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We explore long-term patterns of the house price-income relationship across the 70 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. In line with a standard spatial equilibrium model, our empirical findings indicate that regional house price-income ratios are typically not stable, even over the long run. In contrast, panel regression models that relate house prices to aggregate personal income and allow for regional heterogeneity yield stationary long-term relationships in most areas. The house price-income relationship varies significantly across locations, underscoring the importance of using estimation techniques that allow for spatial heterogeneity. The substantial regional differences are closely related to the elasticity of housing supply.

Rising consumer demands for safer, more natural, and sustainable topical products have led to increased interest in finding alternative excipients, while retaining functionality and cosmetic appeal. Particle-stabilized Pickering creams have emerged as possible alternatives to replace traditional surfactant-stabilized creams and are thus one of the focuses in this study. The aim of this paper was to study relationships between sensorial characteristics and physical properties to understand how different excipients affect these aspects, comparing one starch particle-stabilized and three surfactant-stabilized formulations. A human panel was used to evaluate sensorial perception, while physical properties were deduced by rheology and tactile friction, together with in vivo and ex vivo skin hydration measurements. The results show that sensorial attributes related to the application phase can be predicted with rheology, while afterfeel attributes can be predicted with tactile friction studies. Differences in rheological and sensory properties among surfactant-based creams could mainly be attributed to the type of emollients used, presence of thickeners and surfactant composition. Differences between surfactant-based creams and a Pickering cream were more evident in relation to the afterfeel perception. Presence of starch particles in the residual film on skin results in high tactile friction and low perception of residual coating, stickiness, greasiness, and slipperiness in sensorial afterfeel., Funding Agencies|Knowledge foundation (Sweden); Gustaf Th Ohlsson foundation (Sweden)

Background: Adherence to medication and healthy lifestyle is crucial for preventing secondary strokes and other vascular events. However, there is not enough evidence on the long-term effects of hospital-initiated lifestyle counselling. Aim: To determine the effects of The Risk Factor Targeted Lifestyle Counselling Intervention, which is implemented during acute hospitalisation, on adherence to lifestyle changes 7 years after stroke or TIA. Methods: Quasi-experimental design with 7-year follow-up period. Baseline data (n = 150) were gathered from a neurology unit in Finland between 2010 and 2011. Patients received either the studied intervention (n = 75) or the prevailing form of counselling at the time (n = 75). Data concerning lifestyle and clinical values were measured at the baseline time point, while adherence to lifestyle changes was assessed 7 years later (2017–2018). Analysis of covariance and multivariate ordinal logistic regression were used to describe the mean differences between the intervention and control groups. Results: Several between-group differences were detected, namely, members of the intervention group reported consuming less alcohol and having lost more weight during hospitalisation relative to the control group. No between-group differences in the prevalence of smokers were found, but the intervention group reported a greater number of daily cigarettes than the control group. Adherence to medication, importance of adherence to a healthy lifestyle, support from family and friends, and support from nurses were all significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group. Conclusions: The results suggest that the lifestyle counselling intervention was effective in decreasing alcohol use and weight, as well as increasing factors that are known to support adherence to a healthy lifestyle. Relevance to clinical practice: The results indicate that the adherence process already begins during acute phase counselling. To ensu

Objective: To identify associations between lifestyle counselling quality and adherence to lifestyle changes during the 12-month period after discharge. Setting: Neurology unit. Subjects: Stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA) patients (n = 98). Design: Longitudinal explorative study that utilized data initially collected for quasi-experimental study. Main measures: The exploratory measures of Counselling Quality were collected at the hospital on the day of discharge between January 2010 and October 2011, and the outcome measures of Adherence to Lifestyle Change and clinical values were collected 3, 6 and 12 months after discharge. Results: There were significant associations between the exploratory and outcome measures over time. Three of the counselling quality parameters, counselling interaction, advantages and resources, were found to be significantly associated with adherence to lifestyle change. In particular, counselling interactiveness was positively associated with physical activity at 3 (B = 0.31, SD = 0.10, P = 0.004) and 12 (B = 0.29, SD = 0.13, P = 0.030) months, as was advantages of following the advice at 3 (B = 0.33, SD = 0.11, P = 0.006) and 12 (B = 0.34, SD = 0.14, P = 0.021) months. Counselling resources were associated with lower body mass index throughout the entire follow-up period, that is, at 3 (B = −0.06, SD = 0.02, P = 0.006), 6 (B = −0.05, SD = 0.02, P = 0.040) and 12 months (B = −0.05, SD = 0.02, P = 0.022). Furthermore, all aspects of counselling quality were positively related to support from nurses. Conclusion: Adherence to lifestyle change is more likely to be attained if lifestyle counselling is interactive, the advantages of following the given advice are perceived as beneficial and the counsellor has sufficient resources.

Introduction: Since a history of stroke or transient ischaemic attack is a major risk factor for a recurrent event, lifestyle counselling during the hospital phase is an essential component of treatment and may increase the probability of lifestyle change. Aims and objectives: To study the effect of risk factor‐targeted lifestyle counselling intervention on working‐age stroke patients’ adherence to lifestyle changes. Design: A quasi‐experimental, nonequivalent control group pretest–post‐test design. Methods: Stroke patients in an acute neurological unit were divided into a control group (n = 75) receiving standard counselling and an experimental group (n = 75) receiving risk factor‐targeted counselling. Lifestyle data and clinical outcomes were collected at hospital between January 2010 and October 2011, while data on adherence to lifestyle changes 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge. Results: The baseline lifestyle habits did not differ significantly other than in alcohol behaviour. Both groups increased their intake, but the intervention group to a lesser degree. However, the experimental group significantly lost their weight for the first 3 and 6 months; at 3 months reduction in cigarette consumption and at 6 months significant increases in smoking cessation were also achieved. All improved some of their lifestyle habits. Intervention was associated with support from nurses as well as from family and friends. Adherence scores were higher in the experimental group. Conclusion: Some short‐term advantages in lifestyle habits due to the intervention were noted. Participants in both groups improved some of their lifestyle habits.

Background: Studies have shown that counseling about risk factor-related lifestyle habits can produce significantly beneficial changes in stroke patients’ lifestyle habits. However, it is not sufficient nearly to provide a patient with appropriate information, but the quality of lifestyle counseling is also essential. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of lifestyle counseling intervention on lifestyle counseling quality in stroke and TIA patients. Methods: Post-test control group design was used. Stroke and TIA patients (n=98), divided into intervention and control group, completed Counseling Quality Questionnaire after receiving lifestyle counseling at the hospital (January 2010–October 2011). Data were analyzed with analysis of variance. Results: The patients rated lifestyle counseling quality quite high in terms of all sum variables except patient centeredness. Counseling quality except for counseling resources was estimated to be significantly better by the intervention group. Conclusion: Lifestyle counseling quality at hospital can be enhanced by counseling intervention. More attention to factors that promote patient centeredness of counseling is required since patient centeredness has repeatedly been recognized as the weakest aspect of counseling by both stroke patients and other patient groups.

The rather thin outermost layer of the mammalian skin, stratum corneum (SC), is a complex biomembrane which separates the water rich inside of the body from the dry outside. The skin surface can be exposed to rather extreme variations in ambient conditions (e.g. water activity, temperature and pH), with potential effects on the barrier function. Increased understanding of how the barrier is affected by such changes is highly relevant for regulation of transdermal uptake of exogenous chemicals. In the present study we investigate the effect of hydration and the use of a well-known humectant, urea, on skin barrier ultrastructure by means of confocal Raman microspectroscopy. We also perform dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) microbalance measurements to examine the water uptake capacity of SC pretreated with urea. Based on novel Raman images, constructed from 2D spectral maps, we can distinguish large water inclusions within the skin membrane exceeding the size of fully hydrated corneocytes. We show that these inclusions contain water with spectral properties similar to that of bulk water. The results furthermore show that the ambient water activity has an important impact on the formation of these water inclusions as well as on the hydration profile across the membrane. Urea significantly increases the water uptake when present in skin, as compared to skin without urea, and it promotes formation of larger water inclusions in the tissue. The results confirm that urea can be used as a humectant to increase skin hydration., QC 20131115

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In dermal/transdermal drug administration stratum corneum (SC) is often the rate-limiting step. Furthermore, the intercellular lipid domain of SC is nowadays widely accepted as the major contributor to the skin barrier. The current work investigates whether the difference in the level of topical efficacy of local anesthetic compounds correlates with the type of interaction between the drug and the intercellular lipids of SC. Therefore, local anesthetics of varying topical efficacy were evaluated with respect to their effect on the morphology of various model lipid systems using small and wide angle X-ray diffraction (SWAXD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The model lipids used were glyceryl monooleate, sphingomyelin and lipids isolated from human SC. Furthermore, partitioning into isolated human SC as well as permeation through isolated human SC and human tape-stripped skin were investigated in vitro. The results indicate that local anesthetics may act as their own permeation enhancers by increasing the degree of hydrocarbon chain fluidity of the intercellular lipids. Eventually these interactions may induce non-lamellar reversed types of liquid crystalline structures locally in SC, which further facilitate the drug mobility. The large difference in topical efficacy of the investigated local anesthetics could not be explained simply by looking at their effect on the phase behavior of lipid model systems. Despite the similarities in physicochemical properties of these substances, the in vitro skin permeability differed markedly (AD>EMLA>lidocaine>prilocaine>sameridine). Thus, it was concluded that sufficient drug permeability over SC is essential to obtain local anesthesia by blocking the superficial nociceptors.

Current development tools for embedded systems do not efficiently support the timing aspect of embedded real-time systems. The most important timing parameter for scheduling and system analysis is the Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) of a program., Technical Report 2001-012

Using only the internal program and data memory of a microcontroller can save large costs in embedded systems design. This requires, however, that the program fits into the memory? which is not always easy to accomplish.This article discusses how to hel

When building an embedded real-time systems, the choice of hardware platform is very important to create an analyzable and predictable system. Also, the quality of the models of the hardware used in software tools is very important to the correctness

This paper gives an overview of the Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) analysis research performed by the WCET group at Uppsala University, Sweden, in cooperation with C-LAB in Paderborn, Germany. We have defined a modular architecture for a WCET es

The SpecInt95 benchmark suite is often used to evaluate the performance of programming tools, including those used for embedded systems programming. Embedded applications, however, are often targeting 8- or 16-bit processors with limited Functionality, wh, Addresses: Engblom J, Uppsala Univ, Dept Comp Syst, POB 325, SE-75105 Uppsala, Sweden. Uppsala Univ, Dept Comp Syst, SE-75105 Uppsala, Sweden.