The role of phosphatidylinositide-3-kinase in basal mitogen-activated protein kinase activity and cell survival

AbstractPhosphatidylinositide-3-OH-kinase (PI 3-kinase) is an upstream activator of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), but the role of PI 3-kinase-dependent MAPK remains obscure. Here we demonstrate that in a variety of different cell types, PI 3-kinase inhibition results in an inhibition of MAPK in unstimulated cells but does not interfere with growth factor-, or TPA-induced MAPK activity. Furthermore, inhibition of either PI 3-kinase or MEK/MAPK results in cell death in serum-starved cells. We concluded that basal, but not induced MAPK activity is mediated by PI 3-kinase and that this PI 3-kinase-mediated MEK/MAPK activity is essential for cell survival in quiescent cells

Revitalisation of the gallery apartment building

Thirty-one percent of all the energy used in the Netherlands is used by households. Considering the fact that it is technically easily possible to built energy neutral dwellings this quite big percentage. But with the speed we are currently constructing houses, we will build less than 10 percent of the currently existing building stock in the next 20 years. Even if all these new build dwellings will operate completely energy neutral it will simply take to long before our entire building stock is energy neutral. On top of that you need to consider the energy losses if an existing building is torn down and replaced by a new build one. Based on these facts it makes perfect sense to renovate existing dwellings towards energy neutral ones.This thesis is focussed on the renovation of gallery apartment buildings. Due to their height, repetition and other building characteristics there are great opportunities in the renovation of these buildings that are not fully exploited yet. The climatological opportunities and energy potentials of the gallery apartment building are mapped and calculated.If a building becomes energy neutral or even energy delivering, the energy it costs to build the building or renovate the building becomes all the energy it uses and therefore normative. This embodied energy is explored upon and calculated for the final renovation.Not only the building itself has influence on the energy usage, the inhabitant also has a big influence on the total energy usage. The effect of the inhabitant on the energy usage is researched. Design proposals are done to reduce the negative influence an inhabitant could have on the energy usage of the dwelling and a proposal is done to influence the inhabitant positively to reduce the energy usage. The renovation of the gallery apartment building is also a great opportunity to improve the quality of life of the inhabitant.Zero Energy Refurbishmen

Hello, is Someone There? A Case Study for Using a Social Robot in Dementia Care

Social Robotics is becoming more relevant for the healthcare sector as an increasing amount of research and development is invested by researchers and practice. One research area where additional research would help the acceptation and adoption of social robots is intramural care where people with dementia live. The current body of knowledge on this topic can be described as nascent. In this study, we add to the body of knowledge regarding the design and enactment of social robots like the one used in this study, the Tessa robot, with the goal to improve acceptation and adoption of social robots in dementia care. To do so, we conducted a case study at a healthcare organization, featuring semi-structured interviews, observations and talking mats. During this case study, an experiment was carried out in which a Tessa robot was used in intramural care with three clients suffering from dementia. The most important finding of this study is that for the robot to be accepted and effective it must be implemented properly in the existing healthcare processes, otherwise it might serve as a companion, but will not relieve the workload of healthcare workers

De gescheurde nagel. Een alternatieve verklaring voor DNA-bewijs

De brandweer vond op een zondagochtend in 2002 bij het blussen van een brand de lichamen van de Oost-Europese Ona en haar tweejarige dochtertje Adina. Bij de sectie bleek dat Ona en Adina niet door de brand om het leven waren gekomen, maar dat ze daarvoor al waren gedood. Tien dagen later meldde Ona’s buurman Hans zich bij de politie. Hij vertelde dat hij een paar uur voor de brand in Ona’s huis was geweest om daar spullen te stelen. Hij had haar toen niet gezien. Hans maakte zich verdacht en werd veroordeeld voor het plegen van doodslag op Ona en Adina. Het belangrijkste bewijs was dat zijn DNA onder Ona’s nagels was gevonden. Hans ontkende en zei dat zijn DNA al veel eerder onder Ona’s nagels terecht was gekomen. In het Project Gerede Twijfel werd de veroordeling van Hans onderzocht. Wat blijft er over van het bewijs na een precieze analyse en een experiment met DNA

The Internet of Things as Smart City Enabler: The Cases of Palo Alto, Nice and Stockholm

Due to rapid urbanization, city populations are rapidly increasing all over the world creating new problems and challenges. Solving some of these problems requires innovative approaches; one increasingly popular approach is to transform cities to Smart Cities. Smart Cities implement innovative approaches based on IoT technologies and convert many services to digital services. These services are implemented within the different components of a Smart City, helping city administrators to improve the life of the citizens, addressing different service, security and administrative challenges. The objective of this paper is to explore and determine how three well-known cities - Nice, Palo Alto and Stockholm - implemented the Smart City concept. The study indicates that a successful implementation of a Smart City model requires addressing a number of critical challenges: citizen involvement, business collaboration and strong leadership prove to be key success factors in the Smart City development process

A new phosphospecific cell-based ELISA for p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), p38 MAPK, protein kinase B and cAMP-response-element-binding protein.

Assaying activation of signal transduction is laborious and does not allow the study of large numbers of samples, essential for high-throughput drug screens or for large groups of patients. Using phosphospecific antibodies, we have developed ELISA techniques enabling non-radioactive semi-quantitative assessment of the activation state of p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), p38 MAPK, protein kinase B and the transcription factor cAMP-response-element-binding protein (CREB) in 96-well plates. This assay has been termed PACE (phosphospecific antibody cell-based ELISA) and was used successfully for both adherent and suspension cells. Various stimuli induced dose-dependent enzymic activity of which the kinetics closely correlated with those measured via classical methodology. Using PACE we have now characterized for the first time the concentration-dependent effects of various inflammatory prostaglandins on CREB phosphorylation in macrophages. PACE is a straightforward and novel technique enabling the large-scale analysis of signal transduction