Objective A pay-for-performance (P4P) programme for primary care was introduced in 2011 by a Swedish county (with 1.6 million inhabitants). Effects on register entry practice and comparability of data for patients with diabetes mellitus were assessed. Design and setting Observational study analysing short-term outcomes before and after introduction of a P4P programme in the study county as compare

To investigate and describe the content, dissemination and effects of case management interventions for informal caregivers of older adults, focusing on outcomes related to patients' activities of daily living, nutrition assessment, pain measurement, depression, length of stay and to caregivers' satisfaction and difficulties.

We examined the association between perceived environmental barriers to outdoor mobility and loneliness among community-dwelling older people. In addition, we studied whether walking difficulties and autonomy in participation outdoors affected this association.

The focus of operations planning and control for manufacturing firms has expanded successively over the last 50 years. New principles, techniques, and systems have emerged that have allowed for new approaches. The perspective for planning and control has expanded from internal production operations to supply chain operations linking suppliers, manufacturers, and customers. In this paper, we take a

Objective. We evaluated in a proof-of-concept double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial the efficacy and safety of intra-articular sprifermin (recombinant human fibroblast growth factor 18) in patients with symptomatic knee OA. Methods. Sprifermin was evaluated as intra-articular injection at 10, 30, and 100μg. Primary efficacy endpoint was change in central medial femorotibial compartment

In 2012 we celebrate the 125th anniversary of the unique molecule Troger's base (TB), first synthesized by Julius Troger in 1887. Being a V-shaped C2-symmetric chiral molecule, it possesses many interesting features. The TB field was reopened in 1985, when Craig S. Wilcox published the first crystallographic study of TB and described the synthesis and potential applications of TB analogues in supr

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death in children worldwide. Emerging evidence suggests that alterations in mitochondrial function are critical components of secondary injury cascade initiated by TBI that propogates neurodegeneration and limits neuroregeneration. Unfortunately, there is very little known about the cerebral mitochondrial bioenergetic response from the i

There are conflicting reports as to whether malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) have worse prognosis than non-NF1 MPNST patients. Large clinical studies to address this problem are lacking due to the rareness of MPNST. We have performed meta-analyses testing the effect of NF1 status on MPNST survival based on publications from the last 50 ye

Background. Although there are putative mechanistic links between obesity and autoimmune diseases, obesity is not considered a risk factor for most autoimmune diseases. Methods. Using the nation-wide Hospital Discharge Register we defined a cohort of 29,665 patients hospitalized for obesity since year 1964. The patients were followed for hospitalization for any of 34 autoimmune or related conditio

The polychaete annelid Kingnites diamondi, a new paulinitid genus and species, is described from the Silurian of Baltoscandia. Its large maxillae differ morphologically from those of all other known paulinitids, particularly in being very elongate and having conspicuous myocoele openings and posterior portions of the first maxillae (MI). Albeit rare, this polychaete taxon is highly characteristic

Glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has demonstrated robust effects on dopamine (DA) neuron function and survival. A post-translational processing model of the human GDNF proprotein theorizes the formation of smaller, amidated peptide(s) from the proregion that exhibit neurobiological function, including an 11-amino-acid peptide named dopamine neuron stimulating peptide-11 (DNSP-11)

This article presents a water balance equation for predicting leachate generation in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills located in semi-arid areas, using the Akaider landfill in Jordan as an example. HYDRUS-2D/3D software was used to model the effect of co-disposal of wastewater into the landfill on the leachate production rates and for comparison with the results of the simulation of the propo

The ATLAS experiment at the LHC has measured the Higgs boson couplings and mass, and searched for invisible Higgs boson decays, using multiple production and decay channels with up to 4.7 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root S = 7 TeV and 20.3 fb(-1) at root s = 8 TeV. In the current study, the measured production and decay rates of the observed Higgs boson in the gamma gamma, ZZ, WW, Z gamma, bb,

Inconspicuous consumption, the habitual use of resources in daily routines, poses a challenge to sustainable consumption. For example, laundry is often the most environmentally demanding stage of clothing’s life cycle, consuming significant quantities of water, energy and chemicals. Laundry thus provides a prime example of inconspicuous consumption, from which to consider sustainability transition

A total of 308,036 women were selected from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study to evaluate the association between tobacco smoking and the risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of grade 3 (CIN3)/carcinoma in situ (CIS) and invasive cervical cancer (ICC). At baseline, participants completed a questionnaire and provided blood samples. During a mean fol

Helianthemum nummularium (L.) Mill. has two subspecies in southern Scandinavia, which differ in an indumentum character that is inherited as a Mendelian gene with two alleles. The dominant allele is the genetic basis for the key character of subsp. obscurum (absence of a dense felt of stellate hairs on the abaxial surface of the leaf), whereas the recessive allele is the genetic basis for the key

Electricity spot prices are characterized by sudden large movements, followed a few days later by an equally large movement in the opposite direction. These phenomena are called spikes (upward movements) and drops (downward movements). Recent research has suggested that the dynamics of the electricity spot prices can be accurately described by hidden Markov Regime Switching (MRS) models. Regime sw

Pollen and sediment stratigraphic analyses of a transect of core sequences are used to reconstruct Holocene lake-level changes in Lake Igelsjon, southern Sweden. The pattern of changes seen in the records is related to climatic/hydrological changes and agrees principally with the pattern characteristically found in lakes in southern Sweden. However, compared with an earlier study based on isotopic

OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is less common among men than women, and sex hormones have been suggested to play a part in the pathogenesis. Lower levels of testosterone have been demonstrated in men with RA, but it is not known if these changes precede the disease. METHODS: In a nested case-control study, using information and blood samples from a population-based health survey, we identif