Apple and Pear Cultivars for Organic Production in a Cool Climate

Only early ripening cultivars of apples and pears may be grown successfully in the short and rather cool growth season of the fruit producing areas of Norway. Due to a combination of high yield, good fruit quality and scab resistance, the Swedish cultivar ‘Aroma’ is recommended as major cultivar for organic apple production today. ’Philip’ is recommended as cultivar for organic pear production. During 5 years 21 apple cultivars and 15 pear cultivars have been tested in organic orchards in comparison with ‘Aroma’ and ‘Philip’. Several cultivars in the trial are promising for use in organic production

Visualization of Longitudinal Phenotypes in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study

The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) is a pregnancy cohort study with over 100,000 children enrolled. Data was gathered through questionnaires mailed to the mothers, but also in the form of biological samples where more than 15,000 trios (mother, father, and child) have been genotyped so far. Data collected by MoBa is sensitive and its access is therefore restricted to protect the privacy of the study participants. This can make it difficult (or even impossible) to access the data, not only for parents and the general public, but also for scientists and medical professionals. To solve this issue, it is necessary to provide access to the data in a manner that is high-resolution without compromising participant privacy. The MoBa data is multidimensional and contains longitudinal information on several phenotypes (such as height and weight) for the children, as well as data on certain variables for the parents. Based on the recorded variables, the MoBa cohort can be divided into various subgroups that can be studied separately or compared with each other. Furthermore, the genotyping data can be viewed at different scales: (i) genetic variants can be considered individually, (ii) in the context of their genomic location, or (iii) the entire genome can be considered as a whole. Finally, a good presentation of the data has to account for and take advantage of the complexity of the MoBa data. Hundreds of gigabytes of summary statistics can be generated from the genotyping data from MoBa. Depending on the use case, only a small subset of this data is relevant to present to a user at a given time point. In order to present these subsets to the user quickly upon request, a bioinformatics system that can find and dispatch data in a short amount of time must be implemented. This thesis demonstrates how the issues related to large-scale sensitive data access and dissemination can be solved through a publicly available web application able to handle the associated data volumes efficiently.Masteroppgåve i informatikkINF39

Changes in plasma and liver glutathione levels in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar suffering from infectious salmon anemia (ISA)

The levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) in plasma and liver in healthy Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and salmon suffering from infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The infected salmon had an increased level of plasma GSH Compared to controls, the mean values being 72.31 +/- 11.56 and 52.8 +/- 2.92 muM, respectively. The increased GSH level in plasma was found to be significant (p < 0.0001, unpaired t-test) and may be a result of intracellular release. The hepatic GSH level was significantly lower in the infected salmons compared to controls (p < 0,0001, unpaired t-test) and the mean values were calculated to be 1618.7 +/- 543.7 and 2512.1 +/- 326.9 nmol g-1 liver (wet wt), respectively. A decrease in hepatic GSH of up to 70 % in diseased fish compared to controls was observed. Such low levels of GSH in the liver may affect the capability of this organ in the transformation and excretion of xenobiotics from the body

Perfectionistic individuals' understanding of how painful experiences have shaped their relationship to others

Background: Perfectionism is increasing over time and associated with various mental health problems. Recent research indicates adverse childhood experiences may play a role in the development of perfectionism. In addition, perfectionism is marked by interpersonal problems with implications for treatment outcome. Aim: This study aimed to fill an important gap in the predominantly quantitative literature field by exploring how individuals with perfectionism understand the relationship between painful experiences and how they relate to others. Method: Nine individuals with perfectionism were interviewed using McAdam's life-story interview. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interviews. Results: Four themes emerged: “A childhood with big responsibilities,” “I am still the responsible one,” “Keeping others at a distance to protect the inner self,” and “Achieving physical distance to get a fresh start.” These themes are grouped into two overarching themes: “You can't always trust people” and “A distancing from others.” Conclusion: Findings highlight taking responsibility and social distancing serve an important function for perfectionistic individuals in response to painful relational events. We discuss how themes of control and agency impact individuals' relationship to mental health and turning toward others for help. The findings provide greater complexity to understanding perfectionism as a “barrier to treatment.”publishedVersio

Efficacy of orally administered oxolinic acid and Vetoquinol, an oxolinic acid ester, for the treatment furunculosis in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar held seawater

This study was performed to determine the efficacy of orally administered oxolinic acid and Vetoquinol, an oxolinic acid ester, in the treatment of experimental induced furunculosis in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar held in seawater. Two strains of the causative bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida, 1 sensitive (VI-88/09/03175) and 1 resistant (3475/90) to oxolinic acid, were used. In 2 trials, cohabitational challenges were performed by introducing 8 fish challenged in advance by an intraperitoneal injection of 2.2 x 10(4) colony forming units of strain 3475/90 (Trial 1) or strain VI-88/09/03175 (Trial 2) to 10 aquaria each containing 40 healthy fish. The treatment groups in both trials consisted of 4 groups receiving either oxolinic acid (2 groups) or Vetoquinol (2 groups) and 1 control group. An unchallenged, unmedicated group was used to determine the natural mortality in the population. The recommended therapeutic dose of 25 mg oxolinic acid kg(-1) fish at Days 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 following initiation of treatment was used. Oral medication initiated at Day 10 (Trial 1) or Day 11 (Trial 2) following challenge significantly (p < 0.05) lowered the specific mortality in all drug-treated groups compared to the untreated control groups. Mortality in Vetoquinol-treated groups was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than in oxolinic acid-treated groups in Trial 1 whereas no significant (p < 0.05) difference in survival rate was found between the medicated groups in Trial 2

Hva lærer psykologstudenter av å intervjue hverandre? En kvalitativ undersøkelse av undervisning med ferdighetsøvelser i kvalitativ metode

The present paper investigates how clinical psychology students experienced their own learning process when participating in practical skills training during an introductory course in qualitative research methods. Mindfulness and active listening exercises were used as a pedagogic intervention to facilitate practical training in interview skills during the course. At the end of the course, the students (n = 45) were invited to reflect and write about their own process of leaning, and what they had learned after the course. The qualitative descriptions of the students’ learning experiences were investigated using a thematic analysis methodology. The following themes were identified across the responses of the students: 1) Being present in the interview situation, 2) Doing qualitative interviews in practice and 3) Seeing the challenges and possibilities of doing qualitative research. The findings are discussed in relation to existing theory, and potential implications for future teaching are discussed

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Academic Evaluation Anxiety: A Naturalistic Longitudinal Study

Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) for academic evaluation anxiety and self-confidence in 70 help-seeking bachelor’s and master’s students was examined. A repeated measures analysis of covariance on the 46 students who completed pretreatment and posttreatment measures (median age = 24 years, 83% women) showed that evaluation anxiety and self-confidence improved. A growth curve analysis with all 70 original participants showed reductions in both cognitive and emotional components of evaluation anxiety, and that reduction continued postintervention. Although more research is needed, this study indicates that MBSR may reduce evaluation anxiety.publishedVersio

Transmission of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) through natural secretions and excretions from infected smolts of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar during their presymptomatic phase

Short-term (48 h) exposure of healthy Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. smelts to infectious salmon anemia (ISA)-inoculated cohort smelts showed that the disease was transmitted with near 100% mortality from Day 7 post-inoculation and onwards. This is more than a week before the inoculated fish show any clinical signs and long before the typical petechial bleedings occur. A bloodborne transmission of the disease is therefore unlikely. Skin mucus, faeces, urine and blood, isolated from ISA-inoculated smelt, transmitted the disease to healthy cohort smelt with variable efficiency depending on how the inoculum was administered. All the sources were infectious and transmitted the disease with high efficiency when injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) into cohort smelt. After i.p. injection, skin mucus had somewhat lower infectivity than blood homogenates. Furthermore, in some experiments application of skin mucus to the gills was as efficient as i.p. injection for transmission of the disease. When introduced into the stomach none of the inocula caused ISA. Coprophagy thus seems to be ineffective in the transmission of TSA under laboratory conditions. Skin mucus from non-inoculated cohabitants exposed to ISA-inoculated smelts for 2 d transmitted the disease with close to 100% efficiency to healthy cohort smelts when injected i.p. This indicates that the infectious agent is waterborne and absorbed by the skin mucus rather than being secreted with the skin mucus. Since healthy smelts have an intact skin barrier, proximity to inoculation directly to the vascular bed seems unlikely. An ultrastructural study of 10 different organs, all in close proximity to the secretions/excretions, revealed that at early stages of the disease, the virus was exclusively found in the pillar cells and endocardial cells. This indicates that the gills are the most Likely port of entry of the virus. It also supports a causal relation between the observed virus and the disease