There are many people that I would like to thank for their contribution to this thesis and for their support.
I would like to express my sincerely gratitude to the patients and control subjects for their kind participation in both clinical studies that these theses are based upon.
My thank goes to the Division of Rehabilitation Medicine and Department of Clinical sciences at Karolinska Institutet that made my research possible.
This thesis would not be finished successfully without the help of my supervisors and co-authors.
First of all, I would like to thank Catharina de Boussard, my principal supervisor, for continuous encouragement and positive attitude towards my scientific education, for
possibility to carry out my research and combine it with clinical work, for endless after-work working, with or without birds chirping and singing in the background, and for her enormous flexibility in supervising.
I express my gratitude to my co-supervisor Alison Godbolt for her careful attention to details and expanding my ability to critical thinking and evaluating the best evidence.
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my co-supervisor professor Jörgen Borg for kindly sharing his profound knowledge in the field of mild traumatic brain injury and for his expert support.
I would like to thank my co-authors and to acknowledge their contributions to the studies included in this thesis:
Professor Britt Marie Stålnacke for valuable help throughout the work with the intervention study, Dr. Trandur Ulfarsson for his support during the writing of the manuscript, Associated professor Gunilla Eriksson for sharing with me her expertise in the research on activity and participation, Dr. Marika Möller for introducing to fatigue research.
My special thanks go to my co-authors Jan Johansson and Tony Pansell for introducing me in to the wonderful world of vision, for positive thinking and making me believe that research is a joy. I wish to express my special thanks to Jan Johansson for his amazing flexibility and patience during writing and revising the manuscript, and for inspirational discussions.
Professor Kristina Alexandersson for introducing me to the research of sickness absence.
Professor Staffan Marklund for tutoring during the course in Insurance Medicine.
Ssk Seija Lund, ssk Sandra Hallström and all collaborators in Swedish Intervention study on Concussion SIC. Ssk Anna Hedenäs for excellent assistance in collecting patients data in Vision study, and keeping “ajour” with changes during recruitment of study participants.
Gunnar Edman, for all help with statistics in the intervention study.
Lisbet Broman, for the excellent help with data analysis and introducing to the endless possibilities of SPSS.
Per Näsman, for his help with statistical analysis in vision study.
Stefan Arousel, for always finding a design solution, even for impossible tasks.
My supervisors at KI Immunology department in the 1990s:
Professor Annika Scheynius, for accepting me to her research group and encouraging me to be open minded for research horizons. Ingeborg van der Ploeg, for generously supervising me from simple lab tricks to practical “new in Sweden” matters.
My fellow doctoral students, now and then at the Division of Rehabilitation Medicine: Dr.
Gabriela Markovic, for generously sharing food and mood, and her experiences as doctoral student, Christian Oldenburg, for valuable discussions, especially on mTBI matters, Gaia Penatti, thank you for learning me one or two Italian words, Jeanette Plantin, Anneli Wall, Dr. Katarina Skough Vrede for research discussions.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues and co-workers at the Clinic of Rehabilitation Medicine:
Anna Tölli, for clinical supervision during my residency in Rehabilitation Medicine and for encouragement to follow my clinical research dream.
My colleagues physicians who shared their knowledge and experiences during my clinical work: Märta Berthold Lindstedt, Carin Persson, Monica von Heijne, Per Broman, Jana Randman, Annette Juvall, Ada Slowinska, Ivan Sunara, Marita Bengstsson, Charikleia Pappa, Carin von Grothusen, Eva Melin, Vera Häglund, Ingrid Rydmark, Karin Uhlin.
My special thanks go to co-workers in outpatient rehabilitation teams at Danderyd and at Huddinge hospitals.
My sincere thanks go to my fantastic friends in Lithuania and in Sweden: Aušra, for being my friend over many years, sharing dreams and simple students meals in Kauno Medicinos institutas, and always encouraging me with: “there is nothing we, ladies, can’t achieve”;
Jolanta, Dangira, Daiva for being always there; Prima, for tutoring me in life and research matters; Monica, for wise words and encouragement, Marine, Helena, for friendly talks and walks round “lago maggiore”, Olga, Maria and “grand dame” Olga Samuilovna, for cozy dinners and discussions; Fatma and Hayet, for calmly chats;
Dalia ir Vidas – for many years of friendship, sharing endless family dinners and challenging walks in the woods – with or without their skillfully prepared orientation maps.
I am deeply grateful to my family:
My parents Regina and Antanas, my brother Rimas and his family, my godmother Milda for love and support,
My beloved sons Justas and Marius for just being wonderful young men,” teasing me softly”, always with a smile and a big hug, and for introducing Lina to our boyish family,
My husband Darius for never ending love, support and for always believing in me.