The salivary microbiome and oral health status in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B.

Background/purpose: Dysbiosis of oral microbiota has been reported in late stage of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection with cirrhosis. CHB is characterized by the constant virus-induced liver injury which may lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, some patients show normal liver function without antiviral treatment, associating with favourable prognosis.

Clinical trial: An open-label, randomised trial of different re-start strategies after treatment withdrawal in HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B.

Background: Stopping nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) may trigger a beneficial immune response leading to HBsAg loss, but clinical trials on re-start strategies are lacking.

Aim: To assess whether it is beneficial to undergo a prolonged flare after NA cessation.

Methods: One-hundred-and-twenty-seven patients with HBeAg negative, non-cirrhotic CHB with at least 24 months of viral suppression on NA therapy were included.

The cascade of care for patients with chronic hepatitis delta in Southern Stockholm, Sweden for the past 30 years.

Background And Aims: Previous studies have shown suboptimal screening for hepatitis D virus (HDV) among patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). This study presents the cascade of care for HDV infection in a major secondary referral centre in Southern Stockholm, Sweden.

Methods: HBsAg+ve patients attending Karolinska University Hospital (KUH) from 1992 to 2022 were identified.

Exploring prospects of deliberation in intractable natural resource management conflicts.

Deliberative processes are increasingly advocated as means to handle intractable natural resource management (NRM) conflicts. Research shows that disputing actors can deliberate and achieve higher degrees of mutual understanding and working agreements under ideal conditions, but the transferability of these findings to real-world intractable NRM conflicts can be questioned. This paper explores the possibilities of designing and realizing deliberation and its expected outcomes in real-world NRM conflicts.

Why do Mines Fail to Obtain a Social License to Operate?: Insights from the Proposed Kallak Iron Mine (Sweden) and the Prosperity/New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine (Canada).

Opposition to mines endures even in countries with relatively strong environmental assessment processes and regulations. Why proposed mines fail to obtain a social license to operate is analyzed by developing a framework comprised of three concepts-process legitimacy, distributional outcomes, and values compatibility-drawing from the social license to operate, interactive governance, and environmental justice literatures. The framework is applied to understand opposition from local Indigenous people to two mine projects, one in Sweden and the other in British Columbia, Canada.

Persisting Salivary IgG Against SARS-CoV-2 at 9 Months After Mild COVID-19: A Complementary Approach to Population Surveys.

Background: Declining humoral immunity in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and possible reinfection have raised concern. Mucosal immunity, particularly salivary antibodies, may be short lived although long-term studies are lacking.

Methods: Using a multiplex bead-based array platform, we investigated antibodies specific to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins in 256 saliva samples from convalescent patients 1-9 months after symptomatic COVID-19 (n = 74, cohort 1), undiagnosed individuals with self-reported questionnaires (n = 147, cohort 2), and individuals sampled prepandemic (n = 35, cohort 3).

Recommendations for intrapartum fetal monitoring are not followed in low-risk women: A study from two Norwegian birth units.

Objective: International and national intrapartum fetal monitoring guidelines recommend intermittent auscultation in low-risk women, and admission cardiotocography and continuous cardiotocography in high-risk women. The present study aimed to investigate fetal monitoring practices for low- and high-risk women in two hospitals in Norway, and if practice were according to national and international guidelines.

Study Design: To this cross sectional study, data on methods of fetal monitoring and women's risk status were collected from the patient journals of 998 women with intended vaginal birth in 2017 and 2018.

Anti-HCV prevalence and risk factor-based screening for hepatitis C in pregnant women and their partners in Sweden.

Background: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence in Sweden is estimated to be <0.5%, but unclear in pregnant women. The dominating route of transmission is drug use (DU), blood transfusions constituted a risk before 1992.

Prevalence of Viremic hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and HIV infection, and vaccination status among prisoners in Stockholm County.

Background: Identification and knowledge of settings with high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is important when aiming for elimination of HCV. The primary aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of viremic HCV infection among Swedish prisoners. Secondary aims were to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the proportion who have received hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination.

Management of hepatitis B virus infection, updated Swedish guidelines.

Despite access to effective antiviral drugs and vaccines, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major health issue worldwide. HBV is highly infectious and may cause chronic infection, progressive liver damage, hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and death. Early diagnosis, proper management and timing of treatment are crucial.

Exploration of a Marital Typology: Implications for Marital Functioning in a Multi-Ethnic Sample.

Marital conflict is associated with multiple negative outcomes for couples, including marital dissatisfaction and divorce. Little research, however, has examined conflict in Hispanic/Latino couples or its association with marital satisfaction, which creates an unfortunate knowledge gap for clinicians working with diverse client groups. The present study sought to examine both marital conflict and satisfaction using a sample of 231 European American (EA; n = 108) and Hispanic/Latino (H/L; n = 123) couples.

Elastosis perforans serpiginosa related to vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Elastosis perforans serpiginosa (EPS) is a rare skin disease with elimination of connective tissue fibers from dermis to epidermis. The typical presentation shows hyperkeratotic red or skin-colored papules arranged in a circinate pattern. We present a 26-year-old woman with EPS known to have vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Prevalence of chronic hepatitis C virus infection among childhood cancer survivors in Stockholm, Sweden.

Childhood cancer survivors treated before 1992, when blood donor screening for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was introduced, are at risk of transfusion-transmitted HCV infection. A national HCV screening campaign targeting blood transfusion recipients was launched in Sweden in 2007-2010. The aims of this study were to, among adult childhood cancer survivors in Stockholm County, investigate the prevalence of HCV infection, the natural course of infection, treatment outcome and anti-HCV testing frequency before, during and after the screening campaign and finally to actively screen the untested ones.

Parental responsiveness toward GLB children: Impact on mental health two years later.

Few studies have examined parental variables in relation to GLB youth outcomes. This study aimed to establish the reliability and validity of observational codes that examined parental acceptance, emotional support, and ambivalence, and to examine the impact of these parental variables on GLB youth internalizing and externalizing problems, substance use problem severity, and GLB negative identity. Participants included 36 GLB parent-youth dyads at baseline, and out of those, 27 completed the two year follow-up.

Direct acting anti-viral medications for hepatitis C: Clinical trials in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.

Hepatitis C is a global health concern, with important implications in chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to its increased prevalence in this population. Patients with advanced CKD have until recently been excluded from the pivotal direct acting anti-viral (DAA) trials, which have demonstrated high virological cure numbers. Sofosbuvir-free DAAs dasabuvir, ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir with or without ribavirin, and elbasvir/grazoprevir are well-tolerated in patients with genotype 1 and 4 CHC with CKD 4 or 5 (including HD), with virologic cure rates of above 90%, in both single-arm and placebo-controlled studies.

Quality of social interaction in foster dyads at child age 2 and 3 years.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the quality of social interaction between 60 foster parents and their foster children compared to a group of 55 non-foster families at 2 (T1) and again at 3 (T2) years of age. Video observations were used to investigate child-parent interaction at both time-points. "This is My Baby" interview was administered to investigate foster parents' commitment at T1.

Homozygosity for CREB3L1 premature stop codon in first case of recessive osteogenesis imperfecta associated with OASIS-deficiency to survive infancy.

Background: Mutations of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress transducer OASIS (encoded by CREB3L1), cause severe recessive osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) not compatible with surviving the neonatal period, as has been shown in two unrelated families through a whole gene deletion vs. a qualitative alteration of OASIS. Heterozygous carriers in the described families have exhibited a mild phenotype.

Prevalence and outcome of post-transfusion hepatitis C acquired at different ages and detected in look-back screening.

Objectives: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Sweden is estimated to 0.5%. Before 1992, blood transfusion posed a risk of HCV transmission.

Evaluation of the proliferation marker Ki-67 in gliomas: Interobserver variability and digital quantification.

Background: The Ki-67 Labelling Index (LI) is used as an ancillary tool in glioma diagnostics. Interobserver variability has been reported and no precise guidelines are available. Nor is it known whether novel digital approaches would be an advantage.

[Sweet syndrome manifestations].

Sweet syndrome (SS) exists as classical, malignancy-associated, drug-induced and as the new variants: giant cellulitis-like SS and neutrophilic dermatosis of the hands. SS exhibits different morphologies. Skin manifestations are usually accompanied by fever and neutrocytosis.

Two patients with localised hyperhidrosis of the hand based on functional and structural abnormalities of sweat glands.

A 14-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman presented with localised hyperhidrosis on the dorsal hand and wrist, respectively, provoked by different stimuli such as physical activity and minor trauma to the skin. The skin was seemingly normal in both patients where an iodine-starch test revealed a well-demarcated area of hyperhidrosis. Following histopathological examination, the diagnosis was unilateral localised hyperhidrosis in both cases; one with normal histology and one with a nevus sudoriferous.

Higher risk of renal disease in chronic hepatitis C patients: Antiviral therapy survival benefit in patients on hemodialysis.

Background & Aims: Several studies have shown that chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection has a negative impact on kidney function, as well as survival, in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or on hemodialysis. The aim of this nationwide registry study was to describe renal disease in Swedish patients with CHC.

Methods: In the present study, patients were identified for CHC (B18.