The macro- and microstructural architecture of human brain white matter undergoes substantial alterations throughout development and ageing. Most of our understanding of the spatial and temporal characteristics of these ...

Background Internationally, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is commonly used to assess the frequency and severity of depressive symptoms. However, psychometric properties of the Norwegian version ...

Background Current nutritional management of infants born very preterm results in significant deficiency of the essential fatty acids (FAs) arachidonic acid (ARA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The impact ...

Long-term consequences of kidney donation has not been fully studied. We have investigated prevalence of common diseases among kidney donors, and assessed the risk of hypertension, ischemic heart disease, diabetes and ...

Abstract In this paper we investigate various effects of inbreeding on the likelihood ratio (LR) in forensic kinship testing. The basic setup of such testing involves formulating two competing hypotheses, in the form of ...

Background Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a frequent chronic complication of proximal deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the lower limb, but predictors of PTS are not well established. We aimed to examine ...

Objective Despite critical hypoxemia, Covid-19 patients may present without proportional signs of respiratory distress. We report three patients with critical respiratory failure due to Covid-19, in which ...

Background Considering the advantages of using medicinal herbs as supplementary treatments to sensitize conventional anti-cancer drugs, studying functional mechanisms and regulatory effects of Echinacea ...

Background There is increasing access to mental health services in biomedical settings (e.g., primary care and specialty clinics) in low- and middle-income countries. Traditional healing continues to be ...

Background Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) causes a recurring inflammation in nose and paranasal sinuses that clinically resembles chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) of other aetiologies. While sinonasal ...

Background Mental health professionals usually decide patients’ access to inpatient care to ensure care based on need and potential benefit. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how patients ...

Background The trochanteric stabilizing plate (TSP) is used as an adjunct to the sliding hip screw (SHS) in unstable trochanteric and subtrochanteric fractures. We wanted to describe the choice of implant ...

Colonoscopy is considered the gold standard for detection of colorectal cancer and its precursors. Existing examination methods are, however, hampered by high overall miss-rate, and many abnormalities are left undetected. ...

This is a quantitative follow-up study of young patients recruited in their first treatment of a psychotic disorder. At baseline (N=90) and follow-up (N=56), the participants went through an extensive diagnostic and clinical ...

The aim of the present thesis was to investigate the frequency of sleep disturbances in severe mental disorders, if sleep disturbances are related to clinical features, and whether associations are transdiagnostic. This ...

Abstract Interleukin (IL)-33 is a cytokine that appears to mediate fibrosis by signaling via its receptor ST2 (IL-33R/IL1RL1). It is also, however, a protein that after synthesis is sorted to the cell nucleus, where it ...

Whereas left atrial (LA) enlargement is an independent predictor for adverse cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, this is regarded a physiological adaption of exercise. Paradoxically, LA size in athletes may ...

Abstract Purpose Adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer with lymph node involvement (Stage III) has been the standard of care since the 1990s. Meanwhile, considerable evolvement of surgery combined ...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite treatment consisting of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, survival is limited and usually do not extend beyond a year. A major challenge in ...

Background Adherence to clinical practice guidelines for coronary heart disease (CHD) reduces morbidity, mortality and treatment costs. We aimed to describe and compare adherence to prescription guidelines ...

Background The National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) is currently recommended in the UK for the risk stratification of COVID-19 patients, but little is known about its ability to detect severe cases. We aimed ...

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric condition associated with significant disability, mortality and economic burden. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic ...

Cyclic GMP (cGMP) is a second messenger that regulate cardiovascular functions and therapies that increase cGMP shows beneficial effects. However, the mechanisms behind some of these effects in the heart are elusive. In ...

Zopiclone is a frequently prescribed hypnotic drug. Related to the therapeutic effects is impairment of cognitive functioning and psychomotor skills. The thesis is based on a double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, ...

Background With an increasing number of people with dementia worldwide and limited advancement in medical treatments, the call for new and cost-effective approaches is crucial. The utility of self-management ...

Background The transition period between child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and adult mental health services (AMHS) has been identified as an especially critical time for patients with anorexia nervosa. ...

Action is urgently needed to achieve equity in maternal health care, especially since 99% of the annually estimated 300 000 maternal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. A woman’s health and wellbeing depend ...

Background Interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) are common in participants of lung cancer screening trials and broad population-based cohorts. They are associated with increased mortality, but less is known about disease ...

Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis have decreased quality of life. The prevalence of this disease is estimated at above ten percent in some studies. This poses a major socioeconomic challenge. The pathogenesis is still ...

Half of cancer patients are 70 years or older when they are diagnosed. These patients represent a heterogeneous group with respect to general health, comorbidity, physical and cognitive functioning, factors that may all ...

Background Prolonged labor might contribute to a negative birth experience and influence first-time mothers’ attitudes towards future pregnancies. Previous studies have not adjusted for possible confounding factors, such ...

The role of B cells in pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis has been of great interest to wide array of researchers after the introduction of B cell depleting therapies demonstrated significant effects on central nervous ...

Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland form the 5 culturally uniform Nordic countries. Each of the countries owns a high-standard tradition of individual steering in cardiothoracic education aiming at securing the ...

Treatment of liver tumors is often multi-modal including systemic chemotherapy and surgical interventions. However, for many patients surgery is not an option, and in some tumors the clinical effect of systemic chemotherapy ...

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2 del), also known as DiGeorge syndrome, is a genetic disorder with an estimated incidence of 1:3000 to 1:6000 births. These patients may suffer from affection of many organ systems ...

Background Farm-based day care services (FDCs) for people with dementia are intending to provide social relationships and meaningful activities in an agricultural landscape and offer respite for next of ...

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative movement disorder with cognitive symptoms with similarities to Alzheimer´s disease. Mild cognitive impairment affects 15-20 % of patients in early stage. 80 % develop dementia ...

Ventricular arrhythmias are a major cause of sudden cardiac death among patients with chronic heart disease. Current treatments are ineffective and associated with several side effects, and new treatments targeting the ...

Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures located at the end of chromosomes. Telomere length and the enzyme responsible for their elongation, telomerase, are essential for genome integrity by protecting chromosomal ends. ...

Background Dispensations of benzodiazepines, z-hypnotics, and gabapentinoids to patients on opioid agonist therapy (OAT) are common and have pros and cons. The objectives of the current study are to define the dispensation ...

Patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) have a dysfunctional immune system leading to recurrent infections while also frequently suffering non-infectious autoimmune and inflammatory complications. These ...

Background Young-onset dementia (YOD) is defined as dementia with debut of symptoms before the age of 65 years. Persons who develop YOD and their families may experience strain related to their life-stage specific ...

Over ten million people are diagnosed with cancer every year. Each tumor that is detected is unique. In his dissertation On the genetic determinants of cancer phenotypes, Christian Fougner and colleagues have investigated ...

Mammography screening using conventional digital mammography (DM) has lower sensitivity and specificity in women with dense compared to non-dense breasts, as breast tissue can mask or imitate cancer. Digital breast ...

Objective: To determine how health-related rehabilitation services have been described in recently pub-lished randomized clinical trials, using the International Classification System for Service Organization in Health-Related ...

Background Low back pain is common and a significant number of patients experience chronic low back pain. Current treatment options offer small to moderate effects. Patients with vertebral bone marrow ...

Background It is estimated that up to a third of patients on opioid agonist therapy (OAT) have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Treatment by ADHD medication, including a centrally acting ...

The health benefits associated with youth sports participation are well recognized. At the elite level, however, are these advantages in fact outweighed by an increased risk of injury and illness? There are strong opinions ...

Background Although many people experience loneliness in old age, there is little knowledge of predisposing personality factors. The aim of the present study was to explore to what extent personality traits ...

Background To report on our experience using a simple optional form to facilitate communication on late effects between the patients and the oncologists during outpatient follow-up and to detail on the spectrum of challenges ...

Background There is a need for validated clinical risk scores to identify patients at risk of severe disease and to guide decision-making during the covid-19 pandemic. The National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) is widely ...

Background Well- and dedifferentiated liposarcoma (WD/DDLPS) are rare mesenchymal malignant tumors that account for 20% of all sarcomas in adults. The WD form is a low-grade malignancy with a favourable prognosis which may ...

Background Population-based reference data on frequently used questionnaires are important for comparative purposes. Due to changes in health and lifestyles, such data should be updated every other decade. The objectives ...

Background Few clinical trials have investigated the prevention of radiographic progression in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis treated with antirheumatic drugs. This study aimed to investigate ...

Background Mental health professionals usually decide patients’ access to inpatient care to ensure the rational and fair distribution of care based on need and prognosis. The purpose of the current study ...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and atherothrombotic events are the major reasons for disability and death in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Circulating microvesicles (cMVs), shed from activated cells, have procoagulant ...

Background Variation in the incidence, survival rate and factors associated with survival after cardiac arrest in Europe is reported. Some studies have tried to fill the knowledge gap regarding the epidemiology of ...

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic rheumatic disease. The severity and disease course are highly variable and JIA can be a life-long disorder. The aims of this study were to assess patient-reported outcomes ...

Background A significant proportion of ischemic strokes are caused by emboli from atherosclerotic, unstable carotid artery plaques. The selection of patients for endarterectomy in current clinical practice is primarily ...

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder which is characterized by an apparently normal development in the first 6 to 18 months of life, followed by loss of acquired skills. Our overall aim was to describe ...

Pediatric anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are believed to be increasing due to the rapid surge in the number of children undergoing ACL reconstructive surgery. This trend is alarming due to the high risk of ...

The only long-term consequence of pulmonary embolism (PE) has for long been considered to be chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, which does not affect more than 2-4%. Recently some studies have revealed that ...

Background Early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF) is a predetermining factor for exclusive breastfeeding, and thus a foundation for optimal breastfeeding practices. Rates of EIBF are low globally (42%) and in Tanzania ...

Cells have developed mechanisms to ensure that appropriate signaling is achieved and continued for the proper period of time. Deregulation of receptor signaling can result in diseases, including development of cancer. Among ...

Objective The Eating Disorder Assessment for DSM-5 (EDA-5) is an electronic, semi-structured interview developed to assess feeding and eating disorders following DSM-5 criteria. The original English version has strong ...

High-grade serous carcinoma, the most common and aggressive type of ovarian cancer, and the related entity carcinosarcoma have a particular way of metastasizing within the serosal cavities with the accumulation of fluid, ...

Background Pancreatic and periampullary carcinoma are aggressive tumours where preoperative assessment is challenging. Disseminated tumour cells (DTC) in the bone marrow (BM) are associated with impaired prognosis in a ...

In the heart, activation of the sympathetic nervous system increases the force of contraction, heart rate and relaxation primarily through activation of β-adrenergic G-protein-coupled receptors (βAR). The β1AR is the ...

Background One of the major challenges in obesity treatment is to explain the high variability in the individual’s response to specific dietary and physical activity interventions. With this study, we tested the hypothesis ...

Modic changes are vertebral changes extending from the endplate visible on an MRI, and are associated with back pain. A randomized trial from 2013 concluded that 3 months oral amoxicillin/clavulanate treatment provide a ...

Background VascuQoL-6 (VQ-6) is a disease-specific quality of life (QoL) instrument validated for use in clinical practice and vascular registries before and after treatment for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). To improve ...

Background Dementia is affecting both the person with the disease and the family members. It is associated with nursing home admission, and a reduced ability to perform personal activities of daily living ...

Background Joubert syndrome (JBTS) is a genetically heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental syndromes caused by primary cilia dysfunction. Usually the neurological presentation starts with abnormal neonatal ...

Background We recently reported outcomes from a Scandinavian Sarcoma Group adjuvant study (SSG XX group A) conducted on localized and operable high risk soft tissue sarcoma (STS) of the extremities and trunk wall. SSG XX, ...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The treatment options for CRC remain limited, and diagnostic and therapeutic practices lack accuracy and predictive power. Despite ...

Background Targeted hypothermia, as used after cardiac arrest, increases electrical and mechanical systolic duration. Differences in duration of electrical and mechanical systole are correlated to ventricular ...

Ongoing joint pain and back pain were associated with reduced quality of life and fatigue in IBD patients after 20 years of disease, whereas spondyloarthritis without ongoing joint symptoms did not have a negative impact ...

Background The number of people aged 80 years and above is projected to triple over the next 30 years. People in this age group normally have at least two chronic conditions. The impact of multimorbidity is often ...

Background Standard treatment for patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS SCLC) is concurrent platinum–etoposide chemotherapy and thoracic radiotherapy (TRT). Up to 30% of patients are cured, but severe ...

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is among the top 10 causes of mortality and the first killer among infectious diseases worldwide. One of the factors fuelling the TB epidemic is the global rise of multidrug resistant TB ...

Background The study aimed to assess whether gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms at admission are associated with increased short-term mortality in patients with invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). ...

Background Educational programmes for caregivers of children with atopic dermatitis (AD) are reported to reduce the severity of AD and improve quality of life (QOL). Oslo University Hospital (OUH) in Norway ...

Coronary artery disease is one of the leading causes of mortality in the western world, and early identification is essential to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease. Patients with coronary artery disease range from ...

Presently, the health care service experiences increased expectations of patient involvement in decisions about treatment. Shared decision-making (SDM) is a conceptualization of patient involvement, described as a meeting ...

The thesis is based on three papers on endometriosis, a relatively common chronic inflammatory gynecological disease which can cause significant pain and infertility. All three papers are based on cross-sectional data from ...

Background Over the last two decades an increasing number of countries have legalized euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (EAS) leading to considerable debate over the inherent ethical dilemmas. ...

Background Procalcitonin is an inflammatory biomarker that is sensitive for bacterial infections and a promising clinical decision aid in antimicrobial stewardship programs. However, there are few studies of physicians’ ...

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among Norwegian men. Metastatic prostate adenocarcinomas are primarily treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Although this treatment is initially ...

Advances in cancer treatments have improved clinical outcomes, leading to an increasing population of cancer survivors. However, this success is associated with high rates of short‐ and long‐term cardiovascular (CV) ...

Narcolepsy type 1 is a chronic neurological sleep disorder. In addition to the classical narcolepsy symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep hallucinations, sleep paralysis and loss of muscle tone when experiencing ...

Background Central nervous system depressant medications (CNSDs) such as opioid analgesics and sedative-hypnotics are commonly prescribed to older patients for the treatment of chronic pain, anxiety and insomnia. Yet, ...

Background Economic analyses of end-of-life care often focus on single aspects of care in selected cohorts leading to limited knowledge on the total level of care required to patients at their end-of-life. ...

Background Family involvement for persons with psychotic disorders is under-implemented in mental health care, despite its firm scientific, economic, legal and moral basis. This appears to be the case in ...

Background Knowledge about the high rates of depression in people with visual impairment (VI) remains unclear. The study aimed to examine whether depressive symptoms in people with VI were associated with ...

Purpose The pressure on healthcare budgets remains high, partially due to the ageing population. Economic evaluation can be a helpful tool to inform resource allocation in publicly financed systems. Such evaluations ...

Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often associated with life-long medical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes. Although long-lasting disabilities are expected, research on effective ...

Congenital aniridia is primarily characterized by hypoplasia of the iris and the retinal fovea. Foveal hypoplasia is the main cause of congenital reduced vision. Keratopathy is common in aniridia, leading to considerable ...

Background Motivational negative symptoms hinder quality of life and daily functioning of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. A recently developed intervention, Switch, has shown promising effects on negative ...

Lung cancer is a common type of cancer in Norway. Many patients are diagnosed in advanced stages of disease and the long-time prognosis is poor. Research efforts during the last decades have resulted in novel treatment ...