Active immunization against gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is an alternative to surgical castration of male pigs to avoid boar taint. The aim of this study, including 128 pigs, was to evaluate the effect of a GnRH-vaccine Improvac® on performance and on social and sexual behaviour. Male pigs were assigned to three treatments; surgical castration at four days of age, immunization against GnRH and no castration. Vaccination was performed eight and four weeks before slaughter. Surgically castrated male pigs had significantly lower daily weight gain during the suckling period than entire male pigs (235 vs.

Swedish law (SOL 2001:45, LVU 1990:52) has gone through several changes to promote participation. The law also includes that young people should be able to participate even during a placement at youth detentions.  The aim of this study is to describe how young people at youth detentions are participated in their treatment plans. The questions of the study were: How and where are the young opinions produced in their treatment plans; how did the opinions change during the time in detention; and how have the opinions been considered at youth detentions? Participation is a wide concept with different meanings. The meaning of participation in this study is that youth have been listened to and that their opinions have been paid attention to.

The Kverneland Ecomat and The Ecomat Seeder has been tested in three different field studies. All the studies were conducted on soils with different clay content during 2005 in Säby outside Uppsala. In one of the trial spring ploughing with the Ecomat and spring ploughing and seeding with Ecomat Seeder were compared with conventional autumn mouldboard ploughing and spring mouldboard ploughing to conventional depth (22-23 cm). In this study the quality of the seedbed, the number of emerged plants and weeds, the pentration resistance and the yield were examined. Shallow spring ploughing (10 cm) with the Kverneland Ecomat has shown to be a good alternative to conventional autumn ploughing when growing spring crops. During the season 2005 tilling with the Ecomat resulted in a higher yield than conventional ploughing. In 2002-2005 the average yield for shallow spring ploughing was 4 percent higher than after conventional autumn mouldboard ploughing and 10 percent higher than after spring mouldboard ploughing to conventional depth (22-23 cm). In the other two studies, ploughing to different depth in the autumn with the Ecomat was compared with conventional mouldboard ploughing and stubble discing.

The purpose of this report is to examine the possibilities to decrease the number of insects and other pathogens in a crop of pak choi (Brassica rapa), grown with different types of cover and living mulches. Included in the report is a study of literature where amongst others, a summary on the vegetable pak choi and theories of living mulches and different kind of covers are to be found. To examine the amount of predators in the field, traps were used. During the autumn 2002 the tests were conducted in Alnarp. The pak choi and the living mulches were planted/sawn at the same time, the different covers were also applied at this time. The total experiment was divided into six different treatments (plus control) of which three were with covers and three were with living mulches. Once a week the number of leaves, the height and damages were read on ten of the plants from each parcel.

Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common endocrinologic disorders among dogs. The disorder has a complex background, and successful treatment requires a well-functioning co-operation between pet owners and the veterinarian. The purpose of this study is to investigate the owners? perspective of diabetic treatments offered, and to estimate expected length of survival post-insulin therapy. The research findings are based on a survey mailed to 77 pet owners, whose dogs were diagnosed with diabetes between 1999 and 2003 at the small animal clinic of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The median survival for the dogs that underwent insulin treatment was 31 months, i.e.

The short term effect of phosphorus in sewage sludge was investigated to establish howmuch of this a farmer can grant him- or herself, if using sewage sludge as a phosphorusfertilizer. Possible differences in plant availability between sludge phosphorus precipitatedby iron, aluminum or calcium integrations were studied in a sandy soil at two pH levels.The sludges were analyzed using pot and incubation trials. As the intention was to investigategrowth limitation due to phosphorus deficiency, a soil with low phosphorus supplywas chosen as well as a low phosphorus application rate. Sludge corresponding to 12kg phosphorus per hectare was applied. Treatments fertilized by sludge were compared totreatments where 0, 6 and 12 kg phosphorus per hectare from mineral fertilizer was applied.Every treatment was replicated six times.

Hair care is a hygienic treatment and is supervised by the Local Environment and Public Health Committee in the municipality. According to the Swedish Environmental Code, hairdressers as all practitioners are required to take measurements to protect the environment and public health. In hygienic treatments hazards may arise from inadequate hygiene practice which spread infection. Hazards may also arise from the use of hair care products such as permanent wave solutions, bleaches and hair dyes. Some hair dye components are known to cause contact allergy, mostly in hair dressers who are exposed professionally but also in some cases in consumers.

Background: Prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer disease in the world and affects mainly older men. While having prostate cancer the treatment can be both medical and surgical and both these treatments can give side effects like erectile dysfunction, lost libido and hot flushes. Sexuality among elderly is often associated with taboo, but sexuality exists among elderly and is important for their wellbeing and quality of life. It is common that nurses don?t address and discuss questions concerning sexuality with patients, even though they know that sexuality often is affected while having a disease or experiencing illness.

Background: The speech- and language deficit aphasia affects 12 000 persons annually in Sweden. Aphasia is caused by injury in the brain and the most common etiology is stroke. According to the tool for describing and assessing aphasia, A-FROM (Kagan et al., 2008), the four following aspects of aphasia need to be considered: severity of aphasia, participation in life situations, communication and language environment and personal factors. Several different interventions and treatments can be performed in every domain. There is scientific evidence for interventions performed by speech and language pathologists; however, the question is yet being discussed since results are unambiguous.Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate which aphasia interventions performed by speech and language pathologists that are supported by evidence.

The aim is that on the basis of interviews with personnel and clients examine whichexperiences they have of the drug abuse programme and its implementation. To be able toanswer the aim following question has been formulated: (1) What do the personnel and clientthink about the drug abuse program arrangement? (2) In which extend is the programimplemented as thought? (3) How do the personnel assesses the client?s participation? (4)How does the client?s think about their own participation in the program? (5) Do the client?sthink that the program have been helpful in their personal development? A qualitativemethod was chosen and has used a semi structured interview. Total has ten interviews beenimplemented on Rällsögården, five with clients and five with personnel. The study'sinterpretation framework builds on research around drug abuse treatment and theories andmethods that lie to shallow for the drug abuse programme.

Background: Hepatitis E (HEV) is a small, non-enveloped virus that belongs to the viral genus Hepevirus. HEV is a positive sense single-stranded RNA virus and there is insufficient information regarding its replication. This is mainly because the virus has low capacity to grow in normally used cell cultures. Many specific strand assay detection studies have been done in order to understand more about HEV replication. Unfortunately, these assays have the disadvantage of giving false positive results.Aim: The aim of this project was to improve the positive strand assay to increase specificity and eliminate false positivity which is due to high sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Behavioral problems are one of the leading reasons for re-homing and euthanasia in dogs. It is estimated that between 40 ? 87 % of dogs suffer from some sort of behavioural problem, making it an important animal welfare issue. Separation anxiety is one of the most common behavior problems encountered in dogs after problems related to aggression. This thesis is aimed at examining the etiology behind separation anxiety related behavior in dogs based on existing literature as well as comparing and evaluating the efficiency on suggested treatment protocols.

Background: Cancer disease is one of the most common diseases in Sweden andradiotherapy is one of the regimens available for the treatment of cancer. Radiotherapycan be delivered as single treatment or be divided into several fractions that last forweeks. Radiotherapy can cause side effects that may occur during or at the end oftreatment. Information and communication is an integral part of all treatments and care.The oncology nurse should attempt to ease for the patients to communicate, participatein the care, receive information and enhance the ability to self-care.Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the patients? needs for communication andinformation with oncology nurse during their meeting through radiotherapy.Method: This pilot study was conducted on six patients with different cancer diagnosis.It was a qualitative study, were data was collected through individual interviews usingsemi-structured questions.

In today?s hectic society more and more people experience stress and our lifestyle gives us a very limited chance to recover. For some it sometimes goes that far that they get burnt-out, they have pushed themselves to the ultimate limit. There are different methods and treatments to recover but one very efficient treatment is to spend time in a rehabilitation garden. There the patients get treated by therapeutics that uses the garden as the main tool.The fact that gardens and parks have a positive effect on humans have been used by people for a long time but it?s not until recently that the research has taken speed.

The main purpose of this thesis has been to address the problem connected with conservation ofspecific objects in historic buildings that have a protected building status. The immaterial demandsand environmental concerns of a place of cultural significance are discussed as opposed to the welladaptedsetting of a museum, with regard to long-term preservation. In an authentic interior of acertain era, large-scale individual treatments of the objects that define it and regulations forconservation-related reasons, may not be considered a worth-while effort, as it is often the integrityof the environment as a whole that has been declared as significant. To investigate the relationshipbetween object and its context, a case study has been conducted by examination of the propertycalled ?Curmans villor?, located in the seaside community called Lysekil.