Arctic Circle In Norway Research Articles

The Changing Epidemiology of Tick-Borne Encephalitis (TBE)

The study describes the changing epidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) based on a literature review. TBE case numbers were obtained from Austria, Germany, and Estonia for incidence calculations and for trend analyses at the county level. Currently, the TBEV is circulating in an area from the United Kingdom and France in the West to Japan in the East and from the arctic circle in Norway and Siberia down to Northern Italy, Kazakhstan and China. Over the last two decades, the TBEV was detected for the first time in Denmark, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Japan and also in higher altitudes of previously known endemic regions. TBE case numbers have been fluctuating with huge annual variations in central Europe (Germany, Austria), reaching an all-time high in 2020. Case numbers have been continuously increasing over recent decades in Norway, Sweden and Finland, whereas the TBE-epidemic curve was bell-shaped in 2 Northern-most Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia) with a huge peak in 1995 and 1997. However, the opposite (decreasing) trend was noted in some countries and TBE even disappeared from some previously highly endemic areas. Vaccination has a clear effect on TBE case numbers, which for example dropped from 677 in 1979 to 41 in 1999 (vaccine uptake at that time >80%) in Austria. Incidence rates are an inappropriate tool to predict the risk for TBE in a given region due to a lack of valid surveillance and the unpredictability of the main driver for exposure to the TBEV: human outdoor activities and the risk definition by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control for arbovirus infections should be used instead.

Early climate change indicators in the Arctic: A geographical perspective

Climate change is continuing to impact the social-ecological systems of polar regions. Climate models project substantial warming above the global average and high rates of environmental change in polar regions, but local impacts remain uncertain. These rapid alterations will affect biophysical, economic, and sociocultural conditions. This research aims to uncover early climate change indicators through climate model projections and individuals' perceptions by focusing on a sample of 39 municipalities north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northwestern Russia. The study employs an exploratory sequential approach by combining representations of climate model projections in a geographic information system (GIS) with qualitative analysis from semi-structured interviews with local officials involved in planning decisions for each municipality. And, second, the study combined perceptions of early climate change indicators and their subsequent challenges and opportunities with regional climate projections. Results indicate an overall geographic ‘match’ between climate model projections and perceptions, but differences between north-to-south, coast-to-interior, and national perspectives are notable. Some of these differences point to the roles of nationally, regionally, and locally embedded geographies, producing a multitude of lived experiences. The implications of this study are relevant to global communities experiencing varying climate change risk perception from coastal-versus-interior regions.

European Safe Community Network

More than 5 million people die each year as a result of: injuries, resulting from acts of violence against oneself or others, road traffic crashes, burns, drowning, falls, poisonings, among other causes. That is the reason for Safe Community program in every part of the world. Because Safe Communities are an Essential need for a Modern-Day Society. Safe Community is our present and future. Safe Community does not know the state boundaries, nationality, religion, skin color, age and gender. Safe Community is a global program and global movement for the preservation and protection of the environment, life and health of every inhabitant of this planet. Safe Community is a safe environment in which people can develop all their work and productive potentials. European safe Community Network aims at strengthening existing International Safe Communities in Europe and promotion of the formation of new communities to be accepted into the Safe community movement. The Global Burden of Disease Studies has documented unfair distribution of injury by socioeconomic strata in Europe. This gradient, existing within and between countries, must be addressed. Our board has representatives from Novi Sad in South Eastern Europe through the Baltics and as far north in Scandinavia as 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. Together we are working against public indifference towards the burden of injury and trying to promote community based interventions against injuries e.g. traffic accidents , drowning, burns, falls, violence, and suicide. In the 53 countries of the WHO European Region injuries are estimated to cause 790 000 deaths yearly. This is 9% of deaths from all causes. An estimate for the 27 countries in the European Union is 252 000 injury related deaths and about 7 million hospital admissions yearly (8% of all admissions). Injury is the greatest thief of life years in the age group from one year to the mid-forties. The first Safe Community was designated in 1989. Several Swedish and Norwegian communities followed in Falkopings, footsteps during the next two decades. There are 58 designated Safe Communities in Europe. Of these 36 are in Sweden and Norway. Norway has a strong National Safe Community Network, Norwegian Safety Forum and are steadily recruiting communities up to the present. Sweden he s recruited few new safe communities the last two decades, probably due to the dissolving of the Swedish National Network. However, existing Swedish Safe Communities are active and strong and thus redesigned. Key success on participation in National and International Safe Communities Networks are: Statistics, Research, Strategy, Motivation, Education, Training and Collaboration.

Migrating rituals: negotiations of belonging and otherness among Tamils in Norway

ABSTRACTBy examining a funeral ritual devised by Tamil refugees living north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, I argue that the study of migrant rituals offers new insights into migrants’ senses of belonging, identity and wellbeing. Within a context of the exclusion and inclusion of cultural minorities, I describe the process of creating a funeral ritual that involves encounters between local Norwegians and Tamil refugees. The funeral followed the sudden death of a Tamil worker at the local fish plant as a result of a freak accident. The article focuses on how the Tamils’ work of devising and performing the funeral speaks to local migrant experiences of living on the boundaries between the Tamil and Norwegian life-worlds. A centrepiece of the case study involves a young widow, thus the analysis includes social and cultural dimensions of widow- and womanhood, while also highlighting issues of migration and the shared human condition. In conclusion, I underscore the way in which the migrant ritual, embodiment and (Othering) discourse cohere together to form a temporal phenomenon that responds to the present-ism of human life.

Allergic disease and Staphylococcus aureus carriage in adolescents in the Arctic region of Norway.

Allergic diseases are common chronic diseases in children and adolescents, but limited epidemiological data are available during transition into adulthood. Nasal Staphylococcus aureus carriage has been linked to increased prevalence of allergic disease. The objective of this study was to define the prevalence of allergic diseases in adolescents above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway and to study the associations of S. aureus carriage with allergic diseases. A school-based cohort in late adolescence (18-19 years) was invited to participate in a cross-sectional study on lifestyle and health, and 868 attended (71.9%). Self-reported allergic disease and severity of eczema were assessed by Mechanisms of the Development of Allergy and Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure questionnaires. Participants were tested with spirometry and exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and swabbed for bacterial culture from nose and eczematous skin. We found asthma, eczema, allergic rhinitis (AR), and nasal S. aureus carriage among 11.9%, 10.4%, 26.0%, and 51.3% of the participants, respectively, and 10.2% had allergic multimorbidity. Lifetime prevalence for any allergic disease was 45.1%. Reduced lung function and increased FeNO were found in 11.6% and 22.1% in participants with asthma, respectively. Nasal S. aureus carriage was associated with eczema, severe asthma, and severe AR. FeNO > 25 ppb was associated with both asthma and nasal S. aureus carriage. Asthma, eczema, and AR are common among adolescents above the Arctic Circle in Norway. Allergic disease is associated with S. aureus carriage, but its role in the pathogenesis and severity is not established.

High Winds at Nygårdsfjell

Wind energy in cold climate offers challenges that include among others, the icing on the turbine blades that affects the power output of the turbines. We investigate the presence of high winds at the Nygardsfjell wind farm that is situated in north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. The data is taken from three 2.3 MW Siemens wind turbines (SWT-2.3-93) that were installed at Nygardsfjell during the fall of 2005. There are total of 185 high winds events detected consisting of 1737 hours during the observation period May 2008 until April 2009. Out of these 1737 hours of high winds, 269 hours occurred during May 2008 until October 2008 and 1468 hours occurred during November 2008 until April 2009 that is 84.5% of total high winds hours. That shows the majority of high winds events occurring during the colder periods. The ten leading high winds events showed the presence of wind speeds ranging from 16 m/s to 19 m/s with maximum up to 24 m/s. The analysis established the existence of high winds at Nygardsfjell during colder times.

Ixodes ricinus and Borrelia prevalence at the Arctic Circle in Norway

The distribution limit of Ixodes ricinus ticks in northwestern Europe (Brønnøy, Norway, 1° south of the Arctic Circle), has been known since the 1930s. To reconfirm this finding and extend studies in the areas adjacent to the Arctic Circle (66°33′ N), ticks were collected from dogs and cats in 8 districts in northern Norway from 64°56′ N to 68°48′ N. We detected 549 I. ricinus, 244 (44%) of them in Brønnøy district, and 305 (range 6–87 ticks) in 7 districts in the northern part of the study area. The prevalence of Borrelia in these ticks was determined by real-time PCR. In the Brønnøy district (65°28′ N, 12°12′ E), 29% of the I. ricinus were Borrelia spp.-positive, and the species B. afzelii was nearly twice as prevalent as B. garinii and/or B. valaisiana. In the study area north of Brønnøy district, only 12 (4%) of the collected ticks contained Borrelia spp. In conclusion, tick occurrence and Borrelia prevalence are high in the Brønnøy district. In contrast, I. ricinus occurrence and Borrelia prevalence are low further north across the Arctic Circle in Norway.

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Ixodes ricinus ticks in Brønnøysund in northern Norway

Ticks are important vectors of disease for both humans and animals. In Europe, Lyme borreliosis is the most abundant tick-borne human disease, whereas anaplasmosis, or tick-borne fever, is the most widespread tick-borne infection in domestic animals. However, knowledge about the prevalence of the causative disease agents in questing ticks in the northern range of their distribution in Norway is missing. Ixodes ricinus ticks were therefore collected by flagging vegetation in Brønnøysund, an area near the Arctic Circle in Norway where ticks have been abundant for decades. Ticks were analysed for infection with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasma phagocytophilum by real-time PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene of B. burgdorferi and the msp2 gene of A. phagocytophilum. B. burgdorferi s.l. were subsequently genotyped by conducting a melt curve analysis of the PCR-amplified hbb gene or by directly sequencing the PCR-amplified rrs (16S)-rrl (23S) intergenetic spacer. A. phagocytophilum was genotyped by msp2 gene sequencing. B. burgdorferi s.l. isolates were detected in 11.3% (15/133) of the nymphal ticks and in 33.3% (29/87) of the adult ticks. Of the 44 Borrelia-infected ticks collected, B. afzelii was identified in 42 ticks (95.5%), whereas B. garinii was detected in only 2 ticks (4.5%). A. phagocytophilum was detected in 0.8% of nymphal ticks (1/133) and in 4.6% of adult ticks (4/87). Mixed infections of more than one B. burgdorferi genospecies were not observed. One adult tick was co-infected with B. afzelii and A. phagocytophilum.

Agricultural practices in Arctic Norway during the first millennium b.c.

Palaeoecological investigations of mires suggest that agriculture was established north of the Arctic Circle in Norway during the late Bronze Age (1100–500 b.c.) and Pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 b.c.). The lack of archaeobotanical and archaeological investigations has made it difficult to assess the nature of this early agricultural expansion into the Arctic in any detail. Here we present the first well documented archaeobotanical investigation from north Norway that covers this agricultural pioneer phase. Remains of charred seeds show that barley (Hordeum) was already being cultivated in the late Bronze Age, and that wheat (Triticum) was introduced in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Large amounts of crowberry (Empetrum) seeds are also typical of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and were obviously an important food plant at the time, at least locally. Charcoal rich layers dated to the late Bronze Age suggest that the local birch forest was initially cleared away with the help of fire, possibly related to a slash-and-burn cultivation practice. Lithostratigraphic and pollen-analytical results indicate that the cultivation practice of the Pre-Roman Iron Age was a form of bush-fallow system with intensive soil re-working alternated with long periods of fallow.

Glacier changes at Svartisen, northern Norway, during the last 125 years: Influence of climate and other factors

The two ice caps of Svartisen, at the latitude of the Arctic Circle in Norway, supply 60 glaciers, ranging in size from >50 to <1 km2. Until the last two decades of the 19th century, the glaciers remained close to their maximum recent (Little Ice Age) size. In response to the prevailing 20th century climate, they have become smaller, but the changes have varied between glaciers. Climatic factors have not been the sole control of the variations. The response times of small, steep glaciers are shorter than those of the longer, more gently sloping outlet glaciers. Topographic factors may moderate the response of individual glaciers to climate. The 20th century mass balance of several of the larger glaciers was dominated by calving into marginal lakes. The mass balance of Engabreen, the largest outlet of the western ice cap, has been measured every year since 1970 and the cumulative balance to 2008 was a gain of 22.7 m water equivalent. Although the pattern of annual variations probably applies to the other glaciers of Svartisen, it does not indicate their actual changes (gain or loss). Thus, the Engabreen record is of little utility in water resource planning for the whole area.

Hemoglobin, iron, nutrition and life-style among adolescents in a coastal and an inland community in northern Norway

Background. Adolescents, influenced by modern youth culture, may have a diet containing too little iron and other vital nutrients.Materials and methods. Adolescents from Finnmark county, situated well above the arctic circle in Norway, from a Sami culture, and from a coastal culture, were examined to study hemoglobin, iron stores, dietary composition, food habits and life-style. A short intervention with dietary instructions was made, followed by re-examination after one year.Results. The inland adolescents had larger iron stores, higher dietary intake of meat and protein, and lower intake of sugar than coastal ones, in accordance with traditional Sami diets. All groups had too high intake of sugar and fat, and too low intake of vitamin D and fibre, compared to national recommendations. The adolescents hardly consumed fish. About 1/3 of them had a high dietary iron density, as well as higher concentrations of other dietary nutrients and a more health promoting life-style in general. The short intervention did not have any effect on the magnitude of the iron stores, and only minor effects on food habits and life-style.Conclusion. The adolescents from the Sami community still had a diet based on tradition. This was not found in the coastal community. The iron density in the diet may serve as an indicator of positive food habits and life-style in general. The modest effect of intervention, emphasizes the need for a creative, preventive medicine.

Trapping oestrid parasites of reindeer: the response of Cephenemyia trompe and Hypoderma tarandi to baited traps.

At 340-360 km North of the Arctic Circle in Norway, Hypoderma tarandi (L.) and Cephenemyia trompe (Modeer) females were caught in baited traps from 10 July to 21 August. During three summers, adverse climatic conditions inhibited flight activity of these oestrids on 56-68% of the days. Flies were not caught prior to or after these dates, nor at winds above 8 m/s, temperatures below 10 degrees C, light intensities below 20,000 lux, or during periods of rain or snow. CO2-baited insect flight traps caught significantly more H.tarandi females than non-baited traps. However, neither a white reindeer hide or reindeer interdigital pheromone glands enhanced the attraction of CO2 to H.tarandi or C.trompe. Hypoderma tarandi females also were attracted to mobile people, but not to stationary individuals. There were no significant differences in the number of C.trompe or H.tarandi caught in CO2-baited traps in a birch/willow woods, on the treeless vidda (= tundra-like biome), or at woods:vida ecotone sites. Flies were caught in traps on days when the nearest reindeer herds were 25-100 km away. Significantly more H.tarandi and C.trompe were caught from 09.30 to 14.30 hours than from 14.30 to 19.30 hours; no flies were caught from 20.00 to 07.00 hours (Norwegian Standard Time = NST). Because of CO2-baited traps caught from hundreds to thousands of mosquitoes, blackflies and Culicoides midges, when climatic conditions inhibited oestrid activity, reindeer aggregations and movements attributed to insect attacks during warm sunny days may be largely in response to attacks by H.tarandi and C.trompe.

The Devil's Grass: Quackgrass

Quackgrass [Agropyron repens (L.) Beauv. #3 AGRRE] infests farms and gardens throughout the northern United States, southern Canada, almost all of Europe—its native home—and parts of Asia. It grows in Alaska, extends above the Arctic Circle in Norway, and plagues coffee plantations in New Guinea. While quackgrass occurs in every state in the United States, it is rarely a troublesome crop weed in the South.