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Background and Objectives: Pain management poses a significant challenge for patients experiencing vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in sickle cell disease (SCD). While opioid therapy is highly effective, its efficacy can be impeded by undesirable side effects. Local regional anesthesia (LRA), involving the deposition of a perineural anesthetic, provides a nociceptive blockade, local vasodilation and reduces the inflammatory response. However, the effectiveness of this therapeutic approach for VOC in SCD patients has been rarely reported up to now. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a single-shot local regional anesthesia (LRA) in reducing pain and consequently enhancing the management of severe vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) unresponsive to conventional analgesic therapy. Materials and Methods: We first collected consecutive episodes of VOC in critical care (ICU and emergency room) for six months in 2022 in a French University hospital with a large population of sickle cell patients in the West Indies population. We also performed a systematic review of the use of LRA in SCD. The primary outcome was defined using a numeric pain score (NPS) and/or percentage of change in opioid use. Results: We enrolled nine SCD adults (28 years old, 4 females) for ten episodes of VOC in whom LRA was used for pain management. Opioid reduction within the first 24 h post block was −75% (50 to 96%). Similarly, the NPS decreased from 9/10 pre-block to 0–1/10 post-block. Five studies, including one case series with three patients and four case reports, employed peripheral nerve blocks for regional anesthesia. In general, local regional anesthesia (LRA) exhibited a reduction in pain and symptoms, along with a decrease in opioid consumption post-procedure. Conclusions: LRA improves pain scores, reduces opioid consumption in SCD patients with refractory pain, and may mitigate opioid-related side effects while facilitating the transition to oral analgesics. Furthermore, LRA is a safe and effective procedure.

PREP are typical signal courses in the EEG, which are used to investigate the influence of neuropathologies or, for example, post-traumatic headaches on pain processing. The medically meaningful peaks are detected manually for further analysis. To develop a more time-efficient method, an automatic, latency-independent way of detection was created using the cross-correlation function, which generates a sample response for each data set. The comparison of automatic and manual methods shows advantages and disadvantages of both methods, but no significant deviation of the automatic method can be found.

The article analyzes how 31 international students (IS) entered the Finnish labor market as they graduated from Finnish universities. Despite a growing interest in international student migration (ISM), there are few studies that analyze the firsthand experiences of IS as they seek to enter the receiving-country labor markets as they graduate. This article contributes to the topic by showing how the interviewees of this study managed to enter the receiving-country labor markets, which are embedded in national, cultural, and institutional contexts that require context-bound knowledge of particular recruitment patterns.The contribution of the article lies in (1) providing new insights on an understudied topic: IS’ experiences of finding jobs in the country of graduation, and, in (2) constructing a theoretical framework for analyzing IS’ job search in the countries ofgraduation. More broadly, the article contributes to the studies on highly educated migrants’ labor market integration by shedding light on the experiences in a Nordic setting.

In this article, we analyse foreign seasonal berry and vegetable pickers’ strategies as regards securing their living and working conditions in Finland. Farmers are currently dependent on foreign seasonal workers. In spite of the potential gains working in Finland offers to foreign pickers, the risks associated with the work are diverted to the individual employee. The risks are not shared between the employee and the welfare state, which is regarded as a central feature of the Nordic welfare model. In this precarious situation, ‘weak ties’ become an important source of information and security for the pickers.

The Finnish service sector trade union Palvelualojen ammattiliitto or Service Union United has the largest amount of migrant members of all Finnish trade unions. It walks the narrow line between defending the perceived interests of its members from the ‘threat’ of labour immigration, and simultaneously trying to act as an immigrant-friendly force. This qualitative case study analyses the outcomes of the union’s strategies in questions related to immigration. The outcomes affect different immigrant groups in a different manner. Furthermore, the established quasi-state character of the Finnish trade union movement affects both the strengths and weaknesses of its strategies. The politicized anti-immigration views in the Finnish society indirectly to some degree impact trade union strategies. Results suggest that the lay distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ based on nationality still shapes trade union strategy in a way that can be labeled selective solidarity.

This article examines trade union strategies in relation to labor migration in Estonia and Finland, drawing on face-to-face interviews with trade unionists and official union statements. The study considers the national trade union strategies located in two separate but interconnected localities that represent different approaches to market economy. Previous research suggests that the national industrial relations system is a key factor in explaining unions’ labor migration strategies. Unions operating in liberal market economies are claimed to be more open toward immigration and more inclusive toward immigrants than unions in coordinated markets. This study analyzes the extent to which this theory holds in the context of Estonia and Finland—Finland representing a coordinated market economy and Estonia a liberal market economy. Furthermore, the analysis examines how the emergence of a translocal labor market, resulting from the geographical vicinity and linguistic affinity between Finland and Estonia as well as from free mobility within the EU, is reflected in trade union approaches to labor migration. The study finds that Finnish trade union strategies influence labor mobility, whereas Estonian trade unions remain bystanders in the issue.

Artikkelissa analysoidaan Rakennusliiton ja Palvelualojen ammaƫliiton (PAM) maahanmuutto- ja maahanmuuttajastrategioita. Sekä Rakennusliitto että PAM toteuttavat protektionistista maahanmuuttostrategiaa vastustamalla työvoiman maahanmuuton rajoitusten höllentämistä. Maahanmuuttostrategioita lähestytään arƟkkelissa Max Weberin sulkeuma-käsitteen avulla. Molemmilla ammattiliitoilla on myös inklusiivisia maahanmuuttajastrategioita, joilla ne pyrkivät saamaan maahanmuuttajia jäseniksi. Näitä strategioita lähestytään trade union renewal -teorian näkökulmasta. Strategioiden onnistuminen tai epäonnistuminen heijastuu ammattiliittojen valtaresursseihin ja sitä kautta niiden tulevaisuuden näkymiin. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu ammattiliittojen edustajien haastatteluista, Rakennusliiton ja PAMin jäsenlehtien pääkirjoituksista ja muista julkisista kannanotoista sekä ammattiliittojen tilaisuuksissa käydyistä keskusteluista ja niissä tehdyistä havainnoista.

Abstract Background Lung cancer still remains one of the most commonly occurring solid tumors and even in stage Ia, surgery fails in 30% of patients who develop distant metastases. It is hypothesized that these must have developed from occult circulating tumor cells present at the time of surgery, or before. The aim of the present study was to detect such cells in the peripheral blood and to monitor these cells following surgery. Methods 30 patients treated for lung cancer with surgery were monitored for circulating epithelial cells (CEC) by taking peripheral blood samples before, 2 weeks and 5 months after surgery and/or radiotherapy (RT) chemotherapy (CT) or combined RT/CT using magnetic bead enrichment and laser scanning cytometry (MAINTRAC®) for quantification of these cells. Results In 86% of the patients CEC were detected before surgery and in 100% at 2 weeks and 5 months after surgery. In the control group, which consisted of 100 normal donors without cancer, 97 % were negative for CEC. A significantly higher number of CEC was found preoperatively in patients with squamous cell carcinoma than in those with adenocarcinoma. In correlation to the extent of parenchymal manipulation 2 weeks after surgery, an increase in numbers of CEC was observed with limited resections (18/21) whereas pneumonectomy led to a decrease (5/8) of CEC, 2 weeks after surgery. The third analysis done 5 months after surgery identified 3 groups of patients. In the group of 5 patients who received neo- or adjuvant chemo/radiotherapy there was evidence that monitoring of CEC can evaluate the effects of therapy. Another group of 7 patients who underwent surgery only showed a decrease of CEC and no signs of relapse. A third group of 11 patients who had surgery only, showed an increase of CEC (4 with an initial decrease after surgery and 7 with continuous increase). In the group with a continuous increase during the following 24 months, 2 early relapses in patients with stage Ia adenocarcinoma were observed. The increase of CEC preceded clinical detection by six months. Conclusion We consider, therefore, that patients with adenocarcinoma and a continuous increase of CEC after complete resection for lung cancer are at an increased risk of early relapse.

The study of the psychological effects of social media use on adolescents’ adjustment has long been the focus of psychological research, but results are still inconclusive. In particular, there is a lack of research on the positive and negative developmental outcomes and on possible moderating variables, especially concerning early adolescence. To fill these gaps in literature, the present study longitudinally investigated the relationships between social media use, depressive symptoms, affective well-being and life satisfaction, as well as the moderating role of emotional self-efficacy and gender. The study involved 336 Italian early adolescents (mean age = 13, sd = 0.3; 48% girls) who completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire twice within a year. Main results showed that higher social media use was related to higher depressive symptoms, lower affective well-being and lower life satisfaction among girls with lower emotional self-efficacy. Conversely, high social media use was related to higher affective well-being and higher life satisfaction for girls with higher emotional self-efficacy. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for risk prevention and health promotion among early adolescents. In particular, our results suggest that promoting emotional self-efficacy can be very helpful in making the use of social media an opportunity for well-being and life satisfaction rather than a developmental risk.

Background Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is a life-threatening restrictive cardiomyopathy. Identifying patients with a poor prognosis is essential to ensure appropriate care. The aim of this study was to compare myocardial work (MW) indices with standard echocardiographic parameters in predicting mortality among patients with CA.Methods Clinical, biological and transthoracic echocardiographic parameters were retrospectively compared among 118 patients with CA. Global work index (GWI) was calculated as the area of left ventricular pressure–strain loop. Global work efficiency (GWE) was defined as percentage ratio of constructive work to sum of constructive and wasted works. Sixty-one (52%) patients performed a cardiopulmonary exercise.Results GWI, GWE, global longitudinal strain (GLS), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and myocardial contraction fraction (MCF) were correlated with N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (R=−0.518, R=−0.383, R=−0.553, R=−0.382 and R=−0.336, respectively; p

During a 2014 outbreak, 450 patients with confirmed chikungunya virus infection were admitted to the University Hospital of Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. Of these, 110 were nonpregnant adults; 42 had severe disease, and of those, 25 had severe sepsis or septic shock and 12 died. Severe sepsis may be a rare complication of chikungunya virus infection.

Nowadays, data collection is a key process in the study of electrical power networks when searching for harmonics and a lack of balance among phases. In this context, the lack of data of any of the main electrical variables (phase-to-neutral voltage, phase-to-phase voltage, and current in each phase and power factor) adversely affects any time series study performed. When this occurs, a data imputation process must be accomplished in order to substitute the data that is missing for estimated values. This paper presents a novel missing data imputation method based on multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) and compares it with the well-known technique called multivariate imputation by chained equations (MICE). The results obtained demonstrate how the proposed method outperforms the MICE algorithm.

Global solar broadband irradiance on a planar surface is measured at weather stations by pyranometers. In the case of the present research, solar radiation values from nine meteorological stations of the MeteoGalicia real-time observational network, captured and stored every ten minutes, are considered. In this kind of record, the lack of data and/or the presence of wrong values adversely affects any time series study. Consequently, when this occurs, a data imputation process must be performed in order to replace missing data with estimated values. This paper aims to evaluate the multivariate imputation of ten-minute scale data by means of the chained equations method (MICE). This method allows the network itself to impute the missing or wrong data of a solar radiation sensor, by using either all or just a group of the measurements of the remaining sensors. Very good results have been obtained with the MICE method in comparison with other methods employed in this field such as Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The average RMSE value of the predictions for the MICE algorithm was 13.37% while that for the MLR it was 28.19%, and 31.68% for the IDW.

The storage of data is a key process in the study of electrical power networks related to the search for harmonics and the finding of a lack of balance among phases. The presence of missing data of any of the main electrical variables (phase-to-neutral voltage, phase-to-phase voltage, current in each phase and power factor) affects any time series study in a negative way that has to be addressed. When this occurs, missing data imputation algorithms are required. These algorithms are able to substitute the data that are missing for estimated values. This research presents a new algorithm for the missing data imputation method based on Self-Organized Maps Neural Networks and Mahalanobis distances and compares it not only with a well-known technique called Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE) but also with an algorithm previously proposed by the authors called Adaptive Assignation Algorithm (AAA). The results obtained demonstrate how the proposed method outperforms both algorithms.