Abstract: Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma have a high prevalence and disease burden. Blended self-management interventions, which combine eHealth with face-to-face interventions, can help reduce the disease burden. Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to examine the effectiveness of blended self-management interventions on health-related effectiveness and process outcomes for people with COPD or asthma. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, COCHRANE Library, Emcare, and Embase were searched in December 2018 and updated in November 2020. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) 2 tool and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. Results: A total of 15 COPD and 7 asthma randomized controlled trials were included in this study. The meta-analysis of COPD studies found that the blended intervention showed a small improvement in exercise capacity (standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.48; 95% CI 0.10-0.85) and a significant improvement in the quality of life (QoL; SMD 0.81; 95% CI 0.11-1.51). Blended intervention also reduced the admission rate (relative ratio [RR] 0.61; 95% CI 0.38-0.97). In the COPD systematic review, regarding the exacerbation frequency, both studies found that the intervention reduced exacerbation frequency (RR 0.38; 95% CI 0.26-0.56). A large effect was found on BMI (d=0.81; 95% CI 0.25-1.34); however, the effect was inconclusive because only 1 study was included. Regarding medication adherence, 2 of 3 studies found a moderate effect (d=0.73; 95% CI 0.50-0.96), and 1 study reported a mixed effect. Regarding self-management ability, 1 study reported a large effect (d=1.15; 95% CI 0.66-1.62), and no effect was reported in that study. No effect was found on other process outcomes. The meta-analysis of asthma studies found that blended intervention had a small improvement in lung function (SMD 0.40; 95% CI 0.18-0.62) and QoL (SMD 0.36; 95% CI 0.21-0.50) and a moderate improvement in asthma control (SMD 0.67; 95% CI 0.40-0.93). A large effect was found on BMI (d=1.42; 95% CI 0.28-2.42) and exercise capacity (d=1.50; 95% CI 0.35-2.50); however, 1 study was included per outcome. There was no effect on other outcomes. Furthermore, the majority of the 22 studies showed some concerns about the ROB, and the quality of evidence varied. Conclusions: In patients with COPD, the blended self-management interventions had mixed effects on health-related outcomes, with the strongest evidence found for exercise capacity, QoL, and admission rate. Furthermore, the review suggested that the interventions resulted in small effects on lung function and QoL and a moderate effect on asthma control in patients with asthma. There is some evidence for the effectiveness of blended self-management interventions for patients with COPD and asthma; however, more research is needed. Trial Registration: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42019119894; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=119894
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Social changes have been influencing determinants for sports participation since the introduction of the Sport for All ideology in the early 1970s. Consistent with Crum’s sportisation theory, today’s modes of sports practices, as well as the network of sport services, have diversified and de-traditionalised. As part of a research tradition, this contribution aims at analysing changes in sports participation styles in kinesiology students in Belgium during the past four decades (1972–2009). The distinct target group was supposed to fulfil a trend-setting role in the area of active sports participation. Data were obtained from a standardised retrospective questionnaire on leisure-time sports participation. Using standardised methods, Principal Component Analysis was used to identify patterns of sports participation. The results show a diversification of sports participation styles until the 1980s, followed by an intensification of basic style components since the 1990s. Sports participation styles between 1999 and 2009 are subdivided into multiple distinct traditional and non-traditional components, with growing emphasis on non-traditional, alternative practices. Newly observed components in 2009 are discussed in relation to previous time intervals and trends in sports participation.
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Inaugurele rede uitgesproken in verkorte vorm bij de aanvaarding van de positie van lector Meertaligheid en Geletterdheid aan de NHL Stenden Hogeschool. In deze rede gaat Joana Duarte dieper in op het thema meertaligheid in het onderwijs vanuit een sociolinguïstisch perspectief op het noorden van Nederland.
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Ambient monitoring systems offer great possibilities for health trend analysis in addition to anomaly detection. Health trend analysis helps care professionals to evaluate someones functional health and direct or evaluate the choice of interventions. This paper presents one case study of a person that was followed with an ambient monitoring system for almost three years and another of a person that was followed for over a year. A simple algorithm is applied to make a location based data representation. This data is visualized for care professionals, and used for inspecting the regularity of the pattern with means of principal component analysis (PCA). This paper provides a set of tools for analyzing longitudinal behavioral data for health assessments. We advocate a standardized data collection procedure, particularly the health metrics that could be used to validate health focused sensor data analyses.
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This study explores how households interact with smart systems for energy usage, providing insights into the field's trends, themes and evolution through a bibliometric analysis of 547 relevant literature from 2015 to 2025. Our findings discover: (1) Research activity has grown over the past decade, with leading journals recognizing several productive authors. Increased collaboration and interdisciplinary work are expected to expand; (2) Key research hotspots, identified through keyword co-occurrence, with two (exploration and development) stages, highlighting the interplay between technological, economic, environmental, and behavioral factors within the field; (3) Future research should place greater emphasis on understanding how emerging technologies interact with human, with a deeper understanding of users. Beyond the individual perspective, social dimensions also demand investigation. Finally, research should also aim to support policy development. To conclude, this study contributes to a broader perspective of this topic and highlights directions for future research development.
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Insider ethnographic analysis is used to analyze change processes in an engineering department. Distributed leadership theory is used as conceptual framework.
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Introduction: In the Netherlands, Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) have not been based on a national survey as proposed by ICRP. Instead, local exposure data, expert judgment and the international scientific literature were used as sources. This study investigated whether the current DRLs are reasonable for Dutch radiological practice. Methods: A national project was set up, in which radiography students carried out dose measurements in hospitals supervised by medical physicists. The project ran from 2014 to 2017 and dose values were analysed for a trend over time. In the absence of such a trend, the joint yearly data sets were considered a single data set and were analysed together. In this way the national project mimicked a national survey. Results: For six out of eleven radiological procedures enough data was collected for further analysis. In the first step of the analysis no trend was found over time for any of these procedures. In the second step the joint analysis lead to suggestions for five new DRL values that are far below the current ones. The new DRLs are based on the 75 percentile values of the distributions of all dose data per procedure. Conclusion: The results show that the current DRLs are too high for five of the six procedures that have been analysed. For the other five procedures more data needs to be collected. Moreover, the mean weights of the patients are higher than expected. This introduces bias when these are not recorded and the mean weight is assumed to be 77 kg. Implications for practice: The current checking of doses for compliance with the DRLs needs to be changed. Both the procedure (regarding weights) and the values of the DRLs should be updated.
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Although many countries have shown a distinct drop in crime over the last decades, the criminological literature suggests that fear of crime in those countries remained relatively stable. Research on this issue is sparse however, mostly confined to a single country, a few indicators and/or a relatively short timeframe. For this chapter 1,100 data series on fear of crime related items from (supra)national surveys were collected, covering 121 countries and more than 25 years (1989-2015). Using these data, a first prototype for an International Fear of Crime Trend Index was developed. Used on the five UN-regions with the highest average amount of data series per country, the index shows a pronounced fear drop in four of the five regions: all of them in Europe and the Anglo-Saxon countries. Explanations for these fear drops are hypothesized and directions for further research are formulated.
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Use of methylphenidate in children has increased substantially, despite conflicting evidence regarding efficacy. In this study, prescription data were analyzed in relation to the publication of new evidence regarding efficacy. Incidence rates and prescribed doses of methylphenidate increased, with a decline during the last few years. Duration of use is still increasing. In half of the cases, starting dosages are higher than recommended in guidelines. There was little evidence that publication of new evidence directly influenced the use of methylphenidate. Recent and critical study findings should receive more attention to contribute to the development and use of treatment guidelines for ADHD and evidence-based methylphenidate use.
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Analysis of, and reaction to, Dutch trendwatcher Lidewij Edelkoort's remark that fashion is dead and fashion schools are to blame.
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