Mag het een onsje meer zijn? : een studie naar de Duitse varkensvleeskolom

De Duitse varkensvleesindustrie is van groot en toenemend belang voor de Nederlandse varkenshouderijkolom. Om de primaire varkenshouders goed te kunnen adviseren heeft Rabobank opdracht gegeven om een analyse te laten uitvoeren van deze markt. Op basis van deze analyse zijn aanbevelingen opgesteld voor Nederlandse zeugenhouders en vleesvarkenhouders om de huidige goede positie te handhaven of te verbetere

Increased gravitational force reveals the mechanical, resonant nature of physiological tremor

Human physiological hand tremor has a resonant component. Proof of this is that its frequency can be modified by adding mass. However, adding mass also increases the load which must be supported. The necessary force requires muscular contraction which will change motor output and is likely to increase limb stiffness. The increased stiffness will partly offset the effect of the increased mass and this can lead to the erroneous conclusion that factors other than resonance are involved in determining tremor frequency. Using a human centrifuge to increase head-to-foot gravitational field strength, we were able to control for the increased effort by increasing force without changing mass. This revealed that the peak frequency of human hand tremor is 99% predictable on the basis of a resonant mechanism. We ask what, if anything, the peak frequency of physiological tremor can reveal about the operation of the nervous system.This work was funded by a BBSRC Industry Interchange Award to J.P.R.S. and R.F.R. C.J.O. was funded by BBSRC grant BB/I00579X/1. C.A.V. was funded by A∗Midex (Aix-Marseille Initiative of Excellence

Positive psychology outcome measures for family caregivers of people living with dementia: a systematic review

Background: Family caregivers of people living with dementia can have both positive and negative experiences of caregiving. Despite this, existing outcome measures predominately focus on negative aspects of caregiving such as burden and depression. This review aimed to evaluate the development and psychometric properties of existing positive psychology measures for family caregivers of people living with dementia to determine their potential utility in research and practice. Method: A systematic review of positive psychology outcome measures for family caregivers of people with dementia was conducted. The databases searched were as follows: PsychINFO, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed. Scale development papers were subject to a quality assessment to appraise psychometric properties. Results: Twelve positive outcome measures and six validation papers of these scales were identified. The emerging constructs of self-efficacy, spirituality, resilience, rewards, gain, and meaning are in line with positive psychology theory. Conclusions: There are some robust positive measures in existence for family caregivers of people living with dementia. However, lack of reporting of the psychometric properties hindered the quality assessment of some outcome measures identified in this review. Future research should aim to include positive outcome measures in interventional research to facilitate a greater understanding of the positive aspects of caregiving and how these contribute to well-being

The Rotterdam Scan Study: design and update up to 2012

Neuroimaging plays an important role in etiologic research on neurological diseases in the elderly. The Rotterdam Scan Study was initiated as part of the ongoing Rotterdam Study with the aim to unravel causes of neurological disease by performing neuroimaging in a population-based longitudinal setting. In 1995 and 1999 random subsets of the Rotterdam Study underwent neuroimaging, whereas from 2005 onwards MRI has been implemented into the core protocol of the Rotterdam Study. In this paper, we discuss the background and rationale of the Rotterdam Scan Study. We also describe the imaging protocol and post-processing techniques, and highlight the main findings to date. Finally, we make recommendations for future research, which will also be the main focus of investigation in the Rotterdam Scan Study

Liver Fat and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Among School-Age Children

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease in adults. The burden of liver fat and associated cardiometabolic risk factors in healthy children is unknown. In a

Spectroscopic studies on photoinduced reactions of the anticancer prodrug, trans,trans,trans-[Pt(N3)2(OH)2(py)2]

The photodecomposition mechanism of trans,trans,trans-[Pt(N3)2(OH)2(py)2] (1, py = pyridine), an anticancer prodrug candidate, was probed using complementary Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), transient electronic absorption and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Data fitting using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and multi-curve resolution alternating least squares, suggests the formation of a trans-[Pt(N3)(py)2(OH/H2O)] intermediate and trans [Pt(py)2(OH/H2O)2] as the final product upon 420 nm irradiation of 1 in water. Rapid disappearance of the hydroxido ligand stretching vibration upon irradiation is correlated with a -10 cm-1 shift to the anti-symmetric azido vibration, suggesting a possible second intermediate. Experimental proof of subsequent dissociation of azido ligands from platinum is presented, where at least one hydroxyl radical is formed in the reduction of Pt(IV) to Pt(II). Additionally, the photoinduced reaction of 1 with 5'-guanosine monophosphate was studied, and the identity of key photoproducts was assigned with the help of ATR FTIR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and DFT calculations. The identification of marker bands for photoproducts, e.g. trans-[Pt(N3)(py)2(5'-GMP)] and trans-[Pt(py)2(5'-GMP)2], will aid elucidation of the chemical and biological mechanism of anticancer action of 1. In general, these studies demonstrate the potential of vibrational spectroscopic techniques as promising tools for studying such metal complexes