Meeting the 60-min physical activity guideline: Effect of operationalization

Purpose: To investigate the effect of guideline operationalization in terms of intensity threshold, bout duration, and days on the proportion of children meeting the health-related 60-min physical activity guideline using a subjective and an objective assessment method. Methods: Five hundred and twenty-one children (6-11 yr) completed a physical...

The power of communication. Modifying behaviour: Effectively influencing nutrition patterns of patients

Every year 7000 people die from obesity and another 13 000 people die by wrong diets in The Netherlands. Part of this problem can be solved when the communication between general practitioners (GPs) and patients about nutrition and diets improves. There are four activities that can contribute greatly to the communication between GPs and their...

Investigating the role of natural phyto-oestrogens on bone health in postmenopausal women

Research on the bone effects of natural phyto-oestrogens after menopause is at a relatively early stage. Published studies are few, difficult to compare and often inconclusive, due in part to design weaknesses. Currently, many questions remain to be answered including to what extent a safe daily intake may prevent postmenopausal bone loss. These...

Considerations in defining evidence for public health The European advisory committee on health research world health organization regional office for Europe

[No abstract available]

The ethics of assessing health technologies

Health technology assessment (HTA) consists of the systematic study of the consequences of the introduction or continued use of the technology in a particular context, with the explicit objective to arrive at a judgment of the value or merit of the technology. Ideally, it is aimed at assessing all aspects of a given technology or group of...

FreeCall, a system for emergency-call-handling support

This article describes a system for the optimization of the prehospital assessment of emergency, in cases involving thoraco-abdominal complaints and consciousness problems. This assessment is performed by nurses on the basis of a telephone interview at ambulance dispatch centers. The system has a body of biomedical and policy knowledge available...

Strategies for successful evaluation and policy-making toward health care technology on the move: The case of medical lasers

Evaluating new health care technology that is rapidly diffusing is one of the greatest challenges to researchers and policy-makers. If no evaluation is done until the technology is mature, evaluation will not influence processes of diffusion. If evaluation is done early, it may be irrelevant when it is completed because of developments in the...

The cost-effectiveness of 10 selected applications in minimally invasive therapy

In this article, evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the following procedures is reviewed: (1) laser treatment of bladder tumors; (2) extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy; (3) laparoscopic treatment of endometriosis; (4) laparoscopic removal of ovarian cysts; (5) laparoscopic cholecystectomy; (6)...