DepActive: study protocol for a randomised controlled multicentre trial of telephone-delivered behavioural activation for the treatment of depression in older adults in primary care.

Background: Depression is common in older adults and is related to reduced quality of life and functional ability as well as increased mortality and morbidity. Current guidelines recommend psychological treatments for the treatment of depression in adults. Studies show that about 30% of older adults with depression in Sweden receive pharmacological treatment and about 3% receive psychological treatment.

Spleen volume is independently associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver volume and liver fibrosis.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can lead to irreversible liver damage manifesting in systemic effects (e.g., elevated portal vein pressure and splenomegaly) with increased risk of deadly outcomes.

From risk communication about asymptomatic atherosclerosis to cognitive and emotional reactions and lifestyle modification.

Background: Non-adherence in the general population to preventive guidelines on cardiovascular disease calls for an interdisciplinary approach acknowledging psychological factors of relevance for risk communication and lifestyle modification. Evidence is building up regarding the advantage of sharing arterial imaging evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis with asymptomatic individuals, but there is limited understanding of how this relates to mechanisms of importance for behavioural change. Longitudinal studies on associations between patients' reactions and lifestyle modification are missing.

Sex differences in patients' recovery following an acute Achilles tendon rupture - a large cohort study.

Introduction: The incidence of Achilles tendon ruptures (ATR) has increased over the past few decades. Treatment may be individualised based upon multiple factors including age, pre-injury activity level and the separation of the ruptured tendon ends. Several studies indicate that women may have a poorer self-reported and clinical outcome compared with men, but the number of women in these studies is often small due to the different incidence of ATR between the genders.

CCR3 deficiency is associated with increased osteoclast activity and reduced cortical bone volume in adult male mice.

Increasing evidence emphasizes the importance of chemokines and chemokine receptors as regulators of bone remodeling. The C-C chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3) is dramatically upregulated during osteoclastogenesis, but the role of CCR3 in osteoclast formation and bone remodeling in adult mice is unknown. Herein, we used bone marrow macrophages derived from adult male CCR3-proficient and CCR3-deficient mice to study the role of CCR3 in osteoclast formation and activity.

Sitting, standing and moving during work and leisure among male and female office workers of different age: a compositional data analysis.

Background: Gendered patterns of physical activity behaviours may help explaining health inequalities between men and women. However, evidence on such patterns in the working population is sparse. This study aimed at documenting and comparing compositions of sitting, standing and moving at work and during leisure among male and female office workers of different age.

Cognitive fatigue in relation to depressive symptoms after treatment for childhood cancer.

Background: Cognitive fatigue after childhood cancer is frequently overlooked despite guidelines recommending follow-up, and might be mistaken for depression due to overlapping symptoms. Our objectives were: 1) to examine ratings of fatigue in survivors of paediatric brain tumours (BT) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) compared to healthy controls, 2) to examine the relationship between symptoms of depression and cognitive fatigue, and 3) to evaluate parent-child concordance in ratings of cognitive fatigue.

Methods: Survivors of BT (n = 30), survivors of ALL (n = 30), and healthy controls (n = 60) aged 8-18 years completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Multidimensional Fatigue Scale and the Beck Youth Inventories.

Evaluation of inter-departmental variability of ejection fraction and cardiac volumes in myocardial perfusion scintigraphy using simulated data.

Background: Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) is a clinically useful noninvasive imaging modality for diagnosing patients with suspected coronary artery disease. By utilizing gated MPS, the end diastolic volume (EDV) and end systolic volume (ESV) can be measured and the ejection fraction (EF) calculated, which gives incremental prognostic value compared with assessment of perfusion only. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inter-departmental variability of EF, ESV, and EDV during gated MPS in Sweden.

Objectively measured physical activity in two-year-old children - levels, patterns and correlates.

Background: The aim was to describe levels, patterns and correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior in a sample of Swedish children, two years of age, with normal weight, overweight and obese parents.

Methods: Data from 123 children, 37 with normal-weight parents and 86 with overweight/obese parents, enrolled in the Early Stockholm Obesity Prevention Project study was used. Children wore an Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer for seven days.

Area of ischemia assessed by physicians and software packages from myocardial perfusion scintigrams.

Background: The European Society of Cardiology recommends that patients with >10% area of ischemia should receive revascularization. We investigated inter-observer variability for the extent of ischemic defects reported by different physicians and by different software tools, and if inter-observer variability was reduced when the physicians were provided with a computerized suggestion of the defects.

Methods: Twenty-five myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) patients who were regarded as ischemic according to the final report were included.

Effects of indigestible carbohydrates in barley on glucose metabolism, appetite and voluntary food intake over 16 h in healthy adults.

Background: Recent knowledge in animals suggests that gut microbial metabolism may affect host metabolism, including appetite regulating hormones. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential effects of a whole grain barley kernel product, rich in intrinsic indigestible carbohydrates (dietary fibre and resistant starch), on markers of metabolism and appetite regulation in healthy subjects.

Methods: Boiled barley kernels (BK) or white wheat bread (WWB; reference) were provided as late evening meals to 19 young adults in random order using a cross-over design.

When is reacquisition necessary due to high extra-cardiac uptake in myocardial perfusion scintigraphy?

Background: Technetium-labeled agents, which are most often used for assessing myocardial perfusion in myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS), are cleared by the liver and excreted by the biliary system. Spillover from extra-cardiac activity into the myocardium, especially the inferior wall, might conceal defects and lower the diagnostic accuracy of the study. The objective was to determine rules of thumb for when reacquisition is useful due to high extra-cardiac uptake, i.

Nuclear medicine technologists are able to accurately determine when a myocardial perfusion rest study is necessary.

Background: In myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS), typically a stress and a rest study is performed. If the stress study is considered normal, there is no need for a subsequent rest study. The aim of the study was to determine whether nuclear medicine technologists are able to assess the necessity of a rest study.

The use of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) among personnel and students in health care: a review.

Background: Health care personnel need access to updated information anywhere and at any time, and a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) has the potential to meet these requirements. A PDA is a mobile tool which has been employed widely for various purposes in health care practice, and the level of its use is expected to increase. Loaded with suitable functions and software applications, a PDA might qualify as the tool that personnel and students in health care need.

The DNA vaccine vector pcDNA3 induces IFN-alpha production in pigs.

The cytokine inducing capacity of the vaccine vector pcDNA3, a methylated form of the plasmid, and pcDNA3 encoding porcine interleukin (IL)-6 or granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was studied in pigs, using a model with tissue chambers implanted subcutaneously. The production of interferon (IFN)-alpha, IFN-gamma, IL-6 and GM-CSF was studied at local (tissue chamber fluid (TCF)) and systemic (serum) levels during 3 days post-injection. All forms of the plasmid, except the methylated, induced a transient local production of IFN-alpha but no plasmid-induced production of IFN-gamma, GM-CSF or IL-6 could be detected after injection of the plasmids.

Effects of an experimental infection with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae on the interferon-alpha and interleukin-6 producing capacity of porcine peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with bacteria, virus or plasmid DNA.

The effect of a bacterial infection on interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) production by porcine cells was studied in specific pathogen-free (SPF) pigs, infected intranasally with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 2. Three experimental groups of five pigs were used: infected non-treated pigs, infected pigs that were treated with enrofloxacin at disease onset, and non-infected, non-treated control pigs. Blood samples were collected from all pigs on the day of infection and on days 1, 4, 7, 13 and 17 post-infection.