Does diverse staff and skill mix of teams impact quality of care in long-term elderly health care? An exploratory case study

Objectives Many European countries face challenges in long-term care for older people, such as the growing number of older people requiring care, the increasing complexity of their health care problems, and a decreasing workforce that is inadequately prepared. Optimizing the staff and skill mix of health care teams may offer part of the solution...

The art of targeting gut microbiota for tackling human obesity

Recently, a great deal of interest has been expressed regarding strategies to tackle worldwide obesity because of its accelerated wide spread accompanied with numerous negative effects on health and high costs. Obesity has been traditionally associated with an imbalance in energy consumed when compared to energy expenditure. However, growing...

A multidisciplinary and multi-method research framework for studying integrated care in Flanders (Belgium)

Conference abstract of the World Congress on Integrated Care, Singapore, November 7-9, 2013.

Gene expression profiling identifies mechanisms of protection to recurrent trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid colitis mediated by probiotics

Background: Host-microbiota interactions in the intestinal mucosa play a major role in intestinal immune homeostasis and control the threshold of local inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of probiotics in the recurrent trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis model and gain more insight into protective...

A dietary mixture containing fish oil, resveratrol, lycopene, catechins, and vitamins E and C reduces atherosclerosis in transgenic mice

Chronic inflammation and proatherogenic lipids are important risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Specific dietary constituents such as polyphenols and fish oils may improve cardiovascular risk factors and may have a beneficial effect on disease outcomes. We hypothesized that the intake of an antiinflammatory dietary mixture (AIDM)...

Beyond speculative robot ethics: A vision assessment study on the future of the robotic caretaker

In this article we develop a dialogue model for robot technology experts and designated users to discuss visions on the future of robotics in long-term care. Our vision assessment study aims for more distinguished and more informed visions on future robots. Surprisingly, our experiment also led to some promising co-designed robot concepts in...

Long-term health and quality-of-life consequences of mass screening for childhood celiac disease: A 10-year follow-up study

OBJECTIVE. Mass screening for celiac disease is controversial. The objective of this study was to determine whether detection of childhood celiac disease by mass screening improves long-term health status and health-related quality of life. METHODS.We conducted a prospective 10-year follow-up study of 32 children who were aged 2 to 4 years, had...

The Short- and Long-term Effects of Simple Behavioral Interventions for Nocturnal Enuresis in Young Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To assess the short- and long-term effects of 3 simple behavioral interventions to overcome nocturnal enuresis in young children. Study design: We performed a randomized controlled trial in children aged four to five years with mono-symptomatic nocturnal enuresis (n = 570). The children were placed in one of four groups: (1) lifting...

Management of the neonate at the limits of viability: The Dutch viewpoint

Due to ever-improving medical technology over the course of the last century, the limit of viability has been lowered from around 32 weeks of gestation, first to 28 weeks and, in recent decades, to as low as less than 24 weeks. Long-term follow-up studies (Project on Preterm and Small-for- Gestational-Age Infants, Leiden Follow-up Project on...

The effect of a cognitive and a physical stress-reducing programme on psychological complaints

Objectives: To investigate the short-term and long-term effectiveness of two, brief, preventive, work stress management programmes. One programme was a cognition-focused programme, the other was a newly developed intervention in which physical exercise and relaxation were combined. It was hypothesised that the newly developed intervention would...

Costs associated with persistent allergic rhinitis are reduced by levocetirizine

Background: Allergic rhinitis was recently classified by the ARIA guidelines as persistent or intermittent. Levocetivizine was shown to improve symptoms and health-related quality of life of patients with persistent allergic rhinitis in the XPERT™ study, a 6-month randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial. Objective: To assess the total...

Global Suppression of IL-6-induced Acute Phase Response Gene Expression after Chronic in Vivo Treatment with the Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor-alpha Activator Fenofibrate

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha), which is highly expressed in liver, plays key roles in lipid metabolism and inflammation. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is the principal inducer of acute phase response (APR) gene expression. In the present study, we demonstrate that chronic treatment with the PPARalpha agonist fenofibrate...

Effects of sugar intake on body weight: A review

Weight reduction programmes are mainly focused on reducing intake of fat and sugar. In this review we have evaluated whether the replacement of dietary (added) sugar by low-energy sweeteners or complex carbohydrates contributes to weight reduction. In two experimental studies, no short-term differences in weight loss were observed after use of...

Decreased carotenoid concentrations due to dietary sucrose polyesters do not affect possible markers of disease risk in humans

Excessive consumption of energy and fat increases the risk for obesity. Snacks containing sucrose polyesters (SPE) as a dietary fat replacer are on the market in the United States. SPE products have been shown to lower concentrations of serum carotenoids in short-term studies. Experimental studies on the longer-term effects on health of...