1,887 research outputs found
Entertainer: Pieter-Dirk Uys
No full textThis booklet celebrates the life and work of Pieter-Dirk Uys, internationally acclaimed playwright, author, role-model and one of South Africa's living treasures
Entertainer: Pieter-Dirk Uys
No full textThis booklet celebrates the life and work of Pieter-Dirk Uys, internationally acclaimed playwright, author, role-model and one of South Africa's living treasures
Entertainer: Pieter-Dirk Uys
No full textThis booklet celebrates the life and work of Pieter-Dirk Uys, internationally acclaimed playwright, author, role-model and one of South Africa's living treasures
Development of the intrinsic innervation of the small bowel mucosa and villi
No full textDetection of nutritional and noxious food components in the gut is a crucial component of gastrointestinal function. Contents in the gut lumen interact with enteroendocrine cells dispersed throughout the gut epithelium. Enteroendocrine cells release many different hormones, neuropeptides, and neurotransmitters that communicate either directly or indirectly with the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system, a network of neurons and glia located within the gut wall. Several populations of enteric neurons extend processes that innervate the gastrointestinal lamina propria; however, how these processes develop and begin to transmit information from the mucosa is not fully understood. In this study, we found that Tuj1-immunoreactive neurites begin to project out of the myenteric plexus at embryonic day (E)13.5 in the mouse small intestine, even before the formation of villi. Using live calcium imaging, we discovered that neurites were capable of transmitting electrical information from stimulated villi to the plexus by E15.5. In unpeeled gut preparations where all layers were left intact, we also mimicked the basolateral release of 5-HT from enteroendocrine cells, which triggered responses in myenteric cell bodies at postnatal day (P)0. Altogether, our results show that enteric neurons extend neurites out of the myenteric plexus early during mouse enteric nervous system development, innervating the gastrointestinal mucosa, even before villus formation in mice of either sex. Neurites are already able to conduct electrical information at E15.5, and responses to 5-HT develop postnatally.NEW & NOTEWORTHY How enteric neurons project into the gut mucosa and begin to communicate with the epithelium during development is not known. Our study shows that enteric neurites project into the lamina propria as early as E13.5 in the mouse, before development of the submucous plexus and before formation of intestinal villi. These neurites are capable of transmitting electrical signals back to their cell bodies by E15.5 and respond to serotonin applied to neurite terminals by birth.sponsorship: This work was supported by FWO Project Grant G092115N to P.Vanden Berghe, W. Boesmans, M. M. Hao and KU Leuven Methusalem Grant (METH/14/05) to J. Tack and P. Vanden Berghe. Confocal microscopes were funded by the Hercules Foundation Flanders (AKUL/11/37, AKUL/13/37 and AKUL/15/37 to PVB). M. M. Hao is a postdoctoral fellow of the NHMRC (APP1655567) and FWO (12G1214N). W. Boesmans was a postdoctoral fellow of the FWO (1233514N). (FWO Project|G092115N, KU Leuven Methusalem Grant|METH/14/05, Hercules Foundation Flanders|AKUL/11/37, Hercules Foundation Flanders|AKUL/13/37, Hercules Foundation Flanders|AKUL/15/37)status: Publishe
Mood Regulation as a Design Topic: Interview with Pieter Desmet
No full textPieter Desmet is the founding co-director of the Delft Institute of Positive Design, chair of the TU Delft Department of Human Centered Design, and Director of the Delft Design Labs. After introducing cognitive emotion theory to the field of design research, he established the Design and Emotion Society. Full professor of Design for Experience at TU Delft, Desmet is also co-editor of Design and Emotion Moves (Cambridge Scholars, 2008) and co-author of Positive Design: An Introduction to Design for Subjective Well-Being (IJDesign, 2013). Pieter Desmet, who holds a PhD in the domain of Emotion Psychology, has been recently awarded a five-year personal grant to research about the nuances of human mood in human-product interactions. Besides his academic activities, he also contributes to local community projects, such as a recently developed sensory wellness neighborhood park, and a cultural ‘House of Happiness’ located in Rotterdam. In this interview, Desmet discusses the background to positive design, as well as the practical and ethical challenges that arise from using such an approach. He also refers to his latest research initiative: Design for Mood Regulation. Finally, Desmet explains how he transfers the knowledge he develops to companies
Different luminal nutrients activate distinct patterns of myenteric neurons
No full textBackground: Monitoring of ingested nutrients by an organism is essen-tial for balancing energy input. The gastrointestinal tract plays an im-portant role in this homeostasis. Nutrient signals sensed by specialized enteroendocrine cells in the epithelium are conveyed to the enteric nerv-ous system (ENS) to initiate intestinal reflexes facilitating digestion and absorption. However, the extent to which the ENS is ‘aware’ of the lumi-nal composition remains elusive. We addressed whether there are spe-cific enteric pathways dedicated to detecting different luminal nutrients.Methods: Calcium imaging was performed on intact jejunal prepara-tions from Wnt1- cre; R26R- GCaMP3 mice, which express the fluores-cent calcium indicator GCaMP3 in their ENS. Glucose (300 mM), acetate (100 mM), and L- phenylalanine (100 mM), as a model sugar, short chain fatty acid, and amino acid respectively, were perfused onto the mucosa whilst imaging the underlying enteric neurons. Nutrient transport or diffusion across the mucosa was mimicked by pressure ejecting nutri-ents from a micropipette impaled through the epithelium of a villus to target the containing nerve endings, or by applying nutrients onto gan-glia in peeled preparations. Responders were further classified by their cell size and neurochemistry using post-hoc immunolabeling.Results: Glucose, acetate, and L- phenylalanine perfused onto the mucosa each evoked Ca2+ transients in distinct subsets of my-enteric (17 ± 6%, 12 ± 2%, and 9 ± 2%) and submucosal neurons (21 ± 4%; 24 ± 7%, and 23 ± 3% of total neurons within the field of view, respectively). The cell size (P < 0.0001; One- way ANOVA) and proportions of calbindin+ and nNOS+ myenteric neurons that re-sponded differed significantly between the nutrients (P < 0.0001; χ2 test), while submucosal responders were predominantly cholinergic (98 ± 2% of total responders) and of similar size. Nutrients applied into villi or onto ganglia did not elicit neuronal responses, indicating that nutrients are first sensed at the epithelium.Conclusions: Different nutrients applied to the epithelium triggered distinct patterns of myenteric neuronal activation, suggesting that the ENS is able to discriminate between different compositions of luminal content such that it can act accordingl
Mood Regulation as a Design Topic: Interview with Pieter Desmet
No full textPieter Desmet is the founding co-director of the Delft Institute of Positive Design, chair of the TU Delft Department of Human Centered Design, and Director of the Delft Design Labs. After introducing cognitive emotion theory to the field of design research, he established the Design and Emotion Society. Full professor of Design for Experience at TU Delft, Desmet is also co-editor of Design and Emotion Moves (Cambridge Scholars, 2008) and co-author of Positive Design: An Introduction to Design for Subjective Well-Being (IJDesign, 2013). Pieter Desmet, who holds a PhD in the domain of Emotion Psychology, has been recently awarded a five-year personal grant to research about the nuances of human mood in human-product interactions. Besides his academic activities, he also contributes to local community projects, such as a recently developed sensory wellness neighborhood park, and a cultural ‘House of Happiness’ located in Rotterdam. In this interview, Desmet discusses the background to positive design, as well as the practical and ethical challenges that arise from using such an approach. He also refers to his latest research initiative: Design for Mood Regulation. Finally, Desmet explains how he transfers the knowledge he develops to companies
Mood Regulation as a Design Topic: Interview with Pieter Desmet
No full textPieter Desmet is the founding co-director of the Delft Institute of Positive Design, chair of the TU Delft Department of Human Centered Design, and Director of the Delft Design Labs. After introducing cognitive emotion theory to the field of design research, he established the Design and Emotion Society. Full professor of Design for Experience at TU Delft, Desmet is also co-editor of Design and Emotion Moves (Cambridge Scholars, 2008) and co-author of Positive Design: An Introduction to Design for Subjective Well-Being (IJDesign, 2013). Pieter Desmet, who holds a PhD in the domain of Emotion Psychology, has been recently awarded a five-year personal grant to research about the nuances of human mood in human-product interactions. Besides his academic activities, he also contributes to local community projects, such as a recently developed sensory wellness neighborhood park, and a cultural ‘House of Happiness’ located in Rotterdam. In this interview, Desmet discusses the background to positive design, as well as the practical and ethical challenges that arise from using such an approach. He also refers to his latest research initiative: Design for Mood Regulation. Finally, Desmet explains how he transfers the knowledge he develops to companies
Imaging neuron-glia interactions in the enteric nervous system
No full textThe enteric nervous system (ENS) is a network of neurons and glia within the wall of the gastrointestinal tract that is able to control many aspects of digestive function independently from the central nervous system. Enteric glial cells share several features with astrocytes and are closely associated with enteric neurons and their processes both within enteric ganglia, and along interconnecting fiber bundles. Similar to other parts of the nervous system, there is communication between enteric neurons and glia; enteric glial cells can detect neuronal activity and have the machinery to intermediate neurotransmission. However, due to the close contact between these two cell types and the particular characteristics of the gut wall, the recording of enteric glial cell activity in live imaging experiments, especially in the context of their interaction with neurons, is not straightforward. Most studies have used calcium imaging approaches to examine enteric glial cell activity but in many cases, it is difficult to distinguish whether observed transients arise from glial cells, or neuronal processes or varicosities in their vicinity. In this technical report, we describe a number of approaches to unravel the complex neuron-glia crosstalk in the ENS, focusing on the challenges and possibilities of live microscopic imaging in both animal models and human tissue samples.sponsorship: We would like to thank the members of LENS for their critical comments and skilled technical assistance. Werend Boesmans, Carla Cirillo, and Marlene M. Hao are postdoctoral fellows of the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO, Belgium). This work was funded by BOF, University of Leuven (Methusalem Jan Tack; OT ZKC1808, Pieter Vanden Berghe) and FWO (KN 1.5.135.06; G.0501.10, Pieter Vanden Berghe). We thank Vassilis Pachnis (National Institute for Medical Research, MRC, London, UK) for providing the Wnt1-Cre mice. Confocal recordings were made on the equipment of the Cell Imaging Core supported by Hercules foundation grants (to Pieter Vanden Berghe). (BOF, University of Leuven|OT ZKC1808, FWO|KN 1.5.135.06, FWO|G.0501.10, Hercules foundation)status: Publishe
Mirror mirror
No full textWhen choosing what to wear, people often look in a mirror to try, mix and match clothing items to evaluate the fit on their body. In retail, magic mirrors for virtual garment fitting allow users to evaluate clothing items without actually wearing them. However, despite the available designs and fabrics often it is still difficult to find something suitable. What if we can not only select items, but also design items in front of the mirror and have them fabricated on the spot? We propose a personal clothing design system for use at home. Garments are projected directly on the user’s body, and the user can see through the mirror reflection as if the clothes are really “worn” on the body. With on-body and mid-air gestures, designs are created and when ready, can be fabricated into real garments
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