“Learning is about being active, but the digital is not really active”: physiotherapy teachers’ attitudes toward and experiences with digital education

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Digital education is expected to transform higher education teaching and learning. Despite high expectations, higher education teachers have been slow to implement active digital learning. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate physiotherapy teachers’ attitudes toward and experiences with digital education and what the teachers’ considered prerequisites to a digital transformation of teaching and learning in physiotherapy. Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 teachers in physiotherapy education. The interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings: The findings illuminate teachers’ attitudes toward and experiences with digital education and their views on prerequisites to a digital transformation of teaching and learning in physiother-apy education, presented as four themes: 1) skepticism toward digital education; 2) digital technol-ogy as a tool to support the established teaching practice; 3) longing for teacher collaboration; and 4) calling for time to plan and learn, and significant academic leadership. Conclusion: This study shows how physiotherapy teachers are skeptical about digital education, primarily viewing it as a threat to established teaching practices. Taken together, the findings demonstrate a potential for digital transformation in physiotherapy education, which can be released by informing the current teaching practices with evidence from research showing how use of digital technology can improve teaching and learning in physiotherapy education.publishedVersio

Podcast – Commentary journalism in a digital public

The internet and digital platforms provide commentary- and opinion-based journalism with new opportunities to develop into new digital formats, such as podcasts. This article is based on the case studies of four Norwegian podcasts in 2020 and 2021. The findings show that commentary journalism in the form of podcasts has an obvious dual purpose: as publicity and as a commercial. The podcast facilitates a societal mission for the public while creating branded goods for the companies involved. Based on the material and the categories we had constructed, we developed a set of binaries that, understood as typologies, capture important dimensions of the differences between the podcasts. These binaries are monologue vs. dialogue, factual vs. personal, reflexive vs. assertive, and intellectual discussants vs. experts. In the article, we discuss how podcasts draw commentary journalism in a dialogical direction. We also discuss what impact this has upon public reasoning and the democratic role of commentary journalism.

Innovating contextual genres. A strategy to sustain regional democratic relevance?

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Inherited Genetic Mutations and Polymorphisms in Malignant Mesothelioma:A Comprehensive Review

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is mainly caused by air-born asbestos but genetic susceptibility is also suspected to be a risk factor. Recent studies suggest an increasing number of candidate genes that may predispose to MM besides the well-characterized BRCA1-associated protein-1 gene. The aim of this review is to summarize the most important studies on germline mutations for MM. A total of 860 publications were retrieved from Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science, of which 81 met the inclusion criteria and were consider for this review. More than 50% of the genes that are reported to predispose to MM are involved in DNA repair mechanisms, and the majority of them have a role in the homologous recombination pathway. Genetic alterations in tumor suppressor genes involved in chromatin, transcription and hypoxia regulation have also been described. Furthermore, we identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that may promote MM tumorigenesis as a result of an asbestos–gene interaction, including SNPs in DNA repair, carcinogen detoxification and other genes previously associated with other malignancies. The identification of inherited mutations for MM and an understanding of the underlying pathways may allow early detection and prevention of malignancies in high-risk individuals and pave the way for targeted therapies

Audience participation in the mediated Arctic public sphere

The article investigates how the regional newspaper Nordlys facilitates public debate in the Arctic region of Norway. In 2014, Nordlys launched Nordnorsk debatt, a new development of the traditional letters to the editor, offering possibilities for audiences to comment and participate in public debates online. The article is based on a study of 883 opinion pieces posted on this website in 2017 and 2018. We analyse the individuals who access Nordnorsk debatt; we identify role and formal positions of the participants, and what issues they engage in. We also discuss how Nordnorsk debatt might contribute to dialogue and diversity in the regional public debate. We find an increasing engagement over the 2 years and a variety of issues brought into public discussion. Although the debate forum has a broad scope of participants, the analyses suggest that it is primarily a forum for the elites. Despite this, even if grassroots representatives do not dominate the agenda, their opinion pieces are mostly shared and disseminated.publishedVersionUnit Licence Agreemen

Grunnleggende ferdigheter og læringsmiljø : Et utdrag av analysene av Elevundersøkelsen 2014

-Denne rapporten er et utdrag av den årlige hovedrapporten hvor resultatene fra Elevundersøkelsen blir analysert inngående. Problemstillingene i hovedrapporten vil delvis variere fra år til år og de ulike årlige problemstillinger og temaområder fastsettes i samråd med Utdanningsdirektoratet. For Elevundersøkelsen 2014 er det et særlig fokus på skolers arbeid med grunnleggende ferdigheter i lesing og regning. Problemstillingen fra Elevundersøkelsen 2014 som følges opp i denne rapporten er: Hvilke sammenhenger ser vi mellom elevens læringsmiljø, skolens arbeid med grunnleggende ferdigheter i lesing og/eller regning og selvrapporterte karakterresultater i Elevundersøkelsen? Problemstillingen belyses både kvantitativt gjennom analyse av data fra Elevundersøkelsen 2014 og gjennom kvalitative casestudier blant et utvalg skoler

Deserted Local News: Exploring News Deserts From a Journalistic Recruitment Perspective

An emerging body of research addresses how news deserts cause democratic deficits. This literature is mostly concerned with the closure of local news outlets. The present study was carried out in Norway, a country characterised by rich local media infrastructure. However, recruiting skilled and trained journalists to staff this infrastructure is challenging. Based on qualitative interviews with editors and journalism students (N = 21), this article explores the lack of skilled local journalists at small local newspapers, through a job attractiveness lens, and exposes how economic, geographic, and professional prestige factors contribute to labour deficits, identified as a brain drain threat in local journalism. The study expands the news desert research beyond the closure of local newspapers to encompass journalist labour deficits in an otherwise stable and diverse local media environment and discusses professional, societal, and political implications of the recruitment problem

Liposomal doxorubicin improves radiotherapy response in hypoxic prostate cancer xenografts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tumor vasculature frequently fails to supply sufficient levels of oxygen to tumor tissue resulting in radioresistant hypoxic tumors. To improve therapeutic outcome radiotherapy (RT) may be combined with cytotoxic agents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study we have investigated the combination of RT with the cytotoxic agent doxorubicin (DXR) encapsulated in pegylated liposomes (PL-DXR). The PL-DXR formulation Caelyx^®was administered to male mice bearing human, androgen-sensitive CWR22 prostate carcinoma xenografts in a dose of 3.5 mg DXR/kg, in combination with RT (2 Gy/day × 5 days) performed under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Hypoxic RT was achieved by experimentally inducing tumor hypoxia by clamping the tumor-bearing leg five minutes prior to and during RT. Treatment response evaluation consisted of tumor volume measurements and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE MRI) with subsequent pharmacokinetic analysis using the Brix model. Imaging was performed pre-treatment (baseline) and 8 days later. Further, hypoxic fractions were determined by pimonidazole immunohistochemistry of excised tumor tissue.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As expected, the therapeutic effect of RT was significantly less effective under hypoxic than normoxic conditions. However, concomitant administration of PL-DXR significantly improved the therapeutic outcome following RT in hypoxic tumors. Further, the pharmacokinetic DCE MRI parameters and hypoxic fractions suggest PL-DXR to induce growth-inhibitory effects without interfering with tumor vascular functions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We found that DXR encapsulated in liposomes improved the therapeutic effect of RT under hypoxic conditions without affecting vascular functions. Thus, we propose that for cytotoxic agents affecting tumor vascular functions liposomes may be a promising drug delivery technology for use in chemoradiotherapy.</p

Retaining the patient perspective in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for low back pain

Cecilie R&amp;oslash;e1,2, Unni Sveen1, Erik Bautz-Holter1,21Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ulleval University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 2Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, NorwayObjective: To examine the relationship between health problems as rated by the health professionals in the Norwegian form of the Core Set for low back pain and the patients&amp;rsquo; self-reported health problems in Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II).Methods: This was part of an international multicenter study where a convenience sample of 118 Norwegian patients with low back pain (LBP) participated. The ICF Core Set for LBP was filled in by the health professionals. The patients reported their health problems in the WHODAS II and ODI. The items in WHODAS II and ODI were linked to the ICF. The problems reported in WHODAS II and ODI were compared to the problems scored by the health professionals in the linked ICF categories in the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for LBP.Results: All items in ODI could be linked the ICF. Four items in WHODAS II could not be linked to the ICF and additionally two items could not be linked to specific ICF categories. All ICF categories linked to the ODI were included in the Comprehensive Core Set for LBP, whereas six items in WHODAS II could not be linked, and additionally 11 of the items were not represented in the Core Set. With the exception of sexual function, above three quarter of the patients&amp;rsquo; reported problems within body functions was captured by the health professionals. Within several of the activities and participation categories the health professionals scores in the ICF reflected the patients&amp;rsquo; reported problems well. Surprisingly some of the problems in activities of daily living were poorly reflected.Conclusion: The Comprehensive ICF Core Set for LBP covers most of the items in ODI and WHODAS II in areas where patients report significant problems, with some exceptions. The subjective dimension related to the impact of the health condition as well as the feeling of being a burden to their family appeared to be important to these patients and not covered in the ICF. Problems with sexual functions and relationship were poorly reflected in the health professionals&amp;rsquo; scores in the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for LBP. In clinical practice it is a challenge to assess the individual patients&amp;rsquo; broad spectrum of problems precisely.Keywords: low back pain, WHODAS II, ICF, musculoskeletal disorder

Safe housing for a meaningful everyday life Development of housing for people with drug addiction, psychiatric disorders and violence risk

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