416 research outputs found
Children of the Revolution:The Impact of 1960s and 1970s Cultural Identification on Baby Boomers’ Views on Retirement
Финансовое обеспечение деятельности туристического предприятия
Целью статьи является разработка рекомендаций по повышению эффективности финансового обеспечения деятельности туристического предприятия, определение приоритетных путей совершенствования финансовых показателей его деятельности
Symposium The future of informal care [Symposium De toekomst van de informele zorg]
Due to the reform of long term care in 2015, there is growing concern about whether groups at risk receive the care they need. People in need of care have to rely more on help from their social network. The increased need for informal care requires resilience and organizational skills of families, but also of volunteers, professionals and employers. What does this mean for the provision of informal care in the next decennia? The symposium ‘The future of informal care’, organized on January 26 2017 by the National Institute for Social Research and the Institute for Societal Resilience of the Vrije Universiteit, addressed possible answers to this question. In her inaugural speech Alice de Boer discussed social inequality as possible determinant and outcome of informal care. Some conclusions: Until 2050 the absolute number of 75-plus doubled to about 3 million persons, but the number of informal caregivers will decrease. In addition to the importance of social and economic resources (the ‘have & have-nots’), the ability to arrange care (the ‘can & can-nots’) gains importance. Almost half of the older employers provides informal care just before retirement. Flexibility in working hours and work location facilitates combining work and care, but about half of the employers indicates that partial retirement and working at home are no options. Informal caregivers and professionals often provide care from comparable perspectives and identities. Addressing similarities rather than differences improves their chances for collaboration. The number of adult children providing household care to older parents increased between 2002 and 2014. This suggests an increase in family solidarity, but current reform policies may increase the gender inequality in caregiving families. Spouses and children remain primary caregivers in the future, preferably supported by many different types of caregivers. Not everybody has the capabilities to organize and direct such a large care network. Providing informal care increases the risk for overburden and absence at work or education. Informal caregivers at risk remain, also in the future, women, spouses, migrants, and younger carers
One-year safety and efficacy of mitapivat in sickle cell disease:follow-up results of a phase 2, open-label study
Targeting the primary pathogenic event of sickle cell disease (SCD), the polymerization of sickle hemoglobin (HbS), may prevent downstream clinical events. Mitapivat, an oral pyruvate kinase (PK) activator, has therapeutic potential by increasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and decreasing 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), a glycolytic red blood cell (RBC) intermediate. In the previously reported 8-week dose-finding period of this phase 2, investigator-initiated, open-label study, mitapivat was well tolerated and showed efficacy in SCD. Here, the 1-year fixed-dose extension period is reported in which 9 of 10 included patients (90%) aged ≥16 years with SCD (HbSS, HbS/β0, or HbS/β+) continued with mitapivat. Mostly mild treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) (most commonly, transaminase increase and headache) were still reported. Apart from the reported nontreatment-related serious AE (SAE) of a urinary tract infection in the dose-finding period, 1 nontreatment-related SAE occurred in the fixed-dose extension period in a patient who died of massive pulmonary embolism due to COVID-19. Importantly, sustained improvement in Hb level (mean increase, 1.1 ± 0.7 g/dL; P = .0014) was seen, which was accompanied by decreases in markers of hemolysis. In addition, the annualized rate of vaso-occlusive events reduced significantly from a historic baseline of 1.33 ± 1.32 to 0.64 ± 0.87 (P = .0489) when combining the dose-finding period and fixed-dose extension period. Cellularly, the ATP:2,3-DPG ratio and Hb-oxygen affinity significantly increased and RBC sickling (point of sickling) nonsignificantly reduced. Overall, this study demonstrated 1-year safety and efficacy of treatment with mitapivat in SCD, supporting further evaluation in ongoing phase 2/3 study (RISE UP, NCT05031780). This trial was registered at https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/as NL8517 and EudraCT 2019-003438-18.</p
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Ribosomal Protein Mutations Induce Autophagy through S6 Kinase Inhibition of the Insulin Pathway
Mutations affecting the ribosome lead to several diseases known as ribosomopathies, with phenotypes that include growth defects, cytopenia, and bone marrow failure. Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA), for example, is a pure red cell aplasia linked to the mutation of ribosomal protein (RP) genes. Here we show the knock-down of the DBA-linked RPS19 gene induces the cellular self-digestion process of autophagy, a pathway critical for proper hematopoiesis. We also observe an increase of autophagy in cells derived from DBA patients, in CD34+ erythrocyte progenitor cells with RPS19 knock down, in the red blood cells of zebrafish embryos with RP-deficiency, and in cells from patients with Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS). The loss of RPs in all these models results in a marked increase in S6 kinase phosphorylation that we find is triggered by an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). We show that this increase in S6 kinase phosphorylation inhibits the insulin pathway and AKT phosphorylation activity through a mechanism reminiscent of insulin resistance. While stimulating RP-deficient cells with insulin reduces autophagy, antioxidant treatment reduces S6 kinase phosphorylation, autophagy, and stabilization of the p53 tumor suppressor. Our data suggest that RP loss promotes the aberrant activation of both S6 kinase and p53 by increasing intracellular ROS levels. The deregulation of these signaling pathways is likely playing a major role in the pathophysiology of ribosomopathies
Metabolic blood profile and response to treatment with the pyruvate kinase activator mitapivat in patients with sickle cell disease
Mitapivat is an investigational, oral, small-molecule allosteric activator of pyruvate kinase (PK). PK is a regulatory glycolytic enzyme that is key in providing the red blood cell (RBC) with sufficient amounts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In sickle cell disease (SCD), decreased 2,3-DPG levels increase the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin, thereby preventing deoxygenation and polymerization of sickle hemoglobin. The PK activator mitapivat has been shown to decrease levels of 2,3-DPG and increase levels of ATP in RBCs in patients with SCD. In this phase 2, investigator-initiated, open-label study (https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ NL8517; EudraCT 2019-003438-18), untargeted metabolomics was used to explore the overall metabolic effects of 8-week treatment with mitapivat in the dose-finding period. In total, 1773 unique metabolites were identified in dried blood spots of whole blood from ten patients with SCD and 42 healthy controls (HCs). The metabolic phenotype of patients with SCD revealed alterations in 139/1773 (7.8%) metabolites at baseline when compared to HCs (false discovery rate-adjusted p < 0.05), including increases of (derivatives of) polyamines, purines, and acyl carnitines. Eight-week treatment with mitapivat in nine patients with SCD altered 85/1773 (4.8%) of the total metabolites and 18/139 (12.9%) of the previously identified altered metabolites in SCD (unadjusted p < 0.05). Effects were observed on a broad spectrum of metabolites and were not limited to glycolytic intermediates. Our results show the relevance of metabolic profiling in SCD, not only to unravel potential pathophysiological pathways and biomarkers in multisystem diseases but also to determine the effect of treatment.</p
Metabolic blood profile and response to treatment with the pyruvate kinase activator mitapivat in patients with sickle cell disease
Mitapivat is an investigational, oral, small-molecule allosteric activator of pyruvate kinase (PK). PK is a regulatory glycolytic enzyme that is key in providing the red blood cell (RBC) with sufficient amounts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In sickle cell disease (SCD), decreased 2,3-DPG levels increase the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin, thereby preventing deoxygenation and polymerization of sickle hemoglobin. The PK activator mitapivat has been shown to decrease levels of 2,3-DPG and increase levels of ATP in RBCs in patients with SCD. In this phase 2, investigator-initiated, open-label study (https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ NL8517; EudraCT 2019-003438-18), untargeted metabolomics was used to explore the overall metabolic effects of 8-week treatment with mitapivat in the dose-finding period. In total, 1773 unique metabolites were identified in dried blood spots of whole blood from ten patients with SCD and 42 healthy controls (HCs). The metabolic phenotype of patients with SCD revealed alterations in 139/1773 (7.8%) metabolites at baseline when compared to HCs (false discovery rate-adjusted p < 0.05), including increases of (derivatives of) polyamines, purines, and acyl carnitines. Eight-week treatment with mitapivat in nine patients with SCD altered 85/1773 (4.8%) of the total metabolites and 18/139 (12.9%) of the previously identified altered metabolites in SCD (unadjusted p < 0.05). Effects were observed on a broad spectrum of metabolites and were not limited to glycolytic intermediates. Our results show the relevance of metabolic profiling in SCD, not only to unravel potential pathophysiological pathways and biomarkers in multisystem diseases but also to determine the effect of treatment.</p
Untargeted metabolic profiling in dried blood spots identifies disease fingerprint for pyruvate kinase deficiency
The diagnostic evaluation and clinical characterization of rare hereditary anemia (RHA) is to date still challenging. In particular, there is little knowledge of the broad metabolic impact of many of the molecular defects underlying RHA. In this study we explored the potential of untargeted metabolomics to diagnose a relatively common type of RHA: pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD). In total, 1,903 unique metabolite features were identified in dried blood spot samples from 16 PKD patients and 32 healthy controls. A metabolic fingerprint was identified using a machine learning algorithm, and subsequently a binary classification model was designed. The model showed high performance characteristics (AUC 0.990, 95% CI: 0.981-0.999) and an accurate class assignment was achieved for all newly added control (n=13) and patient samples, (n=6) with the exception of one patient (accuracy 94%). Important metabolites in the metabolic fingerprint included glycolytic intermediates, polyamines and several acyl carnitines. In general, the application of untargeted metabolomics in dried blood spots is a novel functional tool that holds promise for the diagnostic stratification and studies on the disease pathophysiology in RHA
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