Effect of a combined education and eHealth programme on the control of oral anticoagulation patients (PORTALS study): a parallel cohort design in Dutch primary care.

Objectives: To analyse the effect on therapeutic control and self-management skills of the implementation of self-management programmes, including eHealth by e-learning versus group training.

Setting: Primary Care Thrombosis Service Center.

Participants: Of the 247 oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) patients, 63 started self-management by e-learning, 74 self-management by group training and 110 received usual care.

The Effect of Integration of Self-Management Web Platforms on Health Status in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Management in Primary Care (e-Vita Study): Interrupted Time Series Design.

Background: Worldwide nearly 3 million people die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) every year. Integrated disease management (IDM) improves quality of life for COPD patients and can reduce hospitalization. Self-management of COPD through eHealth is an effective method to improve IDM and clinical outcomes.

High Level of Integration in Integrated Disease Management Leads to Higher Usage in the e-Vita Study: Self-Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease With Web-Based Platforms in a Parallel Cohort Design.

Background: Worldwide, nearly 3 million people die of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) every year. Integrated disease management (IDM) improves disease-specific quality of life and exercise capacity for people with COPD, but can also reduce hospital admissions and hospital days. Self-management of COPD through eHealth interventions has shown to be an effective method to improve the quality and efficiency of IDM in several settings, but it remains unknown which factors influence usage of eHealth and change in behavior of patients.

PORTALS: design of an innovative approach to anticoagulation management through eHealth.

Background: For the monitoring of International Normalized Ratio (INR) values, venous thromboembolism (VTE) and atrial fibrillation (AF) patients can visit anticoagulation clinics, laboratories, or physicians for venous puncture. Point-of-care testing (POCT) made it possible for patients to monitor INR themselves (self-monitoring) and even self-adjust their medication dosage (self-dosage). Both skills are accepted as forms of self-management.

e-Vita: design of an innovative approach to COPD disease management in primary care through eHealth application.

Background: COPD is a highly complex disease to manage as patients show great variation in symptoms and limitations in daily life. In the last decade self-management support of COPD has been introduced as an effective method to improve quality and efficiency of care, and to reduce healthcare costs. Despite the urge to change the organisation of health care and the potential of eHealth to support this, large-scale implementation in daily practice remains behind, especially in the Netherlands.

e-Vita: design of an innovative approach to COPD disease management in primary care through eHealth application.

Background: COPD is a highly complex disease to manage as patients show great variation in symptoms and limitations in daily life. In the last decade self-management support of COPD has been introduced as an effective method to improve quality and efficiency of care, and to reduce healthcare costs. Despite the urge to change the organisation of health care and the potential of eHealth to support this, large-scale implementation in daily practice remains behind, especially in the Netherlands.

Exhaled breath condensate sampling is not a new method for detection of respiratory viruses.

Background: Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) sampling has been considered an inventive and novel method for the isolation of respiratory viruses.

Methods: In our study, 102 volunteers experiencing upper airway infection were recruited over the winter and early spring of 2008/2009 and the first half of the winter of 2009/2010. Ninety-nine EBCs were successfully obtained and screened for 14 commonly circulating respiratory viruses.

Functional domains of the ferredoxin transit sequence involved in chloroplast import.

In order to analyze the information content of a chloroplast transit sequence, we have constructed and analyzed by in vitro assays seven substitution and 20 deletion mutants of the ferredoxin transit sequence. The N-terminal part and the C-terminal part are important for targeting, and in addition the C-terminal region is required for processing. A third region is important for translocation but not for the initial interaction with the envelope.