Bastard or playmate? Adapting theatre, mutating media and the contemporary performing arts

Artistic media seem to be in a permanent condition of mutation and transformation. Contemporary artists often investigate the limits and possibilities of the media they use and experiment with the crossing, upgrading and mutilation of media. Others explicitly explore the unknown intermedial space between existing media, searching for the hybrid beings that occupy these in-betweens. This publication explores the theme of mutating and adapting media in its relation with theatre and performance

PHF6 expression levels impact human hematopoietic stem cell differentiation

Transcriptional control of hematopoiesis involves complex regulatory networks and functional perturbations in one of these components often results in malignancies. Loss-of-function mutations in PHF6, encoding a presumed epigenetic regulator, have been primarily described in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and the first insights into its function in normal hematopoiesis only recently emerged from mouse modeling experiments. Here, we investigated the role of PHF6 in human blood cell development by performing knockdown studies in cord blood and thymus-derived hematopoietic precursors to evaluate the impact on lineage differentiation in well-established in vitro models. Our findings reveal that PHF6 levels differentially impact the differentiation of human hematopoietic progenitor cells into various blood cell lineages, with prominent effects on lymphoid and erythroid differentiation. We show that loss of PHF6 results in accelerated human T cell development through reduced expression of NOTCH1 and its downstream target genes. This functional interaction in developing thymocytes was confirmed in vivo using a phf6-deficient zebrafish model that also displayed accelerated developmental kinetics upon reduced phf6 or notch1 activation. In summary, our work reveals that appropriate control of PHF6 expression is important for normal human hematopoiesis and provides clues towards the role of PHF6 in T-ALL development

Doripenem

Carbapenems play a significant role in the current antibiotic armamentarium. Doripenem is the newest carbapenem to be commercially released. Its antimicrobial spectrum more closely resembles those of meropenem and imipenem than that of ertapenem. Thus, it has significant in vitro activity against streptococci, methicillin-susceptible staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae (including extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing strains), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter species, and Bacteroides fragilis. Doripenem does not have clinically useful activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and the majority of gram-negative bacilli that are resistant to meropenem or imipenem. In vitro, resistant P. aeruginosa mutants appear to be harder to select with doripenem than with other carbapenems. Doripenem has been approved for use in treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infection and complicated urinary tract infection. Studies of hospital-acquired pneumonia have also been completed, including one that used a 4-h infusion to enhance the pharmacodynamic profile. In vitro, doripenem lacks the propensity to cause seizures, and a low risk of seizures has been demonstrated in clinical studies. Currently unanswered questions regarding doripenem include the utility and dosing in neonatal, pediatric, and cystic fibrosis populations and specific dosage recommendations for patients receiving hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or continuous renal replacement therapies. The longevity of doripenem will depend on our ability to curtail the spread of carbapenem-resistant organisms, which are already a significant problem at some institutions

Graduation 2018 /

Publication issued on the occasion of graduation 2018, the presentation of bachelors, masters and postgraduate projects 2018 at School of Arts Ghent (KASK and Conservatory)KAS

Knowledge and Attitudes of Doctor of Pharmacy Students Regarding the Appropriate Use of Antimicrobials

Pharmacists are key partners in antimicrobial stewardship efforts, yet their degree of education on and attitudes toward this topic during training are not well documented. An electronic survey measuring knowledge and attitudes regarding antimicrobial use and resistance was administered to graduating pharmacy students at 12 US schools of pharmacy. Of 1445 pharmacy students, 579 (40%) completed the survey. The vast majority (94%) believed that strong knowledge of antimicrobials was important for their pharmacy careers, and 89% desired more education on appropriate antimicrobial use. Most students (84%) considered their pharmacy education regarding antimicrobials useful or very useful, but there was significant variability on perceptions of preparation for most antimicrobial stewardship activities according to the students' school. The mean number of correct answers on a section of 11 knowledge questions was 5.8 (standard deviation 2.0; P value for score between schools <.001). On multivariable linear regression analysis, significant predictors of a higher knowledge score were pharmacy school attended, planned postgraduate training, completion of a clinical rotation in infectious diseases, perception of pharmacy school education as useful, use of resources to answer the knowledge questions, and use of Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines and smartphone applications as frequent resources for learning about antimicrobials. Pharmacy students perceive antimicrobial stewardship to be an important healthcare issue and desire more education on the subject. Student perceptions of antimicrobial coursework and actual antimicrobial knowledge scores significantly varied by the school of pharmacy attended. Sharing of best practices among institutions may enhance the preparation of future pharmacists to contribute to effective antimicrobial stewardship