Low herd immunity might cause severe flu winter
Flu season might be much worse than usual because we have lost a lot of herd immunity. Pandemic measures are part of the reason. Hand washing and vaccination are still important.
Public health
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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.
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.
Norwegian COVID-19 raw data now available to share
For the first time, raw data on Norwegian coronavirus genes will be freely available through the open gene bank ENA.
Common medications alter flu virus activity
Several commonly prescribed medications used for completely different illnesses can enhance or reduce the activity of the influenza virus.
Vulnerable women most likely to seek out sexual assault centres
A psychiatrist’s study reviewed more than 200 rape cases and found that the most vulnerable women who were raped received the worst follow-up by the police.
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.
NTNU researchers have found promising COVID-19 drugs
NTNU researchers are on track to find drug combinations that could help stop the coronavirus across the globe.
Hospital financial performance overemphasized, say doctors
Some patients are more profitable for Norwegian hospitals than others. Most hospital physicians believe that managers care too much about the financial operation of hospitals.
Cheaper chocolate and alcohol are a public health setback
Eliminating the sugar tax and reducing the taxes on beer and wine will have health consequences, according to Steinar Krokstad, a professor of public health at NTNU.
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.
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.
Less psychiatric coercion in the early 1900s than in the 1970s
It’s easy to believe that society’s treatment of difficult, violent and criminally mentally ill people has become more humane over time. But that’s not the case. How patients at the end of the 19th century actually felt is difficult to say, but they were at least less exposed to mechanical coercion, according to an NTNU historian.
Virus might have mutated before it appeared in mink
It’s understandable that the Danes want to be on the safe side and exterminate the mink to stop this variant of the coronavirus, says Andreas Christensen, an associate professor at NTNU.
Good mental health and better sleep for the physically active
Quite a lot of people have modified their exercise habits during the pandemic, but that didn’t affect sleep quality for active people.
NTNU’s new COVID-19 test to be used in India and Denmark
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has signed agreements to deliver as many as one million COVID-19 test kits to DTU, the Technical University of Denmark, and APS LABS, an Indian biotech company. “It is very positive that this technology can now also be useful internationally,” says Bent Høie, Norway’s Minister of Health and Care Services.
800 million children still exposed to lead
Every third child in the world has too much lead in their body, according to a report from UNICEF and Pure Earth. Norwegian children are also affected.
Simple nasal spray ready to save lives
Between 250 and 270 people die each year from heroin or opioid overdoses in Norway. In the EU, thousands die. European users now have a better option available for helping each other.
Hope for 500 000 insomniacs in Norway
Digital sleep therapy could offer help to people with sleep problems and enable many of them to reduce their sleep medication after treatment.
Concussions can cause long-term sleep problems
A new study shows that people who have had concussions sometimes develop long-term after effects, including sleep disturbances. The findings could also be of use to other patient groups.
Less sleep reduces positive feelings
Sleep deprivation makes us feel less happy, active, attentive and purposeful, according to a new sleep study from NTNU.
How are the busiest among us dealing with COVID-19?
COVID-19 has created an extra workload for people in socially critical professions. How does this added strain affect them and how do they handle it?
Temperament affects children’s eating habits
Temperamental children are at greater risk for developing unhealthy eating habits.