Extramural English, with an emphasis on gaming, and Norwegian National test scores in English, 8th grade

In an increasingly globalized world, digital gaming has emerged, and learning English as a second language has changed towards being a language easily accessible in students out-of-school contexts. This thesis investigates if there are significant interactions between the participants extramural English language activities and the results on the NNT in English, 8th grade. English is a global language and functions as a lingua franca in entertainment such as gaming, streaming services and social media. In our research, data was collected from six 8th grade classes in Norwegian lower secondary schools through a quantitative research method, using a questionnaire and the results from the Norwegian National test in English, 8th grade. The questionnaire contains information about the participants background, gaming, and media habits and was linked to the participants results on the Norwegian National test in English. All analyses were computed using the software platform IBM SPSS statistics 28 and are presented through descriptive and inferential statistics. Significant interactions were found between extramural English language activities and the score of level on Norwegian National test in English 8th grade. Significant interactions were also found when dividing the group in gender. Tendencies show that a majority of the participants meet English content through extramural activities. Gender group differences were also found but vary in forms of what extramural activity the students engage in, in addition to differences to the extent they meet input, use/produce output and interact in L2

Når jeg ser tilbake.. En kvalitativ studie av voksne utsatt for seksuelle overgrep som barn, og hva som bidro til at de forstod at de hadde blitt utsatt for seksuelle overgrep

The purpose of this study was to investigate how adults, who experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18, came to understand that they had been sexually abused. We conducted semi-structured interviews with adults between the ages of 18 and 57 and these were analyzed through a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach. The findings highlight the complexity of understanding that one has been sexually abused, and that this individual process is important. The availability and intrusiveness of traumatic memories, the sense of the body, and encounters with others, proved to be contributing factors in this process. Moreover, we found a dialectic relationship between the acts of telling and understanding experiences of abuse. The findings in this study can give an increased understanding for health professionals about the processes that victims of sexual abuse go through, and contribute to improving how we meet this group in treatment settings. The findings also give insights into why disclosure can be difficult.Formålet med denne studien var å undersøke hva som bidro til at voksne, utsatt for seksuelle overgrep før fylte 18 år, forstod at de hadde vært utsatt for overgrep. Vi intervjuet voksne i alderen 18-57 år ved bruk av semistrukturert intervju. Materialet ble analysert ved bruk av tematisk analyse med en hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk tilnærming. Funnene viser at det er en kompleks prosess å forstå at man har blitt utsatt for overgrep, og at denne prosessen er viktig for den enkelte. Traumatiske minners tilgjengelighet og påtrengende karakteristikk, kroppen, samt møter med andre, viste seg å bidra i denne prosessen. Det fremkom også en dialektikk mellom det å fortelle om og forstå overgrepene. Funnene i studien kan bidra til at helsepersonell får en økt forståelse for prosessen til overgrepsutsatte, og medvirke til bedre møter med hjelpeapparatet. Funnene gir også en innsikt i hvorfor avdekking kan være vanskelig.Hovedoppgave psykologprogrammetPROPSY317PRPSY

Seasonal variation in transport of zooplankton into the Arctic Basin through the Atlantic gateway, Fram Strait

Source at: http://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00194 The largest contribution of oceanic heat to the Arctic Ocean is the warm Atlantic Water (AW) inflow through the deep Fram Strait. The AW current also carries Atlantic plankton into the Arctic Basin and this inflow of zooplankton biomass through the Atlantic-Arctic gateway far exceeds the inflow through the shallow Pacific-Arctic gateway. However, because this transport has not yet been adequately quantified based on observational data, the present contribution is poorly defined, and future changes in Arctic zooplankton communities are difficult to project and observe. Our objective was to quantify the inflow of zooplankton biomass through the Fram Strait during different seasons, including winter. We collected data with high spatial resolution covering hydrography (CTD),currents (ADCP and LADCP) and zooplankton distributions (LOPC and MultiNet) from surface to 1,000 m depth along two transects crossing the AW inflow during three cruises in January, May and August 2014. Long-term variations (1997–2016) in the AW inflow were analyzed based on moored current meters. Water transport across the inflow region was of the same order of magnitude during all months (January 2.2 Sv, May 1.9 Sv, August 1.7 Sv). We found a higher variability in zooplankton transport between the months (January 51 kg C s −1 , May 34 kg C s −1 , August 50 kg C s −1), related to seasonal changes in the vertical distribution of zooplankton. However, high abundances of carbon-rich copepods were observed in the AW inflow during all months. Surface patches with high abundances of C. finmarchicus, Microcalanus spp., Pseudocalanus spp., and Oithona similis clearly contributed to the advected biomass, also in winter. The data reveal that the phenology of species is important for the amount of advected biomass, and that the advective input of zooplankton carbon into the Arctic Basin is important during all seasons. The advective zooplankton input might be especially important for mesopelagic planktivorous predators that were recently observed in the region, particularly during winter. The inflow of C. finmarchicus with AW was estimated to be in the order of 500,000 metric tons C y −1 , which compares well to modeled estimates

The manager as innovator and equilibrist: a qualitative study of the experiences of Norwegian managers in health and welfare service taking part in research partnership with higher education

The manager as innovator and equilibrist: a qualitative study of the experiences of Norwegian managers in health and welfare service taking part in research partnership with higher educationpublishedVersio

Cortisol levels and cognitive profile in major depression: A comparison of currently and previously depressed patients

Source at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.08.024.The association between depressive symptoms and elevated cortisol levels, and depression and cognitive functioning, has been less robust in outpatients with symptoms in the mild to moderate range. Furthermore, the association between elevated cortisol levels and cognitive functioning is unclear. In the present study, currently depressed (n = 37), previously depressed (n = 81) and never depressed controls (n = 50) were assessed on a range of neuropsychological measures. Salivary cortisol was measured in the morning and evening. Participants with current depression were non-hospitalized and had symptoms predominately in the mild to moderate range. Elevated salivary evening cortisol, but not morning cortisol, was significantly related to depressive symptoms. The difference in cortisol levels between the previously depressed group and the never depressed controls was not significant. The groups had significantly different cognitive profiles, with the currently depressed performing poorer on tasks related to working memory compared to the never depressed controls. Both the currently and previously depressed performed worse on attentional tasks. The findings indicate that outpatients with mild to moderate depression have elevated cortisol levels and limited mild cognitive impairments. Furthermore, mild impairments in attention may persist after remission, indicating that this could be a trait-marker in depression. The present study did not find support for a significant relationship between cortisol and cognitive functioning

Orale bivirkninger for pasienter som får strålebehandling i forbindelse med behandling av hode-/halskreft, rapportert i form av PROMS-spørreskjema

Bakgrunn: Oral mukositt (OM) er blant de vanligste orale bivirkningene som oppstår blant pasienter som gjennomgår stråleterapi mot hode-/halsområdet. Det er i dag behov for rapporteringsverktøy for subjektive symptomer, for å kunne tilrettelegge for den enkelte pasient gjennom kreftbehandlingen, samt å kunne måle effektiviteten av medisinske tiltak. Patient-Reported Oral Mucositis Symptom (PROMS)-spørreskjema er et rapporteringsverktøy som ble utprøvd og validert til bruk blant hode-/halskreftpasienter i et forskningsprosjekt i Canada. Behovet for et tilsvarende skjema på norsk, gjorde at dette kvalitetsevalueringsprosjektet ble satt i gang. Hensikt og problemstilling: Formålet med kvalitetsevalueringsprosjektet, var å sammenligne de rapporterte PROMS-scorene fra en gruppe hode-/halskreftpasienter som gjennomgikk strålebehandling i Toronto, Canada, med en tilsvarende pasientkohorte fra Tromsø, Norge. Videre var hensikten å evaluere om PROMS-spørreskjema kan benyttes blant hode-/halskreftpasienter i Norge, for å vurdere i hvilken grad OM påvirker hode-/halskreftpasientene underveis i strålebehandlingen. Materiale og metode: Pasienter på øre-nese-hals (ØNH)-avdelingen i Tromsø ble tilbudt å fylle ut en norsk versjon av PROMS-spørreskjema ukentlig, i de seks behandlingsukene de gjennomgikk strålebehandling mot hode-/halsregionen. Spørreskjemaene ble samlet inn av helsepersonell på avdelingen, og ble anonymisert før vi som masterstudenter fikk tilgang til materialet. PROMS-scorene ble målt til nærmeste millimeter på en visuell analog skala (VAS), og deretter systematisert i Excel. Resultatene ble framstilt i en graf, og sammenlignet med en tilsvarende graf fra Toronto. Resultater: Studien som ble utført i Tromsø viste til at pasientrapportert funksjonsforstyrrelse og smerter, økte i takt med behandlingsforløpet, i samsvar med observasjoner gjort tidligere i Toronto. Pasientene fra Toronto scoret høyere enn pasientene fra Tromsø, gjennom de siste behandlingsukene. Konklusjon: Dette kvalitetsevalueringsprosjektet konkluderer med at PROMS-spørreskjema oversatt til norsk, kan benyttes under pasientbehandling, enten som supplement, eller som erstatning for klinisk undersøkelse, i de tilfellene hvor dette er indisert

Ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi respond differently to long-term experimentally increased snow depth in the High Arctic

Source:DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.375Changing climate is expected to alter precipitation patterns in the Arctic, with consequences for subsurface temperature and moisture conditions, community structure, and nutrient mobilization through microbial belowground processes. Here, we address the effect of increased snow depth on the variation in species richness and community structure of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) and saprotrophic fungi. Soil samples were collected weekly from mid- July to mid- September in both control and deep snow plots. Richness of ECM fungi was lower, while saprotrophic fungi was higher in increased snow depth plots relative to controls. [Correction added on 23 September 2016 after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, the richness of ECM and saprotrophic fungi were wrongly interchanged and have been fixed in this current version.] ECM fungal richness was related to soil NO3- N, NH4- N, and K; and saprotrophic fungi to NO3-N and pH. Small but significant changes in the composition of saprotrophic fungi could be attributed to snow treatment and sampling time, but not so for the ECM fungi. Delayed snow melt did not influence the temporal variation in fungal communities between the treatments. Results suggest that some fungal species are favored, while others are disfavored resulting in their local extinction due to long- term changes in snow amount. Shifts in species composition of fungal functional groups are likely to affect nutrient cycling, ecosystem respira- tion, and stored permafrost carbon

Self-reported medication use among coronary heart disease patients showed high validity compared with dispensing data

Objective - To validate self-reported use of medications for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a population-based health study by comparing self-report with pharmacy dispensing data, and explore different methods for defining medication use in prescription databases. Study design and setting - Self-reported medication use among participants with CHD (n = 1483) from the seventh wave of the Tromsø Study was linked with the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD). Cohen’s kappa, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated, using NorPD as the reference standard. Medication use in NorPD was defined in three ways; fixed-time window of 180 days, and legend-time method assuming a daily dose of one dosage unit or one defined daily dose (DDD). Results - Kappa-values for antihypertensive drugs, lipid-lowering drugs and acetylsalicylic acid all showed substantial agreement (kappa ≥0.61). Validity varied depending on the method used for defining medication use in NorPD. Applying a fixed-time window gave higher agreement, positive predictive values and specificity compared with the legend-time methods. Conclusion - Self-reported use of medication for secondary prevention of CHD shows high validity when compared with pharmacy dispensing data. For CHD medications, fixed-time window appears to be the most appropriate method for defining medication use in prescription databases

Placental histology predicted adverse outcomes in extremely premature neonates in Norway-population-based study

Aim We evaluated the role of placental pathology in predicting adverse outcomes for neonates born extremely preterm (EPT) before 28 weeks of gestation. Methods This was a prospective observational study of 123 extremely preterm singletons born in a hospital in western Norway, and the placentas were classified according to the Amsterdam criteria. The associations between histologic chorioamnionitis (HCA), by the presence or the absence of a foetal inflammatory response (FIR+ or FIR−), maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM) as a whole and adverse neonatal outcomes were evaluated by logistic regression analyses. Adverse outcomes were defined as perinatal death, necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), brain pathology by magnetic resonance imaging at term-equivalent age, retinopathy of prematurity and early-onset neonatal sepsis. The results are reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results HCA was associated with NEC (OR 12.2, 95% CI 1.1 to 137.1). HCA/FIR+ was associated with BPD (OR 14.9, 95% CI 1.8–122.3) and brain pathology (OR 9.8, 95% CI 1.4–71.6), but HCA/FIR− was not. The only neonatal outcome that MVM was associated with was low birthweight. Conclusion Placental histology provided important information when assessing the risk of adverse neonatal outcomes following EPT birth.publishedVersio

The prognostic effect of KRAS mutations in non-small cell lung carcinoma revisited: A norwegian multicentre study

Background: due to emerging therapeutics targeting KRAS G12C and previous reports with conflicting results regarding the prognostic impact of KRAS and KRAS G12C in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we aimed to investigate the frequency of KRAS mutations and their associations with clinical characteristics and outcome. Since mutation subtypes have different preferences for downstream pathways, we also aimed to investigate whether there were differences in outcome according to mutation preference for the Raf, PI3K/Akt, or RalGDS/Ral pathways. Methods: retrospectively, clinicopathological data from 1233 stage I–IV non-squamous NSCLC patients with known KRAS status were reviewed. KRAS’ associations with clinical characteristics were analysed. Progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed for the following groups: KRAS wild type (wt) versus mutated, KRAS wt versus KRAS G12C versus KRAS non-G12C, among KRAS mutation subtypes and among mutation subtypes grouped according to preference for downstream pathways. Results: a total of 1117 patients were included; 38% had KRAS mutated tumours, 17% had G12C. Among KRAS mutated, G12C was the most frequent mutation in former/current smokers (45%) and G12D in never smokers (46%). There were no significant differences in survival according to KRAS status, G12C status, among KRAS mutation subtypes or mutation preference for downstream pathways. Conclusion: KRAS status or KRAS mutation subtype did not have any significant influence on PFS or OS