Expressions of EphA2 and EphrinA-1 in early squamous cell cervical carcinomas and their relation to prognosis

By using immunohistochemistry we investigated the expression of EphA2 and EphrinA-1 in 217 early squamous cell cervical carcinomas and examine their prognostic relevance. For EphA2 expression, 21 tumors (10%) showed negative, 108 (50%) weak positive, 69 (32%) moderate positive and 19 (9%) strong positive, whereas for EphrinA-1 expression, 33 tumors (15%) showed negative, 91 (42%) weak positive, 67 (31%) moderate positive and 26 (12%) strong positive. In univariate analysis high expression (strong staining) of EphrinA-1 was associated with poor disease-free (P = 0.033) and disease-specific (P = 0.039) survival. However, in the multivariate analyses neither EphrinA-1 nor EphA2 was significantly associated to survival. The increased levels of EphA2 and EphrinA-1 in a relative high number of early stage squamous cell carcinomas suggested that these two proteins may play an important role in the development of a subset of early cervical cancers. However, EphA2 and EphrinA-1 were not independently associated with clinical outcome

No replication of previously reported association with genetic variants in the T cell receptor alpha (TRA) locus for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disease with a variety of symptoms such as post-exertional malaise, fatigue, and pain, but where aetiology and pathogenesis are unknown. An increasing number of studies have implicated the involvement of the immune system in ME/CFS. Furthermore, a hereditary component is suggested by the reported increased risk for disease in relatives, and genetic association studies are being performed to identify potential risk variants. We recently reported an association with the immunologically important human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes HLA-C and HLA-DQB1 in ME/ CFS. Furthermore, a genome-wide genetic association study in 42 ME/CFS patients reported significant association signals with two variants in the T cell receptor alpha (TRA) locus (P value.publishedVersio

Genetic association study in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) identifies several potential risk loci

This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disease of unknown etiology and pathogenesis, which manifests in a variety of symptoms like post-exertional malaise, brain fog, fatigue and pain. Hereditability is suggested by an increased disease risk in relatives, however, genome-wide association studies in ME/CFS have been limited by small sample sizes and broad diagnostic criteria, therefore no established risk loci exist to date. In this study, we have analyzed three ME/CFS cohorts: a Norwegian discovery cohort (N = 427), a Danish replication cohort (N = 460) and a replication dataset from the UK biobank (N = 2105). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ME/CFS genome-wide association study of this magnitude incorporating 2532 patients for the genome-wide analyses and 460 patients for a targeted analysis. Even so, we did not find any ME/ CFS risk loci displaying genome-wide significance. In the Norwegian discovery cohort, the TPPP gene region showed the most significant association (rs115523291, P = 8.5 × 10− 7 ), but we could not replicate the top SNP. However, several other SNPs in the TPPP gene identified in the Norwegian discovery cohort showed modest association signals in the self-reported UK biobank CFS cohort, which was also present in the combined analysis of the Norwegian and UK biobank cohorts, TPPP (rs139264145; P = 0.00004). Interestingly, TPPP is expressed in brain tissues, hence it will be interesting to see whether this association, with time, will be verified in even larger cohorts. Taken together our study, despite being the largest to date, could not establish any ME/CFS risk loci, but comprises data for future studies to accumulate the power needed to reach genome-wide significance.publishedVersio

Performance Analyses of a 454 kWp Grid-Connected Rooftop Photovoltaic System in Southern Norway

This paper analyzes and compares the actual measured and simulated performance of a 454 kWp grid-connected photovoltaic system installed on the rooftop of the university building. The data presented in this study were measured from June 2018 till June 2020. The annual production in 2019 was 375MWh. The performance of the system was simulated using PVsyst software. Surprisingly, simulation results somehow predicts the yield similar to the actual field performance in 2019, despite the unpredicted Nordic climatic conditions and other systematic errors from inverters and shadows. The PV panel orientation have positive impact on the performance enhancement during long sun hours

"Man må ha en plass å bo" - En sosiologisk studie av vanskeligstilte i et boligeierland

Utsagnet «man må ha en plass å bo» stammer fra en person som ble intervjuet til denne forskningsrapporten. Gjennom øynene til mennesker som strever i det norske boligmarkedet, spørres det i rapporten hva bolig og hjem betyr i menneskers liv, og hva det å ha en utfordrende boligsituasjon innebærer for enkeltmenneskers og familiers sosiale velferd, i bred forstand. Utgangspunkt for analyse og drøftinger er eierlinjen i den norske boligpolitikken. Rapporten er fra International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS) sitt forskningsprosjekt om mennesker som er vanskeligstilte i boligmarkedet i Norge. Prosjektet har vært finansiert av Husbanken, som kompetansetilskudd i FOU-programmet «Boligen og velferdssamfunnet». Prosjektmedarbeidere hos IRIS har vært Anders Vassenden, Terje Lie og Kathrine Skoland. Vi har gjennomført 27 kvalitative intervjuer med mennesker som er vanskeligstilte i boligmarkedet. Vi har blant andre snakket med flyktningfamilier, rusavhengige, personer med psykisk lidelse, utskrevne fra fengsel, uføretrygdete, enslige forsørgere og mennesker med svak økonomi. Vi har etterstrebet variasjon blant informantene. Det som er felles for dem er at de er avskåret fra å eie bolig, i «boligeierlandet» Norge, og at de opplever å ha en utfordrende boligsituasjon. Deres alternativer er å leie bolig privat eller av kommunen. Vi har fokusert på hva boligsituasjonen har å si for blant annet identitetsdannelse, opplevelse av stigma og av medborgerskap. Tilnærmingen har vært «nedenfra»: Det er deres egne levde liv, deres «livsverdener», ønsker, verdsettinger og utfordringer, som har stått i sentrum for analysene, samtidig som vi kobler dette med boligsektorene og boligpolitikken. Intervjuene er gjennomført i Oslo og Stavanger, som har landets antakelig to mest pressete boligmarkeder. Vi har i tillegg intervjuet fire ansatte i de to kommunenes boligtjenester.publishedVersio

Sagn og fremgravd «virkelighet» om Vonde-Sveinung og den ihjelslagne dvergen Fegge

A legend tells the dramatic and colourful story of the farmer Sveinung the Cruel and how he killed a dwarf (in Norwegian tusse/dverg) named Fegge in his smithy at the farm Heggtveit in Kviteseid, Norway. In the story the smithy is positioned below the hill Smiuberget (lit. Smithy Hill). During an excavation in 2020, a relatively well-preserved smithy from the 13th century was excavated at the place described in the legend. The discovery offered a unique opportunity to explore the complex and dynamic relationship between the rich record of Norwegian folklore, excavated “reality” and the history of place names. Because of this complexity, the authors argue that to seek the “real” roots of the legend is a difficult and maybe also a meaningless task. Rather, they argue that the history of Fegge`s death and other legends are valuable sources to immaterial aspects of the region’s Medieval and Renaissance metal crafting.&nbsp

Fear of cancer recurrence among young adult cancer survivors—exploring long-term contributing factors in a large, population-based cohort

Abstract Purpose Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) may be debilitating, yet knowledge of FCR among the growing population of long-term young adult cancer survivors (YACS) is scarce. We explored risk of FCR and associated factors in a nation-wide, population-based cohort of YACS. Methods All 5-year survivors diagnosed at the ages of 19–39 years with breast cancer (BC), malignant melanoma (MM), colorectal cancer (CRC), leukemia (LEU), or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) between 1985 and 2009 in Norway were identified by the Cancer Registry of Norway and completed the cross-sectional comprehensive NOR-CAYACS health survey. Univariate and multivariate linear regression modeling was performed. Results In total, 936 survivors were included, with an average of 16 years since diagnoses. BC was the most prevalent cancer form (38.4%), followed by MM (24.7%), NHL (15.6%), CRC (11.8%), and LEU (9.6%). Survivors worried most about getting another cancer (74%), and (20%) reported quite a bit or a lot of FCR. BC and MM survivors had the highest FCR scores. Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) had the strongest association with FCR (Std B 0.21, p  < 0.01), above demographic and clinical variables. Conclusions FCR is prevalent even among long-term YACS, including survivors of MM with favorable prognoses. Implications for Cancer Survivors Attention to ongoing risks of PTSS and FCR in this growing survivor population is warranted to optimize future survivorship care

Risk factors for aggressive recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in adults and juveniles.

In this cohort study we examined whether gender, age at onset, observation time or human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype are risk factors for an aggressive clinical course in Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis (RRP). Clinical data from patient records comprised gender, age at onset, date of first endolaryngeal procedure with biopsy, date of last follow-up, total number of endolaryngeal procedures, and complications during the observation period. Disease was defined as juvenile (JoRRP) or adult onset (AoRRP) according to whether the disease was acquired before or after the age of 18. Aggressive disease was defined as distal spread, tracheostomy, four surgical operations annually or >10 surgeries in total. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue. HPV genotyping was performed by quantitative PCR assay identifying 15 HPV genotypes. The study included 224 patients. The majority were males (141/174 in AoRRPs and 31/50 in JoRRPs; p = 0.005). The median follow-up from initial diagnosis was 12.0 years (IQR 3.7-32.9) for JoRRPs and 4.0 years (IQR 0.8-11.7) for AoRRPs. The disease was more aggressive in juveniles than adults (p<0.001), a difference that disappeared after 10 years' observation. JoRRPs with aggressive disease were younger at onset (mean difference 4.6 years, 95%CI [2.4, 6.8], p = 0.009). HPV6 or -11 was present in all HPV-positive papillomas. HPV11 was more prevalent in aggressive disease, and HPV6 in non-aggressive disease (p<0.001). Multiple logistic regression revealed that only age at onset (OR = 0.69, 95% CI [0.53, 0.88], p = 0.003) was associated with aggressive disease in juveniles, while HPV11 (OR = 3.74, 95% CI [1.40, 9.97], p = 0.008) and observation time >10 years (OR = 13.41, 95% CI [5.46, 32.99[, p<001) were risk factors in adults. In conclusion, the only significant risk factor for developing aggressive disease in JoRRPs was age at onset, but both HPV11 and observation time >10 years were risk factors for an aggressive disease course in AoRRPs