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Abstract Background Workers in wet work occupations have a risk for developing hand eczema. Prevention strategies exist, but compliance to the proposed recommendations is poor. Therefore, a multifaceted implementation strategy (MIS) is developed to implement these recommendations to reduce hand eczema among health care workers performing wet work. Methods/Design This study is a randomised controlled trial in three university hospitals in the Netherlands. Randomisation to the control or intervention group is performed at department level. The control group receives a leaflet containing the recommendations only. The intervention group receives the MIS which consists of five parts: 1) within a department, a participatory working group is formed to identify problems with the implementation of the recommendations, to find solutions for it and implement these solutions; 2) role models will help their colleagues in performing the desired behaviour; 3) education to all workers will enhance knowledge about (the prevention of) hand eczema; 4) reminders will be placed at the department reminding workers to use the recommendations; 5) workers receive the same leaflet as the control group containing the recommendations. Data are collected by questionnaires at baseline and after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The primary outcome measure is self-reported hand eczema. The most important secondary outcome measures are symptoms of hand eczema; actual use of the recommendations; sick leave; work productivity; and health care costs. Analyses will be performed according to the intention to treat principle. Cost-effectiveness of the MIS will be evaluated from both the societal and the employer's perspective. Discussion The prevention of hand eczema is important for the hospital environment. If the MIS has proven to be effective, a major improvement in the health of health care workers can be obtained. Results are expected in 2014. Trial registration number NTR2812

The relationship between the university and the city is expressed, amongst others, by the transfer of knowledge from the university to local actors. The university's role as a local source of knowledge is studied by analyzing the outflow of the two main knowledge assets to the local area: graduates and research results. By comparing the results from universities in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom comparative evidence is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predators of similar size often compete over prey. In semi-arid ecosystems where water is a limiting resource, prey availability can be affected by water distribution, which further increases resource competition and exacerbate conflict among predators. This can have implications for carnivore dietary competition. Hence, we evaluated the dynamics of food resource competition between African wild dogs and four competing predators (cheetahs, leopards, lions and spotted hyaenas) in different seasons and across areas with different waterhole densities in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. We used the frequency of occurrence of prey items found in predators' scats to analyse diet composition, overlap and prey preference. For most predators, kudu was most frequently consumed and preferred. Low and medium water-dependent prey (medium and small-sized) were mostly consumed by wild dogs, leopards and cheetahs. Wild dog diet overlap was high with all predators, particularly with hyaenas and lions. There were no seasonal differences in the predators diet. The diet overlap of wild dogs with lions was highest in the low waterhole density area, and wild dog diet composition did not differ significantly from the diet of lions and hyaenas. In the low waterhole density area, wild dogs and hyaenas broadened their niche breadth, and predators diet had a higher proportion of low water-dependent prey. A low density of waterholes increased food resource competition. However, high density of waterholes, where there is more prey availability, can increase the aggregation and density of predators, and hence, increase the risks involved in interspecific competition on wild dogs. To reduce food resource competition on wild dogs, we propose to conserve larger-bodied prey that are less dependent on water (e.g. kudu, reedbuck, eland and gemsbok). As the use of water pumping is common practice, we propose maintaining water management heterogeneity where prey which is less dependent on water can also thrive., Competing Interests: None declared., (© 2024 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: Non-normative uncertainty (uncertainty about empirical facts) and normative uncertainty (uncertainty about moral values or beliefs) regarding unsolicited findings (UFs) might play an important role in clinical genetics. Identifying normative uncertainty is of special interest since it might guide towards novel directions for counseling practice. This study aims to gain insight into the role of non-normative and normative uncertainty regarding UFs, as expressed by counselees and counselors., Methods: We performed a secondary qualitative analysis of interviews with counselees (n = 20) and counselors (n = 20) who had been confronted with UFs. Following a deductive approach, we used Han et al.'s existing theoretical framework of uncertainty, in which we additionally incorporated normative uncertainty., Results: Major issues of non-normative uncertainty were practical and personal for counselees, whilst counselors' uncertainty pertained mainly to scientific issues. Normative uncertainty was a major theme throughout the interviews. We encountered the moral conflicts of autonomy vs. beneficence and non-maleficence and of autonomy vs. truthfulness., Conclusion: Non-normative uncertainty regarding UFs highlights the need to gain more insight in their penetrance and clinical utility. This study suggests moral conflicts are a major source of feelings of uncertainty in clinical genetics., Practice Implications: Exploring counselees' non-normative uncertainties and normative conflicts seems a prerequisite to optimize genetic counseling., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), the digital socio-emotional competence training Zirkus Empathico was tested in 74 Central European children (5.1 (0.9) years; 34 females) within a longitudinal design (three time points: T1 = pre-training; T2 = immediately following 6-week training, T3 = 3-month follow-up). The pre-registered primary outcome was empathy, secondary outcomes included emotion recognition, prosocial behavior, and behavioral problem reduction; furthermore, children's neural sensitivity to facial expressions quantified with event-related potentials. Compared to controls (N = 38), Zirkus Empathico participants (N = 36) showed increases in empathy (d = 0.28 [-0.17, 0.76]), emotion recognition (d = 0.57 [0.01, 1.06]), prosocial behavior (d = 0.51 [0.05, 0.99]) and reduced behavioral problems (d = 0.54 [0.08, 1.03]). They also showed larger P3 amplitudes to happy vs. angry and neutral facial expressions post-training. Thus, Zirkus Empathico may be a promising digital training for social competence in preschoolers., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The perception of everyday events implies the segmentation into discrete sub-events (i.e. event segmentation). This process is relevant for the prediction of upcoming events and for the recall of recent activities. It is thought to involve dopaminergic networks which are strongly compromised in Parkinson's disease (PD). Indeed, deficits of event segmentation have been previously shown in PD, but underlying neuronal mechanisms remain unknown. We therefore investigated 22 persons with PD and 22 age-matched healthy controls, who performed an event segmentation task with simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG). Both groups had to indicate by button press the beginning of sub-events within three movies showing persons performing everyday activities. The segmentation performance of persons with PD deviated significantly from that of controls. Neurophysiologically, persons with PD expressed reduced theta (4-7 Hz) activity around identified event boundaries compared to healthy controls. Together, these results point to disturbed event processing in PD. According to functions attributed to EEG activities in particular frequency ranges, the PD-related theta reduction could reflect impaired matching of perceptual input with stored event representations and decreased updating processes of event information in working memory and, thus, event boundary identification., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Wildlife is increasingly forced to live in close proximity to humans, resulting in human-wildlife conflict and anthropogenic mortality. Carnivores persisting in human-dominated landscapes respond to anthropogenic threats through fine-scaled spatial and temporal behavioral adjustments. Although crucial for conservation, quantitative information on these adjustments is scarce. Taiwan’s endangered leopard cat occurs in rural human-dominated landscapes with a high anthropogenic mortality risk. To survive, the nocturnal leopard cat needs suitable habitats for foraging and safe refuge for resting during daytime hours when human activity peaks. In this study, we tracked seven VHF-collared leopard cats. To determine habitat selection patterns, we compared land use at nighttime locations and daytime resting sites with random points and fine-scaled vegetation characteristics at daytime resting sites with random points. Leopard cats selected natural habitats for nighttime hunting and avoided manmade and, to a lesser extent, agricultural habitats or used them according to availability. For daytime resting, leopard cats selected natural habitats and, to a lesser extent semi-natural habitats, such as unused land and abandoned orchards. Resting sites were preferentially situated in natural habitats, with little visibility (<2 m), shrubs, reed and stones, away from areas with high levels of human activity. This suggests leopard cats use a proactive strategy to avoid human encounters, which was supported by the reduced temporal overlap with humans and domestic dogs on agricultural land. Resting sites were placed ca. 1 km apart, 12.9 ± 0.3 m (mean ± SE) from the patch’s edges, in patches with a size of 1.21 ± 0.04 ha (mean ± SE). Our results will assist in identifying and preserving suitable resting habitats to support leopard cat conservation.

The perception of everyday events is thought to imply the segmentation into discrete sub-events. Involvement of dopaminergic networks in this process could relate to particular problems of persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) to recall recent activities. In an event segmentation task, persons with PD and healthy controls had to indicate the beginning of sub-events within three movies showing persons performing everyday activities. In a subsequent recognition task, they should judge whether presented pictures of sub-events were part of the watched movies. In a final order memory task, they had to arrange pictures in the sequence in which they had occurred. With respect to the overall segmentation behavior, persons with PD diverged from healthy controls only in the most familiar of the three demonstrated everyday activities. Moreover, persons with PD compared to healthy controls showed generally worse event recognition and committed more errors in the order memory task. These memory deficits were the higher, the more the segmentation moved away from the 'normative' segmentation pattern identified in healthy controls. The findings suggest that dysfunctional structuring of sensory event information contributes to deficient event representations of ongoing everyday activities and recall problems of these recently perceived events in persons with PD., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) often show particular problems in seemingly simple routines despite relatively preserved cognitive function. We therefore investigated the processing of everyday events on behavioral and neurophysiological levels in a PD and control group. The participants had to indicate via button press whether three sequentially presented sub-events described a previously defined event (e.g., going grocery shopping). Sub-event sequences were either correct or included an event that did not belong to the event (content violation), or events were chronologically wrong (temporal violation). During task execution event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Generally, the PD group showed less accurate performance independently from task conditions, and reaction times to temporal violations were particularly slow compared to the control group. Regarding ERP results, the control group showed a right lateralized N400 effect in response to content violations, which was absent in the PD group indicating altered content event processing. Concerning the reanalysis of content event violations, the expression of late positive components (LPCs) was similar between both groups. Upon temporal violations, both groups also showed a LPC with a tendentially earlier onset in the PD group, resembling positive components indicative of novelty processing. Together, these findings suggest poor event prediction in PD, which may originate from weak event representation or retrieval and possibly relate to prevalent behavioral dysfunctions in everyday life in PD., (© 2022 The Authors. Psychophysiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Aging has been associated with a motivational shift to positive over negative information (i.e., positivity effect), which is often explained by a limited future time perspective (FTP) within the framework of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST). However, whether a limited FTP functions similarly in younger and older adults, and whether inter-individual differences in socioemotional functioning are similarly associated with preference for positive information (i.e., positivity) is still not clear. We investigated younger (20-35 years, N = 73) and older (60-75 years, N = 56) adults' gaze preferences on pairs of happy, angry, sad, and neutral faces using an eye-tracking system. We additionally assessed several parameters potentially underlying inter-individual differences in emotion processing such as FTP, stress, cognitive functioning, social support, emotion regulation, and well-being. While we found no age-related differences in positivity when the entire trial duration was considered, older adults showed longer fixations on the more positive face in later stages of processing (i.e., positivity shifts ). This allocation of resources toward more positive stimuli might serve an emotion regulatory purpose and seems consistent with the SST. However, our findings suggest that age moderates the relationship between FTP and positivity shifts, such that the relationship between FTP and positivity preferences was negative in older, and positive in younger adults, potentially stemming from an age-related differential meaning of the FTP construct across age. Furthermore, our exploratory analyses showed that along with the age and FTP interaction, lower levels of worry also played a significant role in positivity shifts. We conclude that positivity effects cannot be solely explained by aging, or the associated reduced FTP per se , but is rather determined by a complex interplay of psychosocial and emotional features., (Copyright © 2020 Erbey, Roebbig, Babayan, Kumral, Reinelt, Reiter, Schaare, Uhlig, Nierhaus, Van der Meer, Gaebler and Villringer.)

A previously well man developed acute, marked tender bilateral gynaecomastia two months after confirmed taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) envenomation. He had had laboratory evidence of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) including microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia, thrombocytopenia and acute kidney injury. Scrotal ultrasound revealed bilateral testicular atrophy, his serum testosterone was repeatedly low, while his luteinising and follicle stimulating hormone were elevated. It is hypothesised that TMA-related testicular ischaemia was responsible for his primary gonadal failure and dramatic clinical presentation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)