Bestuurskundige boekentop

Dit keer geen boekenrecensies, maar boekentips. We hebben afgezien van een top-10 ranking, gezien er geen gemene deler te vinden was. Daarom presenteren wij elf boeken. Enkele boeken zijn klassiekers in de bestuurskunde, terwijl anderen de realiteit van het bestuurskundige bestaan treffend weten te benaderen. Over politieke dromen en maatschappelijke waarschuwingen tot aan het ambtelijk wezen en zijn werk

Boekrecencies

Uiteraard is het fijn om naast de gebruikelijke studieboeken ook eens naar een ander boek te grijpen. Er zijn echter zoveel verschillende boeken verkrijgbaar die voor bestuurskundigen interessant zijn, dat je soms door de bomen het bos niet meer ziet. Daarom tipt de redactie dit keer enkele boeken die een interessante kijk bieden op de bestuurspraktijk

Interview Emile Roemer

Het zal niemand ontgaan zijn, het is crisis in Nederland. Er moet nodig hervormd worden en de burger weet veelal niet meer waar hij aan toe is. Terwijl de regering samen met de gedoogpartij bezuinigingen doorvoert die vergaande consequenties hebben voor grote groepen van de Nederlandse samenleving, zakken traditioneel grote partijen (het CDA en de PvdA) steeds verder weg in de peilingen. Een partij die het in de peilingen voor de wind gaat, is de SP. De redactie interviewde fractievoorzitter Emile Roemer

Occupational cancer in Britain: Exposure assessment methodology

To estimate the current occupational cancer burden due to past exposures in Britain, estimates of the number of exposed workers at different levels are required, as well as risk estimates of cancer due to the exposures. This paper describes the methods and results for estimating the historical exposures. All occupational carcinogens or exposure circumstances classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as definite or probable human carcinogens and potentially to be found in British workplaces over the past 20–40 years were included in this study. Estimates of the number of people exposed by industrial sector were based predominantly on two sources of data, the CARcinogen EXposure (CAREX) database and the UK Labour Force Survey. Where possible, multiple and overlapping exposures were taken into account. Dose–response risk estimates were generally not available in the epidemiological literature for the cancer–exposure pairs in this study, and none of the sources available for obtaining the numbers exposed provided data by different levels of exposure. Industrial sectors were therefore assigned using expert judgement to ‘higher'- and ‘lower'-exposure groups based on the similarity of exposure to the population in the key epidemiological studies from which risk estimates had been selected. Estimates of historical exposure prevalence were obtained for 41 carcinogens or occupational circumstances. These include exposures to chemicals and metals, combustion products, other mixtures or groups of chemicals, mineral and biological dusts, physical agents and work patterns, as well as occupations and industries that have been associated with increased risk of cancer, but for which the causative agents are unknown. There were more than half a million workers exposed to each of six carcinogens (radon, solar radiation, crystalline silica, mineral oils, non-arsenical insecticides and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin); other agents to which a large number of workers are exposed included benzene, diesel engine exhaust and environmental tobacco smoke. The study has highlighted several industrial sectors with large proportions of workers potentially exposed to multiple carcinogens. The relevant available data have been used to generate estimates of the prevalence of past exposure to occupational carcinogens to enable the occupational cancer burden in Britain to be estimated. These data are considered adequate for the present purpose, but new data on the prevalence and intensity of current occupational exposure to carcinogens should be collected to ensure that future policy decisions be based on reliable evidence

Commissie BBruut stelt zich voor

Hier stellen de leden van de commissie BBruut zich voor. Komend jaar zullen zij de verantwoording op zich nemen om vier prachtige edities te maken van het semiwetenschappelijke magazine de Bestuurskundige berichten

What is the clinical relevance of different lung compartments?

The lung consists of at least seven compartments with relevance to immune reactions. Compartment 1 - the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), which represents the cells of the bronchoalveolar space: From a diagnostic point of view the bronchoalveolar space is the most important because it is easily accessible in laboratory animals, as well as in patients, using BAL. Although this technique has been used for several decades it is still unclear to what extent the BAL represents changes in other lung compartments. Compartment 2 - bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT): In the healthy, BALT can be found only in childhood. The role of BALT in the development of the mucosal immunity of the pulmonary surfaces has not yet been resolved. However, it might be an important tool for inhalative vaccination strategies. Compartment 3 - conducting airway mucosa: A third compartment is the bronchial epithelium and the submucosa, which both contain a distinct pool of leukocytes (e.g. intraepithelial lymphocytes, IEL). This again is also accessible via bronchoscopy. Compartment 4 - draining lymph nodes/Compartment 5 - lung parenchyma: Transbronchial biopsies are more difficult to perform but provide access to two additional compartments - lymph nodes with the draining lymphatics and lung parenchyma, which roughly means "interstitial" lung tissue. Compartment 6 - the intravascular leukocyte pool: The intravascular compartment lies between the systemic circulation and inflamed lung compartments. Compartment 7 - periarterial space: Finally, there is a unique, lung-specific space around the pulmonary arteries which contains blood and lymph capillaries. There are indications that this "periarterial space" may be involved in the pulmonary host defense

Comparison of exposure estimates in the Finnish job-exposure matrix FINJEM with a JEM derived from expert assessments performed in Montreal

Context: Retrospective exposure assessment in population-based case-control studies poses a major challenge due to the wide range of occupations and industries involved. The FINJEM is a generic job-exposure matrix developed in Finland which represents a potentially cost effective exposure assessment tool. While FINJEM has been used in several studies outside Finland, little is known of its applicability in other countries. Methods: We compared prevalence and intensity of exposure in FINJEM with a job-exposure matrix developed from expert assessments of occupational histories obtained in a population-based case-control study in Montreal. Agreement for prevalence of exposure was measured by weighted kappa coefficients between prevalence categories. Agreement for exposure intensity was measured by Spearman correlation coefficients between cells with non-null exposure. Results: The comparison involved 27 chemicals, the time period 1945-1995, and included 4,743 jobs initially assessed by the Montreal experts. 4,293 combinations of agent, occupational title, and period were available for comparison of prevalence. Agent-specific prevalence was consistently higher in the Montreal JEM (median difference 1.7%). Agent-specific kappas between prevalence categories varied from 0.89 (welding fumes) to 0.07 (flour dust). The comparison of exposure levels involved 14 agents and 198 cells with non-null exposure in both sources. Agent-specific Spearman correlation varied from 0.89 (flour dust) to -0.35 (Benzo[a]pyrene). Conclusion: Our observations suggest that information concerning several agents (e.g. metals, welding fumes) can be successfully transported from Finland to Canada and probably other countries. However, for other agents there was considerable disagreement and hence transportability of FINJEM cannot be assumed by default.This is the author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. and can be found at: http://oem.bmj.com/.Keywords: Validity and Reliability, Job-exposure matrix, Case-Control Study, Occupational exposure assessmentKeywords: Validity and Reliability, Job-exposure matrix, Case-Control Study, Occupational exposure assessmen