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Lauri Kokkinen1,2, Elina Viitanen11School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, 2Unit of Expertise for Work Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, FinlandBackground: Service production structures of public health care, once established, have proved extremely difficult to change. For this study, we reviewed discussions that took place in management teams at a Finnish central hospital over a period of nine months. The aim of the research was to analyze whether the management team meetings brought forth new and radical alternatives as to how service production could be reorganized. In addition to this, we were also interested in any possible problems that could be solved using these alternative models of service production, and also how preconditions to the application of different alternatives came about and how they eventually concluded.Methods: Our data were derived from 24 management team meetings that took place between August 2007 and May 2008, and were fully videotaped. Data were collected from eight different management teams; the meetings of each were videotaped three times. The management teams reviewed represented three different hierarchical levels, ie, top management, division management, and operational unit management. Data were analyzed according to theory-based content analysis. As a theoretical framework, we utilized Kingdon’s model to enable us to understand why some issues and problems are brought to the agenda of the change process and go on to become concrete policies while others fail to do so.Results: During the study period, a threat of mass resignation of nursing staff caused a considerable change to the agenda of the management team meetings, introducing alternatives with the potential to renew the existing structures of operation in a radical manner.Conclusion: According to our analysis, the threat of mass resignation acted as a window of opportunity, linking the lack of nursing staff (problem) to operational and structural changes (alternative solutions).Keywords: hospital, nursing staff, mass resignation, change

Aim This study investigates whether first-line nurse managers in hospitals share common dispositions related to managerial work and leadership, what they are like, and what their relationship is with the various expectations set on them. Methods The first data were collected by focus group interviews in the autumn of 2000 and analysed using qualitative content analysis and frame analysis. The second data set were part of a questionnaire survey addressed to the same managers in 2001 with a focus on their diverse leadership roles. Results Among first-line nurse managers, the management frameworks of a nurturing mother and an administrative nurse displayed the strongest prominence, and the emphasis seemed to be evolving towards the administrative. The results from the survey confirmed the findings of this study in relation to first-line nurse managers' management frameworks. Conclusion The line of development found in this study may add to the permanence of operations and the stability of the operative culture at a university hospital. It may also diminish the opportunities for nursing development in university hospital wards and weaken the potential for a new kind of competence among both managers and their subordinates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is dramatically increasing the overall area of saline soils around the world, which is increasing by approximately two million hectares each year. Soil salinity decreases crop yields and, thereby, makes farming less profitable, potentially causing increased poverty and hunger in many areas. A solution to this problem is increasing the salt tolerance of crop plants. Transcription factors (TFs) within crop plants represent a key to understanding salt tolerance, as these proteins play important roles in the regulation of functional genes linked to salt stress. The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) TF has a well-documented role in the regulation of salt tolerance. To better understand how bZIP TFs are linked to salt tolerance, we performed a genome-wide analysis in wheat using the Chinese spring wheat genome, which has been assembled by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium. We identified 89 additional bZIP gene sequences, which brings the total of bZIP gene sequences in wheat to 237. The majority of these 237 sequences included a single bZIP protein domain; however, different combinations of five other domains also exist. The bZIP proteins are divided into ten subfamily groups. Using an in silico analysis, we identified five bZIP genes ( ABF2 , ABF4 , ABI5 , EMBP1 , and VIP1 ) that were involved in regulating salt stress. By scrutinizing the binding properties to the 2000 bp upstream region, we identified putative functional genes under the regulation of these TFs. Expression analyses of plant tissue that had been treated with or without 100 mM NaCl revealed variable patterns between the TFs and functional genes. For example, an increased expression of ABF4 was correlated with an increased expression of the corresponding functional genes in both root and shoot tissues, whereas VIP1 downregulation in root tissues strongly decreased the expression of two functional genes. Identifying strategies to sustain the expression of the functional genes described in this study could enhance wheat's salt tolerance.

To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society., (© 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A key to larvae of Ptychopteridae (phantom crane flies) is provided for species inhabiting Northern Europe. The key encompasses seven species, including the previously undescribed larvae of Ptychoptera longicauda (Tonnoir 1919). Larval specimens examined were primarily sampled from sites in Denmark. Larvae were associated with correctly identified adults based on DNA barcode (COI) sequence. In the development of the key, a wide suite of morphological characteristics were examined and evaluated for their utility to separate species. Current distribution maps are provided for all species occurring within Northern Europe. Based on records of larvae from Denmark and Finland, notes on larval habitats are given. We also present flight periods for all species examined during this study. Finally, the status of the enigmatic species Ptychoptera obscura (Peus 1958) is briefly discussed.

Background: Limoniidae is one of the most species-rich Dipteran families, with 661 reported species in Europe. Despite the fact that the European limoniid crane fly fauna has been studied ever since Carolus Linnaeus, it is still poorly known., New Information: In this study, we summarise the taxonomic and faunistic studies of European Limoniidae, which described new species and reported first country records, between 2010 and 2020. We also report occurrence data of 244 Limoniidae species which represent the first country records or conformational records from various European countries, as we report ten species from Albania, one from Austria, thirty-seven from Belarus, five from Belgium, two from Bulgaria, two from Estonia, six from Finland, seven from France, fourteen from Greece, sixteen from Hungary, two from Iceland, six from Italy, ten from Latvia, one from Malta, nine from Montenegro, two from The Netherlands, ten from North Macedonia, forty-two from Norway, one from Poland, five from Portugal, twenty from Romania, thirty-eight from Serbia, six from Slovenia, five from Spain and seven species from Sweden for the first time. From the European territory of Russia, we report twenty-eight species from Central European Russia, seventy-two from East European Russia, fifteen from North European Russia, one from Northwest European Russia and seven from North Caucasus for the first time. Confirmatory records and corrigenda are also included., (Levente-Péter Kolcsár, Pjotr Oosterbroek, Dmitry I. Gavryushin, Kjell Magne Olsen, Nikolai M. Paramonov, Valentin E. Pilipenko, Jaroslav Starý, Alexei Polevoi, Vladimir I. Lantsov, Eulalia Eiroa, Michael Andersson, Jukka Salmela, Clovis Quindroit, Micha C. d'Oliveira, E. Geoffrey Hancock, Jorge Mederos, Pete Boardman, Esko Viitanen, Kozo Watanabe.)

The main purpose of this article is to analyse the institutional and political structures of the Finnish rehabilitation entity and the governmental efforts to improve the governance of the rehabilitation policy. Rehabilitation in Finland is a complex welfare system which has undergone several coordination attempts during the last two decades. The centrality of the coordination of this welfare system is obvious. Based on the content analysis of three Government's rehabilitation reports from 1994 to 2002 and their background papers, this article provides two main findings. First, the rehabilitation entity seems to be based on different funding strategies, different governing and different coordination models between the rehabilitation subsystems. Second, the governance discourse in the reports seems to be unchanging with a predominantly hierarchical mode. The article concludes with a discussion on the challenges to coordinate this kind of a complex welfare system as an entity and also how to overcome those challenges., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

A selection of popular herbal medicinal products and food supplements were analysed for their potential to modulate the expression of the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 and the transporter protein MDR1. A total of 31 products were analysed. Nine of the products have been approved by the Medical Products Agency (MPA) in Sweden and are marketed as herbal medicinal products. Twenty-two of the products have not been assessed by the MPA and are marketed as food supplements. LS180 cells were exposed to extracts from the different herbal products and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, RT-QPCR, was subsequently used to analyse the relative mRNA levels of CYP1A2, CYP3A4 or MDR1 in treated and non-treated cells. Our results show that 17 of 31 products tested induced a two-fold expression or more for at least one of the genes analysed. Four products, of which a ginger-supplement was the most potent, induced all three genes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine components of good personnel management and how they come true in accounts of social and health care managers., Design/methodology/approach: The data were obtained by means of a postal survey sent to middle-line managers in positions above the first-line management level in the responsibility area of Tampere University Hospital. The questionnaire was sent to 703 managers; 433 sent in responses indicating a response rate of 62 percent., Findings: Middle-line managers considered themselves as interactive, responsibility-sharing and understanding leaders, but found shortcomings in the leadership style of their superiors. Only 18 percent of the middle-line managers received feedback and only 42 percent received support from their superiors when needed. There were significant differences between genders, activity sectors and professional backgrounds in the responders' accounts concerning personnel management practices., Research Implications/limitations: The results of this study reliably describe how middle-line managers consider things to be, not necessarily how things are in reality., Practical Implications: The findings confirm the assumption that the importance of personnel management is still not perfectly understood in the upper management levels of the social and health care sector. At the same time the self-evaluations of middle-line managers implied an ambition towards better personnel management., Originality/value: This study identifies components of good personnel management from literature and uses them as the basis for analysing the data.

The extent of rehabilitation services is adequate, but little feedback is available on these services and service users. This paper is based on a client feedback survey of physiotherapy services conducted in Spring 2000. The purpose of the paper is to compare patients' perceptions of the physiotherapy instruction they received in a private outpatient facility and in a public physiotherapy facility. The results of the study showed that physiotherapy clients were satisfied with the therapy and instruction they received. They felt they received an adequate amount of instructions and advice. The rehabilitee's strong commitment to care, high motivation and a support network are important to independent rehabilitation in the future. As for the point of contact, the majority of clients in the private physiotherapy facility were gainfully employed while the health centre had almost as many retired clients. Client instruction was not dependent on the point of contact.

A sensitive radioreceptor assay was developed for pharmaceutical preparations of human chorionic gonadotrophin with the use of rat testicular membranes as receptor preparation and human 125I-chorionic gonadotrophin as tracer. The addition of unlabelled human chorionic gonadotrophin or luteinizing hormone inhibited the binding of 125I-chorionic gonadotrophin to the receptors in a concentration dependent way. Concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin between 30-300 mIU ml(-1) were normally used for a three-dose assay fulfilling pharmacopoeial statistical requirements for assay validity. The relative standard deviation for five assays was 7%. Estimates of potency of commercial preparations of human chorionic gonadotrophin obtained with the radioreceptor assay correlated well with corresponding estimates from in vivo assays. The proposed radioreceptor assay, however, provides a considerable saving in the number of animals required, requires less technical support, and is more precise than the in vivo method.

A sensitive radioreceptor assay was developed for pharmaceutical insulin formulations with the use of rat liver membranes and 125I-insulin. The addition of unlabeled insulin or insulin analogues inhibited the binding of 125I-insulin to the receptors in a concentration-dependent way. Insulin concentrations between 3 x 10(-9) and 3 x 10(-8) M were used for a three-point assay which fulfilled pharmacopoeial statistical requirements for validity of the assay. The coefficient of variation for five assays was 4%. Potency estimates of insulin preparations obtained with the radioreceptor assay correlated well with corresponding estimates from in vivo assays. Both assays also gave similar potency readings for insulin preparations that were partly degraded during storage at elevated temperatures, but the radioreceptor method was more precise.

Two in-vitro methods for the bioassay of cholecystokinin (CCK) are described. They should be useful for determinations of potencies of pharmaceutical formulations of CCK. Both are based on the hormone's ability to stimulate exocrine pancreas. The stimulatory effect on 45Ca efflux from preloaded suspended acinar cells or on release of amylase from pancreatic acini from the guinea-pig has been recorded. The assay based on stimulation of 45Ca outflux is more specific and precise than the method using measurements of amylase secretion. Therefore, the calcium assay was further validated against the conventional guinea-pig gall-bladder contraction assay. Both methods gave similar potency readings but the results from the in-vitro assay were more precise.