Educational readiness among health professionals in rheumatology: Low awareness of EULAR offerings and unfamiliarity with the course content as major barriers—results of a EULAR-funded European survey

Background Ongoing education of health professionals in rheumatology (HPR) is critical for high-quality care. An essential factor is education readiness and a high quality of educational offerings. We explored which factors contributed to education readiness and investigated currently offered postgraduate education, including the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) offerings.Methods and participants We developed an online questionnaire, translated it into 24 languages and distributed it in 30 European countries. We used natural language processing and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation to analyse the qualitative experiences of the participants as well as descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression to determine factors influencing postgraduate educational readiness. Reporting followed the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys guideline.Results The questionnaire was accessed 3589 times, and 667 complete responses from 34 European countries were recorded. The highest educational needs were ‘professional development’, ‘prevention and lifestyle intervention’. Older age, more working experience in rheumatology and higher education levels were positively associated with higher postgraduate educational readiness. While more than half of the HPR were familiar with EULAR as an association and the respondents reported an increased interest in the content of the educational offerings, the courses and the annual congress were poorly attended due to a lack of awareness, comparatively high costs and language barriers.Conclusions To promote the uptake of EULAR educational offerings, attention is needed to increase awareness among national organisations, offer accessible participation costs, and address language barriers

Responsible digital health management: more data, more control?

Summary of the Dutch report

3D printing for medical recovery and human enhancement

UID/SOC/04647/2013Additive bio-manufacturing (bio-AM) is defined here as the use of 3D printing for medical purposes or non-therapeutic “human enhancement”, whether they involve the production of biological material or not. It includes any application for rehabilitating, supporting or augmenting biological functionality. The impacts of bio-AM are uncertain, and it is not clear which actions may be required to foster responsible development of the technology. This study responds to these gaps in our knowledge by describing the state of the art and future development prospects, analysing their wide-ranging impacts - including social, ethical and economic aspects - and identifying key policy challenges along with options to respond to them. Key challenges are to avoid an incoherent, piecemeal adaptation of regulatory frameworks, to support responsible development that improves citizens’ lives, and to foster public participation and citizen-driven innovation. The European RRI approach could provide a useful platform for responding to these challenges, emphasising inclusiveness and co-creation by a wide variety of stakeholder groups, including public participation.publishersversionpublishe

Taking it with a grain of salt: tolerance to increasing salinization in Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) across a low-lying delta

Abstract Background Salinity, exacerbated by rising sea levels, is a critical environmental cue affecting freshwater ecosystems. Predicting ecosystem structure in response to such changes and their implications for the geographical distribution of arthropod disease vectors requires further insights into the plasticity and adaptability of lower trophic level species in freshwater systems. Our study investigated whether populations of the mosquito Culex pipiens, typically considered sensitive to salt, have adapted due to gradual exposure. Methods Mesocosm experiments were conducted to evaluate responses in life history traits to increasing levels of salinity in three populations along a gradient perpendicular to the North Sea coast. Salt concentrations up to the brackish–marine transition zone (8 g/l chloride) were used, upon which no survival was expected. To determine how this process affects oviposition, a colonization experiment was performed by exposing the coastal population to the same concentrations. Results While concentrations up to the currently described median lethal dose (LD50) (4 g/l) were surprisingly favored during egg laying, even the treatment with the highest salt concentration was incidentally colonized. Differences in development rates among populations were observed, but the influence of salinity was evident only at 4 g/l and higher, resulting in only a 1-day delay. Mortality rates were lower than expected, reaching only 20% for coastal and inland populations and 41% for the intermediate population at the highest salinity. Sex ratios remained unaffected across the tested range. Conclusions The high tolerance to salinity for all key life history parameters across populations suggests that Cx. pipiens is unlikely to shift its distribution in the foreseeable future, with potential implications for the disease risk of associated pathogens. Graphical Abstrac

Distribution of Culex pipiens life stages across urban green and grey spaces in Leiden, The Netherlands

Abstract Background There is an urgent need for cities to become more climate resilient; one of the key strategies is to include more green spaces in the urban environment. Currently, there is a worry that increasing green spaces might increase mosquito nuisance. As such, this study explores a comprehensive understanding of how mosquitoes utilise contrasting grey and green habitats at different life stages and which environmental factors could drive these distributions. Methods We used a setup of six paired locations, park (green) vs. residential (grey) areas in a single model city (Leiden, The Netherlands), where we sampled the abundances of different mosquito life stages (eggs, larvae, adults) and the local microclimatic conditions. In this study, we focused on Culex pipiens s.l., which is the most common and abundant mosquito species in The Netherlands. Results Our results show that while Cx. pipiens ovipositioning rates (number of egg rafts) and larval life stages were far more abundant in residential areas, adults were more abundant in parks. These results coincide with differences in the number of suitable larval habitats (higher in residential areas) and differences in microclimatic conditions (more amenable in parks). Conclusions These findings suggest that Cx. pipiens dispersal may be considerably more important than previously thought, where adult Cx. pipiens seek out the most suitable habitat for survival and breeding success. Our findings can inform more targeted and efficient strategies to mitigate and reduce mosquito nuisance while urban green spaces are increased, which make cities more climate resilient. Graphical Abstrac