Perception of Nuclear Energy and Coal in France and the Netherlands

This study focuses on the perception of large scale application of nuclear energy and coal in the Netherlands and France. The application of these energy-sources and the risks and benefits are judged differently by various group in society. In Europe, France has the highest density of nuclear power plants and the Netherlands has one of the lowest. In both countries scientists and social scientists completed a questionnaire assessing the perception of the large scale application of both energy sources. Furthermore, a number of variables relating to the socio cultural and political circumstances were measured. The results indicate that the French had a higher risk perception and a more negative attitude toward nuclear power than the Dutch. But they also assess the benefits of the use of nuclear power to be higher. Explanations for these differences are discussed

Enabling analytics on sensitive medical data with secure multi-party computation

While there is a clear need to apply data analytics in the healthcare sector, this is often difficult because it requires combining sensitive data from multiple data sources. In this paper, we show how the cryptographic technique of secure multiparty computation can enable such data analytics by performing analytics without the need to share the underlying data. We discuss the issue of compliance to European privacy legislation; report on three pilots bringing these techniques closer to practice; and discuss the main challenges ahead to make fully privacy-preserving data analytics in the medical sector commonplace

Mapping Determinants of Gene Expression Plasticity by Genetical Genomics in C. elegans

Recent genetical genomics studies have provided intimate views on gene regulatory networks. Gene expression variations between genetically different individuals have been mapped to the causal regulatory regions, termed expression quantitative trait loci. Whether the environment-induced plastic response of gene expression also shows heritable difference has not yet been studied. Here we show that differential expression induced by temperatures of 16 °C and 24 °C has a strong genetic component in Caenorhabditis elegans recombinant inbred strains derived from a cross between strains CB4856 (Hawaii) and N2 (Bristol). No less than 59% of 308 trans-acting genes showed a significant eQTL-by-environment interaction, here termed plasticity quantitative trait loci. In contrast, only 8% of an estimated 188 cis-acting genes showed such interaction. This indicates that heritable differences in plastic responses of gene expression are largely regulated in trans. This regulation is spread over many different regulators. However, for one group of trans-genes we found prominent evidence for a common master regulator: a transband of 66 coregulated genes appeared at 24 °C. Our results suggest widespread genetic variation of differential expression responses to environmental impacts and demonstrate the potential of genetical genomics for mapping the molecular determinants of phenotypic plasticity

Feasibility and acceptance of electronic quality of life assessment in general practice: an implementation study

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Maternal mental health predicts risk of developmental problems at 3 years of age: follow up of a community based trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Undetected and untreated developmental problems can have a significant economic and social impact on society. Intervention to ameliorate potential developmental problems requires early identification of children at risk of future learning and behaviour difficulties. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of risk for developmental problems among preschool children born to medically low risk women and identify factors that influence outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Mothers who had participated in a prenatal trial were followed up three years post partum to answer a telephone questionnaire. Questions were related to child health and development, child care, medical care, mother's lifestyle, well-being, and parenting style. The main outcome measure was risk for developmental problems using the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 791 children, 11% were screened by the PEDS to be at high risk for developmental problems at age three. Of these, 43% had previously been referred for assessment. Children most likely to have been referred were those born preterm. Risk factors for delay included: male gender, history of ear infections, a low income environment, and a mother with poor emotional health and a history of abuse. A child with these risk factors was predicted to have a 53% chance of screening at high risk for developmental problems. This predicted probability was reduced to 19% if the child had a mother with good emotional health and no history of abuse.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Over 10% of children were identified as high risk for developmental problems by the screening, and more than half of those had not received a specialist referral. Risk factors for problems included prenatal and perinatal maternal and child factors. Assessment of maternal health and effective screening of child development may increase detection of children at high risk who would benefit from early intervention.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN64070727</p

Reproductive Flexibility: Genetic Variation, Genetic Costs and Long-Term Evolution in a Collembola

In a variable yet predictable world, organisms may use environmental cues to make adaptive adjustments to their phenotype. Such phenotypic flexibility is expected commonly to evolve in life history traits, which are closely tied to Darwinian fitness. Yet adaptive life history flexibility remains poorly documented. Here we introduce the collembolan Folsomia candida, a soil-dweller, parthenogenetic (all-female) microarthropod, as a model organism to study the phenotypic expression, genetic variation, fitness consequences and long-term evolution of life history flexibility. We demonstrate that collembola have a remarkable adaptive ability for adjusting their reproductive phenotype: when transferred from harsh to good conditions (in terms of food ration and crowding), a mother can fine-tune the number and the size of her eggs from one clutch to the next. The comparative analysis of eleven clonal populations of worldwide origins reveals (i) genetic variation in mean egg size under both good and bad conditions; (ii) no genetic variation in egg size flexibility, consistent with convergent evolution to a common physiological limit; (iii) genetic variation of both mean reproductive investment and reproductive investment flexibility, associated with a reversal of the genetic correlation between egg size and clutch size between environmental conditions ; (iv) a negative genetic correlation between reproductive investment flexibility and adult lifespan. Phylogenetic reconstruction shows that two life history strategies, called HIFLEX and LOFLEX, evolved early in evolutionary history. HIFLEX includes six of our 11 clones, and is characterized by large mean egg size and reproductive investment, high reproductive investment flexibility, and low adult survival. LOFLEX (the other five clones) has small mean egg size and low reproductive investment, low reproductive investment flexibility, and high adult survival. The divergence of HIFLEX and LOFLEX could represent different adaptations to environments differing in mean quality and variability, or indicate that a genetic polymorphism of reproductive investment reaction norms has evolved under a physiological tradeoff between reproductive investment flexibility and adult lifespan

Grasp preparation modulates early visual processing of size and detection of local/global stimulus features

Preparing to grasp objects facilitates visual processing of object location, orientation and size, compared to preparing actions such as pointing. This influence of action on perception reflects mechanisms of selection in visual perception tuned to current action goals, such that action relevant sensory information is prioritized relative to less relevant information. In three experiments, rather than varying movement type (grasp vs. point), the magnitude of a prepared movement (power vs. precision grasps) was manipulated while visual processing of object size, as well as local/global target detection was measured. Early event-related potentials elicited by task-irrelevant visual probes were enhanced for larger probes during power grasp preparation and smaller probes during precision grasp preparation. Local targets were detected faster following precision, relative to power grasp cues. The results demonstrate a direct influence of grasp preparation on sensory processing of size and suggest that the hierarchical dimension of objects may be a relevant perceptual feature for grasp programming. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that preparing different magnitudes of the same basic action has systematic effects on visual processing

Leren van de crisis rond vlucht MH17

The politics and administration of institutional chang

A preliminary study of mechanically stress-induced changes in the extracellular matrix of the canine intervertebral disc.

The intervertebral discs of a young (age, 3 years) and an old (age, 8 years) dog were isolated as motion segments and cyclically stressed in physiologic nondestructive axial compression loads. Chemical analysis of the matrix of the annulus fibrosus revealed a shift in proteoglycan molecular size from larger to smaller moieties for the older dog but not for the younger. These preliminary results may indicate an age-related inability of the disc to tolerate cyclic stress