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Maastricht University

EducationMaastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
About: Maastricht University is a education organization based out in Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 19263 authors who have published 53291 publications receiving 2266866 citations. The organization is also known as: Universiteit Maastricht & UM.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A Dutch tariff for the EQ-5D-5L is established on the basis of composite time trade-off (cTTO) to estimate the impact of health care interventions on quality of life, for example, in context of economic evaluations.

598 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Fear of falling and avoidance of activities due to fear of falling, were highly prevalent in the sample of community-living older people and particularly, poor perceived general health showed a strong, independent association with both, fear of fell, and related avoidance of activity.
Abstract: Background: little is known about the prevalence rates and correlates of fear of falling and avoidance of activity due to fear of falling in the general population of community-living older people. Objective: to assess prevalence rates and study correlates of fear of falling and avoidance of activity due to fear of falling in this population. Study design and setting: cross-sectional study in 4,031 community-living people aged ≥70 years. Results: fear of falling was reported by 54.3% and associated avoidance of activity by 37.9% of our population. Variables independently associated with fear of falling were: higher age (≥80 years: odds ratio (OR) = 1.79; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.49‐2.16), female gender (OR = 3.23; 95% CI = 2.76‐3.79), poor perceived general health (OR = 6.93; 95% CI = 4.70‐10.21) and multiple falls (OR = 5.72; 95% CI = 4.40‐7.43). Higher age (≥80 years: OR = 1.92; 95% CI = 1.59‐2.32), poor perceived general health (OR = 11.91; 95% CI = 8.38‐16.95) and multiple falls (OR = 4.64; 95% CI = 3.73‐5.76) were also independently associated with avoidance of activity. Conclusions: fear of falling and avoidance of activities due to fear of falling, were highly prevalent in our sample of community-living older people. Particularly, poor perceived general health showed a strong, independent association with both, fear of falling, and related avoidance of activity. Findings of our study may help health care professionals to identify people eligible for interventions aimed at reducing fear of falling and activity restriction.

598 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results demonstrate the importance of understanding host–microbe interactions to gain better insight into human health and demonstrate the influence of host genetics on microbial species, pathways and gene ontology categories on the basis of metagenomic sequencing in 1,514 subjects.
Abstract: The gut microbiome is affected by multiple factors, including genetics. In this study, we assessed the influence of host genetics on microbial species, pathways and gene ontology categories, on the basis of metagenomic sequencing in 1,514 subjects. In a genome-wide analysis, we identified associations of 9 loci with microbial taxonomies and 33 loci with microbial pathways and gene ontology terms at P < 5 × 10-8. Additionally, in a targeted analysis of regions involved in complex diseases, innate and adaptive immunity, or food preferences, 32 loci were identified at the suggestive level of P < 5 × 10-6. Most of our reported associations are new, including genome-wide significance for the C-type lectin molecules CLEC4F-CD207 at 2p13.3 and CLEC4A-FAM90A1 at 12p13. We also identified association of a functional LCT SNP with the Bifidobacterium genus (P = 3.45 × 10-8) and provide evidence of a gene-diet interaction in the regulation of Bifidobacterium abundance. Our results demonstrate the importance of understanding host-microbe interactions to gain better insight into human health.

597 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This approach can help clinicians to diagnose with a high degree of confidence axial SpA at an early stage in patients with IBP who lack radiographic sacroiliitis.
Abstract: Background: Chronic low back pain (LBP), the leading symptom of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and undifferentiated axial spondyloarthritis (SpA), precedes the development of radiographic sacroiliitis, sometimes by many years. Objective: To assign disease probabilities and to develop an algorithm to help in the early diagnosis of axial SpA. Methods: Axial SpA comprises AS and undifferentiated SpA with predominant axial involvement. Clinical features include inflammatory back pain (IBP), alternating buttock pain, enthesitis, arthritis, dactylitis, acute anterior uveitis, a positive family history, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and good response to NSAIDs. Associated laboratory findings include raised acute phase reactions, HLA-B27 association, and abnormalities on skeletal imaging. Sensitivities, specificities, and likelihood ratios (LRs) of these parameters were determined from published studies. A 5% prevalence of axial SpA among patients with chronic LBP was used. The probability of the presence of axial SpA, depending on the presence or absence of the above clinical features of SpA, was determined. A probability of ⩾90% was used to make a diagnosis of axial SpA. Results: The presence of inflammatory back pain features increased the probability of axial SpA from the background 5% prevalence to 14%. The presence of 2–3 SpA features was necessary to increase the probability of axial SpA to 90%. The highest LRs were obtained for HLA-B27 and MRI. Diagnostic algorithms to be used in daily practice were suggested. Conclusions: This approach can help clinicians to diagnose with a high degree of confidence axial SpA at an early stage in patients with IBP who lack radiographic sacroiliitis.

596 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results of this study strongly indicate that transmission of resistant clones and resistance plasmids of E. coli from poultry to humans commonly occurs.
Abstract: The prevalence of resistance in enterococci to antibiotics, commonly used for therapy in poultry or as antimicrobial growth promoters (AMGPs), was determined in faecal samples of two chicken populations: broilers in which antibiotic and AMGP use is common and laying-hens with a low antibiotic usage. In addition faecal samples were examined from three human populations: broiler farmers, laying-hen farmers and poultry slaughterers. MICs of an extended panel of antibiotics for a randomly chosen gentamicin- or vancomycin-resistant enterococcal isolate from each faecal specimen were also determined. The prevalence of resistance for all antibiotics tested was higher in broilers than in laying-hens. Resistance in faecal enterococci of broiler farmers was for nearly all antibiotics higher than those observed in laying-hen farmers and poultry slaughterers. The overall resistance in broilers was correlated with the resistance in broiler farmers and in poultry slaughterers. No correlation between the results obtained in the laying-hens with any of the other populations was found. The 27 gentamicin-resistant isolates all showed high-level resistance to gentamicin and two of these isolates, both Enterococcus faecium, were resistant to all antibiotics tested, except vancomycin. The 73 vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) isolated from the five populations belonged to four different species and in all isolates the vanA gene cluster was detected by blot hybridization. The pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of these vancomycin-resistant enterococci were quite heterogeneous, but Enterococcus hirae isolates with the same or a closely related PFGE pattern were isolated at two farms from the broiler farmer and from broilers. Molecular characterization of vanA-containing transposons of these isolates showed that similar transposon types, predominantly found in poultry, were present. Moreover, similar vanA elements were not only found in isolates with the same PFGE pattern but also in other VRE isolated from both humans and chickens. The results of this study suggest transmission of resistance in enterococci from animals to man. For VRE this might be clonal transmission of animal strains, but transposon transfer seems to occur more commonly.

596 citations


Authors

Showing all 19492 results

NameH-indexPapersCitations
Edward Giovannucci2061671179875
Julie E. Buring186950132967
Aaron R. Folsom1811118134044
John J.V. McMurray1781389184502
Alvaro Pascual-Leone16596998251
Lex M. Bouter158767103034
David T. Felson153861133514
Walter Paulus14980986252
Michael Conlon O'Donovan142736118857
Randy L. Buckner141346110354
Philip Scheltens1401175107312
Anne Tjønneland139134591556
Ewout W. Steyerberg139122684896
James G. Herman138410120628
Andrew Steptoe137100373431
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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Institution in previous years
YearPapers
2023107
2022344
20214,522
20203,881
20193,367
20183,019