[Vaccination coverage against COVID-19 according to country of birth, and underlying risk of severe clinical course]. / Vaksinasjonsdekning mot covid-19 etter fødeland og underliggende risiko for alvorlig sykdomsforløp.

Background: Support for the COVID-19 vaccination programme has been high in Norway throughout the pandemic, but previous studies have observed variation based on country of birth. If the unvaccinated are young and healthy, the risk and consequences for the individual and for the health service will be less than if the unvaccinated have underlying risk of severe COVID-19. The purpose of the study was to examine the degree to which vaccination coverage varied by country of birth in persons with and without underlying risk. Material and method: We used the Norwegian emergency preparedness register Beredt C19 to link vaccination coverage to demographic and health variables. Using Poisson regression, we estimated the relative likelihood of being vaccinated for foreign-born individuals compared to Norwegian-born individuals, for those with and without underlying risk of severe COVID-19, adjusted for sex, age, level of education, household income and county. Results: The study population was 4 304 249, which included 768 312 people who were born outside Norway. The vaccination coverage varied in total from 47 to 94 % between countries of birth. The variation between countries of birth was less in the group with underlying risk, ranging from 63 to 96 %. The difference between persons with and without an underlying risk was most pronounced among those born in Poland (RR 0.71 and 0.55) and Lithuania (RR 0.69 and 0.61). In absolute numbers, this corresponded to a difference in relative risk of 0.16 and 0.08, respectively. Interpretation: Higher vaccination coverage against COVID-19 among persons with an underlying risk means that the variation between countries of birth may have had less serious implications in terms of severe clinical course and healthcare needs than previously assumed.

Implementation and spillovers of local non-pharmaceutical interventions.

In this paper, we analyze economic costs and consequences of local non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) aimed at containing the Covid-19 pandemic. Using comprehensive data on municipal and regional policies in Norway, we implement a difference-in-differences framework identifying impacts of local NPIs from discontinuous differential shifts in outcomes following the implementation of new policies. In treated municipalities, local NPIs lead to persistent reductions in mobility, persistent increases in unemployment, and transient reductions in consumer spending. Analyses of spatial spillovers show that the implementation of local NPIs increases retail mobility in untreated neighboring municipalities. Overall, our findings suggest that local NPIs have economic consequences for local economies and induce residents to shift their consumption of goods and services to neighboring municipalities.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental healthcare consultations among children and adolescents in Norway: a nationwide registry study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions may have affected children and adolescent's mental health adversely. We cast light on this question using primary and specialist consultations data for the entire population of children of age 6-19 years in Norway (N = 908 272). Our outcomes are the monthly likelihood of having a consultation or hospitalization related to mental health problems and common mental health diagnoses. We compared a pandemic (2019-2021) to a pre-pandemic (2017-2019) cohort using event study and difference-in-difference designs that separate the shock of the pandemic from linear period trends and seasonal variation. We found temporary reductions in all mental health consultations during lockdown in spring 2020. In fall 2020 and winter 2021, consultation volumes in primary care increased, stabilizing at a higher level in 2021. Consultations in specialist care increased from spring 2021. Our findings could suggest a worsening of mental health among adolescents.

SARS-CoV-2 infections and hospitalisations among immigrants in Norway-significance of occupation, household crowding, education, household income and medical risk: a nationwide register study.

BACKGROUND: As in other countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Norway's immigrant population disproportionately, with significantly higher infection rates and hospitalisations. The reasons for this are uncertain. METHODS: Through the national emergency preparedness register, BeredtC19, we have studied laboratory-confirmed infections with SARS-CoV-2 and related hospitalisations in the entire Norwegian population, by birth-country background for the period 15 June 2020 to 31 March 2021, excluding the first wave due to limited test capacity and restrictive test criteria. Straightforward linkage of individual-level data allowed adjustment for demographics, socioeconomic factors (occupation, household crowding, education and household income), and underlying medical risk for severe COVID-19 in regression models. RESULTS: The sample comprised 5.49 million persons, of which 0.91 million were born outside of Norway, there were 82,532 confirmed cases and 3088 hospitalisations. Confirmed infections in this period (per 100,000): foreign-born 3140, Norwegian-born with foreign-born parents 4799 and Norwegian-born with Norwegian-born parent(s) 1011. Hospitalisations (per 100,000): foreign-born 147, Norwegian-born with foreign-born parents 47 and Norwegian-born with Norwegian-born parent(s) 37. The addition of socioeconomic and medical factors to the base model (age, sex, municipality of residence) attenuated excess infection rates by 12.0% and hospitalisations by 3.8% among foreign-born, and 10.9% and 46.2%, respectively, among Norwegian-born with foreign parents, compared to Norwegian-born with Norwegian-born parent(s). CONCLUSIONS: There were large differences in infection rates and hospitalisations by country background, and these do not appear to be fully explained by socioeconomic and medical factors. Our results may have implications for health policy, including the targeting of mitigation strategies.

COVID-19 vaccination among immigrants from Europe and in their countries of birth. / Covid-19-vaksinasjon blant innvandrarar frå Europa og i fødelanda deira.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 varies among immigrant groups in Norway and between different countries. Most likely, childhood/adolescence and consistent contact with the country of birth help form the attitudes to and the desire for vaccination. We therefore compared the vaccination rate among European-born immigrants in Norway and the vaccination coverage in their countries of birth. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Vaccination coverage, the percentage of the adult population that had received at least one vaccination dose, for 22 European countries with universal access to vaccines by 31 August 2021 was retrieved from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and from the Norwegian emergency preparedness register for COVID-19 for the equivalent immigrant groups in Norway on 30 September 2021. Scatter plots with least-squares regression lines showed the association between the vaccination coverage in the country of birth and the rate in the equivalent immigration group in Norway, in total and by time of residence in Norway (< 6 years and ≥ 6 years). RESULT: The model estimated an increase in the vaccination rate in immigrant groups in Norway of 0.64 percentage points for each percentage point increase in the vaccination coverage in their European countries of birth, and explained 63 % of the variation in the vaccination rate in the immigrant groups. There was no statistically significant difference in the co-variation with the country of birth when comparing immigrants with short versus long time of residence. INTERPRETATION: There is a correlation between the vaccination rate for COVID-19 among European-born immigrants in Norway and the coverage in their countries of birth. Attitudes to and desire for vaccination varies between countries and can explain part of the observed differences between immigrant groups in Norway.

COVID-19 vaccination coverage by immigrant background. / Vaksinasjonsdekning mot covid-19 etter innvandrerbakgrunn.

BACKGROUND: High vaccination coverage against COVID-19 limits COVID-19-related infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Studies have shown varying vaccine willingness and vaccine coverage in different minority groups. This study investigates the vaccination coverage among persons with various immigration and country backgrounds in Norway. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study includes all persons over 18 years of age resident in Norway with a Norwegian national identity number. We used data from Beredt C19, the Norwegian emergency preparedness register for COVID-19, and investigated the association between vaccine status and immigrant and country background using logistic regression models, adjusted for income, education, sex, age, medical risk group and place of residence. RESULTS: Foreign- and Norwegian-born persons with foreign-born parents had a lower COVID-19 vaccine coverage than those who were Norwegian-born with Norwegian-born parents. Vaccination coverage for different country backgrounds varied from around 45 % for persons from Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Lithuania to 92 % for persons from Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Those in the former group had from 15 to 18 times (unadjusted) and from 8 to 11 times (adjusted) higher odds of not having been vaccinated as persons with a country background from Norway. INTERPRETATION: There is considerable variation in COVID-19 vaccine coverage between different immigrant groups in Norway. The differences can be explained to some extent by income and education, but this does not explain the bulk of the observed differences. We cannot rule out the possibility that some differences are attributable to weaknesses in the registers.

COVID-19 vaccination rates among adolescents (12-17 years) by immigrant background and sociodemographic factors: A nationwide registry study in Norway.

PURPOSE: Lower COVID-19 vaccination rates have been observed among some adult immigrant populations in Norway, and there appears to be an association with sociodemographic factors. However, knowledge is lacking on the distribution of vaccination rates and role of sociodemographic factors among adolescents. This study aims to describe COVID-19 vaccination rates among adolescents according to immigrant background, household income, and parental education. METHODS: In this nationwide registry study, we analyzed individual-level data on adolescents (12-17 years) from the Norwegian Emergency preparedness register for COVID-19 until September 15th, 2022. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRR) for receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by country background, household income and parental education, using Poisson regression, adjusting for age, sex, and county. RESULTS: The sample comprised 384,815 adolescents. Foreign-born and Norwegian-born with foreign-born parents, had lower vaccination rates (57 % and 58 %) compared to adolescents with at least one Norwegian-born parent (84 %). Vaccination rates by country background varied from 88 % (Vietnam) to 31 % (Russia). Variation and associations by country background, household income, and parental education were greater among 12-15-year-olds than 16-17-year-olds. Household income and parental education were positively associated with vaccination. Compared to the lowest income and education category, IRRs for household income ranged from 1.07 (95 % CI 1.06-1.09) to 1.31 (95 % CI 1.29-1.33) among 12-15-year-olds, and 1.06 (95 % CI 1.04-1.07) to 1.17 (95 % CI 1.15-1.18) among 16-17-year-olds. For parental education, from IRR 1.08 (95 % CI 1.06-1.09) to 1.18 (95 % CI 1.17-1.20) among 12-15-year-olds, and 1.05 (95 % CI 1.04-1.07) to 1.09 (95 % CI 1.07-1.10) among 16-17-year-olds. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 vaccination rates varied by immigrant background and age group, with lower rates especially among adolescents with background from Eastern Europe and among younger adolescents. Household income and parental education were positively associated with vaccination rates. Our results may help target measures to increase vaccination rates among adolescents.

Reopening schools in a context of low COVID-19 contagion: consequences for teachers, students and their parents.

Knowing how school reopenings affect the spread of COVID-19 is crucial when balancing children's right to schooling with contagion management. This paper considers the effects on COVID-19 testing prevalence and the positive test rate of reopening Norwegian schools after a 6-week closure aimed at reducing contagion. We estimate the effects of school reopening on teachers, parents and students using an event study/difference-in-differences design that incorporates comparison groups with minimal exposure to in-person schooling. We find no evidence that COVID-19 incidence increased following reopening among students, parents or teachers pooled across grade levels. We find some suggestive evidence that infection rates among upper secondary school teachers increased; however, the effects are small and transitory. At low levels of contagion, schools can safely be reopened when other social distancing policies remain in place.

Multifunctional Hybrid MoS2-PEGylated/Au Nanostructures with Potential Theranostic Applications in Biomedicine.

In this work, flower-like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) microspheres were produced with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to form MoS2-PEG. Likewise, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were added to form MoS2-PEG/Au to investigate its potential application as a theranostic nanomaterial. These nanomaterials were fully characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoelectron X-ray spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The produced hierarchical MoS2-PEG/Au microstructures showed an average diameter of 400 nm containing distributed gold nanoparticles, with great cellular viability on tumoral and non-tumoral cells. This aspect makes them with multifunctional characteristics with potential application for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Through the complete morphological and physicochemical characterization, it was possible to observe that both MoS2-PEG and MoS2-PEG/Au showed good chemical stability and demonstrated noninterference in the pattern of the cell nucleus, as well. Thus, our results suggest the possible application of these hybrid nanomaterials can be immensely explored for theranostic proposals in biomedicine.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 into and within immigrant households: nationwide registry study from Norway.

BACKGROUND: Minority groups and immigrants have been hit disproportionally hard by COVID-19 in many developed countries, including Norway. METHODS: Using individual-level registry data of all Norwegian residents, we compared infections across all multiperson households. A household with at least one member born abroad was defined as an immigrant household. In households where at least one person tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from 1 August 2020 to 1 May 2021, we calculated secondary attack rates (SARs) as the per cent of other household members testing positive within 14 days. Logistic regression was used to adjust for sex, age, household composition and geography. RESULTS: Among all multiperson households in Norway (n=1 422 411), at least one member had been infected in 3.7% of the 343 017 immigrant households and 1.4% in the 1 079 394 households with only Norwegian-born members. SARs were higher in immigrant (32%) than Norwegian-born households (20%). SARs differed considerably by region, and were particularly high in households from West Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and East Asia, also after adjustment for sex and age of the secondary case, household composition and geography. CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 is more frequently introduced into multiperson immigrant households than into households with only Norwegian-born members, and transmission within the household occurs more frequently in immigrant households. The results are likely related to living conditions, family composition or differences in social interaction, emphasising the need to prevent introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into these vulnerable households.

Micro Scalable Graphene Oxide Productions Using Controlled Parameters in Bench Reactor.

The detailed study of graphene oxide (GO) synthesis by changing the graphite/oxidizing reagents mass ratios (mG/mROxi), provided GO nanosheets production with good yield, structural quality, and process savings. Three initial samples containing different amounts of graphite (3.0 g, 4.5 g, and 6.0 g) were produced using a bench reactor under strictly controlled conditions to guarantee the process reproducibility. The produced samples were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), x-ray diffraction (XDR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetry (TGA) techniques. The results showed that the major GO product comprised of nanosheets containing between 1-5 layers, with lateral size up to 1.8 µm. Therefore, it was possible to produce different batches of graphene oxide with desirable physicochemical characteristics, keeping the amount of oxidizing reagent unchanged. The use of different proportions (mG/mROxi) is an important strategy that provides to produce GO nanostructures with high structural quality and scale-up, which can be well adapted in medium-sized bench reactor.

Regional variation in health care utilization and mortality.

Geographic variation in health care utilization has raised concerns of possible inefficiencies in health care supply, as differences are often not reflected in health outcomes. Using comprehensive Norwegian microdata, we exploit cross-region migration to analyze regional variation in health care utilization. Our results indicate that place factors account for half of the difference in utilization between high and low utilization regions, while the rest reflects patient demand. We further document heterogeneous impacts of place across socioeconomic groups. Place factors account for 75% of the regional utilization difference for high school dropouts, and 40% for high school graduates; for patients with a college degree, the impact of place is negligible. We find no statistically significant association between the estimated place effects and overall mortality. However, we document a negative association between place effects and utilization-intensive causes of death such as cancer, suggesting high-supply regions may achieve modestly improved health outcomes.

Can Labor Market Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair?

Do minimum wages and the earned income tax credit (EITC) mitigate rising "deaths of despair?" We leverage state variation in these policies over time to estimate event study and difference-in-differences models of deaths due to drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol-related causes. Our causal models find no significant effects on drug or alcohol-related mortality, but do find significant reductions in non-drug suicides. A 10 percent minimum wage increase reduces non-drug suicides among low-educated adults by 2.7 percent, and the comparable EITC figure is 3.0 percent. Placebo tests and event-study models support our causal research design. Increasing both policies by 10 percent would likely prevent a combined total of more than 700 suicides each year.

Thermal Conductivity Performance of 2D hBN/MoS2/Hybrid Nanostructures Used on Natural and Synthetic Esters.

In this paper, the thermal conductivity behavior of synthetic and natural esters reinforced with 2D nanostructures-single hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), single molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and hybrid h-BN/MOS2-were studied and compared to each other. As a basis for the synthesis of nanofluids, three biodegradable insulating lubricants were used: FR3TM and VG-100 were used as natural esters and MIDEL 7131 as a synthetic ester. Two-dimensional nanosheets of h-BN, MoS2, and their hybrid nanofillers (50/50 ratio percent) were incorporated into matrix lubricants without surfactants or additives. Nanofluids were prepared at 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.25 weight percent of filler fraction. The experimental results revealed improvements in thermal conductivity in the range of 20-32% at 323 K with the addition of 2D nanostructures, and a synergistic behavior was observed for the hybrid h-BN/MoS2 nanostructures.

Ultrasound exfoliation of graphite in biphasic liquid systems containing ionic liquids: A study on the conditions for obtaining large few-layers graphene.

Herein we describe a successful protocol for graphite exfoliation using a biphasic liquid system (water/dichloromethane, DCM) containing ionic liquids (ILs; 1,3-dibenzylimidazolium benzoate- and 1-naphthoate). The use of (surface active) IL and sonication led to stable DCM/water (O/W) emulsion, which enhanced graphene formation, suppressed its re-aggregation and decreased shear/cavitation damage. The O/W emulsion stabilization by the ILs was studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS), whereas their interaction with the graphene sheets were described by Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Moreover, a comprehensive investigation on cavitation-based exfoliation in the O/W systems was performed to assess the importance of operational parameters, including, the type of ultrasound processor, ultrasound power and insonation, and the influence of the exfoliation medium.

Epidemiological voice health map of the teaching population of Granollers (Barcelona) developed from the EVES questionnaire and the VHI.

The aim of this research project was to carry out an epidemiological study on the voice health of the teaching population in Granollers (Barcelona) using the EVES questionnaire and to relate the collected data to the VHI results. The study sample consisted of 233 teachers from Granollers (Barcelona). The EVES questionnaire, which includes the VHI-10, was conducted online. A high percentage of the teachers consulted suffered voice disorders, which ranged from minor to more serious cases. In regard to the data obtained using the VHI, in 28.77% of the cases there was a moderate or a serious perception of voice problems. Out of these cases only one person, who had a moderate perception of their problem, was undergoing voice therapy with a speech therapist. There are three questions in the EVES questionnaire that can efficiently indicate the existence of a voice disorder in a straightforward manner, and the results for these were similar to those recorded for the VHI group of questions. Therefore, it may be argued that questions that refer to the perception of the degree of pleasantness of one's own voice should be included, because they would provide a useful way to indicate whether there is a voice problem at a preliminary screening stage.