Kalkingsforsøk med eggeskall - en utprøving i CYCLE-prosjektet

Skallet av et egg veier ca. 8 gram, og inneholder verdifulle næringsstoffer. På Norturas fabrikk for foredling av egg, i Revetal i Vestfold, produseres det ca. 800 tonn med eggeskall hvert år. Noe av dette materialet ble knust og sammenliknet med vanlig jordbrukskalk i vekstsesongen 2014. Kalken i eggeskall hadde like god effekt som vanlig kalk til å øke pH i jorda, men ser ut til å være mye mer lett-tilgjengelig for næringsopptak i planter

Oral health-related quality of life, impaired physical health and orofacial pain in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis – a prospective multicenter cohort study

Background - Knowledge on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is limited, and longitudinal studies are lacking. We aimed to describe OHRQoL in children and adolescents with JIA compared to controls, and to explore the validity and internal consistency of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) and the Child Oral Impact on Daily Performance (Child-OIDP). Furthermore, we wanted to investigate associations between OHRQoL and orofacial pain, physical health, disease activity, and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) involvement in JIA. Methods - The Norwegian prospective, multicenter cohort study recruited participants with JIA between 4 and 16 years of age and corresponding controls from three pediatric university hospital departments and public dental health services. In the present study, we analyzed OHRQoL in all children  Results - The same OHRQoL questionnaire was completed both at first visit and two-year follow-up in 101 children  0: JIA group 81% and 85%, p = 0.791; control group 65% and 69%, p = 0.815), while adolescents with JIA reported fewer impacts at the two-year follow-up (Child OIDP > 0: JIA group 27% and 15%, p = 0.004; control group 21% and 14%, p = 0.230). The internal consistency of the OHRQoL instruments was overall acceptable and the criterion validity indicated that the instruments were valid at both visits. Orofacial pain was more frequent in children and adolescents with JIA than in controls. We found associations between OHRQoL impacts and orofacial pain, impaired physical health, disease activity, and TMJ involvement. Conclusions - Children and adolescents with orofacial pain or impaired physical health were more likely to report impacts on daily life activities than those without. Pediatric rheumatologists and dentists should be aware of impaired OHRQoL in individuals with JIA with active disease or temporomandibular joint involvement

Vitamin D, oral health, and disease characteristics in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a multicenter cross-sectional study

Background: Vitamin D defciency has been associated with autoimmune diseases and oral health. Knowledge about the association between vitamin D status and oral conditions in JIA is limited. We aimed to investigate vitamin D status in a cohort of Norwegian children and adolescents with JIA and possible associations between serum vitamin D levels, clinical indicators of oral health, and JIA disease characteristics. Methods: This multi-center, cross-sectional study, included individuals with JIA aged 4–16 years from three geographically spread regions in Norway. Demographic data, age at disease onset, disease duration, JIA category, disease status, medication, and vitamin D intake were registered. One blood sample per individual was analyzed for 25(OH) vitamin D, and the level of insufciency was defned asResults: Among the 223 participants with JIA, 97.3% were Caucasians, 59.2% were girls, and median age was 12.6 years. Median disease duration was 4.6 years, and 44.4% had oligoarticular JIA. Mean serum vitamin D level was 61.4 nmol/L and 29.6% had insufcient levels. Vitamin D levels did not difer between sexes, but between regions, isoBMI categories, age groups, and seasons for blood sampling. Insufcient vitamin D levels were associated with dentin caries (adjusted OR 2.89, 95% CI 1.43–5.86) and gingival bleeding (adjusted OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.10–5.01). No associations were found with active JIA disease or more severe disease characteristics. Conclusion: In our study, nearly 30% had vitamin D insufciency, with a particularly high prevalence among adolescents. Vitamin D insufciency was associated with dentin caries and gingival bleeding, but not with JIA disease activity. These results point to the need for a multidisciplinary approach in the follow-up of children with JIA, including an increased focus on vitamin D status and oral health

The course of mental health after miscarriage and induced abortion: a longitudinal, five-year follow-up study

BACKGROUND: Miscarriage and induced abortion are life events that can potentially cause mental distress. The objective of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the patterns of normalization of mental health scores after these two pregnancy termination events. METHODS: Forty women who experienced miscarriages and 80 women who underwent abortions at the main hospital of Buskerud County in Norway were interviewed. All subjects completed the following questionnaires 10 days (T1), six months (T2), two years (T3) and five years (T4) after the pregnancy termination: Impact of Event Scale (IES), Quality of Life, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and another addressing their feelings about the pregnancy termination. Differential changes in mean scores were determined by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and inter-group differences were assessed by ordinary least squares methods. RESULTS: Women who had experienced a miscarriage had more mental distress at 10 days and six months after the pregnancy termination than women who had undergone an abortion. However, women who had had a miscarriage exhibited significantly quicker improvement on IES scores for avoidance, grief, loss, guilt and anger throughout the observation period. Women who experienced induced abortion had significantly greater IES scores for avoidance and for the feelings of guilt, shame and relief than the miscarriage group at two and five years after the pregnancy termination (IES avoidance means: 3.2 vs 9.3 at T3, respectively, p < 0.001; 1.5 vs 8.3 at T4, respectively, p < 0.001). Compared with the general population, women who had undergone induced abortion had significantly higher HADS anxiety scores at all four interviews (p < 0.01 to p < 0.001), while women who had had a miscarriage had significantly higher anxiety scores only at T1 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The course of psychological responses to miscarriage and abortion differed during the five-year period after the event. Women who had undergone an abortion exhibited higher scores during the follow-up period for some outcomes. The difference in the courses of responses may partly result from the different characteristics of the two pregnancy termination events

Case Nortura/Norilia.Improving the utilisation of co-streams in poultry processing

Industrialised chicken production is far from organic agriculture prinicples. Still of interest is a more sustainable utilisation of by-products, e.g. hydrolysation of feathers for proteins, or extraction of food grade oil from chicken bones. Such approaches were studied in the bioeconomy-project "CYCLE" (2013-2017)

Thioridazine inhibits autophagy and sensitizes glioblastoma cells to temozolomide

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has a poor prognosis with an overall survival of 14–15 months after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy using temozolomide (TMZ). A major problem is that the tumors acquire resistance to therapy. In an effort to improve the therapeutic efficacy of TMZ, we performed a genome‐wide RNA interference (RNAi) synthetic lethality screen to establish a functional gene signature for TMZ sensitivity in human GBM cells. We then queried the Connectivity Map database to search for drugs that would induce corresponding changes in gene expression. By this approach we identified several potential pharmacological sensitizers to TMZ, where the most potent drug was the established antipsychotic agent Thioridazine, which significantly improved TMZ sensitivity while not demonstrating any significant toxicity alone. Mechanistically, we show that the specific chemosensitizing effect of Thioridazine is mediated by impairing autophagy, thereby preventing adaptive metabolic alterations associated with TMZ resistance. Moreover, we demonstrate that Thioridazine inhibits late‐stage autophagy by impairing fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes. Finally, Thioridazine in combination with TMZ significantly inhibits brain tumor growth in vivo, demonstrating the potential clinical benefits of compounds targeting the autophagy‐lysosome pathway. Our study emphasizes the feasibility of exploiting drug repurposing for the design of novel therapeutic strategies for GBM.</p

Opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Analysis by the Pharmachild Safety Adjudication Committee

Background: To derive a list of opportunistic infections (OI) through the analysis of the juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients in the Pharmachild registry by an independent Safety Adjudication Committee (SAC). Methods: The SAC (3 pediatric rheumatologists and 2 pediatric infectious disease specialists) elaborated and approved by consensus a provisional list of OI for use in JIA. Through a 5 step-procedure, all the severe and serious infections, classified as per MedDRA dictionary and retrieved in the Pharmachild registry, were evaluated by the SAC by answering six questions and adjudicated with the agreement of 3/5 specialists. A final evidence-based list of OI resulted by matching the adjudicated infections with the provisional list of OI. Results: A total of 772 infectious events in 572 eligible patients, of which 335 serious/severe/very severe non-OI and 437 OI (any intensity/severity), according to the provisional list, were retrieved. Six hundred eighty-two of 772 (88.3%) were adjudicated as infections, of them 603/682 (88.4%) as common and 119/682 (17.4%) as OI by the SAC. Matching these 119 opportunistic events with the provisional list, 106 were confirmed by the SAC as OI, and among them infections by herpes viruses were the most frequent (68%), followed by tuberculosis (27.4%). The remaining events were divided in the groups of non-OI and possible/patient and/or pathogen-related OI. Conclusions: We found a significant number of OI in JIA patients on immunosuppressive therapy. The proposed list of OI, created by consensus and validated in the Pharmachild cohort, could facilitate comparison among future pharmacovigilance studies. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT 01399281; ENCePP seal: awarded on 25 November 2011

The academic career : a longitudinal study of motivational and pscyhosocial predictors of persistence and performance

This study examined whether motivational and psychosocial factors could predict persistence and performance longitudinally. Questionnaire data from the HELT (Helse- og trivsel blant studenter ved Universitetet i Oslo) study, a survey of students health and well-being at the University of Oslo in 2003, was used to predict the academic careers of 646 students over the course of two and a half years (from 2003 to 2005). Logistic and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relative contribution of academic motivation, social support, attendance, degree of full-time studies, mental health and personality on persistence (or dropout) and average grade. Measures included the Academic Motivation Scale, the Emotional versus Social Loneliness Scale, the HSCL-25, the 5Pfa (a short version of a Norwegian translation of Big Five (Engvik, 1993), and study related variables. Outcome variable data was collected from the student record at the University of Oslo. The results revealed different patterns of predictors for the two different outcome variables, as well as gender differences in the predictors. Attendance predicted persistence uniquely for both genders, and mediated the effect of amotivation. Female students persistence was further predicted by extrinsic motivation, emotional loneliness and personality (openness, agreeableness and neuroticism). Female students with a higher degree of extrinsic motivation and neuroticism, and a lower degree of emotional loneliness, openness and agreeableness had a higher probability of persisting towards completing a degree. The variables that had unique effects on grades for women were intrinsic motivation, amotivation, friends at the university and extraversion. Female students with higher intrinsic motivation, a larger social network at the university and lower amotivation and extraversion in 2003, achieved better grades throughout their academic careers. Amotivation and extrinsic motivation were negatively related to grades for men, but these effects were mediated by conscientiousness, which was the only predictor that contributed uniquely to the prediction of grades for the male students. Limitations of the current study, implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed

Arbeidsaktivering og sosialt medborgerskap - en litteraturstudie

Målet med denne oppgaven er å diskutere arbeidsaktivering i lys av sosialt medborgerskap. Casen jeg skal studere er Kvalifiseringsprogrammet fra 2007, et arbeidsrettet aktiveringsprogram for sosialhjelpsmottakere. Med påstand om nye rettigheter, økt inkludering og deltakelse i samfunnslivet, tok programmets intensjoner sosialhjelpsmottakernes medborgerskap på alvor. Jeg ønsker å kritisk vurdere om data matcher intensjonene. Oppgavens problemstilling er Hvordan kan Kvalifiseringsprogrammet fungere som en mulighet for, eller en barriere mot sosialt medborgerskap? Jeg har gjennomført en litteraturstudie basert på publisert forskning, og forskningen er innhentet ved hjelp av systematiske søk i utvalgte databaser, i tillegg til snøball-metoden. Jeg har brukt to typer forskningsdata i oppgaven: kvalitative forskningsartikler og evaluerings- og effektstudier. Artiklene er tematisk analysert, fra studiene har jeg dratt ut funn som jeg har vurdert relevante for problemstillingen. Funnene fra forskningen peker på det jeg omtaler som fire spenningsfelt i Kvalifiseringsprogrammet. Første spenningsfelt, «Treffsikkerhet eller fløteskumming», sikter til de skjønnsbaserte inngangsvilkårene, og hvilken betydning disse har for rekrutteringspraksisen. Videre omhandler både «Rimelig eller urimelig» og «Demokratisering eller styring», utformingen av Kvalifiseringsprogrammet som en velferdskontrakt. Disse diskuterer rimeligheten av deltakelse i arbeidsaktivering for en gruppe med mange hindringer mot arbeid, og hvordan programmets kontraktpreg kan gi rom for demokratisering av utforming, brukermedvirkning og myndiggjøring av deltakerne. Siste spenningsfelt, «Verdighet eller skam», diskuterer deltakernes subjektive opplevelser med programmet., hvorvidt denne gir en økt eller svekket følelse av anerkjennelse og verdighet. Kvalifiseringsprogrammet representerer nye muligheter, rettigheter og verdighet, men i mindre grad for sosialhjelpsmottakerne enn det som var tenkt. Programmet har gått fra å ha intensjoner om politisk handlekraft og inkludering, til å bli en arbeidsorientert tvangstrøye hvor evnen til arbeid er den mest avgjørende markøren for det sosiale medborgerskapet