Assessment of foster carers:their willingness to raise children with special needs

A substantial part of children placed out of home in family foster care suffers severe emotional and behavioural problems. These problems can enlarge the risk of a placement breakdown: the stay of a child in a foster family comes prematurely to an end because, for instance, the foster carers are not able anymore to handle the challenging behaviour of the child. As a result the child will be replaced to another care setting. To diminish the risk of such breakdowns it is crucial to assess among prospective foster carers if they feel competent and are willing to raise children with special needs or conduct problems. As part of a research programme on the applicability of the Casey Home Assessment Protocol (CHAP) in the Netherlands prospective foster carers (N=37) were interviewed on their willingness to include children with special needs in their families. In nearly 40% of the cases the participants were ‘under no circumstances’ willing to admit children who had committed sexual offences or were sexually active, who used drugs or who showed cruelty to animals. Also children with an incurable illness and intellectual or physical disabilities were quite often not welcome. Offering professional help and support to foster carers increased their willingness to foster these children. Implications of the outcomes are discussed, especially regarding their significance for the matching process in family foster care

Electroconvulsive seizures (ECS) do not prevent LPS-induced behavioral alterations and microglial activation

Background: Long-term neuroimmune activation is a common finding in major depressive disorder (MDD). Literature suggests a dual effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a highly effective treatment strategy for MDD, on neuroimmune parameters: while ECT acutely increases inflammatory parameters, such as serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, there is evidence to suggest that repeated ECT sessions eventually result in downregulation of the inflammatory response. We hypothesized that this might be due to ECT-induced attenuation of microglial activity upon inflammatory stimuli in the brain. Methods: Adult male C57Bl/6J mice received a series of ten electroconvulsive seizures (ECS) or sham shocks, followed by an intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) injection. Brains were extracted and immunohistochemically stained for the microglial marker ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1). In addition, a sucrose preference test and an open-field test were performed to quantify behavioral alterations. Results: LPS induced a short-term reduction in sucrose preference, which normalized within 3 days. In addition, LPS reduced the distance walked in the open field and induced alterations in grooming and rearing behavior. ECS did not affect any of these parameters. Phenotypical analysis of microglia demonstrated an LPS-induced increase in microglial activity ranging from 84 to 213 % in different hippocampal regions (CA3 213 %; CA1 84 %; dentate gyrus 131 %; and hilus 123 %). ECS-induced alterations in microglial activity were insignificant, ranging from -2.6 to 14.3 % in PBS-injected mice and from -20.2 to 6.6 % in LPS-injected mice. Conclusions: We were unable to demonstrate an effect of ECS on LPS-induced microglial activity or behavioral alterations

A spatial analysis of dietary patterns in a large representative population in the north of The Netherlands - the Lifelines cohort study

Background: Diet is an important modifiable risk factor for chronic diseases. In the search for effective strategies to improve dietary patterns in order to promote healthy ageing, new approaches considering contextual factors in public health medicine are warranted. The aim of this study is to examine the spatial clustering of dietary patterns in a large representative sample of adults. Methods: Dietary patterns were defined on the basis of a 111 item Food Frequency Questionnaire among n = 117,570 adults using principal components analysis. We quantified the spatial clustering of dietary pattern scores at the neighborhood level using the Global Moran's I spatial statistic, taking into consideration individual demographic and (neighborhood) socioeconomic indicators. Results: Four dietary patterns explaining 27% of the variance in dietary data were extracted in this population and named the "bread and cookies" pattern, the "snack" pattern, the "meat and alcohol" pattern and the "vegetable, fruit and fish" pattern. Significant spatial clustering of high (hot spot) and low (cold spot) dietary pattern scores was found for all four dietary patterns irrespective of age and gender differences. Educational attainment and neighborhood income explained the global clustering to some extent, although clustering at smaller regional scales persisted. Conclusion: The significant region-specific hot and cold spots of the four dietary patterns illustrate the existence of regional "food cultures" and underscore the need for interventions targeted at the sub-national level in order to tackle unhealthy dietary behavior and to stimulate people to make healthy dietary choices

De superheffing : is er een alternatief? : eindrapport van een onderzoek naar de werking van de superheffing in de Europese Gemeenschap en naar de consequenties van een aantal beleidsalternatieven over de periode 1989 -1997

Deze studie geeft een overzicht van ontwikkelingen in de zuivelsector voor en na invoering van de superheffing en beschrijft de werking van de superheffing met aanvullende regelingen. Over de periode 1984-'88 wordt de superheffing vergeleken met ongewijzigd beleid en met 4 beleidsalternatieven met gelijke budgetlasten voor de EG: bij 3 daarvan wordt in een of andere vorm een quotumsysteem toegepast, terwijl bij het 4e alternatief een marktgericht beleid met lagere prijzen zonder quota wordt gehanteer