Background: The aim was to compare findings related to experiences of prosthetics and orthotic service delivery in Tanzania, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Pakistan, from the perspective of local professionals.Method: In total 49 prosthetists/orthotists and prosthetic/orthotic technicians participated from four countries. A comparative analysis of the results of the three published papers was conducted.

The aim of the study was to explore what adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) view as important in the preparation for the transfer to adult care. We performed interviews in four focus groups with adolescents (14–18 years old) at four university hospitals in Sweden. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis revealed one main category; Becoming a manager of the c

Hepatic DPP4 expression is elevated in subjects with ectopic fat accumulation in the liver. However, whether increased dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) is involved in the pathogenesis or is rather a consequence ofmetabolic disease is not known. We therefore studied the transcriptional regulation of hepatic Dpp4 in young mice prone to diet-induced obesity. Already at 6 weeks of age, expression of hepa

The carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of seawater provides valuable insight on ocean circulation, air-sea exchange, the biological pump, and the global carbon cycle and is reflected by the δ13C of foraminifera tests. Here more than 1700 δ13C observations of the benthic foraminifera genus Cibicides from late Holocene sediments (δ13CCibnat) are compiled and compared with newly updated estimates of t

Background - Small observational studies have indicated better outcome with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance when performing unprotected left main coronary artery (LMCA) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), but the overall picture remains inconclusive and warrants further investigation. We studied the impact of IVUS guidance on outcome in patients undergoing unprotected LMCA PCI in a

The excellent performance of metal foams is well-recognized in the thermal and energy fields. This paper presents an investigation on the convective heat transfer and thermal performance of microchannel heat sinks with different structures of metal foams, such as Y-shaped, metal foam attached to fins, combined metal foams. The inlet Reynolds number is ranging from 170 to 554 and the porosity of th

The EU Commission highlights evaluations as important for improving common policies. But do evaluations actually contribute? This paper examines whether this has been the case for the EU Rural Development Programmes (RDPs). We investigate 1) to what extent evaluations have influenced the design of national programmes and 2) if they have affected the Rural Development Regulation on which national p

Student engagement is an important factor when it comes to the learning process. Students who do not feel engaged in their studies are more likely to fail their exams and might even drop out of their education. Different methods have been tried in order to increase student engagement. One of them is the contributing student pedagogy, where students contribute to the learning of others and also val

In sensor network applications with low traffic intensity, idle channel listening is one of the main sources of energy waste. The use of a dedicated low-power wake-up receiver (WRx), which utilizes duty-cycled channel listening, can significantly reduce the idle listening energy cost. Extreme low-power design typically leads to performance losses, indirectly increasing energy costs. Striking the r

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To study selective regional binding for tau pathology in vivo, using PET with [(11) C]PBB3 in PSP patients, and other conditions not typically associated with tauopathy.METHODS: Dynamic PET scans were obtained for 70 minutes after the bolus injection of [(11) C]PBB3 in 5 PSP subjects, 1 subject with DCTN1 mutation and PSP phenotype, 3 asymptomatic SNCA duplication carrie

OBJECTIVE: Eleven genetic loci have reached genome-wide significance in a recent meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in Parkinson disease (PD) based on populations of Caucasian descent. The extent to which these genetic effects are consistent across different populations is unknown.METHODS: Investigators from the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease Consortium were invited to p

In this study, low quality waste cooking oil with high total acid value, has been used for biodiesel production. The main factors affecting the reaction has been analysed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A quadratic model representing the interrelationships between reaction variables and free fatty acids (FFA) conversion has been developed. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been used for c

Small heat-shock proteins (sHsps) prevent aggregation of thermosensitive client proteins in a first line of defense against cellular stress. The mechanisms by which they perform this function have been hard to define due to limited structural information; currently, there is only one high-resolution structure of a plant sHsp published, that of the cytosolic Hsp16.9. We took interest in Hsp21, a ch

Pervaporation is a membrane separation process with considerable innovative possibilities in the area of biotechnology. Above all, the combination of bioreactor and pervaporation has potential in the longer term as an alternative to conventional batch processes. This article considers the state of the art pervaporation-bioreactor hybrid processes. The possible applications of such hybrid processes