Publications by authors named "Dekker D"

Social network extensions of Heider's balance theory have led to a plethora of adaptations, often inconsistent with Heider and each other. We present a general model that permits the description and testing of specific balance theoretic predictions as Heider had originally proposed them. We formulate balance statements as a comparison of two conditional probabilities of a tie: [Formula: see text], conditioned on 2-path relations [Formula: see text] vs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pediatric diarrhea is a significant public health issue, prompting a study on caretakers' understanding of its causes, treatments, and risks in Tanzania's Korogwe and Handeni districts.
  • The qualitative research involved targeted sampling, with data collected through interviews and focus groups, and analyzed thematically.
  • Findings revealed that while caretakers generally knew the risks of diarrhea, many lacked knowledge about its causes and treatments, leading to negative attitudes and poor management practices; thus, health education initiatives are recommended to improve caretaker knowledge and behaviors.
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Diarrheal diseases are important causes of morbidity and mortality, worldwide. The occurrence of multiple pathogens in stool samples of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in resource-limited countries have been repeatedly described. In this study, we assessed the differentiated effects of combined pathogen detections on recorded symptoms.

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Objective: Many children in sub-Saharan Africa die from infectious diseases like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea that can be prevented by early diagnosis, effective and targeted treatment. This study aimed to gain insights into case management practices by parents before they present their children to hospital.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 332 parents attending a district hospital with their under-fives symptomatic with fever and/or diarrhoea between November 2019 and July 2020 in rural Tanzania.

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Hybrid metal halide perovskites have demonstrated remarkable performances in modern photovoltaics, although their stabilities remain limited. We assess the capacity to advance their properties by relying on interfacial modulators featuring helical chirality based on ,-(1-methylene-3-methyl-imidazolium)[6]helicene iodides. We investigate their characteristics, demonstrating comparable charge injection for enantiomers and the racemic mixture.

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  • Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella enterica is rising globally, prompting a study in Costa Rica to assess its presence and effects in the food supply.
  • Researchers collected samples from chicken meat and farms, finding high rates of Salmonella contamination at 58.5% in meat and 38.0% in caecal samples.
  • A significant portion of the isolates showed multidrug resistance, with Serovar Infantis being the most common, underlining the urgent need for better monitoring of foodborne pathogens.
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Background: Healthcare resources are often limited in areas of sub-Saharan Africa. This makes accurate and timely diagnoses challenging and delays treatment of childhood febrile illness. We explored longitudinal characteristics related to symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of hospitalised febrile children in a rural area of Ghana highly endemic for malaria.

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Background: Arcobacter species are considered emerging foodborne pathogens that can potentially cause serious infections in animals and humans. This cross-sectional study determined the frequency of potentially pathogenic Arcobacter spp. in both commercial and smallholder farm animals in Ghana and Tanzania.

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Background: Salmonella enterica are important foodborne pathogens and the third leading cause of death among diarrheal infections worldwide. This cross-sectional study investigated the frequency of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella enterica in commercial and smallholder farm environments in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A total of 1490 environmental samples, comprising 800 (53.

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Background: Right through history, humans have relied heavily on plants for sustenance and the healing of different ailments. One of the long-standing traditions that communities have inherited from earlier generations is the use of herbal medicines for the treatment of paediatric ailments, including diarrhoea. This study showcased medicinal plants used by traditional healers for the treatment of diarrhoeal diseases among under-five children in North-eastern Tanzania.

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Liquid fertilizers are widely used for fertilizing in- and outdoor vegetation. Despite the easy accessibility and widespread use, serious intoxications are rare. This case report describes a 61-year-old woman who was treated for life-threatening hyperkalemia, metabolic acidosis and ECG changes after intentional ingestion of liquid fertilizer.

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Background: The demand for herbal medicines continues to increase globally. However, community perceptions on their effectiveness and factors influencing their use have not been extensively investigated, notably in the Tanga Region, North-eastern Tanzania, where their use in treating various diseases, including paediatric diarrhoea, has flourished. According to studies, Tanga Region has a high prevalence of diarrhoea among under-five children.

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Background: Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL-KP) and Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) present a high burden in both communities and healthcare sectors, leading to difficult-to-treat infections. Data on intestinal carriage of ESBL-KP and ESBL-EC in children is scarce, especially in sub-Saharan African countries. We provide data on faecal carriage, phenotypic resistance patterns, and gene variation of ESBL-EC and ESBL-KP among children in the Agogo region of Ghana.

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Objective: Inflammation-induced free radical release is important in the pathogenesis of several diseases, including atherosclerosis and sepsis. Heme oxygenase (HO) breaks down heme into carbon monoxide, iron, and biliverdin. Biliverdin IXα is directly converted to bilirubin by biliverdin reductase.

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Controversy exists in clinical practice regarding optimal initial enteral feeding (EF) for moderately premature and low birth weight (BW) infants. We included 96 infants stratified into 3 groups (I: 1600-1799 g [n = 22]; II: 1800-1999 g [n = 42]; III: 2000-2200 g [n = 32]). The protocol recommended starting with minimal EF (MEF) in infants weighing <1800 g.

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Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) can be divided into four consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), each with distinct biological features. CMS4 is associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition and stromal infiltration (Guinney et al., Nat Med 21:1350-6, 2015; Linnekamp et al.

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Poultry has been suggested as an important source for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria that can lead to difficult-to treat infections in humans. Therefore, this study aims to determine the frequency, the genetics, and antimicrobial resistance profiles of ESBL-producing in domestic free-range poultry in Agogo, Ghana. The study was set up and piloted from January 2019 until June 2019.

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In recent years, has gained clinical significance as an emerging diarrheagenic pathogen associated with poultry and water reservoirs. The full clinical significance of remains rather speculative due to variable virulence and antibiotic susceptibility of individual strains. The aims of the present study were (i) to identify antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the genome sequences of two multidrug-resistant isolates, (ii) to use multilocus-sequence typing (MLST) to generate a guiding phylogeny of isolates collected in Kumasi, Ghana, (iii) to examine the distribution of ARGs in the test cohort, and (iv) to assess the strain's virulence and possible antibiotic treatment options for arcobacteriosis based on the genome sequences and the ARG distribution.

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Background: Understanding strategic commitments and policy responses to overcome antimicrobial resistance at the national, regional, and global levels is required to evaluate current progress and direct future planning. National action plans (NAPs) are the primary mechanism for guiding national strategy and action for antimicrobial resistance governance. Although several NAPs have been developed, no comprehensive content analysis of these plans exists.

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In spite of ongoing eradication programs, helminth infections are still a medical issue in Ghana. For follow-up assessments on the decline of regional helminth infections, historic baseline prevalence values obtained with standardized diagnostic procedures can be helpful. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, real-time PCR targeting the nematodes spp.

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Worldwide, farm animals, in particular poultry, are an important reservoir for spp. However, information on colonization in farm animals in Africa is scarce. Hence, this cross-sectional study determined antibiotic-resistant from both commercial and smallholder farm animals in the Asante Akim North Municipality of Ghana.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) was first identified in the Netherlands in ticks in 2015 and in humans in 2016, prompting a study to assess its prevalence.
  • During extensive surveillance from 2018 to 2020, researchers tested over 46,000 ticks and 320 rodents at high-risk locations.
  • The findings revealed low infection rates in rodents and ticks, evidence of three TBEV variants circulating, indicating a broader distribution of the virus in the Netherlands than previously recognized.
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Objectives: Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) capacity in local public health departments is foundational to meeting both organizational and individual competencies and fulfilling expanded roles. In addition to on-the-job training, organizational supports are needed to prepare staff; yet, less is known in this area. This qualitative study explores supportive management practices instituted as part of a training and technical assistance intervention.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of US health departments with citizen science.

Design: In 2019, we conducted a national survey of 272 local health department (LHD) representatives about knowledge and attitudes, readiness, experiences, and barriers related to citizen science (response rate = 45%).

Setting: LHDs in the United States in 2019.

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Background: Salmonella enterica is among the major burdens for public health at global level. Typing of salmonellae below the species level is fundamental for different purposes, but traditional methods are expensive, technically demanding, and time-consuming, and therefore limited to reference centers. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is an alternative method for bacterial typing, successfully applied for classification at different infra-species levels.

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