A membrane filtration method for the enumeration of Escherichia coli in bathing water and other waters with high levels of background bacteria.

The presence and level of faecal indicator bacteria are important factors in estimating the microbiological quality of surface water and the risk of human infection upon exposure to this water. Until 2014, ISO 9308-1:2000 was available and used to enumerate faecal indicator Escherichia coli in bathing water. In 2014, this ISO was technically revised and replaced by ISO 9308-1:2014.

Prediction of long-term hospitalisation and all-cause mortality in patients with chronic heart failure on Dutch claims data: a machine learning approach.

Background: Accurately predicting which patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) are particularly vulnerable for adverse outcomes is of crucial importance to support clinical decision making. The goal of the current study was to examine the predictive value on long term heart failure (HF) hospitalisation and all-cause mortality in CHF patients, by exploring and exploiting machine learning (ML) and traditional statistical techniques on a Dutch health insurance claims database.

Methods: Our study population consisted of 25,776 patients with a CHF diagnosis code between 2012 and 2014 and one year and three years follow-up HF hospitalisation (1446 and 3220 patients respectively) and all-cause mortality (2434 and 7882 patients respectively) were measured from 2015 to 2018.

Do vegetarians less frequently carry ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli/Klebsiella pneumoniae compared with non-vegetarians?

Background: ESBL and plasmid-mediated AmpC (pAmpC)-producing Enterobacteriaceae are frequently found on meat products in Dutch retail, especially on poultry.

Objectives: We investigated whether vegetarians are at lower risk of carrying ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli/Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL-E/K) compared with persons who consume meat.

Methods: Vegetarians, pescatarians (vegetarians who eat fish) and non-vegetarians (persons who eat meat at least three times per week) were asked to send in a faecal sample and a questionnaire.

Finding Dutch natives in online forums.

Law enforcement agencies have a restricted area in which their powers apply, which is called their jurisdiction. These restrictions also apply to the Internet. However, on the Internet, the physical borders of the jurisdiction, typically country borders, are hard to discover.

Longitudinal study of ESBL Escherichia coli carriage on an organic broiler farm.

Objectives: To determine the molecular characteristics of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-E) collected during a longitudinal study on an organic broiler farm in order to investigate clonal expansion and horizontal gene transfer.

Methods: Isolates were obtained from a longitudinal study performed previously on an organic broiler fattening farm. Samples from individually followed-up broilers, the broiler house, the transport van and persons that took the samples, taken at several timepoints (days 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 42 and 70) within a production round and during the consecutive one (days 1, 2, 3 and 70), had been investigated for the occurrence of ESBL-E.

Prevalence and risk factors for colonization of Clostridium difficile among adults living near livestock farms in the Netherlands.

A cross-sectional study was performed among 2494 adults not living or working on a farm to assess prevalence of Clostridium difficile (CD) colonization and risk factors in a livestock dense area. CD prevalence was 1·2%. Twenty-one persons were colonized with a toxigenic strain and nine with a non-toxigenic strain.

Occurrence and molecular characteristics of ESBL/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli in faecal samples from horses in an equine clinic.

Objectives: To investigate the occurrence and characteristics of ESBL/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli in faecal samples from horses at one equine clinic in the Netherlands.

Methods: A total of 91 horses, including residents and patients, were sampled. ESBL/AmpC-producing E.

MRSA in persons not living or working on a farm in a livestock-dense area: prevalence and risk factors.

Objectives: MRSA emerged in livestock and persons in contact with livestock is referred to as livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA). We assessed the prevalence and risk factors for MRSA carriage in persons not living or working on a farm.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among 2492 adults living in close proximity of livestock farms.

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase- and pAmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae among the general population in a livestock-dense area.

Objectives: In the Netherlands there is an ongoing debate regarding environmental health risks of livestock farming for neighbouring residents. This explorative study aims to determine the prevalence of carriage of extended-spectrum β-lactamase and/or plasmid-mediated AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL/pAmpC-E) in the general population living in a livestock-dense area, and to study associations between determinants, including exposure through contact with animals and the environment, and human carriage of ESBL/pAmpC-E.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among 2432 adults (aged 20-72 years) in 12 temporary research centres in the south of the Netherlands, consisting of a questionnaire and analysis of a faecal sample to assess carriage of ESBL/pAmpC-E.

Transmission dynamics of extended-spectrum β-lactamase and AmpC β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in a broiler flock without antibiotic use.

Extended-spectrum and AmpC β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL/AmpC-EC) are found throughout the broiler production pyramid. Transmission of resistance between broilers and humans could occur at any point, representing a potential public health issue. Insight in farm transmission dynamics could provide a basis for control, leading to fewer contaminated broilers.

Pathogenic Escherichia coli producing Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases isolated from surface water and wastewater.

To assess public health risks from environmental exposure to Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases (ESBL)-producing bacteria, it is necessary to have insight in the proportion of relative harmless commensal variants and potentially pathogenic ones (which may directly cause disease). In the current study, 170 ESBL-producing E. coli from Dutch wastewater (n = 82) and surface water (n = 88) were characterized with respect to ESBL-genotype, phylogenetic group, resistance phenotype and virulence markers associated with enteroaggregative E.

Prevalence and characterization of ESBL- and AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae on retail vegetables.

In total 1216 vegetables obtained from Dutch stores during 2012 and 2013 were analysed to determine the prevalence of 3rd-generation cephalosporin (3GC) resistant bacteria on soil-grown fresh produce possibly consumed raw. Vegetables grown conventionally and organically, from Dutch as well as foreign origin were compared. Included were the following vegetable types; blanched celery (n=192), bunched carrots (n=190), butterhead lettuce (n=137), chicory (n=96), endive (n=188), iceberg lettuce (n=193) and radish (n=120).

Extended spectrum ß-lactamase- and constitutively AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae on fresh produce and in the agricultural environment.

The attribution of fresh produce to the overall community-associated exposure of humans to ESBL- or AmpC-producing bacteria is currently unknown. To address this issue, the prevalence of ESBL- and AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae on fresh produce produced in the Netherlands was determined. Seven vegetable types that are consumed raw were selected: blanched celery, bunched carrots, chicory, endive, iceberg lettuce, mushrooms, and radish.

Visual word ambiguity.

This paper studies automatic image classification by modeling soft assignment in the popular codebook model. The codebook model describes an image as a bag of discrete visual words selected from a vocabulary, where the frequency distributions of visual words in an image allow classification. One inherent component of the codebook model is the assignment of discrete visual words to continuous image features.

Source camera identification for heavily JPEG compressed low resolution still images.

In this research, we examined whether fixed pattern noise or more specifically Photo Response Non-Uniformity (PRNU) can be used to identify the source camera of heavily JPEG compressed digital photographs of resolution 640 x 480 pixels. We extracted PRNU patterns from both reference and questioned images using a two-dimensional Gaussian filter and compared these patterns by calculating the correlation coefficient between them. Both the closed and open-set problems were addressed, leading the problems in the closed set to high accuracies for 83% for single images and 100% for around 20 simultaneously identified questioned images.

Effect of Prolonged Repeated Exposure to Formaldehyde Donors with Doses Below the EC3 Value on Draining Lymph Node Responses.

In the Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA), a stimulation index of 3 (SI = 3) is established as a threshold value for hazard identification of sensitization. The corresponding EC3 value, the effective concentration inducing a threefold increase compared to controls, can possibly predict threshold levels for sensitization in humans. Exposure to a dose below the threshold dose would not result in an induction of an immune response.

A cellular coevolutionary algorithm for image segmentation.

Clustering is inherently a difficult problem, both with respect to the definition of adequate models as well as to the optimization of the models. We present a model for the cluster problem that does not need knowledge about the number of clusters a priori. This property is among others useful in the image segmentation domain, which we especially address.

Assessment of differences in ascomycete communities in the rhizosphere of field-grown wheat and potato.

To assess effects of plant crop species on rhizosphere ascomycete communities in the field, we compared a wheat monoculture and an alternating crop rotation of wheat and potato. Rhizosphere soil samples were taken at different time points during the growing season in four consecutive years (1999-2002). An ascomycete-specific primer pair (ITS5-ITS4A) was used to amplify internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences from total DNA extracts from rhizosphere soil.

Cellular localization of AMPA type glutamate receptor subunits in the basal ganglia of pigeons (Columba livia).

Corticostriatal and thalamostriatal projections utilize glutamate as a neurotransmitter in mammals and birds. The influence on striatum is mediated, in part, by ionotropic AMPA-type glutamate receptors, which are heteromers composed of GluR1-4 subunits. Although the cellular localization of AMPA-type subunits has been well characterized in mammalian basal ganglia, their localization in avian basal ganglia has not.

LESS: a model-based classifier for sparse subspaces.

In this paper, we specifically focus on high-dimensional data sets for which the number of dimensions is an order of magnitude higher than the number of objects. From a classifier design standpoint, such small sample size problems have some interesting challenges. The first challenge is to find, from all hyperplanes that separate the classes, a separating hyperplane which generalizes well for future data.

The nearest subclass classifier: a compromise between the nearest mean and nearest neighbor classifier.

We present the Nearest Subclass Classifier (NSC), which is a classification algorithm that unifies the flexibility of the nearest neighbor classifier with the robustness of the nearest mean classifier. The algorithm is based on the Maximum Variance Cluster algorithm and, as such, it belongs to the class of prototype-based classifiers. The variance constraint parameter of the cluster algorithm serves to regularize the classifier, that is, to prevent overfitting.

A protocol for building and evaluating predictors of disease state based on microarray data.

Motivation: Microarray gene expression data are increasingly employed to identify sets of marker genes that accurately predict disease development and outcome in cancer. Many computational approaches have been proposed to construct such predictors. However, there is, as yet, no objective way to evaluate whether a new approach truly improves on the current state of the art.

Quantification of ectomycorrhizal mycelium in soil by real-time PCR compared to conventional quantification techniques.

Mycelial biomass estimates in soils are usually obtained by measuring total hyphal length or by measuring the amount of fungal-specific biomarkers such as ergosterol and phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). These methods determine the biomass of the fungal community as a whole and do not allow species-specific identification. Molecular methods based on the extraction of total soil DNA and the use of genes as biomarkers enable identification of mycelia directly from the environment.

Molecular analysis of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycete communities in a Pinus sylvestris L. stand reveals long-term increased diversity after removal of litter and humus layers.

Abstract The number of fruiting bodies of ectomycorrhizal species in pine forests in The Netherlands has decreased dramatically in recent decades. This decrease has been attributed to an increase in nitrogen deposition and the accumulation of litter and humus. The effects of sod cutting and the removal of litter and humus, to restore ectomycorrhizal diversity in a Scots pine forest in Dwingeloo, The Netherlands, were investigated previously from 1990 to 1993.