The effect of video games on development and health among children and youth - Psychological and somatic aspects

Video games are one of the most popular pasttimes of children and youth alike. The research on effects of playing video games reaches back only two decades, and is marred by suboptimal methodologies and conflicting evidence. Still, some cautious conclusions can be drawn from current research. Violent video games increase aggression, but the effect is significantly lower than with tv violence. More recent studies show a larger effect than older ones, suggesting that newer video games with more realistically portraited violence has a larger effect on aggression. Still, a firm causal link is yet to be determined. Addiction to video games concern a small subgroup. Research on the relation between video games and variables like self-esteem and network of friends show conflicting results. Some types of video games promote perceptual and cognitive improvements on for example visual attention and mental rotation. Exaggerated video gaming can cause several types of arm or hand problems. The evidence for related back problems is poor. There is no relation between myopia and video games. Video games may cause epileptic fits in certain very few individuals (not in all epileptics), and the effect from one particular video game was much higher than regular tv programs

Kvalitetssikring av genteknologiske metoder

Source at https://www.fhi.no/.Kvalitetskontroll av infeksjonsserologiske metoder var tema for strategimøtet i 2016 og det er dermed naturlig å følge opp med kvalitetssikring av molekylærgenetiske metoder i år. På møtet i fjor ble det gitt detaljerte anbefalinger om validering/verifisering, internkontroller, usikkerhetsbedømmelse, gråsoner og tolkning. Genteknologiske metoder skiller seg betydelig fra serologi, og kvalitetssikringsrutinene må nødvendigvis være noe ulike. I det medisinsk mikrobiologiske miljø har vi kommet langt mht. genetisk kunnskap, etablering av egne tester, analytisk evaluering og laboratorierutiner (for å unngå forurensning). Den teknologiske utvikling har også kommet langt og vi har meget gode metoder for nukleinsyre-ekstraksjon, amplifikasjon og deteksjon. Likevel, det er noen likhetspunkter mellom serologi og genteknologi og spørsmålet er om vi ikke har litt å lære av serologene. Dette gjelder spesielt for løpende kvalitetskontroll i den daglige rutine basert på driftskontroll og bruk av internasjonale standarder. Validering, verifisering og løpende kvalitetskontroll vil være hovedfokus for dette møtet

Comprehensive contact tracing, testing and sequencing show limited transmission of sars‐cov‐2 between children in schools in norway, august 2020 to may 2021

The role of children in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in schools has been a topic of controversy. In this study among school contacts of SARS-CoV-2 positive children in 43 contact-investigations, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Norway, August 2020–May 2021. All participants were tested twice within seven to ten days, using SARS-CoV-2 PCR on home-sampled saliva. Positive samples were whole genome sequenced. Among the 559 child contacts, eight tested positive (1.4%, 95% CI 0.62–2.80), with no significant difference between primary (1.0%, 95% CI 0.27–2.53) and secondary schools (2.6%, 95% CI 0.70–6.39), p = 0.229, nor by viral strain, non-Alpha (1.4%, 95% CI 0.50–2.94) and Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) (1.7%, 95% CI 0.21–5.99), p = 0.665. One adult contact (1/100) tested positive. In 34 index cases, we detected 13 different SARS-CoV-2 Pango lineage variants, with B.1.1.7 being most frequent. In the eight contact-investigations with SARS-CoV-2 positive contacts, four had the same sequence identity as the index, one had no relation, and three were inconclusive. With mitigation measures in place, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from children in schools is limited. By excluding contact-investigations with adult cases known at the time of enrolment, our data provide a valid estimate on the role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools

Comprehensive contact tracing, testing and sequencing show limited transmission of sars‐cov‐2 between children in schools in norway, august 2020 to may 2021

The role of children in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in schools has been a topic of controversy. In this study among school contacts of SARS-CoV-2 positive children in 43 contact-investigations, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Norway, August 2020–May 2021. All participants were tested twice within seven to ten days, using SARS-CoV-2 PCR on home-sampled saliva. Positive samples were whole genome sequenced. Among the 559 child contacts, eight tested positive (1.4%, 95% CI 0.62–2.80), with no significant difference between primary (1.0%, 95% CI 0.27–2.53) and secondary schools (2.6%, 95% CI 0.70–6.39), p = 0.229, nor by viral strain, non-Alpha (1.4%, 95% CI 0.50–2.94) and Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) (1.7%, 95% CI 0.21–5.99), p = 0.665. One adult contact (1/100) tested positive. In 34 index cases, we detected 13 different SARS-CoV-2 Pango lineage variants, with B.1.1.7 being most frequent. In the eight contact-investigations with SARS-CoV-2 positive contacts, four had the same sequence identity as the index, one had no relation, and three were inconclusive. With mitigation measures in place, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from children in schools is limited. By excluding contact-investigations with adult cases known at the time of enrolment, our data provide a valid estimate on the role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools

Large outbreak of mumps virus genotype G among vaccinated students in Norway, 2015 to 2016

From 6 September 2015–May 2016, a large mumps outbreak occurred among vaccinated students in Norway. A case was defined as a person presenting with a clinical mumps infection, notified between 1 September 2015 and 30 June 2016. Confirmed cases had positive laboratory confirmation and probable cases had an epidemiological link; PCR-positive specimens were genotyped. A total of 232 cases were notified (230 confirmed) with median age of 23 years (range 4–81) and 61% were male. Of 68 (30%) confirmed cases that were genotyped, 66 were genotype G and associated with the outbreak. Cases that had received two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine had reduced risk of hospitalisation (adjusted relative risk (aRR): 0.14; 95%CI: 0.03–0.57), mumps-related orchitis (aRR: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.08–0.55) and severe outcome (aRR: 0.25; 95% CI: 0.10–0.62) compared with those unvaccinated. A third dose of the vaccine was offered to approximately 1,300 fully vaccinated close contacts and subsequently reported cases decreased. This large outbreak, occurring among predominately vaccinated students, suggests the current genotype A vaccine offers suboptimal protection against mumps genotype G. We recommend maintaining high vaccination coverage and offering the vaccine to all unvaccinated individuals

The Finnish new variant of Chlamydia trachomatis escaping detection in the Aptima Combo 2 assay is widespread across Norway, June to August 2019

The ‘Finnish new variant of Chlamydia trachomatis’ (FI-nvCT), escaping detection in the Aptima Combo 2 assay (AC2), is widespread across Norway. From June to August 2019, 84% (81/97) of available AC2/Aptima CT discordant samples from five laboratories were confirmed as FI-nvCT. Two additional CT variants (CT 23S rRNA C1514T and G1523A) also escaped AC2 detection. The high FI-nvCT proportion might indicate a long-term national spread and it cannot be excluded that FI-nvCT emerged in Norway