New drug stopped aggressive brain cancer in mice The mice treated with the new medication had a 100 per cent survival rate. But many promising studies have ended in almost as many disappointments in past years, according to one Norwegian researcher.
Is there a solution to the puzzle that is cancer? The fundamental problem is how our body is constructed, one professor says The better the treatment, the more cancer there will be in the population.
Why do men get sicker from viruses than women? New study could help explain 'man flu' Women appear to have fewer, but stronger, natural killer cells.
Keto diet is a miracle cure for some people with epilepsy – but scientists don't know why When Cathrine Adriaenssens was 33, she had such severe epilepsy that her doctor feared she might die from it. Today she is completely healthy.
This disease can suddenly make you behave very strangely. Afterwards you might not remember a thing. Not everyone with epilepsy has seizures. And in a lot of cases, we don’t know why the disease occurs.
Zombie fungus controls ants like they’re puppets. Could it make the leap to humans like in ‘The Last of Us’? In the popular TV series, a fungus has gained the ability to infect people.
Large Norwegian study reveals celiac disease in many people who were unaware they had it Researcher who led the study found it surprising that so many people were undiagnosed.
Why do so many people have chronic fatigue In numerous diseases, such as celiac disease and psoriasis, chronic fatigue is actually the biggest problem. But what actually causes it? Professor Roald Omdal believes the fatigue response is an ancient biological protection mechanism.
Patients are being forced to take regular breaks from effective migraine medicine. But how do these expensive injections really work? Forty years ago, researchers discovered a protein that dilated blood vessels in the brain. It led to a whole new type of migraine medicine.
Risk of autism seven times higher in Norwegian children with immigrant mothers A study was conducted after health professionals started noticing a concerning pattern.
Alcohol doesn’t prevent heart disease Numerous studies show that people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol have the lowest risk of heart disease. But according to a new study on Norwegian twins, alcohol is not the protective factor.
Are repeated attacks from the mono-virus making MS-patients sicker? Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder in which most patients experience periodic worsening of their symptoms. A Norwegian professor suggests that recurrent flareups of the virus that causes mononucleosis could be a driver of MS.
People who remained sick long after their COVID-19 infection often had alterations in their intestinal bacteria Some COVID patients still had poor lung function three months after admission to Norwegian hospitals. These patients also had alterations in their intestinal flora and possible evidence of a leaky gut, a new study shows.
You may have celiac disease without knowing it Reseachers have found that at least four times as many as those who have been diagnosed with celiac disease have it. Doctors and the public need to be more aware of the vaguer symptoms of this disease, they say.
What gives sick people hope? When patients were asked where they find hope and strength, their answers surprised researchers.
Hard exercise and sleep deprivation could be bad news for the heart Young men trained intensively with and without curtailed sleep. A new study shows that with too little sleep, they secreted more of a substance that is a biomarker for potential future heart disease. But the study has major weaknesses, says researcher Stein Ørn.
How likely is it that food can give you an autoimmune disease like diabetes, celiac disease or arthritis? One popular explanation as to why there’s been a sharp increase in autoimmune diseases is changes in our diet. But diet is only one of many factors that can be important, according to a Norwegian researcher.
Adolescents living with pain experience more stress in everyday life Norwegian researchers have looked more closely at young people's own experiences with pain.
Adults with ADHD have increased risk of obesity, epilepsy and a number of other diseases Researcher believes new findings from ADHD research could be significant for treating the condition.
New medicine can stop autoimmune disease in mice A new substance causes the immune system to stop attacking its own cells. An experiment with mice now shows that the drug prevented diseases similar to arthritis and type 1 diabetes.
Why do some people get restless legs? Many people are unaware that they have a neurological disorder.
Fewer people used antibiotics, nasal sprays and cough syrup during the pandemic This finding is probably due to the coronavirus measures, according to the chief physician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Children who got narcolepsy after the swine flu vaccine struggle with obesity and depression “This is a lifelong and serious disease,” one researcher says.
Twenty years of sequencing genes… for better or for worse SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: It’s been 20 years since the first draft sequence of the human genome was published in the journals Nature and Science. Sequencing 30 000 genes has changed the world, but in a different way than expected.
Yes, we can prevent future pandemics OPINION: With new health threats perhaps just an airflight away, we need to ask how countries like Norway can contribute in the global effort to prevent future pandemics.
Surviving cancer in the Nordics: Norwegians with lung cancer live longer than in neighbouring countries, but are more likely to die from melanoma While mortality due to melanoma has been stable in the rest of the Nordic countries, it has increased somewhat in Norway . “It’s important to go to the doctor early,” says Tom Børge Johannesen from the Cancer Registry of Norway.
«Pandemics affect women and men differently» The history of and experiences from previous pandemics give us important information about how to handle today’s corona pandemic.
This method identified the sickest coronavirus patients best Emergency rooms use different ways to determine which coronavirus patients will need intensive care the most. One method more accurately predicted which patients would be hardest hit, according to a new study.
When bathing was medicine:What can we learn from doctors who promoted sea bathing back in the day? During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Norwegian doctors believed that salt stimulated the nerves and that cold water could boost a person’s metabolism.
Can an extreme low carb diet be used as medicine? Several studies in recent years have suggested that the ketogenic diet may work against a variety of diseases, such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and cancer.
Norwegian researchers have tested music therapy for chronic fatigue Young people who developed chronic fatigue after having mononucleosis were treated using a combination of music therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy in a small Norwegian study. The results give no clear answers.
Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is now legal for all pregnant women in Norway. But how does it actually work? How can a mother's blood test reveal a chromosome defect in the foetus? Knowing how the test works also makes it easier to understand why it doesn't always give an accurate result.
The coronavirus pandemic is now the most-covered topic by the Norwegian media — ever Over the past 70 years, cancer has been the disease that has been most widely covered by Norwegian media, with some exceptions. But then came the coronavirus.
People who work in open-plan or shared offices get sick more often Employees in open-plan workspaces take more sick leave than those with their own offices. If you share an office with one or more colleagues, your risk of taking sick leave increases significantly, a new Norwegian study shows.
Nine per cent of Norwegians newly diagnosed with HIV have viruses with resistant mutations Researchers have recently released the sixth annual Resistance against antivirals in Norway report. 2018 saw no cases of resistant viruses for influenza, hepatitis B or Herpes, but 9 per cent of newly diagnosed HIV cases had viruses with resistant mutations.
Breathing can affect the cleansing of the brain Breathing rhythms affect how well spinal fluid flows in and around the brain, a new study shows. Cerebrospinal fluid plays an important role in flushing metabolic waste products from the brain. The finding may have an impact on brain diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Health trends over the last 45 years: We’re getting fatter — but healthier Norway's most comprehensive population survey shows some surprising contradictions. The average Norwegian has gotten heavier over the last 45 years, while at the same time their overall physical health has improved.
Norwegian researchers find link between ALS and body weight A Norwegian study shows that overweight and obese individuals have a lower risk for ALS than those who are of normal weight and underweight.
New medicine for multiple myeloma shows promising results A new drug reduced the risk of relapse and increased survival by five months, according to a recent study. The results were presented at a cancer conference in Chicago in June.
Another tick-borne disease to worry about Authorities don’t know how many Norwegians have been infected with the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis.
Drugs that didn’t keep their promise The medicines were called “disease-modifying” because they were supposed to slow down the disease itself. But earlier medications for arthritis didn’t do this. Several of them, however, had dangerous side effects. Why did patients take them anyway?
Fatigue an underestimated aspect of inflammatory bowel disease Many of those who suffer from inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis also struggle with fatigue.
Genetic tests uncover lethal legacy — at a price It’s become ever easier to test for mutations that increase a woman’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer. But what kind of psychological burden does the test impose on women who take it?
Why omega-3 lowers risk of disease Norwegian scientists have uncovered new information about how omega-3 fatty acids actually work. Proteins that are misfolded accumulate like garbage in body cells and they can lead to diseases. Omega-3 helps cells remove such harmful proteins.
Quicker treatment of newborn jaundice brings big benefits More effective light therapy reduces the risk of brain damage and minimizes infants’ separation from parents
Diarrhoea stunts development of Indian children A study by Norwegian researchers in New Delhi indicates that young children suffering frequent bouts of diarrhoea experience developmental delays compared to healthy children.
Norwegian polio victims weigh in on vaccine debate Nearly 10,000 Norwegians who were affected by polio are still alive. As the vaccine debate rampages in the US and in Norway, polio survivors say they think that vaccine opponents put their own and other children’s lives in danger.
Zebras attracted to lethal anthrax grass Grazing zebras in Namibia fall for a deadly temptation. Grass and vegetation grows better at spots where anthrax infections have caused animals to fall down, die and decompose.
Making Norway's deadliest food It's food, but not as we know it: a new processing plant is set to produce sausages packed with deadly E.coli and cheese full of Listeria – to save us from food poisoning.
The horrific disease that won’t die The agonising history of leprosy in Norway has been relocated to a museum in Bergen. The misery was so overwhelming that it inspired pioneering initiatives. It resulted in the world’s first patient registry and the discovery of leprosy bacilli.