It is unbelievable how drastically our life has changed in the past weeks. Not only our personal life, also our professional life.
Some of you are now working “in the front line”, others are working at home. Everyone tries to make the best out of the situation. Thank you for that. But most important: don’t forget to take good care of yourself! (for recommendations see the first two articles).
In today’s world all we hear is about the corona crisis, and so is this edition of the CAPHRI newsletter. Due to our focus on care and public health, many of our researchers are directly or indirectly involved. That is why we asked some of our colleagues to contribute to this newsletter with a commentary, a blog or an update on recently initiated COVID-19 related projects. Besides, our newsletter will be published more frequently during the corona crisis.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and invite you to keep us informed of your thoughts, concerns, suggestions or initiatives.
Stay well.
Maurice Zeegers, Scientific director CAPHRI m.zeegers@maastrichtuniversity.nl
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How to relieve work stress during the corona crisis?
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The corona crisis has increased work demands for (scientific) staff at Maastricht University in many ways. We all have to learn new online and communication skills under time pressure. The strict deadlines for the online education add to the job demands. An urgency to establish new research on the corona crisis and to redirect existing projects is felt. Moreover, the intelligent lock down introduces new private life stressors: educating your children, worries about the care for your elderly parents, suffering from loneliness etc. Based on research and practical experience, Angelique de Rijk (professor in Work and Health; RL Health Inequities and Societal Participation) gives us some tips on how to face the current situation and shows how managers can help. Read more.
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Exercise is just as important as staying at home
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To help stop the spread of coronavirus, the Government has said we should stay at home as much as possible. However, how useful is this advice is if we already adhere to the advice to keep our distance and wash our hands regularly? Onno van Schayck and Maartje Willeboordse (RL Optimising Patient Care) are concerned that this advice has an unintended harmful side effect. If people stay at home, they will have less exercise. Sitting still is disastrous for our immune system. Besides, physical activity is good for our mood. Read more (in Dutch).
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COVID-19 related (research) initiatives
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The coronacrisis and the impact on (the care for) older people
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As we all know, the coronavirus is hitting vulnerable older people the hardest in every respect. Not only do they face the greatest risk of dying from the disease, but they are also particularly affected by the strict government measures to prevent the virus from spreading. Besides the virus is putting intense pressure on care for the elderly, both in the home and in nursing homes. Therefore the Living Lab in Ageing and Long-Term Care recently launched an initiative to find extra volunteers to care for older people in Limburg. To sign up, please visit this website.
At the same time, the Living Labs initiated research projects to gain insight in the incidence and course of (suspected) COVID-19 in nursing homes, the consequences of the pandemic for care staff and informal caregivers and rehabilitation of older people after coronavirus infection. Read more.
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COVID-19 systematic reviews
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Many COVID-19 research findings are shared rapidly and openly to inform the public health response and help save lives. They are published in open access repositories, ahead of peer review. Several CAPHRI researchers are systematically reviewing and critically appraising the currently available articles, so that medical and policy decision-making can be based on high quality data.
Laure Wynants, Luc Smits (RL Optimising Patient Care) and a group of international researchers studied 31 prediction models for the early detection and progression of COVID-19 and concluded that most models are not scientifically reliable enough to serve as a basis for medical decisions. Read more
CAPHRI (Maurice Zeegers), the UM Library, RIVM, Cochrane Netherlands and UMC Utrecht have joined forces to coordinate new systematic reviews on COVID-19 articles. So far 50 epidemiologists have signed up to participate. Read more.
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We are deeply grateful to our CAPHRI colleagues who are working “in the front line”, treating patients or implementing solutions to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our society.
Jochen Cals, for example, professor of Effective Diagnostics in Primary Care and General Practitioner in Sittard, a city that is suffering from a relatively high number of coronavirus infections. What is his experience during these unique times? Read it here.
And Christian Hoebe, professor of Social Medicine and and Infectious Disease Control and head of the Department of Infectious Disease Control of the Municipal Health Services (GGD Zuid-Limburg) is leading our Province Limburg through the coronacrisis. He is also member of the Outbreak Management Team, a team of 20 experts that advises the government on appropriate measures against the Covid-19 virus. Read about his experiences here.
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A global crisis: COVID-19 in Italy, Iran and China
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The COVID-19 epidemic in Italy: response and policies
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Italy was the country where the first European COVID-19 outbreak was detected. Within two weeks, the disease spread rapidly throughout other European countries. Our colleague prof Carlo Signorelli of the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan gives an insight in the Italian management - and the problems faced- of the corona epidemic. Read the full article here.
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COVID-19 shows need for developing global health education capacity in Iran
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The public health authorities in Iran have severe difficulties in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak, which coincides with the politically induced economic sanctions against the country. All aspects of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are directly and indirectly hampered, and the country is falling short in combating the crisis. In the context of this worrying public and socio-economic health situation, the Erasmus+ project “IraN European Partnership for Capacity-building and Teaching in Global Health (INPACT)” , led by Anja Krumeich and Remco van de Pas (RL Health Inequities and Societal Participation) has recently started. Read more.
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Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in China: managing trust and accountability
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In late 2019, China became the first country to be hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic, and many cities were locked down in 2020 to prevent transmission. The country’s response to the coronavirus has raised questions about control measures and establishing public accountability and trust in a non-democratic context. Ronghui Yang (RL Health Inequities and Societal Particiation) traces discussions among citizens about the response to the coronavirus pandemic by following Chinese social media platforms. Read more
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COVID-19 in the public debate
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There is an overload of media attention for the corona pandemic. Are only ‘’serious scientists’’ considered legitimate voices in the public debate? Should non-experts keep their verbal distance? Two CAPHRI researchers share their views.
‘’Opinion epidemics’’ make public health public. Klasien Horstman (RL Health Inequities and Societal Participation).
Responsibility of experts. Rik Crutzen (RL Promoting Health and Personalised Care).
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The role of the European Union during (and after) the Corona crisis
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Anyone who has studied European Union (EU) health law will remember learning, “EU health competence is predominantly in public health” and “health in all policies”. In this COVID-19 period then, it seems surprising that the EU feels remote and not at the forefront of the response. The FHML Health Law Group (RL Health Inequities and Societal Participation) explains why. Read more
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PECUNIA and the Coronavirus Outbreak: Societal Impact of a Disease
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With the current pandemic, the economic impact of a disease on society becomes more evident than ever. Taking a broad multi-sectoral economic view on health related issues is the starting point of the PECUNIA project (RL Creating Value-Based Health care), in which costs in- and outside the healthcare sector are identified following a standardized approach to facilitate the comparability of the results in multiple European countries. Read more
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The COVID-19 pandemic and ‘Healthy Childcare Centres of the Future’
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The measures being taken against the spread of the virus can have far-reaching consequences for running research projects. After several months of preparation PhD candidate Marla Hahnraths (RL Optimising Patient Care) was ready to do baseline measurements at several childcare centres. But now the centres are closed. Read her story here.
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Let us know about your COVID-19 research
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Do you (plan to) study anything related to COVID-19? Please let us know by sending an e-mail to Maurice Zeegers, Scientific Director CAPHRI, m.zeegers@maastrichtuniversity.nl
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Canceled/postponed events
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The CaRe Days 2020 will be postponed to May 2021. There will be a CaRe-award winner this year. How the CaRe organisation will proceed with the announcement will be communicated later.
The meeting on "Centering Pregnancy" organised by the Living Lab of Public Health Limburg will be postponed to 25 June 2020.
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WUN Grant Opportunity for research projects on COVID 19 Pandemic
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Maastricht University is a member of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). WUN is making available a limited number of grants for collaborative projects that focus on research challenges related to the present pandemic, and are urgent and of the moment. Projects may receive a subsidy up to 10,000 British Pounds. More information can be found on www.wun.ac.uk.
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All CAPHRI PhD ceremonies that were scheduled for April have been postponed because of the corona measures.
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