Background Methotrexate (MTX) therapy has proven to be a successful and safe treatment for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Despite the high efficacy rates of MTX, treatment outcomes are often... Show moreBackground Methotrexate (MTX) therapy has proven to be a successful and safe treatment for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Despite the high efficacy rates of MTX, treatment outcomes are often complicated by burdensome gastro-intestinal side effects. Intolerance rates for MTX in children are high (approximately 50%) and thus far no conclusive effective treatment strategies to control for side effects have been found. To address this need, this article proposes an innovative research approach based on pharmacological conditioning, to reduce MTX intolerance. Presentation of the hypothesis A collaboration between medical psychologists, pediatric rheumatologists, pharmacologists and patient groups was set up to develop an innovative research design that may be implemented to study potential improved control of side effects in JIA, by making use of the psychobiological principles of pharmacological conditioning. In pharmacological conditioning designs, learned positive associations from drug therapies (conditioning effects) are integrated in regular treatment regimens to maximize treatment outcomes. Medication regimens with immunosuppressant drugs that made use of pharmacological conditioning principles have been shown to lead to optimized therapeutic effects with reduced drug dosing, which might ultimately cause a reduction in side effects. Testing the hypothesis This research design is tailored to serve the needs of the JIA patient group. We developed a research design in collaboration with an interdisciplinary research group consisting of patient representatives, pediatric rheumatologists, pharmacologists, and medical psychologists. Show less
Refugee children often find themselves in a vulnerable position; they have experienced trauma and mental health problems and in the host country they are involved in a complex and adult-oriented... Show moreRefugee children often find themselves in a vulnerable position; they have experienced trauma and mental health problems and in the host country they are involved in a complex and adult-oriented asylum application procedure. International and European legal standards urge states to adapt migration procedures to the age and maturity of children and to make these more child-friendly. In this article, the core concept of analysis is the child’s right to information. It will be shown that this right is closely connected to other children’s rights and concepts, such as access to justice, child-friendly justice and the right to participation. The implementation in practice of the right to information in the asylum procedure in the Netherlands will serve as a case study, to show the precarious information position of both unaccompanied as well as accompanied refugee children. The results of this study show that the information position of these children can be improved, which will benefit their legal position, emotional wellbeing and possibilities to exercise their rights. Show less
This study investigates the extent to which there is individuality in how structural variation is conditioned over time. Earlier research already classified the diachronically unstable gerund... Show moreThis study investigates the extent to which there is individuality in how structural variation is conditioned over time. Earlier research already classified the diachronically unstable gerund variation as involving a high fraction of mixed-usage speakers throughout the change, whereby the proportion of the conservative variant versus the progressive variant as observable in the linguistic output of individual language users superficially resembles the mean proportion as observable at the population level. However, this study sets out to show that there can still be heterogeneity within such a centralized population in terms of how each individual conditions the observed variation. A random forest and conditional inference tree analysis of over 14,000 gerunds uttered by nineteen seventeenth-century authors is presented to show that, while the most important language-internal factors conditioning the gerund variation are adopted by (and shared between) all authors, we can still attest inter-individual variation (i) at lower levels of variable importance, and (ii) in the breadth of the range of contexts individual authors employ to condition the attested variation. Show less
A forensic mental health report is requested in about 30% of more serious cases presented to the criminal court. These reports can be used at sentencing and advise the judge on criminal... Show moreA forensic mental health report is requested in about 30% of more serious cases presented to the criminal court. These reports can be used at sentencing and advise the judge on criminal responsibility, recidivism risk, and possible treatment measures, but is not a formal factor in decisions about guilt. The current study focuses on the (unwarranted) effect of forensic mental health information on conviction decisions. Using an experimental vignette study among 155 criminology students, results show that when a mental disorder is present, conviction rates are higher than when such information is absent. In line with the story model of judicial decision-making, additional analyses showed that this effect was mediated by the evaluation of guilt rather than by the evaluation of other physical evidence. Implications for further research and practice are discussed. Show less
Competition over land is at the core of the prolonged political conflicts that mark the recent history of India’s North Eastern region. The rural areas of India’s North East, erstwhile marginal to... Show moreCompetition over land is at the core of the prolonged political conflicts that mark the recent history of India’s North Eastern region. The rural areas of India’s North East, erstwhile marginal to the ‘modern’ state, are increasingly integrated in a monetized market-oriented economy. Confronting dominant regimes of development, mobility and citizenship, it is imperative to recognize how changing land relations are a main reason for broadening social fissures within and among communities. This volume critically engages with questions such as: How do contestations over the ownership and usage of land challenge customary interpretations of gender? And in what ways can the importance attributed to land, in a symbolical sense, contribute to the redefinition of coordinates of identity, community and belonging? Combining perspectives from political science, social geography, social history, sociology and anthropology, this volume critically engages with received notions of the customary. Presenting case studies by both senior and emerging scholars, it makes mandatory reading for anyone interested in the challenges of governance, citizenship and development faced by the people of India’s North East. Show less
Beblo-Vranesevic, K.; Bohmeier, M.; Schleumer, S.; Rabbow, E.; Perras, A.K.; Moissl-Eichinger, C.; ... ; Rettberg P. 2020
In this paper, we consider triple systems composed of main-sequence (MS) stars, and their internal evolution due to stellar and binary evolution. Our focus is on triples that produce white dwarfs ... Show moreIn this paper, we consider triple systems composed of main-sequence (MS) stars, and their internal evolution due to stellar and binary evolution. Our focus is on triples that produce white dwarfs (WDs), where Roche lobe overflow of an evolving tertiary triggers accretion onto the inner binary via a circumbinary disk (CBD) driving it toward a mass ratio of unity. We present a combination of analytic- and population synthesis-based calculations performed using the SeBa code to constrain the expected frequency of such systems, given a realistic initial population of MS triples, and provide the predicted distributions of orbital periods. We identify the parameter space for triples that can accommodate a CBD, to inform future numerical simulations of suitable initial conditions. We find that . 10% of all MS triples should be able to accommodate a CBD around the inner binary, and compute lower limits for the production rates. This scenario broadly predicts mergers of near equal-mass binaries, producing blue stragglers (BSs), Type Ia supernovae, gamma ray bursts and gravitational wave-induced mergers, along with the presence of an outer WD tertiary companion. We compare our predicted distributions to a sample of field BS binaries, and argue that our proposed mechanism explains the observed range of orbital periods. Finally, the mechanism considered here could produce hypervelocity MS stars, WDs and even millisecond pulsars with masses close to the Chandrasekhar mass limit, and be used to constrain the maximum remnant masses at the time of any supernova explosion. Show less
