| 1. |
- Hedman, Linnea, et al.
(författare)
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Receiving support to quit smoking and quit attempts among smokers with and without smoking related diseases : Findings from the EUREST-PLUS ITC Europe Surveys
- 2018
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Ingår i: Tobacco Induced Diseases. - Heraklion : European Publishing. - 1617-9625. ; 16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION Having a chronic disease either caused or worsened by tobacco smoking does not always translate into quitting smoking. Although smoking cessation is one of the most cost-effective medical interventions, it remains poorly implemented in healthcare settings. The aim was to examine whether smokers with chronic and respiratory diseases were more likely to receive support to quit smoking by a healthcare provider or make a quit attempt than smokers without these diseases.METHODS This population-based study included a sample of 6011 adult smokers in six European countries. The participants were interviewed face-to-face and asked questions on sociodemographic characteristics, current diagnoses for chronic diseases, healthcare visits in the last 12 months and, if so, whether they had received any support to quit smoking. Questions on smoking behavior included nicotine dependence, motivation to quit smoking and quit attempts in the last 12 months. The results are presented as weighted percentages with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and as adjusted odds ratios with 95% CI based on logistic regression analyses.RESULTS Smokers with chronic respiratory disease, those aged 55 years and older, as well as those with one or more chronic diseases were more likely to receive smoking cessation advice from a healthcare professional. Making a quit attempt in the last year was related to younger age, high educational level, higher motivation to quit, lower nicotine dependence and having received advice to quit from a healthcare professional but not with having chronic diseases. There were significant differences between countries with smokers in Romania consistently reporting more support to quit as well as quit attempts.CONCLUSIONS Although smokers with respiratory disease did indeed receive smoking cessation support more often than smokers without disease, many smokers did not receive any advice or support to quit during a healthcare visit.
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| 2. |
- Ahlström, Christer, et al.
(författare)
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Dangerous use of mobile phones and other communication devices while driving : A toolbox of counter-measures
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference Road Safety on Four Continents. - Linköping : Statens väg- och transportforskningsinstitut.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The use of mobile phone and similar devices while driving has been a topic of discussion and research for several years. It is now an established fact that driving performance is deteriorated due to distraction but no clear conclusions can yet be drawn concerning influence on crash rates. Better studies on this relationship is needed. Most countries in Europe and many countries elsewhere have introduced different types of bans for handheld devices. Sweden has, however, no such bans. VTI was commissioned by the Swedish Government to outline possible means to reduce the dangerous usage of mobile phones and other communication devices while driving as alternatives to banning. This task was a result of a previous VTI-state-of-the-art review of research on mobile phone and other communication device usage while driving. One of the findings in the review was that bans on handheld phones did not appear to reduce the number of crashes.Eighteen different countermeasures in three main areas were suggested. (1) Technical solutions such as countermeasures directed towards the infrastructure, the vehicle and the communication device. (2) Education and information, describing different ways to increase knowledge and understanding among stakeholders and different driver categories. (3) Different possibilities for how society, industry and organisations can influence the behaviour of individuals, via policies, rules, recommendations and incentives. Our conclusion is that a combination of different countermeasures is needed – where education and information to the drivers are combined with support and incentives for a safe usage of different communication devices.
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| 3. |
- Aldenbratt, Annika, et al.
(författare)
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Estimation of kidney function in patients with primary neuromuscular diseases : is serum cystatin C a better marker of kidney function than creatinine?
- 2021
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Ingår i: JN. Journal of Nephrology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1121-8428 .- 1724-6059. ; 35:2, s. 493-503
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Using serum creatinine leads to an overestimation of kidney function in patients with primary neuromuscular disorders, and reduced kidney function may remain undetected. Cystatin C (CysC) could provide a better estimation.AIM: To evaluate the precision, accuracy, and bias of two creatinine-, one cystatin C-based and one combined equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in patients with primary neuromuscular disease.PATIENTS AND METHODS: Of the 418 patients initially identified at the out-patient clinic, data on kidney function was obtained for 145 adult patients (age 46 ± 14 years, BMI 26 ± 6 kg/m2) with primary neuromuscular disease. Kidney function was measured by iohexol clearance, and blood samples for serum creatinine and CysC were drawn simultaneously. Bias was defined as the mean difference between eGFR and measured iohexol clearance, and accuracy as the proportion of eGFRs within ± 10% (P10) of measured clearance.RESULTS: Kidney function (iohexol clearance) was 81 ± 19 (38-134) ml/min/1.73m2. All equations overestimated kidney function by 22-60 ml/min/1.73m2. eGFR CysC had the lowest bias overall 22 (95% CI 20-26) ml/min/1.73m2 also at all levels of kidney function we evaluated (at 30-59 ml/min/1.73m2 bias was 27 (95% CI 21-35), at 60-89 it was 25 (95% CI 20-28) and at ≥ 90 it was 12 (95% CI 7-22)). eGFR CysC also had the best accuracy in patients with reduced kidney function (P10 was 5.9% at 30-59 ml/min/1.73m2).CONCLUSIONS: Cystatin C-based estimations of kidney function performed better than creatinine-based ones in patients with primary neuromuscular disease, but most importantly, all evaluated equations overestimated kidney function, especially in patients with reduced kidney function. Therefore, kidney function should be measured by gold-standard methods when precision and accuracy are needed.
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| 4. |
- Aldenbratt, Annika, et al.
(författare)
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Reduced renal function in patients with Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 and the association to CTG expansion and other potential risk factors for chronic kidney disease
- 2017
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Ingår i: Neuromuscular Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-8966 .- 1873-2364. ; 27:11, s. 1038-1042
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) affects several organs. Disease severity and age at onset are correlated to the CTG repeat expansion. The aim of this study was to assess renal function and the association to numbers of CTG repeat expansion in patients with DM1. Ninety-eight patients with DM1 were included. Glomerular filtration rate (measured GFR) was measured using iohexol clearance. Data on CTG repeats were available in 83/98 (85%) patients. The overall mGFR was 74 (16) ml/min/1.73 m(2) (range 38-134). Sixty-four patients (69%) had a mild and sixteen patients (17%) a moderate decrease in renal function (mGFR 60-89 and 30-59 ml/min/1.73 m(2), respectively). No correlations were found between CTG repeats and mGFR (r = 0.10, p = 0.4) or between CTG repeats and serum cystatin C (r = 0.12, p = 0.29). CTG repeats was positively correlated to creatinine-based estimates of GFR (eGFR) (modified diet in renal disease r = 0.49, p < 0.001, CKD-EPI creatinine equation; r = 0.50, p < 0.001), but analyses using Structural Equation Modeling showed no correlation. The correlation was explained by an indirect effect via serum creatinine and skeletal muscle mass index. In conclusion, patients with DM1 seem to have a slight decrease in renal function but there is no association between renal function and the number of CTG repeats, a marker of disease severity.
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| 5. |
- Arkblad, Eva L, et al.
(författare)
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Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification improves diagnostics in spinal muscular atrophy
- 2006
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Ingår i: Neuromuscular disorders : NMD. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-8966 .- 1873-2364. ; 16:12, s. 830-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease caused by decreased levels of survival motor neuron protein (SMN). In the majority of cases, this decrease is due to absence of the SMN1 gene. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) is a modern quantitative molecular method. Applied in SMA cases, it improves diagnostics by simultaneously identifying the number of copies of several target sequences in the SMN1 gene and in nearby genes. Using MLPA in clinical diagnostics, we have identified a previously unreported, partial deletion of SMN1 (exons 1-6) in two apparently unrelated Swedish families. This mutation would not have been detected by conventional diagnostic methods. This paper illustrates the broad clinical and genetic spectrum of SMA and includes reports of MLPA results and clinical descriptions of a patient with homozygous absence of SMN1 and only one SMN2 (prenatal onset SMA type 1), an asymptomatic woman with five SMN2 (lacking SMN1) and representative patients with SMA types 1, 2 and 3.
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| 6. |
- Berg, Elisabeth Gräslund, et al.
(författare)
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Praktiker som gör skillnad : Om den verb-inriktade metoden
- 2013
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Ingår i: Historisk Tidskrift. - 0345-469X .- 2002-4827. ; 133:3, s. 335-354
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article discusses the so-called verb-oriented method and its role in the research project Gender and Work in early modern Sweden (GaW), which is based at Uppsala University. It provides a presentation of the GaW-database, which has been designed to allow analysis according to the verb-method. Finally, the article points out that this method can be combined with a number of different theoretical approaches as long as the focus is on practices. It is therefore compatible with the approaches of e.g., Judith Butler, Michel de Certeau, and Amartya Sen. Work is defined as "time-use with the purpose of making a living" and the article discusses why data on time-use, or actual work activities, are better suited for research into early modern Swedish working life than other types of data. It shows that activities are usually described in the sources by verb-phrases, and explains how and from what sources verb-phrases are collected and analyzed within the project. In order to allow for generalizations the verb-method presupposes large amounts of data. This is the rationale for the GaW-database, which at present includes around 5000 verb-phrases and 75000 data posts.
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| 7. |
- Björkman, Kristoffer, et al.
(författare)
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Phenotypic spectrum and clinical course of single large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletion disease in the paediatric population: a multicentre study.
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Medical Genetics. - : BMJ. - 0022-2593 .- 1468-6244. ; 60:1, s. 65-73
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletions (LMD) are a common genetic cause of mitochondrial disease and give rise to a wide range of clinical features. Lack of longitudinal data means the natural history remains unclear. This study was undertaken to describe the clinical spectrum in a large cohort of patients with paediatric disease onset. Methods A retrospective multicentre study was performed in patients with clinical onset <16 years of age, diagnosed and followed in seven European mitochondrial disease centres. Results A total of 80 patients were included. The average age at disease onset and at last examination was 10 and 31 years, respectively. The median time from disease onset to death was 11.5 years. Pearson syndrome was present in 21%, Kearns-Sayre syndrome spectrum disorder in 50% and progressive external ophthalmoplegia in 29% of patients. Haematological abnormalities were the hallmark of the disease in preschool children, while the most common presentations in older patients were ptosis and external ophthalmoplegia. Skeletal muscle involvement was found in 65% and exercise intolerance in 25% of the patients. Central nervous system involvement was frequent, with variable presence of ataxia (40%), cognitive involvement (36%) and stroke-like episodes (9%). Other common features were pigmentary retinopathy (46%), short stature (42%), hearing impairment (39%), cardiac disease (39%), diabetes mellitus (25%) and renal disease (19%). Conclusion Our study provides new insights into the phenotypic spectrum of childhood-onset, LMD-associated syndromes. We found a wider spectrum of more prevalent multisystem involvement compared with previous studies, most likely related to a longer time of follow-up.
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| 8. |
- Cahlin, Birgitta Johansson, 1959, et al.
(författare)
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Cerebral palsy and bruxism: Effects of botulinum toxin injections—A randomized controlled trial
- 2019
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Ingår i: Clinical and Experimental Dental Research. - : Wiley. - 2057-4347. ; 5:5, s. 460-468
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Cerebral palsy (CP) includes disturbances in muscular control caused by perinatal brain injury. Masticatory muscle involvement hampers functions such as chewing and talking. Bruxism and temporomandibular disorders are overrepresented. Neuromuscular blocks with botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) may alleviate problems due to muscular hyperactivity. The aim was to evaluate masticatory muscle BTX-A injections in subjects with CP and bruxism. Methods: A prospective, parallel, randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind trial in 12 patients with CP was performed. End points were alterations in objective and subjective oral capacities after two BTX-A or corresponding placebo injections. Matched, healthy references were also evaluated. Results: The reference group demonstrated stronger and more efficient oral functions compared with the CP group. Subjective and objective oral capacities appeared to vary considerably between CP patients and also over time in this patient group and were poorly correlated. No significant effect of BTX-A compared with placebo on outcome variables was observed at group level, but continued treatment with BTX-A was requested by the majority of the patients. Conclusion: The evidence is unable to support the use of BTX-A for the treatment of affected masticatory muscles in CP, but the findings are inconclusive in certain respects. Larger, more homogeneous groups of CP patients need to be evaluated in future trials. ©2019 The Authors. Clinical and Experimental Dental Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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| 9. |
- Cinque, Elena, et al.
(författare)
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Toward a Standard-Compliant Implementation for Consensus Algorithms in Vehicular Networks
- 2018
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Ingår i: IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference. - 1550-2252. ; 2018-August
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS) applications require a continuous exchange of information between road users and roadside infrastructures. In this regard, distributed consensus algorithms can play an essential role in the definition of the information exchange rules between an ITS station and its neighbors. Although the consensus approach for networked systems is well-established, the efficiency of consensus methods under real-world vehicular communication constraints is largely unknown. This paper provides an ITS standard-compliant framework for analysis of consensus algorithms in vehicular networks with an emphasis on the role of robustness to changes in network topology in highly dynamic and dense environments. Our simulations reveal that in regular traffic conditions, the implemented consensus algorithm is able to achieve good performances in terms of both convergence time and needed consensus iterations. However, numerical results demonstrate that under dense and high-mobility traffic conditions the frequent exchange of large amounts of range information increases the Channel Busy Ratio (CBR) of the vehicular network and reduces the effectiveness of the algorithm as well.
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| 10. |
- Dahlbom, Kathe, et al.
(författare)
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Association between muscle strength, histopathology, and magnetic resonance imaging in sporadic inclusion body myositis
- 2019
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Ingår i: Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. - : Hindawi Limited. - 0001-6314. ; 139:2, s. 177-182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: Inclusion body myositis is characterized by inflammatory and degenerative changes, but the temporal relation of these events is unknown. Materials and Methods: In nineteen patients with inclusion body myositis, muscle strength was correlated with inflammatory and degenerative findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and in muscle biopsies in three different muscles (tibialis anterior, vastus lateralis, and biceps brachii). Muscle strength, measured with a handheld dynamometer, was described as percentage of muscle strength in age- and sex-matched normal individuals. The muscles were categorized as the strongest, the intermediate, and the weakest muscle in each individual. T1-weighted sequences on MRI were used to evaluate the degree of fatty infiltration and muscle atrophy and STIR sequences to evaluate edematous changes. Results: The vastus lateralis, which in general was the weakest muscle, was significantly more atrophic compared to the other two muscles and also demonstrated most edema. The biceps brachii had in most cases an intermediate degree of weakness and atrophy but the most pronounced inflammatory cell infiltration on biopsy. Cytochrome c oxidase-negative muscle fibers were significantly more prevalent in the vastus lateralis and biceps brachii muscles than in the tibialis anterior and thus correlated with muscular atrophy, indicating that this is a secondary change. Inflammatory changes as assessed by MRI and muscle biopsy were seen in all muscles irrespective of atrophy and thus appear to be prevalent at all stages of the disease. Conclusions: Our study could not provide an answer to the question which comes first, the inflammation or the degenerative changes.
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