Diversity of domestic and imported assemblages of Giardia in Norway and multi-locus sequence typing of domestic assemblage A isolates.

Giardia duodenalis is a gastrointestinal parasite and one of the most frequently reported parasitic infections associated with contaminated water. This study investigated the diversity of domestic and imported Giardia assemblages in Norway, with a focus on the genetic characterization of domestic assemblage A isolates using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) targeting six genome markers. We analysed 340 human, and 40 animal faecal samples collected between February 2022 and January 2024 from six medical microbiology laboratories and one veterinary diagnostic center across four Norwegian health regions.

Developing, running and evaluating a simulation of a guideline development meeting.

WHAT IS THIS PAPER ABOUT?: Important decisions about healthcare are made in guideline meetings. It is therefore important to involve people who will be affected by the decision. This can include patients, healthcare workers and policy makers.

Clinical care of family members of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Genetic family screening following the detection of a pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant in a proband with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains one of the main applications of genetic testing. While cardiac screening is recommended for all first-degree relatives, the a priori risk among family members varies. Consequently, screening regimens should be tailored according to both genetic and clinical information at the individual and familial level.

Harmonized Immune Recovery Monitoring after HCT: Evidence & Practical Guidance from the Westhafen Intercontinental Group.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is a curative option for patients with high-risk malignancies and non-malignant disorders. Long-term survival depends on robust immune reconstitution (IR), which governs overall immune homeostasis and risks of infection, graft-versus-host disease, and relapse. However, despite its centrality to post-transplant outcomes, IR is not consistently monitored across transplant centers, limiting ability to generate meaningful, comparable, and translatable data.

3D spatial sampling to quantify morphologic heterogeneity in isocitrate dehydrogenase-wildtype glioblastoma.

Advances in digital pathology and machine learning have the potential to revolutionize diagnostic neuropathology. Current brain tumor models are typically trained and validated using morphologic features from a single hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained slide per patient. Yet, brain tumors such as diffuse glioma are known for their epigenetic, genetic, and transcriptional heterogeneity within an individual patient.

Is maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first trimester associated with congenital heart defects?

Emerging evidence suggests a potential link between maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during early pregnancy and the development of congenital heart defects (CHD) in offspring. Although vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is rare, the virus has been associated with placental complications and increased maternal morbidity. Recent studies from China report increased rates of CHD and anomalies such as situs inversus when infection occurs during gestational weeks 4-6, a critical window for cardiac development.

Predictors, Healthcare Utilization and Costs Related to Short-Term Stays in Patients with COPD: A Registry-Based Analysis in Norway.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) incurs significant healthcare costs, often accompanied by multimorbidity. Advanced patients may need short-term stays for rehabilitation, treatment, or respite to maintain home living.

Aim: To identify predictors for a first short-term stay and study the healthcare utilization and costs compared with similar patients without a short-term stay.

Combinatorial Use of Reference Electrodes and DRT for Disentangling AEM Electrolyzer Losses.

Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) offer a promising alternative to proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, leveraging non-precious-metal catalysts and alkaline electrolytes for cost reduction. However, challenges persist in achieving long-term durability, high current densities, and stable membrane performance. While previous studies have examined AEM development, a comprehensive structural-electrochemical analysis of AEMWE components under prolonged operation remains limited.

The Outdoor Care Retreat: Key Insights for Navigating Biophilic Design Innovation in Healthcare Environments.

The present case study explores insights related to navigating biophilic design innovation in public healthcare using the Outdoor Care Retreat at Oslo University Hospital and the Hospital of Southern Norway as a case. Available research from environmental psychology proposes an association between access to biophilic design, well-being, health, and hospitalization satisfaction. Still, integrating this research into public healthcare is challenging and there is a need for research that builds on innovative examples of biophilic design integration in this context.

Nonregistration, Discontinuation, and Nonpublication of Randomized Trials: A Systematic Review.

Importance: Previous work found that 25% to 30% of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with protocols approved in 2012 or between 2000 and 2003 were discontinued prematurely, most commonly due to inadequate participant recruitment. To minimize research waste, RCTs should be registered and their results made available.

Objectives: To assess the fate of RCTs approved by ethics committees in 2016 in terms of nonregistration, discontinuation, and nonpublication, and to examine RCT characteristics associated with discontinuation due to poor recruitment and nonpublication of RCT results.

Health-Related Quality of Life, Physical Activity and Joint Health in People With Severe Haemophilia A Receiving Emicizumab: Results From the Phase IV HemiNorth 2 Study.

Introduction: Despite factor (F)VIII prophylaxis, a perceived increased risk of bleeding for some people with severe haemophilia A (PwSHA) exists, limiting physical activity (PA) and restricting quality of life (QoL).

Aim: HemiNorth 2 (EudraCT# 2020-003256-32) is an interventional study evaluating the impact of switching from FVIII prophylaxis to emicizumab in PwSHA without FVIII inhibitors who have a need for improved prophylaxis in the Nordic countries.

Methods: Following completion of the HemiNorth non-interventional study (NIS), eligible participants (aged ≥ 12-61 years) were enrolled in HemiNorth 2.

Barriers to and Enablers of Supporting Deprescribing Benzodiazepines in Older Adults: A Survey of European Nonphysician Healthcare Professionals.

Although physicians are primarily responsible for Benzodiazepine Receptor Agonist (BZRA) deprescribing, nonphysician healthcare professionals (HCPs) can support deprescribing. This study explored barriers to and enablers of BZRA deprescribing among nonphysician HCPs. We surveyed 258 HCPs (63.

A collaborative primary and mental health care model with psychologist and psychiatrist working in GP practices: process evaluation of the implementation, challenges, and sustainability.

Background: Previous studies have shown that collaboration between primary care and mental health services can enhance accessibility and improve outcomes for patients seen in general practitioners' (GPs') office. There is, however, a lack of empirical evidence regarding the benefits of collaborative care in Norway. This study, part of a larger research project, examined the adaptation and implementation of a successful Canadian collaborative care model developed in Hamilton, Ontario, in three Norwegian GP practices located in different boroughs of Oslo, Norway's largest city.

The roles of stress, illness management, and goal setting on the association between personal and clinical recovery - a prospective study.

Background: Investigating underlying working mechanisms involved in the relationship between personal and clinical recovery is important for enhancing mental health treatment. This prospective study investigated the impact of two anticipated moderators, 1) receiving help with managing stress and illness, and 2) receiving help with setting and achieving goals, on the association between personal and clinical recovery at baseline and 18-month follow-up among service users with psychosis.

Methods: Data were collected from service users with psychosis and their clinicians from 32 clinical sites across Norway at baseline (n = 318) and after 18 months (n = 121).

The Indo-European Cognate Relationships dataset.

The Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR) dataset is an open-access relational dataset showing how related, inherited words ('cognates') pattern across 160 languages of the Indo-European family. IE-CoR is intended as a benchmark dataset for computational research into the evolution of the Indo-European languages. It is structured around 170 reference meanings in core lexicon, and contains 25731 lexeme entries, analysed into 4981 cognate sets.

Propofol-based versus sevoflurane-based anaesthesia for deceased donor kidney transplantation: the VAPOR-2 study protocol for an international multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Ischaemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is inevitable in kidney transplantation and negatively affects patient and graft outcomes. Anaesthetic conditioning (AC) refers to the use of anaesthetic agents to mitigate IRI. AC is particularly associated with volatile anaesthetic (VA) agents and to a lesser extent to intravenous agents like propofol.

Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) alleles suggested to be associated with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic and debilitating disease with unknown cause. Involvement of infection and immune dysregulation has been suggested, including changes in immune cell subsets and abnormal functions of natural killer (NK) cells. The regulatory NK cell receptors, killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) have previously been investigated in small cohorts of ME/CFS patients with conflicting results regarding gene content.

β blockers after myocardial infarction with mildly reduced ejection fraction: an individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: The effects of β-blocker therapy on clinical outcomes in patients with myocardial infarction and mildly reduced (40-49%) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) are largely unknown. Four recently conducted randomised trials tested the efficacy of β blockers after a recent myocardial infarction in patients without reduced LVEF (LVEF ≥40%). However, none were individually powered to assess these effects in the subgroup of patients with mildly reduced LVEF.

Measured and predicted energy expenditure among patients with distal bowel cancer: Results from the GAIN-project.

Rationale: The purpose of this study was to compare the agreement between measured and predicted energy expenditure in patients newly diagnosed with colon, rectal, or anal cancer.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, resting energy expenditure (REE) was measured with indirect calorimetry in canopy mask mode using a COSMED Q-NRG device. Measurements were compared with predicted REE from five different equations, validated for healthy individuals.

Managing Cognitive Decline Through a Social Robot-Based Intervention: Protocol for the engAGE Proof of Concept and Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Dementia is challenging society in terms of the quality of life, the costs of health care systems, and caregivers' burden. Dementia is often preceded by a status of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), during which a healthy lifestyle and cognitive therapy seem to be effective in counteracting the decline.

Objective: The engAGE (Managing Cognitive Decline Through Theatre Therapy, Artificial Intelligence, and Social Robot-Driven Interventions) project aimed to build a technological platform to counteract cognitive decline in older adults with MCI through both cognitive therapy and lifestyle management.

The power of microbial life for the transformation towards a sustainable planet: key messages from the 2024 IUMS Congress in Florence, the city of the Renaissance.

The 2024 International Union of Microbiological Societies Congress was held in Florence, the city of Renaissance. The theme was to increase the awareness of the power of microbial life, recognizing that it can lead the transformation towards a sustainable planet. The meeting gathered over 1400 experts from more than 90 countries and focused on the transformative potential of microbiology in addressing global challenges and aligning microbial science with the Sustainable Development Goals.