Home > Employees > Rasker, Prof. dr. ir. J.J. (Hans)

Rasker, Prof. dr. ir. J.J. (Hans)

Function

From 1991 till 2004 he was professor of psychosocial aspects of patients with rheumatic disorders, including education of patients and general public, in the dept of Communication sciences, Faculty Behavioral Sciences and Philosophy. He is since 2004 attached as emeritus professor to the department of Psychology, Health and Technology of the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences.

Expertise

·	After studying medicine at Leiden University he worked as a locum GP in several practices during half a year

·	After military service (first lieutenant doctor) he specialized in Groningen in internal medicine and rheumatology

·	In 1975 he worked as a research fellow in the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic diseases in Bath, England

·	From 1976 till 2004 he worked as consultant rheumatologist in the Medical Spectrum Twente Hospital in Enschede

·	Since then he works as rheumatologist in several practices in the Netherlands, since 2009 in the MCL Leeuwarden

Education

At the moment no education activities at the UT.

Current Research projects

·	Since 2004 he is involved in Epidemiologic studies (COPCORD) and clinical studies together with Prof. Atiqul Haq and prof Nazrul Islam (Dhaka, Bangladesh) and with Prof. Fereydoun Davatchi (Iran)

·

Since 2007 he is involved in studies using MRI, CT scan etc in people with rheumatic disorders (spondylarthropathies, fibromyalgia, psoriatic arthritis and other), in cooperation with prof. Yasser Emad rheumatologist en Prof. Yasser Ragab radiologist in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Cairo University (Egypt)

·	Since many years he studies several aspects of fibromyalgia syndrome, the last years mainly with Prof Fred Wolfe, Wichita, (USA) and with dr. Ewa Klaver-Krol, neurologist. He is especially interested in the philosophy of diseases

·	In cooperation with Jan-Willem Dannenberg and Peter ten Klooster he is involved in studies regarding the attitude of nursing students and nurses towards physically or mentally handicapped people

·	He studies feelings of guilt and shame in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with the dept of Rheumatology in Apeldoorn, dr. Jan Maarten van Woerkom and dr. Frank Eggelmeijer

·	He has a long time interest in alternative and complementary treatments in patients with rheumatic disorders

Functions

·	Honorary member Dutch society for Rheumatology

·	Member British Society Rheumatology

·	Affiliated member research school for Psychology and Health

·	Member NESCOR (the Netherlands school of communications research).

·	Associate Editor Clinical Rheumatology ( ILAR Journal)

·	Ambassador of the Bone and Joint Decade representing the Netherlands

·	Member Editorial Board LER (Letter to the editor, rheumatology)

Some past functions:

Honours

·	Knight in the order of Oranje- Nassau (1998)Honorary Member Dutch Society for Rheumatology

·	Honorary Member Patient Societies Enschede, Oldenzaal and Hengelo

·	Merit Award Dutch Rheumatic Patient’s Society

·	Honorary member Dutch society for Rheumatology (2004)

Publications

·	MD-thesis: Detection of tumours with radio-labeled Bleomycin, 1975

·	Author: Rheumatism and alternative treatments 1993 (in Dutch)

·	(Co-)author of chapters in many books on rheumatology

·

Author of more than 400 articles in rheumatological and medical journals; mainly clinical studies regarding different rheumatological disorders including RA, gout and fibromyalgia and other. He did long term follow-up studies on RA, studies on psychosocial aspects of people with rheumatic disorders education of patients and the general public and in the field of physiotherapy, especially the effects of cold and heat

·	He published in cooperation with foreign groups (UK, Indonesia, BanglaDesh, Poland, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Germany, USA and other) among others

epidemiological (COPCORD) and clinical studies

·	He is author of articles on alternative and complementary medicine in people with and rheumatic disorders

·	He is author of articles in the fields of nuclear medicine and medical ethics

(euthanasia) and philosophy of illness

Some representative publications in the last years

Hazemeijer I and J.J. Rasker, Fibromyalgia and the therapeutic domain. A philosophical study on the origins of fibromyalgia in a specific social setting.Rheumatology 2003; 42: 507-515

Minaur, N., Jacoby, R, John Cosh, Gordon Taylor, Johannes Rasker Outcome after 40years with rheumatoid arthritis: a prospective study of function, disease activity and mortality. J Rheumatol 2004; 31 suppl 69: 3-8

Patberg W, Rasker JJ, Weather effects in rheumatoid arthritis: from controversy to consensus, a review. J Rheumatol 2004; 31: 1327-1334

Zijlstra TR, van de Laar MAFJ, Bernelot Moens HJ, Taal E, Zakraoui L, Rasker JJ. Spa treatment for primary fibromyalgia syndrome: a combination of thalassotherapy,exercise and patient education improves symptoms and quality of life. Rheumatology 2005; 44; 539-546

Taal E, Bobietinska E, Lloyd J, Veehof M, Rasker WJM, Oosterveld FGJ, Rasker JJ. Successfully living with chronic arthritis. The role of allied health professionals. Clin Rheumatol 2006; 25: 189-197

Klooster PM ten, Vlaar APJ, Taal E, Gheith GE, Rasker JJ, El-Garf Ayman K, van de Laar MAFJ. The validity and reliability of the graphic rating scale and verbal rating scale for measuring pain across cultures: A study in Egyptian and Dutch women with rheumatoid arthritis. Clin J Pain 2006; 22: 827-830

Wolfe F, Rasker JJ. The Symptom Intensity Scale, fibromyalgia and the meaning of fibromyalgia like symptoms J Rheumatol 2006; 33: 2113-4

Wolfe F, Rasker JJ, Boers M, Wells GA, Michaud K. Minimal disease activity, remission and the long-term outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis, Arthritis Rheum 2007; 57:935-942

Zijlstra TR. Taal E, van de Laar MAFJ, Rasker JJ Validation of a Dutch translation of the Fibromyalgia Impact questionnaire. (Concise report) Rheumatology 2007; 46: 131-134

van Berlo WTM , van de Wiel HBM, Taal E. Rasker JJ, Weijmar Schultz WCM and van Rijswijk MH; Sexual functioning of people with rheumatoid arthritis: a multicenter study. Clin Rheumatol 2007; 26: 30-38

Zijlstra TR, Braakman-Jansen LMA, Taal E, Rasker JJ, van de Laar MAFJ. Cost-effectiveness of Spa treatment for fibromyalgia: general health improvement is not for free Rheumatology 2007; 46: 1454-1459

Bulthuis Y, Drossears-Bakker KW, Taal E, Rasker J, Oostveen J, van 't Pad Bosch P, Oosterveld F, van de Laar M. Arthritis patients show long-term benefits from 3 weeks intensive exercise training directly following hospital discharge. Rheumatology 2007 Nov; 46: 1712-7

Vlaar APJ, Klooster PM ten, Taal E, Gheith PR, El-Garf AK, Rasker JJ, van de Laar MAFJ, A cross cultural study of pain intensity in Egyptian and Dutch women with rheumatoid arthritis. J of Pain 2007;8: 730-736

Veehof M, Taal E, Rasker JJ, Lohmann J, van de Laar M. Possession of assistive devices is related to improved psychological well-being in patiënt with rheumatic conditions. J Rheumatol 2006; 33: 1679-83

Emad Y, Ragab Y, Zeinhom F, El Khouly G, Abo-Zeid A, Rasker JJ, Hippocampus dysfunction may explain symptoms of fibromyalgia syndrome. A study with Single-Voxel Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, J Rheumatol 2008; 35:1371-7

Haq SA, Rasker JJ, Darmawan J, Chopra A. WHO-ILAR-COPCORD in the Asia-Pacific: the past, present and future. Intern J Rheum Dis 2008;II: 4-10

Emad Y, Ragab Y, Shaarawy A, Raafat H, El-Kiki HA, Rasker JJ. Enhanced MRI in early undifferentiated oligoarthritis of the knee joints: Improvements already visible after 2 months of DMARDs treatment. Clin Rheumatol 2008; 27:1177-1182

El-Mansoury TM, Taal E, Abdel-Nasser AM, Riemsma RP, Mahfouz R, Mahmoud JA, El-Badawy SA, Rasker JJ. Loneliness among women with rheumatoid arthritis. A cross-cultural study in the Netherlands and Egypt. Clin Rheumatol 2008; 27: 1109-1118

Oosterveld FGJ, Rasker JJ, Floors M, Landkroon R, van Rennes B, Zwijnenberg J, van de Laar MAFJ, Koel GJ. Infrared sauna in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. A pilot study showing good tolerance, short term improvement of pain and stiffness and a trend towards long term beneficial effects. Clin Rheumatol 2009; 28: 29-34

Klooster PM ten, Dannenberg J-W, Taal E, Burger G, Rasker JJ. Attitudes towards people with physical or intellectual disabilities: nursing students and non-nursing peers Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2009; 65:2562-2573

Emad Y, Ragab Y, Shaarawy A, Abou-Zeid A, Saad A, Fawzy M, Jokhdar H, Rasker JJ. Can magnetic Resonance Imaging differentiate undifferentiated arthritis based on knee imaging? J Rheumatol 2009; 36: 1963-70

Emad Y, Ragab Y, Bassyouni I, Moawayh O, Fawzy MY, Saad A, Abou-Zeid A, Rasker JJ. Enthesitis and related changes in the knees in seronegative spondyloarthropathies and skin psoriasis: Magnetic resonance imaging case-control study J Rheumatol 2010;37 1709-1717

Syed Atiqul Haq, Fereydoun Davatchi, Saeideh Dahaghin, Nazrul Islam, Aniruddha Ghosh, John Darmawan, Arvind Chopra, Zeng Quing Yu, and I Dans. Johannes J. Rasker. Development of a Questionnaire for Identification of the Risk Factors for Osteoarthritis of the Knees, in developing countries. A pilot study in Iran and Bangladesh. An ILAR- COPCORD phase III study. International Journal Rheumatology (APLAR Journal Rheumatology) 2010;13:203-214

Klooster PM ten, Weekers AM, Eggelmeijer F, van Woerkom JM, Drossaert CHC, Taal E, Baneke JJ, Rasker JJ . Optimisme en/of pessimisme: Factorstructuur van de Nederlandse Life Orientation Test-Revised; Psychologie en gezondheid 2010; 38: 89-101

Rasker JJ. Are we letting the genie out of the bottle by diagnosing (classifying) Fibromyalgia in RA? Commentary. Pain 2011; 152: 249-250

Ragab Y, Emad Y, Darweesh H, El Shaarawy NE, Rasker JJ. Enthesitis in seronegative spondyloarthropathies with special attention to the knee joint by MRI: A step forward toward understanding disease pathogenesis. Clinical Rheumatology 2011; 30: 313-322

Jansen T L, Rasker JJ. Crystal –induced arthritis, a review for clinicians. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2011;29:1032-9

Islam Md. Nl, Hossain M, Haq S A, Alam M N,. Klooster PM ten and Rasker JJ Efficacy and Safety of Methotrexate in Articular and Cutaneous Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. International J Rheumatic Diseases 2011

Wolfe F, Rasker JJ. Fibromyalgia. Chapter 52 In: Firestein GS, Budd RC, Harris Jr ED, McInnes IB, Ruddy S, Sergent JS, editors. Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. 8th ed: Elsevier; 2012. p. ISBN: 8 (In Press)