Zoekresultaten

Why do volunteers participate in phase I clinical trials? An exploratory study

Study goal: This study was carried out to answer the following research question: which motivation do healthy volunteers have to participate in phase I clinical trials? - Methods: A literature search was done through Google Scholar and Academic Search Premier, followed by three interviews with volunteers who had recently concluded their participation in a (non-commercial) phase I trial. - Results: Our literature search revealed mainly commercial motives for volunteers to participate in phase I clinical trials. The interviews (with volunteers in a non-commercial trial) showed that other factors may also play a decisive role, such as: (1) wish to support the investigator (2) wish to contribute to science, (3) access to more/better health care (4) sociability: possibility to relax and to communicate with other participants (5) general curiosity. Precondition is that risks and burden are deemed acceptable. - Conclusions: financial remuneration appears to be the predominant motive to participate voluntarily in a clinical trial. Other reasons were also mentioned however, such as general curiosity, the drive to contribute to science and the willingness to help the investigator. In addition, social reasons were given such as possibility to relax and to meet other people. Potential subjects state that they adequately assess the (safety) risks of participating in a trial as part of their decision process.

The physical competence test of the Dutch National Police

In this study, we investigated the effects of wearing a police uniform and gear on officers’ performance during the Physical Competence Test (PCT) of the Dutch National Police. In a counterbalanced within-subjects design, twenty-seven police officers performed the PCT twice, once wearing sportswear and once wearing a police uniform. The results showed clear indications that wearing a police uniform influenced the performance on the PCT. Participants were on average 14 seconds slower in a police uniform than in sportswear. Furthermore, performing the test in uniform was accompanied by higher RPE-scores and total physiological load. It seems that wearing a police uniform during the test diminishes the discrepancy between physical fitness needed to pass the simulated police tasks in the PCT and the job-specific physical fitness that is required during daily police work. This suggests that wearing a police uniform during the test will increase the representativeness of the testing environment for the work field.

Ontwikkeling van een rationeel nationaal MDMA-beleid met behulp van multi-decision multi-criterion decision analyse

Evaluation of two cooling systems under a firefighter coverall

Brandweerlieden worden aan grote hitte blootgesteld. In dit onderzoek is nagegaan of 2 koelsystemen onder het brandweerpak de warmtebelasting verminderden. Het ene systeem bestond uit absorptiemateriaal met water dat er uit verdampt en het andere is een hesje waardoor ijswater liep. Het laatste systeem bleek enige verkoeling te geven.

Use characteristics and harm potential of ecstasy in The Netherlands

Introduction: Ecstasy (MDMA) is a popular recreational drug, but its illegal production and trade in the Netherlands have developed into a serious public order and ecological problem which endanger and question the harm reduction approach of the Dutch ecstasy policy.Methods: The market characteristics, adverse health effects, risk profile, and link to criminal activity of ecstasy were reviewed.Results: Ecstasy is often used in combination with other substances (i.e. polydrug use). Compared to several other illicit drugs and alcohol, ecstasy has a very low abuse and dependence liability and, as yet, there is little evidence of long-term harm. A potential health risk associated with ecstasy is acute hyperthermia, however this occurs at an unknown incidence rate and seems to be more prevalent when ecstasy is consumed in combination with heavy exercise at high ambient temperatures or when used in combination with other substances, including alcohol. Organized crime related to the production and trafficking of ecstasy in the Netherlands is a growing problem.Conclusions: This review provides a science-based summary that can be used to assist the public and political debate surrounding future Dutch ecstasy policy to reduce ecstasy-related organized crime while maintaining the principle of harm reduction.

Meme Mikrodalgası Hipertermi Aplikatörü İçin Geliştirilen Doku Taklidi Jel Karakterizasyonuc (Tissue Mimicking Gel Characterization Developed for a Breast Microwave Hyperthermia Applicator)

İnsan vücudu ile elektromanyetik dalgaların etkileşimi, dokuların ve hücrelerin dielektrik özellikleri gibi faktörlerin yanı sıra diğer etkenler tarafından da şekillenir. Mikrodalga hipertermi ve mikrodalga görüntüleme uygulamalarında, deney ortamı ölçüm düzeneklerinde simülasyon sonuçlarını doğrulamak için doku taklit eden materyallere ihtiyaç vardır. Bu çalışmada hipertermi uygulamalarında kullanılmak üzere kadın memelerine ait bazı doku taklit materyallerinin karakterizasyonu sunulmuştur. Karakterize edilen doku taklit malzemelerinin maliyeti ucuz ve üretim aşamaları kolaydır. Deri, kas, meme yağı ve kanserli dokular ISM bandı 434 MHz'de önerilmektedir. The interaction of electromagnetic waves with the human body is determined by the dielectric properties of tissues and cells along with other considerations. The complex dielectric properties of the materials are very important for the interaction of the electromagnetic waves within the human body. In microwave hyperthermia and microwave imaging applications, there is a need of tissue mimicking materials to validate the simulation results in in vitro measurement setups. In this paper, we presented the characterization of some tissue materials belonging to female breast to be used for hyperthermia applications. The characterized tissue mimicking materials are inexpensive and have simple recipes that are easy to formulate. Skin, muscle, breast fat and cancerous tissues are proposed at ISM band 434 MHz.