| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Fritzell, Peter, et al.
(författare)
-
Cost-effectiveness of lumbar fusion and nonsurgical treatment for chronic low back pain in the Swedish lumbar spine study : A multicenter, randomized, controlled trial from the Swedish Lumbar Spine Study Group
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Spine. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0362-2436 .- 1528-1159. ; 29:4, s. 421-434
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Study Design. A cost-effectiveness study was performed from the societal and health care perspectives. Objective. To evaluate the costs-effectiveness of lumbar fusion for chronic low back pain (CLBP) during a 2-year follow-up. Summary of Background Data. A full economic evaluation comparing costs related to treatment effects in patients with CLBP is lacking. Patients and Methods. A total of 284 of 294 patients with CLBP for at least 2 years were randomized to either lumbar fusion or a nonsurgical control group. Costs for the health care sector ( direct costs), and costs associated with production losses ( indirect costs) were calculated. Societal total costs were identified as the sum of direct and indirect costs. Treatment effects were measured using patient global assessment of improvement, back pain ( VAS), functional disability (Owestry), and return to work. Results. The societal total cost per patient ( standard deviations) in the surgical group was significantly higher than in the nonsurgical group: Swedish kroner (SEK) 704,000 ( 254,000) vs. SEK 636,000 ( 208,000). The cost per patient for the health care sector was significantly higher for the surgical group, SEK 123,000 ( 60,100) vs. 65,200 ( 38,400) for the control group. All treatment effects were significantly better after surgery. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio ( ICER), illustrating the extra cost per extra effect unit gained by using fusion instead of nonsurgical treatment, were for improvement: SEK 2,600 ( 600 - 5,900), for back pain: SEK 5,200 ( 1,100 - 11,500), for Oswestry: SEK 11,300 ( 1,200 - 48,000), and for return to work: SEK 4,100 ( 100 21,400). Conclusion. For both the society and the health care sectors, the 2-year costs for lumbar fusion was significantly higher compared with nonsurgical treatment but all treatment effects were significantly in favor of surgery. The probability of lumbar fusion being cost-effective increased with the value put on extra effect units gained by using surgery.
|
|
| 3. |
- Granhag, Pär-Anders, 1964, et al.
(författare)
-
Partners in Crime: How Liars in Collusion Betray Themselves
- 2003
-
Ingår i: Journal of Applied Social Psychology. - : Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.. - 0021-9029 .- 1559-1816. ; 33:4, s. 848-868
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paradigmatic task for participants in studies on deception is to assess veracity on the basis of a single statement. However, in applied contexts, lie catchers are often faced with multiple statements (reported by one or several suspects). To appreciate this mismatch, we conducted a study where each member of 10 truth-telling pairs and 10 lying pairs (reporting fabricated alibis) was interrogated twice about an alibi. As predicted, lying pair members were more consistent between themselves than were truth-telling pair members, and single liars and truth tellers were equally consistent over time. Furthermore, truth tellers made more commissions than did liars. Although in line with our repeat vs. reconstruct hypothesis, these findings contrast sharply with beliefs held by professional lie catchers and recommendations found in literature on deception detection. The results are translated into an applied psycholegal context.
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
- Granhag, Pär-Anders, 1964, et al.
(författare)
-
The Cognitive Interview and its effect on witnesses' confidence
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Psychology, Crime & Law. - : Informa UK Limited. ; 10:1, s. 37-52
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Today there is ample evidence that the Cognitive Interview (CI) enhances witnesses' memory. However, less is known about how the CI affects eyewitnesses' confidence. To address this shortcoming we conducted a study analyzing how realism in confidence was affected by the CI. All participants were first shown a filmed kidnapping. After 2 weeks we interviewed one-third of the participants according to the guidelines of the CI, one-third according to a Standard Interview (SI), and one-third were not interviewed at all (Control condition). Participants in all three conditions were then asked to answer 45 forced-choice questions, and to give a confidence judgment after each choice. For the questions, no differences in accuracy were found between the three conditions. Confidence was higher in the CI and SI conditions, compared with the Control condition. CI and SI did not differ in meta-cognitive realism but both showed lower realism compared with the Control condition, although only CI significantly so. The results indicate that the inflation in confidence is more likely to be explained in terms of a reiteration effect, than as a consequence of the particular mnemonics characterizing the CI (e.g. "mental reinstatement of context"). In sum, CI does not seem to impair (or improve) the realism in witnesses' confidence, and does not inflate confidence in erroneous recall, compared to a SI.
|
|
| 6. |
- Johannsson, Gudmundur, 1960, et al.
(författare)
-
Low dose dehydroepiandrosterone affects behavior in hypopituitary androgen-deficient women: a placebo-controlled trial.
- 2002
-
Ingår i: The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism. - : The Endocrine Society. - 0021-972X .- 1945-7197. ; 87:5, s. 2046-52
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thirty-eight women, aged 25-65 yr, with androgen deficiency due to hypopituitarism were treated with oral dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA; 30 mg/d if <45 yr of age and 20 mg if > or =45 yr of age) for 6 months in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind study, followed by a 6-month open treatment period. The administration of DHEA raised the serum levels of DHEAS to normal age-related reference ranges and increased androstenedione and T to subnormal levels. Androgen effects on skin and/or pubic and/or axillary hair were observed in 84% (32 of 38) of the women after all received 6 months of DHEA treatment. No such effects were observed after the placebo treatment. These effects after 6 months were correlated with the serum levels of DHEAS (r = 0.37; P = 0.03), androstenedione (r = 0.42; P = 0.01), and T (r = 0.37; P = 0.03). The percentages of partners who reported improved alertness, stamina, and initiative by their spouses were 70%, 64%, and 55%, respectively, in the DHEA group and 11%, 6%, and 11%, respectively, in the placebo group (P < 0.05). According to the partners, sexual relations tended to improve compared with placebo (P = 0.06). After 6 months of treatment, increased sexual interest or activity was reported by 50% of the women taking 30 mg DHEA, by none taking 20 mg DHEA, and by two women taking placebo (P = NS). Compared with levels after placebo administration, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-1 levels decreased after DHEA. Serum concentrations of IGF-I, serum markers of bone metabolism, and bone density did not change. In conclusion, oral administration of a low dose of DHEA to adult hypopituitary women induced androgen effects on skin and axillary and pubic hair as well as changes in behavior, with only minor effects on metabolism.
|
|
| 7. |
- Johansson, Helena, 1981, et al.
(författare)
-
Optimization of BMD measurements to identify high risk groups for treatment--a test analysis.
- 2004
-
Ingår i: Journal of bone and mineral research. - : Wiley. - 0884-0431 .- 1523-4681. ; 19:6, s. 906-13
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to develop a methodology to optimize the role of BMD measurements in a case finding strategy. We studied 2113 women > or = 75 years of age randomly selected from Sheffield, UK, and adjacent regions. Baseline assessment included hip BMD and clinical risk factors. Outcomes included death and fracture in women followed for 6723 person-years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Poisson models were used to identify significant risk factors for all fractures and for death with and without BMD and the hazard functions were used to compute fracture probabilities. Women were categorized by fracture probability with and without a BMD assessment. A 10-year fracture probability threshold of 35% was taken as an intervention threshold. Discordance in categorization of risk (i.e., above or below the threshold probability) between assessment with and without BMD was examined by logistic regression as probabilities of re-classification. Age, prior fracture, use of corticosteroids, and low body mass index were identified as significant clinical risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 16.8% of women were classified as high risk based on these clinical risk factors. The average BMD in these patients was approximately 1 SD lower than in low-risk women; 21.5% of women were designated to be at high risk with the addition of BMD. Fifteen percent of all women were reclassified after adding BMD to clinical risk factors, most of whom lay near the intervention threshold. When a high probability of reclassification was accepted (without a BMD test) for high risk to low risk (p1< or = 0.8) and a low probability accepted for low to high risk (P2 < or = 0.2), BMD tests would be required in only 21% of the population. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the use of clinical risk factors can identify elderly women at high fracture risk and that such patients have a low average BMD. BMD testing is required, however, in a minority of women--a fraction that depends on the probabilities accepted for classification and the thresholds of risk chosen. These findings need to be validated in other cohorts at different ages and from different regions of the world.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Jonsson, Olof, 1941, et al.
(författare)
-
Enhanced post-ischaemic recovery in rabbit kidney after pretreatment with an indeno-indole compound and ascorbate monitored in vivo by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
- 2003
-
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology. - 0036-5599. ; 37:6, s. 450-455
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To investigate whether combined pretreatment with lipid- and water-soluble antioxidants gave better restoration of energy phosphates after ischaemia–reperfusion of rabbit kidneys than single pretreatment with a lipid-soluble antioxidant. Material and Methods: Thirteen New Zealand white rabbits were used for the study. Changes in energy phosphates were measured in vivo using volume-selective 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The indeno–indole compound H290/51 was chosen as a lipid-soluble antioxidant and ascorbate as a water-soluble antioxidant. Results: The combined pretreatment led to significantly better restoration of the β-adenosine triphosphate:inorganic phosphate ratio after 60 min of ischaemia and 120 min of reperfusion compared with the single pretreatment. Analyses of blood pressure and blood gas changes showed that the beneficial effect of combined pretreatment was not caused by a better general condition of the animals in that group but by a direct effect on the kidneys. Conclusions: Combined pretreatment with lipid- and water-soluble antioxidants leads to better restoration of energy phosphates in rabbit kidneys subjected to ischaemia–reperfusion compared with single pretreatment with a lipid-soluble antioxidant.
|
|
| 10. |
- Linnér, E, et al.
(författare)
-
The exfoliation syndrome in cognitive impairment of cerebrovascular or Alzheimer's type.
- 2001
-
Ingår i: Acta ophthalmologica Scandinavica. - 1395-3907. ; 79:3, s. 283-5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The prevalence of exfoliation syndrome was studied in 39 patients suffering from dementia and cognitive impairment; a positive finding of exfoliation was detected in 11/39 of these patients. A comparison with an age-matched population survey showed that the prevalence of ocular exfoliation and the relative risk were significantly elevated. These results suggested that lesions related to the exfoliative process might be located also in the brain of patients suffering from dementia and cognitive impairment.
|
|
