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This paper analyzes the communication strategies used by Greek local governments through the utilization of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically Facebook, and the effectiveness of these strategies in relation to citizens’ online engagement. More specifically, it examines Facebook communication strategies and levels of citizens’ engagement. For this purpose, we conducted a content analysis on the active and official Facebook pages of local municipalities in Greece from January 2017 until the end of September 2017. Our results suggest a rise in the percentage of active Facebook pages maintained by local governments in comparison to our 2014 study. Our results also show that local governments in Greece are using Facebook in a predominantly top-down manner to promote events organized by the municipality and to push one-way information to citizens about their services and actions. Local authorities have, however, made significant progress in relation to posts that support transparency and accountability and that enhance or mobilize citizens’ participation. Our evaluation of local government Facebook strategies indicates that marketing the municipality to external public, such as tourists, and providing information about services are effective strategies that drive citizens’ online attitude expression (liking), engagement (commenting), and advocacy behavior (sharing). According to our analysis, local governments in Greece prefer the strategies that we found to be the least engaging. In addition, our study provides interesting details of how specific characteristics and modes of Facebook messages (photos, videos, URLs, hashtags, and mentions) impact on citizens’ engagement. Finally, our results provide valuable insights for social media managers in local government who aim to increase the impact of their municipal Facebook pages.

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IMPORTANCE: Mortality in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) has markedly decreased during recent decades because of advancement in pediatric care. However, there are limited data on survival trends in children and young adults with CHD compared with the general population. OBJECTIVE: To determine survivorship in children and young adults with CHD compared with matched controls. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A registry-based, prospective, matched-cohort study was conducted in Sweden. Data from the national patient and cause of death registers were linked to identify individuals with CHD born between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1993, who were registered at or after birth. Follow-up and comorbidity data were collected until December 31, 2011. Survival analyses were performed with the Cox proportional hazards model; these analyses were performed from January 1, 1970, to December 31, 2011. A total of 21 982 patients with CHD in Sweden were identified. The mean (SD) follow-up time was 27.0 (8.86) years. Children serving as controls (n = 219 816) (10 for each patient), matched for birth year, sex, and county, were randomly selected from the general population. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Survivorship in young patients with CHD and controls. RESULTS: Of the 21 982 patients who were born between 1970 and 1993 and were registered with the diagnosis of CHD, 10 650 were female (48.4%). Median age at index registration was 4.22 years (interquartile range, 17.07 years). Survivorship among children younger than 5 years was increased from 96% in those born in 1970-1979 to 98% in those born in 1990-1993. Hazard ratios (HRs) of death in relation to that in control individuals decreased from 225.84 (95% CI, 136.84-372.70) to 33.47 (95% CI, 22.54-49.70). A substantial, but less pronounced, absolute and relative increase in survivorship was found in older patients (HRs ranged from 24.52; 95% CI, 11.72-51.26, at 5-9 years to 4.27; 95% CI, 2.29-7.95, at 18-29 years). According to a hierarchical CHD classification, the group of patients with the most severe complex defects (ie, common arterial trunk, transposition of the great vessels, double inlet ventricle, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, tetralogy of Fallot, and atrioventricular septal defect) had the highest risk for death (HR, 64.07; 95% CI, 53.39-76.89). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Despite substantially increasing absolute and relative survivorship in children and young adults with CHD, the mortality risk remains high compared with the risk in matched controls. Further research on reducing the death rate in this vulnerable group is required.

ObjectiveIn this nationwide study, we investigated age-specific and sex-specific trends in sex differences in survival after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), including deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) that occurred outside hospital.MethodsObservational study in Sweden of 28-day and 1-year mortality among 658 110 persons (35.7% women) aged 35–84 years with a first-time CHD event 1987–2010 with data retrieved from the national Swedish death and hospital registries.ResultsAge-adjusted 28-day case fatality decreased from 23.5% to 8.5% over the period (p<0.05). In hospitalised cases, short-term survival in women aged 35–54 years compared with men of the same age was poorer, not changing appreciably over time (HRs for women relative to men 1.63 (95% CI 1.28 to 2.08) at age 35–54 years and 1.28 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.46) at age 55–64 years in 2005–2010), but after adjustment for comorbidities, differences between men and women were no longer significant (HR 1.25 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.61) and 1.05 (95% CI 0.91 to 1.20)). When CHD deaths outside hospital were included, women had better prognosis regardless of age and period. In patients surviving the first 28 days, age-adjusted 1-year case fatality decreased from 15.3% to 7.7% (p<0.05) for both men and women. After adjustment for comorbidities, no significant sex differences persisted below the age of 75 years in the last period. Female 28-day survivors 75–84 years old had a consistently better prognosis than older men.ConclusionsThe worse short-term outcomes in women <55 years of age hospitalised with AMI did not persist after adjustment for comorbidities. When CHD deaths outside hospital were included, women had consistently better short-term prognosis. In 28-day survivors, women did not fare worse than men when differences in comorbidities were considered.

The goal of the study was to examine if intake of Lactobacillus plantarumcan accelerate clearance of nontyphoid Salmonellaand reduce infection-related symptoms.

The incidence of stroke in Sweden increased between 1989 and 2000 among people aged 65 years, but more recent data on those aged >65 years are lacking.

We have previously shown an enhanced expression of Giα proteins in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) that precedes the development of hypertension. Since oxidative stress has been shown to be increased in SHR, the present studies were undertaken to examine the role of oxidative stress in enhanced expression of Giα proteins in SHR.