Public health

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Researchers discover more about what causes atherosclerosis

The underlying cause of many cardiovascular diseases is inflammation of the artery walls. Now NTNU researchers have found that a specific neurotransmitter in the immune cells is a key factor when cholesterol accumulates in our blood vessels.

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Immune system can detect disease during pregnancy

Researchers at NTNU have surveyed how a mother’s immune system changes during the course of pregnancy. This knowledge can help detect disease and complications, and give the foetus a better start in life.

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Pandemic has people hungering to be touched

Many people have been robbed of a very basic need during the pandemic: physical contact. Human touch triggers hormones like serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. Hormones that make us feel good flourish when we touch each other.

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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.

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SINTEF to head global WHO study

What assistive technologies are the world’s elderly and disabled using? And what hidden needs does this group have? SINTEF has been contracted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to find out.

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Important cause of preeclampsia discovered

New findings show that cholesterol crystals in the uterine wall are the villain that researchers have been looking for. These crystals cause intensified inflammation in people who become ill.

Trained medical staff can perform safe, effective hernia surgery

Many low and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, don’t have enough surgeons to perform vital surgeries, such as groin hernia repairs. Training non-doctor associate clinicians in this procedure provides a safe and effective solution, a new study shows.