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Objectives: This study examined the associations between implemented disability-related policies and practices (DPP) and sustained employment among partially disabled employees in The Netherlands., Methods: Employer survey data on implemented DPP were linked to register data on employment outcomes of partially disabled employees (N=6103 employees from N=366 employers). DPP included six domains based on 48 elements: sick leave policy, occupational health and safety services (OHS), prevention policy, reintegration policy, reintegration practices within the current employer and reintegration practices towards another employer. DPP domains were standardized on a 0-1 scale. Separate logistic regression models were estimated for DDP domains on one-year sustained employment adjusted for employee characteristics, firm size, and sector., Results: Almost all organizations implemented at least one element of DPP on prevention policy, OHS, sick leave policy, and reintegration practices within the current employer, and two-thirds on reintegration policy and reintegration practices towards another employer. Implemented DPP on prevention policy [odds ratio (OR) 2.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-4.0], OHS (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.2), and sick leave policy (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.0-3.3) were positively associated with sustained employment. No significant results were found for reintegration policy and both reintegration practices domains. Stratified analysis showed that DDP domains were particularly associated with sustained employment in larger organizations and in the private sector., Conclusions: Implemented DPP related to sick leave policy, OHS and prevention policy are associated with sustained employment among partially disabled employees, in particular in larger organizations and in the private sector.

Objectives: Disability benefit applicants with residual work capacity are often not able to work fulltime. In Dutch work disability benefit assessments, the inability to work fulltime is an important outcome, indicating the number of hours the applicant can sustain working activities per day. This study aims to gain insight into the association between inability to work fulltime and having paid employment 1 year after the assessment., Methods: The study is a longitudinal register-based cohort study of work disability applicants who were granted a partial disability benefit (n = 8300). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to study the association between inability to work fulltime and having paid employment 1 year after the assessment, separately for working and non-working applicants., Results: For disability benefit applicants, whether working (31.9%) or not working (68.1%) at the time of the disability assessment, there was generally no association between inability to work fulltime and having paid employment 1 year later. However, for working applicants diagnosed with a musculoskeletal disease or cancer, inability to work fulltime was positively and negatively associated with having paid employment, respectively. For non-working applicants with a respiratory disease or with multimorbidity, inability to work fulltime was negatively associated with paid employment., Conclusions: Inability to work fulltime has limited association with paid employment 1 year after the disability benefit assessment, regardless of the working status at the time of assessment. However, within certain disease groups, inability to work fulltime can either increase or decrease the odds of having paid employment after the assessment., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The aims of this study were: (1) to explore the frequency of discrepancies in work accommodations reported by workers and their supervisors, and (2) to investigate whether these discrepancies are associated with full return to work (RTW)., Methods: We used data from a longitudinal survey study of long-term sick-listed workers and their supervisors (n = 406). Discrepancies in reports on implementing eight types of work accommodations were explored. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test associations between discrepancies in reported work accommodations and odds of full RTW 27 months after the sick-leave onset., Results: Discrepancies were the lowest for the work accommodation therapeutic RTW (53%) and the highest (85%) for job training or education and reimbursement of therapy or treatment. Four out of eight types of work accommodations were more often reported by workers than by their supervisors. Only a discrepancy on a job reassignment within the organization was associated with lower odds of full RTW (OR 0.56, 95%-CI 0.36-0.88)., Conclusion: We found substantial discrepancies in the reported implementation of work accommodations between workers and their supervisors. Future research should focus on disentangling mechanisms that lead to discrepancies to avoid inefficiencies in the RTW process., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

We study preferences for different types of home care insurance using a discrete choice experiment. We consider domestic, personal, and social care, a home care annuity, and a lump-sum for home adaptations. To understand variation in preferences, we relate willingness to pay to personal circumstances, preferences, and expectations. We find that the majority value in-kind and in-cash insurance above the actuarial premium. While most respondents value coverage for basic levels of support, we find diminishing marginal utility for higher levels of support. For in-kind care, willingness to pay is positively associated with respondent characteristics: being single, household income, home ownership, risk aversion, low bequest motives, expected length of home care use, expected expenditures when in need of care, and low expected availability of informal care. In contrast, in-cash support is valued regardless of respondent characteristics, possibly because its inherent flexibility. These results contribute to the design of insurance schemes for home care., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the contribution of employer characteristics to continued employment of employees with residual work capacity. Moreover, we examined whether the contribution of employer characteristics differs across types of employers and employees' types of diseases., Methods: Register data on disability assessments and employment status of N=84 394 long-term sick-listed employees with residual work capacity were obtained from the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency between 2010 and 2017. The dependent variable was continued employment four months after the assessment. We linked employees to their (former) employer to measure sector, firm size, and workforce composition. The average employment outcome of all employees assessed in the same firm and year served as a proxy measure for the extent of implemented disability-related policies and practices. Using multilevel multiple regression analysis, we compared the relative contribution of employer characteristics with employees' characteristics., Results: Employer characteristics accounted for 10% of the variability in employment outcomes. In comparison, employees' socio-demographic and disease characteristics accounted for 13% of the variability. The prevalence of continued employment was lowest in smaller firms and construction and low-wage service-orientated sectors. Furthermore, there were sizeable differences in employment outcomes between similar employers in terms of size, sector and workforce-composition, particularly between larger firms and among employees with mental or musculoskeletal disorders compared to other diseases., Conclusions: This study shows substantial differences between employers in facilitating continued employment of employees with residual work capacity. Encouraging firms to invest more in disability-related policies and practices may result in better employment opportunities for these employees.

Purpose: The Lifelines COVID-19 cohort was set up to assess the psychological and societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate potential risk factors for COVID-19 within the Lifelines prospective population cohort., Participants: Participants were recruited from the 140 000 eligible participants of Lifelines and the Lifelines NEXT birth cohort, who are all residents of the three northern provinces of the Netherlands. Participants filled out detailed questionnaires about their physical and mental health and experiences on a weekly basis starting in late March 2020, and the cohort consists of everyone who filled in at least one questionnaire in the first 8 weeks of the project. FINDINGS TO DATE: >71 000 unique participants responded to the questionnaires at least once during the first 8 weeks, with >22 000 participants responding to seven questionnaires. Compiled questionnaire results are continuously updated and shared with the public through the Corona Barometer website. Early results included a clear signal that younger people living alone were experiencing greater levels of loneliness due to lockdown, and subsequent results showed the easing of anxiety as lockdown was eased in June 2020., Future Plans: Questionnaires were sent on a (bi)weekly basis starting in March 2020 and on a monthly basis starting July 2020, with plans for new questionnaire rounds to continue through 2020 and early 2021. Questionnaire frequency can be increased again for subsequent waves of infections. Cohort data will be used to address how the COVID-19 pandemic developed in the northern provinces of the Netherlands, which environmental and genetic risk factors predict disease susceptibility and severity and the psychological and societal impacts of the crisis. Cohort data are linked to the extensive health, lifestyle and sociodemographic data held for these participants by Lifelines, a 30-year project that started in 2006, and to data about participants held in national databases., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for the quantification of para-fluorofentanyl (pFF) in powder and powdered samples was developed and validated. The method was applied on a seizure of capsules and tablets, that had been confiscated at an illicit production site in the Netherlands. The investigated capsules and tablets contained pFF in the range of 33.8-408.7 microg. As caffeine was detected as being an adulterant, a HPLC/UV method for the quantification of caffeine in capsules and tablets was also validated and applied. Caffeine was detected in the range of 25.6-108 mg per capsule or tablet. Based on an extrapolation of pharmacological and toxicological data of fentanyl, it can be argued that the highest detected single dose of pFF could be lethal, when administered orally. However, the large variability of the doses observed for pFF could mislead abusers, potentially leading to multiple doses and thus overdosing.

Trimethylsilylation of target substances in a mixture of N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide (MSTFA), ammonium iodide and ethanethiol is frequently applied for the application of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in steroid analysis. However, artifacts were formed when using this mixture to silylate the steroids androsterone and etiocholanolone obtained from a urine matrix. The artifacts were identified as ethyl thio-containing products of the respective trimethylsilyl derivatives. The conversion of the studied products increased slowly as a function of time, was dependent on the presence of the urine matrix and was significantly accelerated by adding diethyl disulfide to the reagent before incubation. Also ethyl thio-incorporation into testosterone and epitestosterone was established. A mechanism for ethyl thio-incorporation is proposed. The conversion achieved after 120-h sample storage at room temperature was insufficient to significantly influence the analysis of androsterone and etiocholanolone under the studied conditions. However, the results provide fundamental insight into the mechanism of silylation and the occurring side-reactions. Moreover, when investigating the formation of new metabolites, the ethyl thio-incorporation can lead to misinterpretation.

In the present study metabolites of methylprednisolone were detected using gradient elution high-performance liquid chromatography. Separation was performed by a Cp Spherisorb ODS 5 microm (250 mmx4.6 mm I.D.) column, connected to a guard column, packed with pellicular reversed phase. The mobile phase was a mixture of acetonitrile and 1% acetic acid in water. At t = 0, this phase consisted of 2% acetonitrile and 98% acetic acid 1% in water (v/v). During the following 35 min the phase changed linearly until it attained a composition of acetonitrile-buffer (50:50, v/v). At 40 min (t = 40) the mobile phase was changed over 5 min to the initial composition, followed by equilibration during 2 min. The flow-rate was 1.5 ml/min. UV detection was achieved at 248 nm. We have isolated the respective compounds with the most abundant concentration and suggested their chemical structure based on NMR, IR, UV, MS, retention behaviour and melting points. The c/, stereochemistry could not be solved in this study. The overall picture of the metabolic pathways of methylprednisolone is apparently simple: reduction of the C20 carbonyl group and further oxidation of the C20-C21 side chain (into C21-COOH and C20-COOH), in competition with or additional to the oxidation at the C6-position.

A sensitive assay for the determination of N,N',N"-triethylenethiophosphoramide (thioTEPA) and its metabolite N,N',N"-triethylenephosphoramide (TEPA) in micro-volumes human plasma and urine has been developed. ThioTEPA and TEPA were analysed using gas chromatography with selective nitrogen-phosphorus detection or mass spectrometry after extraction with a mixture of 1-propanol-chloroform from the biological matrix. Diphenylamine was used as internal standard. The limit of detection was 1.5 ng/ml for thioTEPA and 2.5 ng/ml for TEPA, using 100 microl of biological sample; recoveries ranged between 70 and 90% and both accuracy and precision were less than 10%. Linearity was accomplished in the range of 10-1000 ng/ml for plasma and 100-10000 ng/ml for urine using thermionic nitrogen-phosphorus detection. With mass spectrometry a linear range of 100-25000 ng/ml TEPA in plasma or urine was obtained. For thioTEPA a second-order polynomial function describes the relationship between the analyte concentration in the range of 500-25000 ng/ml and detection response. TEPA proved to be stable in plasma and urine for at least 10 weeks at -80 degrees C. ThioTEPA and TEPA plasma concentrations of two patients treated with thioTEPA are presented demonstrating the applicability of the assay for clinical samples.

A sensitive assay for the determination of N,N',N"-triethylenthiophosphoramide (thioTEPA) in microvolumes of human plasma and urine has been developed. ThioTEPA was analysed using gas chromatography with selective nitrogen-phosphorus detection, after extraction with ethyl acetate from the biological matrix. Diphenylamine is the internal standard. The limit of quantitation was 0.1 ng/ml, using only 100 microl of sample; recoveries ranged between 85 and 100% and both accuracy and precision were less than 10%. Using a flame ionisation nitrogen-phosphorus detector, the assay was not linear over the concentration range of 2-1000 ng/ml for plasma and 10-1000 ng/ml for urine. Linearity was accomplished in the range of 1-1000 ng/ml for plasma and urine when a thermionic nitrogen/phosphorous detector was used. The stability of thioTEPA in plasma proved to be satisfactory over a period of 3 months, when kept at -20 degrees C, whereas it was stable in urine for at least 1 month at -80 degrees C. ThioTEPA plasma concentrations of two patients treated with thioTEPA are presented demonstrating the applicability of the assay.