Social adjustment and friendship patterns of international students : a study of Norwegian students studying abroad

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of friendships in the social adjustment of international students, in particular to explore the role of preference for co-nationals/co-culturals as opposed to a preference for befriending people belonging to other cultural groups. Information was gathered by a psychometric, self-report survey questionnaire. A modified version of the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (Ward & Kennedy, 1999) was used. For the purpose of this study, a Success Scale, a Co-national Scale and an Openness Scale were created. The sample consisted of 265 students studying abroad. The most important results showed that a preference for co-nationals was related to a higher amount of experienced difficulties and a lower level of success. Keywords: exchange students, foreign students, friendship patterns, international students, Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, social adjustment, sojourn

Proletær kultur i Norge i 1930-åra

Proletær kultur i Norge i 1930-år

Randomized implementation of a primary human papillomavirus testing-based cervical cancer screening protocol for women 34 to 69 years in Norway

Background: Cervical cancer screening programs are facing a programmatic shift where screening protocol based on human papillomavirus testing (HPV-Screening protocol) is replacing the liquid-based cytology (LBC-Screening protocol). For safe technology transfer within the nationwide screening programme in Norway, HPV-Screening protocol was implemented randomized to compare the real-world effectiveness of HPV-Screening protocol and LBC-Screening protocol at the first screening round. Methods: Among 302,295 women ages 34 to 69 years scheduled to attend screening from February 2015 to June 2017, 157,447 attended. A total of 77,207 were randomly allocated to the HPV-Screening protocol and 80,240 were allocated to the LBC-Screening protocol. All women were followed up for 18 months. Results: The HPV-Screening protocol resulted in a relative increase of 60% in the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 2 or worse [risk ratio (RR) = 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.5–1.7], 40% in CIN grade 3 or worse (RR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.3–1.6), 40% in cancer (RR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.0–2.1), and 60% in colposcopy referrals (RR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.5–1.6) compared with LBC-Screening. The performance of both protocols was age dependent, being more effective in women ages under 50 years. Conclusions: The HPV-Screening protocol was well accepted by women in Norway and detected more CIN2, CIN3, and cancers compared with the LBC-Screening protocol. Impact: A randomized implementation of the HPV-Screening protocol with real-world assessment enabled a gradual, quality assured, and safe technology transition. HPV-based screening protocol may further be improved by using HPV genotyping and age-specific referral algorithms.publishedVersio

Prioritizing taxa for genetic reference database development to advance inland water conservation

Biodiversity loss has accelerated over the past century and freshwater species overall are among those experiencing greatest declines. Genetic resources have the potential to help evaluate the full magnitude of this loss and represent a key tool to effectively allocate conservation resources and monitor the success of restoration efforts. The full power of genetic resources will be realized when the daunting task of referencing all DNA sequences of freshwater organisms is complete. Here, we quantified the availability and distribution of barcode and genome data for freshwater macroscopic organisms in Canada, a country rich in inland water resources and thus particularly vulnerable to aquatic species losses. Impressively, most inland water species (86 %) were represented by barcodes recorded in the BOLD Systems database, while very few had full genomes available (<4 %) in the NCBI database. We identified barcode data deficiencies in northern regions and for taxa assessed as most at risk or without sufficient information for conservation status classification. As expected, the speciose insect group had a lower-than-average number of records per species and a high proportion of data deficient species without adequate barcode coverage. This study highlights where future sequencing resources should be prioritized within initiatives such as the Canada BioGenome Project and BIOSCAN Canada and provides a workflow that could be applied internationally to inform conservation management plans and to mitigate biodiversity loss

Common variants at theCHEK2gene locus and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer

Genome-wide association studies have identified 20 genomic regions associated with risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), but many additional risk variants may exist. Here, we evaluated associations between common genetic variants [single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and indels] in DNA repair genes and EOC risk. We genotyped 2896 common variants at 143 gene loci in DNA samples from 15 397 patients with invasive EOC and controls. We found evidence of associations with EOC risk for variants at FANCA, EXO1, E2F4, E2F2, CREB5 and CHEK2 genes (P ≤ 0.001). The strongest risk association was for CHEK2 SNP rs17507066 with serous EOC (P = 4.74 x 10(-7)). Additional genotyping and imputation of genotypes from the 1000 genomes project identified a slightly more significant association for CHEK2 SNP rs6005807 (r (2) with rs17507066 = 0.84, odds ratio (OR) 1.17, 95% CI 1.11-1.24, P = 1.1×10(-7)). We identified 293 variants in the region with likelihood ratios of less than 1:100 for representing the causal variant. Functional annotation identified 25 candidate SNPs that alter transcription factor binding sites within regulatory elements active in EOC precursor tissues. In The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset, CHEK2 gene expression was significantly higher in primary EOCs compared to normal fallopian tube tissues (P = 3.72×10(-8)). We also identified an association between genotypes of the candidate causal SNP rs12166475 (r (2) = 0.99 with rs6005807) and CHEK2 expression (P = 2.70×10(-8)). These data suggest that common variants at 22q12.1 are associated with risk of serous EOC and CHEK2 as a plausible target susceptibility gene.Other Research Uni

rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 Region and Risk of Ovarian Carcinoma of Mucinous Histology.

Thymidylate synthase (TYMS) is a crucial enzyme for DNA synthesis. TYMS expression is regulated by its antisense mRNA, ENOSF1. Disrupted regulation may promote uncontrolled DNA synthesis and tumor growth. We sought to replicate our previously reported association between rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 3' gene region and increased risk of mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) in an independent sample. Genotypes from 24,351 controls to 15,000 women with invasive OC, including 665 MOC, were available. We estimated per-allele odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using unconditional logistic regression, and meta-analysis when combining these data with our previous report. The association between rs495139 and MOC was not significant in the independent sample (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.97⁻1.22; p = 0.15; N = 665 cases). Meta-analysis suggested a weak association (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.03⁻1.24; p = 0.01; N = 1019 cases). No significant association with risk of other OC histologic types was observed (p = 0.05 for tumor heterogeneity). In expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis, the rs495139 allele was positively associated with ENOSF1 mRNA expression in normal tissues of the gastrointestinal system, particularly esophageal mucosa (r = 0.51, p = 1.7 × 10-28), and nonsignificantly in five MOC tumors. The association results, along with inconclusive tumor eQTL findings, suggest that a true effect of rs495139 might be small

Identification of six new susceptibility loci for invasive epithelial ovarian cancer.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 12 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) susceptibility alleles. The pattern of association at these loci is consistent in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers who are at high risk of EOC. After imputation to 1000 Genomes Project data, we assessed associations of 11 million genetic variants with EOC risk from 15,437 cases unselected for family history and 30,845 controls and from 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 8,211 BRCA2 mutation carriers (3,096 with ovarian cancer), and we combined the results in a meta-analysis. This new study design yielded increased statistical power, leading to the discovery of six new EOC susceptibility loci. Variants at 1p36 (nearest gene, WNT4), 4q26 (SYNPO2), 9q34.2 (ABO) and 17q11.2 (ATAD5) were associated with EOC risk, and at 1p34.3 (RSPO1) and 6p22.1 (GPX6) variants were specifically associated with the serous EOC subtype, all with P < 5 × 10(-8). Incorporating these variants into risk assessment tools will improve clinical risk predictions for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.COGS project is funded through a European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme grant (agreement number 223175 ] HEALTH ]F2 ]2009 ]223175). The CIMBA data management and data analysis were supported by Cancer Research.UK grants 12292/A11174 and C1287/A10118. The Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium is supported by a grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund thanks to donations by the family and friends of Kathryn Sladek Smith (PPD/RPCI.07). The scientific development and funding for this project were in part supported by the US National Cancer Institute GAME ]ON Post ]GWAS Initiative (U19 ]CA148112). This study made use of data generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control consortium. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. The results published here are in part based upon data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project established by the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute (dbGap accession number phs000178.v8.p7). The cBio portal is developed and maintained by the Computational Biology Center at Memorial Sloan ] Kettering Cancer Center. SH is supported by an NHMRC Program Grant to GCT. Details of the funding of individual investigators and studies are provided in the Supplementary Note. This study made use of data generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control consortium, funding for which was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. The results published here are, in part, based upon data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project established by the National Cancerhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.3185This is the Author Accepted Manuscript of 'Identification of six new susceptibility loci for invasive epithelial ovarian cancer' which was published in Nature Genetics 47, 164–171 (2015) © Nature Publishing Group - content may only be used for academic research

Monoaminergic and histaminergic strategies and treatments in brain diseases

The monoaminergic systems are the target of several drugs for the treatment of mood, motor and cognitive disorders as well as neurological conditions. In most cases, advances have occurred through serendipity, except for Parkinson's disease where the pathophysiology led almost immediately to the introduction of dopamine restoring agents. Extensive neuropharmacological studies first showed that the primary target of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anxiolytic drugs were specific components of the monoaminergic systems. Later, some dramatic side effects associated with older medicines were shown to disappear with new chemical compounds targeting the origin of the therapeutic benefit more specifically. The increased knowledge regarding the function and interaction of the monoaminergic systems in the brain resulting from in vivo neurochemical and neurophysiological studies indicated new monoaminergic targets that could achieve the efficacy of the older medicines with fewer side-effects. Yet, this accumulated knowledge regarding monoamines did not produce valuable strategies for diseases where no monoaminergic drug has been shown to be effective. Here, we emphasize the new therapeutic and monoaminergic-based strategies for the treatment of psychiatric diseases. We will consider three main groups of diseases, based on the evidence of monoamines involvement (schizophrenia, depression, obesity), the identification of monoamines in the diseases processes (Parkinson's disease, addiction) and the prospect of the involvement of monoaminergic mechanisms (epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, stroke). In most cases, the clinically available monoaminergic drugs induce widespread modifications of amine tone or excitability through neurobiological networks and exemplify the overlap between therapeutic approaches to psychiatric and neurological conditions. More recent developments that have resulted in improved drug specificity and responses will be discussed in this review.peer-reviewe