Background: Postoperative infections are a serious patient safety problem and affects about 3 % of all patients undergoing surgery. The consequences are prolonged hospital stays, high social costs, increased use of antibiotics and impaired quality of life for the patient. It has been shown that postoperative infections may be caused by contamination already in the operating room. Today we know that there is growth of microorganisms on the instrument table´s top, but there is a research gap about the instrument table's edges.Aim: To examine if the sterile drape on the instrument table´s edges are sterile after finished surgery.Method: Contact plates are printed on strategically selected areas on the sterile drapes top and edges. In the pilot study, a total of 51 cultures were taken at the end of three operations which lasted over three hours.Results: Growth on the top surface and the edges of the sterile drape were detected.

Incompatibility between donors and recipients can cause fatal hemolytic transfusion reactions (HTR), kidney damage and death and immunization of the recipient. Antigens on the surface of erythrocytes in the ABO blood group system and regular natural antibodies against these in the patient?s plasma must be considered. An individual always has a corresponding antibody of IgM in their plasma. Irregular antibodies acquired by transfusion or pregnancy and active in body temperature also cause the HTR incompatibility.

Flowcytometric technology has been widely used for measurement of the absolute numbers of T-lymphocytes subsets in Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), defining the disease state, monitoring antiviral treatment, and identifying any risk for opportunistic infections. A manual preparing of the samples is required. More recently an automated and enclosed blood cell counting, Celldyn Sapphire has been introduced. In this study the performance of the Flow cytometer EPICS XL as a reference method for analysis of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8 T-lymphocytes was evaluated with blood from 40 individual?s samples.

The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the possibility to use sampling of faeces, urine and plasma, and measurements of blood pressure as methods of discovering hypomagnesemia in horses, as well as the application handiness of these methods. The most commonly used method of checking the magnesium status of a horse is to analyze samples of serum or plasma. The trial was of a switch-back design, in which the horses were used as their own controls. The animal material was five Swedish warm blooded trotters between six to ten years old, and weighing between 485-620 kg. The trial consisted of three periods that were two months each.

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this review was to describe the effects of low carbohydrate diets in people with diabetes type 2. Methods: Review. An article search was made in the databases PubMed and Medline. The search resulted in 17 studies. After review and analysis of the studies main results five categories were highlighted; bloodsugar levels, HbA1c, weight, lipid levels and antidiabetic medications.

The metal mining history goes thousands of years back. The downside of the mining industry is the large amount of tailings created during the mining operations. Drainage and leaching of heavy metals from these tailings may cause major environmental problems including acid mine drainage and leaching of heavy metals. This study examines a pond located near an old mining site, where part of the old mining facility has been recently (1990) restored. The objective was to assess eventual metal contamination from historical mining and the recently performed restoration using a sediment core as a natural archive of historical metal inputs to the pond.

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: Coconut fat?s effect on blood lipids - A systematic overviewAuthor: Linnéa Hult and Sandra WestlingSupervisor: Fredrik BertzExaminer: Ingrid LarssonProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: 2013-04-11Background: Coconut fat has recently been praised in the media. Amongst other things,coconut oil has been said to lower cholesterol (1, 2). This despite the fact that coconut oilcontains of 92 % saturated fat, which strong scientific evidence support raises the blood lipidsand thus increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (3).Objective: To examine the scientific evidence for how blood lipids in adults are affected byan intake of coconut fat compared to an intake of other kind of fats.Search strategy: PubMed and Scopus have been used in the literary search. Keywords usedwere "coconut fat", "coconut oil", "plasma lipids" and cholesterol [MeSH].Selection criteria: Human studies of RCT or cohort type, published since 1983.

Today dairy farmers in Sweden are obligated to have lights turned on during night time in addition to the mandatory daylight inlet. This presents a cost for the production but many argue that it can be economically beneficial, especially in loose housing of dairy cows. In loose housing and even more so in herds with automatic milking, well functioning cow traffic during all hours of the day is crucial to optimise production. In order to keep the cow traffic flowing, lights may be an important management tool. It is also perceived among farmers with tied up stall that night light decreases the incidents of cows accidental stepping on their own or neighbours udders.

This study was carried out in Jordan with the purpose to investigate the bacterial microflora of egg shells from cage systems and from deep litter floor systems. Another aim wasto get a general impression of the hygiene, at farm level, of egg production in Jordan andthe factors affecting it.Eggs from two cage systems and three floor systems were analyzed, regarding bacterialcontamination of the egg shells. Egg samples were taken from the storage room, the eggcradle in the cage system and from the nest and floor in the floor system. To get a generalimpression of the hygiene at the farms, swab tests and air tests were performed. Swab testswere performed with a sterile cotton swab at the same units as the eggs were sampled andair tests were performed by opening petri dishes where the hens were staying.

The Swedish industrial society has left several areas with contaminated soil and water which today is of danger for the environment and human health. One of these areas with contaminated soil and water is the region where the former Glava glassworks operated during 1859 to 1939. The main object in this study has been to study the responsibility for the contaminations according to the Environmental Code. The method used is a qualitative content analysis of relevant literature to answer the following questions:What types of contaminations can be found in the area of Glava glasswork and what health issues can these cause?What kind of activity has been conducted in the area that have caused the contaminations in soil and water?According to law, what are the responsibilities for the contaminations in soil and water at Glava glassworks?The contamination in the region has been confirmed to originate from the glasswork due to the environmental engineering survey made in the area in 2009.

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), as a consequence of atherosclerosis in the arteria of the limbs, affects one of ten Swedes older than 65. PAD can develop slowly and silently, and involves an increased risk for cardiac infarction and stroke. Measurement of the patient´s ankle blood pressure and calculation of the ankle-brachial index is an evidence-based method to discover PAD. Objective: To investigate how district nurses and general practitioners perceive this method of examination and experience possible obstacles to why it is not more commonly applied at primary health care centres. Method: Data collected by semi-structured interviews have been processed by qualitative content analysis with a manifest onset.

Ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to become a promisingalternative to gasoline. In this work the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF)technology was applied for ethanol production from hardwood with focus on cell growth,ethanol production and contamination.The SSF was performed at PH 5.5 and 35°C for different suspended solid concentrations(8%, 10% and 12%) of pretreated birch slurry which contained 16 % total suspended solids.Two different hexose fermenting yeast strain (Ethanol Red) and pentose fermenting yeaststrain were used.Quantifying the concentration of chemical components and metabolites in the fermentationmedium demonstrated that glucose and xylose are the major fermentable sugars in the slurry.The higher load of slurry (12%) represents a higher content of carbohydrates and potentiallyhigher end concentration of ethanol. Moreover, more lactic acid is produced with the lowerload of slurry (8 % or 10 %), presumably due to a result of a less inhibitory environment forbacterial growth. In this context, acetic acid sticks out as the most important inhibitor withconcentrations of 15.2 and 12.5 and 9.7 g/l respectively in the 12 %, 10 % and 8 % (ofsuspended solids) trials. Using pentose fermenting yeast may lead to higher ethanolproduction, lower xylose uptake and lower lactic acid formation.

During 40 years of industrial production, from the end of the 1890?s until the end of 1930?s, coal and wood distillation products were manufactured in AB Carbo?s tar factory along the River Gimån in Grötingen, in the county of Jämtland, Sweden. In accordance with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency?s Methods for Inventories of contaminated sites, MIFO, the site in Grötingen has been identified as a potentially contaminated site. In order to determine whether toxic substances pose a threat to human health and ecological systems in the area, there was a need to investigate the presence of contaminants, their levels and potential for migration.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that manifests as an increased level of glucose in the blood. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 347 million people have diabetes worldwide. In year 2004, 3.4 million people died from the consequences of high blood glucose. In the Swedish population the prevalence of diabetes is estimated to 3-4 %, out of which 85-90% are Type 2. Among senior citizens a prevalence of diabetes is seen in Sweden up to 14 - 15%.

A number of studies in human medicine has documented positive effects of whole body vibration treatment in humans. The Vitafloor system, witch is based on treatment of horses with vibration, has the purpose to be used in training of healthy horses and as rehabilitation for horses with injuries in their musculosceletal system. The purpose of this study was to analyse what happens with a clinically healthy horse during treatment with Vitafloor. The methods used is mainly thermography before and after treatment, but also blood samples, measurement of rectal temperature, heart rate, clinical examination and observation of psychic reactions has been done. Statistic significant changes in skin temperature in hoofs and fetlocks of front legs has been observed after treatment with Vitafloor. Analyzing of the blood samples showed a tendency for decrease in Kalium, and two of the horses had changes in CK. No negative effect has been observed with the treatment of horses with Vitafloor, and the horses seems to like the treatment. .