| 1. |
- Hagquist, Curt, 1952-, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring subjective health among adolescents in Sweden : A Rasch-analysis of the HBSC-instrument
- 2004
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Ingår i: Social Indicators Research. - : Kluwer Academic Publishers. - 0303-8300 .- 1573-0921. ; 68:2, s. 201-220
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The cross-national WHO-study Health Behaviourin School-Aged Children (HBSC) is acomprehensive adolescent survey ongoing inEurope based on a public health perspective.The present study, examining theHBSC-instrument on subjective health, uses theunidimensional Rasch model. Items are analysedwith respect to their operating characteristicsacross the whole range of the subjective healthscale and the empirical operation of theresponse categories intended to be ordered forall items. The study is based oncross-sectional data collected in Sweden duringthe 1980s and 1990s among students in yearsfive, seven and nine.The analyses reveal that the symptom checklistin the HBSC-instrument does not workconsistently with the Rasch model when alleight items are analysed simultaneously. Inparticular, the response categories do not workas intended. Hence, the original set of eightitems should not be used to construct a latentmeasure of subjective health. In order tobring the instrument to meet the requirementsof the Rasch model, three items were removed. The reduced set of five items did workconsistently with the model with respect to theresponse categories, and did show relativeinvariance across the latent trait. Since a fewof the remaining items showed lack ofinvariance across genders and grades thatproblem should be solved, if the reduced itemset is to be used for post-hoc analyses.Furthermore, the analysis of the reduced set ofitems suggests that both ``somatic'' and``psychological'' complaints might be consideredas parts of one higher order dimension ofsubjective health.In order to improve the questionnaire, furtherattention should be paid to the response formatof the items.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Lingefjärd, Thomas, 1952
(författare)
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Mathematical modeling for preservice teachers: A problem form anesthesiology
- 2002
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Ingår i: International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning. - 1573-1766. ; 7:2, s. 117-143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study reported in this article deals with the observed actions of prospective Swedish mathematics teachers as they were working with a modeling situation. These prospective teachers were preparing to teach in Grades 4 to 9 or in the gymnasium (Grades 10 to 12) and were students in a course in mathematical modeling. The larger study of which this study was a part focused on these students’ understanding of modeling and how they related mathematical models to the real world. This article also attempts to illustrate how mathematics is intertwined with many other subjects, in this case medicine.
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| 4. |
- Agrup, Måns, et al.
(författare)
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C-erbB-2 overexpression and survival in early onset breast cancer
- 2000
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Ingår i: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. - 0167-6806 .- 1573-7217. ; 63:1, s. 23-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Young breast cancer patients have a decreased survival rate and it has been demonstrated that young age is an independent predictor of adverse prognosis. Overexpression of c-erbB-2 protein (also known as HER-2/neu) has been shown to be a prognostic indicator in breast cancer in general and especially among patients with axillary nodal metastases. The present study was initiated to determine the prognostic significance of c-erbB-2 protein overexpression in early onset breast cancer.A population consisting of 110 young breast cancer patients, ≤ 36-year-old at diagnosis, was analyzed with immunohistochemical staining for c-erbB-2 protein.Thirty patients (27%) were found to overexpress the c-erbB-2 protein. C-erbB-2 positivity was significantly associated with poor survival when all patients were included in the analysis (P = 0.002) and for patients with axillary nodal metastases (P = 0.0007). No such association was found for node-negative patients. Furthermore, the difference in prognosis in relation to c-erbB-2 among node-positive patients was maintained, when these were stratified in groups treated or not treated with adjuvant chemotherapy.The study indicates that overexpression of c-erbB-2 protein is a strong prognostic factor in young breast cancer patients with axillary nodal metastases. Moreover, the adverse prognosis associated with c-erbB-2 overexpression in node-positive patients was observed whether or not the patients had received adjuvant chemotherapy.
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| 5. |
- Engström, Christer, et al.
(författare)
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Bipolar disorder I. Temperament and character
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of Affective Disorders. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0165-0327 .- 1573-2517. ; 82:1, s. 131-134
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The nature of the relationship between personality and bipolar affective disorders is an important but unanswered question. Methods: We have studied personality in bipolar patients by using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). TCI were administered to 100 euthymic bipolar patients and 100 controls from the normal population.Results: Bipolar patients were significantly higher in harm avoidance (HA) and lower in reward dependence (RD), self-directedness (SD), and cooperativeness (CO) than controls. Bipolar patients are more fatigable, less sentimental, more independent, less purposeful, less resourceful, less empathic, less helpful, less pure-hearted, and have less impulse control than controls. Bipolar II patients are more impulsive, more fatigable, less resourceful, and have less impulse control than bipolar I patients.Limitations: Our results are limited to euthymic bipolar patients and cannot be generalized to affective disorders.Conclusions: Even when clinically euthymic on lithium maintenance, bipolar patients continue to have a characteristic cognitive deficit. This is in agreement with cognitive theories about cognitive deficits in depression that are regarded as important vulnerability factors in mood disorders.
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| 6. |
- Fernö, Mårten, et al.
(författare)
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Results of two or five years of adjuvant tamoxifen correlated to steroid receptor and S-phase levels
- 2000
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Ingår i: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. - 1573-7217 .- 0167-6806. ; 59:1, s. 69-76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A Swedish cooperative trial demonstrated that 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen was more beneficial than 2 years of tamoxifen in the treatment of postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor (ER) positive, early stage, invasive breast cancer. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the importance of progesterone receptor (PgR) and ER concentration levels for patients participating in the trial and still distant recurrence free two years after the primary operation. Subgroup analyses revealed that only patients with ER positive and PgR positive breast cancer had improved distant recurrence free survival (DRFS) by prolonged tamoxifen therapy (p = 0.0016). Patients with ER negative and PgR negative as well as ER positive and PgR negative tumors showed no significant effect of prolonged tamoxifen (p = 0.53 and p = 0.80, respectively). The percentage of ER negative and PgR positive breast cancers was too small (2.2%) for any meaningful subgroup analysis. There was a significant positive trend that the concentration level of PgR (high positive vs. low positive vs. negative) decreased the recurrence rate for those with prolonged therapy. No corresponding pattern was found for the ER content. S-phase fraction did not correlate to the recurrence rate of PgR positive breast cancers. Patients recurring during tamoxifen therapy had receptor negative tumors to a greater extent than those recurring after tamoxifen treatment. In conclusion, prolonged tamoxifen therapy for 5 years instead of 2 years was found to be beneficial for patients with ER positive and PgR positive breast cancer, whereas three extra years of tamoxifen had little or no effect for patients with ER positive but PgR negative tumors as well as for steroid receptor negative patients.
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| 7. |
- Lunander, Anders, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Taking the Lab to the Field : Experimental Tests of Alternative Mechanisms to Procure Multiple Contracts
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of Regulatory Economics. - : Springer. - 0922-680X .- 1573-0468. ; 25:1, s. 39-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The first part of the paper reports the results from a sequence of laboratory experiments comparing the bidding behavior for multiple contracts in three different sealed bid auction mechanisms; first-price simultaneous, first-price sequential and first-price combinatorial bidding. The design of the experiment is based on experiences from a public procurement auction of road markings in Sweden. Bidders are asymmetric in their cost functions; some exhibit decreasing average costs of winning more than one contract, whereas other bidders have increasing average cost functions. The combinatorial bidding mechanism is demonstrated to be most efficient. The second part of the paper describes how the lab experiment was followed up by a field test of a combinatorial procurement auction of road markings.
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| 8. |
- Marhold, Charlotta, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of obstacles for chronic pain patients to return to work : Evaluation of a questionnaire
- 2002
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Ingår i: Journal of occupational rehabilitation. - : Springer. - 1053-0487 .- 1573-3688. ; 12:2, s. 65-75
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Obstacles to Return-to-Work Questionnaire (ORQ) was developed and evaluated. A total of 154 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and prolonged work disability participated in the study. Factor analyses reduced the ORQ to 55 items grouped into 9 subscales. The subscales were named "Depression," "Pain intensity," "Difficulties at work return," "Physical workload and harmfulness," "Social support at work," "Worry due to sick leave," "Work satisfaction," "Family situation and support," and "Perceived prognosis of work return." The subscales showed satisfactory reliability. In order to determine predictive validity a discriminant analysis was conducted with sick leave 9 months after assessment as the outcome. This analysis indicated that the scales "Perceived prognosis of work return," "Social support at work," "Physical workload and harmfulness," "Depression," and "Pain intensity" could significantly predict sick leave and correctly classified 79% of the patients. The Multidimensional Pain Inventory and the Disability Rating Index could also significantly predict sick leave in this sample and correctly classified as many patients as the ORQ. However, these questionnaires do not include any work-oriented items and they had a lower specificity than the ORQ. This study suggests that patients' perceptions and beliefs about work and returning to work may be a significant hindrance for actual recovery.
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| 9. |
- Nilsson, Lena, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Monitoring of respiratory rate in postoperative care using a new photoplethysmographic technique
- 2000
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Ingår i: Journal of clinical monitoring and computing. - 1387-1307 .- 1573-2614. ; 16:4, s. 309-315
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective.Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a non-invasive optical technique that measures variations in skin blood volume and perfusion. The PPG signal contains components that are synchronous with respiratory and cardiacrhythms. We undertook this study to evaluate PPG for monitoring patients' respiratory rate in the postoperative care unit, using a new prototype device. We compared it with the established technique, transthoracic impedance (TTI).Methods.PPG signals from 16 patients(ASA classes 1–2, mean age 43 years) who were recovering from general anaesthesia after routine operations were recorded continuously for 60minutes/patient. The respiratory synchronous part of the PPG signal was extracted by using a band pass filter. Detection of breaths in the filtered PPG signals was done both visually and by using an automated algorithm. In both procedures, the detected breaths were compared with the breaths detected in the TTI reference.Results.A total of 10.661 breaths were recorded, and the mean ± SD respiratory rate was 12.3 ± 3.5breaths/minute. When compared with TTI, the rates of false positive and false negative breaths detected by PPG (visual procedure) were 4.6 ±4.5% and 5.8 ± 6.5%, respectively. When using the algorithm for breath detection from PPG, the rates of false positive andfalse negative breaths were 11.1 ± 9.7% and 3.7 ±3.8%, respectively, when compared to TTI. Lower respiratory rates increased the occurrence of false-positive breaths that were detected by the PPG using visual identification (p< 0.05). The same tendency was seen with the automated PPG procedure (p< 0.10).Conclusions.Our results indicate that PPG has the potential to be useful for monitoring respiratory rate in the postoperative period.
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| 10. |
- Sundquist, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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A comparison between flow cytometric assessment of S-phase fraction and Nottingham histologic grade as prognostic instruments in breast cancer
- 2000
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Ingår i: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. - 0167-6806 .- 1573-7217. ; 63:1, s. 11-15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Flow cytometric DNA analysis with assessment of S-phase fraction and DNA ploidy was compared to Nottingham histologic grade. The study population consisted of 654 patients who presented between 1987 and 1996 with primary operable breast cancer and whose tumours had been analysed for S-phase fraction and DNA ploidy at the time of surgery. Grade, tumour size, node status, steroid receptor status, age, S-phase fraction and DNA ploidy were analysed univariately and multi-variately in a Cox proportional hazard analysis. In the univariate analyses all parameters were statistically significantly associated with breast cancer mortality during the follow-up period of 2–11 years. The most powerful predictor of death from breast cancer in the multiple regression analysis was grade. Patients with grade 1 tumours have excellent prognosis. We conclude that tumour grade is a strong prognostic indicator applicable to all breast cancer patients, regardless of size and nodal status, and advocate its general use.
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