On the pathological remodeling of large arteries

Vonk Noordegraaf, A. [Promotor]Krams, R. [Promotor

Verschuivende verhoudingen

Overgewicht is in relatief korte tijd veranderd van een individueel gezondheidsprobleem in een volksgezondheidsprobleem. Dit is gepaard gegaan met een groeiende roep om overheidsbemoeienis in de vorm van wet- en regelgeving. Maar wat vermag de overheid? In dit essay onderwerpen we de roep om overheidsingrijpen aan een kritische reflectie. Hoewel de overheid een grondwettelijke verantwoordelijkheid heeft voor de publieke gezondheid, leert de geschiedenis van andere leefstijlgerelateerde problemen ons dat de overheid zich in een paradoxale situatie bevindt. Enerzijds kan ze in instrumentele zin veel doen – ze beschikt immers over een uitgebreide gereedschapskist met juridische en economische beleidsinstrumenten. Anderzijds wordt de overheid vaak in haar handelingsruimte beperkt doordat dat beleidsinstrumentarium maatschappelijk omstreden is

Fair processes for priority setting: Putting theory into practice: Comment on “expanded HTA: Enhancing fairness and legitimacy”

Embedding health technology assessment (HTA) in a fair process has great potential to capture societal values relevant to public reimbursement decisions on health technologies. However, the development of such processes for priority setting has largely been theoretical. In this paper, we provide further practical lead ways on how these processes can be implemented. We first present the misconception about the relation between facts and values that is since long misleading the conduct of HTA and underlies the current assessment-appraisal split. We then argue that HTA should instead be explicitly organized as an ongoing evidence-informed deliberative process, that facilitates learning among stakeholders. This has important consequences for whose values to consider, how to deal with vested interests, how to consider all values in the decision-making process, and how to communicate decisions. This is in stark contrast to how HTA processes are implemented now. It is time to set the stage for HTA as learning

The Relationships Between Fluoride Intake Levels and Fluorosis of Late‐Erupting Permanent Teeth

Objectives To examine the relationships between fluoride intake levels and fluorosis of late‐erupting permanent teeth. Methods The current study used information collected from 437 children in the longitudinal Iowa Fluoride Study. Participants\u27 fluoride intake information was collected using questionnaires from birth to age 10 years. Estimated mean daily fluoride intake was categorized into low, moderate, and high intake tertiles for each age interval (2‐5, 5‐8, and 2‐8 years). Bivariate analyses were performed to study the relationships between self‐reported fluoride intake levels during three age intervals and dental fluorosis. Results For canines and second molars, the prevalence of mostly mild fluorosis was less than 10% in the lowest fluoride intake tertile and more than 25% in the highest intake tertile. For both first and second premolars, the prevalence in the low and high intake tertiles was approximately 10‐15% and 25‐40%, respectively. When estimated total daily fluoride intake was 0.04 mg/kg BW during ages 2‐8 years, the predicted probability of fluorosis was 16.0%, 20.5%, 21.8%, and 15.4% for canines, 1st and 2nd and premolars and 2nd molars, respectively. We found that an incremental increase in fluoride intake during the age 5‐ to 8‐year interval led to greater odds for development of mostly mild dental fluorosis in late‐erupting teeth compared to increases in fluoride intake during other age intervals. Conclusions Our results clearly show that dental fluorosis prevalence is closely related to fluoride intake levels and that teeth have greater susceptibility to fluoride intake during certain age intervals

Prevalence of Oral Pain and Barriers to use of Emergency Oral Care Facilities Among Adult Tanzanians.

Oral pain has been the major cause of the attendances in the dental clinics in Tanzania. Some patients postpone seeing the dentist for as long as two to five days. This study determines the prevalence of oral pain and barriers to use of emergency oral care in Tanzania. Questionnaire data were collected from 1,759 adult respondents aged 18 years and above. The study area covered six urban and eight rural study clusters, which had been selected using the WHO Pathfinder methodology. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify associations.\ud Forty two percent of the respondents had utilized the oral health care facilities sometimes in their lifetime. About 59% of the respondents revealed that they had suffered from oral pain and/or discomfort within the twelve months that preceded the study, but only 26.5% of these had sought treatment from oral health care facilities. The reasons for not seeking emergency care were: lack of money to pay for treatment (27.9%); self medication (17.6%); respondents thinking that pain would disappear with time (15.7%); and lack of money to pay for transport to the dental clinic (15.0%). Older adults were more likely to report that they had experienced oral pain during the last 12 months than the younger adults (OR = 1.57, CI 1.07-1.57, P < 0.001). Respondents from rural areas were more likely report dental clinics far from home (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.09-13.54, P < 0.001); self medication at home (OR = 3.65, CI = 2.25-5.94, P < 0.001); and being treated by traditional healer (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.25-12.49, P < 0.001) as reasons for not seeking emergency care from the oral health care facilities than their counterparts from urban areas. Oral pain and discomfort were prevalent among adult Tanzanians. Only a quarter of those who experienced oral pain or discomfort sought emergency oral care from oral health care facilities. Self medication was used as an alternative to using oral care facilities mainly by rural residents. Establishing oral care facilities in rural areas is recommended

The Effects of Temperature and Precipitation on Growth in Beef Cattle for the Southern Illinois Region

The demand for beef around the United States has been growing exponentially over the years because of our growing population. This means that producers must maximize the growth and development of their cattle and herds in total so that they can meet that growing demand. Many factors come into consideration when making decisions on increasing the turnover rate on the farm, but one of those big decisions is weather, especially temperature and precipitation. These two variables can have a direct effect on the growth and development of cattle. If conditions are harsh, their feed intake could decrease because of sickness, and then take longer to meet the weight requirement for slaughter. This costs producers time and money because of having to keep them longer, feed them more, and pay for certain vaccinations in order to nurse them back to health. This research takes a closer look at temperature and precipitation and how they affect the average daily gain of cattle. The region that I decided to focus on is Southern Illinois, because of the availability of data provided by the Bull Test Facility at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. My other source of information about weather variable is from the National Centers for Environmental Information. During the Fall of 2019, I started compiling all necessary information to complete the research project. The data I used was from 2001 through 2009. My hope for this project is to find valuable information that will help producers manage their herds better and maximize their profits. Weather can be a very important factor when growing livestock and this could lead to a very important discovery. If the research is linked to lower average daily gains, then producers could justify building additional buildings or cover for animals to get under in order to escape the weather. This will help them increase their turnover rate for cattle and also maximize their overall profits

Identification and characterization of <i>Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus</i> pro-viral factors as a source for durable resistance

Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV) and related tospoviruses are plant pathogenic viruses that cause extensive crop losses worldwide. Unfortunately, dominant resistance loci against TSWV appear to be (1) scarce, (2) absent in many plant species, and (3) rapidly overcome by resistance breaking isolates of the virus. Therefore, there is an urgent need for growers and our society to discover alternative forms of TSWV resistance. One approach in achieving this is to remove or mutagenize host factors that are essential in the viral infection cycle, which in turn, can convert an otherwise susceptibility host into a non-host for TSWV. Such a pro-viral host factor is also referred to as susceptibility (S)-gene and, hence, applied mutant alleles of S-genes can render durable resistance to TSWV in crops. To identify S-genes for TSWV, a detailed understanding is needed of the host factors hijacked by the virus during its infection cycle. The research presented in this PhD thesis describes different efforts to identify and characterize novel host factors required for the infection cycle of TSWV in order to better understand the molecular interaction between the plant and the virus. These findings can ultimately be applied as a resource of recessive viral resistance in breeding programs. In total, four methods are here presented by which host factors were identified and their role during viral infection in plants was investigated. The pros and cons of the methods applied are discussed together with the applicability of the identified host factors as a novel source for viral resistance

Improvement of Soil Spring Model for the Analysis of Buried Arch Structures

The University of Maine has developed concrete filled fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tubes (CFFTs) for use in bridge construction. A finite element model was previously developed to analyze these buried arch structures during construction, service live load, and ultimate load. Two shortcomings in that model include how the load distribution method and the soil reaction due to construction and service loads are modeled. There were two objectives to this research: to make a user-friendly software package to analyze a variety of buried arch structures and to improve the existing model to better predict the soil-structure interaction. Prototype software was developed complete with a graphical user interface using the existing model to allow engineers a tool to analyze a variety of materials, arch geometries, and soil conditions to predict the effect of diverse load cases. Changes to the model were planned to improve the model’s ability to capture the response of the soil due to arch deformation and produce more efficient arch designs. A Boussinesq stress distribution was used in the model to predict the dispersal of the load through the soil. Load distribution was investigated and compared to a previous experimental work and soil-continuum models to gain insight on the shortcomings of the existing load distribution model used in the analysis. The existing model used a horizontal soil-spring configuration with a nonlinear load-deflection relationship. Three changes to the soil-springs in the existing model were considered: radial soil-springs, friction angle soil-springs, and a three spring system. These alternative soil-spring models were implemented in place of the existing horizontal soil-springs and the arch internal moments and deflections were compared to the existing model and experimental results