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.

Quality of Government

Abstract: The authors argue that the concept of quality of government should be best understood as that of having impartial government institutions. This definition avoids functionalism, ignores the contents of specific policies in favor of the procedures for how they are implemented, and pertain to the output side of the political system. They discuss this concept in relation to several proposed alternative definitions.

Emotional responses to music: The need to consider underlying mechanisms

Abstract: Research indicates that people value music primarily because of the emotions it evokes. Yet, the notion of musical emotions remains controversial, and researchers have so far been unable to offer a satisfactory account of such emotions. We argue that the study of musical emotions has suffered from a neglect of underlying mechanisms. Specifically, researchers have studied musical emotions without regard to how they were evoked, or have assumed that the emotions must be based on the "default" mechanism for emotion induction, a cognitive appraisal. Here, we present a novel theoretical framework featuring six additional mechanisms through which music listening may induce emotions: (1) brain stem reflexes, (2) evaluative conditioning, (3) emotional contagion, (4) visual imagery, (5) episodic memory, and (6) musical expectancy. We propose that these mechanisms differ regarding such characteristics as their information focus, ontogenetic development, key brain regions, cultural impact, induction speed, degree of volitional influence, modularity, and dependence on musical structure. By synthesizing theory and findings from different domains, we are able to provide the first set of hypotheses that can help researchers to distinguish among the mechanisms. We show that failure to control for the underlying mechanism may lead to inconsistent or non-interpretable findings. Thus, we argue that the new framework may guide future research and help to resolve previous disagreements in the field. We conclude that music evokes emotions through mechanisms that are not unique to music, and that the study of musical emotions could benefit the emotion field as a whole by providing novel paradigms for emotion induction.

Effects of Oral Tolvaptan in Patients Hospitalized for Worsening Heart Failure: The EVEREST Outcome Trial

Abstract: ContextVasopressin mediates fluid retention in heart failure. Tolvaptan, a vasopressin V2 receptor blocker, shows promise for management of heart failure.ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of tolvaptan initiated in patients hospitalized with heart failure.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThe Efficacy of Vasopressin Antagonism in Heart Failure Outcome Study With Tolvaptan (EVEREST), an event-driven, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The outcome trial comprised 4133 patients within 2 short-term clinical status studies, who were hospitalized with heart failure, randomized at 359 North American, South American, and European sites between October 7, 2003, and February 3, 2006, and followed up during long-term treatment.InterventionWithin 48 hours of admission, patients were randomly assigned to receive oral tolvaptan, 30 mg once per day (n = 2072), or placebo (n = 2061) for a minimum of 60 days, in addition to standard therapy.Main Outcome MeasuresDual primary end points were all-cause mortality (superiority and noninferiority) and cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure (superiority only). Secondary end points included changes in dyspnea, body weight, and edema.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 9.9 months, 537 patients (25.9%) in the tolvaptan group and 543 (26.3%) in the placebo group died (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-1.11; P = .68). The upper confidence limit for the mortality difference was within the prespecified noninferiority margin of 1.25 (P<.001). The composite of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure occurred in 871 tolvaptan group patients (42.0%) and 829 placebo group patients (40.2%; hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.95-1.14; P = .55). Secondary end points of cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular death or hospitalization, and worsening heart failure were also not different. Tolvaptan significantly improved secondary end points of day 1 patient-assessed dyspnea, day 1 body weight, and day 7 edema. In patients with hyponatremia, serum sodium levels significantly increased. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire overall summary score was not improved at outpatient week 1, but body weight and serum sodium effects persisted long after discharge. Tolvaptan caused increased thirst and dry mouth, but frequencies of major adverse events were similar in the 2 groups.ConclusionTolvaptan initiated for acute treatment of patients hospitalized with heart failure had no effect on long-term mortality or heart failure–related morbidity.Trial Registrationclinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00071331Published online March 25, 2007 (doi:10.1001/jama.297.12.1319).

On qualitative differences in learning—ii outcome as a function of the learner's conception of the task

Abstract: Summary. Two groups of 20 first-year students were asked to read three sections of a textbook. After the first two sections the groups received different types of question. One group received questions which demanded a thorough understanding of the meaning of the passage. The other group was given detailed factual questions. After the final section of reading a common set of questions of both types was asked. Besides providing further evidence of qualitative differences in learning, the experiment showed that students did adapt their way of learning to their conception of what was required of them.