SEARCH · PubMed Health
Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Studies were carried out in Japan, United States, and Sweden regarding comparability of analytical methods for cadmium, daily intake of cadmium via food, daily amount of cadmium in feces, concentrations of cadmium in different tissues and the body burden of cadmium, urinary excretion of cadmium and cadmium concentrations in blood. It was found that the cadmium intake via food among adults is about 35 mug/day in Japan (Tokyo) and about 17 mug/day in the U.S. (Dallas) and Sweden (Stockholm). It varies with age in a way similar to calorie intake. Body burden increases rapidly with age. The half-time of cadmium is longer in muscles than in liver or kidneys. In the cross-sectional population samples studied (smokers and nonsmokers mixed) the average cadmium body burden at age 45 was about 21 mg in Japan, 9 mg in the U.S., and 6 mg in Sweden. Among nonsmokers in the U.S. and Sweden the body burden at age 45 was about 5-6 mg. The difference in average body burden for smokers and nonsmokers is explained by differences in smoking habits. Cadmium excretion in urine was closely correlated with body burden and about 0.005-0.01% of body burden is excreted daily in urine. Cadmium concentration in the blood was a good indicator of average recent intake over a 3-month period. Neither blood cadmium nor urine cadmium changed immediately after an increase of exposure level.
Children immigrating into Sweden from Finland and Southern Europe (Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey) were subjected to a longitudinal study on caries activity and gingival condition. For each immigrant child a Swedish "twin" of the same sex and age was used as a control. Out of 124 pairs originally examined, 75 were reexamined after a 2 1/2-year stay in Sweden. The study showed that on arrival in Sweden the Finnish children had more caries and a higher Gingival Index (GI) than the controls and that they acquired more carious lesions during their stay in this country. Their GI, however, did not develop less favorably than that of the Swedish controls. The South-European children did not seem to have more carious lesions than the Swedish controls on arriving, nor did they seem to acquire more carious lesions during the period of observation. Their GI was higher at the first examination but the change in this index ran parallel with that of the controls. It was concluded that the children immigrating from Finland should be considered a risk group with regard to oral health.
A total number of 112 children with congenital hypothyroidism were diagnosed in all Children's Hospitals and Pediatric Wards in Sweden during the 7-year period 1969-1975. Since it may be assumed that all cases of congenital hypothyroidism, which were diagnosed during that period were seen in one of these hospitals, the incidence of congenital hypothyroidism in Sweden can be calculated to be 1:6900 live births. In spite of an efficient National Health Care Program for infants the diagnosis was delayed until after an age of three months in 52% of the cases. This fact supports the view that mass screening of newborns for congenital hypothyroidism has to be introduced in Sweden. However, the beneficial effects of such a program cannot be fully elucidated until it has been considered whether earlier instituted treatment would have improved the outcome of children in whom a diagnosis was made after 3 months of age.
High-throughput sequencing has transformed clinical diagnostics of rare diseases (RD), cancer and infectious diseases by enabling the identification of disease-causing genetic alterations and facilitating individualised treatment and care. In response to these advances, Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) was established in 2017 as a national collaborative effort to accelerate implementation of genomics-based precision medicine within Sweden's regionally organized, publicly funded healthcare system. GMS brings together the seven university healthcare regions and their associated medical faculties, in collaboration with healthcare regions across Sweden, Science for Life Laboratory, patient organizations, industry and governmental agencies. Activities are coordinated through national disease-specific expert groups, supported by cross-cutting functions in bioinformatics, health economics, ethics, education and patient engagement. At the operational level, seven Genomic Medicine Centres, embedded at university hospitals, develop and deliver harmonised genomic diagnostics nationwide. The National Genomics Platform provides secure infrastructure for large-scale data storage, analysis, and national and international data sharing. Following initial project-based funding, GMS now receives long-term governmental support. This review describes the national implementation of genomic-based precision diagnostics, discusses challenges and lessons learnt, and highlights key milestones across disease areas, including whole-genome sequencing in RD and paediatric cancer, comprehensive genomic profiling of haematological malignancies and solid tumours, pathogen genomics in microbiology, pharmacogenomic testing and emerging applications of polygenic risk scores in complex diseases. Collectively, these efforts have contributed to more than 500,000 genomic tests being performed within Swedish healthcare between 2017 and 2025. Finally, we outline future diagnostic needs and priority areas to ensure sustainable, scalable and equitable access to precision medicine.
The role of arsenic in Sweden is generally described, including raw materials, exports/imports, products, consumption, etc. An attempt was also made to estimate the transport of arsenic in Sweden. The quantities of arsenic in raw materials, the emissions of arsenic from such processes as copper smelters and chemical industries, and the amounts of products containing arsenic were calculated. The studies show that a copper smelter is the main user of arsenical materials, the very largest emitting source and also the plant which manufacturers most arsenic products. A summary of measurements of arsenic in air, water and soil in Sweden has also been made. The concentrations near a smelter, in the Baltic, in cities and in "clean-air areas" are given. The efforts made to date to reduce the emissions of arsenic and the measures planned for the next few years are described. A reduction has already been achieved and a further rather large decrease will come, especially in arsenic levels in water. The possibilities of minimizing the use of materials and products containing arsenic is also discussed.
Recently it was demonstrated that the levels of some added colours in food sold in Sweden were such that the recommended daily intake (ADI) could easily be exceeded by the consumer (Ahlborg et al. Vår Föda, 26, 1974, 194-217). New regulations concerning the use of food colours in Sweden came into force on July 1st, 1975. The collection of information on the use of food additives in products sold on the Swedish market has not been extended to cover other food additives such as preservatives and antioxidants. This study is based upon details of about 10,000 food products containing food additives. The material is being computerised and work on the evaluation is in progress. The new investigation demonstrates that the use of food colours has decreased and that very few products now contain high levels of food colours. Data will be presented concerning the levels and total amounts of preservatives, antioxidants and other food additives used in different groups of food products.
Fatal intoxications with morphine derivatives have become increasingly common in Sweden. Toxicologic data and pathologic findings in 34 cases of morphine intoxications from 1966 to 1974 in Sweden are presented. From 1972 on when morphine the black market, lethal intoxications with centrally stimulation amines.
Prescribed drugs dispensed to 13% (17000) of the inhabitants in the county of Jämtland, Sweden, have been continuously recorded since 1970. Individual patients in the investigation are fully identifiable by their identity number as used in Sweden, so patients exposed to a particular drug or group of drugs can be reached subsequently, e. g. for studies of the incidence and nature of side effects. The following information is coded at the local pharmacies: prescribing physician, dispensing pharmacy, year and week of dispensation, name, amount and price of drug, dosage, type of prescription record. In a five year period the drop-out rate has decreased from 9% in 1970 to 4% in 1974. Every year at least one drug is prescribed for approximately 60% of the population. During the five year period 74% of the male and 80% of the female population purchased prescription drugs. The representative nature of the data is discussed, as well as their value in detection of irrational drug usage and ascertaining any particular patient's drug history.
The adrenal cell test for detection of heat-labile enterotoxin-producing Escherichia coli was performed on faecal specimens collected over a period of six months from 648 patients with diarrhoea. The patients came from all parts of Sweden. A total of 72 enterotoxigenic strains were found in 27 patients. Enterotoxigenic strains do not seem to be an important cause of diarrhoea in Sweden, since 70% of the patients with enterotoxin-producing strains had been abroad. Enterotoxigenic enterobacteria were the cause of traveller's diarrhoea in 11% of the patients who had been abroad with a peak incidence in July and August when traveller's diarrhoea was associated with enterotoxigenic strains in 17% of the patients. A simplified method for screening a large number of specimens for enterotoxin production was evaluated and found to be useful.
In Sweden, possession and personal use of drugs are criminalized since 1988, resulting in police work being directed towards minor drug offenses. Despite this, police and other authorities are encouraged to protect the health and wellbeing of people who use prohibited drugs (PWUPD). Knowledge is scarce on how this drug policy plays out in practice. This study therefore analyzes interviews with 20 PWUPD who visited harm reduction services and interacted with policing agents in Stockholm, Sweden. The analysis is based on the participants' narratives of drug policing, and it concerns how they produced themselves as subjects through relations between materiality and discourse. We utilize the concept of surveilled subjectivation to elucidate what the participants could do, what they knew and who they could be or become under drug policing. Four themes were identified illustrating the link between discourse and materiality in PWUPD's surveilled subjectivation: "Material aspects of surveillance"; "Resisting the 'drug abuser' identity"; "Fighting power with power"; and "Crossing boundaries and becoming-other". The participants described nonstop efforts to prevent their bodies, activities, belongings and environments from being enfolded by drug law enforcement, which otherwise would fuel even more surveillance. They therefore disassociated themselves from the "drug abuser" identity, and managed encounters with policing agents by keeping a low profile or acting compliantly. While the study highlights the skills and knowledges the participants deployed to navigate omnipresent drug policing, we conclude that their production of autonomous and empowered subjectivities would be facilitated if possession and use of drugs were no longer criminalized.
Changes in the suicide rate in Sweden have been studied over the period 1749-1975. It has risen from about 2 per 100,000 inhabitants at the middle of the 18th century to about 20 per 100,000 during the period 1971-1975. Thus a more than tenfold increase is evident. From the non-standardized figures a real and substantial increase can be demonstrated which becomes even more apparent after standardization. This increase is independent of variations in the age composition of the population. The increase has occurred in the younger age groups: between the ages of 20 and 35 years, i. e.during the most active years of life, suicide is the leading cause of death today. An account of legislative measures for suicide prevention during this period is also presented. There is considerable support for the assumption that the low suicide rate registered in Sweden up to the beginning of the 19th century was an effect of the powerful influence of religion over the population.
The perinatal mortality in Sweden has been decreasing during the last four decades. From available vital statistics in 1976 Sweden's figures are the lowest internationally. The decline continues and in 1978 the figure was as low as 10.0 per thousand. The five-year period 1973--1977 has been specially analysed using medical birth records from all births. Data from an international perinatal study in 1973 coordinated by WHO have been treated in the same way. With birth weight (BW) specific mortality rates in groups of 250 g it is shown that late fetal deaths (LFD) are related to BW only for high BW and that early neonatal deaths (END) are inversly related to BW. There is no sex difference in LFD but a marked male dominance in END, with one third higher rate for the boys. BW specific mortality rates in BW groups of 250 g, separated in LFD and END can be used as a tool for evaluating the quality of perinatal care. The influence oof factors related to patterns and standards of living is emphasized. It is suggested that perinatal mortality should be given in its two components separately late fetal death rates (LFD) and early neonatal death rates (END).
Intact sphagnum vegetation from moors in south Sweden and coastal areas of west Norway contained cultivable mycobacteria in 32% and 30% of the specimens, respectively. This frequency of specimens is lower than the 50% previously found in the partly altered moors of northwestern Germany, but the Scandinavian moors contained a larger variety of species. On both intact and altered moors M. chelonei and M. sphagni sp. nov. were found, the latter a homologous group of 151 strains. In south Sweden the highest frequency was found in S. balticum, S. recurvum. S. tenellum and S. compactum & molle. (40-65%). In coastal Norway the highest frequency was found in S. rubellum (48%) which offers favourable conditions for the accumulation of solar energy due to the red brown colour in the upper parts. Combined with a high humidity in coastal Norway in summer, this may contribute to the growth of mesophilic mycobacteria. A significant affinity of M. chelonei to S. tenellum was stated.
A Swedish bovine and a Dutch human phage set for coagulase-negative staphylococci were used to phage type coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from bovine milk from Minnesota dairy herds. A comparison was also made of the deoxyribonuclease activity of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from bovine milk in Sweden and Minnesota. Of 133 Minnesota isolates, only one could be typed with the Swedish set and one by the Dutch set, whereas of 218 Swedish strains, 49 could be typed with the Swedish set and 7 by the Dutch set. A larger number of coagulase-negative isolates from Sweden were deoxyribonuclease positive (35%) than were the similar isolates from Minnesota (12%). These findings substantiate the marked heterogeneity of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from bovine udders. Results presented point to the usefulness of establishing regional phage sets for epidemiological investigations of coagulase-negative staphylococci in cattle. It is anticipated that at a later stage the regional phage sets will be coordinated internationally.
The incidence of acute gonococcal and nongonococcal salpingitis for a five-year-period (1970--74) was studied retrospectively in an urban area of central Sweden. The investigation was undertaken to see if the reported decrease of gonorrhoea in Sweden had been followed by a change in the incidence of gonococcal salpingitis--the most common complication of gonorrhoea. The study showed that the relative incidence of acute gonococcal salpingitis had decreased even more than urogenital gonorrhoea and these findings thus indicate a real decrease of gonorrhoea. At the same time there were more patients with nongonococcal salpingitis. During the period of the study the gonococcal complement-fixation test (GCFT) gave positive results in 40% to 80% of the patients with gonococcal salpingitis. The yield with this test was only 4% in patients with nongonococcal salpingitis during 1970 but it increased successively and was 23% in 1974. This increase was statistically highly significant (P less than 0.001).
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (ER) causes erysipelas in multiple animal species and may persist in the environment or be carried asymptomatically. It is estimated that 30-50% of apparently healthy or convalescent pigs harbour ER in their tonsils and other lymphoid tissues. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of ER in the tonsils of healthy Swedish fattening pigs and wild boars. Tonsils were collected from 200 fattening pigs at slaughter from ten abattoirs across Sweden in 2017, with one pig per herd sampled. Wild boars (n = 180) were sampled during hunting, primarily in Östergötland County, in 2018. Cultures were performed using selective media and isolates were confirmed as ER by MALDI-TOF MS. ER was recovered from 6/200 pig tonsils (3.0%), all originating from three abattoirs in southern Sweden. ER was isolated from 76/167 (45.5%) of wild boar tonsils. Whole-genome sequencing revealed a high genetic diversity among the isolates with no dominant clones. Overall, these results indicate that Swedish pig husbandry, characterized by indoor rearing of fattening pigs, age-segregated rearing, sow vaccination, enhanced biosecurity, and restricted straw access largely prevents tonsillar colonization by ER aligning with the low occurrence of clinically diagnosed erysipelas in such herds. For wild boars, the high isolation rate suggests that wild boar could act as a reservoir and potential source of infection for domestic pigs. The potential zoonotic risk should also be considered.
There has developed an abundant literature on the social and political determinants of social policies, but few have addressed the question of how state policies, once implemented, affect the system of stratification in civil society. This article examines the political consequences of social policy in Denmark and Sweden, countries in which a social democratic labor movement has predominated for decades. Superficially, these two highly developed welfare states appear very similar. Yet the political and social contexts in which their social policies have evolved differ substantially. I shall demonstrate the argument that the traditional welfare state approach may be conducive to a new and powerful political conflict, which directly questions the legitimacy of the welfare state itself, unless government is successful in subordinating private capitalist growth to effective public regulation. In Denmark, where social democratic governments have failed to match welfare state growth with more control of private capital, social policy has tended to undermine the political unity of the working class. Consequently, the Social Democratic Party has been weakened. Social welfare programs, in effect, have helped create new forms of stratification within the working class. In Sweden, social democratic governments have been quite successful in shifting a decisive degree of power over the private market to the state. This has helped avert a crisis of the welfare state, and has also been an important condition for continued social democratic hegemony and working-class unity. I conclude that social reform politics tend to be problematic from the point of view of the future power of social democratic movements.