University of Gothenburg

About: University of Gothenburg is a education organization based out in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 23855 authors who have published 65241 publications receiving 2606327 citations. The organization is also known as: Göteborg University & Gothenburg University.

Digital Tools and Challenges to Institutional Traditions of Learning: Technologies, Social Memory and the Performative Nature of Learning.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to offer some reflections on the relationships between digital technologies and learning. It is argued that activities of learning, as they have been practised within institutionalized schooling, are coming under increasing pressure from the developments of digital technologies and the capacities to store, access and manipulate information that such resources offer. Thus, the technologies do not merely support learning; they transform how we learn and how we come to interpret learning. The metaphors of learning currently emerging as relevant in the new media ecology emphasize the transformational and performative nature of such activities, and of knowing in general. These developments make the hybrid nature of human knowing and learning obvious; what we know and master is, to an increasing extent, a function of the mediating tools we are familiar with. At a theoretical and practical level, this implies that the interdependences between human agency, minds, bodies and technologies have to serve as foundations when attempting to understand and improve learning. Attempts to account for what people know without integrating their mastery of increasingly sophisticated technologies into the picture will lack ecological validity.

Long‐term effect of surgical/non‐surgical treatment of periodontal disease

Abstract: The present investigation describes the effect of periodontal therapy in a group of patients who, following active treatment, were monitored over a 5-year period One aim of the study was to analyze the role played by the patients' self-performed plaque control in preventing recurrent periodontitis In addition, probing depth and attachment level alterations were studied separately for sites with initial probing depths of greater than or equal to 4 mm which were treated initially by either surgical or non-surgical procedures Following active treatment (surgical/non-surgical), the patients were maintained on a plaque control regimen for 6 months, which included professional tooth cleaning once every 2 weeks During the subsequent 18 months, the interval between the recall appointments was extended to 12 weeks and included prophylaxis as well as oral hygiene instruction Following the 24-month examination, the interval between the recall appointments was further extended, now to 4-6 months In addition, the maintenance program was restricted to oral hygiene instruction and professional, supragingival tooth cleaning, but further subgingival instrumentation was avoided Clinical examinations including assessments of the oral hygiene, the gingival conditions, the probing depths and the attachment levels were performed at Baseline and after 24 and 60 months after completion of active therapy Assessments of plaque and gingivitis were repeated annually The results of the examinations showed that the patients' standard of self-maintained oral hygiene had a decisive influence on the long-term effect of treatment Patients who during the 5 years of monitoring consistently had a high frequency of plaque-free tooth surfaces showed little evidence of recurrent periodontal disease, while patients who had a low frequency of plaque-free tooth surfaces had a high frequency of sites showing additional loss of attachment The present findings demonstrated that sites with an initial pocket depth exceeding 3 mm responded equally well to non-surgical and surgical treatments This statement is based on probing depth and attachment level data from sites which were free of plaque at the 6-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-month reexaminations It is suggested that the critical determinant in periodontal therapy is not the technique (surgical or non-surgical) that is used for the elimination of the subgingival infection, but the quality of the debridement of the root surface

Separation of human adipocytes by size: hypertrophic fat cells display distinct gene expression

Abstract: Enlarged adipocytes are associated with insulin resistance and are an independent predictor of type 2 diabetes. To understand the molecular link between these diseases and adipocyte hypertrophy, we developed a technique to separate human adipocytes from an adipose tissue sample into populations of small cells (mean 57.6+-3.54 um) and large cells (mean 100.1+-3.94 um). Microarray analysis of the cell populations separated from adipose tissue from three subjects identified 14 genes, of which five immune-related, with more than fourfold higher expression in large cells than small cells. Two of these genes were serum amyloid A (SAA) and transmembrane 4 L six family member 1 (TM4SF1). Real-time RT-PCR analysis of SAA and TM4SF1 expression in adipocytes from seven subjects revealed 19-fold and 22-fold higher expression in the large cells, respectively, and a correlation between adipocyte size and both SAA and TM4SF1 expression. The results were verified using immunohistochemistry. In comparison with 17 other human tissues and cell types by microarray, large adipocytes displayed by far the highest SAA and TM4SF1 expression. Thus, we have identified genes with markedly higher expression in large, compared with small, human adipocytes. These genes may link hypertrophic obesity to insulin resistance/type 2 diabetes.

Vagus-nerve stimulation for the treatment of epilepsy

Abstract: Summary Vagus-nerve stimulation (VNS) is now an accepted treatment for patients with refractory epilepsy. There have been many studies suggesting that VNS affects the brain in such areas as the thalamus and other limbic structures. In addition, there is some evidence that norepinephrine is important in the prophylactic antiseizure effects of VNS. The efficacy of VNS has been established for partial seizure types, even in refractory patients who did not respond to surgical treatment for epilepsy. There are also data, from open-label studies, that suggest efficacy in other seizure types. Therefore, VNS seems to be a broad-spectrum treatment for epilepsy. Improvement is not immediate but increases over 18–24 months of treatment. Most studies report subjective improvements in various quality-of-life measurements during treatment with VNS—objective trials have confirmed this observation. Side-effects are mainly stimulation related and reversible and they tend to decrease over time. They are generally mild to moderate and seldom necessitate the removal of the device. No idiosyncratic side-effects have been reported in 12 years of experience, and VNS does not interact with antiepileptic drugs. Most adverse events are predictable and related to the specific stimulation regimen. VNS does not have cognitive and systemic side-effects and can, therefore, be a valuable treatment approach even for patients who have poor tolerance of antiepileptic drugs.