Skin health in northern Australia

Achieving healthy skin requires the prevention of infectious diseases that affect the skin. Prevention activities range from environmental health improvements to address inequities in living situations, through to community-wide treatment programs to reduce transmission and improve skin health. In this paper we discuss the pathogens that cause and conditions that arise when skin is infected, the burden of disease in northern Australia, and some of the current research underway to address this high burden, which predominantly affects remote-living Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families

Van kunstbeleving tot weblectures. Afstudeeronderzoeken bij het Crossmedialab.: LabRats # 2

Onder crossmedia wordt hier verstaan het gebruik van meerdere media (TV, Internet, mobiel, evenementen, print, radio et cetera) in de communicatie. Zodra meerdere media worden ingezet in het overbrengen van een boodschap of verhaal dringt de vraag zich op naar de ‘orkestratie’ van de verschillende media: Welke content op welk medium? Hoe verhouden de verschillende media zich tot elkaar? Waar is onderlinge versterking mogelijk? Welke eigenschappen van de verschillende media worden gebruikt in relatie tot de doelgroep? Et cetera. Deze vragen hebben de laatste jaren aan urgentie gewonnen door de opkomst en toenemende dominantie van internet en mobiele toepassingen. Dit heeft ingrijpende consequenties voor de productie, aggregatie, distributie en consumptie van content, waardoor het bijvoorbeeld veel makkelijker is geworden content over verschillende media te verspreiden en te consumeren (Van Vliet, 2008; Brussee & Hekman, 2009). In deze publicatie staan vijf afstudeeronderzoeken centraal die door studenten van de Hogeschool Utrecht zijn uitgevoerd, onder begeleiding van het lectoraat. In de vorige editie betrof dit in alle gevallen nog studenten van de opleiding Digitale Communicatie van de Faculteit Communicatie en Journalistiek, nu zijn er ook studenten betrokken van andere opleidingen van de faculteit en ook studenten van een andere faculteit (Natuur en Techniek). Het onderzoek van Lisanne Groenendaal naar kunstbeleving is gerelateerd aan een grotere onderzoekslijn naar de relatie tussen crossmedia en cultureel erfgoed (Van Vliet, 2009). Het onderzoek van Thomas Tijdink sluit aan bij het project History of the Future, naar de rol van toekomstverwachtingen uit het verleden voor onze huidige verwachtingen over nieuwe media. Het doorlopende onderzoek naar business modellen is de context geweest voor het onderzoek van Masoud Banbersta naar het succes van Twitter. En de vraag naar de rol van crossmedia in het onderwijs is door de afstudeerders Richard Deuzeman, Jeroen van Leeuwen en Yun Chen concreet gemaakt door te kijken naar de introductie van weblectures. Het spreekt dan ook voor zich dat de hier gepresenteerde onderzoeksresultaten slechts een tussenopname zijn die ingeweven zullen worden in andere publicaties en onderzoeksprojecten

Direct Comparison of Real-world Effectiveness of Biologics for Psoriasis using Absolute and Relative Psoriasis Area and Severity Index Scores in a Prospective Multicentre Cohort

Real-world evidence, directly comparing the effectiveness of interleukin (IL)17-inhibitors, IL23-inhibitors, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-inhibitors and an IL12/23-inhibitor in psoriasis, is scarce. The aim of this study was to directly compare the first-year effectiveness of biologic therapies for psoriasis, corrected for confounders. This prospective, multicentre cohort study assessed BioCAPTURE data on etanercept, adalimumab, ustekinumab, secukinumab, ixekizumab, and guselkumab in 1,080 treatment episodes of 700 patients with psoriasis. The course of the mean absolute Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and the proportion of patients who achieved PASI90/PASI75 were compared using linear mixed models and mixed logistic regression models respectively, corrected for baseline PASI, biologic naivety, and weight. Patients treated with adalimumab, ustekinumab, secukinumab, ixekizumab, or guselkumab all had a significantly lower mean PASI after 12 months compared with etanercept, and significantly higher overall odds of reaching PASI90 than those treated with etanercept. Patients treated with ixekizumab or guselkumab also had higher probabilities of reaching PASI90 than adalimumab, ustekinumab, and secukinumab. Relative to randomized controlled trials, the proportions of patients who reached PASI90/75 were lower in this real-world study

Competencies and Skills for Remote and Rural Maternity Care: A Review of the Literature

Aim. This paper reports a review of the literature on skills, competencies and continuing professional development necessary for sustainable remote and rural maternity care. Background. There is a general sense that maternity care providers in rural areas need specific skills and competencies. However, how these differ from generic skills and competencies is often unclear. Methods. Approaches used to access the research studies included a comprehensive search in relevant electronic databases using relevant keywords (e.g. ‘remote’, ‘midwifery’, ‘obstetrics’, ‘nurse–midwives’, education’, ‘hospitals’, ‘skills’, ‘competencies’, etc.). Experts were approached for (un-)published literature, and books and journals known to the authors were also used. Key journals were hand searched and references were followed up. The original search was conducted in 2004 and updated in 2006. Findings. Little published literature exists on professional education, training or continuous professional development in maternity care in remote and rural settings. Although we found a large literature on competency, little was specific to competencies for rural practice or for maternity care. ‘Hands-on’ skills courses such as Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics and the Neonatal Resuscitation Programme increase confidence in practice, but no published evidence of effectiveness of such courses exists. Conclusion. Educators need to be aware of the barriers facing rural practitioners, and there is potential for increasing distant learning facilitated by videoconferencing or Internet access. They should also consider other assessment methods than portfolios. More research is needed on the levels of skills and competencies required for maternity care professionals practising in remote and rural areasa

LifeTime and improving European healthcare through cell-based interceptive medicine

LifeTime aims to track, understand and target human cells during the onset and progression of complex diseases and their response to therapy at single-cell resolution. This mission will be implemented through the development and integration of single-cell multi-omics and imaging, artificial intelligence and patient-derived experimental disease models during progression from health to disease. Analysis of such large molecular and clinical datasets will discover molecular mechanisms, create predictive computational models of disease progression, and reveal new drug targets and therapies. Timely detection and interception of disease embedded in an ethical and patient-centered vision will be achieved through interactions across academia, hospitals, patient-associations, health data management systems and industry. Applying this strategy to key medical challenges in cancer, neurological, infectious, chronic inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases at the single-cell level will usher in cell-based interceptive medicine in Europe over the next decade.We would like to acknowledge all participants that have attended and contributed to LifeTime meetings and workshops through many exciting presentations and discussions. We thank Johannes Richers for artwork. LifeTime has received funding from the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework programme under Grant agreement 820431