This report presents the highlights of the 7th European Meeting on Molecular Diagnostics held in Scheveningen, The Hague, The Netherlands, 12-14 October 2011. The areas covered included molecular diagnostics applications in medical microbiology, virology, pathology, hemato-oncology,clinical genetics and forensics. Novel real-time amplification approaches, novel diagnostic applications and new technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, PCR lectrospray-ionization TOF mass spectrometry and techniques based on the detection of proteins or other molecules, were discussed. Furthermore, diagnostic companies presented their future visions for molecular diagnostics in human healthcare.
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Als na afloop van een brandincident een stoffelijk overschot wordt aangetroffen, is het van belang dat de causaliteit tussen de brand en het overlijden wordt onderzocht. Brand is zeer destructief voor het menselijk lichaam. Dit bemoeilijkt de interpretatie van onderzoeksbevindingen aan een lichaam. Er zijn diverse verschijnselen die tot op zekere hoogte duiden op vitaliteit (de betrokkene was levend) ten tijde van de brand. In dit artikel worden deze verschijnselen tegen het licht gehouden. Op basis van de huidige wetenschappelijke theorieën bestaan er geen verschijnselen die leiden tot de eenduidige conclusie over al dan niet vitale blootstelling. Wel kunnen verschijnselen een vermoeden van vitale blootstelling tot op zekere hoogte ondersteunen. Ontbreken de verschijnselen, dan is het niet mogelijk om een conclusie te trekken; de afwezigheid is geen bewijs van overlijden vóór het ontstaan van de brand. Om in de rechtszaal een uitspraak te kunnen doen over de causaliteit tussen brand en overlijden, wordt het noodzakelijk geacht om de waarde voor de aannemelijkheid van vitale blootstelling per verschijnsel te motiveren.
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In de richtlijnen van het Forensisch Medisch Genootschap is opgenomen dat het schatten van het tijdstip van overlijden onderdeel van de lijkschouw is. Het schatten van het tijdstip dient uitgevoerd te worden door de gemeentelijk lijkschouwer. Hierdoor valt te verwachten dat de forensisch arts als getuige-deskundige gehoord kan worden over het geschatte tijdstip van overlijden, dat in sommige strafzaken een cruciaal punt van discussie kan zijn. Uit ons retrospectieve onderzoek blijkt dat het tijdstip van overlijden, in 2013, in relatief weinig strafzaken een cruciale rol heeft gespeeld en dat in nog minder zaken een op wetenschappelijke literatuur gebaseerde methode aan de schatting ten grondslag lag.
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Background: People with a personality disorder (PD) suffer from enduring inflexible patterns in cognitions and emotions, leading to significant subjective distress, affecting both self and interpersonal functioning. In clinical practice, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is provided to clients with a PD, and although research continuously confirms the value of DMT for many populations, to date, there is very limited information available on DMT and PD. For this study, a systematic literature review on DMT and PD was conducted to identify the content of the described DMT interventions and the main treatment themes to focus upon in DMT for PD. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across the following databases: EMBASE, MEDLINE, PubMed, WEB OF SCIENCE, PsycINFO/OVID, and SCOPUS following the PRISMA guidelines. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for qualitative studies was used to rank the quality of the articles. The Oxford Center for Evidence-based Medicine standards were applied to determine the hierarchical level of best evidence. Quantitative content analysis was used to identify the intervention components: intended therapeutic goals, therapeutic activities leading to these goals, and suggested therapeutic effects following from these activities. A thematic synthesis approach was applied to analyze and formulate overarching themes. Results: Among 421 extracted articles, four expert opinions met the inclusion criteria. Six overarching themes were found for DMT interventions for PD: self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, integration of self, processing experiences, cognition, and expression and symbolization in movement/dance. No systematic descriptions of DMT interventions for PD were identified. A full series of intervention components could be synthesized for the themes of self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognition. The use of body-oriented approaches and cognitive strategies was in favor of dance-informed approaches. Conclusions: Dance movement therapists working with PD clients focus in their interventions on body-related experiences, non-verbal interpersonal relationships, and to a lesser extent, cognitive functioning. A methodological line for all intervention components was synthesized for the themes of self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognition, of importance for developing systematic intervention descriptions. Future research could focus on practitioners’ expertise in applying DMT interventions for PD to develop systematic intervention descriptions and explore the suitability of the identified themes for clinical application. Clients’ experiences could offer essential insights on how DMT interventions could address PD pathology and specific PD categories.
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Het schatten van het tijdstip van overlijden is een van de taken van een forensisch arts. De mate van ontbinding, het proces van verval van het lichaam, is een van de methoden die wordt gebruikt om het tijdstip van overlijden te bepalen. Het is echter onbekend hoe betrouwbaar deze methode is. Om dit te toetsen zijn vijftien casussen geselecteerd uit in totaal 1534 lijkschouwingen op basis van vooropgestelde criteria. Deze vijftien casussen zijn voorgelegd aan tien ervaren forensisch artsen met de vraag om het postmortale interval te schatten. Dit onderzoek toont aan dat er weinig overeenstemming is tussen de forensisch artsen. Het gebruik van ontbinding alleen om het tijdstip van overlijden te bepalen wordt daarom ontraden.
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At this moment, no method is available to objectively estimate the temperature to which skeletal remains have been exposed during a fire. Estimating this temperature can provide crucial information in a legal investigation. Exposure of bone to heat results in observable and measurable changes, including a change in colour. To determine the exposure temperature of experimental bone samples, heat related changes in colour were systemically studied by means of image analysis. In total 1138 samples of fresh human long bone diaphysis and epiphysis, varying in size, were subjected to heat ranging from room temperature to 900 °C for various durations and in different media. The samples were scanned with a calibrated flatbed scanner and photographed with a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera. Red, Green, Blue values and Lightness, A-, and B-coordinates were collected for statistical analysis. Cluster analysis showed that discriminating thresholds for Lightness and B-coordinate could be defined and used to construct a model of decision rules. This model enables the user to differentiate between seven different temperature clusters with relatively high precision and accuracy. The proposed decision model provides an objective, robust and non-destructive method for estimating the exposure temperature of heated bone samples.
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Not much is known about the etiology, or development, of deviant sexual interests. The aim of this systematic review was to provide a broad overview of current theories on the etiology of sexual deviance. We conducted a systematic search of the databases PubMed and APA PsycInfo (EBSCO). Studies were included when they discussed a theory regarding the etiology or development of sexual deviance. Included studies were assessed on quality criteria for good theories. Common etiological themes were extracted using thematic analysis. We included 47 theories explaining sexual deviance in general as well as various specific deviant sexual interests, such as pedophilia and sadism/masochism. Few theories (k = 7) were of acceptable quality as suggested by our systematic assessment of quality criteria for good theories (QUACGOT). These theories indicated that deviant sexual interests may develop as the result of an interplay of various factors: excitation transfer between emotions and sexual arousal, conditioning, problems with “normative” sexuality, and social learning. Neurobiological findings could not be included as no acceptable quality neurobiological theories could be retrieved. The important roles of excitation transfer and conditioning designate that dynamic, changeable processes take part in the etiology of sexual deviance. These same processes could potentially be deployed to diminish unwanted deviant sexual interests.
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Goed om te zien dat je geïnteresseerd bent in onze content. Onafhankelijke informatie is alleen niet gratis. Je mag onze artikelen uitsluitend kopiëren voor persoonlijk gebruik. Zo zal je geen inbreuk maken op onze Algemene Voorwaarden. Vragen? Stuur een e-mail naar: marketing@ntvg.nl.Voor het instellen van de optimale therapie van brandwonden is een vroege, accurate bepaling van brandwondendiepte belangrijk. De meest gebruikte techniek om brandwondendiepte te bepalen is de klinische inschatting. Dit is een goedkope techniek, maar niet de meest accurate. ‘Laser-doppler-imaging’ is een techniek waarmee, door van het meten van de dermale perfusie, een accuratere (> 95%) inschatting van brandwondendiepte kan worden gemaakt. De hypothese is dat de introductie van laser-doppler-imaging zal leiden tot een snellere keuze voor het wel of niet verrichten van een operatie, met mogelijk een kortere ligduur en lagere kosten tot het gevolg. Om deze hypothese te testen, loopt er momenteel een gerandomiseerd gecontroleerd onderzoek in de Nederlandse brandwondencentra.
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Objectives This exploratory study was conducted to find out how well the concept of evidence-based research (EBR) is known among European health researchers with substantial clinical research experience, and which barriers affect the use of an EBR approach. The concept of EBR implies that researchers use evidence synthesis to justify new studies and to inform their design. Design A cross-sectional exploratory survey study. Setting and participants The survey was conducted among European health researchers. Respondents included 205 health researchers (physicians, nurses, dentists, allied health researchers and members of other professions involved in health research) with a doctoral degree or at least 5 years of research experience. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome measures were the level of awareness of the concept of EBR and the presence of barriers affecting the use of an EBR approach. Secondary outcome measures include correlations between sociodemographic characteristics (eg, profession) and awareness of EBR. Results We discovered that 84.4% of the respondents initially indicated their awareness of the concept of EBR. Nevertheless, 22.5% of them concluded that, on reading the definition, they either do not know or do not fully comprehend the concept of EBR. The main barriers affecting the use of an EBR approach were related to organisational issues, such as not being attributed resources (30.5% of the respondents), time (24.8%) or access to implement it (14.9%). Conclusions Despite the limitations, this study clearly shows that ongoing initiatives are necessary to raise awareness about the importance of implementing the EBR approach in health research. This paper contributes to a discussion of the issues that obstruct the implementation of the EBR approach and potential solutions to overcome these issues, such as improving the knowledge and skills necessary to practice the EBR approach.
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