length of time after treatment that clindamycin can be found in the vagina and if this could interfere with the growth of the probiotic lactobacilli. We evaluated the vaginal concentration of clindamycin in 12 women for 8 days to obtain data on the concentration of clindamycin in the vagina after intravaginal treatment with the drug. The participants were examined five times between two menstrual periods: before treatment, the day after treatment was finished, and 3, 5 and 8 days post-treatment. The first day post-treatment clindamycin 0.46 x 10-3 to 8.4 x 10-3 g/g vaginal fluid (median 2.87 x 10-3) was found. Thereafter, the concentration of clindamycin decreased rapidly. In 10 patients clindamycin was found after 3 days. A very low concentration was still present 5 days after treatment in four patients. After 8 days no clindamycin was found. Clindamycin is rapidly eliminated from the vagina, within 3-8 days, after local administration. Our results indicate that treatment with probiotic lactobacilli could be problematic if carried out within 5 days after cessation of clindamycin treatment.
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| 8. |
- Frössling, Jenny, et al.
(författare)
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Application of network analysis parameters in risk-based surveillance - Examples based on cattle trade data and bovine infections in Sweden
- 2012
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Ingår i: Preventive Veterinary Medicine. - : Elsevier. - 0167-5877 .- 1873-1716. ; 105:3, s. 202-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Financial resources may limit the number of samples that can be collected and analysed in disease surveillance programmes. When the aim of surveillance is disease detection and identification of case herds, a risk-based approach can increase the sensitivity of the surveillance system. In this paper, the association between two network analysis measures, i.e. ‘in-degree’ and ‘ingoing infection chain’, and signs of infection is investigated. It is shown that based on regression analysis of combined data from a recent cross-sectional study for endemic viral infections and network analysis of animal movements, a positive serological result for bovine coronavirus (BCV) and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is significantly associated with the purchase of animals. For BCV, this association was significant also when accounting for herd size and regional cattle density, but not for BRSV. Examples are given for different approaches to include cattle movement data in risk-based surveillance by selecting herds based on network analysis measures. Results show that compared to completely random sampling these approaches increase the number of detected positives, both for BCV and BRSV in our study population. It is concluded that network measures for the relevant time period based on updated databases of animal movements can provide a simple and straight forward tool for risk-based sampling.
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| 9. |
- Gillsjö, Catharina, et al.
(författare)
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Older Adults Ways of Dealing With Daily Life While Living With Long-Term Musculoskeletal Pain at Home
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Gerontology. - : SAGE Publications (UK and US). - 0733-4648 .- 1552-4523. ; 31:5, s. 685-705
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Long-term musculoskeletal pain is a global health problem among older adults. Yet little is known about how these older adults actually deal with daily life. This studys aim is to describe the ways these older adults dealt with daily life at home. Phenomenography is used to collect and analyze data from semistructured interviews with 19 older adults and to identify the range in which they dealt with daily life. Findings consist of an outcome space that encompassed four categories: ignore, struggle, adjust, and resign. The different ways older adults dealt with daily life when living with long-term pain at home strengthen the importance of individualized plans of care in the home and a holistic perspective. Findings contribute to enhanced understanding of a common health problem among older adults that can be used to promote quality of care and improve the quality of life of older adults.
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| 10. |
- Gnosa, Sebastian, et al.
(författare)
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Expression of AEG-1 mRNA and protein in colorectal cancer patients and colon cancer cell lines
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Translational Medicine. - : BioMed Central. - 1479-5876 .- 1479-5876. ; 10:109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Astrocyte elevated gene 1 (AEG-1), an important oncogene, has been shown to be overexpressed in several types of cancers. In colorectal cancer (CRC), the protein level of AEG-1 is up-regulated in tumour tissue compared to normal mucosa, showing prognostic significance. Since little is known about the transcriptional level of AEG-1 expression and its biological pathway in CRC the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship of AEG-1 mRNA expression, the protein level and clinicopathological variables as well as its biology pathway in CRC. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMaterial and methods: The mRNA expression of AEG-1 was analysed by qPCR in fresh frozen patient samples including 156 primary tumours, along with the corresponding normal mucosa, and in five colon cancer cell lines, SW480, SW620, KM12C, KM12SM and KM12L4a. AEG-1 protein expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded materials from 74 distant normal mucosa, 107 adjacent mucosa, 158 primary tumour, 35 lymph node metastasis and 9 liver metastasis samples. In addition, the AEG-1 protein expression was elucidated in the cell lines by Western blot. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanResults: The lymph node metastatic cell line SW620 had a significantly higher AEG-1 mRNA (0.27 +/- 0.02) expression compared to the primary tumour cell line SW480 (0.17 +/- 0.04, p = 0.026). AEG-1 expression at the mRNA level and/or the protein level was significantly up-regulated gradually from normal mucosa to primary CRC, and then to lymph node metastasis and finally to liver metastasis (p andlt; 0.05). There were significant associations of AEG-1 mRNA expression with tumour location (p = 0.047), as well as mRNA and protein expression with the tumour stage (p andlt; 0.03). Furthermore AEG-1 protein expression was positively related to biological variables including NF-kappa B, p73, Rad50 and apoptosis (p andlt; 0.05). less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanConclusion: AEG-1 is up-regulated, at the mRNA and the protein level, during CRC development and aggressiveness, and is related to tumour location and stage. It may play its role in CRC through the NF-kappa B signaling pathway.
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