Low-value imaging: concept analysis and definition.

Background: While there is an extensive literature on low-value imaging, there is no agreed definition of the concept. However, a clear and consistent definition of low-value imaging is crucial for providing comparable and targeted research, and for increasing the quality, safety, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of imaging services. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to provide a definition of low-value imaging.

Artificial intelligence - the emperor's new clothes?

There is a massive hype of artificial intelligence (AI) allegedly revolutionizing medicine. However, algorithms have been at the core of medicine for centuries and have been implemented in technologies such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging machines for decades. They have given decision support in electrocardiogram machines without much attention.

"My Biomarkers Are Fine, Thank You": On the Biomarkerization of Modern Medicine.

Biomarkers are becoming crucial in ever more medical tasks and are proposed to change medicine in profound ways. By biomarking ever more attributes of human life, they tend to blur the distinction between health and disease and come to characterize life as such. Not only do biomarkers strongly influence the professional conception of disease by pervading ever more diagnoses, but they also impact patients' experience of illness.

Cognitive remediation therapy for patients with eating disorders: a qualitative study.

Background: Transdiagnostic Cognitive Remediation Therapy (TCRT) is a new adaptation of cognitive remediation therapy for eating disorders (EDs) developed to address common cognitive difficulties across ED diagnoses (i.e., cognitive flexibility, central coherence, and impulsivity).

A seawater field study of crude and fuel oil depletion in Northern Norway at two different seasons - Chemistry and bacterial communities.

After marine oil spills, natural processes like photooxidation and biodegradation can remove the oil from the environment. However, these processes are strongly influenced by environmental conditions. To achieve a greater understanding of how seasonal variations in temperature, light exposure and the bacterial community affect oil depletion in the marine environment, we performed two field experiments during the spring and autumn.

Success factors for interventions to reduce low-value imaging. Six crucial lessons learned from a practical case study in Norway.

Background: Substantial overuse of health care services is identified and intensified efforts are incited to reduce low-value services in general and in imaging in particular.

Objective: To report crucial success factors for developing and implementing interventions to reduce specific low-value imaging examinations based on a case study in Norway.

Materials And Methods: Mixed methods design including one systematic review, one scoping review, implementation science, qualitative interviews, content analysis of stakeholders' input, and stakeholder deliberations.

Norwegian general practitioners' and radiologists' perspectives on the referral, justification, and unnecessary imaging-a survey.

Aim: This study aimed to survey general practitioners' (GPs) and radiologists' perspectives on referrals, imaging justification, and unnecessary imaging in Norway.

Materials And Methods: The survey covered access to imaging, responsibilities, attitudes toward justification assessment, referral process, and demographics using multiple choice questions, statements to report agreement with using the Likert scale and one open question.

Results: Forty radiologists and 58 GPs attending national conferences completed a web-based survey, with a 20/15% response rate, respectively.

Sustainability in healthcare by reducing low-value imaging - A narrative review.

Objectives: This narrative review aims to present the concept of value in imaging and explore why we conduct low-value procedures, how to reduce this wasteful use, and what we could gain from reducing low-value imaging.

Key Findings: Imaging of low value to the patient contributes to thousands of metric tons of CO emissions, costing several billion US dollars annually. With a 20% reduction in low-value imaging, we would reduce the waste of resources related to 7.

Detecting normal and cancer skin cells via glycosylation and adhesion signatures: A path to enhanced microfluidic phenotyping.

Recruiting circulating cells based on interactions between surface receptors and corresponding ligands holds promise for capturing cells with specific adhesive properties. Our study investigates the adhesion of skin cells to specific lectins, particularly focusing on advancements in lectin-based biosensors with diagnostic potential. We explore whether we can successfully capture normal skin (melanocytes and keratinocytes) and melanoma (WM35, WM115, WM266-4) cells in a low-shear flow environment by coating surfaces with lectins.

Moral obligations towards human persons' wellbeing versus their suffering: An analysis of perspectives of moral philosophy.

What do we owe other persons? Are we as much obliged to promote their wellbeing as we are to reduce their suffering? This question is crucial for a range of social institutions and welfare services, and especially for the health services. To address this question the article investigates prominent positions and arguments in moral philosophy. It finds that while classical utilitarianism claims that there is symmetry in the moral obligation with respect to peoples' wellbeing and their suffering, a wide range of other positions and perspectives argue for an asymmetric relationship with stronger moral obligations towards other persons' suffering than towards their wellbeing.

Cost of Low-Value Imaging Worldwide: A Systematic Review.

Background And Objective: Imaging with low or no benefit for the patient undermines the quality of care and amounts to vast opportunity costs. More than 3.6 billion imaging examinations are performed annually, and about 20-50% of these are of low value.

Challenges in Interpreting Norwegian Child and Adolescent Mental Health Records.

The Electronic Health Record system BUPdata served Norwegian Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for over 35 years and is still an important source of information for understanding clinical practice. Secondary usage of clinical data enables learning and service quality improvement. We present some insights from explorative data analysis for interpreting the records of patients referred for hyperkinetic disorders.

Comparison of two field systems for determination of crude oil biodegradation in cold seawater.

Marine oil spills have devastating environmental impacts and extrapolation of experimental fate and impact data from the lab to the field remains challenging due to the lack of comparable field data. In this work we compared two field systems used to study in situ oil depletion with emphasis on biodegradation and associated microbial communities. The systems were based on (i) oil impregnated clay beads and (ii) hydrophobic Fluortex adsorbents coated with thin oil films.

Plasma Treatment of PDMS for Microcontact Printing (μCP) of Lectins Decreases Silicone Transfer and Increases the Adhesion of Bladder Cancer Cells.

The present study investigates silicone transfer occurring during microcontact printing (μCP) of lectins with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps and its impact on the adhesion of cells. Static adhesion assays and single-cell force spectroscopy (SCFS) are used to compare adhesion of nonmalignant (HCV29) and cancer (HT1376) bladder cells, respectively, to high-affinity lectin layers (PHA-L and WGA, respectively) prepared by physical adsorption and μCP. The chemical composition of the μCP lectin patterns was monitored by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS).

Nanoparticle Dynamics in Composite Hydrogels Exposed to Low-Frequency Focused Ultrasound.

Pulsed focused ultrasound (FUS) in combination with microbubbles has been shown to improve delivery and penetration of nanoparticles in tumors. To understand the mechanisms behind this treatment, it is important to evaluate the contribution of FUS without microbubbles on increased nanoparticle penetration and transport in the tumor extracellular matrix (ECM). A composite agarose hydrogel was made to model the porous structure, the acoustic attenuation and the hydraulic conductivity of the tumor ECM.

Image rejects in digital skeletal radiography in two public hospitals in Norway.

Introduction: The proportion of diagnostic images not applied for diagnostic purposes is an indicator of image quality, safety, and efficiency in radiography. Despite increased awareness, image reject is still a substantial problem and needs continued observation and targeted measures. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to estimate the extent, variation, and characteristics of image rejects, in order to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency in radiography.

A volume-averaged model for acoustic streaming induced by focused ultrasound in soft porous media.

Equations describing acoustic streaming in soft, porous media driven by focused ultrasound are derived based on the assumption that acoustic waves pass through the porous material as if it were homogeneous. From these equations, a model that predicts the time-averaged flow on the macroscopic scale, as well as the advective transport of the trace components, is created. The model is used to perform simulations for different shapes of the focused ultrasound beam.

Temporal uncertainty in disease diagnosis.

There is a profound paradox in modern medical knowledge production: The more we know, the more we know that we (still) do not know. Nowhere is this more visible than in diagnostics and early detection of disease. As we identify ever more markers, predictors, precursors, and risk factors of disease ever earlier, we realize that we need knowledge about whether they develop into something experienced by the person and threatening to the person's health.

Bladder Cancer Cells Interaction with Lectin-Coated Surfaces under Static and Flow Conditions.

Aberrant expression of glycans, i.e., oligosaccharide moiety covalently attached to proteins or lipids, is characteristic of various cancers, including urothelial ones.

What is in it for me? Norwegian radiographers and radiation therapists' experiences from obtaining a master's degree.

Introduction: Radiographers and radiation therapists are essential in providing patients with high-quality diagnostic imaging or therapeutic services. Therefore, radiographers and radiation therapists must get involved in evidence-based practice and research. Even though many radiographers and radiation therapists obtain their master's degrees, little is known about how this degree affects clinical practice or personal and professional growth.

A practical checklist for return of results from genomic research in the European context.

An increasing number of European research projects return, or plan to return, individual genomic research results (IRR) to participants. While data access is a data subject's right under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and many legal and ethical guidelines allow or require participants to receive personal data generated in research, the practice of returning results is not straightforward and raises several practical and ethical issues. Existing guidelines focusing on return of IRR are mostly project-specific, only discuss which results to return, or were developed outside Europe.

Biases in bioethics: a narrative review.

Given that biases can distort bioethics work, it has received surprisingly little and fragmented attention compared to in other fields of research. This article provides an overview of potentially relevant biases in bioethics, such as cognitive biases, affective biases, imperatives, and moral biases. Special attention is given to moral biases, which are discussed in terms of (1) Framings, (2) Moral theory bias, (3) Analysis bias, (4) Argumentation bias, and (5) Decision bias.

Reporting radiographers in Norway - A qualitative interview study.

Introduction: A number of Norwegian radiographers have attended an advanced programme of education and training in musculoskeletal reporting, some in the UK and some in Norway. The aim of this study was to examine how reporting radiographers, radiologists and managers experienced the education, competence, and role of reporting radiographers in Norway. To our knowledge, the role and function of reporting radiographers in Norway has not yet been explored.

The use of low-value imaging: the role of referral practice and access to imaging services in a representative area of Norway.

Background: Even though imaging is essential to modern medicine, some examinations are of low value as they do not lead to any change in the management of the patient. The Choosing Wisely (CW) campaign aims to reduce the use of such services. In the Norwegian version of CW, specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head, lower back, and knee are amongst others identified as potential low-value examinations.

Exploring sustainable care pathways - a scoping review.

Background: Patients with mental health problems experience numerous transitions into and out of hospital.

Aim: The review studies assessing clinical care pathways between psychiatric hospitalization and community health services.

Methods: We used publications between 2009-2020 to allow a broad scoping review of the published research.