Background: Sports-related concussion (SRC) is increasingly recognized as a potential health problem in ice hockey. Quality of life (QoL) in players retiring due to SRC has not been thoroughly addressed. Materials & methods: QoL using the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 5th Edition, Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Short Form Health Survey was measured in Swedish ice hockey players who reti

Most parametric fundamental frequency estimators make the implicit assumption that any corrupting noise is additive, white Gaus-sian. Under this assumption, the maximum likelihood (ML) and the least squares estimators are the same, and statistically efficient. However, in the coloured noise case, the estimators differ, and the spectral shape of the corrupting noise should be taken into account. To

Abstract: The β-decay half-life and the delayed neutron emission of 60Ca are studied within a microscopic model, which is based on the Skyrme interaction T45 to construct single-particle and phonon spaces. We observe a redistribution of the Gamow–Teller strength due to the phonon-phonon coupling and the tensor correlations, considered in the model. For 60Sc, the spin-parity of the ground state is

Lithium abundances are presented for 91 dwarf and subgiant stars in the Galactic bulge. The analysis is based on line synthesis of the 7Li line at 6707 Å in high-resolution spectra obtained during gravitational microlensing events, when the brightnesses of the targets were highly magnified. Our main finding is that bulge stars at sub-solar metallicities that are older than about eight billion year

Purpose: To compare the effects of ageing and glaucoma progression on the thickness of the circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (cpRNFL) and to evaluate the performance of a set of optical coherence tomography (OCT) progression analyses. Methods: The cpRNFL was measured twice by OCT at each of two visits made 10 years apart in 69 healthy individuals and 49 glaucoma patients. Both visits also

Purpose: The aim of this prospective study was to validate the diagnostic performance of computed tomography angiography (CTA) in endoprosthesis stenosis in the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) using mean arterial pressure (MAP) gradients during angiography as a reference method. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with mesenteric atherosclerotic disease underwent 45 paired measurements of endoprosthesi

INTRODUCTION: Numerous prior studies, even from countries with free access to care, have associated long travel time to care with poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer. METHODS: This is a data-linkage study of all 3718 patients with colorectal cancer, diagnosed between 2007 and 2013 in Northern Sweden, one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe. Travel time to nearest hospital w

INTRODUCTION: Influenza may precipitate cardiovascular disease, but influenza typically peaks in winter, coinciding with other triggers of myocardial infarction (MI) such as low air temperature, high wind velocity, low atmospheric pressure, and short sunshine duration. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the relationship of week-to-week variation in influenza cases and acute MI, controlling for meteo

Even though abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and coronary heart disease (CHD) are both related to atherosclerosis, there could be important differences in risk factors. Based on Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort, the incidence of AAA and CHD was followed prospectively. Cox regression was used to calculate the association of each factor with AAA and CHD and hazards ratio were compared using a modified Lu

Objective: To describe the demographics and clinical findings in patients with otorrhoea in Angola. Methods: A total of 411 patients with otorrhoea presenting in the ear, nose and throat clinic in Luanda and healthcare centres in other Angolan provinces underwent interview and clinical examination. We describe the demographics and clinical characteristics of the patients. Results: The majority (64

The evolution of orchids and bats is an example of DNA’s own evolution which has resulted in structures and functions which are not necessarily related to any obvious advantage to the organism. The flowers of orchids resemble: humans, apes, lizards, frogs and even shoes. The faces of bats resemble plant leaves but also horseshoes. These similarities are not accidental because they emerge repeatedl

Objective: To investigate the statistical power of plasma, imaging, and cognition biomarkers as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) clinical trial outcome measures. Methods: Plasma neurofilament light, structural magnetic resonance imaging, and cognition were measured longitudinally in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) in control (amyloid PET or CSF Aβ42 negative [Aβ-] with Clinical Deme

This article examines the role of national parliaments in policy processes related to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, adopted in the UN General Assembly in 2015. We outline three main roles of parliaments in the case of national policy-making based on intergovernmental agreements: legislative and policy approval, citizen representation, and accountability. The cases

Credit expansion is the trend of households gaining access to more credit. It is correlated with increasing socio-economic heterogeneity of indebted homeowners. Increasing heterogeneity implies that a more diverse span of homeowners is put at risk of foreclosure. This empirical study explores socio-economic heterogeneity in the case of Swedish debtors in foreclosure between 2000 and 2014. Employin

We characterize a class of systems for which the H-infinity optimal control problem can be simplified in a way that enables sparse solutions and efficient computation. For a subclass of the systems, an optimal controller can be explicitly expressed in terms of the matrices of the system's state-space representation. In many applications, the controller given by this formula, which is st

This work presents the results of a virtual reality (VR) experiment aiming at investigating how individual driving behaviour is affected by the presence of wildfire smoke. The experiment included a driving simulation task to study the chosen driving speed at different smoke densities and the lateral position of the driven car on the road cross section. During the VR experiment, participants were p

In the attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from steel production, several large industry decarbonization projects have emerged in Europe. The commercialization of low-emission steel technology, however, faces systemic barriers such as a lack of infrastructure and unclear demand for greener steel. As part of its new commitment to climate-neutrality, the European Commission has announced plan

Mate choice in plants is poorly understood, in particular its indirect genetic benefits, but also the direct benefits of avoiding harmful matings. In the herb Collinsia heterophylla, delayed stigma receptivity has been suggested to enhance pollen competition, potentially functioning as a female mate choice trait. Previous studies show that this trait can mitigate the cost of early fertilization ca

Importance: There are limitations in current diagnostic testing approaches for Alzheimer disease (AD). Objective: To examine plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (P-tau217) as a diagnostic biomarker for AD. Design, Setting, and Participants: Three cross-sectional cohorts: an Arizona-based neuropathology cohort (cohort 1), including 34 participants with AD and 47 without AD (dates of enrollme

Individuals with severe self-harm and experiences of lengthy psychiatric admissions often have complex mental health conditions and are at risk of suicide. In this qualitative study, self-harming individuals with >180 days of psychiatric admission over 12 months shared their experiences of Brief Admission (BA), a standardized crisis-management intervention encouraging self-admission and autonomy.