Peer victimization in Dutch school classes of four- to five-year-olds: Contributing factors at the school level

This research was designed to examine how factors within young children's environment (e.g., school factors, neighborhood) contribute to explaining peer victimization. The sample comprised 2,003 children (between 4 and 5 years of age) from 98 classrooms in 23 elementary schools in the Netherlands. Teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire on exposure to victimization for each child. Multilevel analyses revealed that gender and social climate of the school were directly related to victimization. Furthermore, results indicated that peer victimization in boys was less prevalent when they attended smaller schools. In low-SES neighborhoods victimization scores were significantly lower when schools had implemented clear antibullying policies. Finally, variation among school classes appeared to be strongly associated with victimization, even more so than variation among schools. These findings support broadening the focus beyond the individual child at risk. © 2009 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved

Parent-perceived autonomy-supportive experiences and basic psychological needs of people with complex support needs:Development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of two questionnaires

BackgroundUnderstanding and supporting basic psychological needs of persons with complex support needs is important but difficult because of communicative challenges . We developed and tested questionnaires to obtain parents’ perspectives on autonomy support and basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. MethodTwo parent-informant questionnaires were developed, administered, and subjected to psychometric property analyses. Participants were 63 Dutch parents of persons diagnosed with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. ResultsPrincipal component analyses revealed a one-factor structure for the Parental Perceptions on Autonomy-Supportive Experiences questionnaire, while the Parental Perceptions on Basic Psychological Need Signals questionnaire yielded two-factors interpreted as Noticing Signals of Autonomy and Noticing Signals of Competence/Relatedness. Evidence for construct validity was found for both instruments. ConclusionsPreliminary evaluation of the new questionnaires is encouraging, but further validation with a larger sample size is warranted

Satisfying basic psychological needs among people with complex support needs:A self-determination theory-guided analysis of primary relatives' perspectives

Background: The fulfilment of basic psychological needs (BPNs) is seen as an integral part of human self-determination, subjective wellbeing, and overall quality of life. However, the meaning of these psychological constructs for individuals with the most extensive support needs remains elusive. Methods: Primary relatives of nine people diagnosed with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities were interviewed about their perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness regarding their family member with complex care needs, and about the ways in which they tried to support their family member in fulfilling specific BPNs. The interview analysis followed a grounded theory with the sensitizing concepts approach. Results: The relatives assigned important meaning to the BPNs, providing insights into their subtle nature, their implicit drivers, and how they were experienced. The relatives also identified serious challenges in detecting, clarifying, and creating opportunities for BPNs. Conclusions: The themes in the relatives’ perspectives can be summarized into a conceptual framework that may contribute to better mutual understanding between people with complex care needs, their relatives, and healthcare providers

Fallen fragment sign

A 16-year-old boy presented at the emergency room after he fell on his left shoulder while playing American football. Plain radiographs showed a pathological fracture through a well- defined expansile radiolucent lesion within the proximal meta-diaphysis of the left humerus (Fig. A). The lesion caused cortical thinning and contained multiple linear cortical fragments within the central part of the lesion (arrows in Fig. A). Based on the age, location and the plain radiographic characteristics (“fallen fragment sign”), the diagnosis of a solitary bone cyst (SBC) was suggested

Winegrowers’ decision-making: A pan-European perspective on pesticide use and inter-row management

European viticultural landscapes not only support a significant share of rural livelihoods and cultural traditions, but also conserve biodiversity and sustain various ecosystem services. Winegrowers' practices of inter-row management (including whether to have vegetation in the inter-rows, type of vegetation, duration of vegetation cover, and soil tillage) and pesticide use (including herbicides in the inter-rows, fungicides, insecticides, and pheromone dispensers as an alternative) can affect these services. This study aims to understand winegrowers' decision-making driven by their personal characteristics, attitudes and beliefs towards viticultural practices, physical properties of vineyards, and farm management characteristics in five European winegrowing regions. These include Palatinate in Germany, Leithaberg in Austria, Tarnave in Romania, Bordeaux in France, and Montilla-Moriles in Spain. Based on a questionnaire survey, we constructed decision trees for each behaviour per case study as well as in a generic European model. We found factors that best explain how winegrowers manage their inter-rows and use pesticides. Results showed that not only do behaviours of winegrowers vary drastically across the case studies, but also the factors that explain most behaviours: farmers' attitudes and beliefs and farm management characteristics. This implies the importance of attitudes and beliefs – which are under-researched as compared to other factors – in understanding farmers’ behaviour. With the driving factors found to vary per case study, our results also imply the need for locally-adapted policies. Furthermore, our results suggest that the effects of climate change on European viticultural landscapes concern not only shifting production regions and changes in yields, but also changing pressure of pests and diseases. Any long-term behavioural change requires efforts from many stakeholders.This research was funded by the research project SECBIVIT which was funded through the 2017–2018 Belmont Forum and BiodivERsA joint call for research proposals, under the BiodivScen ERA-Net COFUND programme, with the funding organisations: Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Ministerio de ciencia e innovación/Spain), Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (grant number I 4025-B32), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF/Germany) through VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, DLR Projektträger, French National Research Agency (ANR), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), National Science Foundation (Grant #1850943) and Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI). We would like to thank all winegrowers who participated in the focus groups, online questionnaires and personal interviews and the extension services who distributed our online questionnaire through their e-mail distribution list (DLR-Rheinpfalz)

Use of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors and the Reporting of Infections: A Disproportionality Analysis in the World Health Organization VigiBase

OBJECTIVE - Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are a new class of antidiabetic drugs. They inactivate incretin hormones but also have many other effects throughout the body, among which are effects on the immune system. This might result in an increased infection risk. This study assessed the association between use of DPP-4 inhibitors and the reporting of infections. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - A nested case-control was conducted using VigiBase, the World Health Organization-Adverse Drug Reactions (WHO-ADR) database. The base cohort consisted of ADRs for antidiabetic drugs (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical code A10). Cases were defined as ADRs of infection according to the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) classification system. All other ADRs were considered controls. Reporting odds ratios (RORs) were calculated to estimate the strength of the association between different classes of antidiabetic drugs and the reporting of infections. RESULTS - We identified 305,415 suspected ADRs involving antidiabetic drugs in 106,469 case reports, of which 8,083 involved DPP-4 inhibitors monotherapy. Overall, the reporting of infections was higher for patients using DPP-4 inhibitors compared with users of biguanides (ROR 2.3 [95% CI 1.9-2.7]). Reporting of upper respiratory tract infections (ROR 12.3 [95% CI 8.6-17.5]) was significantly associated with use of DPP-4 inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS - This study indicates an increased reporting of infections, in particular upper respiratory tract infections, for users of DPP-4 inhibitors compared with users of other antidiabetic drugs. However, the limitations of spontaneous reporting systems (e.g., underreporting, the Weber-effect, reporting bias) should be taken into account. Therefore, further research is needed to evaluate this suspicion and the underlying mechanism

Distribution, diversity and environmental adaptation of highland papaya (Vasconcellea spp.) in tropical and subtropical America

Vasconcellea species, often referred to as highland papayas, consist of a group of fruit species that are closely related to the common papaya (Carica papaya). The genus deserves special attention as a number of species show potential as raw material in the tropical fruit industry, fresh or in processed products, or as genetic resources in papaya breeding programs. Some species show a very restricted distribution and are included in the IUCN Red List. This study on Vasconcellea distribution and diversity compiled collection data from five Vasconcellea projects and retrieved data from 62 herbaria, resulting in a total of 1,553 georeferenced collection sites, in 16 countries, including all 21 currently known Vasconcellea species. Spatial analysis of species richness clearly shows that Ecuador, Colombia and Peru are areas of high Vasconcellea diversity. Combination of species occurrence data with climatic data delimitates the potential distribution of each species and allows the modeling of potential richness at continent level. Based on these modeled richness maps, Ecuador appears to be the country with the highest potential Vasconcellea diversity. Despite differences in sampling densities, its neighboring countries, Peru and Colombia, possess high modeled species richness as well. A combination of observed richness maps and modeled potential richness maps makes it possible to identify important collection gaps. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of climate data at the collection sites allows us to define climatic preferences and adaptability of the different Vasconcellea species and to compare them with those of the common papaya

The role of valuation and bargaining in optimising transboundary watercourse treaty regimes

In the face of water scarcity, growing water demands, population increase, ecosystem degradation, climate change, and so on transboundary watercourse states inevitably have to make difficult decisions on how finite quantities of water are distributed. Such waters, and their associated ecosystem services, offer multiple benefits. Valuation and bargaining can play a key role in the sharing of these ecosystems services and their associated benefits across sovereign borders. Ecosystem services in transboundary watercourses essentially constitute a portfolio of assets. Whilst challenging, their commodification, which creates property rights, supports trading. Such trading offers a means by which to resolve conflicts over competing uses and allows states to optimise their ‘portfolios’. However, despite this potential, adoption of appropriate treaty frameworks that might facilitate a market-based approach to the discovery and allocation of water-related ecosystem services at the transboundary level remains both a challenge, and a topic worthy of further study. Drawing upon concepts in law and economics, this paper therefore seeks to advance the study of how treaty frameworks might be developed in a way that supports such a market-based approach to ecosystem services and transboundary waters