Experts In France Research Articles

The PRAMOS Study: PRostaglandin Analogues Monotherapy-Awareness Survey on Ocular Surface Involvement.

Even though the local tolerance of prostaglandin (PG) analogues has improved drastically since the introduction of preservative-free (PF) eye drops, prescription patterns still vary widely among practitioners and between countries and could have an impact on the ocular surface of treated patients and, in consequence, their adherence. The aim of this study is to explore the prescribing patterns of PG analogues monotherapy in France and to evaluate their impact on ocular surface status. This was a national multicenter cross-sectional observational study that was conducted by 18 glaucoma experts in France. Patients over 18years of age and receiving monotherapy with topical PG analogues for the treatment of ocular hypertension and/or glaucoma, with no history of prior glaucoma surgery, were consecutively selected from the glaucoma outpatient clinics of participating physicians and underwent an ocular surface examination. A total of 344 eyes of 344 patients were enrolled between November 2022 and November 2023. Prescribed PG monotherapy was PF in 271 (78.7%) patients. Clinical history and ocular surface evaluation indicated that 79.4% of the study population (n = 273) presented with at least one symptom or clinical sign of dry eye and that three patients out of four had an unstable tear film. Subgroup analysis comparing preserved and PF PG analogues showed a higher prevalence of conjunctival hyperemia and corneal staining in the preserved group. Multivariate analysis identified conjunctival hyperemia as consistently associated with preservative use (odds ratio = 7.654; p = 0.003 for moderate conjunctival hyperemia). This study highlights the growing trend toward PF PG analogue prescriptions by specialists in France. However, ocular surface issues remain prevalent, impacting patient adherence and treatment efficacy. Comprehensive ocular surface examinations are crucial in glaucoma management to enhance long-term tolerance, compliance, and overall treatment success.

Une séance de la Société Médico-Psychologique sur le thème « criminologie et victimologie »

On June 19, 2023, a session of the Société Médico-Psychologique (SMP) was devoted to the theme “Criminology and Victimology”. Subjects usually little discussed but nevertheless very important were usefully programmed there: women with mental disorders perpetrators of homicides or attempted homicides, transphobic homicides, filicide, cognitive distortions of victims, the need to reform pre-sentence psychiatric and psychological expertise in France. Presentations, discussions and a rich session which will continue in the programming of the SMP sessions.

System biegłych sądowych w sprawach cywilnych we Francji

The aim of the study is to present the principles of the functioning of the system of court experts in France in relation to civil proceedings. The article discusses the systemic status of experts, the mechanism of appointing experts in civil proceedings and the role of the parties at this stage. The procedural possibilities of the parties’ participation in the preparation of the expert opinion as well as the possibilities of its assessment and questioning were also presented. The method of financing expert opinions and awarding remuneration to experts was indicated. The rules for entering experts on the list of experts in France and the importance of this list for the system of appointing experts in this country were discussed in detail. The issue of advance payments by the parties for the remuneration of experts and the final method of their settlement was also presented. Attention was also drawn to the method of supervision over experts and the possibilities of disciplinary actions against them. The conclusions indicated those French regulations that could be used in other legal systems, including the one in Poland.

"On the excellence of the vegetable diet": Scurvy, Antoine Poissonnier-Desperrières's New Naval Diet and French Colonial Science in the Atlantic World

In the second half of the eighteenth century, French physician Antoine Poissonnier-Desperrièresproposed a fully vegetarian diet for the French Navy in an attempt to combat the effects of scurvy. France was investing heavily in revitalizing its Navy after the Seven Years War in an effort to gain ground against Britain after substantial French losses in the Atlantic world, and scurvy had a devastating impact on these efforts. Desperrières occupied a privileged position in the French Navy that allowed him to implement his plans on a limited number of naval expeditions, although his experimental vegetarian naval ration proved a failure at both preventing scurvy and convincing the Navy to change the ration for dependent sailors. Desperrières' ideas drew from the rise of scientific food expertise in France in this period, if not from the long history of principled vegetarianism in Europe, and his trials contributed to the longstanding cultures of empiricism that marked knowledge production in the Atlantic world. Nevertheless, Desperrières' theories of the causes and cures for scurvy reflected enduring conceptions of the relationship between human bodies, the foods they consumed, and the maritime environment. To his disappointment, Desperrières remained a marginal figure in the wider debates over scurvy that celebrated contemporaries such as James Lind and James Cook.

Making Change Happen: Exploring the Change Discourse of Managers in a CSR Context

Diversity managers bear the responsibility of developing and implementing diversity policies. Despite advances in the legislation to fight discrimination, they often encounter resistance and need to generate change and to influence behaviors in the firm. Hence, they develop strategies to implement diversity within the organization. Based on the structuration approach developed by Giddens, and Barley and Tolbert, this research examines the discourse of diversity managers to generate change and institutionalize diversity. Based on a series of 37 in-depth interviews with diversity managers and experts in France, we identified eight scripts for diversity management in organizations. Whereas some scripts have the potential to generate change, others foster a “business as usual” vision of diversity and are in fact non-diversity scripts. This research sheds light on the role of discourse in promoting diversity in firms. To disrupt organizational practices, discourse needs to unveil hidden prejudice, and to be embedded in legislation, time, and space.

The scalpel, the calculator and the judge in France: from technical perspective to legal evidence

AbstractIn France, judicial expertise operates within a specific institutional framework at the same time as it covers a distinctive community of practitioners called upon for their technical or scientific knowledge to serve justice. Indeed, while experts in the US are selected by the litigants, the French model features judge-appointed experts. This model could offer better guarantee of independence and neutrality, to the point that recent developments in the US suggest the emergence of a new court-appointed expert. What does such an institutional model involve in terms of evidence production? To answer this question, this paper looks at two areas of expertise in France: economic experts and forensic pathologists. Through an ethnography of the co-production of legal evidence, it analyses the black box of the French practices of legal expertise and allows the way in which the institutional context influences the producing of legal evidence, beyond differences between a scalpel and a calculator, to be understood.

Risk Factors of Neonatal Immune Thrombocytopenia in Pregnant Women Previously Diagnosed with ITP: Results from a French Nationwide Prospective Study

Background : Neonatal immune thrombocytopenia (NITP) is a well described complication in newborns of women with ITP. It is reported to occur in about 15% to 30% of neonates. Previous pregnancies with NITP or ITP refractory to splenectomy have been described as associated with NITP mostly in retrospective studies. Methods: We conducted a nationwide prospective multicenter observational case-control study (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02892630). Thirty-three centers including in the network of ITP experts in France participated in the study. Over a two years period, we enrolled 180 pregnant women with a history of ITP diagnosed before pregnancy and 171 of them were followed up until the delivery. Neonatal platelet counts were available for 136 newborns. Risk factor for developing NITP were evaluated as well as NITP treatment and complications. Results: NITP defined as a platelet count < 100 x 109/L was observed in 37 newborns (27.2%). More severe NITP with platelet counts < 50 x 109/L and < 30 x 109/L, were reported in 19 (14%) and 13 (9.6%) newborns respectively. Intravenous immune globulins were given to 18 newborns. Their median platelet count was 25.5 x 109/L (6; 56). Platelet transfusion was used for 8 newborns with a median platelet count of 13.5 x 109/L (6; 50). NITP was complicated by a hemorrhagic event in only 2 newborns, with a fatal bleeding in 1. Decline in disease ITP status in the mother during pregnancy and previous history of NITP were identified as predictors of NITP < 50 x 109/L by a univariate analysis while only previous history of NITP was confirmed in multivariate analysis (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 4.55; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.48-13.92; p= 0.008). Decline in ITP disease status in the mother during pregnancy was the sole predictive factor for severe NITP defined as platelet < 30 x 109/L in multivariate analysis (adjusted OR 3.99; 95% CI 1.04-15.36; p = 0.044). Conclusion: Our study confirms that for ITP women with several pregnancies, a previous history of NITP is a risk factor for NITP. We also identify for the first time worsening of disease status during pregnancy to be a novel risk factor of severe NITP. In contrast, we did not confirm that a history of splenectomy was associated with an increased risk of NITP as suggested in retrospective studies (Loustau et al, Br J Haematol 2014; 166 929-35). Our results support that pregnancy in women with ITP is associated with an acceptable risk of severe bleeding in the newborn with NITP which is low but yet existing. Hence, close monitoring of pregnancy and delivery of mothers with ITP and their newborns is required, mainly in women who have a previous history of NITP or experienced a worsening of ITP during the pregnancy. Disclosures Haioun: Takeda: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Servier: Honoraria; Miltenyi: Honoraria. Mahevas:GSK: Research Funding. Michel:Rigel: Consultancy; Bioverativ: Consultancy; Alexion Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy. Godeau:Novartis: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Amgen: Research Funding; LFB: Honoraria.

Le psychiatre expert judiciaire et les auteurs d’homicides

The forensic psychiatric expertise of homicide perpetrators is a standard practice in criminal justice matters. Its validity relies heavily on the knowledge, professional experience and methodology of forensic psychiatrist experts. In the present interview, Daniel Zagury, an important figure of forensic psychiatric expertise in France, shares his clinical practice. In addition, he describes his experience with homicide perpetrators, particularly with serial killers and Islamic terrorist attackers on French soil. Finally, he addresses the recurring and crucial controversy of criminal responsibility, or the lack of it, in perpetrators.

Selection of a set of quality indicators (QIs) for oncological clinical pathway with patient associations and healthcare professionals.

e19221 Background: Clinical pathways in oncology are increasingly complex and involve many healthcare professionals inside and outside the hospital. The available QIs focus on hospital care, few of them describe the entire clinical pathway. Our objective is to select a set of QIs for oncological clinical pathway by involving hospital professionnals, patient associations and non-hospital professionals (GPs, pharmacists and private nurses). The step described concerns the research conducted with hospital professionals and 11 patient associations. Methods: A review of available QIs assessing the clinical pathway was conducted from the gray literature and literature reviews. Selection criteria were applied to extract oncological clinical pathway indicators. The list of identified QIs was submitted to two working groups: hospital professionals (26 oncologists, pharmacists and SRNs of various hospitals in France) and patient associations. Two meetings in each group were necessary. The first one to select by consensus (nominal group) the QIs on the basis of their rating on relevance and feasibility. The second, to describe precisely the QIs selected. Results: 5731 QIs were identified in the initiatives, 131 QIs related to oncological clinical pathway were presented. 10 QIs were selected by hospital professionals: outcome (2), process (3) and structure (5). 10 QIs were retained by patient associations: process (4), structure (2) and outcome (4). Both groups selected QIs on symptom assessment, adherence to treatment, access to palliative care and management of patients receiving oral therapy. They also emphasized the need to gather information directly from patients by selecting PREMS on patients’ experience and PROMS on quality of life, emotional state, symptoms and toxicity. Conclusions: The QIs selected responds to a real need for oncological clinical pathway in France. The next step will be to carry out the same work with non hospital professionals to have a representative set of all actors. The QIs will then be collected from the hospitals experts in France and in Europe to validate their metrological qualities.

Euro area reform preferences of Central and Eastern European economic experts

This study explores the positions of economic experts from Central and Eastern European (CEE) Member States in the euro reform debate. Given the dominant voices from French and German politicians and academics in the European discourse, there is an obvious neglect for the positions of CEE countries. Our study tries to fill this gap with a large survey among economic expert communities in all CEE countries conducted in spring 2019. We compare euro reform preferences to benchmarks of surveyed experts in France, Germany, and Italy. We discuss implications for the ongoing euro area reform with a particular focus on several non-euro members’ growing reluctance to introduce the common currency. We argue that only a balanced reform package that combines solidarity with debt self-responsibility could foster the euro’s appeal in the CEE region.

Use of Highly Individualized Complement Blockade Has Revolutionized Clinical Outcomes after Kidney Transplantation and Renal Epidemiology of Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is associated with high recurrence rates after kidney transplant, with devastating outcomes. In late 2011, experts in France recommended the use of highly individualized complement blockade-based prophylaxis with eculizumab to prevent post-transplant atypical HUS recurrence throughout the country. To evaluate this strategy's effect on kidney transplant prognosis, we conducted a retrospective multicenter study from a large French nationwide registry, enrolling all adult patients with atypical HUS who had undergone complement analysis and a kidney transplant since January 1, 2007. To assess how atypical HUS epidemiology in France in the eculizumab era evolved, we undertook a population-based cohort study that included all adult patients with atypical HUS (n=397) between 2007 and 2016. The first study included 126 kidney transplants performed in 116 patients, 58.7% and 34.1% of which were considered to be at a high and moderate risk of atypical HUS recurrence, respectively. Eculizumab prophylaxis was used in 52 kidney transplants, including 39 at high risk of recurrence. Atypical HUS recurred after 43 (34.1%) of the transplants; in four cases, patients had received eculizumab prophylaxis and in 39 cases they did not. Use of prophylactic eculizumab was independently associated with a significantly reduced risk of recurrence and with significantly longer graft survival. In the second, population-based cohort study, the proportion of transplant recipients among patients with ESKD and atypical HUS sharply increased between 2012 and 2016, from 46.2% to 72.3%, and showed a close correlation with increasing eculizumab use among the transplant recipients. Results from this observational study are consistent with benefit from eculizumab prophylaxis based on pretransplant risk stratification and support the need for a rigorous randomized trial.

De l’expertise psychiatrique des criminels et des victimes à l’expertise pour la commission internationale des miracles

In this interview, Louis Roure, a psychiatrist emeritus in psychiatric hospitals, an expert emeritus, accredited by the French Court of Cassation, and criminologist, talks of his experience in clinical practice and criminology, garnered throughout his rich professional career. He explains his vision for how his subject matter of expertise might evolve and considers the causes of the fall in the number of psychiatric experts in France in recent years, plus the probable reasons their lack of enrolment on the Court of Appeal's lists. In addition to this long and significant activity as a judicial expert, he tells of his experience of sharing his expertise with the international miracle commission of Lourdes (“la commission internationale des miracles”). He also evokes the Nice terrorist attack of 2016: the very grave consequences of this mass murder and the perception that we may have of the event.

Ophtara centers of expertise in France: Fostering collaborative research and patient care for rare eye diseases

PurposeThe French National Reference Center on Rare Diseases in Ophthalmology OPHTARA was labeled in 2006. This expertise center (re‐labeling in 2017) includes Necker coordinating site, 3 component sites (Paris University Hospitals) and 16 national competence centers. Necker is unique center for rare eye diseases and ocular surgery for children. OPHTARA ensures patient care (children and adults) and covers all rare eye diseases, mostly genetically determined. OPHTARA and ocular genetics laboratory provides optimal genetic diagnosis.MethodsOPHTARA recent structure gathers together 20 centers of expertise (CEs) localized all over France and 2 overseas territories. The center is attached to the National HealthCare Network SENSGENE and it is unique consortium part of European Reference Network (ERN) EYE, accredited in 2016. Rare eye disorders were divided in 4 goupes: diseases of anterior/posterior segment, of lacrimal/eyelid/orbit/, panocular and syndromic.ResultsOPHTARA is incrementing a database for rare diseases CEMARA including actually 7600 registered patients (2008‐2017). The refferal Center established an optimal overall patient management strategy. OPHTARA develops actions concerning patient diagnosis, monitoring and care, research, clinical trials, education, professional training and information for patients and their families. The reference center defines healthcare protocols and guidelines, being the contact for many patient's associations.ConclusionsOPHTARA ensures a role of expertise, multidisciplinary care and follow‐up of patients thanks to the specific recognized skills of HCPs experts in rare ocular diseases. The networking could lead to the gathering of the scarce expertise in France to ensure high quality care for rare eye disease patients. European dimension of OPHTARA health care is proved by ERN EYE integration.

What Makes Institutional Long-Term Care the Most Appropriate Setting for People With Dementia? Exploring the Influence of Client Characteristics, Decision-Maker Attributes, and Country in 8 European Nations

ObjectivesTo explore the extent to which client characteristics, decision-maker attributes, and country influence judgments of institutional long-term care (ILTC) appropriateness for people with dementia. Design, setting, and participantsA total of 161 experts in dementia care from 8 European countries reviewed a series of 14 vignettes representing people with dementia on the cusp of ILTC admission and indicated the most appropriate setting in which to support each case in a simple discrete choice exercise: own home, very sheltered housing, residential home, or nursing home. At least 16 experts participated in each country (Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). MeasurementsDescriptive statistics were used to characterize the experts and their placement preferences. Logistic regression modeling was used to explore the extent to which the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of people with dementia, and the profession, workplace, and country of decision-makers were associated with ILTC recommendation. ResultsClient characteristics, decision-maker attributes, and country all seemed to play a part in influencing professionals' perceptions of the appropriateness of ILTC for people with dementia. Expert decision-makers were more likely to recommend ILTC for individuals who required help with mobility or had multiple care needs, and appeared to give more weight to carers' than clients’ wishes. Community-based social workers were less likely than other professional groups to favor ILTC placement. Experts in Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom were less likely to recommend ILTC than experts in France, the Netherlands, and Estonia; experts in Sweden and Spain took an intermediate position. ConclusionThis study provides new understanding of the factors that shape professionals' perceptions of ILTC appropriateness and highlights the need to construct multifaceted models of institutionalization when planning services for people with dementia. It also has several important clinical implications (including flagging interventions that could decrease the need for ILTC), and provides a basis for enhancing professionals’ decision-making capabilities (including the greater involvement of clients themselves).

Innovative method to assess the sustainability of pastoral systems in their territories (PSSAF),

The future of pastoral systems and their interactions with territories are the sub­ject of considerable debate in the scientific literature and are still insufficiently documented. Assessing the sustainability of pastoral systems and their interac­tions with the sustainability of territories is thus a complex task. We proposed in this study a method to assess the sustainability of pastoral systems within their territories. After reviewing the literature, we conducted interviews with pastoralism experts in France and in Africa on the subject of sustainability in general and pastoral systems in particular. We designed our grid according to the principles-criteria-indicators approach and included 10 principles grouped into three major fields: ‘Availability of resources in the territory’, ‘Properties of the system’, and ‘Extended sustainability’. Understanding the strategies used in pastoral systems enabled us to propose a set of specific criteria per principle. Finally, we compared our grid with other methods used to assess sustainability.

Bailiffs on the internet and the validity of their certified reports: Lessons learned from the French and Belgian courts

Tim Van Canneyt and Christophe Verdure consider bailiff’s certified reports and the use of judicial experts in France and Belgium. A bailiff can be called upon to report on purely material facts, and they are increasingly being asked to provide evidence adduced from the internet. In this article, consideration is given to the technical issues that a bailiff must consider when obtaining evidence from the internet, and case law is used to illustrate some of the problems that have occurred to date.

Analytical Science in France

Analytical balance is at the heart of work by the famous French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who relied on advanced instruments of the time that can still be discovered at the Arts et Metiers Museum in Paris. Analytical chemistry has been one of the fields of the Societe Chimique de France (SCF) since its creation in 1857. The SCF was the owner of the journal Analusis , which merged with other national analytical chemistry journals and led to the creation of the European journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. The “Division deChimieAnalytique” (DCA), which took the initiative for this special issue on Analytical Chemistry in France, is part of the SCF and gathers together analytical chemists in France. Dedicated working parties, such as Analysis in the Chemical Industry, French Chemometrics, Electrochemistry, and Environmental Chemistry, inside the SCF are also related to the DCA. Other societies outside the SCF also gather specific scientific communities together, such as the French Association of Separative Sciences (AFSEP), the French Society for Mass Spectrometry (SFSM), the French Society for Electrophoresis and Proteomics (SFEAP), the French Group on Magnetic Resonance (GERM), the French Society of Stable Isotopes (SFIS), and the French Society for Analytical Toxicology (SFTA). Analytical chemistry is the link between the development of instrumentation and solving scientific problems. Any progress in analytical chemistry has a positive and unpredictable impact on other fields of science. This is clear for techniques that allow the observation of new objects (i.e., nano-objects), but it is also true for rapid, simple, and less-expensive techniques that allow the collection of data from a large set of samples (i.e., biological and environmental samples). Progress in instrument sensitivity also allows the observation of individual events (i.e., one single molecule) rather than that of an average of many events and affords new insights into system dynamics. In all of these aspects, data treatment, chemometrics, and informatics have an increasing role. This special issue comprises 33 contributions that cover a wide range of analytical expertise in France, existing both in universities and at research institutes. A large number of papers deal with the development of sampling, separation, and detection techniques in the fields of biology, medicine, and environmental science. Several papers present the development of chemical and biological (nano)sensors based on electrochemical and optical detection. Techniques for the characterization of biomolecules are also presented for proteins and metabolites in human fluids. All of these contributions represent a non-exhaustive snapshot of French competence in analytical chemistry. Analytical chemistry is a key science for improved quality of life and affords greater knowledge in fields strongly related to present and future problems for society, such as those related to human health, new energy sources, food resources, climate change, geological records, forensic science, and cultural heritage. The cross fertilization between disciplines (chemistry, physics, and biology) has led to the development of instruments that are adapted to these specific objectives. The best achievement for a discovery in analytical chemistry is reached when a wide range of applications become possible in many research fields, for example, magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry.We hope that some of the papers published in this issue reach this level of analytical development. Published in the special issue Analytical Science in France with guest editors Christian Rolando and Philippe Garrigues.

REVERSING THE TAXES APPROACH FOR A WIN-WIN TOBACCO CONTROL POLICY

Increasing the price of cigarettes is a core ingredient of comprehensive tobacco control 1. There is long-standing evidence of the effectiveness of increased tobacco prices for reducing tobacco consumption. In developed countries, a roughly 10% rise in price decreases sales by 4% 2. Therefore, tobacco tax increases apparently offer a win–win solution, because states will collect more taxes and the burden of smoking-related illnesses will decrease 3. France has become an exception among rich countries by flying in the face of this evidence. In 2004 Jean Pierre Raffarin, Jacques Chirac's Prime Minister, announced a freeze on tobacco taxes for 4 years—‘a good compromise’, according to the president of the Tobacconists Union. On 30 May 2011 Xavier Bertand, the Minister of Heath, announced that he will maintain the freeze, even though France has seen a 2% increase in smoking prevalence during the past 5 years. Warnings from public health experts have fallen on deaf ears. Accordingly, turnover of the tobacco industry has shown a 3% rise from 2008 to 2009, despite the global economic crisis. The French government seems more interested in promoting the profits of the tobacco industry than in the health of its people. Ironically, it would probably pay governments to hand money over to the tobacco industry to incentivize a reduction their turnover. The turnover of the tobacco industry in France is about €1 billion, while at the same time France spends €47 billion a year treating smoking-related illnesses and only collects €12 billion in taxes 4. Each Euro paid to the shareholders represents €10 paid by the smoker and a cost of €350 to the community (the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses minus collected taxes). If the state were to pay €10 to the shareholders for each €10 decrease in tobacco industry turnover, it would save €340 for the community. A Pay4Decrease plan of this kind is unlikely ever to be put into place and would no doubt have unintended adverse consequences, but the arithmetic shows how much damage the tobacco industry is doing to society and the dereliction in duty of governments such as that in France, who are not engaging with even the most basic policies to protect their citizens. Dr Braillon, a senior tenured consultant in Public Health was sacked in 2010 from Amiens University Hospital by the French Department of Health against the advice of the National Statutory Committee (Abuse of libel laws and a sacking: the gagging of public health experts in France. Tobacco control blog, 8 November 2010: http://blogs.bmj.com/tc/2010/11/08/) (Archived by Webcite at http://www.webcitation.org/617xxNddg).

1430 Psychosocial Treatment for Developmental Disorders of Speech and Language and Developmental Disorders of Scholastic Skills: Evidence and Care Organization.

Objectives: To summarize scientific evidence for individual psychosocial treatment of developmental disorders of speech and language (DD-L), and developmental disorders of scholastic skills (DDSch).To describe care organization for these disorders in 7 Western countries.Methodology: EBM literature review including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies.Questionnaires sent to renowned experts in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, UK, and Switzerland; description of the Belgian situation.Results: In the short term, speech and language interventions for expressive phonological or vocabulary difficulties are effective; long term effects are not well-studied. In a few studies, no difference was found between treatment by trained parents or clinicians, or between individual and group therapy. For treatment of receptive language difficulties, only few studies are available suggesting little effects. Effective reading programs for reading disabilities should include training of the alphabetic principle and phonological awareness, and integration of these elements with comprehension and fluency skills. For mathematical disorders, too few publications are available to conclude.Very few studies evaluated treatment intensity and duration, or the differences between monoand multidisciplinary treatment. Publications on treatment of co-morbid developmental or behavioral disorders were also lacking.In most countries, multidisciplinary treatment (2 disciplines or more) is almost standard for DD-L and DD-Sch. Governmental responsibility for organization and funding belongs mostly to health and educational departments together.Conclusion: It seems standard in Western societies to provide multidisciplinary treatment for DD-L and DD-Sch, but effectiveness of this strategy has been little evaluated.

'Doing Good by Investing Well' - Pension Funds and Socially Responsible Investment: Results of an Expert Survey

Socially responsible investment has evolved from being an approach that matches investments to ethical values to one that considers the impact of long-term changes in the business environment on companies and their share price. Thanks to their long-term horizon and asset size, pension funds are one of the main drivers of socially responsible investments.A survey conducted by Allianz Global Investors and the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) among pension experts in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom on the future of socially responsible investment in pension fund portfolios showed the following results: On average, most of the pension experts surveyed believe that, in the future, SRI criteria will play an increasingly important role in how pension funds make investment decisions. While French and Dutch pension analysts were very optimistic, their British counterparts were quite pessimistic. The majority of experts surveyed believe the SRI approach will be extended to include asset classes other than equities. Again, the French and Dutch participants were the most optimistic. Apart from Germany, most experts are expecting pension funds to become more active owners. Environmental criteria are considered to be the most important element of the SRI concept. Respondents agreed that the growing SRI trend is being driven much less by the expectation of higher returns or lower risk as it is by public pressure.