My Sunny Tennessee

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Designing a Decision Support System for subsurface activities:A meta analysis of the design of a social acceptance motivated decision support system for subsurface activities in the Netherlands

The decision-making process for subsurface activities in the Netherlands has been unable to cope with the driving forces related to social acceptance in several recently proposed subsurface activities. We therefore investigated the possibility to include the triangle of social acceptance in the decision-making process. Our conceptual model relates the stakeholders, their goals and the driving forces to each other. We developed a framework, which describes the interaction between eleven design criteria for a Decision Support System (DSS). This framework will enable us to design a better, from a social acceptance perspective, DSS for subsurface activities in the Netherlands. Since the goals addressed in the decision-making process are very broad and the stakeholders are quite diverse, a single uniform DSS is not able to provide a satisfactory solution. We therefore suggest to design a DSS that is matched with each class of social acceptance

Single step spray-dried polyelectrolyte microparticles enhance the antigen cross-presentation capacity of porcine dendritic cells

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A nationwide survey on patient's versus physician's evaluation of biological therapy in rheumatoid arthritis in relation to disease activity and route of administration : the Be-Raise study

Objectives : Biological treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the cornerstones of current treatment strategies for the disease. Surprisingly little information exists on whether the route of administration affects patients' treatment satisfaction. It is equally unclear whether rheumatologists are able to accurately perceive their patients' appreciation. Thus, the Belgian Beraise survey aimed to examine whether RA patient's experience of their current biological treatment coincided with the treating physician's perception. Methods : A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted by 67 Belgian rheumatologists providing data obtained from 550 RA patients. Patients under stable dose of biologics for at least 6 months, were enrolled consecutively and all completed questionnaires. Separate questionnaires were completed by the treating rheumatologist which evaluated their patient's perception of the route of treatment administration. This study therefore evaluates whether a treating physician perceives the satisfaction with the route of administration to the same degree as the patient. Results : Completed questionnaires were obtained from 293 and 257 patients who obtained treatment via the intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) route of administration, respectively. 58.4% of patients were in DAS28-CRP(3) remission. Patient satisfaction with disease control was higher (44% scored >= 9) than that of the treating physician (35%), regardless of the route of administration (p<0.01). No differences were seen for the patients treated with an IV as opposed to a SC route of administration. The physician's perception of patient's satisfaction with disease control was markedly lower for IV treated patients as opposed to SC treated patients (p<0.001). Conclusions : Patients' satisfaction with biological treatment is high, but there is a considerable mismatch between patients' and rheumatologists' appreciation on the route of administration of biological therapy in RA. Physicians consistently consider IV biological therapy to be less satisfactory. Patient's appreciation is largely dependent on disease control, irrespective of the route of administration. Therefore, and encouraging shared decision making, we suggest that physicians and patients discuss the route of administration of biologicals in an open way

Listening to Young Children’s Voices: The Evaluation of a Coding System

Listening to young children’s voices is an issue with increasing relevance for many researchers in the field of early childhood research. At the same time, teachers and researchers are faced with challenges to provide children with possibilities to express their notions, and to find ways of comprehending children’s voices. In our research we aim to provide a method for listening to, and analyzing young children’s voices on educational issues. In this article we describe a new step in our research in which we are dealing with the issues of validity and reliability for the evaluation of our coding system: is our coding system for analyzing young children’s voices valid and reliable

Porcine NK cells stimulate proliferation of pseudorabies virus-experienced CD8+ and CD4+ CD8+ T cells

Natural killer (NK) cells belong to the innate immune system and play a central role in the defense against viral infections and cancer development, but also contribute to shaping adaptive immune responses. NK cells are particularly important in the first line defense against herpesviruses, including alphaherpesviruses. In addition to their ability to kill target cells and produce interferon-g, porcine and human NK cell subsets have been reported to display features associated with professional antigen presenting cells (APC), although it is currently unclear whether NK cells may internalize debris of virus-infected cells and whether this APC-like activity of NK cells may stimulate proliferation of antiviral T cells. Here, using the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PRV), we show that vaccination of pigs with a live attenuated PRV vaccine strain triggers expression of MHC class II on porcine NK cells, that porcine NK cells can internalize debris from PRV-infected target cells, and that NK cells can stimulate proliferation of CD8(+) and CD4(+) CD8(+) PRV-experienced T cells. These results highlight the potential of targeting these NK cell features in future vaccination strategies

Radiological sacroiliitis, a hallmark of spondylitis, is linked with CARD15 gene polymorphisms in patients with Crohn's disease

Background: Sacroiliitis is a common extraintestinal manifestation of Crohn's disease but its association with the HLA-B27 phenotype is less evident. Polymorphisms in the CARD15 gene have been linked to higher susceptibility for Crohn's disease. In particular, associations have been found with ileal and fibrostenosing disease, young age at onset of disease, and familial cases. Objectives: To investigate whether the presence of sacroiliitis in patients with Crohn's disease is linked to the carriage of CARD15 polymorphisms. Methods: 102 consecutive patients with Crohn's disease were clinically evaluated by a rheumatologist. Radiographs of the sacroiliac joints were taken and assessed blindly by two investigators. The RFLP-PCR technique was used to genotype all patients for three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the CARD15 gene. Every SNP was verified by direct sequencing. The HLA-B27 phenotype was determined. Results: Radiological evidence of sacroiliitis with or without ankylosing spondylitis was found in 23 patients (23%), of whom only three were HLA-B27 positive. In contrast, 78% of patients with sacroiliitis carried a CARD15 variant v 48% of those without sacroiliitis (p = 0.01; odds ratio 3.8 (95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 11.5)). Multivariate analysis (logistic regression) showed that the association between sacroiliitis and CARD15 polymorphisms was independent of other CARD15 related phenotypes (ileal and fibrostenosing disease, young age at onset of disease, familial Crohn's disease) (p = 0.039). Conclusions: CARD15 variants were identified as genetic predictors of Crohn's disease related sacroiliitis. An association was demonstrated between these polymorphisms and an extraintestinal manifestation of Crohn's disease