BACKGROUND Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) measurements are important for the assessment of liver damage. The aim of this study was to define the reference intervals (RIs) for these enzymes in adults, paying attention to standardization of the methods used and careful selection of the reference population. METHODS AST, ALT and ...

background:: this study aimed to quantify the prevalence of low back pain (lbp), analyze its associated risk factors and explore on how lbp affects job satisfaction among 120 school teachers in malaysia. method: a cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected teachers from four secondary schools in putrajaya from february to march 2015. the level of lbp was assessed using a standa...

AIM The Nordic Quality of Life Study was undertaken to assess the relationship between psoriasis and the quality of life in Nordic countries. The intention was also to determine whether there was a relationship between drinking, smoking, and the use of psychotherapeutic agents on the one hand, and psoriasis severity and quality of life on the other. MATERIALS AND METHODS A questionnaire was m...

OBJECTIVE Excess mortality from diseases and medical conditions (natural death) in persons with psychiatric disorders has been extensively reported. Even in the Nordic countries with well-developed welfare systems, register based studies find evidence of an excess mortality. In recent years, cardiac mortality and death by diseases of the circulatory system has seen a decline in all the Nordic c...

This paper discusses the need for reliable and valid measures of personality and motivational factors in the prediction of success and attrition in a dental school. The admissions system currently used in most schools includes personality factors that are measured by an interview. Our study examined whether the interview could be replaced by a standardized, open-ended questionnaire, thus increa...

OBJECTIVE To assess to what extent Nordic parents strive to protect their children from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at home. DESIGN A cross-sectional study using an anonymous questionnaire. SUBJECTS AND SETTING A stratified, random sample of 5500 households containing a child born during 1992, including 1500 households in Denmark and 1000 households in each of the countries of Finland...

While workplace physical exercise can help manage musculoskeletal disorders, less is known about psychosocial effects of such interventions. This aim of this study was to investigate the effect of workplace physical exercise on psychosocial factors among workers with chronic musculoskeletal pain. The trial design was a 2-armed parallel-group randomized controlled trial with allocation concealme...

A recently published article in the Revista de Saúde Pública (Journal of Public Health) reported results from a survey of the prevalence of asthma in schoolchildren using an adapted version of the ISAAC standardized questionnaire. Question 6 (Q6) of the original asthma core module was modified to also include the term “bronchitis,” Have you ever had asthma or bronchitis?. The authors argued tha...

The concept of self-presence describes how the self is extended into mediated environments through virtual self representations. Until now, there has been no standard measurement of self-presence because the previous definitions of this concept have not utilized a holistic definition of the self. Addressing this need, the present paper proposes a standardized Self-Presence Questionnaire (SPQ) b...

BACKGROUND Aim of this study was to compare post resuscitation care of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients in Nordic (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS An online questionnaire was sent to Nordic ICUs in 2012 and was complemented by an additional one in 2014. RESULTS The first questionnaire was sent to 188 and the second one to 184 ICU...