Scaling and governance conference 2010 : "Towards a New Knowledge for Scale Sensitive Governance of Complex Systems" : conference program and book of abstracts, Wageningen, the Netherlands November 11-12, 2010

Both the ecological and the socio-economic domain are organized across a multitude of scales and levels. Governance encompasses all those structures and activities of social, political and administrative actors that can be seen as purposeful efforts to guide, steer, control, or manage sustainable development or other moral principles like good governance, accountability or environmental justice

Sturen op duurzame ontwikkeling van stadsranden : lessen uit 7 regio’s in Europa en China

In 2005 nam Alterra het initiatief tot een geïntegreerd Europees onderzoek naar stadsranden, PLUREL. Dit project onderzocht stadsrandgebieden van zes Europese regio's en een regio in China. Voor de Europese regio's zijn de strategieën en ruimtelijke planningen bekeken. Het gaat om de regio's Haaglanden, Leipzig-Halle, Koper, Greater Manchester, Montpellier, Warschau en voor China: Hangzho

Mediating effect of soluble B-cell activation immune markers on the association between anthropometric and lifestyle factors and lymphoma development

Sustained B-cell activation is an important mechanism contributing to B-cell lymphoma (BCL). We aimed to validate four previously reported B-cell activation markers predictive of BCL risk (sCD23, sCD27, sCD30, and CXCL13) and to examine their possible mediating effects on the association between anthropometric and lifestyle factors and major BCL subtypes. Pre-diagnostic serum levels were measured for 517 BCL cases and 525 controls in a nested case-control study. The odds ratios of BCL were 6.2 in the highest versus lowest quartile for sCD23, 2.6 for sCD30, 4.2 for sCD27, and 2.6 for CXCL13. Higher levels of all markers were associated with increased risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), follicular lymphoma (FL), and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Following mutual adjustment for the other immune markers, sCD23 remained associated with all subtypes and CXCL13 with FL and DLBCL. The associations of sCD23 with CLL and DLBCL and CXCL13 with DLBCL persisted among cases sampled > 9 years before diagnosis. sCD23 showed a good predictive ability (area under the curve = 0.80) for CLL, in particular among older, male participants. sCD23 and CXCL13 showed a mediating effect between body mass index (positive) and DLBCL risk, while CXCL13 contributed to the association between physical activity (inverse) and DLBCL. Our data suggest a role of B-cell activation in BCL development and a mediating role of the immune system for lifestyle factors

Validation of Foot Placement Locations from Ankle Data of a Kinect v2 Sensor

The Kinect v2 sensor may be a cheap and easy to use sensor to quantify gait in clinical settings, especially when applied in set-ups integrating multiple Kinect sensors to increase the measurement volume. Reliable estimates of foot placement locations are required to quantify spatial gait parameters. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of distance from the sensor, side and step length on estimates of foot placement locations based on Kinect’s ankle body points. Subjects (n = 12) performed stepping trials at imposed foot placement locations distanced 2 m or 3 m from the Kinect sensor (distance), for left and right foot placement locations (side), and for five imposed step lengths. Body points’ time series of the lower extremities were recorded with a Kinect v2 sensor, placed frontoparallelly on the left side, and a gold-standard motion-registration system. Foot placement locations, step lengths, and stepping accuracies were compared between systems using repeated-measures ANOVAs, agreement statistics and two one-sided t-tests to test equivalence. For the right side at the 2 m distance from the sensor we found significant between-systems differences in foot placement locations and step lengths, and evidence for nonequivalence. This distance by side effect was likely caused by differences in body orientation relative to the Kinect sensor. It can be reduced by using Kinect’s higher-dimensional depth data to estimate foot placement locations directly from the foot’s point cloud and/or by using smaller inter-sensor distances in the case of a multi-Kinect v2 set-up to estimate foot placement locations at greater distances from the sensor

Sturen op duurzame ontwikkeling van stadsranden : lessen uit 7 regio’s in Europa en China

In 2005 nam Alterra het initiatief tot een geïntegreerd Europees onderzoek naar stadsranden, PLUREL. Dit project onderzocht stadsrandgebieden van zes Europese regio's en een regio in China. Voor de Europese regio's zijn de strategieën en ruimtelijke planningen bekeken. Het gaat om de regio's Haaglanden, Leipzig-Halle, Koper, Greater Manchester, Montpellier, Warschau en voor China: Hangzho

New approaches to market information to enhancing agricultural competitiveness in Uganda

No Abstract

T and NK Cells in IL2RG-Deficient Patient 50 Years After Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

The first successful European hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was performed in 1968 as treatment in a newborn with IL2RG deficiency using an HLA-identical sibling donor. Because of declining naive T and natural killer (NK) cells, and persistent human papilloma virus (HPV)-induced warts, the patient received a peripheral stem cell boost at the age of 37 years. NK and T cells were assessed before and up to 14 years after the boost by flow cytometry. The boost induced renewed reconstitution of functional NK cells that were 14 years later enriched for CD56dimCD27+ NK cells. T-cell phenotype and T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire were simultaneously analyzed by including TCR Vβ antibodies in the cytometry panel. Naive T-cell numbers with a diverse TCR Vβ repertoire were increased by the boost. Before and after the boost, clonal expansions with a homogeneous TIGIT and PD-1 phenotype were identified in the CD27− and/or CD28− memory population in the patient, but not in the donor. TRB sequencing was applied on sorted T-cell subsets from blood and on T cells from skin biopsies. Abundant circulating CD8 memory clonotypes with a chronic virus-associated CD57+KLRG1+CX3CR1+ phenotype were also present in warts, but not in healthy skin of the patient, suggesting a link with HPV. In conclusion, we demonstrate in this IL2RG-deficient patient functional NK cells, a diverse and lasting naive T-cell compartment, supported by a stem cell boost, and an oligoclonal memory compartment half a century after HSCT