The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (VKM) has appointed an ad hoc-group of experts to answer a request from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority regarding benefit and risk assessment of B. lactis Bb12 in baby foods focusing on the age groups 4-6 months, 6-12 months and 1-3 years. This assessment is based on the literature provided by the notifier as well as that found by a MEDLINE search.

VKM ga i 2006 to risikovurderinger vedrørende introduksjon av høypatogent aviært influensavirus til Norge. Den foreliggende vurderingen er en oppdatering av disse vurderingene og besvarer spørsmål om risiko i ulike situasjoner i Norge våren 2007.

S. diarizonae er et subspecies av Salmonella som påvises endemisk hos sau i enkelte regioner i Norge. Det er derfor stilt spørsmål om mikrobens potensielle og reelle betydning for både folke- og dyrehelsen. Det er også stilt spørsmål ved påstanden om at Norge har en tilnærmet salmonella-fri husdyrpopulasjon kan forsvares når S. diarizonae påvises relativt ofte hos sau i Norge i dag. Mattilsynet har ...

<p><i>Background - </i>Telementored ultrasound (US) connects experts to novices through various types of communication and network technologies with the overall aim to bridge the medical imaging gap between patients’ diagnostic needs and on-site user experience. The recurrent theme in previous research on remote telementored US is the limited access to US machines and experienced users. This study ...

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous, complex, and deadly disease, whose treatment has hardly evolved for decades and grounds on the use of intensive chemotherapy regimens. Chemotherapy helps reduce AML bulk, but promotes relapse in the long-run by selection of chemoresistant leukemia stem cells (LSC). These may diversify and result in progression to more aggressive forms of AML. <i>In ...

This study demonstrates a role for the extracellular matrix protein nephronectin (NPNT) in promoting experimental breast cancer brain metastasis, possibly through enhanced binding to- and migration through brain endothelial cells. With the introduction of more targeted breast cancer treatments, a prolonged survival has resulted during the last decade. Consequently, an increased number of patients ...

Several studies have demonstrated that fresh herbs and green or leafy vegetables can be contaminated by intestinal pathogenic bacteria such as <i>Salmonella</i> spp. Although systematic surveys are probably not conducted in any countries some places, in recent years the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) has received approximately 30 alerts annually on the detection of potentially pathogenic ...

Cancer cells' phenotypic plasticity, promoted by stromal cells, contributes to intra-tumoral heterogeneity and affects response to therapy. We have disclosed an association between fibroblast-stimulated phenotype switching and resistance to the clinically used BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) vemurafenib in malignant melanoma, revealing a challenge in targeting the fibroblast-induced phenotype. Here we compared ...

<p><i>Background - </i>The 13-valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV-13) was introduced in the National Immunization Programme (NIP) schedule in Russia in March 2014. Previously, the 7-valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV-7) was marketed in Russia in 2009 but has never been offered for mass vaccination. A carriage study was performed among children in Arkhangelsk in 2006. The objective was ...

<p><i>Background - </i>Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is a human polyomavirus that establishes a life-long harmless infection in most individuals, with dermal fibroblasts believed to be the natural host cell. However, this virus is the major cause of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), an aggressive skin cancer. Several MCPyV variants with polymorphism in their promoter region have been isolated, but it ...