Swedish News:

Heavy explosion in Malmö. Artificial spider web used by Pharma. Communion wafers by bus. Lighthouse on sale. Hven or Ven? Forgot gun in hotel's restroom 

• Heavy explosion in Malmö
  A heavy explosion shook the Hermodsdal’s part of Malmö on Friday night. Window panes were broken and cars were damaged, however no people were injured in a report at 11:30 pm. Police cordoned off an area while waiting for technicians to examine the place. No residents had to be evacuated, according to Jimmy Modon at Skåne Police. The police, who was notified at 9:36 pm, deems the explosion as devastation endangering the public.

• Artificial spider web used by Pharma
  The research around artificial spider web has made strides, and there are expectations that the material might be used for a number of things from healing wounds to implanting insulin-producing cells in diabetics. Spider web is elastic and biologically degradable and stronger than steel. It is therefore not surprising that scientists have long fought to make an artificial version. But it isn’t only the strength that is alluring; the organic thread is accepted by the human body. Spider web that has been grown in test tubes may be used for healing wounds and nerve cells, and also to dose medicine. On September 7, a group of international scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm met at a seminar to discuss the artificial web. Says Jan Johansson, professor at the Karolinska Institute: “Trials have been made with nerves that have been cut. The spider web has been put between the nerve endings in rats and we have seen how the nerves heal so much faster.” With regard to dosing, by enclosing medicine in the spider web, it is possible for it to be secreted into the body during a longer period of time. Instead of taking an injection every day, a patient need only take medication once a week, according to Johansson. When it comes to healing wounds, there is limited research on the effects of spider web, though Johansson has high hopes: “You can treat a wound by making a film from the web that is thinner than a weave, and put that on top of the wound. It has the added advantage that it is biologically degradable and doesn’t have to be removed.” And the web may also be used when implanting insulin-producing cells into the bodies. “I’m positive that the material will be used in simpler procedures as early as in five years,” says Johansson. “But in order to implant it into human bodies, we need more research.”

• Communion wafers by bus
  Skåne Stadsmission (a politically independent, non-profit organization that fights homelessness and drug abuse, among other things) will be first in Sweden to make ecological and gluten-free sacramental wafers. The plan is for clients of Stadsmissionen to go by bike to distribute the wafers to different parishes. The organization hopes the project will add to a more stable living situation for all participants. “The idea comes from a pastor here in Lund. The two wafer producers in Sweden were asked to participate but declined. We decided to go for it,” says Theresia Swanholm, communication director at Stadsmissionen in Skåne.

• Lighthouse for sale
  Perhaps 44 million SEK ($6,539) was a bit steep? Then how’s 19 million SEK ($2,824)? The lighhouse Dämman, situated in the northern part of Kalmar Strait, is now on sale for 25 million SEK cheaper than before. Realtor Pontuz Löfgren hopes to have it sold by fall. So what do you get? You get 560 square meters (6027 square feet) of living area inside the lighthouse, and a circle-shaped pier, which encloses a large area of water. Throw two boats into the deal and, in case you’d rather fly, a landing pad for a helicopter.

• Hven or Ven?
  How to spell the name of the small island in the Öresund strait between Scania and Zealand (Denmark)—Hven or Ven? Bo Bjesse, of Folkpartiet (the People’s Party) lives in St. Ibb on the island, and is happy to report that the spelling will now be decided by the Swedish government. “Perhaps this issue will be a bit more seriously treated than before,” he says. Bjesse spells the name Hven. “That’s how it was spelled up until 1959—I have protocols from the municipal executive board to prove that,” he says. It was in 1959 that St. Ibb’s municipality became one with Landskrona municipality, and the spelling went from “Hven” to “Ven,” which, according to Bjesse, is “Stockholmers' way of making it Swedish.” The locals protested to no avail, and Bjesse himself has been irritated by the fact since he moved to St. Ibb in 1986. He’s been proposing a return to the “Hven” spelling for four years. Lantmäteriverket (the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority) in Gävle refers to the 1906 spelling reform, when the combination “hv” was replaced with “v” in all official documents. But Bjesse doesn’t think that reform applies to names of places. “The Heritage Conservation Act applies here,” he continues. “And it is very strict when it comes to the spelling of places. The name Hven has been used since the 13th century. And there are several other places where an older spelling is used: Finnish and Sami names of places in Norrland, for instance.” Bjesse appealed Lantmäteriverket’s decision to the administrative court last fall, when it was ruled the island’s name is to be spelled “Ven." His appeal was rescued by a legal error by the court, in which as of January 1, 2011 issues of the names of places are decided by the government. The question is now being prepared in the Cabinet Office.

• Forgot gun in hotel's restroom
  A Säpo-polis (Swedish Security Service Police) forgot his gun at a hotel restroom and is now being punished by having his salary reduced. It was a private person who discovered the left behind gun at a Stockholm hotel. That person handed over the gun to a security guard. According to the owner of the gun, some 5-10 minutes passed by before the gun was found. The Human Resources Board (PAN) at the Swedish national police has now written that the crime cannot be deemed insignificant, as there was a concrete risk that the weapon might have ended up with “the wrong person”. This, combined with the man’s position with the police ought to, according to PAN, lead to a “considerable reduction in salary”, and it was decided that the man should have 25% reduction on 10 daily wages.