Inkomen, verdeling en armoede: over groei, stabiliteit en de kloof tussen werkenden en uitkeringstrekkers

status: publishe

Inkomen, verdeling en armoede: over groei, stabiliteit en de kloof tussen werkenden en uitkeringstrekkers

status: publishe

Improved estimates of Belgian private health expenditure can give important lessons to other OECD countries

OECD Health Data are a well-known source for detailed information about health expenditure. These data enable us to analyze health policy issues over time and in comparison with other countries. However, current official Belgian estimates of private expenditure (as published in the OECD Health Data) have proven not to be reliable. We distinguish four potential major sources of problems with estimating private health spending: interpretation of definitions, formulation of assumptions, missing or incomplete data and incorrect data. Using alternative sources of billing information, we have reached more accurate estimates of private and out-of-pocket expenditure. For Belgium we found differences of more than 100% between our estimates and the official Belgian estimates of private health expenditure (as published in the OECD Health Data). For instance, according to OECD Health Data private expenditure on hospitals in Belgium amounts to €3.1 billion, while according to our alternative calculations these expenses represent only €1.1 billion. Total private expenditure differs only 1%, but this is a mere coincidence. This exercise may be of interest to other OECD countries looking to improve their estimates of private expenditure on health.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Improved estimates of Belgian private health expenditure can give important lessons to other OECD countries journaltitle: Health Policy articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.07.008 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe

Manninotriose is a major carbohydrate in red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum, Lamiaceae)

Background and aims The need is high to search for natural compounds with superior prebiotic, antioxidant and immunostimulatory properties for use in (food) applications. Raffinose Family Oligosaccharides (RFOs) show such properties. Moreover, they contribute to stress tolerance in plants acting as putative membrane stabilizers, antioxidants and signalling agents. Methods A large scale soluble carbohydrate screening was performed within the plant kingdom. An unknown compound accumulated to a high extent in early spring red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) but not in other RFO plants. The compound was purified and its structure was unravelled with NMR. Organs and organ parts of red deadnettle were carefully dissected and analysed on soluble sugars. Phloem sap content was analysed by a common EDTA-based method. Key results Early spring red deadnettle stems and roots accumulate high concentrations of the reducing trisaccharide manninotriose (Galα1,6Galα1,6Glc), a derivative of the non-reducing RFO stachyose (Galα1,6Galα1,6Glcα1,2βFru). Detailed soluble carbohydrate analyses on dissected stem and leaf sections together with phloem sap analyses strongly suggest that stachyose is the main transport compound, but extensive hydrolysis of stachyose to manninotriose seems to occur along the transport path. Based on the specificities of the observed carbohydrate dynamics, the putative physiological roles of manninotriose in red deadnettle are discussed. Conclusions Here it is demonstrated for the first time that manninotriose is a novel and important player in the RFO metabolism of red dead deadnettle. It is proposed that manninotriose represents a temporal storage carbohydrate in early spring deadnettle, at the same time perhaps functioning as a membrane protector and/or as an antioxidant in the vicinity of membranes as recently suggested for other RFOs and fructans. This novel finding urges further research on this peculiar carbohydrate on a broader array of RFO accumulators.status: publishe