Det individuella möter det kollektiva. Självbiografiskt stoff i barndomsskildringar från det svenska folkhemmet

The subject of the article are autobiographical threads present in Swedish stories about childhood and adolescence published after 1986 that form part of the narrative pertaining to the origins, evolution and decline of the Swedish welfare state (folkhemmet). With reference to such concepts as autobiographical pact, autobiographical novel and auto-fiction, the author discusses the various ways six contemporary Swedish writers (PC Jersild, Kjell Johansson, Susanna Alakoski, Jonas Gardell and Lena Andersson) use their biographies. Special focus is given to the notion of how a cogitation upon individual fate becomes universal when placed in a social context. Another problem analysed by the author is the significance of autobiographical threads for building relationships between the writer and the reader and for the reception of a literary text.

Sleep-related eye symptoms and their potential for identifying driver sleepiness

The majority of individuals appear to have insight into their own sleepiness, but there is some evidence that this does not hold true for all, for example treated patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. Identification of sleep-related symptoms may help drivers determine their sleepiness, eye symptoms in particular show promise. Sixteen participants completed four motorway drives on two separate occasions. Drives were completed during daytime and night-time in both a driving simulator and on the real road. Ten eye symptoms were rated at the end of each drive, and compared with driving performance and subjective and objective sleep metrics recorded during driving. ‘Eye strain’, ‘difficulty focusing’, ‘heavy eyelids’ and ‘difficulty keeping the eyes open’ were identified as the four key sleep-related eye symptoms. Drives resulting in these eye symptoms were more likely to have high subjective sleepiness and more line crossings than drives where similar eye discomfort was not reported. Furthermore, drivers having unintentional line crossings were likely to have ‘heavy eyelids’ and ‘difficulty keeping the eyes open’. Results suggest that drivers struggling to identify sleepiness could be assisted with the advice ‘stop driving if you feel sleepy and/or have heavy eyelids or difficulty keeping your eyes open’.

Mississippi Delta subsidence primarily caused by compaction of Holocene strata

Coastal subsidence causes sea-level rise, shoreline erosion and wetland loss, which poses a threat to coastal populations. This is especially evident in the Mississippi Delta in the southern United States, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The loss of protective wetlands is considered a critical factor in the extensive flood damage. The causes of subsidence in coastal Louisiana, attributed to factors as diverse as shallow compaction and deep crustal processes, remain controversial. Current estimates of subsidence rates vary by several orders of magnitude. Here, we use a series of radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from the Mississippi Delta to analyse late Holocene deposits and assess compaction rates. We find that millennial-scale compaction rates primarily associated with peat can reach 5mm per year, values that exceed recent model predictions. Locally and on timescales of decades to centuries, rates are likely to be 10 mm or more per year. We conclude that compaction of Holocene strata contributes significantly to the exceptionally high rates of relative sea-level rise and coastal wetland loss in the Mississippi Delta, and is likely to cause subsidence in other organic-rich and often densely populated coastal plains.

Do repeated rumble strip hits improve driver alertness?

Driving while sleepy is associated with increased crash risk. Rumble strips are designed to alert a sleepy or inattentive driver when they deviate outside their driving lane. The current study sought to examine the effects of repeated rumble strip hits on levels of physiological and subjective sleepiness as well as simulated driving performance. In total, 36 regular shift workers drove a high-fidelity moving base simulator on a simulated road with rumble strips installed at the shoulder and centre line after a working a full night shift. The results show that on average, the first rumble strip occurred after 20 minutes of driving, with subsequent hits occurring 10 minutes later, with the last three occurring approximately every 5 minutes thereafter. Specifically, it was found that the first rumble strip hit reduced physiological sleepiness; however, subsequent hits did not increase alertness. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that increased subjective sleepiness levels, via the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, were associated with a greater probability of hitting a rumble strip. The present results suggest that sleepiness is very resilient to even strongly arousing stimuli, with physiologicl and subjective sleepiness increasing over the duration of the drive, despite the interference by rumble strips.

Glacial Survival of Boreal Trees in Northern Scandinavia

It is commonly believed that trees were absent in Scandinavia during the last glaciation and first recolonized the Scandinavian Peninsula with the retreat of its ice sheet some 9000 years ago. Here, we show the presence of a rare mitochondrial DNA haplotype of spruce that appears unique to Scandinavia and with its highest frequency to the west—an area believed to sustain ice-free refugia during most of the last ice age. We further show the survival of DNA from this haplotype in lake sediments and pollen of Trøndelag in central Norway dating back ~10,300 years and chloroplast DNA of pine and spruce in lake sediments adjacent to the ice-free Andøya refugium in northwestern Norway as early as ~22,000 and 17,700 years ago, respectively. Our findings imply that conifer trees survived in ice-free refugia of Scandinavia during the last glaciation, challenging current views on survival and spread of trees as a response to climate changes.

Performing in the face of the academy: challenges for a creative practitioner within a university

This piece of writing is an excerpt from a keynote talk given at the Symposium on Artistic Research in Borås, Sweden, on 28 November 2014.

Analysis of the electronic structure, hyperfine structure, and volume isotope shifts in the low lying states of BA I and BA II

Relativistic multi-configuration Dirac Fock (MCDF) wavefunctions coupled to good angular momentum J have been calculated for low lying states of Ba I and Ba II. These wavefunctions are compared with semiempirical ones derived from experimental atomic energy levels. It is found that significantly better agreement is obtained when close configurations are included in the MCDF wavefunctions. Calculations of the electronic part of the field isotope shift lead to very good agreement with electronic factors derived from experimental data. Furthermore, the slopes of the lines in a King plot analysis of many of the optical lines are predicted accurately by these calculations. However, the MCDF wavefunctions seem not to be of sufficient accuracy to give agreement with the experimental magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants.

State dependent volume isotope shift analysis of the low lying states of Ba I and Ba II

Relativistic multi-configuration Dirac-Fock wavefunctions, coupled to good angular momentum J, have been calculated for low lying states of Ba I and Ba II. The resulting electronic factors show good agreement with data derived from recent high-resolution laser spectroscopy experiments and results from a comparison of muonic and optical data.

Longitud cervical como predictor de exito en induccion de trabajo de parto en nuliparas

La inducción del trabajo de parto ha demostrado aumentar simultáneamente las tasas de cesárea, especialmente en nulíparas con cérvix clínicamente desfavorables. Ya que la valoración clínica del cérvix es un método subjetivo, aunque ampliamente utilizado, el objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar la utilidad de la medición ecográfica de la longitud cervical comparándola con el puntaje de Bishop, en la predicción del éxito de la inducción del parto en las pacientes nulíparas en el servicio de Obstetricia del Hospital Universitario Clínica San Rafael, Bogotá. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un estudio observacional, evaluando una cohorte prospectiva de 80 gestantes a quienes se les realizó valoración ultrasonográfica y clínica del cérvix antes de iniciar la inducción del trabajo de parto. Resultados: El análisis bivariado demostró que las pacientes con longitud cervical >20mm tienen 1.57 veces la probabilidad de tener parto por cesárea (RR 1.57 IC95% 1.03-2.39 p <0.05). De manera similar las pacientes con puntaje de Bishop 0 a 3 tienen 2.33 veces la probabilidad de tener parto por cesárea (RR 2.33 IC95% 1.28-4.23 p <0.05). La regresión logística binaria demostró que la edad materna y la longitud cervical fueron los únicos parámetros independientes con significancia estadística para predecir el éxito de la inducción. Conclusiones: La medición ecográfica de la longitud cervical tiene mayor utilidad que la valoración clínica del cérvix en la predicción del éxito de la inducción del parto en nulíparas.

The commensal infant gut meta-mobilome as a potential reservoir for persistent multidrug resistance integrons

Despite the accumulating knowledge on the development and establishment of the gut microbiota, its role as a reservoir for multidrug resistance is not well understood. This study investigated the prevalence and persistence patterns of an integrase gene (int1), used as a proxy for integrons (which often carry multiple antimicrobial resistance genes), in the fecal microbiota of 147 mothers and their children sampled longitudinally from birth to 2 years. The study showed the int1 gene was detected in 15% of the study population, and apparently more persistent than the microbial community structure itself. We found int1 to be persistent throughout the first two years of life, as well as between mothers and their 2-year-old children. Metagenome sequencing revealed integrons in the gut meta-mobilome that were associated with plasmids and multidrug resistance. In conclusion, the persistent nature of integrons in the infant gut microbiota makes it a potential reservoir of mobile multidrug resistance.

Livskvalitet hos cancerpatienter inom palliativ vård : Mätmetoder och patienters upplevelser : En litteraturstudie

I den sista tiden i en människas liv var det viktigt att livskvaliteten var hög, samtidigt var livskvalitet någonting som var högst subjektivt och ibland svårt att mäta. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva vilka metoder som användes för att värdera cancerpatientens livskvalitet, samt patientens egen upplevelse av livskvalitet i det palliativa skedet, då endast en begränsad tid av livet återstod. Underlag till litteraturstudien framkom genom artikelsökning via databaserna Blackwell Synergy, Elin samt EBSCO Host. Vid sökningen användes enkla sökord eller sökord i kombination. Sökningen begränsades till svensk och engelsk litteratur. Totalt valdes 40 artiklar ut. Vid efterföljande granskning ansågs 15 artiklar av sådan kvalitet att de inkluderades i resultatet. Resultatet visade att mätningar av palliativa cancerpatienters livskvalitet genomfördes med hjälp av specifika frågeformulär utifrån cancertyp eller med hjälp av intervjuer. Frågeformulären var bra att använda när en snabb, övergripande bild av patientens livskvalitet efterfrågades. I många fall användes också/eller djupintervjuer av patienterna vilket gav en mer detaljerad bild av vad livskvalitet var för patienterna. Vad gällde palliativa cancerpatienters upplevelser av livskvalitet visade det sig att cancerrelaterad smärta med sjukdomsspecifika symtom liksom oro för ekonomi och social isolering påverkade livskvaliteten negativt.

Södra Dalarnas hästförsäkringsförening 1885-1894

Undersökningens huvudsyfte är att se om synen på djur, närmare bestämt hästar, skiljer sig åt hos försäkringstagarna i södra Dalarnas hästförsäkringsförening under åren 1885-1894. Dess-utom att utforska vilka som var upphovsmännen till föreningen, och vilka människor som attraherades av hästförsäkringsföreningens verksamhet. Materialet som skall besvara syftet består av protokoll från hästförsäkringsföreningens regelbundet hållna styrelsemöten, och Kopparbergs läns kalender. Undersökningens resultat visar att det hos bönderna som hästägare går att se att hästen värderades högre än ett arbetsredskap, att bruken och bönderna är dom dominerande försäk-ringstagarna och att det var betydelsefulla herrar som låg bakom starten av försäkringsföre-ningen

Betydelsen av Humor som kommunikationsmedel i omvårdnad : Litteraturstudie

Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande litteraturstudie var att belysa betydelsen av humor som kommunikationsmedel mellan patient och sjuksköterska i omvårdnad, samt inom personalgrupp. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie, där relevanta artiklar söktes i databaserna Cinahl, PubMed och PsychInfo. Även sökmotorn Elin@Dalarna samt tidskriften Vård i Norden användes. Femton vetenskapliga artiklar, både kvalitativa och kvantitativa granskades och analyserades. Resultat: Resultatet av analysen visade två övergripande teman som handlade om humor som en copingstrategi och humor som relationsskapande. Analysen visade även att humor som kommunikationsmedel är viktigt i relationen mellan patient och sjuksköterska, där humor bygger en grund till en djupare relation. Humor hjälper patienten att hantera sjukdomstillstånd och är ett steg till tillfrisknande. Patienten kan lättare uttrycka och hantera känslor. Patienten upplever med hjälp av humor en ökad livstillfredsställelse och en effektivare stresshantering. Sjuksköterskan kan lättare hantera känslor och ta en paus från jobbiga situationer med hjälp av humor. Humor ger energi och stärker personalgruppen. Personalgruppen känner en samhörighet och kan lättare hantera situationer tillsammans genom att använda humor.