Bedrijfseconomische perspectieven van schapenhouderij (3)

Op het bedrijf zijn 300 Texelaar-ooien met bijbehorende lammeren aanwezig, goed voor 1 volwaardige arbeidskracht

Bedrijfsvoering en natuurbelangen in diepe veenweidegebieden

Het animo van de boeren voor het gebruik van moeilijk bewerkbare of bereikbare gronden voor hoogproduktief melkvee, met name in de veenweidegebieden, verminderde hierdoor. Er worden nu mogelijkheden onderzocht van het gebruik van deze gronden voor ander vee dan melkvee

Bedrijfseconomische perspectieven van zoogkoeienhouderij (2)

Er is uitgegaan van een bedrijf van 200 Charolais moederdieren met bijbehorend jongvee

Mogelijkheden van vleesveehouderij in de ecologische hoofdstructuur (1)

Het afgelopen jaar is op het PR een bedrijfsmodel ontwikkeld dat tegemoet komt aan beider eisen en waarmee de perspectieven van vleesveehouderij in voornoemde gebieden zijn onderzocht

Main problems experienced by children with epidermolysis bullosa:A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews

The objective of this study was to identify and specify the problems of children with epidermolysis bullosa. The questions explored were: (i) What do children with epidermolysis bullosa experience as the most difficult problems; (it) What is the impact of these problems on their daily life; and (iii) Do these experiences differ between mildly and severely affected children? Qualitative research methodology was used, comprising a series of semi-structured interviews with children with different (sub)types of epidermolysis bullosa. The interviews were analysed systematically with help of the qualitative software package Atlas-ti. Five main themes were found: (i) having an itchy skin, (ii) being in pain, (iii) having difficulties with participation, (iv) lack of understanding of others, and (v) the feeling of being different. Severely affected children suffered most from itch and treatment-related pain. Mildly affected children had more problems with activity-related pain. Mildly affected children also had more concerns about their appearance and the teasing and staring of others than did severely affected children. Both groups had difficulties with participation, the visibility of their disease and the feeling of being different

The main problems of parents of a child with epidermolysis bullosa

Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic blistering-skin disorder with varying degrees of severity, ranging from mild forms to severe forms, with chronic progression. The aim of this study was to identify and specify the problems of parents of a child with EB. Qualitative research methodology was used, comprising a series of semistructured interviews with eleven families. The key problems of parents were broken down into three themes, related to the child, the family, and the care providers. These themes comprised nine categories, including (1) the child being different, (2) the child suffering pain, (3) feelings of uncertainty, (4) restrictions on employment and leisure time, (5) difficulties in organization of care, (6) never being off-duty, (7) family problems, (8) ignorance and lack of skills of care providers, and (9) resistance to difficult care. Despite the great variance in clinical pictures of the different (sub)types of EB, the main problems parents experienced appear quite similar. However, the problems did appear to differ in extensiveness, intensity, and gravity

Oxidative stress and inflammation in a spectrum of epileptogenic cortical malformations: molecular insights into their interdependence

Oxidative stress (OS) occurs in brains of patients with epilepsy and coincides with brain inflammation, and both phenomena contribute to seizure generation in animal models. We investigated whether expression of OS and brain inflammation markers co-occurred also in resected brain tissue of patients with epileptogenic cortical malformations: hemimegalencephaly (HME), focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) and cortical tubers in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). Moreover, we studied molecular mechanisms linking OS and inflammation in an in vitro model of neuronal function. Untangling interdependency and underlying molecular mechanisms might pose new therapeutic strategies for treating patients with drug-resistant epilepsy of different etiologies. Immunohistochemistry was performed for specific OS markers xCT and iNOS and brain inflammation markers TLR4, COX-2 and NF-κB in cortical tissue derived from patients with HME, FCD IIa, IIb and TSC. Additionally, we studied gene expression of these markers using the human neuronal cell line SH-SY5Y in which OS was induced using H 2 O 2 . OS markers were higher in dysmorphic neurons and balloon/giant cells in cortex of patients with FCD IIb or TSC. Expression of OS markers was positively correlated to expression of brain inflammation markers. In vitro, 100 µM, but not 50 µM, of H 2 O 2 increased expression of TLR4, IL-1β and COX-2. We found that NF-κB signaling was activated only upon stimulation with 100 µM H 2 O 2 leading to upregulation of TLR4 signaling and IL-1β. The NF-κB inhibitor TPCA-1 completely reversed this effect. Our results show that OS positively correlates with neuroinflammation and is particularly evident in brain tissue of patients with FCD IIb and TSC. In vitro, NF-κB is involved in the switch to an inflammatory state after OS. We propose that the extent of OS can predict the neuroinflammatory state of the brain. Additionally, antioxidant treatments may prevent the switch to inflammation in neurons thus targeting multiple epileptogenic processes at once