Post-sternotomy mediastinitis is a serious complication after cardiothoracic surgery and contribute significantly to post-operative morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Negative pressure wound therapy is today's golden standard for post-sternotomy mediastinitis treatment. A systematic literature search was conducted at PubMed until October 2012 to analyse whether vacuum-assisted closure tec

Prophylaxis and treatment with antiretroviral drugs, a consequent low viral load, and the use of elective Caesarean section, are factors that radically decrease the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery. The availability of new antiretroviral drugs, updated general treatment guidelines and increasing knowledge of the importance of drug resistance, have necessi

A key to the lichen family Parmeliaceae in the Alps is presented. Notes on their distribution and phylogeny are added. The family is represented in the Alps by 41 genera and c. 147 species.

Background: Studies from Sweden have reported association between immigrant status and incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The nature of this relationship is unclear. We investigated the relationship between immigrant status and risk of heart failure (HF) hospitalization in a population-based cohort, and to what extent this is mediated by hypertension and life-style risk factors. We also explore

Microbial exposure has been indicated as significant in the development of asthma and allergy among children. The aim of the study was to test whether microbial exposure and allergens in the school environment are associated with asthmatic symptoms in pupils. Data on asthmatic symptoms and respiratory infections were collected through a questionnaire survey among 1993 pupils aged 11-15 yr in 10 ra

Brown C, Hasson H, Thyselius V, Almborg A-H. Post-stroke depression and functional independence: a conundrum. Acta Neurol Scand: DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2011.01595.x. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives - People who suffer a stroke are at risk of developing post-stroke depression (PSD). Not only does this lower their quality of life but it also increases their risk of another stroke or d

Social constructionists consider interviews as mutually co-constructing meaning. But what if the interlocutors do not seem to agree on what they construct? What if the interviewee has a particularly strong agenda, far from the intended research topic? Are these ‘failed’ interviews? We address this issue using a ‘deviant’ interview in a study of ‘being a neighbour’. First, we add to the discussion

The bluethroat Luscinia svecica is a particularly interesting species for the study of the mechanisms that control migration because it comprises several recently diverged subspecies that differ in migratory distance and direction. Here we use ringing data to describe the migration strategy and winter distribution of L. s. cyanecula and L. s. namnetum along the eastern Atlantic coast of Iberia and

The expression of cell surface glycans terminating with sialic acid (SA) residues has been found to correlate with various disease states there among cancer. We here report a novel strategy for specific fluorescence labeling of such motifs. This is based on sialic acid-imprinted core shell nanopartides equipped with nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD) fluorescent reporter groups allowing environmentally sen

The four proton-hole nucleus Pt-204 was populated in the fragmentation of an E/A = 1 GeV Pb-208 beam. The yrast structure of Pt-204 has been observed up to angular momentum I = 10h by detecting delayed gamma-ray transitions originating from metastable states. These long-lived excited states have been identified to have spin-parities of I-pi = (10(+)), (7(-)), and (5(-)) and half-lives of T-1/2 = 1

Background: The Toll-like receptor proteins are important in host defense and initiation of the innate and adaptive immune responses. A number of studies have identified associations between genetic variation in the Toll-like receptor genes and allergic disorders such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. The present study aim to search for genetic variation associated with allergic rhinitis in the Tol

Characterization of the glomerular filtration barrier is of fundamental importance for understanding the pathophysiology of proteinuric kidney diseases. Furthermore, it can be of key value in the understanding of microalbuminuria, which is often associated with endothelial dysfunction in conjunction with cardiovascular disease. In the four studies of this doctoral thesis, macromolecular probes hav

Background: Treatment of pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) has improved, but there is a considerable fraction of patients experiencing a poor outcome. There is a need for better prognostic markers and aberrant DNA methylation is a candidate in other malignancies, but its potential prognostic significance in T-ALL is hitherto undecided. Design and Methods: Genome wide promoter D

The yrast sequence of the neutron-rich dysprosium isotope Dy-168 has been studied using multinucleon transfer reactions following collisions between a 460-MeV Se-82 beam and an Er-170 target. The reaction products were identified using the PRISMA magnetic spectrometer and the gamma rays detected using the CLARA HPGe-detector array. The 2(+) and 4(+) members of the previously measured ground-state

The process of an ultrahigh vacuum annealing of a diamond-like carbon film deposited on a silicon substrate has been studied in situ using a photoemission microscope mounted at the MAX-lab synchrotron's radiation source. After the annealing the film was examined ex situ using an atomic force microscope. It is revealed that the graphitization of the film occurs and round formations of several micro

The epitaxial system Sm/Co(0001) was studied for Sm coverages up to 1 monolayer (ML) on top of ultrathin Co/W(110) epitaxial films. Two ordered phases were found for 1/3 and 1 ML Sm, respectively. The valence state of Sm was determined by means of photoemission and magnetic properties were measured by magneto-optical Kerr effect. We find that 1 ML Sm causes a strong increase of the coercivity with