[Electronically or face to face - quicker and more facile services for the client]. / Sähköisesti vai kasvokkain?

While many services have moved or are moving to the Net, the standard of activity of the healthcare still continues to be based on booking an appointment and face-to-face consultation. Electronic services may solve the availability problem in basic healthcare. The client and the producer of a health service can meet electronically both synchronically at the same time and non-synchronically, i.e. through communicating at a time that is best suited for each. The asymmetry of information changes when the patient and the professional have access to the same information. The expansion of virtual services presents a challenge to our training, which is based on a chain advancing from anamnesis to status, investigations and treatment plan.

Degradation of potassium formate in the unsaturated zone of a sandy aquifer.

This paper presents results from a lysimeter experiment on the fate of potassium formate, an alternative deicing agent. The experiment was performed through the winter and spring to identify any thermal sensitivity in the transport and biodegradation of formate in the lysimeter. Ninety-eight percent of the total quantity of formate applied was degraded while percolating through the 1.7-m-thick unsaturated sand layer within the lysimeter. Concomitantly, the bicarbonate concentration of the percolating water increased. The low concentrations of nitrogen (0.02 mg L(-1)) and phosphorous (<0.002 mg L(-1)) in the percolated water, however, potentially limited microbial activity. During the study period, 99% of the applied potassium was retained in the lysimeter, and the ion exchange between the potassium and a variety of monovalent and divalent ions was assumed to be responsible for the leaching of barium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium from the soil material. Except for manganese, the concentrations of the studied metals in the percolated water did not exceed the threshold values set for drinking water by the Council of the European Union. By contrast, the application of potassium formate had a detrimental effect on the vegetation on the lysimeter. To conclude, formate was effectively degraded in the sandy lysimeter and its application did not cause major undesirable changes in the quality of the percolating water. Further research at field scale is, however, needed for instance on the biodegradation of potassium formate and on its impacts on roadside vegetation.