Background: Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) is a psychosocial treatment designed to improve social functioning in schizophrenia by improving social cognition. Positive results have been reported from several studies, mainly from the USA, but more studies are needed to determine the feasibility of SCIT in different cultural contexts. Aims: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the Finnish translation of SCIT in Finland. Method: This was an uncontrolled, within-group study. Thirty-three patients with psychotic disorders participated in SCIT groups and also received the standard services provided at their respective care facilities. We measured participant attendance, attrition and responses on feedback surveys. Participants also completed measures of emotion perception, Theory of Mind (ToM), attributional bias and metacognitive overconfidence both before and after SCIT. Results: The attendance rate was high, attrition was low, and the patients expressed satisfaction with SCIT. Preliminary efficacy analyses showed a statistically significant pre to posttest improvement in emotion perception and ToM, but not attributional bias or overconfidence. Conclusions: SCIT is feasible and well accepted and may remediate social cognitive dysfunction in people with psychotic disorders in Finland.

The historiographical hegemony of the “new” social history in recent years reflects, and undoubtedly has contributed to, the decline of scholarly interest in nineteenth-century Canadian political history. What we know now of federal and provincial parties, politics, politicians, electorates, political leadership, and parliamentary behaviour in Victorian Canada derives from the studies of a generation of scholars whose major contributions to the literature were made in the 1960s, the work of a handful of more recent commentators notwithstanding. But as Allan Bogue has observed in a study of the recent historiography of American political history, new sources, methodologies, and intellectual preoccupations have created new opportunities for the re-examination and re-interpretation of political history. He cites “middle-range” re-interpretations of local and regional political elites, based on pro-sopographical analyses, as a necessary first step toward more “behavioral” studies (Bogue, 1980: 243–245). Elsewhere, students of British political history have been much interested in the intersections of the “new” social history and political history, especially in the relationship between the structures and attitudes of local societies and the political characteristics and parliamentary behaviour of their elected representatives (Aydelotte, 1977; Moore, 1967; Clarke, 1971).

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on the conventional III-V compound semiconductors are known to exhibit internal quantum efficiencies (IQE) that are very close to unity. Ideally, the high IQE is expected to enable electroluminescent cooling with a cooling capacity of several Watts per cm2 of emitter area. One key requirement in enabling such cooling is the ability to fabricate high quality large area LEDs. However, detailed information on the performance of relevant large area devices and their yield is extremely scarce. In this report we present data on the yield and related large area scaling of InP/InGaAs LEDs by using current-voltage measurements performed on LED wafers fabricated at five different facilities. The samples were processed to contain square shaped mesas of sizes 0.25 mm2 and 16 mm2 operating as LEDs. While most of the smaller mesas showed relatively good electrical characteristics and low leakage current densities, some of them also exhibited very large leakage currents. In addition, in some cases the large area devices exhibited large, and even almost linearly behaving leakage currents. Such information on the scaling and unidealities of diodes fabricated using established fabrication technologies is crucial for the development of the optical cooling technologies relying on large area devices.

Background: The cost-effectiveness of triptans in the treatment of migraine has not been assessed since generic sumatriptan entered the Finnish market in 2008.

Methods: Using systematic review and mixed treatment comparison, the effectiveness of triptans was estimated with regard to 2-hour response, 2-hour pain-free, recurrence, and any adverse event, using published clinical data. Direct and indirect costs (2010 EUR, societal perspective) and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were evaluated over one acute migraine attack using a decision-tree model.

Results: The meta-analysis combined data from fifty-six publications. The highest probability of achieving the primary outcome, “sustained pain-free, no adverse event” (SNAE), was estimated for eletriptan 40 mg (20.9 percent). Sumatriptan 100 mg was the treatment with lowest estimated costs (€20.86), and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of eletriptan 40 mg compared with sumatriptan 100 mg was €43.65 per SNAE gained (€19,659 per QALY gained).

Conclusion: Depending on the decision-maker's willingness-to-pay threshold, either sumatriptan 100 mg or eletriptan 40 mg is likely to be cost-effective.