Swedish News:

Antibiotics rather than surgery for appendicitis. Postcard arrived 50 years later. New test for early birth. 

• Antibiotics rather than surgery for appendicitis
  Patients suffering from appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics instead of going through the traditional operation to remove the appendix. This according to a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy in Göteborg. Researcher and surgeon Jeanette Hansson has done two large-scale studies on adults with acute appendicitis. For the majority of them, a treatment with antibiotics was just as effective as surgery. There are, however, patients so sick that an operation is the only solution. 80 percent of the patients treated with antibiotics were healed and got well. The study also shows these patients run a lower risk of complications than those who underwent surgery. The bottom line is that antibiotics are a great alternative to an appendectomy.

• Postcard arrived 50 years later
  Sending messages was slower in the days before email, that's for sure. But a postcard mailed in Halland definitely takes the prize. After 50 years, it finally reached its destination. “My sister sent the postcard from a camp she was at when she was 10. Her greeting just got here,” says Claes-Håkan Svensson, the recipient of the postcard. It was addressed to Håkan Svensson in Aplared, but was delivered to Claes-Håkan Svensson in Varberg. “I didn’t understand a thing at first,” says Claes-Håkan. “Håkan Svensson was my father, but he’s been dead for 15 years.” A stamp-collecting colleague did some online research trying to find information about the stamp on the postcard, and came to the conclusion that it must have been sent between 1961 and 1963. The postage then was 35 öre (today roughly $.05). For the exact year, Claes-Håkan called up his sister. “She remember that camp very well,” he says. “She was fairly sure she was about 10 years old then.” Says Josefine Raneke at Posten’s press department: “A postcard can get stuck in between furniture or remain on one of the old mail bags. Sometimes it is private persons who find postcards and letters and put them in the mail box again.” According to Posten (the Swedish postal service), this kind of profoundly delayed mail happens about four times every year.

• New test for early birth
  Researchers in Gothenburg are well on their way to finding a method with which it'll be possible to predict who among pregnant women will be giving birth within a week. This is good news for both moms and babies. First of all, it gives doctors more time to prepare medical efforts, and therefore decreases the risks for the baby. Secondly, it’s easier to rule out the mothers who will have early labor pains, but who still won’t give birth early. Normally only 30 percent of women with early labor pains give birth early.

• Lars Ardelius has died
  Swedish author Lars Ardelius has died. A psychologist who also worked as an author and made his debut as such in 1958 with “Dagligt allehanda), was from the start involved with experimental prose. His writing style changed in the 1970’s to more realistic and critical story telling. Ardelius, who was 85 years old, wrote novels, short stories, essays, and over 20 plays, including plays for television. In 1973 he was awarded Stora romanpriset (The Great Novel Award) for his novel “Kronprinsarna” and in 1979 he was the recipient of Aniarapriset (The Aniara Award) for his historical novel “Tid och otid”. Throughout the years, Ardelius published a string of memoirs, the fifth of which was published in 2010 – “Livs levande”. Lars Ardelius was born in Falun in 1926 and died at a hospital in Visby, on Gotland.