Following a successful renal transplantation circulating markers of inflammation may remain elevated, and systemic inflammation is associated with worse clinical outcome in renal transplant recipients (RTRs). Vitamin D-receptor (VDR) activation is postulated to modulate inflammation and endothelial function. We aimed to explore if a synthetic vitamin D, paricalcitol, could influence systemic ...

<p><i>Aim: </i>A questionnaire has been used repeatedly in cross-sectional studies to determine the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (AR) and eczema among schoolchildren in Nordland County, Norway. The current study was designed to validate the questionnaire against clinical assessment as the diagnostic gold standard and to investigate the extent of possible misclassification. ...

This study addresses the social relevance of low-prevalence childhood diseases and reports the process of generation and validation of a tool to assess the social impact on the direct family environment and the social context of reference. The aim of the process of construction and validation of this instrument is to provide the field with a tool with the capacity to shed light on the ...

Background: It has been suggested to replace the diagnosis-specific graded prognostic assessment (DS-GPA, based on performance status and number of brain metastases) for patients with primary malignant melanoma with the new Melanoma-molGPA. The latter is a more complex assessment, which also includes BRAF mutation status, age and extracranial metastases. To test the performance of the Melanoma-molGPA, ...

ASSESSFEED er et prosjekt utgått fra EU-prosjektet ARRAINA, med målsetning å validere nye anbefalinger for tilsetning av mikronæringsstoffer, særlig vannløselige vitaminer, i laksefôr. Det ble kjørt et fôingsforsøk der kontrollfôret (100 % NP) ble tilsatt mikronæringsstoffer iht. anbefalinger gitt i NRC (2011), som i stor grad bygger på forsøk med yngel av regnbueørret fra 1980-90-tallet. Forsøksfôret ...

I 1919 bygde Tromsø kommune en demning i Slettaelva på den fjellrike Kvaløya vest for byen som de neste par årene ble koblet via et undersjøisk rør til byens vannforsyningssystem for å øke vannmengden og bedre kvaliteten på byens drikkevann. Nyttårsaften 1921 ble kvaløyvannet trykksatt i Tromsø sentrum. For å undersøke hvilken effekt dette hadde på barnedødeligheten, ble medisinalberetningene og ...

Introduction: Replicability has become an increasing focus within the scientific communities with the ongoing ‘‘replication crisis.’’ One area that appears to struggle with unreliable results is resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Therefore, the current study aimed at improving the knowledge of endogenous factors that contribute to inter-individual variability. Methods: ...

PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) inhibitors reduce serum LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol (LDL-C) by increasing uptake in the liver. Although some long-term trials have evaluated their safety, broad investigations of outcomes over the lifetime, leveraging genetic variation in serum PCSK9, have seldomly been conducted. We investigated effects of these variants on a range ...

The standard for ergonomics of the thermal environment provides information on the calculation of optimal thermal comfort. Operative temperature (OT) is one of the essential elements of thermal comfort and is a function of air temperature, mean radiant temperature (MRT), and air velocity. This paper investigates the impact of diverse influences on MRT in an office room based on occupant position ...

This paper aims at discussing visions and research directions to investigate the value of data centers flexibility within sustainable electrical energy systems. While optimizing the energy consumption and task scheduling within data centers located in different time zones and connected at national and international level, it is possible to balance the local power grids, to allow a better penetration ...