44197 research outputs found
Sort by
Assessment of the corrosion degree of beams subjected to accelerated corrosion based on indirect data
No full textTeriflunomide Inhibits Human FOXP3+ Regulatory T Cell Function by Interference With Mitochondrial Respiration
No full textRegulatory FOXP3+ T cells (Tregs) have been characterized with unique metabolic demands, preferentially relying on fatty acid beta-oxidation (FAO) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Several studies have indicated that Treg mitochondrial fitness is crucial for maintaining their stability and suppressive activity with an emphasis on complex-III of the electron transport chain (ETC). Dysfunctional Tregs isolated from patients with autoimmunity like multiple sclerosis (MS) show diminished mitochondrial respiration and the induction of a T helper (Th)1-like phenotype, characterized by increased production of interferon (IFN)-gamma. Teriflunomide reduces the proliferation of activated T and B lymphocytes by inhibition of de novo pyrimidine synthesis, providing therapy for patients with autoimmune diseases. Recent data demonstrated that teriflunomide further inhibited complex-III activity in line with hampered mitochondrial respiration in T cells. Considering the essential role of OXPHOS and complex-III activity for Tregs, we therefore thought to investigate with this study the effects of teriflunomide on immunometabolism and function in human Tregs. Interestingly, teriflunomide impaired the mitochondrial function of human Tregs and further induced a Th1-like phenotype in line with defective suppressive activity. Our findings suggest that teriflunomide may potentially exert distinct effects on pro- versus anti-inflammatory T cell subsets, indicating the need for further detailed evaluation.Hasselt University BOF gran
Assessing the impact of neighborhood structures in Bayesian disease mapping
No full textIn Bayesian disease mapping, defining the neighborhood structure is crucial when fitting the conditional auto-regressive model. Yet, there has been little assessment of how different structures affect the model performance in case of fine-scale data. This paper explores this gap. In a case study examining COVID-19 pandemic effects, 2020 mortality is contrasted with pre-pandemic rates in small areas in Limburg (Belgium). Data are modeled using BYM and BYM2, with three broadening queen-neighborhood structures up to the fifth-order neighbors and two weight schemes. A simulation study assesses model performance in reproducing the pairwise spatial correlation at different neighbor orders. Models are compared regarding WAIC, goodness-of-fit, parameter estimates, and computation time. Results show that the order-based weight matrix performs better than the binary matrix. The simple first-order neighborhood structure shows comparable performance to larger higher-order structures while requiring much less computation time. The BYM model is more impacted by the choice of the neighborhood as compared to the BYM2 model. Our findings suggest minimal advantages in employing higher-order neighborhood matrices. In conclusion, our study indicates that opting for a simple first-order neighborhood structure is a pragmatic and suitable choice when applying a conditional auto-regressive model to fine-scale data in Bayesian disease mapping.TN gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Research Foundation - Flanders [grant number G0A4121N]
Can we share data? - Kinematic consistency during walking in three different treadmill-based laboratories
No full textBackground: Three-dimensional gait analysis is crucial for diagnosis and treatment planning. Treadmill-based laboratories efficiently collect 3D gait data over many consecutive steps. Pooling/sharing data across treadmill-based laboratories could enhance clinical utility. However, the inter-laboratory consistency of gait kinematics from treadmill-based systems is unknown. Research question: How consistent are lower-limb kinematics of healthy subjects measured in three different treadmill-based gait laboratories? Methods: Eighteen volunteers (14 women; 27 +/- 9 years; BMI 24 +/- 3 kg/m(2)) walked in three treadmill-based laboratories (Motek Medical, The Netherlands) within one week. Per laboratory, participants completed 3-minute walking trials (0.9, 1.1, 1.3 m/s) wearing a non-weight-bearing harness and identical clothes and shoes. The same marker-set (Human-Body Model 2) and virtual reality configurations were used. Statistical Parametric Mapping was used to compare time-normalized kinematic curves of the lower-limb, averaged over 40 steps, between laboratories. Root mean square differences (RMSD) calculated over periods of the gait cycle with statistically significant differences were considered clinically meaningful when > 5 degrees. Results and significance: Kinematics curves from all laboratories followed similar patterns. Only 17 % of all curves displayed clinically relevant differences. These differences included more knee flexion in laboratory 2 compared to the others (RMSD 6.0-8.6 degrees) and less hip flexion in laboratory 3 compared to laboratory 2 (all speeds) and to laboratory 1 (1.3 m/s; RMSD 5.4-6.4 degrees). Reported differences are likely due to varying operator protocols rather than to the measurement system. The findings indicate that inter-laboratory data sharing using such infrastructure is possible but training to align protocols is essential.We like to acknowledge Mr. Paul Williams for his technical expertise and help during data processing and the Smart Space UZ Gent team for granting us access to their GRAIL laboratory
Wat zijn de wettelijke grenzen waartegen de fiscus botst tijdens het verrichten van onderzoeksdaden?
No full textDe fiscale administratie bevindt zich in een bijzonder spanningsveld. Enerzijds heeft zij de opdracht om fiscale fraude op te sporen en de correcte inning van belastingen te waarborgen, anderzijds wordt zij geacht die opdracht uit te voeren met eerbied voor fundamentele rechten. Deze masterthesis heeft als doel om die toetsing bloot te leggen aan de hand van twee onderzoeksbevoegdheden van de fiscus, zijnde de fiscale visitatie en het raadplegen van bankgegevens.
Doorheen deze thesis gaat er nagegaan worden hoe bepaalde onderzoeksdaden van de fiscus in de praktijk eruitzien. Zo wordt er een grondige analyse gemaakt van de rechtspraak en zijn insteek voor de bevoegdheden van de fiscus. Vervolgens worden bepaalde onderzoeksdaden van de fiscus getoetst aan fundamentele rechten en wordt er gekeken of de fiscus onrechtmatige handelingen verricht die daarmee niet in lijn kunnen zijn.
Alsook worden er suggesties en aanbevelingen gedaan op basis van het onderzoek dat wordt verricht en op basis van enkele respondenten die ervaring hebben in de praktijk. Daardoor beoogt deze masterthesis niet alleen de bevoegdheden van de fiscus te stipuleren en toetsen aan enkele beginselen, maar beoogt zij ook een evaluatief en aanbevelend kader te schetsen zodat men in de toekomst onregelmatigheden kan vermijden
In-situ laser synthesis of ZIF-67@ZIF-8-derived CoZn@NC/graphene as a flexible electrode for electrochemical metol detection
No full textBackground: Designing a sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor to determine metol (MT), a toxic phenolic substance, has a great significance. The development of new and advanced materials with excellent electrocatalytic properties has been receiving more attention in the field of electrochemical sensor. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) derived bimetallic transition metal alloy/carbon composites are regarded as outstanding electron-conductive transport media. However, their preparation always requires a high-temperature and hours of calcination treatment. Consequently, it is vital to advance a user-friendly, straightforward and scalable method to construct MOF derived metal/carbon materials. Results: Herein, we developed a two-step laser irradiation process. The first-step laser irradiation made the production of laser-induced graphene (LIG) on a flexible polyimide (PI) film. The second-step laser irradiation transformed a ZIF-67@ZIF-8/LIG into a LIG supported a core-shell structure of CoZn alloy nanoparticle encapsulated in N-doped carbon (CoZn@NC), named as CoZn@NC/LIG. Then, the enhanced electrochemical sensing ability of CoZn@NC/LIG electrode was studied for the detection of MT. The fabricated sensor owned a range of linear quantification of 0.01-10 mu M for MT sensing with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 1.48 nM. Moreover, the developed flexible LIG working electrode offered respectable selectivity, acceptable flexibility and high stability. It was then applied to detect MT in actual water samples with exceptional recovery rates, confirming its reliability in complex sample matrices. Significance: Gaining advantages from the combined effects of high electrocatalytic activity of the multilevel CoZn@NC active sites and excellent electroconductibility of 3D hierarchical porous structure of LIG, the established CoZn@NC/LIG flexible electrode achieved highly-sensitive determination of MT. The discoveries of this research present a novel and efficient methodology for designing MOF-derived metal/carbon composites and flexible electrode with excellent performance in environmental analysis.This work was financially supported by the Hubei Provincial Department of Education Science and Technology Plan Project (Grant Nos. Q20244602), Science and Technology Research Project of the Education Department of Hubei Province (NO. B2023037) and open project funding of Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Synthesis and Application of Organic Functional Molecules of Hubei University of China (No. KLSAOFM2302). Thanks to eceshi (www.eceshi.com) for the TEM analysis
Arthroscopic Treatment for Elbow Trauma Learning Curve and Outcomes
No full textArthroscopic treatment of elbow trauma has advantages such as the enhanced view of the elbow, including joint surfaces and soft tissue. Arthroscopy provides an accurate evaluation of chondral lesions and osteochondral loose fragments. A clear advantage is the minimally invasive nature of arthroscopy, decreasing soft tissue injury compared to open techniques. There are several challenges such as patient positioning, soft tissue status, and hemarthrosis. Arthroscopic-assisted treatment of trauma is performed safely earlier in the learning curve, but published literature has shown that the arthroscopic treatment of trauma has an additional learning curve, to obtain improved results even for expert surgeons
Correction: Pilot-scale cultivation of the snow alga Chloromonas typhlos in a photobioreactor
No full text[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.896261.]
Evaluatie van de implementatie van ADL-medewerkers in het woonzorgcentrum: een mixed methods benadering
No full textAchtergrond: De vergrijzing en personeelstekorten verhogen de werkdruk in woonzorgcentra. Het Koninklijk Besluit betreffende activiteiten van het dagelijks leven (ADL) biedt kansen om laag-risico zorgtaken toe te vertrouwen aan ADL-medewerkers, zodat zorgkundigen en verpleegkundigen zich op complexere zorg kunnen richten.
Doel: Onderzoeken welke impact deze implementatie heeft op taakverdeling, werkorganisatie en werktevredenheid, en hoe zorgmedewerkers en ADL-medewerkers dit ervaren.
Methode: Een mixed-methods benadering werd toegepast. Kwantitatieve data werden verzameld via de NoMAD-vragenlijst en jobtevredenheid vragenlijst (voor- en nameting). Kwalitatief inzicht kwam uit semigestructureerde interviews met ADL-medewerkers.
Resultaten: Interviews (n=7) en vragenlijsten (NoMAD n=49) (jobtevredenheid voormeting n=27, nameting n=49) toonden een sterk teamgevoel en waardering voor de rol van ADL-medewerkers. Toch waren er knelpunten rond rolafbakening, waardering en leiderschap. Structurele barrières zoals gebrek aan digitale toegang en opleiding hinderden integratie. Wel groeide het vertrouwen in zorgkwaliteit en taakverdeling.
Conclusie: ADL-medewerkers leveren waardevolle ondersteuning en verhogen de werktevredenheid, maar hun rol moet structureler worden ingebed via duidelijke taakafspraken, digitale toegang en gerichte opleidingen
Differentiated Instruction in Chinese Primary and Secondary Schools: A Systematic Literature Review
No full textPurpose: This study explores the current status of differentiated instruction (DI) in Chinese mainland primary and secondary schools.
Design/Approach/Methods: This study comprises a systematic review of the Chinese litera- ture. Forty-five articles, published between 2000 and 2022, were reviewed and the results are pre- sented as a thematic overview.
Findings: Chinese characteristics have contributed to the distinctive development of Chinese DI. Chinese researchers have defined DI as both a teaching concept and a practice. Chinese scholars have suggested strategies for teachers to use, including flexible grouping, tiered instruction, and multiple forms of evaluation, along with the use of non-graded classes and artificial intelligence. This study identifies barriers to teachers’ adoption of DI including large class size and China’s examination-oriented culture. However, Confucian belief was effectively a forerunner of DI.The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article