Day activity centres - work for people with intellectual disabilities: a norwegian perspective.

Background: Although there is a broad political consensus in Norway that the government should uphold the principles of "full employment" and "work for all", the majority of people with intellectual disabilities in Norway spend their days in segregated work arrangements or at day activity centres.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to explore what constitutes work and work roles for people with intellectual disabilities and severely limited verbal communication abilities who attend a day activity centre.

Method: A qualitative ethnographic research design was adopted, and the data were gathered through observing the participants and through conducting conversational interviews with the staff members and the participants with intellectual disabilities.

Immune cells in peripheral lymph and skin of patients with obstructive lymphedema.

Lymph stasis in the extremities caused by interruption of lymphatics or insufficient lymph propulsion is often complicated by recurrent skin infections. To shed further light on this subject, we studied the phenotypical and functional characteristics of cells in peripheral lymph and skin of patients with obstructive lymphedema. Compared with controls, patients with secondary lymphedema displayed a high concentration of lymphocytes and erythrocytes in peripheral lymph, sometimes increased numbers of B cells, increased density of Langerhans cells in the epidermis and occasionally in the skin papillary layer, strong expression of class II antigens on skin endothelial cells and mononuclear infiltration around blood vessels, and margination of granulocytes in skin blood vessels.