Hypothetical questionnaires may overestimate willingness to participate in HIV cure research: Comparison of a cross-sectional survey to actual willingness to participate in an HIV cure study in the Netherlands

Objective: Little is known about willingness among people living with HIV (PLHIV) to participate in HIV cure research in the Netherlands. We compared results of a cross-sectional questionnaire assessing hypothetical willingness to actual willingness among PLHIV to take part in a clinical HIV cure trial. Methods: Between March and June 2018, PLHIV visiting the outpatient clinic of a university hospital in the Netherlands were asked to complete a questionnaire about HIV cure research. Results were compared to the number of PLHIV willing to take part in an actual HIV cure study at the same center during an overlapping time period. Results: In total, 165 participants, predominantly male (80%) from Western European countries (61%) completed the questionnaire. The majority would participate in cure research (n ¼ 111, 67%). Separately, actual willingness among PLHIV to participate in an HIV cure study was addressed in 312 cases. Apart from gender (96% male), baseline characteristics were comparable. Less than half expressed actual willingness to participate in the study (n ¼ 135, 43%). Conclusions: Hypothetical willingness to participate in cure-related research was high among PLHIV who completed the questionnaire. Actual willingness among eligible PLHIV to take part in an HIV cure study was much lower. Our findings show that questionnaires may overestimate willingness to part

Verkenning van grootschalige grondgebonden landbouwbedrijven in 2016

In dit onderzoek wordt inzicht gegeven in de financierbaarheid van een verdergaande schaalvergroting op de huidige grote grondgebonden landbouwbedrijven tot 2016. Ten aanzien van de verwachte schaalvergroting is aangesloten bij de LNV-visie 'Kiezen voor Landbouw' uit 2005. Met behulp van bedrijfseconomische rekenmodellen is voor een aantal representatieve voorbeeldbedrijven in de akkerbouw en melkveehouderij de liquiditeitsontwikkeling bij een drietal groeitempo's doorgerekend. Daarnaast heeft een gevoeligheidsanalyse plaatsgevonden voor kernvariabelen als rente en aflossingsduu

Inter-Laboratory Reproducibility of Inducible HIV-1 Reservoir Quantification by TILDA

Substantial efforts to eliminate or reduce latent HIV-1 reservoirs are underway in clinical trials and have created a critical demand for sensitive, accurate, and reproducible tools to evaluate the efficacy of these strategies. Alternative reservoir quantification assays have been developed to circumvent limitations of the quantitative viral outgrowth assay. One such assay is tat/rev induced limiting dilution assay (TILDA), which measures the frequency of CD4+ T cells harboring inducible latent HIV-1 provirus. We modified pre-amplification reagents and conditions (TILDA v2.0) to improve assay execution and first internally validated assay performance using CD4+ T cells obtained from cART-suppressed HIV-1-infected individuals. Detection of tat/rev multiply spliced RNA was not altered by modifying pre-amplification conditions, confirming the robustness of the assay, and supporting the technique’s amenability to limited modifications to ensure better implementation for routine use in clinical studies of latent HIV-1 reservoirs. Furthermore, we cross-validated results of TILDA v2.0 and the original assay performed in two separate laboratories using samples from 15 HIV-1-infected individuals. TILDA and TILDA v2.0 showed a strong correlation (Lin’s Concordance Correlation Coefficient = 0.86). The low inter-laboratory variability between TILDAs performed at different institutes further supports use of TILDA for reservoir quantitation in multi-center interventional HIV-1 Cure trials

The challenge of evaluating health effects of organic food; operationalisation of a dynamic concept of health

The health benefits of consuming organically produced foods compared with conventional foods are unclear. Important obstacles to drawing clear conclusions in this field of research are (1) the lack of a clear operational definition of health and (2) the inability to distinguish between different levels of health using valid biomarkers. In this paper, some shortcomings of the current definition of health are outlined and the relevance of integrating a more dynamic and functional component is emphasised, which is reflected by the ability to adapt. The state of health could then be determined by challenging an individual with some form of stressor and by subsequent quantification and evaluation of the coherence in recovery of various physiological processes and parameters. A set of relevant parameters includes the activity of the immune system and the activity of the autonomous nervous system. A good recovery towards homeostasis is suggested to reflect a qualitatively good state of health. Furthermore, it would enable objective evaluation of health-optimising strategies, including the consumption of organically produced foods that aim to strengthen health. (C) 2012 Society of Chemical Industr

Verkenning van grootschalige grondgebonden landbouwbedrijven in 2016

In dit onderzoek wordt inzicht gegeven in de financierbaarheid van een verdergaande schaalvergroting op de huidige grote grondgebonden landbouwbedrijven tot 2016. Ten aanzien van de verwachte schaalvergroting is aangesloten bij de LNV-visie 'Kiezen voor Landbouw' uit 2005. Met behulp van bedrijfseconomische rekenmodellen is voor een aantal representatieve voorbeeldbedrijven in de akkerbouw en melkveehouderij de liquiditeitsontwikkeling bij een drietal groeitempo's doorgerekend. Daarnaast heeft een gevoeligheidsanalyse plaatsgevonden voor kernvariabelen als rente en aflossingsduu