Identifying health problems of the future
It wasn’t that long ago that we knew very little about the state of people’s health around the world. NTNU’s new honorary doctors have used 300,000 sources to provide us with an overview.
Health policy
LOADING CONTENT
Three pieces of advice for politicians about plastic
Plastic, and plastic pollution, are a huge problem for both human health and the environment. An interdisciplinary panel of experts suggests that politicians take three concrete steps to better understand and rein in this growing problem.
More than 16000 chemicals in plastic; many are harmful
Researchers have found more than 16,000 different chemicals in plastics. A new report shows that about a quarter of these chemicals can be hazardous to health and the environment.
Social media can reveal who needs the most help
Researchers find the most depression and the least adaptability in poorer areas that are home to a larger proportion of minorities.
Learning for Life: The higher the level of education, the lower the risk of dying
Education saves lives regardless of age, sex, location, and social and demographic backgrounds.
This is what relatives think about home-based hospital care
How does it feel to be a relative of a loved one who is a patient in a hospital at home?
Women get help with pelvic floor exercises
Women’s health continues to be given low priority. But a new video provides important information on how to strengthen the pelvic floor after childbirth.
More positive outcomes when elderly are treated locally
Municipalities were given more responsibility for specialist health services in 2012. The changes appear to have resulted in better healthcare for the elderly.
Children and young people in care are critical of remote therapy
Are remote video consultations appropriate for treating children and young people under the care of the child welfare services? Therapists recognise a number of benefits, but most young people are critical of webcam-based therapy.
Who has died from COVID-19?
At least six million people have died from COVID-19 to date. But who dies is often not random. The same pattern is found around the world.
Lots to learn from the Norwegian Public Sector’s IT success
There’s been no lack of scandals in the IT industry. When NAV, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, experienced difficulties in the middle of a major project, they changed their methods – and came up with a successful solution.
Having trouble sleeping? Try exercise!
People in good physical shape are less likely to need a sleeping pill prescription from their doctor. This suggests that being fit can help you sleep better.
An effective diet… except that it makes your breath smell like pee
A rule of thumb in the mountains is to turn around in time when the situation warrants. You might want to apply this wisdom to dieting as well. Especially if you swear by an extremely low-carb eating approach known as the ketogenic diet.
Patients like public health services best
Many countries have introduced market competition and privatization in their health care systems in recent years. But the most satisfied patients can be found in countries where a large part of the system is handled by the public sector.
Twin mothers aren’t more fertile – just luckier
The prevailing belief by researchers has been that mothers of twins are more fertile than other women. But a new study shows that isn’t the case.
Mental stress plagues 44 per cent of teenage girls in Norway
In the age of smartphones and social media, the number of adolescents and young adults in Norway with depression and anxiety has doubled. Researchers believe politicians and technology giants need to take more responsibility.
Sickest people support health services the most
Healthy and successful people are the least willing to contribute more to the public health care system.
Patient involvement after acute heart attacks
Minutes count when you have a heart attack. Patient involvement is a statutory right but not always possible in this situation. Elise K. Bårdsgjerde has researched participation in the different phases of the patient process from the perspective of patients, nurses and doctors.
Big differences in how emergency doctors assess patient care needs
The threshold for admitting patients to the hospital varies greatly between emergency physicians. The doctors most willing to admit patients refer almost twice as many elderly patients as the most restrictive physicians.
Dementia makes it hard to detect pain in new nursing home residents
An assessment tool can make it easier for healthcare professionals to identify pain in residents with dementia. The right treatment can improve residents’ quality of life.
Abuse of the elderly is widespread
A majority of employees in Norwegian nursing homes have committed abuse or neglect of the elderly, a comprehensive report shows.
Is it always right to save lives? A radical proposal
In neonatal medicine, there is a grey area where professionals may be uncertain whether it is in the child’s best interests to start life-saving treatment. Without it, the infant dies. But the treatment can also do great harm. One of the foremost duties of medicine is often said to be to “do no harm”. But how much of a burden on the infant is acceptable? At what point is the hope simply too small to justify action?
Twenty years of sequencing genes… for better or for worse
It’s been 20 years since the first draft sequence of the human genome was published in the journals Nature and Science. The result led then-President Bill Clinton to state that we are now learning the language in which life was written, and that “doctors will increasingly be able to cure diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer by attacking their genetic roots.”
Sequencing 30 000 genes has changed the world, but in a different way than expected.
New NTNU method for beating back the coronavirus
NTNU researchers have started testing a COVID-19 test strategy developed in house: saliva samples you take yourself, without involving health personnel. This means that researchers may be able to knock back the coronavirus epidemic faster, more easily and much more cheaply than today. The method is now being tested on NTNU students.