[Development of a fidelity scale for function assertive community treatment (FACT)]. / Ontwikkeling van een modelgetrouwheidsschaal voor functie-assertive community treatment (FACT).

BACKGROUND: Assertive community treatment (ACT) is one of the most important models for the care and treatment, in the community, of people with severe mental illness (SMI). ACT is concerned primarily with smi-patients who have the most complex problems and it provides care by means of intensive assertive outreach. Function act (FACT) provides care for the entire group of SMI - patients and combines the principles of case management and ACT. For a long time it has been possible to measure the degree of ACT model reliability using the facts reliability scale. Throughout this time, however, a reliability scale for FACT was not available. AIM: To develop a reliability scale for fact teams. METHOD: Using the knowledge of experts and feedback from fact teams it has been possible to develop a reliability scale for fact teams. The scale was tested and subsequently adapted as a result of 10 pilot trials performed by 10 fact teams. RESULTS: The definitive version of the scale was confirmed in 2008 and is currently used in the field. CONCLUSION: With the ACT and FACT reliability scales the research field now have two instruments with which teams working with SMI - patients can measure model reliability. The DACTS and FACTS provide opportunities for quality improvement and transparency.

Effect of infections with swine fever virus on immune functions. II. Lymphocyte response to mitogens and enumeration of lymphocyte subpopulations.

Peripheral blood and spleen lymphocytes from pigs infected with a low-virulent strain of swine fever virus (SFV) were transiently hyporesponsive to the mitogenic action of PHA, PWM and Con A. The mitogenic reactivity of lymphocytes from lymph nodes from such pigs appeared to be enhanced rather than depressed at that time. In addition, hyper-responsiveness of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to these mitogens occurred in some pigs. PBL from pigs lethally infected with virulent SFV showed a persistent depression of the response to these mitogens, whereas lymphocytes from lymph nodes had a high responding capacity. A lymphocyte response to SFV antigens could not be demonstrated in infected pigs. These SFV infections did not markedly affect the percentage of lymphocytes in the blood and most lymphoid organs rosetting with sheep red blood cells. On the other hand, surface immunoglobulin-bearing lymphocytes were markedly increased in lymph nodes from pigs exposed to virulent SFV. The sum of both lymphocyte subpopulations in the lymph nodes from these pigs often considerably exceeded the 100% value, which strongly suggests the presence of cells bearing both surface immunoglobulin and receptors for dextran-treated sheep red blood cells. Possible correlations between these findings are discussed. The results suggest that infections with SFV induce systemic alterations in the process of lymphocyte recirculation in the pig.

Isolation of swine-like influenza A(H1N1) viruses from man in Switzerland and The Netherlands.

Swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were isolated from two people in Switzerland and one in the Netherlands in early 1986. In haemagglutination-inhibition and neuraminidase-inhibition assays, the three viruses were closely related to one another and to the A/New Jersey/8/76 strain. The Swiss patients showed only mild symptoms, whereas the Dutch patient suffered from severe pneumonia. Two of the patients had been in close contact with diseased pigs. No such contact could be established for the third patient. None of the three individuals was known to suffer from immunodeficiency. No man-to-man transmission of the virus has been detected.