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Limb wounds in horses are common, however healing is exceedingly slow and fraught with complications. Contrary to body wounds, limb wounds demonstrate only a small amount of wound contraction. The specialist procedure of applying split-thickness skin grafts to limb wounds stimulates wound contraction by unknown mechanisms. The objective of this project is to identify those mechanisms to develop a treatment strategy for equine limb wounds for use in general  practice. Limb wounds are severely impacting animal welfare due to an extended healing/treatment duration, and the risk of euthanasia due to a poor functional outcome. By stimulating wound contraction, healing time will be reduced, and the functional outcome improved, directly benefitting the welfare of wounded horse and reducing treatment cost for the owner. Aim: To identify dermal components stimulating wound contraction, and to develop this knowledge into future state-of-the-art treatment of equine limb wounds for use in general practice. Hypotheses: i) Application of dermal fractions to collagen gels seeded with equine fibroblasts will increase gel contraction in vitro; ii) Application of dermal fractions to experimental limb wounds in vivo, will increase wound contraction resulting in a faster healing time versus wounds treated by conventional methods. Methods: i) The contractile effect of different dermal components will be assessed in a collagen gel/ fibroblast model; ii) Identified dermal components will be tested in a standardized experimental limb wound model in vivo (n=5). Ultimately, results from this project are expected to improve wound treatment in horses, directly impacting animal welfare by reducing healing time and improving the functional outcome of wounded horses. This will also directly benefit horse owners and caretakers and making veterinarians able to offer better treatment solutions.

HESTEFORSK - Raskere og bedre sårheling hos hest med autologe hudkomponenter

The goal of the Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms (BECAME) project is to examine the functional neuroplastic mechanisms underlying mitigatory effects of bilingual experience on age-related cognitive decline. While evidence is available for structural brain changes supporting bilingualism-induced effects on cognitive aging (CA), functional mechanisms underlying such effects are not yet well understood. BECAME aims to fill this gap by investigating the trajectory of bilingualism-induced functional neuroplasticity across the adult lifespan (ages 18-85), crucially adopting an individual differences approach related to measurable degree of bilingual engagement. Importantly, although such benefits are thought to be rooted early in the lifespan, evidence for the timeframe and conditions of their early emergence is scarce. The choice of including the whole adult lifespan allows us to investigate these mechanisms and their emergence more directly from a lifespan perspective. I combine behavioral testing with brain recordings via electroencephalography (EEG). EEG is widely used in cognitive neuroscience to assess brain activity and the degree of communication between brain regions (functional connectivity) in response to stimuli and at rest. Combining behavioral and EEG modalities will allow me to test bilingualism’s effect on functional connectivity, as well as its consequences for functional efficiency, the minimum required neural activation to successfully perform a task. This will enable a detailed, evidence-based account of the protective effects observed in older-aged bilinguals, and how they are built from earlier life stages. By illuminating the relationship between multilingualism and resulting neurocognitive adaptations, BECAME will enable to capitalize on it as a health initiative, with manifold societal implications and the potential to be translated into actionable policies exploiting multilingualism to ameliorate effects of CA.

Bilingual Experiences, Cognitive Ageing and underlying Mechanisms

Hovedmålet med kreftbehandling er å eliminere kreftceller og dette er tradisjonelt oppnådd ved kirurgi, bruk av giftige medikamenter (cellegift) og stråling. En ny og betydningsfull tilnærming til kreftbehandling kalt immunterapi, har derimot fått mye oppmerksomhet det siste tiåret; Her forsøker leger og forskere å utnytte immunsystemet vårt for å målrettet  ødelegge kreftceller. En nøkkelaktør i denne banebrytende tilnærmingen er en gruppe «drapsmenn» i immunsystemet kjent som cytotoxiske T-lymfocytter (CTL-er). Disse cellene har en bemerkelsesverdig evne til å oppdage kreftceller ved å gjenkjenne unormale molekyler på overflaten av kreftcellene - molekyler som friske celler ikke har. Når CTL-er gjenkjenner kreftcellene ødelegger de dem ved å frigjøre giftige molekyler som initierer kreftcellenes selvdestruksjon. 
 
Selv om betydelige innsats har blitt dedikert til å forstå hvordan CTL-er aktiveres og hvordan de gjenkjenner kreftceller, vet vi mindre om de påfølgende hendelsene inne i kreftcellene som fører til deres død. Fra før vet vi at CTL-er kan initiere to forskjellige typer celledød i kreft: den første, kalt apoptose, er en stille og ordnet prosess der kreftcellene krymper og brytes opp uten å varsle immunsystemet; den andre, kalt pyroptose, er en mer dramatisk prosess som involverer dannelse av åpninger i cellemembranen, noe som fører til at cellene svulmer opp og sprekker. Under denne cellebristen blir innholdet inne i cellene frigitt i omgivelsene, og dette kan fungere som 'faretegn' som kan stimulere en sterkere immunrespons mot kreftcellene. Betydningen av denne cellebristen for å forsterke anti-tumorresponsene vil bli undersøkt i dette prosjektet. 
 
Videre er vi fascinert av muligheten for å avdekke ytterligere, ennå ukjente, former for celledød indusert av CTL-er. Utforsking av disse dødsrelaterte prosessene i kreftcellene kan potensielt øke effektiviteten av immunterapi og bidra betydelig i den pågående kampen mot kreft.

The primary goal of most cancer therapies is to induce cancer cell death. Immunotherapy relies on the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes such as natural killer cells (NKs) and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to achieve this. While a significant amount of research in immunotherapy focuses on the events within cytotoxic lymphocytes or at the interface between cytotoxic lymphocytes and cancer cells, less is known about the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate cancer cell death, particularly in the case of CTL-mediated death.
CTLs are known to induce two types of cell death in cancer: non-inflammatory apoptosis and proinflammatory pyroptosis. Pyroptotic cancer cells release proinflammatory signals that attract immune cells to the tumor site, thereby enhancing the anti-tumor response. Cell lysis is a common outcome of pyroptotic cell death. It is unclear whether lysis can be decoupled from pyroptosis in cancer cells and whether the proinflammatory properties of pyroptotic cancer cell death depend on lysis. Moreover, it remains unknown whether CTLs can induce other forms of cell death in cancer, apart from apoptosis and pyroptosis.
Studying the mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death is challenging because CTLs selectively target cells expressing specific antigens. However, given the critical role of CTLs in immunotherapy, it is essential to deepen our understanding of CTL-induced cancer cell death.
This project aims to develop novel methodologies to investigate the death mechanisms that are initiated by CTLs. In addition, we will identify new pathways and mediators involved in CTL-induced cancer cell death. Furthermore, we will assess the contribution of proinflammatory cell death and lysis in promoting anti-tumor responses in vivo. Overall, this research will improve our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of CTL-mediated cancer cell death and potentially reveal novel targets to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

T-cell-mediated proinflammatory cell death and lysis in cancer

En av de vanligste, men minst studerte, utfordringene med å bli eldre er problemer med å kommunisere. Mange eldre sliter spesielt med pragmatiske ferdigheter, som å forstå undertekst, eller tilpasse det de sier til personen de snakker med. 

La oss si at en lege må gi en alvorlig beskjed til en pasient. For å gjøre det litt lettere å takle, bruker legen vagere språk, som "kanskje" i stedet for "sannsynligvis". Mens yngre voksne ofte tar hensyn til høflighetsstrategier i måten de tolker det som blir sagt på, har eldre ofte vanskelig for å forstå når noen snakker indirekte. Mange eldre voksne har vanskelig for å forstå ikke-bokstavelig språk og kan misforstå alvorlighetsgraden av diagnosen. Dette kan påvirke beslutningen deres om behandling, noe som kan føre til utilsiktede konsekvenser. 

Siden god kommunikasjon er viktig både i viktige medisinske samtaler og i hverdagen, er det viktig at vi finner ut hva som gjør at eldre kan ha vansker med å forstå og bli forstått. RESILIENCE skal hjelpe til med denne utfordringen ved å samle data om praktiske, kognitive og språklige ferdigheter hos voksne i alderen 18-90 år over tid. Dette vil gi oss en stor mengde data om pragmatiske, kognitive og språk ferdigheter og gjøre det tilgjengelig for forskning. Med denne dataen som grunnlag har vi følgende mål: 

• Forstå hvordan praktiske evner endrer seg generelt gjennom voksenlivet. 
• Finne ut hvilke mekanismer som påvirker pragmatiske evner på forskjellige tidspunkter i livet.
 • Utvikle en teoretisk modell som forklarer hvordan pragmatiske ferdigheter endrer seg med alderen.
 • Lage algoritmer som kan forutsi hvordan pragmatiske evner vil utvikle seg for enkeltpersoner i årene som kommer. 
• Utvikle og teste et verktøy som kan måle pragmatisk helse (både pragmatiske ferdigheter og deres underliggende mekanismer), noe som kan åpne  for å iverksette tiltak. 

Dette vil gi oss muligheten til å forstå bedre hvordan folk kan utvikle pragmatisk resiliens gjennom livsløpet.

A cornerstone of human communication is our reliance on pragmatic skills to guide linguistic interactions (e.g., reasoning about others' mental states to bridge the gap between what is said and intended in conversation). However these skills are highly sensitive to age-related decline, leading to miscommunication and uninformed decision making in the older adult population. This raises an important question, one which has puzzled linguistics and psychologists for decades: if pragmatic competence is fundamental to communication, why do individuals vary so much in this capacity? 

Traditionally, psychologists have approached pragmatic competence from a cognitive angle, reasoning that individual differences in executive functions (i.e., the cognitive skills associated with goal-directed actions) are what underlie effective pragmatic behavior. In a similar vein, language scientists have taken a linguistic approach, reasoning that one’s language background (e.g., the frequency with which individuals shift between languages) shapes pragmatic skills by enhancing sensitivity to the communicative context. This focus on either cognitive or linguistic influences has resulted in two expansive yet disparate areas of research.

RESILIENCE will unite these disciplines to pursue a longstanding debate on what underlies pragmatic resilience and decline using a large-scale, interdisciplinary and longitudinal approach. By gathering data on adults' (ages 18-90) pragmatic, cognitive and language skills over multiple time points, we will develop a comprehensive theoretical model that explains how cognitive and linguistic systems interact to shape pragmatic competence as we age, and create algorithms that predict the trajectory of an individual’s pragmatic abilities in upcoming years. Based on these results we will design a multidimensional tool that detects the earliest signs of pragmatic deficits, leading to future interventions, allowing us to uncover the paths to pragmatic resilience.

Uncovering the paths to pragmatic resilience

Sink er et essensielt mikronæringsstoff som kreves for funksjonen til hundrevis av proteiner involvert i et bredt spekter av biologiske prosesser. Etter inntak av sink fra kosten reguleres nivåene i kroppen nøye gjennom absorpsjon, sekresjon og ekskresjon via spesialiserte proteiner, såkalte sinktransportører, i tarmen. Enhver ubalanse er skadelig for menneskers helse, spesielt er tarmen følsom for sinkfluktuasjoner, hvilket påvirker tarmbarrieren og kan føre til inflammatoriske sykdommer og kreft i tarmen. 
På molekylært nivå er de presise mekanismene som styrer funksjonen til de ulike sinktransportørene fortsatt uklare. Hos mennesker finnes det over tjue slike proteiner, og de fleste inneholder områder rike på aminosyren histidin. Disse histidinene mistenkes å spille en avgjørende rolle i å binde sink. Nylig oppdaget vi et enzym som modifiserer disse områdene ved å sette metylgrupper på histidin, og viste at metylerte histidiner har en lavere affinitet for sink. Dette prosjektet har som mål å identifisere nye mekanismer som regulerer sinknivåer gjennom histidinmetylering av sinktransportører, å utvikle forskningsverktøy for effektiv studie av histidinmetylering, og å legge grunnlaget for nye behandlinger av tarmsykdommer.

The delicate balance of zinc levels in the body is essential for human health. Zinc is absorbed and excreted via intestinal zinc transporter proteins, and perturbations of this process are associated with pathologies, including inflammatory diseases and cancers of the bowel. The precise molecular mechanisms regulating zinc transport, however, remain a major knowledge gap. Based on the recent discovery of an enzyme methylating histidine residues in zinc transporters, and drawing on preliminary findings which demonstrate reduced affinity of methylated histidines to zinc, this project aims to identify novel mechanisms regulating zinc homeostasis through histidine methylation. We will examine the regulation and effect of histidine methylation on zinc transport in intestinal cell culture and organoids, and examine how knockout of the methylhistidine-generating enzyme affects the integrity and pathology of the intestinal tract in mouse models. In addition, we will identify reader proteins specifically recognizing methylhistidines and develop anti-methylhistidine antibodies and inhibitors to use as tools for detection, enrichment, and inhibition of histidine methylation. Such tools are urgently needed by the international research community, as none are currently available commercially. Overall, this project will lead to great advances in the field of protein regulation, and may uncover novel mechanisms in intestinal zinc transport and pathology.

Zinc transport regulation through histidine methylation

Noen av oss tåler stressende livshendelser godt. Andre derimot utvikler vedvarende fysiske og psykiske plager som følger av stress. Hvor godt vi håndterer stress avhenger av et komplekst samspill mellom miljøfaktorer, sosiale forhold, biologisk sårbarhet og indre motstandskraft. Forskning på stressreaksjonene til dyr og pasientgrupper som til vanlig lever under mye stress viser at en gruppe signalstoffer i kroppen som aktiverer det samme hjernesystemet som cannabis – endocannabinoidene – kan begrense styrken på stressreaksjoner og bidra til at man raskere kommer seg til hektene. I dette prosjektet skal vi undersøke hvordan mestring av stress på kort og lang sikt henger sammen med nivåer av endocannabinoider i kroppen for å forstå hvorfor noen personer er mer motstandsdyktige mot stress enn andre. I den ene studien følger vi pasienter som skal gjennomgå en stressende, men veldig vanlig, situasjon: kirurgi. Her måler vi pasientenes opplevelse av stress, samt mentale og fysiske helse, fra tiden før til to år etter operasjonen og undersøker hvordan dette henger sammen med nivåene deres av endocannabinoider og andre stresshormoner. I den andre studien bruker vi data fra et eksperiment hvor deltakerne har blitt utsatt for psykososialt stress til å undersøke om endocannabinoidnivået deres påvirker hvordan de reagerer på stress, og om stresset i seg selv kan påvirke kroppens produksjon av endocannabinoider. Til syvende og sist er målet med studien å vurdere hvorvidt målinger av endocannabinoidnivåer kan brukes til å forebygge helseplager og til å evaluere behovet for økt oppfølging etter alvorlig stressende påkjenninger i livet.

In the face of major life stressors, some individuals cope well whereas others develop ill health and long-term adverse outcomes. Predicting who needs additional support in response to major life stressors is essential for targeted prevention and more efficient allocation of resources. The endocannabinoid system is emerging as a promising target for understanding vulnerability and resilience to stress. This system appears to buffer stress in two ways: by limiting the magnitude of the stress response, and by facilitating recovery after a stressful event. While the early findings are intriguing, they mainly stem from studies in rodents and small clinical groups with high stress burden. What role endocannabinoids have more globally for human resilience, health and well-being remains elusive. 

In this project we address this gap by leveraging comprehensive experimental and clinical data on two potent stress models: psychosocial stress and surgery. Drawing on these unique datasets, which combine experimental control with ecological validity, we will decipher how endocannabinoid levels influence people’s stress response and recovery across minutes, days, weeks and years. The project represents a novel directional shift for endocannabinoid research and will (i) determine the value of endocannabinoid levels as a biomarker to predict outcomes after surgery, (ii) quantify sex differences, (iii) assess endocannabinoid interplay with opioid analgesics, sex hormones and other stress markers (iv) spearhead open and reproducible science practices in endocannabinoid research, and (v) make this fine-grained and novel data available through an interactive web application. 

This project represents an ambitious effort to understand endocannabinoids’ role in stress resilience and will determine the value of endocannabinoids as a predictive biomarker and potential target for individualized treatment.

Deciphering endocannabinoid stress buffering in humans: 
Mechanistic and clinical investigations

WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM)

Wheelchair users (WCU) are three to five times more inactive than the general population, leading to a high risk of developing preventable secondary conditions. Although physical activity (PA) guidelines have been specifically developed for WCU, we lack systematic approaches to implement them in practice, as well as valid algorithms to monitor PA change in WCU through sensor-based solutions. Accordingly, the overall scientific aim of the WHeelchair Activity Monitoring project (WHAM) is to advance PA research and practice in WCU by developing valid digital markers for monitoring of and providing feedback on PA, paving the way for implementation and intervention. I will accomplish this through combining the complementary research fields of 1) behavioural intervention studies focusing on increasing PA in WCU (core competence University of British Columbia, UBC; outgoing phase) and 2) sensor-based PA monitoring (core competence Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU; returning phase – consolidated by non-academic placement at Maastricht Instruments, which develop research prototypes including PA monitors). WHAM’s scientific aim is achieved through three objectives: 1) Measure the effect of a pragmatic exercise intervention trial on self-reported physical activity levels and cardio-respiratory fitness, 2) Develop valid algorithms for tracking PA markers in WCU, and 3) Co-create a framework that outlines how PA can be conjointly monitored and provided feedback on in WCU. This fellowship will enable me to become established as an internationally recognized researcher in the field of “physical activity and disability”, while bringing together ongoing national disjointed research activities in this field. Altogether, my overall ambition is to contribute to reducing inequalities in daily-life participation among WCU compared to the rest of the population.

BOLD MINDS aspires to enhance the understanding of vulnerability factors underlying the emergence of borderline personality disorder (BPD), with an ultimate aim of increasing the potential for young individuals to receive early, evidence-based help when their mental health is at risk. BOLD MINDS will achieve this by investigating whether disruptions in two aspects of autobiographical memory (AM), narrative identity (NI) and involuntary AM (IAM), are associated with BPD features and problem behaviours in adolescents concurrently and over time. In doing so, BOLD MINDS will strengthen the understanding of mechanisms underlying the emergence of BPD in adolescence and lay a groundwork for developing evidence-based early interventions for BPD. While currently limited, the study of AM in this field is essential for two reasons. Firstly, because the aspects of AM under investigation, NI and IAM, are known to be involved in identity formation and emotion regulation which represent two key psychological processes that are disrupted in adults with BPD and are linked to problem behaviours such as self-harm and suicidality. Secondly, because promising research is emerging on the use of AM targets in the treatment of emotional disorder in adults, and provides a strong model for future treatment development with vulnerable adolescents. In addition, this timely research program aligns with calls from international organizations to prioritize early interventions to promote adolescent mental health. BOLD MINDS will adopt and adapt state-of-the-art ecological momentary assessment and analytical techniques and work at the crossroads of clinical and cognitive psychological perspectives, allowing for a multidimensional approach to understanding BPD vulnerability. Training-through-research and formalized training of the experienced researcher will prepare her for a permanent academic position and the founding of her own research lab specializing in AM and early interventions for BPD.

Borderline Personality Disorder: Memory and Identity in Adolescence

Per- og polyfluorerte stoffer (PFAS) er en stor gruppe menneskeskapte kjemikalier med høyt fluorinnhold som antas å ha negative helseeffekter. Kilder til PFAS kan være produksjon av vann-, varme- og flekkbestandige produkter og disse kjemikaliene er en del av hverdagen vår. PFAS påvirkning av biologiske systemer er ikke fullstendig forstått. Noen PFAS er antatt å øke risikoen for å utvikling av ikke-alkoholisk fettleversykdom (NAFLD) og øke risikoen for diabetes. 

For å forstå hvordan PFAS påvirker organene våre ønsker vi å bruke små laboratoriedyrkede organmodeller, kalt organoider. Disse miniatyrorganene kan dyrkes fra menneskelige stamceller og tilbyr et kontrollert miljø for å studere hvordan PFAS påvirker f.eks lever og bukspyttkjertelen vår, uten bruk av dyreforsøk.

For å studere helseeffekter må vi kunne måle nivået av biomolekyler som fettstoffer i leveren og hormoner i bukspyttkjertelen. Til dette trenger vi å utvikle analytiske verktøy for å måle effektene. Først vil vi bekrefte at når leverorganoidene eksponeres for enkelte PFAS-forbindelser utvikles det NAFLD-lignende sykdom ved å sammenligne den biokjemiske profilen (proteiner og metabolitter) til organoider av lever med PFAS-eksponerte organoider. Deretter vil vi utvide den analytiske verktøykassen for å undersøke hvilke metabolske veier som påvirkes, og om effekten er den samme i NAFLD-induserte og PFAS-eksponerte organoider. Vi vil også eksponere insulinproduserende bukspyttkjertelorganoider for PFAS for å undersøke effekten av PFAS på hormonproduksjon. Når effektene av PFAS-eksponering på lever- og bukspyttkjertel-organoider er etablert, vil organoidene bli samkultivert i en chip, og effektene av PFAS-eksponering vil bli undersøkt og sammenlignet med individuelle organoider.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are believed to contribute to metabolic diseases, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 1 diabetes. HE-POP aims to investigate the effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS), a type of POPs), on organ function in a controlled environment.

Organoids are multicellular laboratory-grown miniature organs, that are grown from stem cells. HE-POP will use organoids to examine how PFAS affects our organs and develop cutting-edge bioanalytical tools and methodology to measure these effects using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. HE-POP hypothesizes that PFAS negatively affects organ function, as evidenced by changes in hormone and lipid levels characteristic of NAFLD and type 1 diabetes. 

Organoids offer a controlled environment to study the effects of PFAS on the liver and pancreas, without the use of animal models. HE-POP aims to gain evidence of the negative effects of PFAS on organ function through controlled experiments on organoids and aid in understanding the biological mechanisms underlying NAFLD and type 1 diabetes.

HE-POP has fundaments in UN sustainable development goals, specifically #3, #12, and #14/15, seeking an understanding of diseases with worldwide prevalence, and understanding how POPs affect our life and surroundings and help enable the right regulatory actions and replacement chemicals.

HE-POP: Studying the Health Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Using Mass Spectrometry, Organoids, and Organ-On-A-Chip

Dette prosjektet, kalt Hukommelse for musikk, fokuserer på det økende antallet mennesker over hele verden som lever med demens, spesielt Alzheimer's sykdom (AD). AD starter typisk med hukommelsesproblemer og påvirker etter hvert daglige aktiviteter. Aktive musikkintervensjoner, spesielt sang, har vist positive effekter på humør, atferd og livskvalitet for personer med demens, men deres innvirkning på kognisjon er ikke godt forstått. Prosjektet har som mål å fylle dette kunnskapsgapet ved å studere effektene av å lære nye sanger på kognitiv, atferdsmessig og hjernemessig funksjon.

Studien vil omfatte hjemmeboende voksne over 65 år med AD fra Argentina, Østerrike og Norge. Deltakerne vil gjennomgå 5 måneder med intensiv musikalsk opplæring (to ganger i uken) og 5 måneder med minimal opplæring (en gang i måneden) i tilfeldig rekkefølge, med en to måneders pause imellom. Intervensjonene inkluderer å lære nye sanger med en personlig musikklærer. Generell kognisjon vil bli målt ved bruk av Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive (ADAS-cog), og hukommelse for musikk vil bli vurdert gjennom ulike metoder, inkludert atferdsoppgaver og hjerneaktivitet (EEG). Humør vil også bli evaluert i hver økt.

Målet er å inkludere 113 deltakere for å sikre pålitelig påvisning av meningsfulle effekter. Studien vil utforske hvordan humør og hukommelse for musikk bidrar til endringer i kognitive evner, og om disse effektene varierer basert på faktorer som kjønn, alder, AD-stadium, eller tidligere musikalsk opplæring og generell utdanning. Prosjektet vektlegger samarbeid mellom forskere, tjenesteytere og brukere for å sikre studiens relevans og anvendelighet.

The number of people living with dementia is increasing and is high in low, middle, and high-income countries. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common type of dementia, manifests itself initially with cognitive impairment in memory domains, and later affects all activities of daily living. Active music interventions, particularly singing, can help to improve mood, behaviour problems, and quality of life. Too little is known about their effects on cognition, although some promising studies exist. The M4M project aims to fill this gap by measuring effects of learning new songs on clinical, behavioural and brain functioning. Specifically, M4M aims to examine changes in general cognitive functioning and memory for music in non-musician adults with AD undergoing intensive individual musical training based on singing novel songs, compared to minimal training.
        Home-dwelling adults with AD, 65 years or older, in 3 countries (Argentina, Austria, Norway), will receive 5 months of intensive intervention (2x/week) and 5 months of minimal intervention (1x/month), in random order, with a 2-month break in between. Interventions will entail learning new songs with an individual music teacher. At the end of each intervention period, general cognition will be measured with the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive (ADAS-cog) by a person who is unaware of the intervention received. Memory for music will be tested with observations, behavioural tasks, and brain responses (EEG). Mood will be assessed in each session. We aim to include 113 participants; this will help us to reliably detect clinically meaningful effects. We will also examine how mood and memory for music lead to changes in cognitive abilities, and whether effects depend on sex, age, AD stage, or previous musical training or general education. M4M will be conducted in close collaboration between academic researchers, service providers, and service users to ensure relevance and applicability.

Memory for Music: Effects of individual intensive musical training based on singing in non-musicians with Alzheimer’s disease

Midlene fra PES-EU-Prosjektetablererstøtte EU (bedrift) fordelt på år

Midlene fra PES-EU-Prosjektetablererstøtte EU (bedrift) fordelt på fylker

Midlene fra PES-EU-Prosjektetablererstøtte EU (bedrift) fordelt på fagområde

Senior consultant

Research of improved polymyxin B analogues with reduced nephrotoxicity for use against Gram(-) bacteria by means of platform biocatalytic pr

Recycling of metals, particularly aluminium, magnesium and silicon, is a relatively new research area, and recycled metal is being increasingly used in industry. Recycling is especially attractive if the melt treatment does not degrade the quality of the metal. The main objective is to address future challenges in the areas of quality and efficiency. 
My present research activity is on recycling and refining of light metals, in particular developing a general model for delacquering of aluminium. Additiona l long-term research plans include a book bringing scientific methodology to handling of liquid recycled metals. Colorado School of Mines is a public research university devoted to engineering and applied science with deep understanding in metals. This me ans that a combination of practical, theoretical, and experimental work in the laboratories, in cooperation with their industrial network, is offered to me. This will hopefully give me an excellent chance to play a role in the future concerning recycling of light metals. Light metals where Norway has a long tradition in research, development and production.

Recycling and remelting of light metals

This project addresses the interaction of phonological and morphological information in linguistic analysis from the point of view of cognitive linguistics. The object of study is the so-called transitive and plain softening alternations in Russian, which  arose from phonetically motivated regular sound change, but was then at least in part morphologized. The working hypotheses of the project are that morphology and phonology are tightly interwoven (rather than separate modules), and that morphology takes precedence over phonology. The project will be carried out in collaboration with professor Laura A. Janda at the University of North Carolina at Chapel hill - the world's leading expert in the field of Slavic cognitive linguistics. Both the Universities o f North Carolina and Tromsø will benefit from the project, which is planned to be the first in a series of joint projects conducted by professor Janda and myself.

The Morphology-Phonology Interface in Cognitive Linguistics: The Case of Russian Softening

Improving care for people with dementia through developing a collaborative multi center international research project USA - Norway

The wind turbine industry has undergone a growth of 30-40% per year, making wind energy a significant source of electrical energy in many countries. The turbines have grown from 50kW to 5 MW over some 25 years, and since for comparable designs the weight of the blades and drive train grows faster than the energy production, it becomes imperative to make comparatively lighter blades and drivetrains for the large wind units. One important mean to achieve this is the topic of my thesis, individual pitch cont rol, which means that the orientation of each blade relative to the plane of the rotor (?angle of attack?) is adjusted continuously to cope with variations in the wind velocity. The rotor on large turbines typically undergoes one revolution in about 4 sec onds, and since the necessary adjustment of the angle of attack is in the order of 1-2 degrees, such adjustments are not too hard to effectuate.

One problem is the difficulty in giving precise definitions of the objectives of the regulation strategies. F or instance: decreasing the angle of attack will decrease the lift force acting on the blade, but will decrease the torque which is input to the drivetrain even more, since the torque depends only on the component of the force in the plane of the rotor. T he torque of course also depends on the pitching of the 2 other blades, but will in addition be influenced by the electrical controls implemented at the opposite end of the drivetrain, in connection with the generator. To fix ideas: The torque can be kept  relatively constant even if the moment from the wind temporarily reduces, by reduction of rotational velocity. But this in turn will change the wind forces.

Due to the complexity of the factors influencing the pitch regulation strategies, it is of outmo st importance that we can discuss these matters with other competent people with experience in this field, and fortunately some of the best can be found at NREL and at MIT.

Cooperation Norway-USA in the field of wind energy

1. Applied Risk Analysis, Simulation and Software Development

Ideally one would like to have a software tool for doing risk analysis, which combines influence diagrams, network models, discrete event models and system dynamic models. With such a hybrid t ool one could choose the model type that best suited the problem, and possibly integrate various types of models in a combined model. 

This is partly the idea behind the so-called Ptolomy-project developed at the CHESS Research Group (see http://chess.ee cs.berkeley.edu), University of California, Berkeley. I have been invited by one of the principal investigators at this center, Professor Edward A. Lee (see http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~eal/), to spend my sabbatical in his group. The purpose of this stay is to cooperate on developing this concept further. In particular, we will explore how the Ptolemy-platform can be used in relation to various problems in applied risk analysis, especially in connection to offshore related activities. 

2. Monte Carl o Methods and Real Options

One of the most active areas of research within the field of risk analysis today is real option analysis (ROA). A "real" option is an option "relating to things", i.e., fixed, permanent, or immovable objects, as opposed to fina ncial instruments like stocks and bonds. 

During my sabbatical, I plan to work on Monte Carlo-methods for solving optimisation problems related to real option analysis. There is currently a great potential for improvements in this area by employing more advanced techniques of simulation. Particularly, recent methods for analysing American options will be of relevance. While at the University of California, Berkeley, I will study this in further detail together with the CHESS research group. We will work on this both from a theoretical perspective and from an implementation point of view.

Applied Risk Analysis and Monte Carlo Methods

The Research Centre for Health Promotion, U of Bergen, has considerable experience in developing and evaluating health promotion interventions, such as:
- The BE smokeFREE programme (with the Norwegian Cancer Society)
- The Olweus programme for the preven tion of bullying
- The EC-funded SATZ project, involving seven European and African universitites.

The 2004 evaluation of public health reseach in Norway concluded that the research at HEMIL was "very good" with "features of excellence". The panel encour aged HEMIL to aim at excellence, and at strengthening its position as one of the leading centres for such research in Europe.

The Centre has already established collaboration with a number of strong research institutions in Europe. The present project ai ms at strengthening the Centre's research through collaboration with two of the leading universitites in the U.S. on health promotion interventions. Staff at Department of Psychology at Stanford are among the top researchers worldwide on theory and concep tual frameworks for planning and evaluation of health behaviour interventions. My collaboration will be with professor Lee Ross in particular. This will allow for a broader contact with staff at Stanford, for instance professor Albert Bandura.

At Departm ent of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, professor Marc Braverman has established a research group that plays a central role in evaluation of community-based tobacco interventions across California. Braverman will be my pri mary collaborator at UC-Davis.

The collaboration will start when Bandura and Braverman visit Bergen in June 2005, and will continue during my 10 months as visiting scholar at Stanford University. The outcomes of this project will be particularly importan t for HEMILs future involvement in research on health promotion interventions, for instance within the context of the new UoB Centre of Exellence-Consortium on Priority Interventions in Global Health.

Strengthening competence in research on health interventions: Collaboration with Stanford University and University of California, Davis

Ageing future: Economic beliefs and attitudes toward the future of old age

The research stay at an internationally renowned university is an important part of my PhD project. The University of California, Berkeley, has relevant and worldclass competence in my research area.

Leiv Eiriksson Mobilitetsstipend for Øivind Hagen

In a longer perspective the proposed research aims at integrating certain aspects of two major, although separated, domains in current biology: The first domain extends from the molecule to the organisms, while the second extends from organism to populati on biology, biodiversity studies, and ecology (Kafatos & Eisner 2004). Specifically I intend to develop life-history and individual growth models of planktonic organisms that include developmental as well as environmental forcing. A first version of this approach has been developed for the planktonic model organism Oikopleura dioica and is further developed at the Sars Centre and at the University of Bergen. The research with  MD Ohman at SiO will primarily be concerned with the ecological basis including  the environmental forcing of the model. Specifically the predation field of planktonic organisms will be focussed, but two other environmental variables: temperature and food are also to be addressed. Through the analysis of existing datasets we will inv estigate if food limitation affects the scaling relationship between metabolism on one hand and body size and temperature on the other as predicted from the current model. A submodel for the planktonic predation field, including visual and tactile predati on, is to be developed and included as a mortality risk parameter in the life-history model. Furthermore, the influence of water clarity (through its effect on the predation field) life history strategies in planktonic organisms will be investigated. Comp lementary to this, long time series of water clarity for four ocean areas: The California coast (CalCofi), the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea will be analyzed for possible food-web effects.

Integration of developmental and environmental forcing in life history models of planktonic organisms

There is a scarcity of literature and research in Norway focused on the arguments and effects of the principles of oral and immediate presentation in the court room. Oral and immediate presentation of proof constitutes central principles of procedure (Str prl. §§ 278, 296) and they are considered important in terms of the rule of law/legal security (EMK art. 6). At the same time their modes of operation are rarely questioned or studied in legal or socio-legal literature. Some of the reasons for this might be that the legal principles are easy to ascertain in a narrow sense, while the arguments for the same principles are based on assumptions about social mechanisms which are difficult to establish. An oral and immediate presentation is supposed to create t he most valid relationship between the presentation and evaluation of proof. The principles of oral as well as written presentation are based on language as a tool. However, the procedural system of oral and immediate presentation contributes to the broad ening of the concept of language. The advantage of the oral presentation is not only that it makes it easier to ask further questions during thetrial, but also that it provides a broader spectre of information, as Hov (1999) succinctly states in his textb ook on procedure; "it is said that paper does not blush". This project is meant to develop a more systematic understanding of how judges evaluate the plausibility of statements made by the parties in court as well as what strategies of presentation the va rious actors in court choose to use. The findings will be compared with the arguments that have been, and are, given in legal literature for the particular form of presentation which proof is given in court. The data consist of documents, observation of s elected court trials, interviews with various actors in court, and observation of the deliberation of the court in order to be able to grasp how judges actually evaluate evidence and proof

Communication in court - evidential value of oral and immediate statement in court

During the previous 10 years there has been a considerable increase in prospective studies on adolescent mental health, and new knowledge has been gained in this respect. However, there has been a comparative paucity in prospective studies on young adult mental health. Moreover, we generally know fairly little about whether insights gained from emerging risk and predictors in adolescence can be extrapolated to the adult population, and about the developmental trajectories of internalizing problems from ad olescence to adulthood - and their predictors. Further, there is some research on the adult outcome of adolescent internalizing problems. Unfortunately, the majority of these studies are limited to the early 20?s, a phase that resembles adolescence in man y respects. Firstly, we intend to overcome these shortcomings in previous research by utilizing a 13-year prospective study on a large and nationally representative sample Norwegian adolescent. Due to the comparatively ease of conducting such large scale prospective studies in Norway and achieving high retention rates than in the US, such data are most valuable to US researchers. 
Secondly, two perspectives have burgeoned internationally in clinical psychology and psychiatry during the latter two decades and have proven successful in treatment of psychiatric disorders, namely biochemical models and cognitive models. Moreover, in principle, the models combining these two perspectives have been advocated, but rarely put to an empirical test. Thirdly, in the  same period Norwegian clinical child psychology and psychiatry has steadily increased both in quantity and quality. However, genuine collaboration with foreign researchers, as in utilizing the same data sets, has been scarce. Collaboration with FSU will serve both these three important ends, both offering research where Norway has an asset (epidemiology) and utilizing data set and facilities in which the US site has an advantage (biochemical measures).

Predictors of Changes in Depressive Symptoms, Suicidality, and Eating Problems in Adolescence and Early Adulthood

With human impact minimised, possible effects of climate change should be more easily detected in pristine Arctic environments. Both the glacial history of the Arctic and expected future temperature change caused by the greenhouse effect indicates that th e amplitude of temperature change is greater here than in temperate regions. The Arctic environment is harsh with relatively simple freshwater ecosystems consisting of species adapted to low levels of nutrients, very short productive season, and low tempe ratures. Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) is as larvae the most common insect group in freshwaters. In Arctic ecosystems, the chironomids are disproportionately important compared to lower latitudes and forms a key organism. Because the distribution of chi ronomids is restricted by environmental conditions, and because Arctic ecosystems are vulnerable to environmental stress, Arctic chironomids are ideal to examine both the magnitude and impact of climate change. 

A climate warming may lead to increased ra tes of faunal succession and replacements, including primary succession in lakes formed subsequent to glacial retreat. Such an impact may also affect the terrestrial ecosystem through the input of energy and nutrients from adult chironomids. By examining how the present chironomid fauna is influenced by the primary physical and chemical factors at Bylot Island, Arctic Canada, we plan to predict how the fauna may respond to high latitude climate scenarios as provided by General Circulation Modelling. To pr ovide more reliable GCM scenarios, chironomid-inferred temperatures for the last millenium will be used to evaluate the variability modes of the hind-casting mode of the GCM. By examining the fundaments for life in recently formed lakes, we also meet the need to examine the problematic late glacial and early Holocene no-analogue phases in palaeoclimatic inferences. During these phases the fauna may or may not reflect the ambient environment we wish to reconstruct.

PES-EU-Prosjektetablererstøtte EU (bedrift)

Research of improved polymyxin B analogues with reduced nephrotoxicity for use against Gram(-) bacteria by means of platform biocatalytic pr

Awarded: NOK 0.20 mill.

Funding scheme:

PES-EU-Prosjektetablererstøtte EU (bedrift)

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