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- Stokland, Eira, et al.
(författare)
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Uncomplicated duplex kidney and DMSA scintigraphy in children with urinary tract infection.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Pediatric radiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0301-0449 .- 1432-1998. ; 37:8, s. 826-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Renal duplication is the most common malformation of the urinary tract and is frequently seen among children with urinary tract infection (UTI). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate problems in the interpretation of dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy and to establish the range of relative function in uncomplicated unilateral duplication. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 303 children less than 2 years of age with first time non-obstructive urinary tract infection investigated by both urography and DMSA scintigraphy. At DMSA scintigraphy, renal lesions and/or relative function below 45% was considered abnormal. Urography was used as reference for the diagnosis of duplication. RESULTS: Duplex kidneys were found in 22 of 303 patients (7%). Of the 16 children with unilateral duplication, 10 had bilaterally undamaged kidneys with a range of relative function varying between 51% and 57% in the duplex kidney. In two of the children with unilateral duplication the imaging results were discordant. CONCLUSION: There was risk of underdiagnosis as well as overdiagnosis of renal damage at scintigraphy. Although it is important to be aware of this risk, the rate of misinterpretation was low. A range of 51% to 57% can be used as the limit for normality of the relative function of a unilateral duplex kidney.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Roland
(författare)
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The efficiency of Swedish regional policy
- 2005
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Ingår i: The annals of regional science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0570-1864 .- 1432-0592. ; 39:4, s. 811-832
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, I evaluate the efficiency of Swedish regional policy. I analyze the government's regional policy goals and means as presented in Government Bills 1997/1998:62 and 2001/2002:4. In the light of the literature on where growth occurs as well as the results of the regional policy so far, the realism of the government's goal of "sustainable economic growth in the whole country" could be questioned. Subsidies to companies in problematic regions have uncertain or even negative effects. The government could therefore eliminate these subsidies and replace them with venture capital loans. It could also stop its subsidies to municipal housing companies for shutting down apartments. The positive effects of the government's tax and subsidy system for the municipalities, motivated by its distribution goal, come at the price of negative effects on incentives for a high national rate of growth. The government could replace this system with extended general subsidies. Investments in transportation projects that do not show a net benefit, such as the large Bothnia Railway in northern Sweden should be reconsidered. However, I find significant and systematic evidence that the government's investments in regional colleges, particularly in research, have been successful.
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| 4. |
- Bergqvist, Per-Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Dissolved Organochlorine and PAH Pollution Profiles in Lithuanian and Swedish Surface Waters
- 2007
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Ingår i: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0007-4861 .- 1432-0800. ; 79:2, s. 147-52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent decades, knowledge and concern regarding persistent organic pollutants and the environmental hazards they may pose have increased considerably, leading to international agreements such as the United Nations environment program Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), to minimize further release of POPs into the environment (UNECE Protocol, 1979; UNEP Stockholm convention, 2001; UNECE Convention, 1998). National POP monitoring programs should be designed to identify, characterize and address the release of the POPs listed in the Stockholm convention. However, analyses of grab samples only provide crude snapshots of total concentrations at single points in space and time, which may be highly unrepresentative of average concentrations, and fail to account for differences in the POPs’ bioavailability and various other relevant factors. To obtain a better understanding of the fate and availability of pollutants in the environment it is necessary to obtain data regarding their site-specific and regional exposure levels. Exposure levels expressed in terms of total chemical concentrations do not reflect the actual exposure of organisms, and thus may not accurately reflect the true risks posed. Therefore, environmental monitoring programs would be improved by using reliable, integrative sampling methods that would not only allow time-weighted average concentrations of pollutants in the environment to be determined, but also facilitate assessments of the risks these chemicals pose to the environment.
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- Edvardsson, Berit, et al.
(författare)
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Medical and social prognoses of non-specific building-related symptoms (Sick Building Syndrome) : a follow-up study of patients previously referred to hospital
- 2008
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Ingår i: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health. - : Springer-Verlag New York. - 0340-0131 .- 1432-1246. ; 81:7, s. 805-812
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives The aim of this study was to describe and analysethe medical and social prognoses of patients with nonspeciWcbuilding-related symptoms.Methods A follow-up questionnaire focusing on current medical and social status, care, treatment, other actions taken and personality traits was sent to 239 patients with non-speciWc building-related symptoms assessed during theperiod between1986 and 1998 at University Hospital in Umeå, Sweden. The response rate was 79%.Results Fatigue, irritation of the eyes, and facial erythemawere the most common weekly symptoms reported atfollow-up. As females constituted 92% of the respondents,statistical analyses were restricted to women. The level andseverity of symptoms decreased over time, although nearlyhalf of the patients claimed that symptoms were more or lessunchanged after 7 years or more, despite actions taken.Twenty-Wve percent of the patients were on the sick-list, and20% drew disability pension due to persistent symptoms atfollow-up. The risk of having no work capabilities at followupwas signiWcantly increased if the time from onset to Wrstvisit at the hospital clinic was more than 1 year. This riskwas also signiWcantly higher if the patient at the Wrst visithad Wve or more symptoms. All risk assessments wereadjusted for length of follow-up. Symptoms were oftenaggravated by diVerent situations in everyday life.Conclusions Long-lasting symptoms aggravated by environmentalfactors exist within this group of patients. Theresults support that early and comprehensive measures forrehabilitation are essential for the patients.
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| 6. |
- Scharmer, Göran
(författare)
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Comments on the optimization of high resolution Fabry-Pérot filtergraphs
- 2006
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Ingår i: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 447:3, s. 1111-1120
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we present results of simulations of Fabry-Pérot (FPI) system performance that address two entirely separate aspects. The first concerns the image quality of FPIs used in telecentric optical setups. We show that the image degradation from phase errors found by von der Lühe & Kentischer (2000, A&AS, 146, 499) can largely be compensated by refocusing and that the major cause of image degradation is the pupil apodization discussed by Beckers (1998, A&AS, 120, 191). We also discuss the optimization of FPI systems, considering the effects of cavity errors on the homogeneity of the instrument function (transmission profile) across the FOV when two FPIs are combined in a telecentric reimaging system. Our conclusions from several numerical experiments are that telecentric FPI systems that use two or more FPIs with high (94-95%) reflectivities are likely to show large variations in the instrument profile across the FOV unless the cavity errors are significantly smaller than 2.0 nm. We show, that such homogeneity can be obtained at relatively low "cost" in terms of increased parasitic light levels by lowering the reflectivity of the FPI with the smallest cavity separation rather then lowering the reflectivity of both FPIs. We also demonstrate that the choice of cavity ratios has a strong impact on the homogeneity of the spectral transmission profile across the FOV and that double FPI systems with cavity ratios around 0.3 perform much better than at around 0.6.
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| 7. |
- Feldstein, Y. I., et al.
(författare)
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Auroral electrojets and boundaries of plasma domains in the magnetosphere during magnetically disturbed intervals
- 2006
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Ingår i: Annales Geophysicae. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 0992-7689 .- 1432-0576. ; 24:8, s. 2243-2276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate variations in the location and intensity of the auroral electrojets during magnetic storms and substorms using a numerical method for estimating the equivalent ionospheric currents based on data from meridian chains of magnetic observatories. Special attention was paid to the complex structure of the electrojets and their interrelationship with diffuse and discrete particle precipitation and field-aligned currents in the dusk sector. During magnetospheric substorms the eastward electrojet (EE) location in the evening sector changes with local time from cusp latitudes (Phi similar to 77 degrees) during early afternoon to latitudes of diffuse auroral precipitation (Phi similar to 65 degrees) equatorward of the auroral oval before midnight. During the main phase of an intense magnetic storm the eastward currents in the noon-early evening sector adjoin to the cusp at Phi similar to 65 degrees and in the pre-midnight sector are located at subauroral latitude Phi similar to 57 degrees. The westward electrojet (WE) is located along the auroral oval from evening through night to the morning sector and adjoins to the polar electrojet (PE) located at cusp latitudes in the day-side sector. The integrated values of the eastward (westward) equivalent ionospheric current during the intense substorm are similar to 0.5 MA (similar to 1.5 MA), whereas they are 0.7 MA (3.0 MA) during the storm main phase maximum. The latitudes of auroral particle precipitation in the dusk sector are identical with those of both electrojets. The EE in the evening sector is accompanied by particle precipitation mainly from the Alfven layer but also from the near-Earth part of the central plasma sheet. In the lower-latitude part of the EE the field-aligned currents (FACs) flow into the ionosphere (Region 2 FAC), and at its higher-latitude part the FACs flow out of the ionosphere (Region 1 FAC). During intense disturbances, in addition to the Region 2 FAC and the Region 1 FAC, a Region 3 FAC with the downward current was identified. This FAC is accompanied by diffuse electron precipitation from the plasma sheet boundary layer. Actually, the triple system of FAC is observed in the evening sector and, as a consequence, the WE and the EE overlap. The WE in the evening sector comprises only the high-latitude periphery of the plasma precipitation region and corresponds to the Hall current between the Region 1 FAC and Region 3 FAC. During the September 1998 magnetic storm, two velocity bursts (similar to 2-4 km/s) in the magnetospheric convection were observed at the latitudes of particle precipitation from the central plasma sheet and at subauroral latitudes near the ionospheric trough. These kind of bursts are known as subauroral polarization streams (SAPS). In the evening sector the Alfven layer equatorial boundary for precipitating ions is located more equatorward than that for electrons. This may favour northward electric field generation between these boundaries and may cause high speed westward ions drift visualized as SAPS. Meanwhile, high speed ion drifts cover a wider range of latitudes than the distance between the equatorward boundaries of ions and electrons precipitation. To summarize the results obtained a new scheme of 3-D currents in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system and a clarified view of interrelated 3-D currents and magnetospheric plasma domains are proposed.
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