Family group conferencing—its added value in mental health care

Worldwide, there is a growing emphasis on reducing coercion and involving social networks in the care of mental health clients. Nurses should encourage their clients to regain control over their lives, preferably with less coercion and with help from their social network. During four years, a Dutch evaluation study was deployed to determine the applicability of mobilising help from social networks of people with psychiatric problems. Specifically the potential of Family Group Conferencing was examined. In this discursive article the question, ‘what Family Group Conferencing adds to the existing methods that aim to reduce coercion in mental health care and promote inclusion’ is addressed

Enhancing Antimicrobial Stewardship On Dairy Farms With A Focus On Selective Treatment Of Clinical Mastitis

Clinical mastitis (CM) treatment decisions have been the focus of antimicrobial stewardship in the dairy sector, as CM and antimicrobial dry cow treatments account for the majority of antimicrobials used on farms. To improve on-farm antimicrobial stewardship, a selective treatment approach of CM is explored, centering around milk culture-guided decisions. Detailed principles of selective CM treatment and an evidence-based protocol are presented in Chapter 2, alongside an overview of expected cow and farm impacts, impact of proportion of Gram-negative cases on expected reduction in antimicrobial use, adoption rates across the globe, and knowledge and technology gaps. A systematic review and meta-analysis is presented in Chapter 3, evidencing that a selective CM treatment protocol can be adopted without adversely influencing bacteriological and clinical cure, somatic cell count, milk yield, and incidence of recurrence or culling. Chapter 4 presents survey results of 142 farms detailing adoption of various CM protocols among Canadian dairy farmers, demonstrating an association between increased adoption of selective CM protocols and low average cow SCC, as well as a distinction between 3 groups of farmers with similar relative importance of decision factors. Delving further into CM decision-making, Chapter 5 presents considerations of Western Canadian dairy farmers at each decision step from identification of CM to treatment termination, as well as 3 overarching themes impacting each step: Personal attributes, Inter-actor dynamics, and Moving beyond protocols. Chapter 6 describes 4 themes related to perceptions on mastitis-related antimicrobial use: Antibiotic use paradox: Perception vs. reality; Low disease incidence is a badge of honor; In good hands: Veterinarians as safeguards; and “It takes a village to make a change”, alongside 10 proposed interventions designed using the Behavior Change Wheel to mitigate voiced barriers and appeal to facilitators towards milk-culture guided decisions. To advance this research future efforts should be focused on improving selection of CM cases to exclude antimicrobial treatment, discouraging inadequate mastitis-related antimicrobial stewardship practices, enhancing quality and accessibility of milk diagnostic tests, and stimulating and monitoring uptake of selective CM protocols

Staphylococcus hyicus-infecties bij varkens

Staphylococcus hyicus is the causative agent of exudative epidermitis, an important skin disease in pigs. The classical form is characterized by general dermatitis and epidermitis without pruritis and by dehydration and death. This form of the disease mainly occurs in pigs younger than eight weeks. Localized forms with lesions at the eartips, the head, the flanks and the other extremities also occur, especially in pigs older than six weeks. Toxins produced by S. hyicus, together with predisposing factors causing skin lesions are important for the development of clinical symptoms. The clinical symptoms and lesions are typical, but the isolation of the bacterium from the lesions is necessary to confirm the diagnosis. The treatment entails fluid therapy, the topical use of antiseptics and the use of antimicrobials. Control is based on the prevention of skin lesions, the optimization of the housing conditions, stable climate and nutrition, and the application of sanitary and hygienic measures in the stables to lower the infection pressure

Ovariële cysten bij de zeug: een multifactoriële aandoening met een weerslag op de vruchtbaarheid

Ovarian cysts are an important cause of reduced reproductive performance in gilts and sows. The formation of follicular cysts, although not completely elucidated yet, is associated with a deficiency in LH release and the continuous growth of follicles. Luteal cysts might arise from ovulated follicles due to premature closure of the ovulation site. The formation of ovarian cysts is probably multifactorial. Genetic factors may affect the susceptibility to this fertility disorder. Risk factors for the development of ovarian cysts are stress, mycotoxins and hormonal treatment over a long period of time, or at an improper phase of the reproductive cycle. Other, still unknown risk factors may be involved. Ovarian cysts can cause anestrus, irregular estrus cycles, behavioral changes, lower conception rates and a reduced litter size. However, not all ovarian cysts are clinically apparent. The diagnosis of ovarian cysts is based on ultrasonography. Various treatments are possible (GnRH, hCG or PGF(2a)) but the effectiveness is unsatisfactory. Therefore, in most cases the sow is culled

Ambipolar Drift Heating in Turbulent Molecular Clouds

Although thermal pressure is unimportant dynamically in most molecular gas, the temperature is an important diagnostic of dynamical processes and physical conditions. This is the first of two papers on thermal equilibrium in molecular clouds. We present calculations of frictional heating by ion-neutral (or ambipolar) drift in three-dimensional simulations of turbulent, magnetized molecular clouds. We show that ambipolar drift heating is a strong function of position in a turbulent cloud, and its average value can be significantly larger than the average cosmic ray heating rate. The volume averaged heating rate per unit volume due to ambipolar drift, H_AD ~ |JxB|^2 ~ B^4/L_B^2, is found to depend on the rms Alfvenic Mach number, M_A, and on the average field strength, as H_AD ~ M_A^2^4. This implies that the typical scale of variation of the magnetic field, L_B, is inversely proportional to M_A, which we also demonstrate.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures include

Effect of a GnRH analogue (peforelin) on the litter performance of gilts and sows

Background: Maintaining optimal reproductive and litter performance is essential for meeting economic targets in commercial pig production. Treatment with exogenous gonadotropins in sows after weaning or in gilts after altrenogest treatment has been used to stimulate follicular development leading to more piglets born and eventually higher birth weights. The effect of peforelin on litter performance was investigated in 212 gilts, primi- and pluriparous sows in three herds. Animals were randomly allocated to three treatments 24 h after weaning: peforelin (P group), eCG (E group), and physiological saline solution (C group). Numbers of total, liveborn and stillborn piglets and mortality rate during lactation were recorded. Birth weights and coefficient of variation in weights within litter were assessed. All parameters were compared among treatments. Results: Over all parities, no difference was found among treatments in litter size nor mortality rate, but birth weights were significantly lower in the E group. Stillbirth numbers in pluriparous sows were 2.2, 0.9 and 1.4 for P, E and C groups, respectively (p = 0.04). Piglets in the P group had significantly higher live born birth weights in gilts, compared to the E group (1.36, 1.26, 1.32 kg (p < 0.02) for P, E and C group, respectively). No significant differences were found for the other investigated parameters. Conclusions: Peforelin treatment showed no improvement of litter performance compared to no treatment

Household and context determinants of child labor in 221 districts of 18 developing countries

Abstract We develop a new theoretical framework that explains the engagement in child labor of children in developing countries. This framework distinguishes three levels (household, district and nation) and three groups of explanatory variables: Resources, Structure and Culture. Each of the three groups refers to another strand of the literature; economics, sociology and anthropology. The framework is tested by applying multilevel analysis on data for 239,120 children living in 221 districts of 18 developing countries. This approach allows us to simultaneously investigate effects of household and context factors. At the household level, we find that resources and structural characteristics influence child labor, whereas cultural characteristics have no effect. With regard to context factors, we find that children work more in rural areas, especially if there are more unskilled manual jobs, and in more traditional urban areas. In more developed regions, girls tend to work significantly less