Power quality and modern energy for all.

"Modern energy for all," an internationally supported initiative to connect populations to electricity services, is expected to help reduce poverty-induced vulnerabilities. It has become a primary strategy for meeting sustainable development goals, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. However, when electricity is supplied by a capacity-constrained grid to a resource-constrained population, the service quality can vary both spatially and temporally.

The Effect of Observation versus Microsurgical Excision on Quality of Life in Unilateral Vestibular Schwannoma: A Prospective Study.

With the emergence of three effective management options for vestibular schwannoma and the drastic reduction in mortality rate, the last two decades have seen increasing attention being paid to health-related quality of life. The vast majority of quality of life studies have been retrospective. We prospectively assessed quality of life of vestibular schwannoma patients before and after conservative or microsurgical management.

Illness and exposure to negative life experiences in adolescence: two sides of the same coin? A study of 15-year-olds in Oslo, Norway.

Aim: To investigate associations between negative life experiences and common illnesses among adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study carried out at all lower secondary schools (10 grade) in Oslo. Norway, during 2000 and 2001 (n = 8316 pupils).

The ability of general practitioners to detect mental disorders among primary care patients in a stressful environment: Gaza Strip.

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the detection rate by general practitioners (GPs) of mental disorders in a primary health care setting and relating the findings to selected GP characteristics and the patient sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: The patients were assessed with respect to mental disorders by Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 (HSCL-25), and the GPs were independently asked to fill in the Goldberg checklist II to assess the patient after consultation. The sample consisted of 10 primary health care clinics in the Gaza Strip, which were randomly selected from the five regions that form the Gaza Strip (Northern, Southern region, Gaza City, Middle region, Khan-Younis and Rafah).

Family history of essential hypertension versus obesity as risk factors for hypertension in adolescents.

Family history of hypertension and obesity are both risk factors for hypertension. Hypertension and obesity share several physiopathologic abnormalities and are frequently associated. However, not all obese people are hypertensive.

[Forensic psychiatric examinations of the mentally retarded].

3,343 forensic psychiatric examinations were recorded in Norway from 1980 to 1996. 294 patients were diagnosed as mentally retarded. The annual number of mentally retarded persons increased during the observation period, but the relative percentage remained stable.

[Convicted sexual offenders. The risk of recidivism?].

332 persons, who in 1987 received sanctions for sexual offences, were observed in freedom for five years, or until recidivism at an earlier stage. 82 (24.7%) committed new crimes during the observation period.

[Are life experiences of children significant for the development of somatic disease? A literature review].

This review presents the relationship between serious life events, chronic family difficulties and illness, and focuses on how healthy children cope. Hospitalised children had experienced about twice as many serious life events as children in healthy environments. Known diseases related to stress are eczema, upper respiratory tract infections, asthma, ulcerative colitis, heart disease in adults, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and juvenile diabetes.

[Is the governmental vocational rehabilitation program too ambitious?].

The Norwegian government has stressed the importance of supporting vocational training for clients with health problems in order to secure their active participation in the labour force. On average, 35,000-40,000 people were referred from the National Insurance Scheme to the Directorate of Labour to take part in vocational rehabilitation projects in 1995. The majority of the vocationally handicapped are young.

[Sick women and men with disability pensions. Some reflections].

According to population studies, chronic disease leading to a disability pension is common in the Norwegian population, and has increased during the last 15 years. This trend is partly a consequence of the vast increase in the female work force during the last 20 years. Simultaneously, there has been a strong increase in health facilities and improvement in medical technology.

[Forensic psychiatry in Norway. A review of the period 1980-93].

2,533 persons charged for serious criminal offences during the years 1980-93 were submitted for forensic psychiatric examination. The purpose of the examinations was to decide whether the person, because of his or her mental state at the time of the offence, was liable or not to prosecution. The three most common criminal offences were murder, arson resulting in potential murder and serious cases of sexual offence like paedophilia.

Insulin effect on renal sodium reabsorption in adolescent offspring of essential hypertensive parents.

We previously showed that children and adolescent offspring of patients with essential hypertension have an increased proximal renal sodium reabsorption as measured by lithium fractional excretion. Insulin has been shown to have antinatriuretic properties and to be increased (hyperinsulinemia) in essential hypertension. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of insulin on the increased proximal renal sodium reabsorption previously reported.

Calcium-ATPase and insulin in adolescent offspring of essential hypertensive parents.

A number of abnormalities in calcium homeostasis have been reported in patients with essential hypertension. IN turn, insulin has been shown to influence the activity of the Ca(2+)-ATPase. We have previously shown that normotensive offspring of essential hypertensive individuals have an exaggerated insulin response to a glucose overload.

[Rehabilitation status at a regional social insurance office. Experiences with 103 clients at the Grünerløkka-Sofienberg office].

103 patients, mostly females, on rehabilitation measures mainly because of psychiatric conditions and chronic musculo-skeletal pain syndromes, were investigated with regard to outcome. In general, the patients had a low level of education, only 10% had vocational training, and most were unskilled labourers. Prior to the rehabilitation period they had been certified sick on several occasions.

Hyperinsulinemia in normotensive offspring of hypertensive parents.

Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance have been extensively reported in adult patients with essential hypertension. The aim of this study was to examine serum glucose and insulin levels both in the fasting state and after 0.25 g/kg IV glucose and to relate those findings to the status of intracellular Na+ and red blood cell Na(+)-Li+ countertransport in a population of 21 normolipemic normotensive offspring of hypertensive parents (N-EH) and 13 control children without a history of parental essential hypertension or diabetes mellitus matched for age, body mass index, and pubertal stage.

[Mental retardation and sexual abuse. 65 mentally retarded men submitted to forensic psychiatric examination because of sex offences].

65 mentally impaired men charged with different sexual crimes were submitted to judicial psychiatric examination. 37% of these men had previously stayed in institutions for the mentally impaired, two thirds had worked for a period. Half of the charged men were functionally retarded and the rest were assessed as functioning at an even lower level.

[Sexual relations in therapeutic situations].

Patients who feel sexually violated by their therapists may complain to the health authorities. During recent years there has been an increasing number of such complaints. 15 cases were under investigation at the Directorate of Health in July 1992.

[Sexual child abuse. 221 persons charged with sexual abuse of children examined by forensic psychiatrists].

The number of police reports of sexual abuse of children below the age of 14 increased fourfold from 1980 to 1991. Half of the charges were dismissed by the police. 20% of the charged, predominantly males, were examined by forensic psychiatrists.

Pre- and post-treatment sexual life in testicular cancer patients: a descriptive investigation.

Aspects of sexuality were assessed by questionnaires in 76 testicular cancer patients after orchiectomy before further treatment and, respectively, 6, 12 and 36 months after therapy. Before treatment 11% of the patients reported dissatisfaction with sexual life. About 20% of the patients sometimes experienced reduced libido and erectile difficulties.