Understanding the dynamics driving obesity in socioeconomically deprived urban neighbourhoods: an expert-based systems map.

Background: Over the past decades, the prevalence of obesity among adults has rapidly increased, particularly in socioeconomically deprived urban neighbourhoods. To better understand the complex mechanisms behind this trend, we created a system map exposing the underlying system driving obesity prevalence in socioeconomically deprived urban neighbourhoods over the last three decades in the Netherlands.

Methods: We conducted Group Model Building (GMB) sessions with a group of thirteen interdisciplinary experts to develop a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) of the obesogenic system.

Intersectional inequalities in mental health by education, income, gender, and age before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands: a longitudinal study.

Background: It remains unclear how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the mental health of different vulnerable groups. This study explores how mental health inequalities changed between 2014 (pre-COVID-19) and 2021 (during COVID-19) in the Netherlands across intersectional social strata defined by interplays of educational attainment, income level, gender, and age.

Methods: Using 2014 and 2021 self-reported cohort data on health and living conditions of the adult population of Eindhoven and surroundings (N = 1,157), a Multilevel Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy (MAIHDA) was applied to explore intersectional inequalities in mental health in 2014, 2021, and in mental health changes (2014-2021).

Understanding educational inequalities in sports participation through structurally based resources and individual agency - a sequential mediation analysis.

Educational inequalities in sports participation remain a public health issue in the Netherlands. Combining structurally based resources from Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital with Amartya Sen's conceptualization of individual agency may offer new insights into the complex mechanisms that drive these inequalities. Specifically, we posited that the way individuals are able to exercise their agency within the structurally based economic, social, and cultural resources they have access to may help explain educational inequalities in sports participation.

Impact of Operational Parameters on Pathogen Lethality in Dry and Semi-dry Uncooked Fermented Sausages.

The safety of uncooked fermented, dried sausages relies upon controlled fermentation and drying that inactivates pathogenic bacteria. Current guidelines for the production of fermented sausages by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Services (FSIS) and related research highlight specific safety parameters. The confidence that processing steps, which do not include cooking, inherently mitigate microbial risks, is challenged by the resilience of pathogens in the dry and acidic environments of these food products.

Hypothetical mechanisms driving physical activity levels in ethnic minority groups living in Europe: a systematically identified evidence-based conceptual systems model.

Background: In Europe, physical activity levels tend to be lower in ethnic minority groups than the general population. Interventions and policies based on research examining isolated determinants of physical activity have had limited success in increasing physical activity levels. This study used systems dynamics theory and the capability approach theoretical framework to develop a conceptual model of how individual characteristics, institutional and physical environments and the migration context may interact to promote or hinder physical activity in ethnic minority groups living in Europe.

An unequal health policy landscape? Examining socioeconomic differences in acceptability and preferences for policies that aim to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in health.

Background: This study explores socioeconomic differences in acceptability and preferences for policies that aim to reduce socioeconomic health inequalities. The investigated policies range from structural policies, requiring no individual agency, to agentic policies, which depend on the individual agency for behaviour change.

Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1182 participants, stratified by education and representative of Dutch adults (aged 25-65) for age and gender.

Trapped in vicious cycles: unraveling the health experiences and needs of adults living with socioeconomic insecurity.

Background: This study explores the role of health in daily life and needs of Dutch adults (aged 25-49) experiencing one or more forms of socioeconomic insecurity stemming from their financial, housing, or employment situations.

Methods: 28 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Netherlands between October 2022 and February 2023. The interview guide included questions on participants' socioeconomic situation, the role of health in their daily lives, their health-related and broader needs.

Health effects of holistic housing renovation in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in the Netherlands: a qualitative exploration among residents and professionals.

Background: Holistic housing renovations combine physical housing improvements with social and socioeconomic interventions (e.g. referral to social services, debt counselling, involvement in decision-making, promoting social cohesion).

Urban densification in the Netherlands and its impact on mental health: An expert-based causal loop diagram.

Urban densification is a key strategy to accommodate rapid urban population growth, but emerging evidence suggests serious risks of urban densification for individuals' mental health. To better understand the complex pathways from urban densification to mental health, we integrated interdisciplinary expert knowledge in a causal loop diagram via group model building techniques. Six subsystems were identified: five subsystems describing mechanisms on how changes in the urban system caused by urban densification may impact mental health, and one showing how changes in mental health may alter urban densification.

The current state of complex systems research on socioeconomic inequalities in health and health behavior-a systematic scoping review.

Background: Interest in applying a complex systems approach to understanding socioeconomic inequalities in health is growing, but an overview of existing research on this topic is lacking. In this systematic scoping review, we summarize the current state of the literature, identify shared drivers of multiple health and health behavior outcomes, and highlight areas ripe for future research.

Methods: SCOPUS, Web of Science, and PubMed databases were searched in April 2023 for peer-reviewed, English-language studies in high-income OECD countries containing a conceptual systems model or simulation model of socioeconomic inequalities in health or health behavior in the adult general population.

Do financial constraint and perceived stress modify the effects of food tax schemes on food purchases: moderation analyses in a virtual supermarket experiment.

Objective: To investigate whether financial constraint and perceived stress modify the effects of food-related taxes on the healthiness of food purchases.

Design: Moderation analyses were conducted with data from a trial where participants were randomly exposed to: a control condition with regular food prices, an sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax condition with a two-tiered levy on the sugar content in SSB (5-8 g/100 ml: €0·21 per l and 8 g/100 ml: €0·28 per l) or a nutrient profiling tax condition where products with Nutri-Score D or E were taxed at a 20 percent level. Outcome measures were overall healthiness of food purchases (%), energy content (kcal) and SSB purchases (litres).

Cow key point detection in indoor housing conditions with a deep learning model.

Lameness in dairy cattle is a costly and highly prevalent problem that affects all aspects of sustainable dairy production, including animal welfare. Automation of gait assessment would allow monitoring of locomotion in which the cows' walking patterns can be evaluated frequently and with limited labor. With the right interpretation algorithms, this could result in more timely detection of locomotion problems.

Predicting dairy herd resilience on farms with conventional milking systems.

This research paper addresses the problem that, thus far, there is no method available to predict herd resilience for farms that do not use automated milking systems (AMS). Recently, a methodology was developed to estimate both individual cow as well as herd resilience using daily milk yield observations at individual cow level from farms with AMS. This AMS-based method, however, is not suitable on farms that use conventional milking systems (CMS) where such individual cow milk yield observations are lacking.

Differences across herds with different dairy breeds in daily milk yield based proxies for resilience.

Global sustainability issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss and food security require food systems to become more resource efficient and better embedded in the local environment. This needs a transition towards more diverse, circular and low-input dairy farming systems with animals best suited to the specific environmental conditions. When varying environmental challenges are posed to animals, cows need to become resilient to disturbances they face.

Understanding the mechanisms linking holistic housing renovations to health and well-being of adults in disadvantaged neighbourhoods: A realist review.

Holistic housing renovations combine physical housing improvements with social and socioeconomic interventions (e.g. referral to social services, debt counselling, involvement in decision-making, promoting social cohesion).

Socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health and food consumption: the mediating roles of daily hassles and the perceived importance of health.

Background: Urgent daily hassles, which are more common among people with a lower socioeconomic position (SEP), might limit one's ability to address less pressing goals, such as goals related to health promotion. Consequently, health goals may be viewed as less focal, which could jeopardize one's health. This study examined an understudied pathway: whether a higher severity of daily hassles resulted in a lower perceived importance of health and whether these two factors sequentially mediate socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health (SAH) and food consumption.

Classifying aneuploidy in genotype intensity data using deep learning.

Aneuploidy is the loss or gain of one or more chromosomes. Although it is a rare phenomenon in liveborn individuals, it is observed in livestock breeding populations. These breeding populations are often routinely genotyped and the genotype intensity data from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays can be exploited to identify aneuploidy cases.

Applying a systems perspective to understand the mechanisms of the European School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme.

Background: For the past two decades, the percentage of European children who consume fruit daily has remained at around 40%, despite numerous school-based policy efforts and interventions. This study aimed to apply a systems approach to provide an integrated perspective of the mechanisms of the European School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (the Scheme) to understand better how to increase its long-term impact on children's fruit and vegetable consumption.

Methods: We developed a causal loop diagram by synthesizing peer-reviewed articles and national government documents related to the Scheme, following the conceptualization steps of system dynamics.

Development of a framework to guide research into policies promoting physical activity and healthy diets in the European context: the system-based Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) framework.

Background: The Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) is a multidisciplinary Pan-European research consortium focussing on policies affecting dietary intake, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. At the start, the PEN consortium expressed the need for an overarching, system-based framework covering the complexities between the different domains of the policy process (design, implementation and outcomes) in order to execute all research activities in a coherent way. This article describes the PEN framework itself and its development process.

Dietary behaviour and physical activity policies in Europe: learnings from the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN).

The European Policy Evaluation Network (PEN), initiated in autumn 2018, aimed at advancing the evidence base for public policies impacting dietary behaviour, physical activity and sedentary behaviours in Europe. This is needed because non-communicable diseases-the leading cause of global mortality-are substantially caused by physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary behaviours, which in turn are driven by upstream factors that have not yet been addressed effectively by prevention approaches. Thus, successful policy interventions are required that target entire populations and tackle the 'causes of the causes'.

Reaching consensus on definitions for food and physical activity policies: experience from the Policy Evaluation Network.

Background: An upsurge in policy evaluation research within public health sciences has led to multi-disciplinary research networks like the 'Policy Evaluation Network' (PEN). This multi-disciplinary collaboration highlighted the need for consensus on clear, common terminology and definitions to facilitate the multi-disciplinary research. This article outlines the development process of the PEN definitions glossary tool, with a focus on the key domains of policy design, implementation and outcomes as they apply to physical activity, sedentary behaviour and dietary behaviours.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans: implementation process and indicators to evaluate effects on physical activity.

Background: Active mobility and public transport increase physical activity (PA) levels. With varying intensity and effectiveness, European cities implement Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) to spur transport-related PA. Therefore, we aim to examine drivers and barriers to SUMP implementation and assess its influence on PA across European cities.