Heterogeneity in R&D Cooperation Strategies

We explore heterogeneities in the determinants of innovating firms' decisions to engage in r&d cooperation, differentiating between four types of cooperation partners: competitors, suppliers, customers, and universities and research institutes (institutional cooperation). We use two matched waves of the dutch community innovation survey (in 1996 and 1998) and apply system probit estimation. We find that determinants of r&d cooperation differ significantly across cooperation types. The positive impact of firm size, r&d intensity, and incoming source-specific spillovers is weaker for competitor cooperation, reflecting greater appropriability concerns. Institutional spillovers are more generic in nature and positively impact all cooperation types. The results appear robust to potential simultaneity bias

Performance of Oxoid Brilliance™ MRSA medium for detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: an in vitro study

Oxoid Brilliance™ MRSA was evaluated for its ability to identify methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. A well-defined collection of staphylococci was used (n = 788). After 20 h incubation, the sensitivity was 99.6% and the specificity was 97.3%. This new medium is a highly sensitive method of screening for MRSA

Stochastic generation of spatially coherent river discharge peaks for continental event-based flood risk assessment

We present a new method to generate spatially coherent river discharge peaks over multiple river basins, which can be used for continental event-based probabilistic flood risk assessment. We first extract extreme events from river discharge time series data over a large set of locations by applying new peak identification and peak-matching methods. Then we describe these events using the discharge peak at each location while accounting for the fact that the events do not affect all locations. Lastly we fit the state-of-the-art multivariate extreme value distribution to the discharge peaks and generate from the fitted model a large catalogue of spatially coherent synthetic event descriptors. We demonstrate the capability of this approach in capturing the statistical dependence over all considered locations. We also discuss the limitations of this approach and investigate the sensitivity of the outcome to various model parameters.</p

National laboratory-based surveillance system for antimicrobial resistance: a successful tool to support the control of antimicrobial resistance in the Netherlands

An important cornerstone in the control of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a well-designed quantitative system for the surveillance of spread and temporal trends in AMR. Since 2008, the Dutch national AMR surveillance system, based on routine data from medical microbiological laboratories (MMLs), has developed into a successful tool to support the control of AMR in the Netherlands. It provides background information for policy making in public health and healthcare services, supports development of empirical antibiotic therapy guidelines and facilitates in-depth research. In addition, participation of the MMLs in the national AMR surveillance network has contributed to sharing of knowledge and quality improvement. A future improvement will be the implementation of a new semantic standard together with standardised data transfer, which will reduce errors in data handling and enable a more real-time surveillance. Furthermore, the

Innovation in enterprise clusters: evidence from Dutch manufacturing

Cette étude aborde et illustre un problème d'agrégation qui peut se poser dans les études d'innovation. Les données utilisées sont celles de la troisième enquête innovation aux Pays-Bas, qui sont jumelées aux statistiques de la production et aux données financières des sociétés. Nous comparons les résultats de l'estimation d'une équation d'innovation, obtenus tour à tour à partir de données au niveau des entreprises (bedrijfseenheid), des grappes d'entreprises domestiques (onderneming), et des grappes d'entreprises ayant des filiales à l'étranger ou contenant des filiales de firmes étrangères installées aux Pays-Bas.This paper explores the aggregation problem and illustrates its relevance using data for the Netherlands from the third Community Innovation Survey (CIS3), and production and financial statistics. It compares the results of an innovation output equation that was estimated using data on enterprises (bedrijfseenheid), domestic enterprise clusters (onderneming), and those enterprise clusters with foreign inward or outward investments

Low prevalence of non-typable Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in meat products in The Netherlands

Recently, a new clone of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus (S.) aureus (MRSA) emerged in the Netherlands that was related to pigfarming. A survey in pigs showed that nearly 40% carried this new clone. This new type is characterised by bemg untypable with pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). This study was undertaken to determme the prevalence and genetic relationship of S.aureus and MRSA in meal products

Efficacy of Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors on Cystoid Fluid Collections and Visual Acuity in Patients with X-Linked Retinoschisis

Purpose: To date, there is no standard treatment regimen for carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) in X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS) patients. This retrospective study aims to evaluate the efficacy of CAIs on visual acuity and cystoid fluid collections (CFC) in XRLS patients in Dutch and Belgian tertiary referral centers. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Participants: Forty-two patients with XLRS. Methods: In total, 42 patients were enrolled. To be included, patients had to have previous treatment with an oral CAI (acetazolamide), a topical CAI (brinzolamide/dorzolamide), or a combination of an oral and a topical CAI for at least 4 consecutive weeks. We evaluated the effect of the CAI on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central foveal thickness (CFT) on OCT. Main Outcome Measures: Central foveal thickness and BCVA. Results: The median age at the baseline visit of the patients in this cohort study was 14.7 (range, 43.6) years, with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up period of 4.0 (2.2–5.2) years. During the follow-up period, 25 patients were treated once with an oral CAI (60%), 24 patients were treated once with a topical CAI (57%), and 11 patients were treated once with a combination of both topical and oral CAI (26%). We observed a significant reduction of CFT for oral CAI by 14.37 μm per 100 mg per day (P &lt; 0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI], −19.62 to −9.10 μm) and for topical CAI by 7.52 μm per drop per day (P = 0.017; 95% CI, −13.67 to −1.32 μm). The visual acuity changed significantly while on treatment with oral CAI by −0.0059 logMAR per 100 mg (P = 0.008; 95% CI, −0.010 to −0.0013 logMAR). Seven patients (17%) had side effects leading to treatment discontinuation. Conclusions: Our data indicate that treatment with (oral) CAI may be beneficial for short-term management of CFC in patients with XLRS. Despite a significant reduction in CFT, the change in visual acuity was modest and not of clinical significance. Nonetheless, the anatomic improvement of the central retina in these patients may be of value to create an optimal retinal condition for future potential treatment options such as gene therapy. Financial Disclosure(s): The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.</p

Efficacy of Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors on Cystoid Fluid Collections and Visual Acuity in Patients with X-Linked Retinoschisis

Purpose: To date, there is no standard treatment regimen for carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) in X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS) patients. This retrospective study aims to evaluate the efficacy of CAIs on visual acuity and cystoid fluid collections (CFC) in XRLS patients in Dutch and Belgian tertiary referral centers. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Participants: Forty-two patients with XLRS. Methods: In total, 42 patients were enrolled. To be included, patients had to have previous treatment with an oral CAI (acetazolamide), a topical CAI (brinzolamide/dorzolamide), or a combination of an oral and a topical CAI for at least 4 consecutive weeks. We evaluated the effect of the CAI on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central foveal thickness (CFT) on OCT. Main Outcome Measures: Central foveal thickness and BCVA. Results: The median age at the baseline visit of the patients in this cohort study was 14.7 (range, 43.6) years, with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up period of 4.0 (2.2–5.2) years. During the follow-up period, 25 patients were treated once with an oral CAI (60%), 24 patients were treated once with a topical CAI (57%), and 11 patients were treated once with a combination of both topical and oral CAI (26%). We observed a significant reduction of CFT for oral CAI by 14.37 μm per 100 mg per day (P &lt; 0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI], −19.62 to −9.10 μm) and for topical CAI by 7.52 μm per drop per day (P = 0.017; 95% CI, −13.67 to −1.32 μm). The visual acuity changed significantly while on treatment with oral CAI by −0.0059 logMAR per 100 mg (P = 0.008; 95% CI, −0.010 to −0.0013 logMAR). Seven patients (17%) had side effects leading to treatment discontinuation. Conclusions: Our data indicate that treatment with (oral) CAI may be beneficial for short-term management of CFC in patients with XLRS. Despite a significant reduction in CFT, the change in visual acuity was modest and not of clinical significance. Nonetheless, the anatomic improvement of the central retina in these patients may be of value to create an optimal retinal condition for future potential treatment options such as gene therapy. Financial Disclosure(s): The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.</p