Modeling geographic vaccination strategies for COVID-19 in Norway.

Vaccination was a key intervention in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic globally. In early 2021, Norway faced significant regional variations in COVID-19 incidence and prevalence, with large differences in population density, necessitating efficient vaccine allocation to reduce infections and severe outcomes. This study explored alternative vaccination strategies to minimize health outcomes (infections, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths) by varying regions prioritized, extra doses prioritized, and implementation start time.

Short-term safety of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines with respect to all-cause mortality in the older population in Norway.

Background: There have been concerns about COVID-19 vaccination safety among frail older individuals. We investigated the relationship between COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and mortality among individuals aged ≥ 70 years and whether mortality varies across four groups of health services used.

Methods: In this nationwide cohort study, we included 688,152 individuals aged ≥ 70 years at the start of the Norwegian vaccination campaign (December 27, 2020).

A national study of the causes, consequences and amelioration of adverse events in the use of MRI, CT, and conventional radiography in Norway.

Background: Rapid technological developments, increased complexity, and increased demand have made patient safety a challenge in radiology.

Purpose: To uncover the causes and consequences behind patient injury compensation claims in the use of MRI, CT, and conventional X-ray examinations, and to determine the system factors that need to be focused on in order to prevent these events.

Material And Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study uses data acquired from The Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation.

Nurses' reports of staffing adequacy and surgical site infections: A cross-sectional multi-centre study.

Background: It is indicated that healthcare personnel's perceptions of the work environment may reflect the clinical outcomes for the patients they care for. However, the body of evidence is inconsistent when it comes to the association between work environment and surgical site infection.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the associations between nurse-reported characteristics of the work environment and incidence of surgical site infections after total hip arthroplasty.

Outer membrane phospholipase A's roles in acid adaptation.

Background: The pH of the human gastric mucosa varies around 2.5 so that only bacteria with strong acidic stress tolerance can colonize it. The ulcer causing thrives in the gastric mucosa.

In Silico Structure and Sequence Analysis of Bacterial Porins and Specific Diffusion Channels for Hydrophilic Molecules: Conservation, Multimericity and Multifunctionality.

Diffusion channels are involved in the selective uptake of nutrients and form the largest outer membrane protein (OMP) family in Gram-negative bacteria. Differences in pore size and amino acid composition contribute to the specificity. Structure-based multiple sequence alignments shed light on the structure-function relations for all eight subclasses.

GFRA3 promoter methylation may be associated with decreased postoperative survival in gastric cancer.

Background: A large number of epigenetic alterations has been found to be implicated in the etiology of gastric cancer. We have studied the DNA methylation status of 27 500 gene promoter regions in 24 gastric adenocarcinomas from a Norwegian cohort, and aimed at identifying the hypermethylated regions. We have compared our findings to the gene expression in the same tissue, and linked our results to prognosis and survival.

Monitoring adverse events in Norwegian hospitals from 2010 to 2013.

Objectives: To describe how adverse event (AE) rates were monitored and estimated nationally across all Norwegian hospitals from 2010 to 2013, and how they developed during the monitoring period. Monitoring was based on medical record review with Global Trigger Tool (GTT).

Setting: All publicly and privately owned hospitals were mandated to review randomly selected medical records to monitor AE rates.

A systematic review of hospital accreditation: the challenges of measuring complex intervention effects.

Background: The increased international focus on improving patient outcomes, safety and quality of care has led stakeholders, policy makers and healthcare provider organizations to adopt standardized processes for evaluating healthcare organizations. Accreditation and certification have been proposed as interventions to support patient safety and high quality healthcare. Guidelines recommend accreditation but are cautious about the evidence, judged as inconclusive.

Surgical Site Infections in Orthopaedic Surgery Demonstrate Clones Similar to Those in Orthopaedic Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Carriers.

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is the main microbial pathogen in orthopaedic infections, and it adds considerable extra costs to the national health-care system each year. Nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus have an increased risk of invasive disease, including surgical site infection. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the Staphylococcus aureus carrier clones found in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery were the same as the clones found in isolates from orthopaedic patients with Staphylococcus aureus surgical site infections.

An observational study: associations between nurse-reported hospital characteristics and estimated 30-day survival probabilities.

Background: There is a growing body of evidence for associations between the work environment and patient outcomes. A good work environment may maximise healthcare workers' efforts to avoid failures and to facilitate quality care that is focused on patient safety. Several studies use nurse-reported quality measures, but it is uncertain whether these outcomes are correlated with clinical outcomes.

Up-regulation of CLDN1 in gastric cancer is correlated with reduced survival.

Background: The genetic changes in gastric adenocarcinoma are extremely complex and reliable tumor markers have not yet been identified. There are also remarkable geographical differences in the distribution of this disease. Our aim was to identify the most differentially regulated genes in 20 gastric adenocarcinomas from a Norwegian selection, compared to matched normal mucosa, and we have related our findings to prognosis, survival and chronic Helicobacter pylori infection.

A cross-sectional study to identify organisational processes associated with nurse-reported quality and patient safety.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify organisational processes and structures that are associated with nurse-reported patient safety and quality of nursing.

Design: This is an observational cross-sectional study using survey methods.

Setting: Respondents from 31 Norwegian hospitals with more than 85 beds were included in the survey.

In silico evolutionary analysis of Helicobacter pylori outer membrane phospholipase A (OMPLA).

Background: In the past decade, researchers have proposed that the pldA gene for outer membrane phospholipase A (OMPLA) is important for bacterial colonization of the human gastric ventricle. Several conserved Helicobacter pylori genes have distinct genotypes in different parts of the world, biogeographic patterns that can be analyzed through phylogenetic trees. The current study will shed light on the importance of the pldA gene in H.

mRNA expression of adipocytokines and glucocorticoid-related genes are associated with downregulation of E-cadherin mRNA in colorectal adenocarcinomas.

Background: There is a consistently reported relationship between the incidence of colon cancer and obesity. It is thought that adipose tissue, particularly visceral fat, which secretes systemic factors that alter immunological, metabolic and endocrine milieu and promotes insulin resistance by producing adipocytokines, is important in cancer progression. Systemic high concentrations of adipocytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and glucocorticoid metabolism-related genes have been associated with gastrointestinal cancer.

Interleukin-8 is the single most up-regulated gene in whole genome profiling of H. pylori exposed gastric epithelial cells.

Background: The association between Helicobacter pylori infection and upper gastrointestinal disease is well established. However, only a small fraction of H. pylori carriers develop disease, and there are great geographical differences in disease penetrance.

Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus: frequency and molecular diversity in a randomly sampled Norwegian community population.

A randomly selected, healthy Norwegian community population was studied for nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) to describe frequency and molecular diversity in a non-hospital cohort (n = 95). Multilocus sequence typing revealed 31 sequence types (STs) belonging to 15 clonal complexes (CCs).

The Generic Short Patient Experiences Questionnaire (GS-PEQ): identification of core items from a survey in Norway.

Background: Questionnaires are commonly used to collect patient, or user, experiences with health care encounters; however, their adaptation to specific target groups limits comparison between groups. We present the construction of a generic questionnaire (maximum of ten questions) for user evaluation across a range of health care services.

Methods: Based on previous testing of six group-specific questionnaires, we first constructed a generic questionnaire with 23 items related to user experiences.

The Prognostic Impact of Protein Expression of E-Cadherin-Catenin Complexes Differs between Rectal and Colon Carcinoma.

The E-cadherin-catenin complex provides cell-cell adhesion. In order for a carcinoma to metastasize, cancer cells must let go of their hold of neighboring cells in the primary tumor. The presence of components of the E-cadherin-catenin complex in 246 rectal adenocarcinomas was examined by immunohistochemistry and compared to their presence in 219 colon carcinomas.

Genome profiles in maternal blood during early onset preeclampsia and towards term.

Aims: inflammatory processes are present during preeclampsia and in normal pregnancy. Maternal inflammatory reactions may change towards term. Our objective was to evaluate genome signaling in blood during preeclampsia and towards term using microarrays.

Usefulness of a national parent experience survey in quality improvement: views of paediatric department employees.

Objectives: This study presents results from an electronic survey among paediatric department employees, addressing employees' attitudes and use of results from a national parent experience survey carried out in 2005.

Methods: Electronic questionnaire survey of employees from each of the 20 paediatric departments included in the national survey, with a response rate of 87%.

Results: The employees had favourable opinions of user experience surveys, and the results from the national survey were well known among both managers and other personnel.

Distribution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a low-prevalence area.

Investigating circulating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains and identifying their accumulations in society are important in the search for strategies for eradicating the pathogen. The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of MRSA in a low-prevalence area where MRSA could be establishing endemicity. MRSA isolates from 802 patients (803 isolates) were included and placed into a timeline (1991-2006) under different categories: hospital (n=270), long-term care facility (LTCF) (n=175) and general practitioner (GP) (n=358).

International health policy survey in 11 countries: assessment of non-response bias in the Norwegian sample.

Background: International health policy surveys are used to compare and evaluate health system performance, but little is known about the effects of non-response. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of non-response in the Norwegian part of the Commonwealth Fund international health policy survey in 2009.

Methods: As part of an international health policy survey in 2009 a cross-sectional survey was conducted in Norway among a representative sample of Norwegian general practitioners.

Differences in protein expression and gene amplification of cyclins between colon and rectal adenocarcinomas.

Adenocarcinomas of rectum and colon may be different with regard to the cellular biological basis for cancer development. A material of 246 rectal cancers removed surgically at Akershus University Hospital in the years 1992-2000 was investigated and was compared to a material of 219 colon cancers operated on at Akershus University Hospital during the years 1988, 1990 and 1997-2000. There were highly significant differences between the rectal and the colon cancers in the protein expression of cyclin D1, cyclin D3, cyclin E, nuclear beta-catenin, and c-Myc and in gene amplification of cyclin A2, cyclin B1, cyclin D1, and cyclin E.