Background: Previous studies found that 40-60% of the sarcoidosis patients suffer from small fiber neuropathy (SFN), substantially affecting quality of life. SFN is difficult to diagnose, as a gold standard is still lacking. The need for an easily administered screening instrument to identify sarcoidosis-associated SFN symptoms led to the development of the SFN Screening List (SFNSL). The usefulness of any questionnaire in clinical management and research trials depends on its interpretability. Obtaining a clinically relevant change score on a questionnaire requires that the smallest detectable change (SDC) and minimal important difference (MID) are known. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the SDC and MID for the SFNSL in patients with sarcoidosis. Methods: Patients with neurosarcoidosis and/or sarcoidosis-associated SFN symptoms (N=138) included in the online Dutch Neurosarcoidosis Registry participated in a prospective, longitudinal study. Anchor-based and distribution-based methods were used to estimate the MID and SDC, respectively. Results: The SFNSL was completed both at baseline and at 6-months’ follow-up by 89/138 patients. A marginal ROC curve (0.6) indicated cut-off values of 3.5 points, with 73% sensitivity and 49% specificity for change. The SDC was 11.8 points. Conclusions: The MID on the SFNSL is 3.5 points for a clinically relevant change over a 6-month period. The MID can be used in the follow-up and management of SFN-associated symptoms in patients with sarcoidosis, though with some caution as the SDC was found to be higher.
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"Background: Victimization is highly prevalent in individuals with mild intellectual disability (MID) or borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) and is an important risk factor for mental health problems and violent behavior. Not much is known, however, about victimization history in women with MID-BIF admitted to forensic mental health care. Aims: The aim of this multicenter study is to gain insight into victimization histories and mental health problems of female forensic psychiatric patients with MID-BIF. Methods: File data were analyzed of 126 women with MID-BIF who have been admitted to one of five Dutch forensic psychiatric hospitals between 1990 and 2014 and compared to data of 76 female patients with average or above intellectual functioning and to a matched sample of 31 male patients with MID-BIF. Results: All forensic paients had high rates of victimization, but women with MID-BIF showed an even higher prevalence of victimization during both childhood and adulthood and more complex psychopathology compared to female patients without MID-BIF. Compared to male forensic patients with MID-BIF, women with MID-BIF were more often victim of sexual abuse during childhood. During adulthood, the victimization rate in these women was more than three times higher than in men. Conclusions: Victimization is a salient factor in female forensic patients with MID-BIF and more gender-responsive trauma-focused treatment is needed."
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Door de ontwikkelingen in de techniek wordt er steeds vaker elektronica verwerkt in een product. De elektronica wordt veelal losstaand ontwikkeld op een printplaat (ook wel printed circuit board of PCB genoemd). Vervolgens wordt er wordt. Producten worden als het ware “om de techniek heen” ontworpen, de techniek staat centraal en de vorm van het model wordt in zekere mate bepaald door de elektronica die er in verwerkt moet worden. Door de opkomst van 3D MID technieken (3D Molded Interconnect Device) ontstaat er veel meer vormvrijheid. Deze technieken brengen de elektronica ‘direct’ op het (3D gevormd!) product aan. Dus geen printplaat met behuizing, maar behuizing en printplaat worden één. Dit vergt een andere manier van werken. In dit document worden verschillende technieken uitgelegd om een 3D MID te maken. De volgende technieken worden in de PCMIEP structuur behandeld: - Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) - 2 componenten (2K) spuitgieten - Tampondruk - Hot Embossing - Geleidende folies - Laser Resist Structuring (LRS). Dit document is opgeleverd in het project Innovatief Materialen Platform Twente (IMPT). In dit project heeft het IMPT 75 innovatieve materialen in kaart gebracht. Met een tiental materialen is toegepast onderzoek gedaan, zodat ondernemers en ontwerpers weten of en hoe zij deze kunnen toepassen.
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Materialen zijn de bouwstenen van producten en vormen daarmee de basis van veel innovatietrajecten. Kennis over deze materialen is van cruciaal belang om te komen tot innovatieve productontwikkelin. Daarom is in september 2009 het Innovatief Materialen Platform Twente (IMPT) opgericht. In dit artikel voor het vakblad Product brengt het IMPT een aantal opvallen materialen in beeld: George 's Wood, 3D MID en Piëzo.
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Lab report on Lidar Mapping with Livox Mid-40 in ROS
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This paper investigates the limits and efficacies of the Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) material for strengthening mid-rise RC buildings against seismic actions. Turkey, the region of the highest seismic risk in Europe, is chosen as the case-study country, the building stock of which consists in its vast majority of mid-rise RC residential and/or commercial buildings. Strengthening with traditional methods is usually applied in most projects, as ordinary construction materials and no specialized workmanship are required. However, in cases of tight time constraints, architectural limitations, durability issues or higher demand for ductile performance, FRP material is often opted for since the most recent Turkish Earthquake Code allows engineers to employ this advanced-technology product to overcome issues of inadequate ductility or shear capacity of existing RC buildings. The paper compares strengthening of a characteristically typical mid-rise Turkish RC building by two methods, i.e., traditional column jacketing and FRP strengthening, evaluating their effectiveness with respect to the requirements of the Turkish Earthquake Code. The effect of FRP confinement is explicitly taken into account in the numerical model, unlike the common procedure followed according to which the demand on un-strengthened members is established and then mere section analyses are employed to meet the additional demands.
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Few studies on residential mobility of ageing adults to rural areas have investigated which of them buy a home in a rural risk area. This paper examines which socio-demographic characteristics, housing attributes and earthquake circumstances influence the actual choice of mid-to-later life adults to purchase a house in a rural risk area. The study focuses on housing transactions in the Dutch Groningen rural earthquake region, compared to transactions in the Groningen rural non-earthquake area from 2012 to 2019 (N = 6,082). Buying a house in the Groningen risk area might be challenging, as the earthquakes have had a significant impact on the regional housing market, the building structure of the houses and the wellbeing of the residents. Earlier research nonetheless suggests that, despite the risks, homebuyers still purchase houses in the Groningen earthquake area. The developed model predicts which mid-to-later life homebuyers of 50 years and older will purchase a dwelling in the Groningen earthquake region. Logistic regression analyses show that characteristics of the mid-to-later life homebuyer and earthquake circumstances are decisive aspects in respect of this choice. Being a single mid-to-later life homebuyer, with a previous residence in the Groningen earthquake region or being born in this region, enlarges the probability of purchasing a home in the earthquake region. Another significant predictor of a home purchase in the earthquake region appears to be a higher earthquake intensity of the homebuyer’s previous residence. These conclusions indicate the existence of a local housing market in rural risk areas.
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BACKGROUND: Covid-19 has had a major negative impact on children's engagement in health-related behaviors. This study examines trends in children's screen time, outdoor play and sports club membership in pre- (2016-19), mid- (2020-21) and post- (2021-22) Covid years. Also, predicting factors (gender, age and active commuting) of these health-related behaviors are examined.METHODS: Data were collected via yearly self-report questionnaires among pupils in Grades 3-6 (mean age 10.14 ± 1.25 years; total n over the five cohorts = 6351, 50.8% girls). Multilevel path models were constructed in Mplus to examine whether children's screen time, outdoor play and sports club membership differed between pre-, mid- and post-Covid years; and which factors predicted engagement in these health-related behaviors (using data of all cohorts).RESULTS: During and after Covid-19, children's screen time was higher, while they engaged less in outdoor play and were less often member of a sports club than before. Although these negative trends peaked during Covid-19, they slowly seem to be returning to pre-Covid levels in recent year. Younger children, girls and active commuters had less minutes screen time per day and played outdoors more days per week; boys and active commuters were more often sports club member.CONCLUSIONS: Although in the first year post-Covid children seem to be engaging more in health-related behaviors than during Covid-19, we still found lower levels of engagement than in the years before Covid-19, underlining the importance of early intervention to ensure an appropriate amount of engagement in health-related behaviors for all children.
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In the context of public budget cuts and rural areas facing depopulation and aging, local governments increasingly encourage citizen engagement in addressing local livability issues. This paper examines the non-engagement of mid-aged and elderly residents (45+ years old) in civic initiatives that intend to improve the livability of their community. We focus on residents of depopulating rural areas in the North Netherlands. We compare their engagement with the behavior of residents in other, not depopulating, rural areas, and urban areas. Using logistic statistical analyses, we found that the majority of the aging residents did not engage in civic livability initiatives during the past two years, and one-third of this group had no intention to do so in the future. In all areas, the main reasons for non-engagement were that residents had other priorities, felt not capable of engaging, or felt that the responsibility for local livability belonged to the local government. Furthermore, it appeared that non-engagement was predominantly explained by the unwillingness to engage, rather than by specific motivations or lacking abilities.
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Rationale: A higher protein intake is suggested to preserve muscle mass during aging, and may therefore reduce the risk for sarcopenia. We explored whether the amount, type (animal/vegetable) and essential amino acid (EAA) composition of protein intake were associated with 5-year change in mid-thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) in older adults.Methods: Protein intake was assessed at year 2 by a Block food frequency questionnaire in 2,597 participants of the Health ABC study, aged 70–79 y. At year 1 and year 6 mid-thigh muscle CSA (cm2) was measured by computed tomography. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between energy adjusted protein residuals (total, animal and vegetable protein) and muscle CSA at year 6, adjusted for muscle CSA at year 1 and potential confounders including prevalent health conditions, physical activity and 5-year change in fat mass. EAAintake was expressed as percentage of total protein intake.Results: Mean protein intake was 0.90 (SD 0.36) g/kg/d and mean 5-year change in muscle CSA was −9.8 (17.0) cm2 (n = 1,561). No association was observed between energy adjusted total (β = −0.00 cm2 ; SE = 0.03; P = 0.98), animal (β = −0.00 cm2; SE = 0.03; P = 0.92), and plant (β = +0.07 cm2; SE = 0.07; P = 0.291) protein intake and muscle CSA at year 6, adjusted for baseline mid-thigh muscle area and potential confounders. No associations were observed for the EAAs.Conclusion: A higher total, animal or vegetable protein intake was not associated with 5 year change in mid-thigh cross sectional area in older adults. This conclusion contradicts some, but not all previous research, therefore optimal protein intake for older adults is currently not known.
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