Surgeon Recommendation and Outcomes of Decompression With vs Without Fusion in Patients With Degenerative Spondylolisthesis.

Importance: The ability of surgeons to choose the right patient for fusion in addition to decompression when operating for degenerative spondylolisthesis with symptomatic spinal stenosis is debated. The addition of fusion increases risk, morbidity, and costs but has been claimed to give better results for selected patients.

Objective: To investigate whether following surgeons' opinions regarding fusion was associated with clinical outcomes.

A novel super-resolution STED microscopy analysis approach to observe spatial MCU and MICU1 distribution dynamics in cells.

The uptake of Ca by mitochondria is an important and tightly controlled process in various tissues. Even small changes in the key proteins involved in this process can lead to significant cellular dysfunction and, ultimately, cell death. In this study, we used stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy and developed an unbiased approach to monitor the sub-mitochondrial distribution and dynamics of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) and mitochondrial calcium uptake 1 (MICU1) under resting and stimulated conditions.

Adjacent Level Canal Area Changes up to 2 years after Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Decompressive Surgery.

Study Design: A secondary analysis of data from the NORDSTEN-spinal stenosis trial (SST).

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the dural sac cross-sectional area (DSCA) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of adjacent segments decreases after decompressive surgery due to lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) up to 2 years postoperatively, and to investigate possible associations with baseline variables, including preoperative patient and radiological characteristics, and surgical method used.

Summary Of Background Data: Decompressive surgery for LSS is currently the most common spinal surgery procedure; however, there is limited knowledge on changes in the DSCA over time adjacent to a decompressed segment.

"Gastrointestinal Quality of Life After Congenital Duodenal Obstruction Repair: A Nationwide Long-term Follow-up Study".

Background: Congenital duodenal obstruction (CDO) is one of the most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies. Still, patient-reported long-term results are limited. The aims of this study were to evaluate the long-term gastrointestinal quality of life (QoL), generic QoL, patient-reported scar appearance, and reinterventions after CDO repair.

Clinical Importance of Redundant Nerve Roots in Patients with Symptomatic Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Secondary Analysis of NORDSTEN Spinal Stenosis Trial Data.

Study Design: Post-hoc analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To compare preoperative symptoms of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) with and without redundant nerve roots (RNR), and to compare the change in clinical outcomes between those two groups 2 years after decompression surgery.

Summary Of Background Data: RNR are often seen on MRI in patients with spinal stenosis.

Decompression alone or with fusion for degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (Nordsten-DS): five year follow-up of a randomised, multicentre, non-inferiority trial.

Objective: To assess whether decompression alone is non-inferior to decompression with instrumented fusion five years after primary surgery in patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis.

Design: Five year follow-up of a randomised, multicentre, non-inferiority trial (Nordsten-DS).

Setting: 16 public orthopaedic and neurosurgical clinics in Norway.

Long-term sexual function after mid-urethral slings for stress urinary incontinence in women.

Introduction: There has been increasing concern about potential negative impact of mid-urethral slings (MUS) on sexual life. Our aim was to study sexual activity 10-20 years after MUS surgery and changes in impact of incontinence on sexual life over time and to compare subjective cure, pain, satisfaction, and incontinence between sexually active and inactive women 10-20 years after MUS.

Material And Methods: Historical cohort study using the Norwegian Female Incontinence Registry to identify women who underwent MUS between 2001-2006 and 2011-2012.

Social Representativeness and Intervention Adherence-A Systematic Review of Clinical Physical Activity Trials in Breast Cancer Patients.

Objectives: Representativeness in physical activity randomised controlled trials (RCT) in breast cancer patients is essential to analyses of feasibility and validity considering privileged- social groups. A step-by-step exclusion of less privileged groups through the trial process could reinforce health inequality. This study aimed at examining representativeness in breast cancer (BC) physical activity trials, investigate associations between socio-economic status (SES) and intervention adherence, and explore associations between representativeness and the relationship between SES and intervention adherence.

Dural Sac Cross-sectional area change from preoperatively and up to 2 years after decompressive surgery for central lumbar spinal stenosis: investigation of operated levels, data from the NORDSTEN study.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate how canal area size changed from before surgery and up to 2 years after decompressive lumbar surgery lumbar spinal stenosis. Further, to investigate if an area change postoperatively (between 3 months to 2 years) was associated with any preoperative demographic, clinical or MRI variables or surgical method used.

Methods: The present study is analysis of data from the NORDSTEN- SST trial where 437 patients were randomized to one of three mini-invasive surgical methods for lumbar spinal stenosis.

Coaching Opera Secco Recitatives by Using Singers' Native Dialects: A Pilot Study.

Objectives: This study investigated whether individual coaching can improve role portrayal and emotional expression in opera secco recitatives.

Study Design: An experimental comparative study.

Methods: Eighteen students (mean age 24 years) from Norway and Sweden majoring in opera singing volunteered as test persons.

A multivariate curve resolution analysis of multicenter proton spectroscopic imaging of the prostate for cancer localization and assessment of aggressiveness.

In this study, we investigated the potential of the multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) algorithm for analyzing three-dimensional (3D) H-MRSI data of the prostate in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. MCR-ALS generates relative intensities of components representing spectral profiles derived from a large training set of patients, providing an interpretable model. Our objectives were to classify magnetic resonance (MR) spectra, differentiating tumor lesions from benign tissue, and to assess PCa aggressiveness.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Swahili Version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-BR45 among Breast Cancer Patients in Tanzania.

Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women in Africa and contributes to premature death and poor quality of life. This study aimed to determine the validity, reliability, and psychometric properties of the Swahili version of EORTC QLQ-BR45 among women with breast cancer in Tanzania. A cross-sectional study design with non-probability convenience sampling was employed.

"Caring for Breast Cancer Patients Is a Work That Brings Sorrow": A Qualitative Interview Study with Nurses in Tanzania.

Introduction: Breast cancer is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and most women are diagnosed at a late stage. This leads to increased suffering for the patients and challenging care situations for nurses. Limited resources in healthcare, lack of oncology training, and low health literacy in society result in even more demanding situations for nurses.

Can academic detailing reduce opioid prescriptions in chronic non-cancer pain?

Background: One measure to support optimal opioid prescription is academic detailing (AD) with one-to-one visits by trained professionals (academic detailers) to general practitioners (GPs).

Objective: To investigate the usefulness of AD visits on GPs' opioid prescribing patterns in Norway, and academic detailers' experiences with AD visits to GPs on opioid prescription.

Methods: Design: A quantitative registry study on opioid prescriptions and a qualitative focus group interview study with academic detailers.

Learning deep abdominal CT registration through adaptive loss weighting and synthetic data generation.

Purpose: This study aims to explore training strategies to improve convolutional neural network-based image-to-image deformable registration for abdominal imaging.

Methods: Different training strategies, loss functions, and transfer learning schemes were considered. Furthermore, an augmentation layer which generates artificial training image pairs on-the-fly was proposed, in addition to a loss layer that enables dynamic loss weighting.

Quality of Cancer Care in Tanzania as Experienced by Patients: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Cancer is a disease of public importance in Tanzania. Considering a limited health care system with few cancer centers and low health literacy in general, people are diagnosed at late stage and face difficulties in accessing care for their cancer. All these challenges affect the caring situation for the nurses who meet the patients at the cancer care centers.

Diagnostic accuracy of circulating free DNA testing for the detection of KRAS mutations in non-small cell lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) gene encodes a GTPase that acts as a molecular switch for intracellular signal transduction, promoting cell growth and proliferation. Mutations in the KRAS gene represent important biomarkers for NSCLC targeted therapy. However, detection of KRAS mutations in tissues has shown some limitations.

Bacterial community development and diversity during the first year of production in a new salmon processing plant.

The bacterial diversity and load on equipment in food processing facilities is constantly influenced by raw material, water, air, and staff. Despite regular cleaning and disinfection, some bacteria may persist and thereby potentially compromise food quality and safety. Little is known about how bacterial communities in a new food processing facility gradually establish themselves.

Energy cost of gait in children and the effect of speed, age, and body size.

Background: Energy cost (EC) of comfortable walking is often used in clinical evaluation of children with altered gait function. EC is presented as energy expenditure per kg bodyweight per meter, either in total (grossEC) or in addition to resting energy expenditure (netEC). GrossEC is considered more reliable and netEC less affected by between-subject variations in speed, age, and body size.

Workplace Factors Associated With Return to Work After Mild-to-Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: Sociodemographic and injury-related predictors for return to work (RTW) after mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been extensively explored. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding work-related predictors of RTW. The main aim of this study was to explore work-related predictors of work participation 6 and 12 months after mild-to-moderate TBI.