On the pathological remodeling of large arteries

Vonk Noordegraaf, A. [Promotor]Krams, R. [Promotor

Transforming the Welfare State, One Case at a Time: How Utrecht Makes Customized Social Care Work

Advanced welfare states are under pressure to customize services, promptly enough to prevent a cascade of harms. With these goals, the Netherlands in 2015 decentralized social care services to municipalities, and within municipalities to neighborhood teams in continuing contact with clients. The overall results have been disappointing. But the experience of Utrecht, the Netherlands’ fourth-largest city, has been strikingly different. By using hard-to-resolve cases to signal conflicts in rules, obstructive jurisdictional boundaries, and the shortcomings of private service providers, Utrecht is learning to customize and speed delivery of social care through incremental steps. This article explains how Utrecht’s success addresses apparently intractable limits to the adaptability of the rule-bound welfare state, such as the problem of low-level discretion or street-level bureaucracy and the division of services into silos, in the process bridging, and perhaps effacing, the gap between the Habermasian life world and the system world of formal rules

High speed miniature motorized endoscopic probe for optical frequency domain imaging

We present a miniature motorized endoscopic probe for Optical Coherence Tomography with an outer diameter of 1.65 mm and a rotation speed of 3,000-12,500 rpm. This is the smallest motorized high speed OCT probe to our knowledge. The probe has a motorized distal end which provides a significant advantage over proximally driven probes since it does not require a drive shaft to transfer the rotational torque to the distal end of the probe and functions without a fiber rotary junction. The probe has a focal Full Width at Half Maximum of 9.6 μm and a working distance of 0.47 mm. We analyzed the non uniform rotation distortion and found a location fluctuation of only 1.87° in repeated measurements of the same object. The probe was integrated in a high-speed Optical Frequency Domain Imaging setup at 1310 nm to acquire images from ex vivo pig lung tissue through the working channel of a human bronchoscope. © 2012 Optical Society of America

Anthocyanin production as a potential visual selection marker during plant transformation

A mutant allele of the transcription factor gene MYB10 from apple induces anthocyanin production throughout the plant. This gene, including its upstream promoter, gene coding region and terminator sequence, was introduced into apple, strawberry and potato plants to determine whether it could be used as a visible selectable marker for plant transformation as an alternative to chemically selectable markers, such as kanamycin resistance. After transformation, red coloured calli, red shoots and red well-growing plants were scored. Red and green shoots were harvested from apple explants and examined for the presence of the MYB10 gene by PCR analysis. Red shoots of apple explants always contained the MYB10 gene but not all MYB10 containing shoots were red. Strawberry plants transformed with the MYB10 gene showed anthocyanin accumulation in leaves and roots. No visible accumulation of anthocyanin could be observed in potato plants grown in vitro, even the ones carrying the MYB10 gene. However, acid methanol extracts of potato shoots or roots carrying the MYB10 gene contained up to four times higher anthocyanin content than control plants. Therefore anthocyanin production as result of the apple MYB10 gene can be used as a selectable marker for apple, strawberry and potato transformation, replacing kanamycin resistance

Oral health status of adults in Southern Vietnam - a cross-sectional epidemiological study

Contains fulltext : 89929.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Before strategies or protocols for oral health care can be advised at population level, epidemiological information on tooth decay patterns and its effects on oral function are indispensable. The aim of this study was to investigate influences of socio-demographic variables on the prevalence of decayed, missing, filled (DMF) and sound teeth (St) and to determine the relative risk of teeth in different dental regions for D, M, and F, of adults living in urban and rural areas in Southern Vietnam. METHODS: Cross-sectional DMF and St data of 2965 dentate subjects aged 20 to 95 living in urban and rural areas in three provinces were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire and an oral examination. The sample was stratified by age, gender, residence and province. RESULTS: The percentage of subjects having missing teeth was high for all ages while it was low for subjects with decayed and filled teeth. The mean number of missing teeth increased gradually by age from approximately 1 in each jaw at the age of 20 to 8 at the age of 80. The number of decayed teeth was relative low at all ages, being highest in molars at young ages. The mean number of filled teeth was extremely low at all ages in all dental regions. Every additional year of age gives a significantly lower chance for decay, a higher chance for missing, and a lower chance for filled teeth. Molars had a significantly higher risk for decay, missing and filled than premolars and anterior teeth. Females had significantly higher risk for decayed and filled teeth, and less chance for missing teeth than males. Urban subjects presented lower risk for decay, but approximately 4 times greater chance for having fillings than rural subjects. Low socio-economic status (SES) significantly increased the chance for missing anterior and molar teeth; subjects with high SES had more often fillings. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of adults of Southern Vietnam presented a reduced dentition. The combination of low numbers of filled teeth and relative high numbers of decayed and missing teeth indicates that the main treatment for decay is extraction. Molars are more at risk for being decayed or missing than premolars and anterior teeth

Ebstein’s anomaly may be caused by mutations in the sarcomere protein gene MYH7

Ebstein's anomaly is a rare congenital heart malformation characterised by adherence of the septal and posterior leaflets of the tricuspid valve to the underlying myocardium. Associated abnormalities of left ventricular morphology and function including left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC) have been observed. An association between Ebstein's anomaly with LVNC and mutations in the sarcomeric protein gene MYH7, encoding β-myosin heavy chain, has been shown by recent studies. This might represent a specific subtype of Ebstein's anomaly with a Mendelian inheritance pattern. In this review we discuss the association of MYH7 mutations with Ebstein's anomaly and LVNC and its implications for the clinical care for patients and their family members.Congenital Heart Diseas

A mutation update for the FLNC gene in myopathies and cardiomyopathies

Filamin C (FLNC) variants are associated with cardiac and muscular phenotypes. Originally, FLNC variants were described in myofibrillar myopathy (MFM) patients. Later, high-throughput screening in cardiomyopathy cohorts determined a prominent role for FLNC in isolated hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies (HCM and DCM). FLNC variants are now among the more prevalent causes of genetic DCM. FLNC-associated DCM is associated with a malignant clinical course and a high risk of sudden cardiac death. The clinical spectrum of FLNC suggests different pathomechanisms related to variant types and their location in the gene. The appropriate functioning of FLNC is crucial for structural integrity and cell signaling of the sarcomere. The secondary protein structure of FLNC is critical to ensure this function. Truncating variants with subsequent haploinsufficiency are associated with DCM and cardiac arrhythmias. Interference with the dimerization and folding of the protein leads to aggregate formation detrimental for muscle function, as found in HCM and MFM. Variants associated with HCM are predominantly missense variants, which cluster in the ROD2 domain. This domain is important for binding to the sarcomere and to ensure appropriate cell signaling. We here review FLNC genotype–phenotype correlations based on available evidence

A mutation update for the FLNC gene in myopathies and cardiomyopathies

Filamin C (FLNC) variants are associated with cardiac and muscular phenotypes. Originally, FLNC variants were described in myofibrillar myopathy (MFM) patients. Later, high-throughput screening in cardiomyopathy cohorts determined a prominent role for FLNC in isolated hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies (HCM and DCM). FLNC variants are now among the more prevalent causes of genetic DCM. FLNC-associated DCM is associated with a malignant clinical course and a high risk of sudden cardiac death. The clinical spectrum of FLNC suggests different pathomechanisms related to variant types and their location in the gene. The appropriate functioning of FLNC is crucial for structural integrity and cell signaling of the sarcomere. The secondary protein structure of FLNC is critical to ensure this function. Truncating variants with subsequent haploinsufficiency are associated with DCM and cardiac arrhythmias. Interference with the dimerization and folding of the protein leads to aggregate formation detrim