127 research outputs found
Anticiperen op de biobased economy : sluit groen onderwijs aan op de toekomstige praktijk?
Er is grote vraag bij bedrijven naar afgestudeerden mbo en hbo die zijn voorbereid op een biobased economy. Uit deze arbeidsmarktverkenning blijkt dat het bedrijfsleven geen behoefte heeft aan 'biobased specialisten', maar aan vakmensen die in staat zijn om samen te werken met andere specialisten. Opleidingen worden 'biobased proof' door competentieontwikkeling centraal te stellen
De economische waarde en het investeringspotentieel van het biobased cluster in Zuid-Holland
De biobased economy kan in de komende jaren een belangrijke motor worden voor regionale economische groei in de Provincie Zuid-Holland. Uit dit onderzoek blijkt dat op dit moment al circa 900 mln. euro toegevoegde waarde per jaar wordt gerealiseerd en dat ondernemers een verdubbeling van deze waarde verwachten in 2016. De Zuidvleugelpartners in Zuid-Holland hebben in 2012 een ambitieuze beleidsagenda uitgewerkt, met een stevige groeiverwachting ten aanzien van de biobased economy. In het verlengde daarvan ontstond bij beleidsmakers de behoefte aan feiten en cijfers ten aanzien van de bedrijvigheid en het groeipotentieel in deze nieuwe sector. Deze studie biedt hiertoe - op basis van een overzicht van de huidige biobased bedrijven in de provincie - een inventarisatie van de huidige economische waarde en een beschrijving van het investeringspotentieel en beleidsaanbevelingen
Development and pilot-testing of a colorectal cancer screening decision aid for individuals with varying health literacy levels
Objective: Making an informed decision about colorectal cancer screening requires health literacy. Our aim was to develop and pilot-test a computer-based decision aid to support informed decision making about whether or not to participate in colorectal cancer screening for individuals with varying health literacy levels in the Netherlands. Methods: First, we designed and adapted the decision aid prototype among 25 individuals with low (n = 10) and adequate (n = 15) health literacy. Second, we used a before/after study to assess changes in knowledge, attitude, intention, decisional conflict, deliberation, anxiety and risk perception in an online survey among 81 individuals eligible for colorectal cancer screening with low (n = 35) and adequate (n = 46) health literacy. Results: The decision aid was acceptable, comprehensible, reduced decisional conflict, increased deliberation and improved knowledge about colorectal cancer screening, but not about colorectal cancer, among individuals with adequate and low health literacy. Usability was slightly higher for participants with adequate health literacy compared to those with low health literacy. Conclusion: The decision aid is promising in supporting informed decision making about colorectal cancer screening, also among individuals with lower health literacy. Practice implications: Further refinement of interactive features, such as videos, animations and the values clarification exercise, is needed to increase the usability of the decision aid
De biobased economy in Zuid-Holland : vijf stappen voor versnelde groei
Door de bestaande infrastructuur en samenstelling van aanwezige bedrijvigheid is Zuid-Holland als geen andere regio in staat om de vruchten van de biobased economy te plukken. Meerdere, onderling samenhangende, deelsectoren zoals de grondstoffenhandel, biobrandstofproductie, white biotech, oleochemie en green biotech, hebben elk een eigen groeipad en vragen om maatwerk in beleid. Er is echter ook een aantal belemmeringen: onder meer een gebrek aan goed sub-academisch onderwijs, aan experimenteerfaciliteiten en aan samenhang in acquisitie en funding, en een overdaad aan marktverstorende regulering. Dit hindert de innovatie: er is te weinig focus op de markt, een gebrek aan faciliteiten en geen samenhangende visie. Uit het onderzoek komen vijf aanbevelingen voort die, als ze opgevolgd worden met concrete acties, ervoor zorgen dat we de door beleidsmakers beoogde economische groei realiseren. Als de regio daarnaast inzet op organiserend vermogen, kunnen de groeistrategieën zodanig op elkaar afgestemd worden dat de biobased economy in een versnelling kom
A metapopulation model to assess the capacity of spread of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 in humans.
The emergence of the livestock-associated clone of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) ST398 is a serious public health issue throughout Europe. In The Netherlands a stringent 'search-and-destroy' policy has been adopted, keeping low the level of MRSA prevalence. However, reports have recently emerged of transmission events between humans showing no links to livestock, contradicting belief that MRSA ST398 is poorly transmissible in humans. The question regarding the transmissibility of MRSA ST398 in humans therefore remains of great interest. Here, we investigated the capacity of MRSA ST398 to spread into an entirely susceptible human population subject to the effect of a single MRSA-positive commercial pig farm. Using a stochastic, discrete-time metapopulation model, we explored the effect of varying both the probability of persistent carriage and that of acquiring MRSA due to contact with pigs on the transmission dynamics of MRSA ST398 in humans. In particular, we assessed the value and key determinants of the basic reproduction ratio (R(0)) for MRSA ST398. Simulations showed that the presence of recurrent exposures with pigs in risky populations allows MRSA ST398 to persist in the metapopulation and transmission events to occur beyond the farming community, even when the probability of persistent carriage is low. We further showed that persistent carriage should occur in less than 10% of the time for MRSA ST398 to conserve epidemiological characteristics similar to what has been previously reported. These results indicate that implementing control policy that only targets human carriers may not be sufficient to control MRSA ST398 in the community if it remains in pigs. We argue that farm-level control measures should be implemented if an eradication programme is to be considered
Contribution of cats and dogs to SARS-CoV-2 transmission in households
INTRODUCTION: SARS-CoV-2 is known to jump across species. The occurrence of transmission in households between humans and companion animals has been shown, but the contribution of companion animals to the overall transmission within a household is unknown. The basic reproduction number ( R 0) is an important indicator to quantify transmission. For a pathogen with multiple host species, such as SARS-CoV-2, the basic reproduction number needs to be calculated from the partial reproduction numbers for each combination of host species. METHOD: In this study, the basic and partial reproduction numbers for SARS-CoV-2 were estimated by reanalyzing a survey of Dutch households with dogs and cats and minimally one SARS-CoV-2-infected human. RESULTS: For households with cats, a clear correlation between the number of cats and the basic reproduction number (Spearman's correlation: p 0.40, p-value: 1.4 × 10 -5) was identified, while for dogs, the correlation was smaller and not significant (Spearman's correlation: p 0.12, p-value: 0.21). Partial reproduction numbers from cats or dogs to humans were 0.3 (0.0-2.0) and 0.3 (0.0-3.5) and from humans to cats or dogs were 0.6 (0.4-0.8) and 0.6 (0.4-0.9). DISCUSSION: Thus, the estimations of within-household transmission indicated the likelihood of transmission from these companion animals to humans and vice versa, but the observational nature of this study limited the ability to establish conclusive evidence. This study's findings support the advice provided during the pandemic to COVID-19 patients to maintain distance from companion animals as a precautionary measure and given the possibility of transmission, although there is an overall relatively limited impact on the pandemic when compared to human-to-human transmission
The impact of deep versus standard neuromuscular block on intraoperative safety during laparoscopic surgery: an international multicenter randomized controlled double-blind strategy trial - EURO-RELAX TRIAL
Background: Muscle relaxants are routinely used during anesthesia to facilitate endotracheal intubation and to optimize surgical conditions. However, controversy remains about the required depth of neuromuscular block (NMB) needed for optimal surgical working conditions and how this relates to other outcomes. For instance, a deep neuromuscular block yields superior surgical working conditions compared to a standard NMB in laparoscopic surgery, however, a robust association to other (safety) outcomes has not yet been established.Methods: Trial design: an international multicenter randomized controlled double-blind strategy trial. Trial population: 922 patients planned for elective, laparoscopic or robotic, abdominal surgery. Intervention: Patients will be randomized to a deep NMB (post-tetanic count 1-2 twitches) or standard care (single-dose muscle relaxant administration at induction and repeated only if warranted by surgical team). Main trial endpoints: Primary endpoint is the difference in incidence of intraoperative adverse events during laparoscopic surgery graded according to ClassIntra (R) classification (i.e., ClassIntra (R) grade >= 2) between both groups. Secondary endpoints include the surgical working conditions, 30-day postoperative complications, and patients' quality of recovery.Discussion: This trial was designed to analyze the effect of deep neuromuscular block compared to standard neuromuscular block on intra- and postoperative adverse events in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery.Perioperative Medicine: Efficacy, Safety and Outcome (Anesthesiology/Intensive Care
Ready for O4 II: GRANDMA Observations of Swift GRBs during eight-weeks of Spring 2022
We present a campaign designed to train the GRANDMA network and its
infrastructure to follow up on transient alerts and detect their early
afterglows. In preparation for O4 II campaign, we focused on GRB alerts as they
are expected to be an electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational-wave events.
Our goal was to improve our response to the alerts and start prompt
observations as soon as possible to better prepare the GRANDMA network for the
fourth observational run of LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (which started at the end of May
2023), and future missions such as SM. To receive, manage and send out
observational plans to our partner telescopes we set up dedicated
infrastructure and a rota of follow-up adcates were organized to guarantee
round-the-clock assistance to our telescope teams. To ensure a great number of
observations, we focused on Swift GRBs whose localization errors were generally
smaller than the GRANDMA telescopes' field of view. This allowed us to bypass
the transient identification process and focus on the reaction time and
efficiency of the network. During 'Ready for O4 II', 11 Swift/INTEGRAL GRB
triggers were selected, nine fields had been observed, and three afterglows
were detected (GRB 220403B, GRB 220427A, GRB 220514A), with 17 GRANDMA
telescopes and 17 amateur astronomers from the citizen science project
Kilonova-Catcher. Here we highlight the GRB 220427A analysis where our
long-term follow-up of the host galaxy allowed us to obtain a photometric
redshift of , its lightcurve elution, fit the decay slope of the
afterglows, and study the properties of the host galaxy
GRANDMA and HXMT Observations of GRB 221009A -- the Standard-Luminosity Afterglow of a Hyper-Luminous Gamma-Ray Burst
GRB 221009A is the brightest Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) detected in more than 50
years of study. In this paper, we present observations in the X-ray and optical
domains after the GRB obtained by the GRANDMA Collaboration (which includes
observations from more than 30 professional and amateur telescopes) and the
Insight-HXMT Collaboration. We study the optical afterglow with empirical
fitting from GRANDMA+HXMT data, augmented with data from the literature up to
60 days. We then model numerically, using a Bayesian approach, the GRANDMA and
HXMT-LE afterglow observations, that we augment with Swift-XRT and additional
optical/NIR observations reported in the literature. We find that the GRB
afterglow, extinguished by a large dust column, is most likely behind a
combination of a large Milky-Way dust column combined with moderate
low-metallicity dust in the host galaxy. Using the GRANDMA+HXMT-LE+XRT dataset,
we find that the simplest model, where the observed afterglow is produced by
synchrotron radiation at the forward external shock during the deceleration of
a top-hat relativistic jet by a uniform medium, fits the multi-wavelength
observations only moderately well, with a tension between the observed temporal
and spectral evolution. This tension is confirmed when using the extended
dataset. We find that the consideration of a jet structure (Gaussian or
power-law), the inclusion of synchrotron self-Compton emission, or the presence
of an underlying supernova do not improve the predictions, showing that the
modelling of GRB22109A will require going beyond the most standard GRB
afterglow model. Placed in the global context of GRB optical afterglows, we
find the afterglow of GRB 221009A is luminous but not extraordinarily so,
highlighting that some aspects of this GRB do not deviate from the global known
sample despite its extreme energetics and the peculiar afterglow evolution.Comment: Accepted to ApJL for the special issue, 37 pages, 23 pages main text,
6 tables, 13 figure
- …