Ten newborn babies with severe respiratory distress syndrome, all dependent on artificial ventilation, were treated via the airways with the isolated phospholipid fraction of bovine or porcine surfactant. After treatment with surfactant at a median age of 10.5 h, there was in all patients a striking improvement of lung aeration in chest films, with a decrease in parenchymal fluid retention and in distension of bronchioli. These radiologic findings were associated with a dramatic improvement of oxygenation and a significant reduction of the right-to-left shunt. In spite of the rapid therapeutic response, four patients died from cerebral hemorrhage. One of the surviving patients developed bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Our findings document efficacy of this new surfactant preparation in the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, but the long-term effects need to be further tested in randomized clinical trials.
In order to evaluate the prognostic significance of chest film findings in connection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) and/or pneumocystis carinii infection (PC), a retrospective review was made of the pulmonary charts of 274 recipients of kidney and/or pancreatic grafts transplanted between April 1987 and December 1990. Positive laboratory findings for CMV and/or PC were seen in 92 patients. In 77 patients only CMV was found, 13 patients had both CMV and PC, and 2 patients had only PC. In 57 patients a chest examination was performed. The films were reviewed by 2 radiologists independently. In 32 patients normal chest film findings were seen, while 25 patients demonstrated pathological changes. Of the patients with pathological changes 3 had only pleuritis while the remaining 22 demonstrated parenchymal infiltrations. No deaths occurred among patients infected with CMV and/or PC, when the chest film findings were normal or pleuritis only was seen, but there were 9 deaths in the group of patients with parenchymal infiltrations. Of the patients who died, 2 had only CMV, 5 had both CMV and PC, and 2 had only PC. The overall mortality, regardless of radiological findings, did not exceed 3% in patients with CMV only, but increased to 38% in patients with both CMV and PC. In patients with parenchymal infiltrations the corresponding mortality figures were increased to 18% and 56%, respectively. We conclude that a radiologically verified pneumonia related to the infectious agent influences the prognosis, and that CMV pneumonia has a better prognosis than PC pneumonia.
The distribution of renal scars in children with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) and a past history of urinary tract infection was studied to see whether a correlation existed between renal scarring and intrarenal reflux. In 37 children with one or more scars in one or both kidneys, scarring was significantly more frequent in the polar areas than in the lateral area. In 7 children with intrarenal reflux (IRR), the distribution of IRR was almost identical with that of renal scarring. When children with marked VUR (grade IV-V) were analyzed separately, a uniform distribution of scars was found. It was concluded that fused papillae, which normally are most frequent in the polar area, are a prerequisite for the development of IRR/renal scars.
Five patients with glioma were examined with positron emission tomography after the administration of 11C-L-methionine and at a following day with 11C-D-methionine. The rates of accumulation of the tracers were determined in the tumor and in the normal brain tissue according to a graphical technique of Patlak et coll. The accumulation rates for L-methionine were on the average 2.4 times higher than those of D-methionine in the tumors. The corresponding ration for normal brain tissue was 2.3. It is concluded that in this group of tumors without obvious blood-tumor-barrier breakdown, a stereospecific process with similar properties as in the normal brain tissue, is responsible for the accumulation of the labelled methionine.
The use of radiographic contrast media is occasionally accompanied by more or less serious adverse effects, evidently of complex etiology, following intravascular administration. Some of these reactions are suspected of having an allergic basis. The in vitro and in vivo formation of iodinated serum proteins following gamma irradiation in the presence of two commonly used radiographic contrast media is demonstrated. Non-toxic concentrations of ascorbate present during the irradiation is shown to prevent the formation of such iodo-proteins in vitro as well as in vivo. The amounts of potentially antigenic iodoprotein formed during radiographic procedures will certainly be very small, but this quantity may be sufficient to elicit a hypersensitivity reaction in cases when an individual has been previously sensitized to immunologically similar iodo-proteins, a mechanism that could account for certain rare and unpredictable reactions. The radiation induced formation of iodo-proteins may also serve as a model for the formation of iodine containing antigens mediated by a free radical mechanism, i.e. in the metabolism of iodinated compounds like erythrosine, a widely used colouring agent for certain foods.
In patients born with a myelomeningocele early assessment of the severity of the anomaly is mandatory for planning of therapy. Conventional spinal radiography, although a routine examination, in many hospitals has been regarded as less rewarding. However, in this retrospective investigation of 92 patients, a reasonable conformity was found between conventional radiograms and neurologic deficit at follow-up. There was no significant difference between the results of radiologic examinations carried out during the first 1 to 10 weeks after birth and the later neurologic findings. Hence, the simple radiologic assessment has proved a valuable baseline examination in these patients. In cases with discrepancy between the conventional radiologic and the neurologic findings, and in cases with a course diverging from the anticipated, more sophisticated methods of imaging are recommended.
A selected group of 36 patients with suspected supratentorial gliomas were investigated with positron emission tomography (PET) using 11C-methionine and transmission computed tomography (CT) before and after intravenous injection of contrast medium. Every examination was performed with the head fixed in a plastic helmet and a baseplate to guarantee that the slice orientation was the same at examinations with the two modalities and over time. Guided by the examinations, multiple stereotactic biopsies were performed with the biopsy instrument mounted on the baseplate. Regional accumulation of methionine was compared with histology of the corresponding samples and with attenuation before and after injection of contrast medium as well as mass effect on CT. Typically, there was a low attenuating lesion with a slight mass effect on CT. There was an increased accumulation compared with normal brain tissue in 31 cases of tumours and ordinary or decreased accumulation in 3 cases of tumours. In 22 cases with increased accumulation of methionine the extension of the tumour judged by PET corresponded with that of histology. In 4 cases tumour cells were found outside the area with pathologic methionine uptake. In 5 patients there were areas with increased methionine accumulation where no tumour cells were found. In 22 cases PET using methionine was more accurate than CT in defining the tumour boundaries as determined from the histologic findings. Four groups of biopsy specimens with different amounts of methionine accumulation are described. The uptake in a single biopsy gives good but not exact information about the histology of the specimen.
The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the radiologic findings in clinically successful Charnley total hip replacements (THR) at an average of five years postoperatively ('5-year follow-up') and the clinical result 10 to 14 years after operation ('10-year follow-up'). The study included 150 arthroplasties graded as clinically successful at the 5-year follow-up despite radiologic loosening of the femoral component in 41 per cent and of the acetabular component in 7 per cent. The incidence of clinical failure between the two follow-ups was 7 per cent (10 hips). Only 2 per cent (3/125) of THRs with intact components or a loose stem with migration not exceeding 4 mm became failures. Clinical failures resulted in 28 per cent (7/25) of THRs with more extensive loosening of the stem or with a loose socket. At the 10-year follow-up 47 per cent of the femoral and 13 per cent of the acetabular components were loose. Progression of loosening of the femoral stem occurred in 63 per cent and of the socket in 73 per cent between the two follow-ups. The incidence of loosening of the stem showed a significant correlation both with the extent of cementation distal to the tip and with the orientation of the prosthesis in the sagittal plane.
Eleven patients were studied with positron emission tomography (PET) using 11C-methionine. They all had low-grade astrocytomas (Kernohan grade II). The PET studies were analyzed with a metabolic model to obtain values for the influx, the accumulation rate and the partition coefficient of methionine in normal and tumourous tissue. Seven of the tumours showed an increased accumulation of methionine as compared with normal tissue on the static PET scans and also had higher values as to the kinetic parameters. Four tumours had a methionine accumulation equal to or lower than that of normal tissue and the kinetic parameters were also lower. Application of the kinetic model did not aid significantly in the delineation of the tumours. There was a correlation between the three parameters indicating an adaptation of the transport of methionine to the regional metabolic demand. The accumulation rate for normal cortical tissue was 0.49 nmol/g/min, the influx 0.97 nmol/ml and the partition coefficient 0.45 ml/g. These values are considerably higher than those previously reported. The differences might be attributed to differences in the corrections introduced for i.a. the occurrence of labelled metabolites in serum. With the use of a kinetic model, more information about the tracer is utilized and gained compared with the previously used graphic approach.
Monitoring of film processors performance is essential since image quality, patient dose and costs are influenced by the performance. A system for sensitometric constancy control of film processors and their associated components is described. Experience with the system for 3 years is given when implemented on 17 film processors. Modern high quality film processors have a stability that makes a test frequency of once a week sufficient to maintain adequate image quality. The test system is so sensitive that corrective actions almost invariably have been taken before any technical problem degraded the image quality to a visible degree.
The relative uptake of the spleen compared with the liver in RES-scintigraphy is of diagnostic significance. The spleen/liver (S/L) ratio from a posterior registration is most often used. The high S/L ratios found in earlier reports could well be explained by splenomegaly. Posterior registration as well as emission computed tomography was performed in 29 patients. In cases with splenomegaly the S/L ratio derived from the posterior registration was about the same as from emission computed tomography. In cases without splenomegaly the S/L ratios found by emission computed tomography were significantly higher and more correct than the values recorded from a posterior registration.
Many Swedish benchmarks are translations of US-centric benchmarks and are therefore not suitable for testing knowledge that is particularly relevant, or even specific, to Sweden. We therefore introduce a manually written question-answering benchmark specifically targeted at Sweden-related personalities and events, many of which receive very limited coverage in international media. Our annotators drew inspiration from a popular radio program featuring public figures from culture and media, as well as major sports events in Sweden. The dataset can be used to measure factual recall across models of varying sizes and degrees of Swedish coverage, and allows probing of cross-lingual factual consistency, as it contains English translations. Using the dataset, we find that smaller models with stronger Swedish coverage perform comparably to a multilingual model three times larger in recalling Sweden-related facts. We also observe that continued pre-training on Swedish generally improves factual knowledge but leads to partial forgetting of previously known information. These results demonstrate the dataset's potential as a diagnostic tool for studying language adaptation and knowledge retent
On 2023 February 27 at 18:15:55.77 UT, a bright fireball streaked across the sky above northern Sweden. The event offered a valuable opportunity to study the phenomenon using an optical system primarily designed for auroral studies, the Auroral Large Imaging System (ALIS_4D), that captured the event. In this study we show the capability of ALIS_4D to perform observations in support of meteor event analysis. We estimated the trajectory from the recorded data and computed the orbit. In addition, we investigated the origin of the meteoroid searching for its parent body. Fitting the analytical ablation model known as $α$-$β$ to the trajectory as well as incorporating local wind-field data in Monte-Carlo dark-flight simulations, strewn-fields were computed and physical properties of the meteoroid were estimated. Trajectory analyses delineate a strewn field along the border between Kiruna and Gällivare in northern Sweden. Our findings indicate that the meteoroid's parent body was likely an Apollo family object. We performed an orbital similarity analysis to identify candidate parent bodies of the fireball. Our simulations suggest that close approaches with Earth could have disrupted the
Collaboration is expected to play a central role in the transition to a bioeconomy - a central pillar of a green economy. Such collaboration is supposed to connect traditional biomass processing firms with diverse actors in fields where biomass ought to substitute existing or create novel products and processes. This study analyzes the network of technology collaborations among innovating firms in Sweden between 1970 and 2021. The results reveal generally positive associations between direct and indirect ties, with meaningful increases in innovation output for each additional direct collaboration partner. Relationships between brokerage positions and innovation output were statistically insignificant, and cognitive proximity - while following theoretical expectations - materially insignificant. These associations are mostly equal between actors heavily invested in the bioeconomy and those focusing on other innovation areas, indicating that these actors operate under largely similar mechanisms linking collaboration and subsequent innovation output. These results suggest that stimulating collaboration broadly - rather than attempting to optimize collaboration compositions - could res
This paper proposes a preventive congestion management framework with joint Local Flexibility Capacity Market (LFCM) and Local Energy Markets (LEMs). The framework enables Local Energy Communities (LECs) to optimize their flexibility potential across the LEM, LFCM, and heat markets. The LECs utilize their heat and electricity resources to offer flexibility services to Distribution System Operators (DSOs) for congestion relief. In this framework, energy and flexibility are treated as separate variables, each subject to different pricing scheme. Flexibility prices are market-driven, dynamically reflecting the location and severity of congestion. A case study conducted at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that the proposed framework can effectively mitigate congestion by trading the LECs flexibility in the LFCM. The study also highlights up to 40% financial benefits for LECs, promoting the LFCM as a viable solution for congestion management in future decentralized energy systems.
Economic growth in Sweden during the early 20th Century was largely driven by industry. A significant contributor to this growth was the installation of different kinds of engines used to power factories. We use newly digitized data on engines and their energy source by industry sector, and combine this with municipality-level data of workers per industry sector to construct a new variable reflecting economic output using dirty engines. In turn, we assess the average externality of dirty output on mortality in the short-run, as defined by deaths over the population in the baseline year. Our results show substantial increases of up to 17% higher mortality in cities where large increases to dirty engine installations occurred, which is largely driven by the elderly. We also run a placebo test using clean powered industry and find no effect on mortality.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments faced the challenge of managing population behavior to prevent their healthcare systems from collapsing. Sweden adopted a strategy centered on voluntary sanitary recommendations while Belgium resorted to mandatory measures. Their consequences on pandemic progression and associated economic impacts remain insufficiently understood. This study leverages the divergent policies of Belgium and Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic to relax the unrealistic -- but persistently used -- assumption that social contacts are not influenced by an epidemic's dynamics. We develop an epidemiological-economic co-simulation model where pandemic-induced behavioral changes are a superposition of voluntary actions driven by fear, prosocial behavior or social pressure, and compulsory compliance with government directives. Our findings emphasize the importance of early responses, which reduce the stringency of measures necessary to safeguard healthcare systems and minimize ensuing economic damage. Voluntary behavioral changes lead to a pattern of recurring epidemics, which should be regarded as the natural long-term course of pandemics. Governments should carefully
This paper estimates how electricity price divergence within Sweden has affected incentives to invest in photovoltaic (PV) generation between 2016 and 2022 based on a synthetic control approach. Sweden is chosen as the research subject since it is together with Italy the only EU country with multiple bidding zones and is facing dramatic divergence in electricity prices between low-tariff bidding zones in Northern and high-tariff bidding zones in Southern Sweden since 2020. The results indicate that PV uptake in municipalities located north of the bidding zone border is reduced by 40.9-48% compared to their Southern counterparts. Based on these results, the creation of separate bidding zones within countries poses a threat to the expansion of PV generation and other renewables since it disincentivizes investment in areas with low electricity prices.
Forest canopies embody a dynamic set of ecological factors, acting as a pivotal interface between the Earth and its atmosphere. They are not only the result of an ecosystem's ability to maintain its inherent ecological processes, structures, and functions but also a reflection of human disturbance. This study introduces a methodology for extracting a comprehensive and human-interpretable set of features from the Canopy Height Model (CHM), which are then analyzed to identify reliable indicators for the degree of naturalness of forests in Southern Sweden. Utilizing these features, machine learning models - specifically, the perceptron, logistic regression, and decision trees - are applied to predict forest naturalness with an accuracy spanning from 89% to 95%, depending on the area of the region of interest. The predictions of the proposed method are easy to interpret, something that various stakeholders may find valuable.
This is a corrigendum to Acta Math. 196 (2006) as well as to the follow-up publications JFA 259 (2010) and to JFA 260 (2011).