128 research outputs found
Under-Reporting of Self-Reported Medical Conditions in Aviation: A Cross-Sectional Survey
BACKGROUND: The applicantsâ self-declaration of medical history is crucial for safety. Some evidence indicates that under-reporting of medical conditions exists. However, the magnitude in a population of aviation personnel has not been reported earlier.
METHODS: A total of 9941 applicants for medical certificate/attestation for aviation-related safety functions during the last 5 yr up to December 2019 were registered at the Civil Aviation Authority Norway. E-mail addresses were known for 9027 of these applicants, who were invited to participate in a web-based survey.
RESULTS: Among the 1616 respondents, 726 (45%) were commercial pilots, 457 (28%) private pilots, 272 (17%) air traffic controllers, and the remaining were cabin crew or crew in aerodrome/helicopter flight information service (AFIS or HFIS, respectively). A total of 108 were initial applicants. The age group 50+ constituted the largest proportion of respondents (53%). Aeromedical certification in general was believed to improve flight safety âto a highâ or âvery high extentâ by 64% of the respondents. A total of 188 individuals (12%) admitted having under-reported information related to one or more categories, including mental (3%) or physical health (4%), medications (2%), and drug use, including alcohol use (5%). Among these, 21 participants believed their own under-reporting âto someâ or âto a high extentâ affected flight safety. In total 50% of noninitial applicants reported that they knew colleagues who had under-reported information. Analyses revealed that being a commercial pilot showed a higher risk for under-reporting compared with other classes and the perception of aeromedical examiners in a supportive or authoritative role reduced the risk.
CONCLUSIONS: Under-reporting of medical conditions could be significant in aviation. Further studies should be conducted to investigate the true extent of under-reporting and its impact on flight safety and what mitigating measures might be recommended
Mesopelagic Species and Their Poential Contribution to Food and Feed Security - A Case Study from Norway
The projected increase in global population will demand a major increase in global food production. There is a need for more biomass from the ocean as future food and feed, preferentially from lower trophic levels. In this study, we estimated the mesopelagic biomass in three Norwegian fjords. We analyzed the nutrient composition in six of the most abundant mesopelagic species and evaluated their potential contribution to food and feed security. The six species make up a large part of the mesopelagic biomass in deep Norwegian fjords. Several of the analyzed mesopelagic species, especially the fish species Benthosema glaciale and Maurolicus muelleri, were nutrient dense, containing a high level of vitamin A1, calcium, selenium, iodine, eicopentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and cetoleic acid. We were able to show that mesopelagic species, whose genus or family are found to be widespread and numerous around the globe, are nutrient dense sources of micronutrients and marine-based ingredients and may contribute significantly to global food and feed security.publishedVersio
Community Seismic Network
The article describes the design of the Community Seismic Network, which is a dense open seismic network based on low cost sensors. The inputs are from sensors hosted by volunteers from the community by direct connection to their personal computers, or through sensors built into mobile devices. The server is cloud-based for robustness and to dynamically handle the load of impulsive earthquake events. The main product of the network is a map of peak acceleration, delivered within seconds of the ground shaking. The lateral variations in the level of shaking will be valuable to first responders, and the waveform information from a dense network will allow detailed mapping of the rupture process. Sensors in buildings may be useful for monitoring the state-of-health of the structure after major shaking
Hvilken sammenheng er det mellom ledelse og arbeidsmiljÞ mÄlt i form av de ansattes opplevde trivsel og sykefravÊr
Master in Business Administration (MBA) - Nord universitet 201
Fish intake and pre-frailty in Norwegian older adults - a prospective cohort study: the TromsĂž Study 1994â2016
Background Pre-frailty is an intermediate, potentially reversible state before the onset of frailty. Healthy dietary
choices may prevent pre-frailty. Fish is included in most healthy diets, but little is known about the association
between long-term habitual fish intake and pre-frailty. We aimed to elucidate the longitudinal association between
the frequency of fish intake and pre-frailty in a cohort of older adults in Norway.
Methods 4350 participants (52% women,â„65 years at follow-up) were included in this prospective cohort study.
Data was obtained from three waves of the population-based TromsĂž Study in Norway; TromsĂž4 (1994â1995),
TromsĂž6 (2007â2008) and TromsĂž7 (follow-up, 2015â2016). Frailty status at follow-up was defined by a modifed version of Friedâs phenotype. Fish intake was self-reported in the three surveys and assessed as three levels of frequency
of intake: low (0â3 times/month), medium (1â3 times/week) and high (â„4 times/week). The fshâpre-frailty association was analysed using multivariable logistic regression in two ways; (1) frequency of intake of lean, fatty and total
fish in TromsĂž6 and pre-frailty at follow-up, and (2) patterns of total fsh intake across the three surveys and pre-frailty
at follow-up.
Results At follow-up, 28% (n=1124) were pre-frail. Participants with a higher frequency of lean, fatty and total fish
intake had 28% (odds ratio (OR)=0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.53, 0.97), 37% (OR=0.63, 95% CI=0.43, 0.91)
and 31% (OR=0.69, 95% CI=0.52, 0.91) lower odds of pre-frailty 8 years later compared with those with a low intake,
respectively. A pattern of stable high fish intake over 21 years was associated with 41% (OR=0.59, 95% CI=0.38, 0.91)
lower odds of pre-frailty compared with a stable low intake.
Conclusions A higher frequency of intake of lean, fatty and total fish, and a pattern of consistent frequent fish intake
over time, were associated with lower odds of pre-frailty in older community-dwelling Norwegian adults. These
results emphasise the important role of fish in a healthy diet and that a frequent fish intake should be promoted to
facilitate healthy ageing
Factors associated with non-completion of and scores on physical capability tests in health surveys: The North Health in Intellectual Disability Study
Background - This study investigated the completion rates, scores and factors associated with non-completion and low scores on physical capability tests in a health survey administered to adults with intellectual disabilities.
Method - Assessment comprised body mass index (BMI), the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), the timed up-and-go (TUG) test, the one-legged stance (OLS) test; and gross motor, communication and behavioural functioning tests.
Results - The completion rates among 93 participants (aged 17â78) were 46% for the SPPB, 42% for the TUG, and 31% for the OLS. More severe intellectual disability (OR = 3.12, pâ
Conclusions - Including physical capability tests in health surveys among adults with intellectual disabilities is important to monitor functional status and guide prevention strategies
The contributions of flower strips to wild bee conservation in agricultural landscapes can be predicted using pollinator habitat suitability models
1. Sowing flower strips along field edges is a widely adopted method for conserving pollinating insects in agricultural landscapes. To maximize the effect of flower strips given limited resources, we need spatially explicit tools that can prioritize their placement, and for identifying plant species to include in seed mixtures. 2. We sampled bees and plant species as well as their interactions in a semicontrolled field experiment with roadside/field edge pairs with/without a sown flower strip at 31 sites in Norway and used a regional spatial model of solitary bee species richness to test if the effect of flower strips on bee species richness was predictable from the modelled solitary bee species richness. 3. We found that sites with flower strips were more bee species rich compared to sites without flower strips and that this effect was greatest in areas that the regional solitary bee species richness model had identified to be particularly important for bees. Spatial models revealed that even within small landscapes there were pronounced differences between field edges in the predicted effect of sowing flower strips. 4. Of the plant species that attracted the most bee species, the majority mainly attracted bumblebees and only few species also attracted solitary bees. Considering both the taxonomic diversity of bees and the species richness of bees attracted by plants we suggest that seed mixes containing Hieracium spp. such as Hieracium umbellatum, Pilosella officinarum, Taraxacum spp., Trifolium repens, Lotus corniculatus, Stellaria graminea and Achillea millefolium would provide resources for diverse bee communities in our region 5. Spatial prediction models of bee diversity can be used to identify locations where flower strips are likely to have the largest effect and can thereby provide managers with an important tool for prioritizing how funding for agri-environmental schemes such as flower strips should be allocated. Such flower strips should contain plant species that are attractive to both solitary and bumblebees, and do not need to be particularly plant species rich as long as the selected plants complement each other. agri-environmental schemes, bees, flower strips, networks, pollinators, restoration, spatialpublishedVersio
Gene content evolution in the arthropods
Arthropods comprise the largest and most diverse phylum on Earth and play vital roles in nearly every ecosystem. Their diversity stems in part from variations on a conserved body plan, resulting from and recorded in adaptive changes in the genome. Dissection of the genomic record of sequence change enables broad questions regarding genome evolution to be addressed, even across hyper-diverse taxa within arthropods. Using 76 whole genome sequences representing 21 orders spanning more than 500 million years of arthropod evolution, we document changes in gene and protein domain content and provide temporal and phylogenetic context for interpreting these innovations. We identify many novel gene families that arose early in the evolution of arthropods and during the diversification of insects into modern orders. We reveal unexpected variation in patterns of DNA methylation across arthropods and examples of gene family and protein domain evolution coincident with the appearance of notable phenotypic and physiological adaptations such as flight, metamorphosis, sociality, and chemoperception. These analyses demonstrate how large-scale comparative genomics can provide broad new insights into the genotype to phenotype map and generate testable hypotheses about the evolution of animal diversity
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