Verbeteren calciumbenutting tijdens de droogstand

In het algemeen wordt veel aandacht geschonken aan voeding van droogstaande koeien. Toch komt op meerdere melkveebedrijven nog steeds vrij veel melkziekte voor. Melkziekte treedt op rond het afkalven en wordt veroorzaakt door een te laag calciumgehalte in het bloed. Een laag magnesiumgehalte in het bloed vergroot het risico op melkziekte. De beschikbaarheid van calcium in het bloed is afhankelijk van de calcium opname met het voer en de benutting ervan in de darm

Magnesium in drinkwater voor weidende droge koeien

Vooral in de late herfst is de kans groot dat door de lage magnesiumgehalten in het gras en de slechte benuiting door een hoog kali- en OEB-gehalte een tekort aan magnesium bij deze dieren ontstaat met als gevolg melkziekte, kopziekte of doodgeboren kalveren

Prokaryotic expression, purification and immunogenicity in rabbits of the small antigen of hepatitis delta virus

Funding Information: Expression and purification of HDV antigen was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 16-04-01490a). Evaluation of serum by Western blot and confocal microscopy was supported by Russian Science Foundation (grant 14-14-01021). Experiments in rabbits were supported by the Swedish Institute grants 09272_2013 and 19806_2016. Cross-border collaboration of the partners, exchange of the materials and standard operation procedures used in the study, and dissemination of the data were supported by the EU Twinning project VACTRAIN, contract nr 692293. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a viroid-like blood-borne human pathogen that accompanies hepatitis B virus infection in 5% patients. HDV has been studied for four decades; however, the knowledge on its life-cycle and pathogenesis is still sparse. The studies are hampered by the absence of the commercially-available HDV-specific antibodies. Here, we describe a set of reproducible methods for the expression in E. coli of His-tagged small antigen of HDV (S-HDAg), its purification, and production of polyclonal anti-S-HDAg antibodies in rabbits. S-HDAg was cloned into a commercial vector guiding expression of the recombinant proteins with the C-terminal His-tag. We optimized S-HDAg protein purification procedure circumventing a low affinity of the His-tagged S-HDAg to the Ni-nitrilotriacetyl agarose (Ni-NTA-agarose) resin. Optimization allowed us to obtain S-HDAg with >90% purity. S-HDAg was used to immunize Shinchilla grey rabbits which received 80 µg of S-HDAg in two subcutaneous primes in the complete, followed by four 40 µg boosts in incomplete Freunds adjuvant. Rabbits were bled two weeks post each boost. Antibody titers determined by indirect ELISA exceeded 107. Anti-S-HDAg antibodies detected the antigen on Western blots in the amounts of up-to 100 pg. They were also successfully used to characterize the expression of S-HDAg in the eukaryotic cells by immunofluorescent staining/confocal microscopy.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Designing a Good Life: A Matrix for the Technological Mediation of Morality

Technologies fulfill a social role in the sense that they influence the moral actions of people, often in unintended and unforeseen ways. Scientists and engineers are already accepting much responsibility for the technological, economical and environmental aspects of their work. This article asks them to take an extra step, and now also consider the social role of their products. The aim is to enable engineers to take a prospective responsibility for the future social roles of their technologies by providing them with a matrix that helps to explore in advance how emerging technologies might plausibly affect the reasons behind people’s (moral) actions. On the horizontal axis of the matrix, we distinguished the three basic types of reasons that play a role in practical judgment: what is the case, what can be done and what should be done. On the vertical axis we distinguished the morally relevant classes of issues: stakeholders, consequences and the good life. To illustrate how this matrix may work in practice, the final section applies the matrix to the case of the Google PowerMeter

Bioavailability in soils

The consumption of locally-produced vegetables by humans may be an important exposure pathway for soil contaminants in many urban settings and for agricultural land use. Hence, prediction of metal and metalloid uptake by vegetables from contaminated soils is an important part of the Human Health Risk Assessment procedure. The behaviour of metals (cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, lead and zinc) and metalloids (arsenic, boron and selenium) in contaminated soils depends to a large extent on the intrinsic charge, valence and speciation of the contaminant ion, and soil properties such as pH, redox status and contents of clay and/or organic matter. However, chemistry and behaviour of the contaminant in soil alone cannot predict soil-to-plant transfer. Root uptake, root selectivity, ion interactions, rhizosphere processes, leaf uptake from the atmosphere, and plant partitioning are important processes that ultimately govern the accumulation ofmetals and metalloids in edible vegetable tissues. Mechanistic models to accurately describe all these processes have not yet been developed, let alone validated under field conditions. Hence, to estimate risks by vegetable consumption, empirical models have been used to correlate concentrations of metals and metalloids in contaminated soils, soil physico-chemical characteristics, and concentrations of elements in vegetable tissues. These models should only be used within the bounds of their calibration, and often need to be re-calibrated or validated using local soil and environmental conditions on a regional or site-specific basis.Mike J. McLaughlin, Erik Smolders, Fien Degryse, and Rene Rietr

Dwelling, house and home: towards a home-led perspective on dementia care

“Home” is well known from everyday experience, plays a crucial role in all kinds of narratives about human life, but is hardly ever systematically dealt with in the philosophy of medicine and health care. The notion of home is ambiguous, is often used in a metaphorical way, and is closely related to concepts such as house and dwelling. In this paper the phenomenon of home is explored by means of some phenomenological writings of Heidegger, Bollnow, Bachelard and Levinas. Common in their views is that being at home and dwelling mean something more fundamental than an activity we do along with other activities, such as working and travelling. Dwelling, building a house and being at home are fundamental aspects of human existence. Being human is dwelling. While exploring the relevance of this phenomenological perspective for medical theory and practice, the focus is on the care of people suffering from dementia

Role of nickel in high rate methanol degradation in anaerobic granular sludge bioreactors

The effect of nickel deprivation from the influent of a mesophilic (30°C) methanol fed upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor was investigated by coupling the reactor performance to the evolution of the Methanosarcina population of the bioreactor sludge. The reactor was operated at pH 7.0 and an organic loading rate (OLR) of 5–15 g COD l−1 day−1 for 191 days. A clear limitation of the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) on methanol due to the absence of nickel was observed after 129 days of bioreactor operation: the SMA of the sludge in medium with the complete trace metal solution except nickel amounted to 1.164 (±0.167) g CH4-COD g VSS−1 day−1 compared to 2.027 (±0.111) g CH4-COD g VSS−1 day−1 in a medium with the complete (including nickel) trace metal solution. The methanol removal efficiency during these 129 days was 99%, no volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulation was observed and the size of the Methanosarcina population increased compared to the seed sludge. Continuation of the UASB reactor operation with the nickel limited sludge lead to incomplete methanol removal, and thus methanol accumulation in the reactor effluent from day 142 onwards. This methanol accumulation subsequently induced an increase of the acetogenic activity in the UASB reactor on day 160. On day 165, 77% of the methanol fed to the system was converted to acetate and the Methanosarcina population size had substantially decreased. Inclusion of 0.5 μM Ni (dosed as NiCl2) to the influent from day 165 onwards lead to the recovery of the methanol removal efficiency to 99% without VFA accumulation within 2 days of bioreactor operation

Exploring the similarities and differences between medical assessments of competence and criminal responsibility

The medical assessments of criminal responsibility and competence to consent to treatment are performed, developed and debated in distinct domains. In this paper I try to connect these domains by exploring the similarities and differences between both assessments. In my view, in both assessments a decision-making process is evaluated in relation to the possible influence of a mental disorder on this process. I will argue that, in spite of the relevance of the differences, both practices could benefit from the recognition of this similarity. For cooperative research could be developed directed at elucidating exactly how various mental disturbances can affect decision-making processes

Free will and mental disorder: Exploring the relationship

A link between mental disorder and freedom is clearly present in the introduction of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). It mentions “an important loss of freedom” as one of the possible defining features of mental disorder. Meanwhile, it remains unclear how “an important loss of freedom” should be understood. In order to get a clearer view on the relationship between mental disorder and (a loss of) freedom, in this article, I will explore the link between mental disorder and free will. I examine two domains in which a connection between mental disorder and free will is present: the philosophy of free will and forensic psychiatry. As it turns out, philosophers of free will frequently refer to mental disorders as conditions that compromise free will and reduce moral responsibility. In addition, in forensic psychiatry, the rationale for the assessment of criminal responsibility is often explained by referring to the fact that mental disorders can compromise free will. Yet, in both domains, it remains unclear in what way free will is compromised by mental disorders. Based on the philosophical debate, I discuss three senses of free will and explore their relevance to mental disorders. I conclude that in order to further clarify the relationship between free will and mental disorder, the accounts of people who have actually experienced the impact of a mental disorder should be included in future research