Attitudes of Employees in Tourism Towards Guests with Disabilities in Norway: A Survey Study.

Associations for people with disabilities in Norway receive much feedback about negative experiences with travel. Little research has been done on this topic, and thus there is little knowledge about what can be done to improve these experiences. In this study, we have mapped travel experiences of people with disabilities and attitudes from employees in the tourism industry with two digital surveys.

Exploring active ageing in a community-based living environment: an ethnographic study in the Western Norway context.

Background: Age-friendly environments intend to promote active ageing by facilitating social, mental, and physical participation. This could potentially delay the onset of chronic complex conditions, enabling people to live longer independently at home, and prevent loneliness. This study investigates a community-based living environment in Norway called Helgetun and aims to explore how it can facilitate active ageing.

Using stochastic simulation modelling to study occupancy levels of decentralised admission avoidance units in Norway.

Identifying alternatives to acute hospital admission is a priority for many countries. Over 200 decentralised municipal acute units (MAUs) were established in Norway to divert low-acuity patients away from hospitals. MAUs have faced criticism for low mean occupancy and not relieving pressures on hospitals.

Comparative effectiveness of dopamine agonists and monoamine oxidase type-B inhibitors for Parkinson's disease: a multiple treatment comparison meta-analysis.

Purpose: To investigate the comparative effectiveness of dopamine agonists and monoamine oxidase type-B (MAO-B) inhibitors available for treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Methods: We performed a systematic literature search identifying randomized controlled trials investigating 4 dopamine agonists (cabergoline, pramipexole, ropinirole, rotigotine) and 3 MAO-B inhibitors (selegiline, rasagiline, safinamide) for Parkinson's disease. We extracted and pooled data from included clinical trials in a joint model allowing both direct and indirect comparison of the seven drugs.

A multiple treatment comparison meta-analysis of monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors for Parkinson's disease.

Aims: To the best of our knowledge, there are no systematic reviews or meta-analyses that compare rasagiline, selegiline and safinamide. Therefore, we aimed to perform a drug class review comparing all available monoamine oxidase type B (MAO-B) inhibitors in a multiple treatment comparison.

Methods: We performed a systematic literature search to identify randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy of MAO-B inhibitors in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Signalling pathways identified in salivary glands from primary Sjögren's syndrome patients reveal enhanced adipose tissue development.

A characteristic feature of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is the destruction of salivary and lacrimal glands mediated by mononuclear cell infiltration. Adipocytes can also occupy a large portion of the salivary gland (SG) tissue area, although little is known about their significance in pSS. We have previously investigated adipose tissue infiltration in SG biopsies from pSS patients and non-SS sicca controls.

Comparisons between skeletal and dental age assessment in unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Background: For children with disputed date of birth, age assessments based on skeletal and dental development are recommended.

Aim: The aim of this retrospective study was to compare and contrast the results of age assessments from these two methods performed on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Norway. In addition the aim of the analysis was to see if the skeletal age assessment from hand-wrist was operator sensitive.

On Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Universal Design of ICT.

In the ICT and IT domains, Universal Design is typically viewed as a burden and an expense, and its application is often justified only by ethics and/or legislation. Advocates for Universal Design (UD) are arguing that it is cost-effective, but so far there are few studies that document this in a detailed way. In this work, we discuss related research and studies dealing with the costs and benefits of accessible and usable ICT solutions.

Age and pro-inflammatory gene polymorphisms influence adjacent segment disc degeneration more than fusion does in patients treated for chronic low back pain.

Purpose: Does lumbar fusion lead to accelerated adjacent segment disc degeneration (ASDD) or is it explained by genetics and aging? The influence of genetics on ASDD remains to be explored. This study assesses whether the disc space height adjacent to a fused segment is associated with candidate gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Methods: Patients with low back pain from four RCTs (N = 208 fusion; 77 non-operative treatment) underwent standing plain radiography and genetic analyses at 13 ± 4 years follow-up.

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene polymorphisms are associated with baseline disability but not long-term treatment outcome in patients with chronic low back pain.

Purpose: To examine the association between COMT and OPRM1 gene polymorphisms and pain and disability at baseline and long-term follow-up in patients treated for chronic low back pain (LBP).

Methods: 371 of 767 unrelated European patients recruited from four randomised trials underwent genetic analyses at mean 11.4 years follow-up.

District level information systems: two cases from South Africa.

The health system in South Africa has to date been fragmented and centralised. The priority of the new government is to establish an integrated and decentralised district health system of which a key element is the development of district health and management information systems (H & MIS). This paper presents experiences from two projects in the Western Cape in which a process to establish a district-based H & MIS was initiated and a situation analysis of the information systems was done.

IPI, MEDICOM and DICOM: relations and possible future.

In October 1993, DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) Version 3.0 was approved by the ACR-NEMA committee as an ACR-NEMA standard for medical image interchange. At about the same time, IPI (Image Processing and Interchange) was approved as an ISO standard for general imaging.