In laryngectomized patients a tracheo-esophageal artificial fistula can be used to achieve air flow from the trachea to the esophagus during speech. A one-way plastic valve is often used for the fistula. A free jejunal graft between the trachea and the esophagus can also be used. To avoid aspiration the transplant is attached to the submental area giving the graft a siphon-like shape. We performed

A biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) sensor, based on an immobilised mixed culture of microorganisms in combination with a dissolved oxygen electrode, has been developed for the purpose of on-line monitoring of the biological treatment process for waste and wastewater. The sensor was designed for easy replacement of the biomembrane, thereby making it suitable for short-term use. The drawbacks of acti

Wound healing that precedes scar formation may be unbalanced under pathological conditions leading to structural changes of the tissue. At the moment, the mechanisms behind this unbalance are unclear. When these changes occur in internal organs such as the lung, they may result in organ dysfunction with fatal consequences for the patient. This phenomenon is defined as airway remodeling, and occurs

Background. Around 25 million Caucasian women are carriers of the FV Leiden mutation that causes activated protein C (APC) resistance. This is a heritable condition with a lifelong increased risk of venous thromboembolism. We performed this study to investigate women's reactions to their awareness of being APC-resistant and the consequences of this awareness. Methods. All APC-resistant women (n =

Abstract is not available

A scheduling architecture for real-time control tasks is proposed. The scheduler uses feedback from execution-time measurements and feedforward from workload changes to adjust the sampling periods of the control tasks so that the combined performance of the controllers is optimized. The performance of each controller is described by a cost function. Based on the solution to the optimal resource al

1. The impacts of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) and planktivorous fish on phytoplankton composition and biomass were studied in six shallow, macrophyte-dominated lakes across Europe using mesocosm experiments. 2. Phytoplankton biomass was more influenced by nutrients than by densities of planktivorous fish. Nutrient addition resulted in increased algal biomass at all locations. In some exper

This thesis discusses "social work" as part of missionary work during Hans Egede´s mission in Greenland (1721-1736) and the starting period of the Norwegian Saami mission (1888-1900). The discussion is focused by connecting it to Habermas´s discussion of "The structural transformation of the public" (1989). The discussion includes an analysis of the complexity of contemporary ideas. Missionary wor

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the perceived anxiety, depression, sleeping habits, and participation in social activities in relation to psychotropic drug use among elderly in assisted-living facilities and to identify factors of importance for the use of these drugs. Method: The study had a cross-sectional design and included 93 residents living in old-age homes or in

Male Empress Leilia butterflies (Asterocampa leilia) use a sit-and-wait tactic to locate mates. To see how vision might influence male behavior, we studied the morphology, optics, and receptor physiology of their eyes and found the following. (1) Each eye's visual field is approximately hemispherical with at most a 10degrees overlap in the fields of the eyes. There are no large sexual differences

We present in this work in vitro measurements of the force ejecting DNA from two distinct bacteriophages (T5 and lambda using the osmotic-suppression technique. Our data are analyzed by revisiting the current theories of DNA packaging in spherical capsids. In particular we show that a simplified analytical model based on bending considerations only is able to account quantitatively for the experim

The restoration of cognitive function was studied in 10 healthy men aged 26 years (25.5 +/- 1.2 years; mean +/- SD) after insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (arterialized blood glucose 2.5 +/- 0.4 mmol l-1) for 62 +/- 8 min. Another group of six men participated in a single blind sham study for comparison. The hypoglycaemic event caused a significant increase (p = 0.006) in serum adrenaline levels. Rat