Leiden University Scholary Publications
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Recognition, immune evasion, and exploitation of DNA viruses
Get PDFViruses are infectious agents that require living cells of a host for their replication. They are classified into different families based on factors such as phenotypic characteristics, host organisms and associated diseases. In this thesis, we focus on two virus families: herpesviridae and adenoviridae. Both viruses infect mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish and are primarily host specific. To protect themselves against viral infections, cells possess an intricate network of antiviral immune pathways. In turn, viruses have evolved equally complex methods to evade detection by the immune system. Understanding how viruses activate and evade various immune responses provides us with the tools to tip the balance in our favor. In addition, the knowledge gained in this thesis is of value for the combat against immunosuppressive tumors, as viral factors can expose these cancer cells to the immune system.LUMC / Geneeskund
Rethinking digital nationalism in China: state propaganda and public discourse during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFThis dissertation investigates the evolving dynamics of Chinese nationalism in the digital era, with a particular focus on the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for both top-down propaganda and bottom-up online engagement. It situates digital nationalism within the historical trajectory of Chinese state nationalism, tracing its development from the Mao and Deng eras through to its current manifestations on social media platforms. Through a multi-method approach combining computational text analysis and qualitative content analysis of Weibo posts, this study examines how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deployed nationalist narratives during the pandemic and how internet users engaged with, amplified, or contested these narratives. Analytical chapters explore state-led propaganda on People’s Daily Weibo, the emotional dimensions of nationalist discourse, the articulation of vaccine nationalism, and the emergence of digital populist nationalism during the Red Cross scandal. Findings reveal a nuanced digital ecosystem in which nationalism is strategically mobilized by the state for legitimacy and crisis management, while also providing a vehicle for public expression, critique, and identification. Rather than a monolithic force, Chinese nationalism online is shown to be a multifaceted phenomenon shaped by both state control and popular sentiment. This study contributes to scholarship on political communication, nationalism, and digital authoritarianism by offering a comprehensive account of how digital platforms mediate the interaction between propaganda and popular participation in contemporary China.Asian Studie
When deafness enters the system: family dynamics and psychosocial functioning of preschool children
Get PDFFor most children, family is the first social circle in life where they learn to communicate and develop their social-emotional competence. For deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children, factors such as differences in communication needs between DHH and hearing family members may lead to challenges in their daily interactions and understanding. Families with a DHH child may also experience more stressful schedules, especially when being in an intensive early intervention program, which may further affect family dynamics. This PhD project utilized the family systems theory to explain how hearing loss in a child can impact family functioning. Data was collected at the Chinese Rehabilitation Center, Beijing, based on parent and teacher reports, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Outcomes showed that families with DHH preschoolers reported fewer positive aspects than families with only hearing children (e.g., lower cohesion, fewer positive interactions), but the levels of negative aspects were similar in families from both groups (e.g., conflicts, over-dependency). Moreover, DHH and hearing children showed similar levels on most social-emotional skills, but DHH children less often expressed positive emotions. In sum, the outcomes of this project indicate that families with DHH children may engage less in sharing positive moments together, possibly have fewer leisure activities together, yet spend more time on hospital visits and rehabilitation. Nevertheless, children’s social-emotional functioning seemed unaffected by their hearing loss. Possibly, early access to cochlear implantation and the family-centered intervention as organised at the Chinese Rehabilitation Center, Beijing, which includes special teaching communication methods, parental support groups to address social stigma, and educating families on hearing loss, may provide adequate support to these families and their children, which contributed to these positive developments.Pathways through Adolescenc
Mimetic hedging: Hezbollah’s resistance against all odds
Get PDFHezbollah has withstood intensifying attacks since its emergence in the 1980s. Major powers – especially the United States and Israel – have led the assault through political, legal and military means to ostracize and eradicate it. Without success. Hezbollah has repelled these attacks and grown stronger as a result. The systematic scale of assault on Hezbollah makes its very existence, let alone growing strength, paradoxical. This article explains why. It locates Hezbollah’s strength in its prudent mobilization of religious ideology to counter the justifications that major powers use to ostracize and destroy it. Transcending explanations based on pragmatism and normalization, the article theorizes Hezbollah’s struggle for survival as a form of ‘mimetic hedging’, leveraging its extra-institutional and institutional roles to absorb internal and external assaults. Hezbollah prudently applies simulation and dissimulation to avert present, and potentially mortal, threats to buy time for pursuing an Islamic liberationist order in the future. Building on extensive fieldwork and media archives in Lebanon and interviews conducted with Lebanese and UN officials, this article contributes to theorizing the resilience of non-state armed organizations and their role in the security of postcolonial states.Middle Eastern Studie
Tocharian and Samoyed: on the question of Uralic substrate influence in Tocharian
Get PDFThe Tocharian branch of the Indo-European language family is known only from the Tarim Basin in northwest China, far to the east of the original Indo-European homeland on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Both the path and time of the Tocharian migration have been important topics of research, especially over the last decades. This dissertation investigates the possible traces of prehistoric contact between the ancestor of Tocharian and the early Uralic languages, in particular the Samoyed branch of Uralic. On the basis of this language contact, the Tocharian migration can be connected more securely with southern Siberia and the area to the north of the Tarim Basin.European Research Council (ERC)Descriptive and Comparative Linguistic
Mind the gap: unraveling immune variation across the global north/south populations with high-dimensional approaches
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the structure and consequences of human immune variation, emphasizing understudied populations in the Global South. By leveraging high-dimensional immunological analyses—including mass cytometry and transcriptomics—the work elucidates how environmental factors shape immune phenotypes and responses to perturbations. The thesis characterizes rural-urban immune gradients, revealing conserved immunological signatures across continents, and identifies cell subsets associated with parasite control in malaria and response to hookworm infection in both naïve and pre-exposed individuals. This work argues for a broader inclusion of populations to generate immunological reference datasets, which may facilitate generative AI applications to simulate immune responses in unseen populations and perturbations. Collectively, the work advances our understanding of immune diversity and its implications for disease susceptibility, vaccine efficacy, and therapeutic development across global populations.LUMC / Geneeskund
Tracking the journey: Europium-doped polystyrene nanoplastics distribution in a model invertebrate (terrestrial isopod, Porcellio scaber, Crustacea) upon dietary exposure
Get PDFEnvironmental Biolog
Marriage traditions and the stem family in ancient Egypt: a study of marriage contracts, social structure and family life
Get PDFResearch into the nature and use of ancient Egyptian marriage contracts written on papyus from a legal, social and socioeconomic view, as well as into the structure and ideology of the dominant ancient Egyptian family system and its marriage, inheritance and household formation practices, using the comparative ‘family system’ method pioneered in the field of Historical Demography.Vol. 1. Tables 1-6. Formats and legal clauses of marriage documents. Chapter 1. Aims, method and state of research. Chapter 2. The Egyptian marriage documents. Excursus A: Matters of sanx. Chapter 3. Egyptian marriage and family system at the end of the first millennium BCE. Chapter 4. Marriage, family and households before and after: the Egyptian family system in earlier Pharaonic and Roman Egypt. Excursus B. Sibling marriages in the Roman census. Chapter 5. Conclusion.Vol. 2. A database of Egyptian marriage contracts in transliteration and English translation, with limited notes.The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), in the program Promoties in the GeesteswetenschappenMiddle Eastern Studie
Towards appropriate care in old-age medicine: exploring the professional identity of medical students and doctors in relation to older persons
Get PDFThe community of practice of medical care is guided by the social contract with society in which doctors serve the needs of their patients. Given that health problems in older age differ from those of younger patients the growing population of older persons leads to a change in society’s healthcare expectations and needs regarding the doctor. Therefore medical school and curriculum committees have the responsibility to create medical education that prepares medical students for older persons’ health care.Becoming a doctor is an interplay of building competencies and the development of a professional identity. To prepare medical students for older persons’ health care geriatric competencies have been defined. As the development of a professional identity is considered a fundamental attribute for becoming a doctor, an appropriate professional identity will help medical students to become a doctor capable of providing the health care that older people need.The objective of this thesis is to gain insight in the professional identity formation of medical students in relation to older persons’ health care and describes the essential elements of the professional identity and its formation that enables future doctors to give older persons the health care they need. LUMC / Geneeskund
Novel analytical approaches for the characterization of cell-based medicinal products and their formulation
Get PDFCell-based medicinal products (CBMPs), such as CAR T cells, are highly complex biopharmaceutical products offering various treatment options for serious illnesses such as cancer or autoimmune diseases. CBMPs consist of cells, which are derived from the patient or a donor and are subsequently modified and processed. Developers are facing various challenges regarding the production and quality control of CBMPs. Establishing stable formulations is of high importance to maintain product safety and potency. Cryopreservation, i.e., storage of cells at temperatures below -145 °C, is usually applied for long-term storage of CBMPs, which requires a constant supply of liquid nitrogen. Moreover, CBMPs are typically cryopreserved with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) although it is damaging to cells at ambient temperature and can lead to side effects in patients.In this thesis, research is described investigating alternatives to the currently used cryopreservation of cells with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). In addition, analytical techniques were evaluated to assess the quality of CBMPs. Furthermore, the impact of cell processing and handling on the viability of cells, i.e., survival, was evaluated to define appropriate process steps and holding times. The research described in this thesis supports the development of stable CBMP formulations and their analytical characterization, thus bringing novel cell therapy products closer to patients.Coriolis Pharma Research GmbHBiopharmaceutic