There is a known relationship between serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and obesity in humans, but the mechanism(s) are not clarified. This study investigated the associations between serum ALT and body composition in an overweight and obese population. The results are based on data from a previous randomized controlled trial treating obesity with vitamin D₃. A sample of 448 overweight ...

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer of the developing sympathetic nervous system. High-risk neuroblastoma patients typically undergo an initial remission in response to treatment, followed by recurrence of aggressive tumors that have become refractory to further treatment. The need for biomarkers that can select patients not responding well to therapy in an early phase is therefore needed. In this ...

The long-term cholesterol-lowering effect of replacing intake of SFA with PUFA is well established, but has not been fully explained mechanistically. We examined the postprandial response of meals with different fat quality on expression of lipid genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in subjects with and without familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). Thirteen subjects with FH (who had ...

The aim of this study was to determine if increased mortality associated with low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) reflects a causal relationship by using a Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach with genetic variants in the vitamin D synthesis pathway. Individual participant data from three European cohorts were harmonized with standardization of 25(OH)D according to the Vitamin D ...

Two classical multivariate statistical problems, testing of multivariate normality and the <i>k</i>-sample problem, are explored by a novel analysis on several resolutions simultaneously. The presented methods do not invert any estimated covariance matrix. Thereby, the methods work in the High Dimension Low Sample Size situation, i.e. when <i>n</i> ≤ <i>p</i>. The output, a significance map, is ...

The abilities of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to regulate immune responses in the context of radiotherapy remain largely unknown. This study was undertaken to determine whether ionizing radiation alters the CAF-mediated immunoregulatory effects on macrophages. CAFs were isolated from freshly-resected non-small cell lung cancer tumors, while monocyte-derived macrophages were prepared from ...

<p><i>Background - </i>A small number of studies have shown that the use of cannabis increases the risk of bronchial asthma. There is, however, a paucity of longitudinal studies which are able to control for known risk factors of bronchial asthma. <p><i>Methods - </i>Survey data from a population-based longitudinal study encompassing 2602 young adults followed for 13 years were coupled with individual ...

<p><i>Background - </i>Systems for monitoring effectiveness and quality of rehabilitation services across health care levels are needed. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot test a quality indicator set for rehabilitation of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. <p><i>Methods - </i>The set was developed according to the Rand/UCLA Appropriateness Method, which integrates evidence ...

<p><i>Background and purpose — </i>The literature is scarce on the outcome of the youngest patients with total hip arthroplasties (THAs). We analyzed register data, revision risk, and related factors in patients 21 years or younger with THAs in the Nordic Arthroplasty Register Association (NARA). <p><i>Patients and methods — </i>We included all THA patients 21 years or younger reported during 1995 ...

<p><i>Background - </i>Quality of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills may influence out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcomes. We analyzed how the level of CPR training related to indicators of good CPR quality and also the relationship between self-reported skills and actual CPR performance. <p><i>Methods - </i>Two hundred thirty-seven persons trained in standardized BLS ...