Clinical skills examination as part of the Swedish proficiency test of dentists educated outside of the EU/EEA.

Introduction: The increase in the migration of dentists educated outside the EU/EEA calls for the sharing of information and evaluation of recognition processes within countries in the EU. In 2017, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare implemented the Proficiency test, a recognition process for dentists who have completed an education programme outside the EU/EEA. The Proficiency test consists of a theoretical and an integrated clinical skills examination, followed by a 6-month clinical practice.

Are we passing the acceptable? Standard setting of theoretical proficiency tests for foreign-trained dentists.

Introduction: Dentists educated outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland have the option to undergo proficiency testing to practice dentistry in Sweden. A standardised evidence-based procedure for proficiency tests is crucial. This paper explores if the standard setting of the theoretical examination in the Swedish proficiency test for foreign dentists is fit to differentiate candidates who meet the acceptable standard for licensure from those who do not, by analysis of inter-rater reliability and credibility of Angoff panels and the test's ability to differentiate candidates regarding learning outcomes and dental disciplines.

Ecological speciation in European whitefish is driven by a large-gaped predator.

Lake-dwelling fish that form species pairs/flocks characterized by body size divergence are important model systems for speciation research. Although several sources of divergent selection have been identified in these systems, their importance for driving the speciation process remains elusive. A major problem is that in retrospect, we cannot distinguish selection pressures that initiated divergence from those acting later in the process.

Holocene extinctions of a top predator-Effects of time, habitat area and habitat subdivision.

Loss of habitat and changes in the spatial configuration of habitats are major drivers of species extinctions, but the responses to these drivers differ between organisms. To advance theory on how extinction risk from different types of habitat alteration relates to species-specific traits, there is a need for studies of the long-term extinction dynamic of individual species. The goal of this study was to quantify how habitat area and the spatial configuration of habitats affect extinction rate of an aquatic top predator, the northern pike Esox lucius L.

A way forward with eco evo devo: an extended theory of resource polymorphism with postglacial fishes as model systems.

A major goal of evolutionary science is to understand how biological diversity is generated and altered. Despite considerable advances, we still have limited insight into how phenotypic variation arises and is sorted by natural selection. Here we argue that an integrated view, which merges ecology, evolution and developmental biology (eco evo devo) on an equal footing, is needed to understand the multifaceted role of the environment in simultaneously determining the development of the phenotype and the nature of the selective environment, and how organisms in turn affect the environment through eco evo and eco devo feedbacks.

Biotic and abiotic drivers of species loss rate in isolated lakes.

Today, anthropogenic impacts are causing a serious crisis for global biodiversity, with rates of extinction increasing at an unprecedented rate. Extinctions typically occur after a certain delay, and understanding the mechanisms causing delays is a key challenge for both fundamental and applied perspectives. Here, we make use of natural experiments, the isolation of lakes by land uplift in Northern Scandinavia, to examine how yearly extinction rates are affected by time since isolation and a range of abiotic and biotic factors.

Environmental DNA Time Series in Ecology.

Ecological communities change in time and space, but long-term dynamics at the century-to-millennia scale are poorly documented due to lack of relevant data sets. Nevertheless, understanding long-term dynamics is important for explaining present-day biodiversity patterns and placing conservation goals in a historical context. Here, we use recent examples and new perspectives to highlight how environmental DNA (eDNA) is starting to provide a powerful new source of temporal data for research questions that have so far been overlooked, by helping to resolve the ecological dynamics of populations, communities, and ecosystems over hundreds to thousands of years.

Effects of warming on predator-prey interactions - a resource-based approach and a theoretical synthesis.

We theoretically explore consequences of warming for predator-prey dynamics, broadening previous approaches in three ways: we include beyond-optimal temperatures, predators may have a type III functional response, and prey carrying capacity depends on explicitly modelled resources. Several robust patterns arise. The relationship between prey carrying capacity and temperature can range from near-independence to monotonically declining/increasing to hump-shaped.

Weighted species richness outperforms species richness as predictor of biotic resistance.

The species richness hypothesis, which predicts that species-rich communities should be better at resisting invasions than species-poor communities, has been empirically tested many times and is often poorly supported. In this study, we contrast the species richness hypothesis with four alternative hypotheses with the aim of finding better descriptors of invasion resistance. These alternative hypotheses state that resistance to invasions is determined by abiotic conditions, community saturation (i.

Strong invaders are strong defenders - implications for the resistance of invaded communities.

Many ecosystems receive a steady stream of non-native species. How biotic resistance develops over time in these ecosystems will depend on how established invaders contribute to subsequent resistance. If invasion success and defence capacity (i.

The association between root canal filling and treatment outcome.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the technical quality of endodontic treatment per- formed by postgraduate students in Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden during the years (2008-2011) and to evaluate the treatment outcome. In addition, possible influencing factors to treatment outcome were analyzed. All maxillary first molars that received endo- dontic treatment between 2008 and 2011 were included in the study.

Mechanisms by Which Phenotypic Plasticity Affects Adaptive Divergence and Ecological Speciation.

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of one genotype to produce different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions. Several conceptual models emphasize the role of plasticity in promoting reproductive isolation and, ultimately, speciation in populations that forage on two or more resources. These models predict that plasticity plays a critical role in the early stages of speciation, prior to genetic divergence, by facilitating fast phenotypic divergence.

Space race functional responses.

We derive functional responses under the assumption that predators and prey are engaged in a space race in which prey avoid patches with many predators and predators avoid patches with few or no prey. The resulting functional response models have a simple structure and include functions describing how the emigration of prey and predators depend on interspecific densities. As such, they provide a link between dispersal behaviours and community dynamics.

Temperature dependence of predation depends on the relative performance of predators and prey.

The temperature dependence of predation rates is a key issue for understanding and predicting the responses of ecosystems to climate change. Using a simple mechanistic model, we demonstrate that differences in the relative performances of predator and prey can cause strong threshold effects in the temperature dependence of attack rates. Empirical data on the attack rate of northern pike (Esox lucius) feeding on brown trout (Salmo trutta) confirm this result.

Assessing anthropogenic impact on boreal lakes with historical fish species distribution data and hydrogeochemical modeling.

Quantifying the effects of human activity on the natural environment is dependent on credible estimates of reference conditions to define the state of the environment before the onset of adverse human impacts. In Europe, emission controls that aimed at restoring ecological status were based on hindcasts from process-based models or paleolimnological reconstructions. For instance, 1860 is used in Europe as the target for restoration from acidification concerning biological and chemical parameters.

Functional ATP-binding cassette drug efflux transporters in isolated human and rat hepatocytes significantly affect assessment of drug disposition.

Freshly isolated hepatocytes are considered the gold standard for in vitro studies of hepatic drug disposition. To ensure a reliable supply of cells, cryopreserved human hepatocytes are often used. ABC-superfamily drug efflux transporters are key elements in hepatic drug disposition.

Cytochrome p450 inhibitory properties of common efflux transporter inhibitors.

Drug transporter inhibitors are important tools to elucidate the contribution of transporters to drug disposition both in vitro and in vivo. These inhibitors are often unselective and affect several transporters as well as drug metabolizing enzymes, which can make experimental results difficult to interpret with confidence. We therefore tested 14 commonly used P-glycoprotein (P-gp), breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), and multidrug-resistance associated protein (MRP) inhibitors as inhibitors of cytochrome P450 (P450) enzyme activities using recombinant enzymes.

Fish introductions reveal the temperature dependence of species interactions.

A major area of current research is to understand how climate change will impact species interactions and ultimately biodiversity. A variety of environmental conditions are rapidly changing owing to climate warming, and these conditions often affect both the strength and outcome of species interactions. We used fish distributions and replicated fish introductions to investigate environmental conditions influencing the coexistence of two fishes in Swedish lakes: brown trout (Salmo trutta) and pike (Esox lucius).

Population-level consequences of heterospecific density-dependent movements in predator-prey systems.

In this paper we elucidate how small-scale movements, such as those associated with searching for food and avoiding predators, affect the stability of predator-prey dynamics. We investigate an individual-based Lotka-Volterra model with density-dependent movement, in which the predator and prey populations live in a very large number of coupled patches. The rates at which individuals leave patches depend on the local densities of heterospecifics, giving rise to one reaction norm for each of the two species.

Health-related quality of life and symptoms in patients with experiences of health problems related to dental restorative materials.

Objectives: The question of health risks associated with dental materials, especially dental amalgam, has long been controversial and remains unresolved. For the past 10 years, people in Sweden with perceived adverse reactions to dental restorative materials have been entitled to apply to their local county council for subsidized replacement of restorative materials. The aim of the study was to investigate symptoms, perceived health changes over time and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in this population, comprising subjects with subjective health impairment, allegedly because of dental materials.

Future distribution of Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus in Sweden under climate change: effects of temperature, lake size and species interactions.

Novel communities will be formed as species with a variety of dispersal abilities and environmental tolerances respond individually to climate change. Thus, models projecting future species distributions must account for species interactions and differential dispersal abilities. We developed a species distribution model for Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus, a freshwater fish that is sensitive both to warm temperatures and to species interactions.

Functional responses and scaling in predator-prey interactions of marine fishes: contemporary issues and emerging concepts.

Predator-prey interactions are a primary structuring force vital to the resilience of marine communities and sustainability of the world's oceans. Human influences on marine ecosystems mediate changes in species interactions. This generality is evinced by the cascading effects of overharvesting top predators on the structure and function of marine ecosystems.

Morphological and genetic divergence in Swedish postglacial stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) populations.

Background: An important objective of evolutionary biology is to understand the processes that govern phenotypic variation in natural populations. We assessed patterns of morphological and genetic divergence among coastal and inland lake populations of nine-spined stickleback in northern Sweden. Coastal populations are either from the Baltic coast (n = 5) or from nearby coastal lakes (n = 3) that became isolated from the Baltic Sea (< 100 years before present, ybp).

Temperature dependence of the functional response.

The Arrhenius equation has emerged as the favoured model for describing the temperature dependence of consumption in predator-prey models. To examine the relevance of this equation, we undertook a meta-analysis of published relationships between functional response parameters and temperature. We show that, when plotted in lin-log space, temperature dependence of both attack rate and maximal ingestion rate exhibits a hump-shaped relationship and not a linear one as predicted by the Arrhenius equation.

Application of laser technology for removal of caries: a systematic review of controlled clinical trials.

Objective: To evaluate the scientific evidence regarding laser technology for removal of carious tissue.

Material And Methods: A search for literature on the effect of treatment and on economic aspects of laser technology identified 23 papers. No relevant studies on economic aspects were found.