Filetype
Over the last 7 years, a multidimensional crisis in Venezuela has resulted in massive emigration. Over 7 million have fled the country, with more than 2.4 million seeking to settle in Colombia. Of these, as of 2021, more than 1 million were undocumented, but the situation has started to change with the implementation of an ambitious migrant regularisation scheme. Regularisation promises access to
One of the hallmarks of type 1 but also type 2 diabetes is pancreatic islet inflammation, associated with altered pancreatic islet function and structure, if unresolved. IL-1β is a proinflammatory cytokine which detrimentally affects β-cell function. In the course of diabetes, complement components, including the central complement protein C3, are deregulated. Previously, we reported high C3 expre
Metabolic reprogramming is critical during clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) tumorigenesis, manifested by accumulation of lipid droplets (LDs), organelles that have emerged as new hallmarks of cancer. Yet, regulation of their biogenesis is still poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that MYC inhibition in ccRCC cells lacking the von Hippel Lindau (VHL) gene leads to increased triglyceride
Preclinical assessment of the therapeutic potential of dopamine (DA) neuron replacement in Parkinson's disease (PD) has primarily been performed in the 6-hydroxydopamine toxin model. While this is a good model to assess graft function, it does not reflect the pathological features or progressive nature of the disease. In this study, we establish a humanized transplantation model of PD that better
Batch processes are becoming more and more important in the chemical process industry, where they are used in the manufacture of specialty materials, which often are highly profitable. Some examples where batch processes are important are the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, polymers, and semiconductors. The focus of this thesis is exception handling and fault detection in batch control. In the
Gram-negative bacteria have the ability to produce outer membrane-derived vesicles (OMVs) that are released into the extracellular milieu. Even though this intriguing phenomenon is well-known since many years, various aspects of bacterial OMVs are not fully described and are still in the process of being characterized in detail. One major reason for this is that depending on the bacterial species
Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore how persons with severe mental illness (SMI) experience oral health problems (especially dry mouth), and weigh the support they received in this regard from professionals and staff at community-based congregate housing through a controlled intervention programme. Oral health problems and dry mouth are found in association with apathy and indifferen
Increased understanding of the molecular processes associated with the dysplasia-adenocarcinoma sequence linked to Barrett's esophagus may be beneficial for early tumor detection and refined diagnosis as well as for improved prognostication. We applied immunohistochemical staining for the markers Ki-67, p53, beta-catenin and E-cadherin in order to evaluate their prognostic importance in 59 Barrett
The precise separation of nanoscale particles has proven challenging due to diffusion and the need to use nanoscale devices. We show the separation of particles in the 100 nm size range in Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) devices with feature sizes in the 10 µm size range. We achieve this using Dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces, generated between the metal coated posts that act as active elec
High throughput in particle and molecular sorting schemes is an important performance indicator and can be realized through increased volumetric processing rates or increased concentrations. Here we investigate the effect of increased concentration of high-molecular weight DNA in micropillar arrays for deterministic lateral displacement (DLD). We find that the array imposes regular fluctuations in
In the outskirts of nearby spiral galaxies, star formation is observed in extremely low gas surface densities. Star formation in these regions, where the interstellar medium is dominated by diffuse atomic hydrogen, is difficult to explain with classic star formation theories. In this letter, we introduce runaway stars as an explanation for this observation. Runaway stars, produced by collisional d
Astrocytes form functionally and morphologically distinct populations of cells with brain-region-specific properties. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) offer possibilities to generate astroglia for studies investigating mechanisms governing the emergence of astrocytic diversity. We established a method to generate human astrocytes from hPSCs with forebrain patterning and final specification wit
Immunotherapy, which involves strategies to activate, enhance or redirect immune responses to achieve long-lasting immunity, has the potential to play an important role in the treatment of a variety of diseases. This thesis, based on four original papers, highlights different approaches to modulate immune responses by specific targeting of antigen-presenting cells. The first two studies focuses o
For centuries antiquarians and archaeologists have tried to reconcile the terminology of ancient writers on architecture, such as Vitruvius, with the perceived realities of the material record. One particular issue of debate concerns the interpretation of different words for "brick" in Latin. In this paper it is argued that earlier attempts to settle this question are unsatisfactory and leave seve
