Hyperthyroidism and chronic kidney failure (CKD) are common diseases in older cats. It can be difficult to evaluate kidney function in cats suffering from both conditions simultaneously. In the daily clinic serum creatinine is the analysis of choice when evaluating kidney function and secondary glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This marker does not, however, detect kidney damage until about 75 % of the function is lost. There are several other techniques available when investigating GFR but none are readily available for the small clinic.

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.

Abstract Chronic heart failure is a common disease in elderly, and is the most common reason for hospitalization in patients over 65 years of age. Research on the elderly and heart failure often focus on treatment strategies, less research is available on patients' own experiences of living with chronic heart failure. The purpose of this interview study, was to gain more knowledge about patients´ own experiences of living with chronic heart failure. Nine patients were interviewed and the text was transcribed verbatim and it was then analyzed with a phenomenological hermeneutical method. From the analysis, three main themes emerged.

Det finns lite forskning om livskvalitet hos patienter med kronisk njursvikt som ännu inte startat i dialysbehandling och det är viktigt att ha kunskap om hur livskvaliteten påverkas hos dessa patienter. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att belysa olika faktorers påverkan på livskvaliteten hos patienter med kronisk njursvikt som inte startat i dialys. I studien har 16 vetenskapliga artiklar granskats och analyserats. I resultatet framkom att Hb-nivå, nutrition, sjukdomens svårighetsgrad och komorbiditet var faktorer som kunde påverka livskvaliteten. Även patienters upplevelser av antal och svårighetsgrad av symtom var påverkande faktorer.

Kronisk njursvikt ökar varje år och vid terminal njurinsufficiens ses njurtransplantation som förstaval av behandling. Behovet av donerade njurar är större än tillgången, vilket leder till en lång väntan för individen. Studiens syfte var att beskriva individers upplevelser i väntan på en njurtransplantation. Metoden var en litteraturstudien där tio vetenskapliga artiklar granskades och analyserades. I analysen framkom tre teman som utgjorde resultatet: behandling för att överleva där dialysbehandlingen sågs som en begränsning i livet och gjorde det svårt att leva som dem gjort tidigare, känna hopp där en transplantation var något att hoppas på, ett sätt att ta sig ur dialysen och få tillbaka sitt gamla liv, samt känna hopplöshet där rädsla för att njurtransplantationen aldrig skulle bli av och känslor av att vara på is i väntan uppkom.

As the occurrence of obesity increases amongst young people, so increases the risk of more people suffering from heart failure as early as during middle age. The aim is to describe the life experiences of middle aged persons living with chronic heart failure. The literature study is based on twelve published, qualitative, and scientifically proved articles derived from MedLine and Cinahl using queries representing the subject, as well as from manual searching in ScienceDirect and LIBRIS. These articles have been analyzed from a life world perspective. Four main themes and four sub themes were identified from the articles' results.

Bakgrund: Antalet patienter i behov av njurtransplantation per år är cirka 400-500, varav endast cirka 350 kommer att bli transplanterade. Bristen på organ är tydligt framträdande. I väntan på transplantation behöver patienten dialysbehandling, vilket ofta upplevs vara tidskrävande och utmattande. Sjuksköterskor bör ha kunskap om patienters upplevelser i samband med väntan på transplantation för att kunna utvecklas i sin roll som sjuksköterska och få en djupare förståelse för deras situation.Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kroniskt njursjuka patienters upplevelser av att leva med dialysbehandling och väntan på transplantation.Metod: Studien är en litteratursammanställning av tio kvalitativa och kvantitativa vetenskapliga artiklar inom området, vilka har granskats, analyserats och sammanställts.Resultat: I resultatet framkom flera olika upplevelser, så som längtan efter frihet, utmattning, höga förväntningar, frustration och rädsla inför framtiden i samband med dialysbehandlingen och väntan på transplantationen.Slutsats: Kroniskt njursjuka patienters upplever sin situation som psykiskt, fysiskt och socialt påfrestande. En av sjuksköterskans viktigaste uppgifter i samband med bemötandet av patienter under dialysbehandling är att vara tillgänglig.

Renal dysplasi (RD) is a congenital chronic renal disease affecting young dogs. It is a rather common disease that occurs in a large number of dogs and in some breeds there is a familiar incidence or suspected hereditary background. Both the etiology and pathogenesis are still unknown, but a theory about the cause of RD is that the two components that form the kidney, the uretheric bud and the metanephrogenic blastema, don´t interact normally in the embryo. Kidneys affected by RD contain fetal (immature) structures that are inappropriate for the state of development/age of the dog and abnormal structures caused by an abnormal differentiation. Affected dogs usually are under .

Entrepreneurial failure is probably a subject that is not well understood. This might have to do with the methodological difficulties of screening out failed entrepreneurs. In this thesis a tool is developed for analyzing supposed entrepreneurial failure. In this model entrepreneurs are surrounded by different stake holders. By using the failure deconstruction model to analyze my own entrepreneurial effort I find that it has neither been a successful project nor a disastrous one.

Heart failure is the most common reason to hospitalization among persons over 65 years old. Self-care is an important part in the treatment of heart failure, but poor information and knowledge limits the ability of self-care and increases the risk of admission to hospital.The aim of the study was to investigate what information patients with heart failure describes that they receive from health care personal, how information is perceived, who provides the information, and on what occasions it is given. The aim was also to investigate whether patients' perception of knowledge about heart failure increased after hospitalization.The study is cross-sectional study with a descriptive design. A consecutive selection was used. A questionnaire was filled in by 28 participants.The study has shown that patients with heart failure largely experience information about heart failure inadequate.

Background: There are many people waiting for a kidney transplant. To get a kidney from a living donor has many advantages. The gift is about giving and receiving. The decision is characterized by life-philosophy of the donor.Aim: To highlight the experiences of the kidney donation process.Methods: A systematic literature review in which 11 articles were included, seven qualitative and four quantitative. The articles are quality and ethically reviewed, the results are analyzed according Granskär & Höglund and Polit & Beck.Results: The results were gathered under two themes: the decision-process shows the path from idea to decision and implementation-process treats the donation and confirmation of the gift.

Background:Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a complex clinical condition. The higher survival rate after heart attack and other heart diseases, plus aging population, has led to more CHF patients. Symptoms can have negative impact on exercise capacity, ability to perform activities of daily living and quality of life. Heart failure clinics have been established to help better quality of life. Helping to stabilize and maintain patients´ health can reduce the need of hospital admission.

Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att enligt vetenskapliga studier, publicerade mellan år 2002 och 2007, beskriva omvårdnad av patienter med kronisk hjärtsvikt. Metoden som användes var en litteraturstudie med beskrivande design. Information hämtades från databaserna Medline, Academic Search Elite och Cochrane Library, samt ur Vård i Nordens webbarkiv. Sökorden som användes var ?chronic heart failure? och ?nursing?.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur personer med egenadministrerad peritonealdialys (PD) upplever sitt dagliga liv. Metoden var en intervjustudie där sju personer som behandlades med PD intervjuades med hjälp av en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. Materialet som analyserades med en manifest kvalitativ innehållsanalys resulterade i tre huvudkategorier: kroppsliga förändringar, upplevelser av PD-behandling samt egenvård. Resultatet visade att PD hade inverkan på olika plan i informanternas dagliga liv. Ett viktigt fynd var hur informanterna uppfattade att PD hade lett till vissa kroppsliga förändringar, exempelvis vad gäller vikt och aptit.

The aim: To examinate depressive symptoms among heart failure patients. Another aim was to examinate the differences in depressive symptoms between gender and between heart failure patients and the population. METHOD: The self-assassment formula MADRS was answered by twenty patients with heart failure at the University hospital in Uppsala. MAIN RESULT: Among the participants 31,3 % showed diffrent levels of depressive symptoms. Mild depression was more common in women.