Analyse van klachten na sterilisatie met Essure® in Nederland : Gezondheidsproblemen na een niet chirurgische sterilisatie-ingreep bij vrouwen

alleen digitaal verschenenHet RIVM heeft klachten geanalyseerd van vrouwen die zijn gesteriliseerd met Essure®. Dit zijn metalen veertjes die via de baarmoeder in beide eileiders worden gebracht waardoor deze na ongeveer 3 maanden dichtgroeien. Het voordeel van deze sterilisatiemethode is, in vergelijking met de traditionele afsluiting van de eileiders, dat er geen chirurgische ingreep voor nodig is. Het aantal gemelde klachten komt van ruim 1,5 procent van de circa 30.000 vrouwen die in Nederland met Essure® zijn behandeld. De meest genoemde klachten zijn pijn en vermoeidheid. Bij de pijnklachten gaat het vooral om de buik, de rug en het hoofd. Daarnaast worden hevige bloedingen tijdens en tussen de menstruatie, stemmingswisselingen, geheugenverlies en concentratieproblemen gemeld. Het werkelijke aantal vrouwen met klachten is onbekend. Veel vrouwen geven aan dat deze klachten hun dagelijks leven negatief beïnvloeden. Ze voelen de veertjes zitten of ervaren beperkingen bij het bewegen. Verder kunnen ze de dagelijkse taken en de zorg voor kinderen vaak minder goed uitvoeren. Er zijn ook vrouwen die aangeven dat hun relatie lijdt onder de ontstane problemen. Bij 16 procent van de vrouwen die klachten gemeld hebben, is Essure® verwijderd naar aanleiding van de klachten. 38 procent van de vrouwen in dit onderzoek heeft een afspraak gemaakt om dat te laten doen. De klachten zijn gemeld nadat hieraan via diverse kanalen aandacht is besteed. De Nederlandse Vereniging voor Obstetrie en Gynaecologie (NVOG) heeft de resultaten van de analyse medisch geduid. Sommige klachten zijn mogelijk toe te wijzen aan de plaatsing van Essure®, zoals bepaalde pijnklachten. Bij andere klachten is het moeilijker om een direct verband te leggen omdat er ook andere zaken van invloed kunnen zijn, zoals stoppen met de pil waardoor menstruatieklachten kunnen verergeren. Daarnaast komen verschillende klachten, bijvoorbeeld gewichtsschommelingen en urinewegproblemen, ook met enige regelmaat voor bij vrouwen die geen Essure® hebben. De gemelde klachten komen van vrouwen die tussen 2001 en 2016 het implantaat hebben gekregen. Hun gemiddelde leeftijd was 37 jaar op het moment van de sterilisatie.The RIVM has analyzed the complaints reported by women sterilized using Essure®. Essure® is a sterilization method where two metal coils are placed into both fallopian tubes through the cervix and uterus, provoking those to become blocked after approximately 3 months. In comparison with the traditional sterilization methods, the advantage of the Essure® method is that no surgical procedure is required. The complaints that were received came from more than1,5 percent of the 30.000 women who are estimated to have been sterilized using Essure® in the Netherlands. Probably not all women with health problems have submitted a complaint; therefore, the actual number of women with health problems is unknown. The most frequently mentioned health problems are pain and tiredness. The pain is reported to be located mainly in the abdomen, back, and head. In addition, heavy bleeding during and between menstruations, mood swings, memory loss and concentration problems are also reported frequently. Many women indicated that these health problems negatively affect their daily life. They feel the coils in their body and often experience limitations when moving. They are often less able to adequately perform their daily tasks and take care of their children.There are also women that indicated that their relationship was negatively affected by the health problems. In 16 percent of the women in this study, Essure® has been removed because of the health problems and 38 percent of the women have made an appointment to have Essure® removed. The complaints were submitted, among other reasons, because the media attention on problems experienced by women following sterilization using Essure®. The Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gyneacology (NVOG) contributed to the interpretation of the results from this study. Some health problems can be directly related to Essure®, for instance some kinds of pain. For other health problems it is more difficult to establish a direct link, because other factors may influence the health problems as well. For instance, heavier menstruation may also be explained by the fact that women stopped taking oral contraceptives following sterilization using Essure®.Furthermore, there are other health problems such as weight changes and urinary tract problems that are also regularly experienced by women not sterilized with Essure®. Women that submitted a complaint were sterilized using Essure between 2001 and 2016. Their mean age at implantation was 37 years.Dutch Health Care Inspectorat

The origin and diversification of pteropods precede past perturbations in the Earth’s carbon cycle

Open AccessPteropods are a group of planktonic gastropods that are widely regarded as biological indicators for assessing the impacts of ocean acidification. Their aragonitic shells are highly sensitive to acute changes in ocean chemistry. However, to gain insight into their potential to adapt to current climate change, we need to accurately reconstruct their evolutionary history and assess their responses to past changes in the Earth’s carbon cycle. Here, we resolve the phylogeny and timing of pteropod evolution with a phylogenomic dataset (2,654 genes) incorporating new data for 21 pteropod species and revised fossil evidence. In agreement with traditional taxonomy, we recovered molecular support for a division between “sea butterflies” (Thecosomata; mucus-web feeders) and “sea angels” (Gymnosomata; active predators). Molecular dating demonstrated that these two lineages diverged in the early Cretaceous, and that all main pteropod clades, including shelled, partially-shelled, and unshelled groups, diverged in the mid- to late Cretaceous. Hence, these clades originated prior to and subsequently survived major global change events, including the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), the closest analog to modern-day ocean acidification and warming. Our findings indicate that planktonic aragonitic calcifiers have shown resilience to perturbations in the Earth’s carbon cycle over evolutionary timescales.Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY)

Time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of pteropods

© 2017 Burridge et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the [4.0] Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Mindlessness Revisited: Sequential Request Techniques Foster Compliance by Draining Self-control Resources

The present research extends previous findings suggesting that sequential request techniques, such as the Foot-in-the-Door (FITD) or Door-in-the-Face (DITF) technique, are primarily effective under conditions conducive of mindlessness. We forward that this mindlessness may be the product of the influence technique itself. More specifically, based on the notion of self-control as a limited resource, we hypothesize that actively responding to the initial request-phase of a FITD-compliance gaining procedure drains the target of his/her self-regulatory resources, thus creating the mindlessness so often observed in social influence settings. This resource depletion opens the door for compliance with the target request. The results were in line with these expectations. More specifically, we observed that active responding to an initial request of a FITD technique reduced the availability of self-regulatory resources. This state of resource depletion mediated the effect of the technique on behavioral compliance. In addition, the results of this study ruled out the alternate explanation that the effects were attributable to mood or a general tendency for acquiescence

Prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity in the Lausanne population

Obesity can be defined using body mass index (BMI) or waist (abdominal obesity). Little information exists regarding its prevalence and determinants in Switzerland. Hence, we assessed the levels of obesity as defined by BMI or waist circumference in a Swiss population-based sample. Cross-sectional, population-based non-stratified random sample of 3,249 women and 2,937 men aged 35-75 years living in Lausanne, Switzerland. Overall participation rate was 41%. In men, the prevalences of overweight (BMI > or =25 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI > or =30 kg/m2) were 45.5% and 16.9%, respectively, higher than in women (28.3% and 14.3%, respectively). The prevalence of abdominal obesity (waist > or =102 in men and > or =88 cm in women) was higher in women than in men (30.6% vs. 23.9%). Obesity and abdominal obesity increased with age and decreased with higher educational level in both genders. In women, the prevalence of obesity was lower among former and current smokers, whereas in men the prevalence of obesity was higher in former smokers but did not differ between current and never smokers. Multivariate analysis showed age to be positively related, and education and physical activity to be negatively related with obesity and abdominal obesity in both genders, whereas differential effects of smoking were found between genders. The prevalence of abdominal obesity is higher than BMI-derived obesity in the Swiss population. Women presented with more abdominal obesity than men. The association between smoking and obesity levels appears to differ between genders

Assessment of potential effects of the electromagnetic fields of mobile phones on hearing

BACKGROUND: Mobile phones have become indispensable as communication tools; however, to date there is only a limited knowledge about interaction between electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by mobile phones and auditory function. The aim of the study was to assess potential changes in hearing function as a consequence of exposure to low-intensity EMF's produced by mobile phones at frequencies of 900 and 1800 MHz. METHODS: The within-subject study was performed on thirty volunteers (age 18–30 years) with normal hearing to assess possible acute effect of EMF. Participants attended two sessions: genuine and sham exposure of EMF. Hearing threshold levels (HTL) on pure tone audiometry (PTA) and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE's) were recorded before and immediately after 10 min of genuine and/or sham exposure of mobile phone EMF. The administration of genuine or sham exposure was double blind and counterbalanced in order. RESULTS: Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in the mean HTLs of PTA and mean shifts of TEOAE's before and after genuine and/or sham mobile phone EMF 10 min exposure. The data collected showed that average TEOAE levels (averaged across a frequency range) changed less than 2.5 dB between pre- and post-, genuine and sham exposure. The greatest individual change was 10 dB, with a decrease in level from pre- to post- real exposure. CONCLUSION: It could be concluded that a 10-min close exposure of EMFs emitted from a mobile phone had no immediate after-effect on measurements of HTL of PTA and TEOAEs in young human subjects and no measurable hearing deterioration was detected in our study

“Clinical features of women with gout arthritis.” A systematic review

Clinically, gout is generally considered as a preferential male disease. However, it definitely does not occur exclusively in males. Our aim was to assess differences in the clinical features of gout arthritis between female and male patients. Five electronic databases were searched to identify relevant original studies published between 1977 and 2007. The included studies had to focus on adult patients with primary gout arthritis and on sex differences in clinical features. Two reviewers independently assessed eligibility and quality of the studies. Out of 355 articles, 14 were selected. Nine fulfilled the quality and score criteria. We identified the following sex differences in the clinical features of gout in women compared to men: the onset of gout occurs at a higher age, more comorbidity with hypertension or renal insufficiency, more often use of diuretics, less likely to drink alcohol, less often podagra but more often involvement of other joints, less frequent recurrent attacks. We found interesting sex differences regarding the clinical features of patients with gout arthritis. To diagnose gout in women, knowledge of these differences is essential, and more research is needed to understand and explain the differences , especially in the general population

Novel concepts in virally induced asthma

Viruses are the predominant infectious cause of asthma exacerbations in the developed world. In addition, recent evidence strongly suggests that viral infections may also have a causal role in the development of childhood asthma. In this article, we will briefly describe the general perception of how the link between infections and asthma has changed over the last century, and then focus on very recent developments that have provided new insights into the contribution of viruses to asthma pathogenesis. Highlighted areas include the contribution of severe early life viral infections to asthma inception, genetic determinants of severe viral infections in infancy, the differences in innate and adaptive immune system cytokine responses to viral infection between asthmatic and nonasthmatic subjects, and a potential vaccine strategy to prevent severe early life virally-induced illness

A Fiber-Optic Fluorescence Microscope Using a Consumer-Grade Digital Camera for In Vivo Cellular Imaging

BACKGROUND: Early detection is an essential component of cancer management. Unfortunately, visual examination can often be unreliable, and many settings lack the financial capital and infrastructure to operate PET, CT, and MRI systems. Moreover, the infrastructure and expense associated with surgical biopsy and microscopy are a challenge to establishing cancer screening/early detection programs in low-resource settings. Improvements in performance and declining costs have led to the availability of optoelectronic components, which can be used to develop low-cost diagnostic imaging devices for use at the point-of-care. Here, we demonstrate a fiber-optic fluorescence microscope using a consumer-grade camera for in vivo cellular imaging. METHODS: The fiber-optic fluorescence microscope includes an LED light, an objective lens, a fiber-optic bundle, and a consumer-grade digital camera. The system was used to image an oral cancer cell line labeled with 0.01% proflavine. A human tissue specimen was imaged following surgical resection, enabling dysplastic and cancerous regions to be evaluated. The oral mucosa of a healthy human subject was imaged in vivo, following topical application of 0.01% proflavine. FINDINGS: The fiber-optic microscope resolved individual nuclei in all specimens and tissues imaged. This capability allowed qualitative and quantitative differences between normal and precancerous or cancerous tissues to be identified. The optical efficiency of the system permitted imaging of the human oral mucosa in real time. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate this device as a useful tool to assist in the identification of early neoplastic changes in epithelial tissues. This portable, inexpensive unit may be particularly appropriate for use at the point-of-care in low-resource settings