The Sixties as turning point in the histoire croisée of the Low Countries

While comparative and transnational approaches are now dominant historiographical trends, there is currently little interest in an integrated approach to the modern history of Belgium and the Netherlands. This is all the more remarkable, since such an integral approach to the history of the Low Countries prevailed until the 1970s, despite the fact that Pieter Geyl’s ideological programme of a Greater Netherlands had fallen into disrepute. Two recent publications suggest a departure from this trend and re-open the debate on how to write an integrated history of the Low Countries, especially for the period after the constitutional division of 1830. Reflecting on these publications, De Haan argues that there are strong historical commonalities between the Belgium and the Netherlands, and that the historiographical trend of increased attention to national specificities must be interpreted as a reflection of the divided impact of the Sixties in the two countries

Plant sterols cause macrothrombocytopenia in a mouse model of sitosterolemia

Mutations in either ABCG5 or ABCG8 cause sitosterolemia, an inborn error of metabolism characterized by high plasma plant sterol concentrations. Recently, macrothrombocytopenia was described in a number of sitosterolemia patients, linking hematological dysfunction to disturbed sterol metabolism. Here, we demonstrate that macrothrombocytopenia is an intrinsic feature of murine sitosterolemia. Abcg5-deficient (Abcg5(-/-)) mice showed a 68% reduction in platelet count, and platelets were enlarged compared with wild-type controls. Macrothrombocytopenia was not due to decreased numbers of megakaryocytes or their progenitors, but defective megakaryocyte development with deterioration of the demarcation membrane system was evident. Lethally irradiated wild-type mice transplanted with bone marrow from Abcg5(-/-) mice displayed normal platelets, whereas Abcg5(-/-) mice transplanted with wild-type bone marrow still showed macrothrombocytopenia. Treatment with the sterol absorption inhibitor ezetimibe rapidly reversed macrothrombocytopenia in Abcg5(-/-) mice concomitant with a strong decrease in plasma plant sterols. Thus, accumulation of plant sterols is responsible for development of macrothrombocytopenia in sitosterolemia, and blocking intestinal plant sterol absorption provides an effective means of treatment