During the last decade a number of studies have been published that investigate how the most fundamental aspect of political organization, the regime type, affects population health. The results unanimously show that citizens of democracies live longer and healthier lives than citizens of non-democracies. Many explanations for this have been suggested, among these are that democracies redistribute more and invest more in salutogenic resources, and that the tendency of dictatorships to control the media negatively affects the ability to spread information crucial to public health. When these mechanisms are controlled for, however, it turns out that democracy has a large residual correlation with for example life expectancy, which suggests that other mechanisms are also involved.In this paper two new mechanisms regarding the possible psychosocially mediated health effects of the regime type are investigated, namely political repression, and the possible negative effects this might have on the levels of chronic stress, and autonomy, which connects to a large previous literature in social Epidemiology. In the paper an ecological cross-country design is used and country-level data, provided mainly by the World Bank and Freedom House, is analyzed with a simple multiple OLS-regression model.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a significant vector-borne zoonotic pathogen, causing devastating encephalitis in humans. Its geographical range includes a majority of Asian countries and has also been recognized in some western Pacific areas. The main vectors of JEV are mosquitoes belonging to the genus Culex. Birds and pigs function as hosts and virus amplifiers, whereas humans are accidental hosts. Japanese encephalitis is commonly regarded as a rural disease.

Commonly held dietary guidelines discourage full-fat dairy consumption due its to high levels of saturated fatty acids, which are believed to aversely influence cardiovascular disease risk. Cardiovascular diseases cause more than one third of deaths in the developed world. With dairy often providing a large part of energy and nutrients in Western diets, research into its effects on human health is warranted. Several recent studies have suggested a protective role of dairy in the development of cardiometabolic disease. However, many of these have used imprecise methods of dietary assessment, based on questionnaires or interviews. Biomarkers are emerging as a means of evaluating diet in a more objective way. Currently used dairy fat biomarkers are minor fatty acid constituents of dairy that preferably are unique to dairy and not influenced by endogenous metabolism.

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is a novel arthropod-borne orthobunyavirus emerging in Europe in 2011 to 2012. Acute SBV infection causes diarrhoea, fever and reduced milk production in dairy cattle, but it is mainly the reproductive disorders (abortions, malformed foetuses and stillborn animals) in ruminants that have caused substantial economical losses. The prevalence of the virus outside of Europe is poorly investigated. SBV or SBV-like antibodies were detected in Mozambique in 2013, which raised interest for a similar study in Tanzania. In this study in Tanzania, blood samples were collected from 478 sheep and goats from 39 herds in 15 different villages in three districts, covering areas in the north, south and east of Tanzania. The Epidemiology of the virus was investigated by tracing antibodies by ELISA and mapping of the virus by PCR was started.

Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax, a serious and globally distributed zoonosis affecting a wide range of wild and domestic animals, invariably also humans. However, although known to humans since biblical times, much remains to be elucidated concerning the ecology and transmission of this bacterium. Of particular interest is the Bacillus anthracis spore, the uptake of which is the predominant way to contract anthrax and which is legendary for its resilience in the environment and thus crucial for persistence and spread of the disease. Hence, the aim of this study is to review the natural transmission of Bacillus anthracis and investigate potential means by which soil persisting Bacillus anthracis spores reach concentrations sufficient to infect susceptible hosts. When reviewing the literature, three different theories can be distinguished. Firstly, ?the incubator area? hypothesis suggests that favourable soil factors, possibly in association with amoebas, may constitute an environment supporting repeated spore-bacterium-spore cycling, thus increasing the local amount of spores.

Animal welfare can be measured in several different ways; for example by using animal-based measurements. It has been shown that register data from the Swedish Official Milk Recording Scheme can be helpful when identifying herds at risk of having poor animal welfare, which led to a development of the advisory service of ?Ask the Cow? and the web report ?Animal Welfare Signals?. The aim of this project was to find out if register data from ?Animal Welfare Signals? can be used as a screening tool for detecting herds at risk of having poor animal welfare and in need of an ?Ask the Cow?.

Introduction: In January 2005, a nationwide mandatory bicycle helmet law for children under the age of 15 was introduced in Sweden. In the current study, the effect of this law was evaluated by analyzing national trends in hospital admissions due to bicycle-related head injuries during the period 1998-2011.Methods: An interrupted time-series design with segmented regression analysis was used to evaluate the intervention effect on head injuries as a percentage of all injuries (%HI) among cyclists in age- and sex-specific groups. Effect was measured as a change in level and/or slope of the trend at the time of legislation.Results: A total of 35261 cyclists (0-54 years) were hospitalized due to a bicycle injury during the study period. Linear regression analyses of the entire study period (not segmented) showed significant year-to-year decreases in the %HI of 1.3-1.7% in all age and sex-specific groups (p < .0001). Results from the segmented regression analysis showed that, at the time of legislation, a significant drop in level occurred among males under 15 years (-4.5% [95% CI: -7.7% to -1.3%], p = .01) and a significant change in slope occurred among females aged 30-54 years (-1.6% [95% CI: -2.9% to -0.2%], p = .025).Conclusions: The law seems to have had an effect on males in the target population (<15 years).

Kroniskt Obstruktiv Lungsjukdom (KOL) är en progressiv folksjukdom som drabbar mer än 10 procent av Sveriges befolkning, där ungefär hälften av alla äldre rökare uppfyller de spirometriska kriterierna för sjukdomen. Muskeldysfunktion är en känd systemisk effekt vid KOL. Handgreppsstyrka har visat sig korrelera starkt med muskelstyrka och muskelmassa i både övre och nedre extremitet hos personer med KOL. Det finns indikationer på att rehabilitering är mer effektiv vid ett tidigt stadium av sjukdomen jämfört med ett sent stadium, därför är en tidig identifikation av en muskeldysfunktion av värde. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka handgreppsstyrka hos personer med KOL i jämförelse med personer utan obstruktiv lungfunktionsnedsättning i ett populationsbaserat material.

ABSTRACTThe principal aim of the study was to compare the feeding behaviour of cattle, sheep and goats on pasture and explain any differences between speices. Furthermore, I compared foraging behaviour between dry season and the beginning of the rainy season, in order to see any relationships between weather and behaviour.The study was carried out in Shompole in southern Kenya. Behavioural data were collected by observing herds of cattle, sheep and goats on pasture. The livestock were herded on pasture during the days and kept in bomas, where people live, during the nights. The weather in Shompole is characterized by high ambient temperature and low, bimodal rainfall.

Bakgrund: Tidigare studier har identifierat flera riskfaktorer, såsom kost, fysisk aktivitet och BMI, gällande kolorektal cancer. Att analysera kost utifrån kostmönster istället för enskilda livsmedel har visat sig vara effektivt för att undersöka risker för kolorektal cancer. Datamaterial samlades in med hjälp av en fall-kontroll studie med 257 fall och 805 kontroller.Syfte: Identifiera faktorer som ger en höjd eller sänkt risk för kolorektal cancer utifrån områdena kost, fysisk aktivitet och BMI.Metod: Faktoranalys användes för att upptäcka kostmönster. Logistisk regression användes för att skatta oddskvoter och 95 % konfidensintervall.Resultat: Tio stycken kostmönster erhölls från faktoranalysen. Kostmönstren ?Läsk, juice och mjölkprodukter? (OR=1,288; ORQ4=2,159), ?Te, men inte kaffe?(OR=1,228; ORQ3=1,891; ORQ4=1,668) och ?Fågel, rött kött och fisk?( ORQ4=1,724) gav alla en ökad risk.

Syftet med denna studie var dels att undersöka användning av symptomfrågeformulär vid bedömning av ögontorrhet, dels att titta närmare på vilken metod och/eller vilka kombinationer av tester svenska optiker föredrar för bedömning av ögontorrhet.Metoder: Två olika typer av symptomfrågeformulär, den ena publicerad av The Canadian Dry Eye Epidemiology Society (CANDEES) och den andra med hjälp av Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), översattes till svenska och distribuerades slumpmässigt bland patienter från en optikerpraktik i Kalmar. Dessutom har en webbaserad enkät skickats till 800 optiker för att undersöka deras förstahandsval av test för utvärdering av ögontorrhet. Deras andra, tredje och respektive fjärde val har också noterats, liksom eventuella ytterligare kommentarer.Resultat: Åttiofem patienter svarade på åtminstone ett av frågeformulären, varav 34% (17/50) CANDEES och 32,7% (16/49) OSDI respondenter uppgav att de hade milda till svåra symptom på torra ögon. Av de 800 e-postmeddelanden som skickades ut, svarade bara 64 (8%) optiker. Symptomfrågeformulär används oftast som enda testdiagnostik (42,2%).

Ticks and the diseases they transmit are of major importance throughout the world. In Uganda, cattle are the most important livestock from an economic point of view. Livestock keepers fear bi-directional transmission of tick-borne pathogens between their livestock and wild animals. This cross-sectional study was conducted to establish and compare the sero-prevalence of the tick-borne pathogen Babesia bigemina among randomly selected Ankole Long-horned cattle and European crossbred cattle on 30 farms in Kiruhura district, in two sub-counties near Lake Mburo National Park in South-western Uganda. Half of the farms were situated in close proximity to the park and thereby housed cattle with more frequent wildlife-livestock interface (Sanga), whereas the other half had less frequent contact (Kikatsi).

AbstractIntroductionOccurrence of bacteraemia and fungemia is a serious condition with high mortality and the incidence is increasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to survey the occurrence of bacteria and fungi in blood cultures from adult patients domiciled in the county of Gävleborg during one year and also to calculate the incidence and mortality in the same geographical area.MethodThis is a descriptive epidemiologic study, based on all episodes of blood cultures analyzed at the Microbiology laboratory, Gävle hospital during 2005. Patients from 20 years of age, domiciled in the county of Gävleborg at the date of drawing the blood culture, where included in the study. Criteria of exclusion were negative blood cultures and cultures which were classified as contaminants.ResultsAltogether there were 4 564 blood cultures analyzed, resulting in 524 (11 %) positive cultures for further study. There were 442 patients (48 % women) involved in 499 episodes with confirmed bacteraemia or fungemia.

The demand for animal products has increased in the last decades, especially for poultry and pork. Pork production has increased drastically globally, and also in Uganda. Thirty-one percent of Uganda´s population lives in poverty. Pig production is believed to play a crucial role in poverty alleviation, because of the ability to convert low quality feed into high quality protein together with high reproductive potential. African swine fever (ASF) is a lethal disease of domestic pigs often characterized by haemorrhagic fever and with mortality rates up to 100%. The disease is endemic in most sub-Saharan countries and since 2007 in the Russian Federation and Caucasus area.

Bakgrund: Enterohemorragisk Escherichia coli (EHEC) är en toxinproducerande bakterie somkan orsaka sporadiska fall av infektion men även ge upphov till allvarliga utbrott. Sjukdomen kan ge symtom alltifrån okomplicerad diarré, blodig diarrétill mycket allvarliga symtomsom hemolytiskt uremiskt syndrom (HUS). De flesta EHEC-falli Sverige förekommer i åldersgruppen ett till fyra år.Syfte: Studienssyfte var att undersöka värdet av en EHEC-screening hos barn under tio år genom att kartlägga förekomst av EHEC och distribution av serotypoch stx-typer. Ytterligare ett syfte var att undersöka om den kliniska bilden är beroende av serotyp och stx-typ. Därutöver undersöktes hur länge man utsöndrars tx i avföringen.Metod: I studien ingick alla barn under tio års ålder, som lämnat avföringsprov under perioden 1 maj 2003 till 30 april 2013i Jönköpingslän.