Book Review: Arts Therapies and the Mental Health of Children and Young People: Contemporary Research Theory and Practice

Edited by Uwe Hermann, Margaret Hills de Zárate, and Salvo Pitruzzella this book is the first of a series to be published on the Arts Therapies and Mental Health of Children and Young People. The editors have carefully compiled contributions from England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Israel, and Trinidad Tobago. The book consists of an introduction followed by nine chapters with all the Arts Therapies disciplines represented. The relevance and urgency of the book’s theme, the mental health of children and young people, is immediately illustrated in the introduction, which is written by two of the three editors, Margaret Hills de Zárate and Uwe Hermann.  The editors sketch the global context, the effects of globalisation, and the necessity for the Arts and Arts Therapies to be employed in the support of vulnerable and underprivileged children and young people

Development of MY FRAM matrix to assess food safety risks in horticultural crops

A farm food safety risk assessment matrix (MY FRAM) was developed for horticultural farms. The tool enables farmers to carry out self risk assessments on the potential of food safety risks on the farm from site selection to post-harvest handling. MY FRAM was developed on Microsoft ASP. NET C# 4.5 with logical functions and utilised a semi-quantitative risk assessment approach (risk ranking of 1 – 9) for farmers. MY FRAM is an illustrative risk ranking tool to allow farmers to quickly identify potential food safety risks and risk summary and corrective actions are suggested to farms on how to reduce the risks. The tool can also be utilised as a training tool for farm workers to understand the importance of food safety at the farm level

Effective stakeholder involvement in agri-food governance and policy development

The aim of this thesis is to develop insight into optimal expert involvement practice within the agri-food governance and policy making domain. Following a systematic review of the published literature, it was determined that Delphi methodology appeared to be appropriate to elicit expert opinion and gather evidence in the complex policy domain associated with risk, food and agriculture. To this end, three Delphi studies in agri-food policy development were conducted

Overcoming History, Becoming European?:politics of the Past and European Union Accession in Bulgaria and Serbia

Violence, during war time of through large-scale repression, leaves societies scarred. How did European Union (EU) accession influence political dealing with the past in Bulgaria and Serbia (2000-2012)? Both countries experienced repressive socialism. Serbia additionally has a war past.The EU, it appears, was not consistent in addressing historical violence, especially repressive socialism. Nevertheless, Bulgarian and Serbian political parties – from left to right – claimed that EU accession required to either confront or forget their violent past(s). Some parties demanded justice to become a worthy EU member state; others made the exact opposite argument and propagated forgiveness in light of the European future. It is actually not that strange to connect the European future and violent history. The EU’s story of who we are today is rooted in how we interpret history. Specifically, it stems from our supposed triumph over fascism ánd (a recent addition to the story) over communism. The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize confirmed this identity.But Brussels has little control over the use of these stories. Nor could the EU fully control how parties would interpret its inconsistent policy. Sometimes, (imagined) demands of EU accession indeed helped achieving arrests of Serb war criminals – ending up in The Hague. EU accession was also essential in opening the archives of the Bulgarian socialist secret services. However, this dissertation warns that right-wing Bulgarian and Serbian political parties have used and still use EU accession to kick-start nationalist historical revision

Voorkomen van pleuropneumonie-achtige organismen bij urogenitale ontstekingsprocessen

Het proefschrift heeft betrekking op een onderzoek naar het voorkomen van pleuropneumonie-achtige organismen bij urogenitale ontstekingsprocessen bij de mens. Het uitgangspuntvan dit onderzoek was een mededeling van de dermatoloog Melczer, die in gangraeneuze huid- en slijmvlieslaesies elementaire lichaampjes meende te hebben aangetoond. ... Zie: Samenvattin

Sense and nonsense in sensors

Continuous subcutaneous glucose monitoring (CGM) is a developing technology in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The first randomised controlled trials on its efficacy have been performed. In several studies, CGM lowered HbA1c in adult patients with suboptimally controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus, when selecting compliant patients who tolerate the device. However, as a preventive tool for hypoglycaemia, CGM has not fulfilled the great expectations. Increasing reimbursement of CGM is expected in the near future, awaiting studies on cost-effectiveness

Use of chicken eggshell to improve dietary calcium intake in rural sub-Saharan Africa

Undernutrition resulting from inadequate access to high‐quality, nutritious food is a widespread issue in sub‐Saharan Africa impacting the health and survival of mothers and their children. Inadequate dietary intake leads to a deficiency in nutrients including calcium, required for growth and physiological functioning. This study investigated the potential of increasing dietary calcium intake by the addition of heat‐treated ground eggshell to locally prepared food. A mixed methods approach of literature review, Delphi expert survey and focus group discussions with women of childbearing age in rural Tanzania, were used to assess the practicality, safety, and acceptability of consumption of ground eggshell. Chicken eggshell has high calcium content (380 mg of calcium/gram) and bioavailability comparable to calcium carbonate (~39%) with 1 g sufficient to provide one half of a sub‐Saharan African adult female's dietary calcium needs. Salmonella was indicated as the most likely threat to human health through eggshell consumption. Experts agreed that eggshells boiled for 10 min when preparing hard‐boiled eggs with a further 20 min cooking of crushed eggshell in staple foods would eliminate identified egg‐associated pathogens. Five focus groups (n = 46) indicated eggshells were perceived as waste. However, there was an indication of general acceptance of the approach and a willingness to consider the incorporation of ground eggshells into their diets. Development of suitable communication methods are required to convey benefits and safe preparation methods. Ground eggshell could be a highly equitable method of increasing calcium intakes across rural sub‐Saharan Africa where calcium intake is low and village poultry ownership common