The course of diabetic glomerulopathy in patients with type I diabetes: A 6-year follow-up with serial biopsies

Diabetic nephropathy is a severe complication and few studies have described the early morphological changes over time. Two kidney biopsies were performed, within a 6-year interval, in 29 primarily normoalbuminuric patients, aged 24 years at the second biopsy. These were examined with light and electron microscopy. Glomerular filtration rate, and effective renal plasma flow were determined with inulin and para-aminohippurate clearances. Urinary albumin excretion rate and the 24 ambulatory blood pressure were determined. Ten patients had developed microalbuminuria and/or hypertension; of these, six were treated with antihypertensive medication for 2 years or more. Significant increases were found in night time diastolic blood pressure and decreases in systolic and diastolic dipping. The glomerular volume, mesangial volume, mesangial matrix volume fraction and foot process width increased significantly. The group that was treated later for complications had the worst long-term metabolic control, thicker basement membranes and larger mesangial matrix and volume at the first biopsy, than the persistent normoalbuminuric group. During the follow-up, the untreated group with complications and the persistent normoalbuminuric group showed an increase in morphological parameters, whereas no progression occurred in the treated patients who also improved their metabolic control. In conclusion, the morphological parameters deteriorated in the normoalbuminuric patients and in those with complications, but were unchanged in the small antihypertensive-treated group with improved metabolic control

The persuasive power of emotions: Effects of emotional expressions on attitude formation and change

Despite a long-standing interest in the intrapersonal role of affect in persuasion, the interpersonal effects of emotions on persuasion remain poorly understood—how do one person’s emotional expressions shape others’ attitudes? Drawing on emotions as social information (EASI) theory (Van Kleef, 2009), we hypothesized that people use the emotional expressions of others to inform their own attitudes, but only when they are sufficiently motivated and able to process those expressions. Five experiments support these ideas. Participants reported more positive attitudes about various topics after seeing a source’s sad (rather than happy) expressions when topics were negatively framed (e.g., abandoning bobsleighing from the Olympics). Conversely, participants reported more positive attitudes after seeing happy (rather than sad) expressions when topics were positively framed (e.g., introducing kite surfing at the Olympics). This suggests that participants used the source’s emotional expressions as information when forming their own attitudes. Supporting this interpretation, effects were mitigated when participants’ information processing was undermined by cognitive load or was chronically low. Moreover, a source’s anger expressions engendered negative attitude change when directed at the attitude object and positive change when directed at the recipient’s attitude. Effects occurred regardless of whether emotional expressions were manipulated through written words, pictures of facial expressions, film clips containing both facial and vocal emotional expressions, or emoticons. The findings support EASI theory and indicate that emotional expressions are a powerful source of social influence

Influence of temperature on bud break, shoot growth, flower bud atrophy and winter production of glasshouse roses

The influence of temperature in the range 15-22 °C on growth, production, quality and flower bud atrophy ('blindness') of the rose cultivars Sweet Promise and Varlon was studied. The roses were grown in Dutch glasshouse soil under natural light conditions and studied from October until May during 7 successive years. The influence of the distribution of the air temperature between day and night was studied. Besides the usual night-lower-than-day-temperature regime, also the reverse situation was studied. 'Models' were constructed for: bud break, development time from bud break until harvest, shoot and flower bud weight, shoot length, the length, width, volume and freshweight of the flower bud during harvest and the diameter of shoot and neck, in relation to date of bud break and mean daily temperature during shoot growth.Complementary studies including roses of the cv. Sweet Promise grown in transferable containers were performed in glasshouses and in growth rooms (Phytotron). In these experiments the interaction of temperature and shoot stage with the development time of a shoot, with shoot weight and with shoot length was studied. Shoot weight showed a clear interaction with temperature if night temperature was higher than day temperature. Various shoot stages showed a different sensitivity to temperature with respect to the formation of flowerless ('blind') shoots. A low night temperature during the period cut until shoot elongation (=4cm) decreased blindness, but increased blindness when given in the next period until the flower bud is clearly visible. Higher night temperatures than those commonly used increased production by decreasing the percentage of blind shoots.At a given daily mean temperature an increase in night temperature showed no significant influence on bud break and development time of a shoot but fresh shoot weight and shoot length are significantly reduced, if night temperature increases above day temperature. The mean temperature and the mean irradiance during shoot growth could account for 98 % of the variation in the relevant 'models' when analysed by linear regression analysis. Adding the variable 'relative humidity' to the regression equation explained 97 % of the variation in shoot weight. To explain 87 % of shoot length the variable 'Weight of the Parent shoot' and the square of the temperature had also to be introduced.Heavy parent shoots produced heavier daughter shoots than light parent shoots. The difference in fresh weight for daughters of heavy parent shoots compared to those of light shoots decreased in autumn and increased again in spring. If light intensity decreased in autumn, less light was used to produce one gram fresh shoot weight, while under increasing light intensities more light was used.Fresh weight production per shoot per day increased with temperature for the cultivar Varlon and as a consequence, the amount of light needed per gram fresh weight decreased. In the period December until the middle of March 'Sweet Promise' showed another, reversed, situation: fresh weight production decreased with temperature. This was caused by the fact that 'Sweet Promise' was weakened more by a raise in temperature than "Varlon'. Production in number of flowers and in grams fresh weight per shrub showed a positive linear correlation with temperature for both cultivars.The course of bud break and harvest was studied for 9 night/day temperature combination. A lower temperature resulted in delayed bud break and production.The research made it clear that it is possible and profitable to control temperature on the basis of the daily mean temperature or the temperature sum during bud break and shoot growth, instead of in the orthodox way with a fixed night-lower-than-day temperature regime. Practical applications of the results are given for commercial rose growing. Heating glasshouses on a basis of a daily mean temperature or temperature sum instead of a given day and night temperature is a possibility of saving energy, as also is the maintaining of a diurnal period of up till 6 hours with a higher night than day temperature beginning at sunset when the thermal screens are closed.Soil heating until 20 °C did not influence production and quality,whilst a 12% reduction in light had a negative effect on both.</TT

Synthesis of pseudo-disaccharide analogues of lipid A: haptens for the generation of antibodies with glycosidase activity towards lipid A

Bio-organic Synthesi

Effects of direct renin blockade on renal & systemic hemodynamics and on raas activity, in weight excess and hypertension: A randomized clinical trial

Aim: The combination of weight excess and hypertension significantly contributes to cardiovascular risk and progressive kidney damage. An unfavorable renal hemodynamic profile is thought to contribute to this increased risk and may be ameliorated by direct renin inhibition (DRI). The aim of this trial was to assess the effect of DRI on renal and systemic hemodynamics and on RAAS activity, in men with weight excess and hypertension. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, cross-over clinical trial to determine the effect of DRI (aliskiren 300 mg/day), with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition (ACEi; ramipril 10 mg/day) as a positive control, on renal and systemic hemodynamics, and on RAAS activity (n = 15). Results: Mean (SEM) Glomerular filtration rate (101 (5) mL/min/1.73m2) remained unaffected by DRI or ACEi. Effective renal plasma flow (ERPF; 301 (14) mL/min/1.73m2) was increased in response to DRI (320 (14) mL/min/1.73m2, P = 0.012) and ACEi (317 (15) mL/min/1.73m2, P = 0.045). Filtration fraction (FF; 34 (0.8)%) was reduced by DRI only (32 (0.7)%, P = 0.044). Mean arterial pressure (109 (2) mmHg) was reduced by DRI (101 (2) mmHg, P = 0.008) and ACEi (103 (3) mmHg, P = 0.037). RAAS activity was reduced by DRI and ACEi. Albuminuria (20 [9±42] mg/d) was reduced by DRI only (12 [5±28] mg/d, P = 0.030). Conclusions: In men with weight excess and hypertension, DRI and ACEi improved renal and systemic hemodynamics. Both DRI and ACEi reduced RAAS activity. Thus, DRI provides effective treatment in weight excess and hypertension

Curved Tails in Polymerization-Based Bacterial Motility

The curved actin ``comet-tail'' of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is a visually striking signature of actin polymerization-based motility. Similar actin tails are associated with Shigella flexneri, spotted-fever Rickettsiae, the Vaccinia virus, and vesicles and microspheres in related in vitro systems. We show that the torque required to produce the curvature in the tail can arise from randomly placed actin filaments pushing the bacterium or particle. We find that the curvature magnitude determines the number of actively pushing filaments, independent of viscosity and of the molecular details of force generation. The variation of the curvature with time can be used to infer the dynamics of actin filaments at the bacterial surface.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Latex2

Sporting embodiment: sports studies and the (continuing) promise of phenomenology

Whilst in recent years sports studies have addressed the calls ‘to bring the body back in’ to theorisations of sport and physical activity, the ‘promise of phenomenology’ remains largely under-realised with regard to sporting embodiment. Relatively few accounts are grounded in the ‘flesh’ of the lived sporting body, and phenomenology offers a powerful framework for such analysis. A wide-ranging, multi-stranded, and interpretatively contested perspective, phenomenology in general has been taken up and utilised in very different ways within different disciplinary fields. The purpose of this article is to consider some selected phenomenological threads, key qualities of the phenomenological method, and the potential for existentialist phenomenology in particular to contribute fresh perspectives to the sociological study of embodiment in sport and exercise. It offers one way to convey the ‘essences’, corporeal immediacy and textured sensuosity of the lived sporting body. The use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is also critically addressed. Key words: phenomenology; existentialist phenomenology; interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); sporting embodiment; the lived-body; Merleau-Pont

Synthesis of glycosylated 1-deoxynojirimycins starting from natural and synthetic disaccharides

Iminosugars are an important class of natural products and have been subject to extensive studies in organic synthesis, bioorganic chemistry and medicinal chemistry, yet only a limited number of these studies are on glycosylated iminosugars. Here, a general route of synthesis is presented towards glycosylated 1‐deoxynojirimycin derivatives based on the oxidation–reductive amination protocol that in the past has also been shown to be a versatile route towards 1‐deoxynojirimycin. The strategy can be applied on commercial disaccharides, as shown in four examples, as well as on disaccharides that are not commercially available and are synthesized for this purpose, as shown by a fifth example.Medical BiochemistryBio-organic Synthesi

Crossovers in Unitary Fermi Systems

Universality and crossover is described for attractive and repulsive interactions where, respectively, the BCS-BEC crossover takes place and a ferromagnetic phase transition is claimed. Crossovers are also described for optical lattices and multicomponent systems. The crossovers, universal parameters and phase transitions are described within the Leggett and NSR models and calculated in detail within the Jastrow-Slater approximation. The physics of ultracold Fermi atoms is applied to neutron, nuclear and quark matter, nuclei and electrons in solids whenever possible. Specifically, the differences between optical lattices and cuprates is discussed w.r.t. antiferromagnetic, d-wave superfluid phases and phase separation.Comment: 50 pages, 15 figures. Contribution to Lecture Notes in Physics "BCS-BEC crossover and the Unitary Fermi Gas" edited by W. Zwerge