De plant in rust

Rectorale oratie Vrije Universiteit 196

Countermeasures of opioid-induced respiratory depression

The red line through my thesis is therefore our ability or inability to reverse opioid-induced respiratory depression with such countermeasures. I discuss the opioid-receptor antagonist naloxone, among other respiratory stimulants, (Chapter 1), the partial opioid-receptor agonist buprenorphine(Chapter 6), and two agnostic respiratory stimulants (tianeptine, Chapter 5, and thyrotropin releasing hormone, TRH, Chapters 3 and 4) that do not interact with the endogenous opioid system and consequently leave the opioid effect on the brainstem respiratory network intact but stimulate breathing through specific stimulatory neuronal pathways. Apart from the respiratory stimulants that I discuss here, various respiratory stimulants and other countermeasures are being developed and/or studied. These include (See Table 1 for efficacy and limitations):2 nonopioid scheduled substances such as cannabinoid type 2 receptors and ketamine, hormones such as oxytocin, nicotinic acetylcholine receptoragonists, ampakines, serotonin receptor agonists (note that some 5HT agonists produce respiratorydepression)3, antioxidants, drugs that mimic hypoxia at the carotid bodies, sequestration or scrubber techniques including container molecules and vaccination against opioids, and finally opioids with high receptor affinity but minimal respiratory action such as nalbuphine and butorphanol, next to buprenorphine.LUMC / Geneeskund

Distant star formation in the faint radio sky

One of the key quests in astronomy is to study the growth and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. Radio observations provide a powerful means of studying the formation of stars and subsequent buildup of distant galaxies, in a way that is unbiased by the presence of dust. This thesis provides a detailed view of faint, star-forming galaxies in the early Universe through sensitive radio observations, and compiles several studies probing distant star formation with both radio synchrotron and free-free emission. In Chapter 2, we detect a large number of galaxies using sensitive new radio data from the Very Large Array, allowing us to separate radio emission from star formation and active galactic nuclei in the faint radio sky. In Chapter 3, we calibrate synchrotron emission as a tracer of star formation in distant starburst galaxies, while in Chapters 4 & 5 we turn towards radio free-free emission — a faint but very powerful tracer of star formation. Using sensitive new radio data at high frequencies, we perform the first detailed studies of free-free emission in distant galaxies.Large scale structure and cosmolog