Background: The goal of this study was to investigate whether Interactive Voice Response is a technology with which to perform real-time assessments of alcohol consumption and stress. Methods: Fifteen subjects (men and women) were recruited from a previous 4-year intervention study (n = 2,032). The Interactive Voice Response technique was based on mobile telephones. During 1 week, stress and alcoh

The paper considers a problem of routing, protection and load balancing in the IP/MPLS network. A network design problem combining all these aspects is presented. Proportionally fair distribution of residual bandwidths on links is used for load balancing, and protection is achieved with failure-dependent backup paths. The efficiency of the proposed approach is tested by combining optimization and

The authors investigated in a rat model the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast media for evaluating the liver in conditions of acute biliary obstruction. Two liver-specific MRI contrast media, Cr-DEHIDA and Mn-DPDP, and the nonspecific agent Gd-DTPA were studied in normal rats and in rats whose bile ducts had been ligated before administration of the contrast medium. Images were

The S-phase fraction (SPF) in flow cytometric DNA histograms in soft tissue sarcoma (STS) can be calculated in various ways. The traditional planimetric method of Baisch has been shown to be prognostic, but is hampered by a failure rate of around 40%. We therefore tested other models to see if this rate could be decreased with retained prognostic value. In 259 STS of the locomotor system the SPF w

Old age is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to stroke and poor recovery from brain injury, but the cellular processes underlying these phenomena are only recently coming to light. Potential mechanisms include changes in brain plasticity-promoting factors, unregulated expression of neurotoxic factors, or differences in the generation of scar tissue that impedes the formation of new axons

The European Study on the Clinical Outcomes and Resource Utilization associated with Haemophilia Care was designed to compare various health outcomes associated with on-demand and prophylactic factor substitution methods in European haemophilia patients. While the primary objective of this research is to conduct an economic analysis, an important component of this study is to evaluate quality-of-l

This paper draws on extensive theoretical research and literature reviews, and presents two cases to illustrate practical applications. It addresses the problem of how learning both from extracorporate sources, like universities, as well as across internal corporate functions, like R&D and manufacturing, can enhance company flexibility and performance in innovation. This paper aims at deliveri

Objectives To evaluate the association of socioeconomic position with adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus and stomach. Methods The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort comprises about 520000 participants mostly aged 35-70 years. Information on diet and lifestyle was collected at recruitment. After an average follow-up of 6.5 years, 268 cases with adenocarcinoma o

OBJECTIVE: To see if there is a relationship between clinical and laboratory tests of balance, muscular strength and gait in elderly women. DESIGN: A randomized population-based study. SETTINGS: Malmo, Sweden. METHODS: We investigated balance with a simple test of standing on one leg, as well as a computerized balance platform. Muscular strength was tested by computerized dynamometer. Extension an

During a 2-year period, 5476 normal routine obstetrical ultrasound investigations were performed in the 2nd trimester (16th to 20th week). Data on biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal diameter (AD) and femur length (FL) have been obtained from this material. Ratios between BPD/AD and BPD/FL have been calculated, and from these ratios, graphs were constructed. Only nine normal fetuses (0.2%) were f

Human exposure to methylmercury occurs mainly via consumption of fish. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of freshwater fish consumption on mercury levels in hair, blood, urine, and end-exhaled air. Twenty subjects without dental amalgam fillings were recruited from sport-fishing societies. They ranged in age from 61 to 87 yr. Six individuals ate freshwater fish at least once a

To investigate potential associations between several autoimmune diseases and haematological malignancies, we studied 39,908 cases of leukaemia, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and myeloma that occurred during 1987-1999 in Sweden, and 149,344 controls. Hospital discharge diagnoses of psoriasis, Sjogren's syndrome, autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, pernic