Objectives: Biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy efficacy in tuberculosis (TB) are requested. We have studied biomarkers that may differentiate between active and latent TB infection (LTBI), the influence of HIV infection and changes during anti-TB chemotherapy. Methods: Thirty-eight plasma cytokines, assessed by multiplex and enzyme immunoassays, were analyzed in patients with active TB before ...

Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for mental health disorders, but even with the most efficacious treatment, many patients do not experience improvement. Moderator analysis can identify the conditions under which treatment is effective or whether there are factors that can attenuate the effects of treatment. In this study, linear mixed model analysis was used to examine whether the Full Scale ...

Background: Iron deficiency (ID) is highly prevalent in pregnant women worldwide. While iron deficiency anemia (IDA) has been associated with preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW), there is uncertainty about the possible effects of non-anemic ID on birth outcomes. Aim: The objective of this thesis was to investigate whether ID in pregnancy is an independent factor in contributing to LBW and ...

Iron status is influenced by several factors such as nutritional factors and blood loss. Tron deficiency is one of the most severe and important nutritional deficiencies in the world today, both in industrialised as well as developing countries [1-3]. In normal subjects the total daily loss of iron is balanced by an equivalent amount of iron absorbed from the diet. When this equilibrium is ...

This present work explored the suppression instructions conveyed during an applicant evaluation process. The following experiment predicted that the participants in the specific suppression condition would evaluate the stereotypical applicants less favorably compared to participants in the other conditions. The participants received one of three suppression instructions: one instructed them to ...

Recent studies have demonstrated that radiotherapy is able to induce anti-tumor immune responses in addition to mediating direct cytotoxic effects. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are central constituents of the tumor stroma and participate actively in tumor immunoregulation. However, the capacity of CAFs to influence immune responses in the context of radiotherapy is still poorly understood. ...

Objective: To study potential lifestyle and nutritional risk factors for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in an adult northern Norwegian population. In addition, report on some of the known risk factors for IBS in this population. Materials and methods: In 2007, 19 762 adults (aged 30-87) from the municipality of Tromsø in Northern Norway, were invited to attend a general health survey. A total of ...

<p><i>Objectives - </i>To evaluate a modified Global Trigger Tool (GTT) method with manual review of automatic triggered records to measure adverse events. <p><i>Design - </i>A cross-sectional study was performed using the original GTT method as gold standard compared to a modified GTT method. <p><i>Setting - </i>Medium size hospital trust in Northern Norway. <p><i>Participants - </i>One thousand ...

There are many patients in general practice with health complaints that cannot be medically explained. Some of these patients attribute their health complaints to dental amalgam restorations. This study examined the cost-effectiveness of the removal of amalgam restorations in patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) attributed to amalgam fillings compared to usual care, based ...

<i>Objective</i> - There is growing interest in the relationship between sedentary behaviour and mental distress among adolescents, but the majority of studies to date have relied on self-reported measures with poor validity. Consequently, current knowledge may be affected by various biases. The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between (1) objectively ...