The cognitive profile associated with schizophrenia has long been a research subject of interest. A plethora of studies have not only revealed cognitive deficits but also cognitive biases, meaning qualitative deviations in the way information is processed and evaluated. Such biases are for example reflected in findings of diminished metacognitive accuracy, or premature and disadvantageous decision-making. ...

<p><i>Background:</i> Traditionally, health intervention evaluations provide long-term evidence of efficacy and safety via validated protocols, following a positivist paradigm, or approach, to research. However, modern mobile health (mHealth) technologies develop too quickly and outside of medical regulation, making it challenging for health research to keep pace. <p><i>Objective:</i> This thesis ...

Nanocarriers have brought several medical advances through better diagnostics and improved drug therapy. Yet, many promising preclinical findings were never translated into clinical success, consequently slowing drug development, and increasing its financial burden. By reliably predicting the nanoparticle fate at in vitro stages, the disappointment of suboptimal in vivo outcome could be avoided. To ...

Protein kinases have become central in the efforts to understand the nature of various diseases, and a lot is invested into creating effective therapeutic strategies and finding effective and selective protein kinase inhibitors. In order to succeed it is also important to focus on the structure of the kinases, their exact biological role, and how they interact and cooperate in the signaling. The ...

Detecting signs of disorder from listening to spoken words is a core method in psychiatry. Traditionally the interpretation of speech depends on inherently subjective processes. By contrast, digital technology can be leveraged to detect and analyze what words are spoken, timestamp when they are uttered and quantify the manner in which they are expressed. With the use of mobile communication technology, ...

<p><i>Background/Aims:</i> Molar-Incisor Hypomineralization (MIH) is one of the most common dental developmental disorders with a global prevalence of 13%. The etiology of MIH is still elusive. The aims of this thesis were to report the prevalence of MIH in northern Norway, to investigate a possible association between birth asphyxia and MIH, and to document the effect of antibiotics on the developing ...

Neuroblastoma is a highly heterogenous cancer of childhood. High-risk disease has a poor prognosis with survival around 50% and cured patients suffer treatment related late effects. Better therapy is needed. Increased knowledge of the molecular biology of high-risk neuroblastomas is essential to devise new treatments. High-risk neuroblastomas are frequently MYCN-amplified (MNA). MNA is correlated ...

<i>Introduction:</i> <br>Schistosoma japonicum is a parasitic fluke. The adult worms live as a pair in the small mesenteric blood vessels along the intestines. The eggs are excreted in the stool. It is endemic mainly in parts of China and the Philippines with the estimated prevalence in humans exceeding a million cases. Successful control programmes have run for several decades with the result that ...

The endothelium is the innermost cell layer of blood vessels and has a key role in maintaining vascular homeostasis. Beside the general role to prevent blood coagulation and regulate blood flow, endothelial cells of different vascular beds show tissue specific specializations. This thesis focuses on a unique endothelial cell with immune-like properties, namely the liver sinusoidal endothelial cell ...

All of clinical work also has a moral dimension since the purpose of health care is to help patients. The aim of this project is to understand how doctors deal with these moral dimensions of clinical work. The field of bioethics has largely emerged as a philosophically founded discipline, without taking into account how doctors already handle moral values as a tacit or implicit part of their clinical ...