Digit@l Did@ctics: Development of Teaching Staff

In: A.J. Kallenberg and M.J.J.M. van de Ven (Eds), 2002, The New Educational Benefits of ICT in Higher Education: Proceedings. Rotterdam: Erasmus Plus BV, OECR ISBN 90-9016127-9This paper presents an innovative way of development of teaching staff. Teachers prefer to learn and to receive support 'just in time'. As an answer to this demand this project has developed an educational knowledge base containing didactical materials and an educational call centre

Naar een praktisch contingentie-model voor goed mkb-bestuur

In tegenstelling tot de uitgebreide aandacht voor corporate governance is goed bestuur en toezicht in het midden- en kleinbedrijf (hierna mkb) verrassenderwijs een onderbelicht onderwerp, zowel vanuit de wetenschap als vanuit het bedrijfsleven en overheid. In de praktijk is er vanuit mkb-ondernemers de nodige weerstand om hier tijd en aandacht aan te besteden, mede door een (ten onrechte) met governance geassocieerde vrees voor bureaucratisering. Op basis van exploratief onderzoek, onder andere bestaand uit een literatuurstudie, mini-casestudies bij vier ondernemingen, expert panels en interviews komen wij tot de conclusie dat een proactieve en op performance gerichte aanpak van goed mkb-bestuur kan bijdragen aan een succesvollere mkb-sector. In het verlengde daarvan hebben wij een model voor goed mkb-bestuur ontwikkeld, het Diamond-model. Dit model is een eerste aanzet om mkb-ondernemers en hun adviseurs middels een laagdrempelig en praktisch kader na te laten denken over goed mkb-bestuur en hen een structuur te bieden die hen daarin faciliteert. Hierbij wordt rekening gehouden met de relevante situationele factoren (contingenties). Wij hopen hiermee een bredere discussie over nut, noodzaak en vorm van goed mkb-bestuur op gang te brengen

Trends in the distribution of gestational age and contribution of planned births in New South Wales, Australia

§<p>Relative change was calculated by: [(2009 rate –1994 rate)/(1994 rate)].</p>*<p>100; Test-for-trend was significant for all factors except stillbirths and multiple births, P<0.001.</p>†<p>Low risk pregnancies defined as primiparae, aged 20–34 years, without pregnancy complications; and with a liveborn singleton infant, born in cephalic presentation and of normal fetal growth at the 10^th–90th birth weight percentile of the distribution for gestational age and infant sex. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0056238#pone.0056238-Cheng1" target="_blank">[16]</a>.</p>*<p>Numbers may not add up to totals due to missing data or rounding.</p

Implementation of early next-generation sequencing for inborn errors of immunity: a prospective observational cohort study of diagnostic yield and clinical implications in Dutch genome diagnostic centers

Objective Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a heterogeneous group of disorders, affecting different components of the immune system. Over 450 IEI related genes have been identified, with new genes continually being recognized. This makes the early application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) as a diagnostic method in the evaluation of IEI a promising development. We aimed to provide an overview of the diagnostic yield and time to diagnosis in a cohort of patients suspected of IEI and evaluated by an NGS based IEI panel early in the diagnostic trajectory in a multicenter setting in the Netherlands. Study DesignWe performed a prospective observational cohort study. We collected data of 165 patients with a clinical suspicion of IEI without prior NGS based panel evaluation that were referred for early NGS using a uniform IEI gene panel. The diagnostic yield was assessed in terms of definitive genetic diagnoses, inconclusive diagnoses and patients without abnormalities in the IEI gene panel. We also assessed time to diagnosis and clinical implications. ResultsFor children, the median time from first consultation to diagnosis was 119 days versus 124 days for adult patients (U=2323; p=0.644). The median turn-around time (TAT) of genetic testing was 56 days in pediatric patients and 60 days in adult patients (U=1892; p=0.191). A definitive molecular diagnosis was made in 25/65 (24.6%) of pediatric patients and 9/100 (9%) of adults. Most diagnosed disorders were identified in the categories of immune dysregulation (n=10/25; 40%), antibody deficiencies (n=5/25; 20%), and phagocyte diseases (n=5/25; 20%). Inconclusive outcomes were found in 76/165 (46.1%) patients. Within the patient group with a genetic diagnosis, a change in disease management occurred in 76% of patients. ConclusionIn this cohort, the highest yields of NGS based evaluation for IEI early in the diagnostic trajectory were found in pediatric patients, and in the disease categories immune dysregulation and phagocyte diseases. In cases where a definitive diagnosis was made, this led to important disease management implications in a large majority of patients. More research is needed to establish a uniform diagnostic pathway for cases with inconclusive diagnoses, including variants of unknown significance.Transplantation and immunomodulatio

Data on sex differences in one-year outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients without ST-segment elevation

Sex differences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients are increasingly recognized. Although it has been found that post-resuscitated women are less likely to have significant coronary artery disease (CAD) than men, data on follow-up in these patients are limited. Data for this data in brief article was obtained as a part of the randomized controlled Coronary Angiography after Cardiac Arrest without ST-segment elevation (COACT) trial. The data supplements the manuscript “Sex differences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients without ST-segment elevation: A COACT trial substudy” were it was found that women were less likely to have significant CAD including chronic total occlusions, and had worse survival when CAD was present. The dataset presented in this paper describes sex differences on interventions, implantable-cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shocks and hospitalizations due to heart failure during one-year follow-up in patients successfully resuscitated after OHCA. Data was derived through a telephone interview at one year with the patient or general practitioner. Patients in this randomized dataset reflects a homogenous study population, which can be valuable to further build on research regarding long-term sex differences and to further improve cardiac care

Has the Rate of CD4 Cell Count Decline before Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy Changed over the Course of the Dutch HIV Epidemic among MSM?

Introduction:Studies suggest that the HIV-1 epidemic in the Netherlands may have become more virulent, leading to faster disease progression if untreated. Analysis of CD4 cell count decline before antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, a surrogate marker for disease progression, may be hampered by informative censoring as ART initiation is more likely with a steeper CD4 cell count decline.Methods:Development of CD4 cell count from 9 to 48 months after seroconversion was analyzed using a mixed-effects model and 2 models that jointly modeled CD4 cell counts and time to censoring event (start ART

Colorectal liver metastases: Surgery versus thermal ablation (COLLISION) - a phase III single-blind prospective randomized controlled trial

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA) are widely accepted techniques to eliminate small unresectable colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Although previous studies labelled thermal ablation inferior to surgical resection, the apparent selection bias when comparing patients with unresectable disease to surgical candidates, the superior safety profile, and the competitive overall survival results for the more recent reports mandate the setup of a randomized controlled trial. The objective of the COLLISION trial is to prove non-inferiority of thermal ablation compared to hepatic resection in patients with at least one resectable and ablatable CRLM and no extrahepatic disease. Methods: In this two-arm, single-blind multi-center phase-III clinical trial, six hundred and eighteen patients with at least one CRLM (≤3cm) will be included to undergo either surgical resection or thermal ablation of appointed target lesion(s) (≤3cm). Primary endpoint is OS (overall survival, intention-to-treat analysis). Main secondary endpoints are overall disease-free survival (DFS), time to progression (TTP), time to local progression (TTLP), primary and assisted technique efficacy (PTE, ATE), procedural morbidity and mortality, length of hospital stay, assessment of pain and quality of life (QoL), cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and quality-adjusted life years (QALY). Discussion: If thermal ablation proves to be non-inferior in treating lesions ≤3cm, a switch in treatment-method may lead to a reduction of the post-procedural morbidity and mortality, length of hospital stay and incremental costs without compromising oncological outcome for patients with CRLM. Trial registration:NCT03088150 , January 11th 2017