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Biomedical subjects

M Larsson

Publications and source records attributed to M Larsson.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Quality of care from the elderly person's perspective: subjective importance and perceived reality.

The aim of this study was to carry out a theoretically-based survey of elderly persons' perceptions of quality of care, in terms of their evaluations of actual care conditions, as well as the subjective importance they ascribe to these. The sample consisted of 428 elderly (> or = 60 years) persons, in four different care environments: a geriatric department (N = 51); persons receiving home nursing (N = 111); nursing homes (N = 111); and service homes (N = 154) in two Swedish cities. Data were collected by way of personal interviews, structured from the questionnaire, Quality from the Patients' Perspective (QPP). The QPP is theory-based and consists of 40 items covering 17 factors. Each item was evaluated in two ways by the respondent: assessment of perceived reality, and evaluation of subjective importance (Likert scales). The results show that personal characteristics, such as age, sex, and self-rated health, had a limited effect on reports of what were regarded as highly important care characteristics, as well as on ratings of actual care conditions. Psychological well-being was strongly related to perceived reality ratings: a favorable well-being covaried with favorable ratings and vice versa. Considerable differences were noted in both types of ratings when the four types of care environments were compared. On the subjective importance scales, persons living in service homes reported lower scores, particularly on the scales designed to measure the medical-technical competence of the caregivers. On the perceived reality scales, the participants in service homes and the geriatric department scored lower.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1995

Discontinuous formation and desorption of clusters during particles adsorption at surfaces.

A theoretical model was derived to describe the discontinuous formation and desorption of clusters during particle adsorption at surfaces. Two steps were investigated: (1) time-dependent adsorption, where we found that the initial slope and the limiting magnitude of an adsorption isotherm depend on the clusters' distribution. A higher magnitude of both the adsorption and desorption rates appear to contract the time scale and hence increase the initial slope. Decreasing the geometrical parameter, q, which represents the shape of an adsorbed cluster, enhances the growth of large clusters on the surface. (2) A concentration dependence model shows that the number of adsorbed molecules increases with increases in the value of n (nucleation capacity). Furthermore, higher rates of adsorption provide steeper initial slopes (higher affinity of, molecules to surface). Decreasing q from 2 to 1, i.e. from a circular to a linear cluster formation, slightly decreases the magnitude of the isotherms.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

Mobilization of annexin V during the uptake of DNP-albumin by human dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells play a crucial role in antigen presentation in various tissues. The endocytic capacity of these cells has been regarded as minimal, but recent work on dendritic cells from mouse spleen has disclosed that the fluid-phase traffic through late endosomes is as active in dendritic cells as in other antigen-presenting cell types. We show that cultured human dendritic cells express the annexins I, III, IV, V and VI, as detected by immunofluorescence staining. The annexins are cytosolic Ca(2+)-dependent proteins with the ability to promote vesicle aggregation and membrane fusion through their capacity to bind to membrane phospholipids. Annexin I and VI appeared to outline the cytoskeleton and the plasma membrane in cultured human dendritic cells. Studies using confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that during the endocytosis of fluorescent dinitrophenyl-conjugated albumin by dendritic cells, there was a redistribution of annexin V which was found to colocalize with vesicles containing dinitrophenyl-FITC-conjugated albumin.

Albumins↗
PubMed1995

Iron deficiency among pregnant Pakistanis in Norway and the content of phytic acid in their diet.

BACKGROUND: To test the hypothesis that iron deficiency is more common among pregnant Pakistani than pregnant Norwegian women in Oslo; and to determine whether differences in the diet can explain some of the differences in stored iron. METHODS: A cross sectional study in the 18th week of pregnancy. Thirty-eight Pakistani women and 38 Norwegian women referred to routine ultrasound examination at Aker and Ullevål Hospitals in Oslo participated. Analysis was undertaken of phytate (inositol hexaphosphate) and its degradation products in bread and chapatti. RESULTS: Twenty-six (68%) of the Pakistani and six (17%) of the Norwegian women had ferritin levels below 12 micrograms/l and a highly significant difference in serum ferritin was found between the groups (p < 0.001). Only one of the Pakistani and seven of the Norwegian women were supplemented with iron and there were no significant differences in the dietary intake of hem iron, non-hem iron, organic fiber, tea, ascorbic acid, meat or cereals. The content of inositol hexaphosphate (phytate) and inositol pentaphosphate, well known inhibitors of iron absorption, were measured in bread and chapatti and the estimated dietary intake was much higher in the Pakistani group, mean (95% CI) was 1175 mumol/day (933-1417) and 507 mumol/day (417-597) respectively, p < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Iron deficiency seems to be far more common among pregnant Pakistanis in Norway than among pregnant Norwegians. We speculate that the main reasons for this are a combination of a higher parity and a less common use of iron supplementation in pregnancy in the Pakistani group, and a higher content of phytate in the Pakistani diet.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Conjugation of synthetic peptides to carrier iscoms: factors affecting the immunogenicity of the conjugate.

This study was designed to explore optimal conditions for the conjugation of a synthetic peptide to preformed influenza virus iscoms using MHS (maleimidohexanoyl-N-hydroxy-succinimide ester) as coupling agent. The peptide used in this study comprised amino acids 122-138 of porcine growth hormone (pGH). Different ratios of peptide to carrier iscoms were tested and the resulting conjugates were analysed for composition, antigenicity and immunogenicity. The problem of low solubility and poor immunogenicity of high-density peptide conjugates is discussed and a general protocol for conjugation of peptides to carrier iscoms is proposed.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Did I unplug the iron or did I only look at it? External source monitoring across the adult life span.

Adult age differences in external source monitoring were examined using three types of materials differing in degree of salience. Young (mean age = 25.2 years), young-old (mean age = 66.0 years), and old adults (mean age = 74.7 years) learned organizable words, objects, and subject-performed tasks, with a blocked or random presentation. Later, subjects were asked to recognize the items and to identify their origins. Results indicated an age-related deficit in both item memory and external source monitoring as reflected by lower recognition performance, and more source confusion errors with increasing age. A strong positive relationship between episodic item memory and source memory was found for all age groups. Overall, the results suggest that age deficits in source monitoring may be determined by the same factors as age deficits in item memory.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Tryptophan concentrations increase in cerebrospinal fluid and blood after zidovudine treatment in patients with HIV type 1 infection.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood concentrations of indoleamines and catecholamines were analyzed in 14 HIV-1-seropositive individuals before antiviral treatment with zidovudine, after 3-14 months of treatment, and, in 8 of the patients, also after 14-30 months. The median pretreatment concentrations of tryptophan in CSF and blood were low (224 ng/ml and 6.0 micrograms/ml, respectively), but an increase in these values by an average of 40% in CSF and 23% in blood was seen after 3-14 months of zidovudine treatment (p < 0.01) and remained undiminished after 14-30 months of treatment. No significant change was observed in the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, serotonin) level in blood or in the CSF concentrations of the 5-HT metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA). The CSF concentrations of the noradrenalin metabolite 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) had decreased by 12% on average (p < 0.01) by the time of the second follow-up, that is, after 14-30 months of zidovudine treatment. A decrease in neopterin during antiretroviral treatment correlated with an increase in tryptophan (p < 0.01). The data suggest that an association between decreased immune stimulation and reduced tryptophan degradation in patients treated with zidovudine.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Quality of care. Development of a patient-centred questionnaire based on a grounded theory model.

In a previous study (Wilde et al. 1993), we developed a model of quality of care from a patient perspective using a grounded theory approach. The aim of the present study was to derive an instrument from this model. A questionnaire, Quality from Patients' Perspective (QPP), was developed which consisted of 56 items. Each item was evaluated in two ways by the respondent; assessment of perceived reality and evaluation of subjective importance (Likert scales). A personal quality of care index was computed on the basis of the relationship between these two scores. The QPP was tested on two samples, patients with infectious diseases (n = 147, mean age: 60 years) and nursing students (n = 103, mean age: 27 years). Patient's scores were factor analysed (principal factoring with oblique rotation) and 17 factors were extracted. Subgroups of patients were compared and correlations were computed between factor scores and self-rated health and well-being. Students also responded to a short form of the QPP (41 items) and personality scales. Correlations between these sets of variables were computed. The QPP was discussed in relation to existing scales.

Humans↗