Health and environment
Project Title: Testicle Cancer: Risk Factors
Objective/Research Question: The primary aim of this project is to investigate the significance of mother’s health during pregnancy and other factors associated with foetal life, in the development of testicular cancer.
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Elin Leirvoll Aschim, Elinleirvoll.Aschim@hf.hio.no
External cooperators: The Cancer Registry and theBirth Registry
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Project Title: TheRelationship between Placental Weight and Parity
Objective/Research Question: The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between placental weight and parity, birth weight and other factors influencing pregnancy.
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Elin Leirvoll Aschim, Elinleirvoll.Aschim@hf.hio.no
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Project Title: Quality of Life, Health, Activity, Functioning, Falls, and Injuries Caused by Falls in Elderly People Living at Home.
Objective/Research Question:
1) To chart the quality of life, health, activity, functioning, occurrence of falls and fall-induced injuries amongst elderly people living at home in Norway.
2) To chart the predicators for falls and fall-induced injuries
3) What are the connections between high quality of life, health, activity and functioning?
4) What do the elderly understand by the concept of life quality?
5) Validation of a 5-year life -quality questionnaire
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Astrid Bergland, Astrid.Bergland@hf.hio.no
Cooperating in the project: Senior lecturer Gun-Britt Jarnlo, University of Lund, Professor Torgeir Bruun Wyller, UllevålUniversityHospital.
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Project Title: Compliance With – and Effect of – Soft Hip Protectors Compared to Hard Hip Protectors in Preventing Hip Fracture in Nursing Homes
Objective/Research Question: The main objective is to find out whether soft hip protectors provide as good protection as hard protectors, especially at night and in other situations with extended bed-rest. The consequence of this would be increased compliance regarding the use of these protectors in order to reduce the incidence of hip fractures.
Partial objective: Prevention of hip fractures in the nursing homes involved in this study by addressing these topics:
a) Optimal compliance, ie as many patients using the protection for as many hours throughout the day as possible
b) Optimal registration of information on their use, and on falls, necessary for the subsequent work on the primary objective of the study. Relevant topics are:
-How much better compliance would be achieved with soft protectors than with rigid ones?
-To what degree would a soft protector function almost as adequately as hard protection in the event of a fall?
-Would the use of soft hip protectors lead to a reduction of incidents involving hip fractures to the same extent as the use of hard protectors?
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Astrid Bergland (co-supervisor), Astrid.Bergland@hf.hio.no
Cooperating in the project: Hege Bentzen (doctoral fellow), Lisa Forsen ( main supervisor) Institute for Public Health, and Clemens Becker, StuttgartHospital
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Project Title: A Health Service with Memory. An analysis of incident reporting on patients in hospital
Objective/Research Question: What information is conveyed by accident reports on patient falls in hospital with regard to the incidence, patient characteristics, type of activity, conditions in the locality and the personnel’s assessments of the incident?
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Astrid Bergland, Astrid.Bergland@hf.hio.no
Cooperating in the project: Cand. San. Elisabeth Østensvik, Akribe Publishing, Oslo
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Project Title: Mechanisms Regulating Oestrogen Sensitivity in the Testicle
Objective/Research Question: The main objective is to study how the regulation of gene expression of the oestrogen receptor beta influences oestrogen sensitivity in the testicle.
Contact at FHS: Professor Trine B.Haugen, Trine.B.Haugen@hf.hio.no
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Project Title: Geographic Variations in the Reproductive Functioning of Men in Norway: with possible correlations to exposure to environmental poisons.
Objective/Research Question: The main objective is to investigate whether there are variations in sperm quality and reproductive hormones with exposure to the environmental poisons PCB and DDE in men who are born respectively in the north and south of Norway. A possible correlation between reproductive function and exposure to environmental poisons will be registered.
Contact at FHS: Professor Trine B.Haugen, Trine.B.Haugen@hf.hio.no
Cooperating in the project: Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Norway, UniversityHospital in Malmø, University Hospital Lund
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Project Title: The Metabolism of Long, Multi- unsaturated Fatty Acids in the Testicle
Objective/Research Question: The main objective is to find out how long, multi-unsaturated fatty acids are converted and transported in the testicle. Furthermore, the significance of diet for testicular functioning will be investigated.
Contact at FHS: Professor Trine B.Haugen, Trine.B.Haugen@hf.hio.no
Cooperating in the project: Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Norway
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Project Title: Suspended Dust and Chronic Lung Disease
Objective/Research Question: The significance of suspended dust for the development of chronic lung disease: the use of cell culture to identify early fibrotic changes.
Contact at FHS: Professor Jan Inge Herseth, Jan-Inge.Herseth@hf.hio.no
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Project Title: Polymorphs in the ATM gene
Objective/Research Question: Can polymorphs in the ATM gene act as susceptibility markers for the risk of radiation damage during breast cancer treatment?
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Toril Tefre, Toril.Tefre@hf.hio.no
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Project Title: Insulin Resistance in Skeletal Musculature
Objective/Research Question: What mechanisms are involved in the development of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle?
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Vigdis Aas, Vigdis.Aas@hf.hio.no
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Project Title: Physical Exercise and Type-II Diabetes
Objective/Research Question: Physical training is beneficial to patients with reduced glucose tolerance and type II diabetes, but which molecular mechanisms are conducive to this effect?
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Vigdis Aas, Vigdis.Aas@hf.hio.no
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Project Title: Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) and Insulin Resistance
Objective/Research Question: What is the role of LIF in the development of insulin resistance in cardiomyocytes, and what is the significance of this for cardiac failure?
Contact at FHS: Associate Professor PhD Vigdis Aas, Vigdis.Aas@hf.hio.no