The use of behaviour patterns of larval schistosomes in assessing the bilharzia potential of non-endemic areas

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Billijke vergoeding video-on-demand verplicht collectief?

Met het wetsvoorstel auteurscontractenrecht wordt geprobeerd de rechtspositie van individuele makers en uitvoerende kunstenaars te verbeteren. Niet geheel verbazingwekkend staan de Nederlandse collectieve belangenorganisaties (cbo’s) daarbij vooral verplicht collectieve oplossingen voor. In deze bijdrage wordt besproken dat dit voor video-on-demand van buitenlandse content op bezwaren stuit.Coherent privaatrech

Food neophobia and mealtime food consumption in 4-5 year old children.

Background: Previous research has documented a negative association between maternal report of child food neophobia and reported frequency of consumption of fruit, vegetables, and meat. This study aimed to establish whether neophobia is associated with lower intake of these food types in naturalistic mealtime situations. Methods: One hundred and nine parents of 4–5 year olds completed questionnaires which included a six-item version of the Child Food Neophobia Scale (CFNS). The children took part in a series of 3 test lunch meals at weekly intervals at school at which they were presented with: chicken, cheese, bread, cheese crackers, chocolate biscuits, grapes and tomatoes or carrot sticks. Food items served to each child were weighed before and after the meal to assess total intake of items in four categories: Fruit and vegetables, Protein foods, Starchy foods and Snack foods. Pearson Product Moment Correlations and independent t tests were performed to examine associations between scores on the CFNS and consumption during lunches. Results: Neophobia was associated with lower consumption of fruit and vegetables, protein foods and total calories, but there was no association with intake of starch or snack foods. Conclusion: These results support previous research that has suggested that neophobia impacts differentially on consumption of different food types. Specifically it appears that children who score highly on the CFNS eat less fruit, vegetables and protein foods than their less neophobic peers. Attempts to increase intake of fruit, vegetables and protein might usefully incorporate strategies known to reduce the neophobic response

Agromere: Stadslandbouw in Almere, van toekomstbeelden naar ontwerp

Het project Agromere verkende of (stads)landbouw een natuurlijk onderdeel zou kunnen worden van moderne stedelijke ontwikkeling. Om de kansen en belemmeringen van landbouw in de stad concreet te maken is Almere als case gekozen. Almere staat aan de vooravond van de zogenaamde Schaalsprong 2030. Om de regio’s Amsterdam en Utrecht te ontlasten zou Almere met ca. 60.000 woningen moeten groeien in de periode tot 2030. Een deel van de ontwikkeling zou in een gebied van ca. 3.000 ha ten Noordoosten van de stad moeten plaatsvinden. Dit gebied, Almere Oosterwold, is nu in gebruik door de landbouw die hier voor de wereldmarkt produceert. Samen met een groep stakeholders vanuit diverse achtergrond is de denkbeeldige wijk Agromere ontworpen. In deze wijk met ca. 5.000 inwoners gaan landbouw en wonen samen op 250 ha. Uitgangspunt bij het ontwerp waren de volgende principes: zoveel mogelijk zelfvoorzienend qua voedselproductie, landbouw volgt de biologische productiewijze, landbouw is integraal onderdeel van de wijk, ondernemerschap is leidend, zoveel mogelijk lokale energieproductie en verbinding van de (mineralen) kringlopen van de wijk met die van de landbouw. Dit rapport verantwoordt het proces vanaf het prille begin (2002), via het vormen van een stakehodernetwerk (2005) tot en met het ontwerp (eind 2008) van Agromere. Het beschrijft zowel het proces dat geleid heeft tot het ontwerp van de virtuele wijk agromere als het ontwerp zelf. Agromere inspireerde de stad Almere. Almere nam stadslandbouw op in de Concept Structuurvisie (juni 2009) als een van de dragers van het te ontwikkelen Almere Oosterwold. De komende jaren zullen uitwijzen of stadslandbouw in Almere Oosterwold werkelijkheid wordt

Intradermally Administered Yellow Fever Vaccine at Reduced Dose Induces a Protective Immune Response: A Randomized Controlled Non-Inferiority Trial

Background:Implementation of yellow fever vaccination is currently hampered by limited supply of vaccine. An alternative route of administration with reduced amounts of vaccine but without loss of vaccine efficacy would boost vaccination programmes.Methods and Findings:A randomized, controlled, non-inferiority trial was conducted in a Dutch university center between August 2005 and February 2007. A total of 155 primary vaccinated and 20 previously vaccinated volunteers participated. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive intradermal (i.d.) vaccination with live attenuated yellow fever 17D vaccine at a reduced dose (1/5th; 0·1 mL) or the conventional subcutaneous (s.c.) vaccination (0·5 mL). Antibody neutralization titers were determined at 2, 4 and 8 weeks and 1 year after vaccination by counting the reduction in virus-induced plaques in the presence of serial serum dilutions. Adverse events were documented in a 3-week dairy. Viraemia was measured 5 days after vaccination. From 2 weeks up to one year after vaccination, the maximum serum-dilution at which 80% of the virus plaques were neutralized, which indicates protection against yellow fever, did not differ between those given a reduced i.d. dose or standard s.c. dose of vaccine. In all cases the WHO standard of seroprotection (i.e. 80% virus neutralization) was reached (in 77/77 and 78/78, respectively). Similar results were found in the previously vaccinated individuals. Viraemia was detected in half of the primary vaccinated participants, which was not predictive of serological response. In revaccinees no viraemia was detected.Conclusions:Intradermal administration of one fifth of the amount of yellow fever vaccine administered subcutaneously results in protective seroimmunity in all volunteers. Albeit this vaccination route should enable vaccination of five-times as many individuals at risk for disease, these results should now be confirmed in field studies in areas with potential yellow fever virus transmission to change vaccination policy.Trial Registration:Nederlands Trial Register ISRCTN46326316

Use of chromogenic peptide substrates in the determination of clotting factors II, VII, IX and X in normal plasma and in plasma of patients treated with oral anticoagulants

Spectrophotometric methods were used to assay the clotting factors II, VII, IX and X in plasma of 33 subjectively healthy human donors and in plasma of 98 patients receiving long-term oral anticoagulant therapy. In 33 normal subjects the interindividual variations in the plasma activities of the clotting factors II, VII, IX and X are respectively 12.2, 21.4, 11.0 and 15.0%. After correction for the assay variations the remaining biological variations are respectively 11.7, 21.2, 9.7 and 14.8%. Plasma from 98 patients receiving long-term anticoagulant therapy was assayed with ‘Thrombotest’, a clotting test in whole blood introduced by Owren and in these plasmas the activity of each of the vitamin K-dependent factors was assayed with spectrophotometric methods. For the clotting factors IX and VII, novel spectrophotometric methods were applied and the plasma activities thus measured were compared to results obtained with factor IX and VII clotting assays. Chromogenic activities of the different factors were correlated among each other and with 1/Thrombotest values. When the therapeutic range for Thrombotest values is set between 5 and 12.5% the corresponding therapeutic ranges for the activity of the factors II, VII, IX and X are respectively 12.6–36.1, 27.0–52.3, 23.1–49.3 and 18.9–36.2% (expressed as a percentage of the activity in normal pool plasma). The chromogenic assays for the factors II, VII, IX and X provide the same information on the therapeutic state of the patients in respectively 86.7, 78.6, 81.6 and 89.8% of the cases. Finally we discuss the suitability of the different assays to monitor oral anticoagulant therapy