Inadequate folic acid intake around the time of conception, particularly among less highly educated women

Objective. To describe the knowledge and use of folic acid by women in the North of the Netherlands who wish to become pregnant, in relation to their social-economic status. Design. Descriptive. Method. Pregnant women who were attending one of 3 gynaecological and 7 midwifery practices for their first or second pregnancy check-up in October or November 2000 in the provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe were asked to complete a questionnaire about their knowledge, sources of information and use of folic acid. Four hundred and sixty-one of the 473 women were prepared to take part. The highest level of education achieved was used as an indicator of social-economic status. Results. Three hundred and fifty-seven (77%) respondents had heard about folic acid before becoming pregnant, 289 (63%) knew about its protective effect in terms of neural-tube defects, and 151 (33%) knew the full length of the advised period of folic acid intake. Two hundred and sixty-five (61%) respondents had taken folic acid for some part of the advised period and 164 (36%) had taken it for the entire duration of the advised period. More women with a higher education than women with lower levels of education knew about folic acid and had used it. Conclusion. Three quarters of the respondents had heard about folic acid before their pregnancy, and less than half took it during the advised period around the time of conception. Women with a higher education were more likely to follow the advice.</p

Inadequate folic acid intake around the time of conception, particularly among less highly educated women

Objective. To describe the knowledge and use of folic acid by women in the North of the Netherlands who wish to become pregnant, in relation to their social-economic status. Design. Descriptive. Method. Pregnant women who were attending one of 3 gynaecological and 7 midwifery practices for their first or second pregnancy check-up in October or November 2000 in the provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe were asked to complete a questionnaire about their knowledge, sources of information and use of folic acid. Four hundred and sixty-one of the 473 women were prepared to take part. The highest level of education achieved was used as an indicator of social-economic status. Results. Three hundred and fifty-seven (77%) respondents had heard about folic acid before becoming pregnant, 289 (63%) knew about its protective effect in terms of neural-tube defects, and 151 (33%) knew the full length of the advised period of folic acid intake. Two hundred and sixty-five (61%) respondents had taken folic acid for some part of the advised period and 164 (36%) had taken it for the entire duration of the advised period. More women with a higher education than women with lower levels of education knew about folic acid and had used it. Conclusion. Three quarters of the respondents had heard about folic acid before their pregnancy, and less than half took it during the advised period around the time of conception. Women with a higher education were more likely to follow the advice.</p

Mode of overwintering of invasive Harmonia axyridis in the Netherlands

After establishment of Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Europe, population densities of native ladybird species have decreased. The post-hibernation onset of female reproduction, a key characteristic influencing population dynamics and competition with related species, was studied. Hibernating individuals were collected and transferred to outdoor cages to continue overwintering. Every two weeks a sample of individuals was transferred to long-day, warm conditions. Intensity of dormancy was studied by determining the pre-oviposition period and ovarian development. Pre-oviposition periods were short throughout our observations, indicating that Harmonia axyridis was not in diapause but in a quiescent state. H. axyridis becomes active rapidly when temperature rises in spring but is not active earlier in the year than native species. Neither the mode of overwintering, nor the onset of spring activity can explain the invasion success of H. axyridi

An International Study of the Ability and Cost-Effectiveness of Advertising Methods to Facilitate Study Participant Self-Enrolment Into a Pilot Pharmacovigilance Study During Early Pregnancy

Knowledge of the fetal effects of maternal medication use in pregnancy is often inadequate and current pregnancy pharmacovigilance (PV) surveillance methods have important limitations. Patient self-reporting may be able to mitigate some of these limitations, providing an adequately sized study sample can be recruited.To compare the ability and cost-effectiveness of several direct-to-participant advertising methods for the recruitment of pregnant participants into a study of self-reported gestational exposures and pregnancy outcomes.The Pharmacoepidemiological Research on Outcomes of Therapeutics by a European Consortium (PROTECT) pregnancy study is a non-interventional, prospective pilot study of self-reported medication use and obstetric outcomes provided by a cohort of pregnant women that was conducted in Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Direct-to-participant advertisements were provided via websites, emails, leaflets, television, and social media platforms.Over a 70-week recruitment period direct-to-participant advertisements engaged 43,234 individuals with the study website or telephone system; 4.78% (2065/43,234) of which were successfully enrolled and provided study data. Of these 90.4% (1867/2065) were recruited via paid advertising methods, 23.0% (475/2065) of whom were in the first trimester of pregnancy. The overall costs per active recruited participant were lowest for email (€23.24) and website (€24.41) advertisements and highest for leaflet (€83.14) and television (€100.89). Website adverts were substantially superior in their ability to recruit participants during their first trimester of pregnancy (317/668, 47.5%) in comparison with other advertising methods (P<.001). However, we identified international variations in both the cost-effectiveness of the various advertisement methods used and in their ability to recruit participants in early pregnancy.Recruitment of a pregnant cohort using direct-to-participant advertisement methods is feasible, but the total costs incurred are not insubstantial. Future research is needed to identify advertising strategies capable of recruiting large numbers of demographically representative pregnant women, preferentially in early pregnancy

Normohomocysteinaemia and vitamin-treated hyperhomocysteinaemia are associated with similiar risks of cardiovascular events in patients with premature peripheral arterial occlusive disease. A prospective cohort study

Objectives. Mild hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHC), fasting or after methionine loading, is associated with an increased risk and severity of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Post-methionine and fasting HHC are responsive to treatment with vitamin