BACKGROUND Madagascar is the fourth biggest island and one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 75 % of the 24 million inhabitants living under poverty line. The health care system in the country is under development, as well as the field of rehabilitation services and the area of prosthetic and orthotic services in specific. There is very limited published research concerning reh

To understand what is required to improve prosthetic and orthotic provision and services for persons with disabilities in low-income countries, it is of interest to investigate their well-being in terms of quality of life, access to mobility, education, health, rehabilitation, work and employment and their experiences of attitudes in the society. Data was collected using WHOQOL questionnaires meas

Although previous studies have shown that image production and visibility are central aspects of knowledge work, the assumption has been that this aspect of work is focused externally to support the organizational image and or uphold relationships with clients. In contrast, this paper explores the politics of knowledge work internally by focusing on how entrepreneurial employees in innovative know

Plasma leptin/adiponectin ratio (LAR) is negatively associated with insulin sensitivity indexes. High-molecular-weight adiponectin (HMWA) was proposed as the most biologically active form of this insulin-sensitizing adipokine. There are no studies assessing the relative merits of leptin/HMWA ratio over LAR as a biomarker of systemic insulin sensitivity. A standard 2-hour oral glucose tolerance tes

The price of housing in Sweden has, over the past couple of decades, increased at a much faster rate than salaries. Politicians have tried to steer the housing market towards the provision of affordable housing, but have not succeeded. After 1993, the responsibility for regulating the price of housing transferred to the market, which is more interested in building for high-income earners. Despite

Ionotropic glutamate receptors are tetrameric ligand gated ion channels that mediate in ux and ef ux of metal ions in response to glutamate. Positive allosteric modulators of the ionotropic glutamate receptor 2 (GluA2) are promising lead compounds for drugs against cognitive disorders. These compounds bind within the dimeric interface formed by the receptor ligand binding domains (LBDs) attenuatin

The field flatness and the layout of the stabilization system in a drift tube linac are strongly dependent on the manufacturing errors that affect the local resonant frequency. In this paper a methodology is presented to study, firstly, the sensitivityof the resonant frequency and of the field flatness to each geometrical parameter of the drift tubes; then a set of tolerances for each parameter is

Making an accurate Radio Frequency, RF, design of any accelerating structure is fundamental to ensure that electromagnetic and beam dynamics requirements will be achieved. This is essential for the most complicated accelerating structureslike the Drift Tube Linac, DTL; in this case a meticulous design facilitates the RF commissioning too. In this paper the influence of the interfaces and of the fi

Background. The effects of different practices on fault distributions in evolving complex software systems is not fully understood. Software reuse and unit verification are prac- tices used to improve system reliability by minimising the number of late faults. Reused software benefits from already being verified while unit verification aims to find faults early.Aims. We want to study effects of so

Controlled experiments, also called A/B tests or split tests, are used in software engineering to improve products by evaluating variants with user data. By parameterizing software systems, multivariate experiments can be performed automatically and in large scale, in this way, controlled experimentation is formulated as an optimization problem. Using genetic algorithms for automated experimentati

Background: Fear of falling is common in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and is associated with an increased risk for future falls, activity limitations and a reduced quality of life. The Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) assesses fear of falling conceptualized as concerns about falling. The original FES-I has good psychometric properties in people with PD, but whether this applies a

Background: Epidemiological studies of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) show varying figures on prevalence and incidence, and data on the long-term prognosis are scarce. Objective To investigate the epidemiology, long-term prognosis and causes of death in a Swedish AIH cohort. Material and methods: Data collected from 634 AIH patients were matched to the Cause of Death Registry, and survival analyses we

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) consists of two syndromes, one autoantibody-positive and one autoantibody-negative. Existing data on the relation between age of onset and prevalence of autoantibodies were conflicting. Therefore this multicohort study assessed the age of onset in relation to the presence of autoantibodies. The association with characteristics of the anti-citrullinated protein

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) often have poor health and lack access to health care. The aim of this study was to examine whether PWID engage in self-treatment through nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU). We describe the prevalence and features of self-reported physical pain and its association with NMPOU. Methods: PWID (N = 702) in San Francisco, California (age 18+) were recr

Background and purpose — Pediatric fracture incidence may not be stable. We describe recent pediatric fracture epidemiology and etiology and compare this to earlier data. Patients and methods — The city of Malmö (population 271,271 in 2005) in Sweden is served by 1 hospital. Using the hospital diagnosis registry, medical charts, and the radiographic archive, we identified fractures in individuals

Aim: To investigate how day center attendees with psychiatric disabilities perceived their worker role and the importance of current work situation and personal factors in that respect. Methods: Two-hundred attendees completed the Worker Role Self-assessment and questionnaires addressing possible predictors of the worker role: current employment situation, satisfaction with that situation, and a p

Background: During rectal cancer surgery the bowel may contain viable, exfoliated cancer cells, a potential source for local recurrence (LR). The amount and viability of these cells can be reduced using intraoperative rectal washout, a procedure that reduces the LR risk after anterior resection. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of washout on oncological outcome when performed in Har