Treatment options for early stages of esophageal cancer have significantly improved over the last decades, with a radical shift in the treatment paradigm from surgery to endoscopic therapy. The aim of this thesis was to ...

This thesis describes the challenges and methods for dealing with missing and hierarchical or clustered data, which often occur together in epidemiological studies. It provides a comprehensive overview of imputation methods ...

In this thesis, we describe several aspects of early maternal tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination before 24 weeks of pregnancy in order to protect the infant against severe pertussis in the first ...

Scar formation, a natural part of wound healing, can lead to functional impairments such as reduced joint mobility or diminished skin sensitivity. More critically, scarring in vital organs like the heart after a myocardial ...

This dissertation employed an epidemiological approach to investigate language and cognitive changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease by leveraging longitudinal data and cohort studies. This dissertation is organized ...

WNT signaling is a key cell-cell communication pathway that regulates essential cellular processes such as cell fate determination and proliferation. Accordingly, WNT signaling plays critical roles during embryogenesis, ...

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC; chemotherapy administered before surgery) is increasingly used in the treatment of non-metastatic breast cancer. However, a significant proportion of patients’ tumors respond insufficiently ...

In recent years, nationwide outcomes after pancreatic resection have improved since centralization to high-volume centers has been implemented, driven by a focus on surgical performance, process measures, optimizing the ...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), now termed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), is increasingly prevalent worldwide, paralleling the rise in obesity and diabetes. NAFLD encompasses ...