imported berry mix cake suspected to be the source of infection in Norway

Ongoing hepatitis A outbreak in Europe 2013 to 2014

The Benthic Chamber experiment in Storfjorden (Norway) 2005 - effects of CO2 on microbes, nanobenthos and meiofauna

Årsliste 2007Carbon capture and storage (CCS) either sub-seabed or in the ocean is considered among the options for reducing future emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere. Such storage does, however, introduce the possibility of CO2 leakage and interaction with marine fauna. It is therefore important to obtain knowledge on possible effects of CO2 that is introduced to the sea floor. Results from experiments on environmental effects of enhanced concentrations of CO2 at the sediment/water interface are presented. The key part of the project was the Japanese Benthic Chamber system (BC) developed to perform experiments with CO2 in sedimentary environments in situ. The BC is equipped with chambers which enclose sections of the sea floor. Two similar experiments were carried out at 400 m depth in Storfjorden, Norway in September, 2005. The pCO2 exposures in the water above the sediment in the chambers were programmed to maintain levels of approximately 5,000 µatm (pH=7.0) and 20,000 µatm (pH=6.3) respectively in two experimental chambers. The pCO2 in the third control chamber was 500 µatm (pH=7.8). This report gives a description of the experiment and the results from measured physical and chemical parameters (pH, NO3, NH4, SiO2 and oxygen) in the water overlying the sediment in the experimental chambers and biological responses (meiobenthos, nanobenthos, bacteria, Archaea, bacterial DNA and ATP, methane production, sulphate reduction) in the chamber sediments. The results from the different research groups and methods clearly show effects of elevated CO2 concentrations on biological processes such as reduced bacterial density and increased nanobenthos densities. Methane formation and sulphate reduction was favoured by the condition in the 5,000 µatm chamberRIT

25-hydroxyvitamin D in pregnancy and genome wide cord blood DNA methylation in two pregnancy cohorts (MoBa and ALSPAC)

The aim of the study was to investigate whether maternal mid-pregnancy 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations are associated with cord blood DNA methylation. DNA methylation was assessed using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip, and maternal plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured in 819 mothers/newborn pairs participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort (MoBa) and 597 mothers/newborn pairs participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Across 473,731CpG DNA methylation sites in cord blood DNA, none were strongly associated with maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D after adjusting for multiple tests (false discovery rate (FDR) > 0.5; 473,731 tests). A meta-analysis of the results from both cohorts, using the Fisher method for combining p-values, also did not strengthen findings (FDR > 0.2). Further exploration of a set of CpG sites in the proximity of four a priori defined candidate genes (CYP24A1, CYP27B1, CYP27A1 and CYP2R1) did not result in any associations with FDR < 0.05 (56 tests). In this large genome wide assessment of the potential influence of maternal vitamin D status on DNA methylation, we did not find any convincing associations in 1416 newborns. If true associations do exist, their identification might require much larger consortium studies, expanded genomic coverage, investigation of alternative cell types or measurements of 25-hydroxyvitamin D at different gestational time points

Emotional reactivity in infants with congenital heart defects: findings from a large case-cohort study in Norway

AIM: Advances in medical treatment in recent years have led to dramatically improved survival rates of children with severe congenital heart defects (CHD). However, very little is known about the psychological consequences for these children, particularly during and after the early period of invasive treatment. In this study, we investigated the extent to which the severity of the CHD affects the child's emotional reactivity at 6 months of age. METHOD: We linked prospective data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health with a nationwide medical CHD registry and identified 212 infants with CHD in a cohort of 61 299 infants. Mothers reported on their child's emotional reactivity at age 6 months by means of a standardized questionnaire. RESULTS: Infants with severe to moderate CHD had 60% higher odds for severe emotional reactivity (cut-off at the 85 percentile) compared with healthy infants, after controlling for important maternal and child confounders. CONCLUSION: Our study is the first to show elevated emotional reactivity in children with moderate to severe CHD, suggesting a need for special parental attention to soothe their distress. Follow-up studies will show whether this emotional reactivity is transient or an early marker of continuing emotional or behavioural problems