Equine parasite control under prescription-only conditions in Denmark - Awareness, knowledge, perception, and strategies applied.

Due to widespread development of anthelmintic resistance in equine parasites, recommendations for their control are currently undergoing marked changes with a shift of emphasis toward more coprological surveillance and reduced treatment intensity. Denmark was the first nation to introduce prescription-only restrictions of anthelmintic drugs in 1999, but other European countries have implemented similar legislations over recent years. A questionnaire survey was performed in 2008 among Danish horse owners to provide a current status of practices and perceptions with relation to parasite control. Questions aimed at describing the current use of coprological surveillance and resulting anthelmintic treatment intensities, evaluating knowledge and perceptions about the importance of various attributes of parasite control, and assessing respondents' willingness to pay for advice and parasite surveillance services from their veterinarians. A total of 1060 respondents completed the questionnaire. A large majority of respondents (71.9%) were familiar with the concept of selective therapy. Results illustrated that the respondents' self-evaluation of their knowledge about parasites and their control associated significantly with their level of interest in the topic and their type of education (P<0.0001). The large majority of respondents either dewormed their horses twice a year and/or performed two fecal egg counts per horse per year. This approach was almost equally pronounced in foals, horses aged 1-3 years old, and adult horses. The respondents rated prevention of parasitic disease and prevention of drug resistance as the most important attributes, while cost and frequent fecal testing were rated least important. Respondents' actual spending on parasite control per horse in the previous year correlated significantly with the amount they declared themselves willing to spend (P<0.0001). However, 44.4% declared themselves willing to pay more than what they were spending. Altogether, results indicate that respondents were generally familiar with equine parasites and the concept of selective therapy, although there was some confusion over the terms small and large strongyles. They used a large degree of fecal surveillance in all age groups, with a majority of respondents sampling and/or treating around twice a year. Finally, respondents appeared willing to spend money on parasite control for their horses. It is of concern that the survey suggested that foals and young horses are treated in a manner very similar to adult horses, which is against current recommendations. Thus, the survey illustrates the importance of clear communication of guidelines for equine parasite control.

Effect of comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation after heart valve surgery (CopenHeartVR): study protocol for a randomised clinical trial

Background Heart valve diseases are common with an estimated prevalence of 2.5% in the Western world. The number is rising due to an ageing population. Once symptomatic, heart valve diseases are potentially lethal, and heavily influence daily living and quality of life. Surgical treatment, either valve replacement or repair, remains the treatment of choice. However, post surgery, the transition to daily living may become a physical, mental and social challenge. We hypothesise that a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation programme can improve physical capacity and self-assessed mental health and reduce hospitalisation and healthcare costs after heart valve surgery. Methods A randomised clinical trial, CopenHeartVR, aims to investigate whether cardiac rehabilitation in addition to usual care is superior to treatment as usual after heart valve surgery. The trial will randomly allocate 210 patients, 1:1 intervention to control group, using central randomisation, and blinded outcome assessment and statistical analyses. The intervention consists of 12 weeks of physical exercise, and a psycho-educational intervention comprising five consultations. Primary outcome is peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) measured by cardiopulmonary exercise testing with ventilatory gas analysis. Secondary outcome is self-assessed mental health measured by the standardised questionnaire Short Form 36. Also, long-term healthcare utilisation and mortality as well as biochemistry, echocardiography and cost-benefit will be assessed. A mixed-method design is used to evaluate qualitative and quantitative findings encompassing a survey-based study before the trial and a qualitative pre- and post-intervention study. Discussion The study is approved by the local regional Research Ethics Committee (H-1-2011-157), and the Danish Data Protection Agency (j.nr. 2007-58-0015).

WHEN DOES THE TROUBLE START? OBESITY, DIABETES RISKS AND METABOLIC DISTURBANCES IN YOUNG PEOPLE WITH PSYCHOSIS

People with psychotic disorders have higher mortality rates compared to the general population. Most deaths are due to cardiovascular (CV) disease, reflecting high rates of CV risk factors such as obesity and diabetes. Treatment with antipsychotic drugs is associated with weight gain in clinical trials. However, there is little information about how these drugs affect children and young people, and how early in the course of treatment the elevation in CV risk factors begins. This information is essential in understanding the costs and benefits of these treatments in young people, and establishing preventive and early intervention services to address physical health comorbidities. This symposium reports both prospective and naturalistic data from children and adolescents treated with antipsychotic drugs. These studies demonstrate that adverse effects on cardiometabolic measures, notably BMI and insulin resistance, become apparent very soon after treatment is initiated. Further, children and adolescents appear to be even more sensitive to these effects than adults. Population-wide studies are also informative. Danish data showing that young people exposed to antipsychotics have a higher risk of diabetes, compared with young people who had a psychiatric diagnosis but were not exposed to antipsychotic drugs, will be presented. In addition, an Australian comparison between a large, nationally representative sample of people with psychosis and a general population sample shows that higher rates of obesity and other cardiometabolic abnormalities are already evident in people with psychosis by the age of 25 years. Young people living with psychosis are already disadvantaged by the demands of living with mental illness, stigma, and social factors such as unemployment and low income. The addition of obesity, diabetes and other comorbidities adds a further burden. The data presented highlights the need for careful selection of antipsychotic drugs, regular monitoring of physical health and early intervention when weight gain, glucose dysregulation, or other cardiometabolic abnormalities are detected.

The Good Society. A Comparative Study of Denmark and Switzerland

Denmark and Switzerland are small and successful countries with exceptionally content populations. However, they have very different political institutions and economic models. They have followed the general tendency in the West toward economic convergence, but both countries have managed to stay on top. They both have a strong liberal tradition, but otherwise their economic strategies are a welfare state model for Denmark and a safe haven model for Switzerland. The Danish welfare state is tax-based, while the expenditures for social welfare are insurance-based in Switzerland. The political institutions are a multiparty unicameral system in Denmark, and a permanent coalition system with many referenda and strong local government in Switzerland. Both approaches have managed to ensure smoothly working political power-sharing and economic systems that allocate resources in a fairly efficient way. To date, they have also managed to adapt the economies to changes in the external environment with a combination of stability and flexibility.

High-resolution AMS (super 14) C dating of post-bomb peat archives of atmospheric pollutants.

Peat deposits in Greenland and Denmark were investigated to show that high-resolution dating of these archives of atmospheric deposition can be provided for the last 50 years by radiocarbon dating using the atmospheric bomb pulse. (super 14) C was determined in macrofossils from sequential one cm slices using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Values were calibrated with a general-purpose curve derived from annually averaged atmospheric (super 14) CO (sub 2) values in the northernmost northern hemisphere (NNH, 30 degrees -90 degrees N). We present a through review of (super 14) C bomb-pulse data from the NNH including our own measurements made in tree rings and seeds from Arizona as well as other previously published data. We show that our general-purpose calibration curve is valid for the whole NNH producing accurate dates within 1-2 years. In consequence, (super 14) C AMS can precisely date individual points in recent peat deposits within the range of the bomb-pulse (from the mid-1950s on). Comparing the (super 14) C AMS results with the customary dating method for recent peat profiles by (super 210) Pb, we show that the use of (super 137) Cs to validate and correct (super 210) Pb dates proves to be more problematic than previously supposed. As a unique example of our technique, we show how this chronometer can be applied to identify temporal changes in Hg concentrations from Danish and Greenland peat cores.

Exposure assessment of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases/AmpC beta-lactamases-producing Escherichia coli in meat in Denmark

INTRODUCTION Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) and AmpC beta-lactamases (AmpC) are of concern for veterinary and public health because of their ability to cause treatment failure due to antimicrobial resistance in Enterobacteriaceae. The main objective was to assess the relative contribution (RC) of different types of meat to the exposure of consumers to ESBL/AmpC and their potential importance for human infections in Denmark. MATERIAL AND METHODS The prevalence of each genotype of ESBL/AmpC-producing E. coli in imported and nationally produced broiler meat, pork and beef was weighted by the meat consumption patterns. Data originated from the Danish surveillance program for antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance (DANMAP) from 2009 to 2011. DANMAP also provided data about human ESBL/AmpC cases in 2011, which were used to assess a possible genotype overlap. Uncertainty about the occurrence of ESBL/AmpC-producing E. coli in meat was assessed by inspecting beta distributions given the available data of the genotypes in each type of meat. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Broiler meat represented the largest part (83.8%) of the estimated ESBL/AmpC-contaminated pool of meat compared to pork (12.5%) and beef (3.7%). CMY-2 was the genotype with the highest RC to human exposure (58.3%). However, this genotype is rarely found in human infections in Denmark. CONCLUSION The overlap between ESBL/AmpC genotypes in meat and human E. coli infections was limited. This suggests that meat might constitute a less important source of ESBL/AmpC exposure to humans in Denmark than previously thought - maybe because the use of cephalosporins is restricted in cattle and banned in poultry and pigs. Nonetheless, more detailed surveillance data are required to determine the contribution of meat compared to other sources, such as travelling, pets, water resources, community and hospitals in the pursuit of a full source attribution model.

La gramática y los traductores : La interpretación y traducción de los sintagmas nominales

El presente trabajo es resultado de los primeros aportes generados en el grupo de investigación sobre gramática y traducción, en el marco del proyecto UBACyT "Léxico y gramática: una perspectiva teórico aplicada y su extensión a otras áreas". El objetivo principal del grupo es reunir los desarrollos en teoría gramatical con la práctica de la traducción, considerada como una disciplina en la que necesariamente la teoría debe ponerse al servicio de las demandas e inquietudes del traductor. Este trabajo se centra en el análisis contrastivo de sintagmas nominales, con especial atención a los cambios interpretativos vinculados con las nociones de genericidad y especificidad. Específicamente, nos interesa observar el alcance de los cambios interpretativos en función de la presencia o ausencia de determinantes (definidos e indefinidos) en el sintagma nominal. Tal como se define en la Nueva Gramática de la Lengua Española, el artículo no solo delimita la denotación del correspondiente sintagma nominal sino también su referencia. En el campo teórico, abunda la literatura sobe los mecanismos mediante los cuales las distintas lenguas delimitan la interpretación de los sintagmas nominales. Si bien se asume que estos mecanismos son distintos en, por ejemplo, el inglés y el español, suele asumirse que todas las lenguas romances comparten mecanismos similares, especialmente en el uso de artículos. No obstante, nos proponemos mostrar que la traducción de sintagmas nominales es una tarea compleja, para la cual puede ser de gran ayuda la aplicación de nociones teóricas, tales como el parámetro nominal establecido en Chierchia (1998). Trabajaremos con un corpus de sintagmas nominales con determinante definido, indefinido y sin determinante, en singular y plural-, tanto producidos originalmente como traducidos, en español, inglés y portugués. Se analizarán los mecanismos de cada lengua y los efectos observables a partir de las variables consideradas, con el objetivo de brindar a los traductores una serie de herramientas que, a partir de la reflexión teórica, faciliten traducción adecuada de los sintagmas nominales

El romance y su empleo ideológico : El caso de "La tierra de Alvargonzález" de Antonio Machado

La poesía según Machado debe hacer manifiesto el fluir temporal y la interacción del poeta con su época a partir de un código simple, lo que implica el rechazo de toda pretensión aristocratizante. El pueblo debe ser el receptor privilegiado. Es por esto que aboga por el uso de una "palabra integral", próxima al lenguaje hablado y por el empleo de formas estróficas de clara raigambre popular. Tal es el caso de "La tierra de Alvargonzález", que remeda la primaria función cultural de cualquier narración tradicional: la de ser ejemplos de vida. El deseo de dignificar cierta veta vulgar del romancero, los romances de ciego o pliegos de cordel, que -no olvidemos- son importaciones de la cultura letrada, se cifra en un lenguaje complejo en su factura, mas no en su comprensión, que combina motivos y estrategias de tradición popular con símbolos de procedencia modernista. En la profundización ?modernizadora? de algunas de sus posturas ideológicas, anuda el uso de un molde estrófico de tradición oral, el romance, con una serie de reflexiones de carácter noventaiochista. De este modo, el arte no es sólo expresión estética, sino -como querían los hombres de la generación del 98- un bastidor en el que se enhebran también cuestiones de índole histórica y social

Literatura marginal e a compreensão das dinâmicas sociais das periferias brasileiras

O presente artigo discute, a partir das noçoesde literatura e sociedade desenvolvidas por Antonio Candido e de campo social de Pierre Bourdieu, a produçao ficcional e a trajetória social e intelectual de determinados escritores no campo literário brasileiro. A manifestaçao cultural desses autores, caracterizada de periféricae denominada "literatura marginal", ganhou a cena pública brasileira no final da década de 1990 com a publicaçao dos romances Cidade de Deus, do carioca Paulo Lins e Capao Pecado, do paulistano Ferréz.O romance de Paulo Lins tornou-se mundialmente conhecido depois que o cineasta Fernando Meirelles filmou "Cidade de Deus" conquistando, inclusive, indicaçoes para a disputa do Oscar. Ferréz publicou outros livros e organizou a revista "Literatura Marginal", coletânea com diferentes moradores de bairros periféricos da cidade de Sao Paulo.A partir da análise das obras desses dois autores sugerimos que os morros, favelas e periferias têm suas próprias características e a literatura marginal pode indicar mais uma oportunidade para desvendar esse mundo que espacialmente está tao próximo, mas socialmente muito distante

Career guidance in Denmark : Social control in a velvet glove

La Orientación Vocacional en Dinamarca está bien organizada y es altamente profesional. Esto refleja una política orientadora centrada en el papel que la orientación juega como instrumento en el ejercicio de un leve control social. Con este telón de fondo, el dilema de la Orientación en Dinamarca reside en el delicado equilibrio existente entre la orientación considerada como una herramienta para el desarrollo personal, y como un instrumento de control social.

Cultura popular y poesía narrativa medieval: contactos productivos

El presente artículo propone focalizar la pertinencia de la configuración teórica del concepto de literatura y cultura popular para el estudio de la poesía narrativa medieval en su pasaje del universo de la oralidad al de la escritura, y de la escritura manuscrita a la imprenta. Los ejemplos serán aportados a su vez por los géneros narrativos paradigmáticos medievales, la épica y el romancero, en el dominio lingüístico específico del castellano.