Claw diseases are common diseases in modern dairy production. They are painful for the cow and costly for the producer. Differences in the prevalence of claw disease depending on housing system have previously been observed. This raises the question if there are genotype by environment (GxE) interactions for claw diseases in different housing systems. To investigate this claw trimming records for Swedish Red dairy cattle (SR) and Swedish Holstein cows (SH) were retrieved from the Swedish Dairy Association.

Background: Fibromyalgia is a psychosomatic disease that emerges without any known cause. For a long time, it has been believed to be a part of the menopause. Between 0,7 and 4,8 % of the women in Scandinavia are diagnosed. The most obvious symptom is pain. Aim: The aim with the literature review was to describe how women with fibromyalgia experience their lifesituation.

Inclusion body disease (IBD) affecting boas and pythons is a serious and common disease. Boas can be clinically healthy carriers, which makes control of the disease difficult. The causative agent has not yet been confidently identified, and therefore there are no serodiagnostic tests available. Today, histopathologic examination of tissue biopsies is the recommended antemortem diagnostic method, but there are several disadvantages. The objective of this study was to compare the sensitivity of two diagnostic methods ? liver biopsies and blood smears, and to evaluate ultrasoundguided needle biopsy of the liver.

The progress of chronic disorders such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects various aspects of life. They have an deep impact on patients´experience of health and wellbeing and their functional qualities and quality of life. Several studies have in an extensive way described heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in its own domain but few qualitative studies consider coexistence of the disorders from a caring science perspective. The aim was to describe the meaning of living with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from a lifeworld perspective. With a phenomenological and reflecting lifeworld approach it´s possible to describe eight patients daily experiences of living with severe and chronic disorders from their own narratives.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the function of TalkingMats in a group of people with Huntington?s disease, with main focus on theeffectiveness of communication. Four individuals with Huntington?s diseaseand their group leader participated in the study. The group was videotapedduring four sets of conversations; two with and two without Talking Mats.

The purpose of the study was to examine if Talking Mats® couldsupport communication and participation for people with Huntington?sdisease, carers and a dental hygienist in conversation about oral care. Elevendyads, a person with Huntington's disease and a carer, participated.Conversations with and without mats were video recorded and compared.Each participant responded to a questionnaire about how they experiencedthe conversations. Analysis with Effectiveness Framework of FunctionalCommunication showed that two participants increased their communicativeeffectiveness using Talking Mats®. Feelings of participation increased forall participants and were significantly higher for participants withHuntington's disease.

The aim of this study was to compare the effect between the drugs rituximab and infliximab in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is an autoimmune disease that affects the peripheral joints and is associated with exacerbations. Various immune reactions in the body cause inflammation of the joints which further results in cartilage and bone damage. The diagnosis is made by the classification system "The 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) / European league against rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis", which is an update of the older system called "The 1987 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for RA". Approximately 0.5-1% of the population is developing the disease, but it varies slightly between different parts of the world.

This bachelor thesis is written as a part of the geography program at Stockholm University, Sweden, and the study was conducted from April to June 2012.Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne disease and one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world with more than nine million new cases each year (SMI 2012, digital source). The disease is a major source of death and suffering in many places and the number of deaths remains high despite the availability of highly efficacious treatment. To control and prevent further spread of TB, the mapping of the disease spatial distribution is of essential importance.In this study, maps were produced that shows the spatial distribution of TB between the years 2002 to 2011 in the municipality of Stockholm. These maps allow an analysis of the spatial distribution at a local scale over time.The aim of this paper is to study how the spatial distribution of TB has looked like in the municipality of Stockholm the last 10 years and to analyze why the spatial distribution of the disease looked like it did. This study is based on the hypothesis ?drift?.

Type 2 diabetes is a growing disease in the population which includes that older people are a risk group. With the disease grows even cost?s. A lifestyle change is a major part of the treatment for type 2 diabetes. There are several factors that suggest positive effects on prevention among the elderly where, among other things, economic and health benefits are presented.

Sahlgrenska AcademyAt University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: The obesity paradox, myth or truth in adults with cardiovascular disease.Author: Louise Svensson och Amanda NilssonSupervisor: Fredrik BertzExaminer: Ingrid LarssonProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 30, 2013Background: It has long been generally accepted that obesity is a risk factor for many diseases. Despite this, new research indicates that a higher BMI could be a protective factor for those with a chronic cardiovascular disease. This discovery is called the obesity paradox and could change the perception of patients' BMI in both public health and clinical work.Objective: The objective of this systematic review article is to examine the scientific evidence for the existence of the obesity paradox in chronic cardiovascular disease, i.e. if a BMI >25 kg/m2 is associated with lower mortality among adults with chronic cardiovascular disease.Search strategy: The databases used in the literature study were PubMed, Summon, Scopus and Cochrane. The keywords were: obesity paradox, cardiovascular, heart, male, BMI, intentional weight loss, cardiovascular mortality and mortality heart failure.Selection criteria: Studies, which had an adult population classified after BMI that suffered from chronic cardiovascular disease and had all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality as endpoints, were included.Data collection and analysis: Ten studies were included.

The purpose was to investigate how conversationalinteraction is pragmatically affected in Huntington?s disease; whetherthis can be assessed by means of a questionnaire completed by a closepartner and how the close partners consider communicative ability haschanged since the onset of illness. Three dyads, consisting of a personwith Huntington?s disease and a conversational partner were involved.Conversations were analyzed with respect to the parameters in thequestionnaire and through Activity Based Communication Analysis.The results showed word finding difficulties, impaired turn taking,feedback and body language, repair, articulation and prosody.Agreement between communication analysis and the close partnerreport varied between 54-65 %. The close partners consideredcommunicative initiative, articulation, turn taking and sentenceintonation as much changed.

Virulent strains of Staphylococcus hyicus produce exfoliative toxins and cause a potentially fatal skin disease in piglets known as exudative epidermitis. Vaccines and antimicrobials are used to control the disease. Antimicrobial resistance and the prevalence of several different toxin genes and toxigenic strains make it problematic. The aim of this literature study was to identify potential differences between countries and between healthy and diseased pigs regarding antimicrobial resistance and toxin-producing strains. Great differences could influence vaccine production, treatment strategies and surveillance programs.

Introduction : Structural cardiac malformations affects 0.8-1% of children born worldwide, in Sweden 800-1000 children per year. Most children with congenital heart disease and their families will have frequent and lifelong contact with highly specialized care. Awareness of the parents experience is crucial in order to improve the nursing care. These experiences will be illustrated using a theoretical model of family-based nursing. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe experiences of being a parent to a child with a congenital heart disease.

Background: Coronary heart disease kills more than 7 million people worldwide each year. High levels of blood fat, cholesterol, contributes significantly to coronary heart disease. Lifestyle changes combined with lipid-lowering drugs, statins, is an effective treatment. But adherence to statins is low, not even a myocardial infarction always contributes to adherence. Adherence requires patient education and good communication between patient and physician.

Tourism is often being viewed as one of the worlds largest sectors and a great contribution to growth and development. There is a large motivation amongst developing countries to promote themselves as a tourist destination, since they expect the tourism to generate economic growth. The government of Thailand has been promoting tourism since 1960, and the number of foreign visitors has increased from 100 000 back then to 13.5 million in 2006. The purpose of this paper was to investigate weather the increasing tourism industry in Thailand has pulled resources away from other sectors of the economy towards the tourism sector, and in that way harming Thailand?s international competitiveness and causing deindustrialization.