| 21. |
- Edberg, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
-
A comparative study of three different PCR assays for detection of Mycoplasma genitalium in urogenital specimens from men and women
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Medical Microbiology. - : Microbiology Society. - 0022-2615 .- 1473-5644. ; 57:Pt 3, s. 304-309
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to compare conventional 16S rRNA gene PCR, real-time 16S rRNA gene PCR and real-time Mycoplasma genitalium adhesin protein (MgPa) gene PCR as detection methods for M. genitalium infection. The study also determined the prevalence of M. genitalium in male and female patients attending a sexually transmitted infections clinic in a rural area in the west of Sweden. First void urine (FVU) and/or urethral swabs were collected from 381 men, and FVU and/or cervical swabs and/or urethral swabs were collected from 298 women. A total of 213 specimens were used in the PCR comparative study: 98 consecutively sampled specimens from patients enrolled in the prevalence study, 36 consecutively sampled specimens from patients with symptoms of urethritis and 79 specimens from patients positive for M. genitalium by real-time MgPa gene PCR in the prevalence study. A true-positive M. genitalium DNA specimen was defined as either a specimen positive in any two PCR assays or a specimen whose PCR product was verified by DNA sequencing. The prevalence of M. genitalium infection in men and women was 27/381 (7.1 %) and 23/298 (7.7 %), respectively. In the PCR comparative study, M. genitalium DNA was detected in 61/76 (80.3 %) of true-positive specimens by conventional 16S rRNA gene PCR, in 52/76 (68.4 %) by real-time 16S rRNA gene PCR and in 74/76 (97.4 %) by real-time MgPa gene PCR. Real-time MgPa gene PCR thus had higher sensitivity compared with conventional 16S rRNA gene PCR and had considerably increased sensitivity compared with real-time 16S rRNA gene PCR for detection of M. genitalium DNA. Real-time MgPa gene PCR is well suited for the clinical diagnosis of M. genitalium.
|
|
| 22. |
- Ekengren, Jens, 1976-
(författare)
-
Estimating inclusion content in high performance steels
- 2008
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Non-metallic inclusions in steel pose a major problem for the fatigue resistance, especially regarding fatigue at very long lives corresponding to low cyclic stress levels, as well as being detrimental to material toughness and polishability.The largest inclusions are quite rare, which makes conventional detection methods timeconsuming if reliable results are to be obtained. Based on surface scanning using light or electron microscopes, these methods provide results that have to be converted to reflect the statistical volume distribution of inclusions.Very high cycle fatigue (in the order of 109 cycles or more) using ultrasonic fatigue at 20 kHz has been found efficient at finding the largest inclusions in volumes of about 300 mm3 per specimen. The inclusions found at the fatigue initiation site can then been used to estimate the distribution of large inclusions using extreme value statistics.In this work, a new method for estimating the volume distribution of large inclusions is presented as well as a suggested ranking variable based on the volume distribution.Results from fatigue fractography and area scanning methods are compared to the endurance limit at 109 cycles for a number of batches from two high performance steels.In addition, the extreme value distributions of fatigue initiating inclusions in six high performace steels, produced by different routes, are presented. It is shown that all modes of the Generalized Extreme Values distribution can be found in different materials. This result shows that the assumption of mode I distribution, also known as Gumbel or Largest Extreme Value distribution, must be substantiated.
|
|
| 23. |
- Eriksson, Lars, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
-
Visual flow scene effects on the somatogravic illusion in non-pilots
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine. - 0095-6562 .- 1943-4448. ; 79:9, s. 860-866
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: The somatogravic illusion (SGI) is easily broken when the pilot looks out the aircraft window during daylight flight, but it has proven difficult to break or even reduce the SGI in non-pilots in simulators using synthetic visual scenes. Could visual-flow scenes that accommodate compensatory head movement reduce the SGI in naive subjects? Methods: We investigated the effects of visual cues on the SGI induced by a human centrifuge. The subject was equipped with a head-tracked, head-mounted display (HMD) and was seated in a fixed gondola facing the center of rotation. The angular velocity of the centrifuge increased from near zero until a 0.57-G centripetal acceleration was attained, resulting in a tilt of the gravitoinertial force vector, corresponding to a pitch-up of 30 degrees. The subject indicated perceived horizontal continuously by means of a manual adjustable-plate system. We performed two experiments with within-subjects designs. In Experiment 1, the subjects (N = 13) viewed a darkened TIMID and a presentation of simple visual flow beneath a horizon. In Experiment 2, the subjects (N = 12) viewed a darkened HMD, a scene including symbology superimposed on simple visual flow and horizon, and this scene without visual flow (static). Results: In Experiment 1, visual flow reduced the SGI from 12.4 +/- 1.4 degrees (mean +/- SE) to 8.7 +/- 1.5 degrees. In Experiment 2, the SGI was smaller in the visual flow condition (9.3 +/- 1.8 degrees) than with the static scene (13.3 +/- 1.7 degrees) and without HMD presentation (14.5 +/- 2.3 degrees), respectively. Conclusion: It is possible to reduce the SGI in non-pilots by means of a synthetic horizon and simple visual flow conveyed by a head-tracked HMD. This may reflect the power of a more intuitive display for reducing the SGI.
|
|
| 24. |
|
|
| 25. |
- Gudmundson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
-
On the Reconstruction of Gapped Sinusoidal Data
- 2008
-
Ingår i: 2008 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ACOUSTICS, SPEECH AND SIGNAL PROCESSING. - Piscataway, NJ : IEEE. - 9781424414833 ; , s. 3513-3516
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The problem of estimating a spectral representation of damped sinusoidal signals from a gapped data set is of considerable interest in several applications. In this paper, we propose a filterbank approach to provide such an estimate, by first reconstructing the missing data samples assuming that the spectral content of the missing data is similar to that of the available samples, and then forming a spectral representation of the reconstruced data set as a function of frequency and damping. Numerical examples illustrate the benefits of the proposed estimator as compared to currently available methods.
|
|
| 26. |
- Hedlund, Erik, et al.
(författare)
-
Swedish-Irish cooperation in Liberia
- 2008. - 1
-
Ingår i: Military cooperation in multinational peace operations.. - Milton Park, Oxforshire : Routledge. - 9780415445894 - 9780415570138 ; , s. 153-165
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 27. |
- Henricson, Maria, 1972-
(författare)
-
Tactile touch in intensive care : Nurses' preparation, patients' experiences and the effect on stress parameters
- 2008
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to acquire knowledge about whether tactile touch as a complementary method can (i) promote comfort and (ii) reduce stress reactions during care in an intensive care unit (ICU) Method: In Paper I, five nurses with a touch therapist training were interviewed about their experiences of preparation before giving tactile touch in an ICU. To analyse the meaning of preparation as a phenomenon, Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological approach was used. In Paper II and III a randomised controlled trial was set up to investigate the effects of a five-day tactile touch intervention on patients’ oxytocin levels in arterial blood (II), on patients’ blood pressure, heart rate and blood glucose level, and on patients’ levels of anxiety, sedation and alertness (III). Forty-four patients were randomised to either an intervention group (n = 21) or a control group (n = 23). Data were analysed with non-parametric statistics. In Paper IV, six patients who had received the tactile touch intervention were interviewed to illuminate the experience of receiving tactile touch during intensive care. To gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and to illuminate the meaning, Ricoeur’s phenomenological hermeneutical method, developed by Lindseth and Norberg, was used. Findings: The nurses need four constituents (inner balance, unconditional respect for the patients’ integrity, a relationship with the patient characterized by reciprocal trust and a supportive environment) to be prepared and go through the transition from nurse to touch therapist (I). In the intervention study, no significant differences were shown for oxytocin levels between intervention and control group over time or within each day (II). There were significantly lower levels of anxiety for patients in the intervention group. There were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups for blood pressure, heart rate, the use of drugs, levels of sedation or blood glucose levels (III). The significance of receiving tactile touch during intensive care was described as the creation of an imagined room along with the touch therapist. In this imagined room, the patients enjoyed tactile touch and gained hope for the future (IV). Conclusion: Nurses needed internal and external balance to be prepared for providing tactile touch. Patients did not notice the surroundings as much as the nurses did. Patients enjoyed the tactile touch and experienced comfort. The impact on stress parameters were limited, except for levels of anxiety which declined significantly. The results gave some evidence for the benefit of tactile touch given to patients in intensive care.
|
|
| 28. |
- Henricson, Maria, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
-
The outcome of tactile touch on oxytocin in intensive care patients : a randomized controlled trial
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Nursing. - : Wiley. - 0962-1067 .- 1365-2702. ; 17:19, s. 2624-2633
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim. To explore the effects of five-day tactile touch intervention on oxytocin in intensive care patients. The hypotheses were that tactile touch increases the levels of oxytocin after intervention and over a six-day period. Background. Research on both humans and animals shows a correlation between touch and increased levels of oxytocin which inspired us to measure the levels of oxytocin in arterial blood to obtain information about the physiological effect of tactile touch. Design. Randomised controlled trial. Method. Forty-four patients from two general intensive care units, were randomly assigned to either tactile touch ( n = 21) or standard treatment – an hour of rest ( n = 23). Arterial blood was drawn for measurement of oxytocin, before and after both treatments. Results. No significant mean changes in oxytocin levels were found from day 1 to day 6 in the intervention group (mean −3·0 pM, SD 16·8). In the control group, there was a significant ( p = 0·01) decrease in oxytocin levels from day 1 to day 6, mean 26·4 pM (SD 74·1). There were no significant differences in changes between day 1 and day 6 when comparing the intervention group and control group, mean 23·4 pM (95% CI −20·2–67·0). Conclusion. Our hypothesis that tactile touch increases the levels of oxytocin in patients at intensive care units was not confirmed. An interesting observation was the decrease levels of oxytocin over the six-day period in the control group, which was not observed in the intervention group. Relevance to clinical practice. Tactile touch seemed to reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. Further and larger studies are needed in intensive care units to confirm/evaluate tactile touch as a complementary caring act for critically ill patients.
|
|
| 29. |
- Hussain, Shakir, et al.
(författare)
-
Performance Evaluation Based on the Robust Mahalanobis Distance and Multilevel Modelling Using Two New Strategies
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Communications in statistics. Simulation and computation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0361-0918 .- 1532-4141. ; 37:10, s. 1966-1980
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we propose a general framework for performance evaluation of organizations and individuals over time using routinely collected performance variables or indicators. Such variables or indicators are often correlated over time, with missing observations, and often come from heavy-tailed distributions shaped by outliers. Two new double robust and model-free strategies are used for evaluation (ranking) of sampling units. Strategy 1 can handle missing data using residual maximum likelihood (RML) at stage two, while strategy two handles missing data at stage one. Strategy 2 has the advantage that overcomes the problem of multicollinearity. Strategy one requires independent indicators for the construction of the distances, where strategy two does not. Two different domain examples are used to illustrate the application of the two strategies. Example one considers performance monitoring of gynecologists and example two considers the performance of industrial firms.
|
|
| 30. |
- Jacobsson, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
-
En expertorganisation ändrar uppfattning: Om OECDs omsvängning i arbetsmarknadspolitiken
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv. - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet. - 1400-9692 .- 2002-343X. ; 14:3, s. 31-43
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- I 30 år har OECD trummat ut sitt budskap om behovet av strukturreformer på arbetsmarknaden. Receptet har varit likartat oavsett patient och ofta tycks förskrivningen ha skett enligt devisen ”ju beskare medicin, desto trovärdigare behandling”. Många blev därför förvånade när OECD, efter en ambitiös översyn av sin jobbstrategi, år 2006 gav upp tanken om en enda gyllene reformväg. Artikeln pekar på viktiga förändringar i den reviderade jobbstrategin och analyserar vilka faktorer som låg bakom OECD:s omsvängning i arbetsmarknadspolitiken.
|
|
