Chain Risk Model for quantifying cost effectiveness of phytosanitary measures

A Chain Risk Model (CRM) was developed for a cost effective assessment of phytosanitary measures. The CRM model can be applied to phytosanitary assessments of all agricultural product chains. In CRM, stages are connected by product volume flows with which pest infections can be spread from one stage to another. The arrangement of these stages can be varied. Experience with CRM was acquired through two cases: Clavibacter in Tomatoes and PSTVd (Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid) in potatoes. Employees from the Dutch Plant Protection Service (PD) will initially test CRM. Ten behoeve van een onderbouwde kosten effectieve afweging tussen fytosanitaire maatregelen is een Keten Risico Model ontwikkeld. Het KRM model is toepasbaar voor alle agrarische productketens. In het model zijn ketenschakels verbonden door product volume stromen, waarmee infecties kunnen worden verspreid. De rangschikking van de keten schakels kan door de gebruiker van het model worden gevarieerd. Met het model is ervaring opgedaan aan de hand van een tweetal cases: Clavibacter in tomaat en Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid (PSTVd) in aardappel. In eerste plaats wordt beoogd medewerkers van de PD te laten werken met KRM

Fear of exercise and health-related quality of life in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator

Several studies have reported improved survival rates thanks to the use of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in the treatment of patients with life-threatening arrhythmia. However, the effects of the ICD on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) of these patients are not clear. The aim of this study is to describe HR-QoL and fear of exercise in ICD patients. Eighty-nine ICD patients from the University Hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands, participated in this study. HR-QoL was measured using the Rand-36 and the Quality of Life After Myocardial Infarction Dutch language version questionnaires. Fear of exercise was measured using the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, Dutch version and the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire, Dutch version. Association between outcome variables was analysed by linear regression analyses. Study results show that the HR-QoL of patients with ICDs in our study population is significantly worse than that of normal healthy people. Furthermore, fear of exercise is negatively associated with HR-QoL corrected for sex, age and number of years living with an ICD. After implantation of the ICD, patients with a clear fear of exercise should be identified and interventions should be considered in order to increase their HR-QoL

Het voedsellandschap van de Zuidvleugel

Dit boekje is een inventarisatie van bedrijven en initiatieven in en rond het stedelijke gebied die zich richten op voedselproductie voor voornamelijk de lokale markt

Schapenbedrijf Waiboerhoeve van intensief naar extensief!

Dit bedrijfssysteem wordt gekarakteriseerd door geen aanvoer van kunstmest, krachtvoer en kunstmelk, geen huisvesting en een verlaging van de arbeidsbehoefte

'Low-input' schapen

Op het Low Input Schapenbedrijf van de Waiboerhoeve ligt het dek- en aflamseizoen enkele maanden later dan op de traditionele schapenbedrijven

A novel perspective on pharmaceutical R&D costs:opportunities for reductions

INTRODUCTION: R&D costs as an element of medicines' pricing play a prominent role in the discussions regarding the affordability of medicine. This paper investigates the details of R&D costs and the potential for reductions. AREAS COVERED: The manuscript focuses on the constitution of R&D costs in relation to medicines' pricing and its potential developments. This manuscript builds on a cost-of-opportunity approach to explore the results of potential changes in drug development and its possible economic, political, and societal impacts. EXPERT OPINION: The cost of capital is the largest cost category that could be affected by authorities. Public institutions can affect these costs by increasing public investments in R&D and reducing the amount of development time that is associated with a high capital need. In order to affect the cost of failure, it is key to understand its drivers. A government taking risks as the funder of early innovation yields an opportunity to introduce an alternative model for medicine development. Next, to control pricing, it is important to adequately reward innovation in order to ensure improved quality of care, access, and affordability of systems. Innovation, high-quality care, access, and affordability require entrepreneurial and changing positions of governments, authorities, public institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry

Marktkansen voor etnisch voedsel en etnische diensten

De bevolkingssamenstelling van de Nederlandse steden is afgelopen jaren sterk veranderd. De stedelijke vraag naar producten en diensten van het platteland is ook sterk veranderd. Uit de quick scan is gebleken dat de 'ethnic food & services' een belangrijk onderdeel vormen van de nieuwe vraag. Dit dient niet alleen ten behoeve van de nichemarkt van ethnic food & services maar kan tegelijkertijd als een strategisch middel ingezet worden om de algemene stadplattelandsrelaties aan te halen, uit te breiden en te verbetere

Methylphenidate use and school performance among primary school children:a descriptive study

Background: There is no conclusive evidence that stimulants have beneficial effects on major associated outcome parameters, particularly school performance. We assessed the differences in school performance among children using methylphenidate at the end of primary school in relation to various parameters of methylphenidate use. Methods: We linked children from a pharmacy prescription database with standardized achievement test results at the end of primary school. We explored differences in test scores between current methylphenidate users versus never users and methylphenidate users who stopped treatment at least 6 months before the test, early versus late starters, different dosage of methylphenidate, and concurrent antipsychotic or asthma treatment. Results: Out of the 7736 children, 377 (4.9%) children were treated with methylphenidate at the time of the test. After adjusting for confounders the methylphenidate users (532.58 +/- .48) performed significantly lower on the test than never users (534.72 +/- .11). Compared with late starters of methylphenidate treatment (536.94 +/- 1.51) we found significantly lower test scores for the early starters (532.33 +/- .50). Conclusion: Our study indicates that children using methylphenidate still perform less at school compared to their peers. Our study also suggests that earlier start of methylphenidate treatment is associated with a lower school performance compared to children starting later with the treatment. This result could either indicate a limited effect of long term treatment or a more strongly affected group of early starters