| 1. |
- Andriesse, Hanneke, et al.
(author)
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Validity and responsiveness of the Clubfoot Assessment Protocol (CAP). A methodological study
- 2006
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In: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2474. ; 7:28
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The Clubfoot Assessment Protocol (CAP)is a multi dimensional instrument designed for longitudinal follow up of the clubfoot deformity during growth. Item reliability has shown to be sufficient. In this article the CAP's validity and responsiveness is studied using the Dimeglio classification scoring as a gold standard. Methods: Thirty-two children with 45 congenital clubfeet were assessed prospectively and consecutively at ages of new-born, one, two, four months and two years of age. For convergent/divergent construct validity the Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated. Discriminate validity was evaluated by studying the scores in bilateral clubfeet. The floor-ceiling effects at baseline (untreated clubfeet) and at two years of age(treated clubfeet) were evaluated. Responsiveness was evaluated by using effect sizes (ES) and by calculating if significant changes (Wilcoxons signed test) had occurred between the different measurement occasions. Results: High to moderate significant correlation were found between CAP mobility I and morphology and the Dimeglio scores (rs = 0.77 and 0.44 respectively). Low correlation was found between CAP muscle function, mobility II and motion quality and the Dimeglio scoring system (rs = 0.20, 0.09 and 0.06 respectively). Of 13 children with bilateral clubfeet, 11 showed different CAP mobility I scores between right and left foot at baseline (untreated) compared with 5 with the Dimeglio score. At the other assessment occasions the CAP mobility I continued to show higher discrimination ability than the Dimeglio. No floor effects and low ceiling effects were found in the untreated clubfeet for both instruments. High ceiling effects were found in the CAP for the treated children and low for the Dimeglio. Responsiveness was good. ES from untreated to treated ranged from 0.80 to 4.35 for the CAP subgroups and was 4.68 for the Dimeglio. The first four treatment months, the CAP mobility I had generally higher ES compared with the Dimeglio. Conclusion: The Clubfoot Assessment Protocol shows in this study good validity and responsiveness. The CAP is more responsive when severity ranges between mild-moderate to severe, while the Dimeglio focuses more on the extremes. The ability to discriminate between different mobility status of the right and left foot in bilaterally affected children in this population was higher compared with the Dimeglio score implicating a better sensitivity for the CAP.
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| 2. |
- Brantsaeter, Anne Lise, et al.
(author)
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Organic Food Consumption during Pregnancy and Hypospadias and Cryptorchidism at Birth : The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)
- 2016
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In: Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives. - : Environmental Health Perspectives. - 0091-6765 .- 1552-9924. ; 124:3, s. 357-364
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The etiologies of the male urogenital anomalies hypospadias and cryptorchidism remain unclear. It has been suggested that maternal diet and environmental contaminants may affect the risk of these anomalies via placental or hormonal disturbances. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations between organic food consumption during pregnancy and prevalence of hypospadias and cryptorchidism at birth. METHODS: Our study includes 35,107 women participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) who delivered a singleton male infant. Information about use of six groups of organically produced food (vegetables, fruit, bread/cereal, milk/dairy products, eggs, and meat) during pregnancy was collected by a food frequency questionnaire. Women who indicated that they sometimes, often, or mostly consumed organic foods in at least one of the six food groups were classified as organic food consumers in analyses. Hypospadias and cryptorchidism diagnoses were retrieved from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Seventy-four male newborns were diagnosed with hypospadias (0.2%), and 151 with cryptorchidism (0.4%). Women who consumed any organic food during pregnancy were less likely to give birth to a boy with hypospadias (OR = 0.42; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.70, based on 21 exposed cases) than women who reported they never or seldom consumed organic food. Associations with specific organic foods were strongest for vegetable (OR = 0.36; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.85; 10 exposed cases) and milk/dairy (OR = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.17, 1.07; 7 exposed cases) consumption. No substantial association was observed for consumption of organic food and cryptorchidism. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of organically produced foods during pregnancy was associated with a lower prevalence of hypospadias in our study population. These findings were based on small numbers of cases and require replication in other study populations.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Johansson, Barbro, 1954, et al.
(author)
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Nordic Children's Foodscapes: Images and Reflections
- 2009
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In: Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research. ; 12:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A study of the different food messages that children encounter and their own reflections of these messages was carried out among fifty-nine children from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The children took photos of their "foodscapes," including school, home, shops, streets, cafés and restaurants. The themes were healthy and unhealthy food, everyday and festive food and their favorite food. The children were well aware of common understandings of healthy/unhealthy food. They labeled fruit, vegetables and fiber-rich foods as healthy and foods rich in sugar, fat and salt as unhealthy. Unhealthy eatables belonged to festive contexts, such as cozy evenings and birthday parties. The everyday food in school and at home was considered healthier, often consisting of well-composed meals including vegetables. The children's favorite foods belonged to both the healthy and unhealthy categories. The children also dealt with the contradictions between everyday healthy food and unhealthy festive food, which involved adjusting to different social and spatial contexts.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Ludvigsson, Johnny, et al.
(author)
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GAD65 antigen therapy in recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus
- 2012
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In: New England Journal of Medicine. - : Massachusetts Medical Society. - 0028-4793 .- 1533-4406. ; 366:5, s. 433-442
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The 65-kD isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65) is a major autoantigen in type 1 diabetes. We hypothesized that alum-formulated GAD65 (GAD-alum) can preserve beta-cell function in patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes.METHODS: We studied 334 patients, 10 to 20 years of age, with type 1 diabetes, fasting C-peptide levels of more than 0.3 ng per milliliter (0.1 nmol per liter), and detectable serum GAD65 autoantibodies. Within 3 months after diagnosis, patients were randomly assigned to receive one of three study treatments: four doses of GAD-alum, two doses of GAD-alum followed by two doses of placebo, or four doses of placebo. The primary outcome was the change in the stimulated serum C-peptide level (after a mixed-meal tolerance test) between the baseline visit and the 15-month visit. Secondary outcomes included the glycated hemoglobin level, mean daily insulin dose, rate of hypoglycemia, and fasting and maximum stimulated C-peptide levels.RESULTS: The stimulated C-peptide level declined to a similar degree in all study groups, and the primary outcome at 15 months did not differ significantly between the combined active-drug groups and the placebo group (P=0.10). The use of GAD-alum as compared with placebo did not affect the insulin dose, glycated hemoglobin level, or hypoglycemia rate. Adverse events were infrequent and mild in the three groups, with no significant differences.CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with GAD-alum did not significantly reduce the loss of stimulated C peptide or improve clinical outcomes over a 15-month period.
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| 7. |
- Roos, Ulrika, et al.
(author)
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Samråd: An Institutional Arrangement in the Context of Forestry and Reindeer Husbandry in Northern Sweden
- 2022
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In: International Forestry Review. - : Commonwealth Forestry Association. - 1465-5489 .- 2053-7778. ; 24, s. 441-457
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In northern Sweden, forestry and reindeer husbandry overlap spatially and judicially. To mitigate conflicting objectives regarding land use, the concept of “samråd” has been introduced as a form of institutional arrangement of environmental politics. This study explores how stakeholders have interpreted this concept and corresponding processes from its first introduction in 1923 to 2019. Language, including the cartographic language, is regarded as a mean for argumentation. Results show that the understandings and expectations of samråd differ among actors in terms of procedure, issues, efficiency and outcomes. As compared to the lexical definition and understanding, the samråd practice has merely become an instrument for information exchange before decisions are made, rather than a functional arrangement for conflict mitigation. This ambiguity is in parallel to a deregulated forest policy and a watered-down meaning of samråd in public administration. However, the transformative potential of participatory mapping suggests a new way of thinking about power relations in land use matters within the framework of samråd.
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| 8. |
- Torjusen, Hanne, et al.
(author)
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Reduced risk of pre-eclampsia with organic vegetable consumption : results from the prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study
- 2014
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In: BMJ Open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 4:9, s. e006143-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Little is known about the potential health effects of eating organic food either in the general population or during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to examine associations between organic food consumption during pregnancy and the risk of pre-eclampsia among nulliparous Norwegian women. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Norway, years 2002-2008. Participants: 28 192 pregnant women (nulliparous, answered food frequency questionnaire and general health questionnaire in mid-pregnancy and no missing information on height, body weight or gestational weight gain). Main outcome measure: Relative risk was estimated as ORs by performing binary logistic regression with pre-eclampsia as the outcome and organic food consumption as the exposure. Results: The prevalence of pre-eclampsia in the study sample was 5.3% (n=1491). Women who reported to have eaten organic vegetables 'often' or 'mostly' (n=2493, 8.8%) had lower risk of pre-eclampsia than those who reported 'never/rarely' or 'sometimes' (crude OR=0.76, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.96; adjusted OR=0.79, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.99). The lower risk associated with high organic vegetable consumption was evident also when adjusting for overall dietary quality, assessed as scores on a healthy food pattern derived by principal component analysis. No associations with pre-eclampsia were found for high intake of organic fruit, cereals, eggs or milk, or a combined index reflecting organic consumption. Conclusions: These results show that choosing organically grown vegetables during pregnancy was associated with reduced risk of pre-eclampsia. Possible explanations for an association between pre-eclampsia and use of organic vegetables could be that organic vegetables may change the exposure to pesticides, secondary plant metabolites and/or influence the composition of the gut microbiota.
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| 9. |
- Wiberg, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Concentrations and enantiomer fractions of organochlorine compounds in Baltic species hit by reproductive impairment
- 2002
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In: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. - : Wiley. - 0730-7268 .- 1552-8618. ; 21:12, s. 2542-2551
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Concentrations and enantiomer fractions (EFs) of organochlorine compounds (OCs) were determined in tissues of gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) and salmon (Salmo salar) originating from the Baltic Sea. The selected seal specimens ranged from starved to unstarved animals, and some of them suffered from a disease complex, while the salmon samples originated from individuals, which were known to produce offspring with and without the M74 syndrome. Significant differences in residue levels and EFs were found between seal groups but not between M74 salmon and non-M74 salmon. The relations between chemical and biological variables of seal samples were investigated with multivariate statistics. Poor health status correlated strongly with age, while bad nutrition condition was associated mainly with high pollution loads and distinctively nonracemic chiral OC compositions. High biotransformation rate (as indicated by fraction of chlordane metabolites in relation to total level of chlordanes) was also associated with large deviations from racemic values and high contaminant levels.
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