Effective use of the assisting hand in adolescents with cerebral palsy

Part one of this thesis evaluates the development, validation and reliability of the Assisting Hand Assessment for adolescents (Ad-AHA). The scale showed good construct validity within the whole age range (18 months to 18 years). The Ad-AHA is a valid performance-based instrument to monitor development from childhood to young adulthood, evaluate interventions and guide intervention planning. The Ad-AHA has good-to-excellent interrater and test-retest reliability in adolescents with unilateral CP. Reliable AHA-scores can be generated by using different age-appropriate tests activities. The Ad-AHA can be used to evaluate change over time with a score change of 5 AHA-units. Part two evaluates the effect of two interventions on the ability to perform daily activities in children and adolescents with CP. The performance of bimanual activities in children wearing a functional hand orthosis improved significantly. With evaluation on the level of individual AHA items, the therapist can decide in which activities the individual child will most likely be able to benefit most from the orthosis. The systematic review summarizes the clinical postoperative outcomes of upper extremity surgery (UES) on hand use in children and adolescents with CP. Considering the overall very low quality of the evidence, it is not possible to make clinical recommendations on the effect of upper extremity surgery. The outcomes of the clinical cohort study show that careful patient selection, based on multidisciplinary assessment and shared decision-making, results in clinically relevant improvements in patient-specific functional and/or cosmetic goals and manual ability after UES

An EXAFS study on the so-called "Co-Mo-S" phase in Co/C and CoMo/c, compared with a Mössbauer emission spectroscopy study

EXAFS measurements were performed on four sulfided catalysts with the same compn. as their 57Co-contg. counterparts which were previously characterized by Moessbauer emission spectroscopy. The Co species in Co/C catalysts with a Co-Mo-S-like Moessbauer emission spectrum after sulfidation at 373 K is similar to the species with the Co-Mo-S spectrum in CoMo/C catalysts. In both cases the Co atoms are present in a very highly dispersed Co species. In the catalyst without Mo this sulfidic Co species strongly sinters during sulfidation at 673 K, resulting in a Co9S8-type phase. In the CoMo/C catalyst, the Mo hinders sintering of the Co species. [on SciFinder (R)

An EXAFS study on the so-called "Co-Mo-S" phase in Co/C and CoMo/c, compared with a Mössbauer emission spectroscopy study

EXAFS measurements were performed on four sulfided catalysts with the same compn. as their 57Co-contg. counterparts which were previously characterized by Moessbauer emission spectroscopy. The Co species in Co/C catalysts with a Co-Mo-S-like Moessbauer emission spectrum after sulfidation at 373 K is similar to the species with the Co-Mo-S spectrum in CoMo/C catalysts. In both cases the Co atoms are present in a very highly dispersed Co species. In the catalyst without Mo this sulfidic Co species strongly sinters during sulfidation at 673 K, resulting in a Co9S8-type phase. In the CoMo/C catalyst, the Mo hinders sintering of the Co species. [on SciFinder (R)

An EXAFS study on the so-called "Co-Mo-S" phase in Co/C and CoMo/c, compared with a Mössbauer emission spectroscopy study

EXAFS measurements were performed on four sulfided catalysts with the same compn. as their 57Co-contg. counterparts which were previously characterized by Moessbauer emission spectroscopy. The Co species in Co/C catalysts with a Co-Mo-S-like Moessbauer emission spectrum after sulfidation at 373 K is similar to the species with the Co-Mo-S spectrum in CoMo/C catalysts. In both cases the Co atoms are present in a very highly dispersed Co species. In the catalyst without Mo this sulfidic Co species strongly sinters during sulfidation at 673 K, resulting in a Co9S8-type phase. In the CoMo/C catalyst, the Mo hinders sintering of the Co species. [on SciFinder (R)

The effect of passivation on the activity and structure of sulfided hydrotreating catalysts

Air exposure (passivation) and subsequent resulfidation caused a substantial increase in the thiophene hydrodesulfurization activity of sulfided Co-Mo/Al2O3 catalysts. Since no effect was observed for Mo/Al2O3 and Co/Al2O3 catalysts, the passivation effect must be related to the Co---Mo---S structure. EXAFS, Mssbauer emission spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy measurements showed that the passivation effect is neither related to a change in the MoS2 dispersion, nor to a change in number and nature of the Co sites. A Co-Mo/TiO2, a Co-Mo/C, and a Co-Mo/Al3O3 catalyst, which was prepared with the aid of nitrilotriacetic acid, hardly showed an increase in the catalytic activity after passivation. Because of this, and since the Mo-S coordination number for a Co-Mo/Al2O3 catalyst is increased by passivation, it is concluded that the activity increase originates from a decrease in Mo-support interactions. These interactions are broken when Co atoms migrate to Mo---O---Al bonds during a passivation and resulfidation treatment and assist in the sulfidation of these bonds. Removal of steric hindrance is held responsible for the activity increase. The effect of passivation on the catalytic activity decreased with increasing Co/Mo ratio, probably because at high Co loadings most Mo---O---Al bonds are already sulfided in the first sulfidation step. A maximum activity increase was obtained at a passivation temperature of 340 K. At lower temperatures the oxidation and migration of Co is too slow, whereas at higher temperatures new Mo---O---Al bonds are formed in the passivation treatment. Ni-Mo/Al2O3 catalysts showed the same behavior as Co-Mo/Al2O3 catalysts

Estrogens and progestogens in triple negative breast cancer: Do they harm?

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) occur more frequently in younger women and do not express estrogen receptor (ER) nor progesterone receptor (PR), and are therefore often consid-ered hormone-insensitive. Treatment of premenopausal TNBC patients almost always includes chemotherapy, which may lead to premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and can severely impact quality of life. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is contraindicated for patients with a history of hormone-sensitive breast cancer, but the data on safety for TNBC patients is inconclusive, with a few randomized trials showing increased risk-ratios with wide confidence intervals for recurrence after HRT. Here, we review the literature on alternative pathways from the classical ER/PR. We find that for both estrogens and progestogens, potential alternatives exist for exerting their effects on TNBC, ranging from receptor conversion, to alternative receptors capable of binding estrogens, as well as paracrine pathways, such as RANK/RANKL, which can cause progestogens to indirectly stimulate growth and metastasis of TNBC. Finally, HRT may also influence other hormones, such as androgens, and their effects on TNBCs expressing androgen receptors (AR). Concluding, the assumption that TNBC is completely hormone-insensitive is incorrect. However, the direction of the effects of the alternative pathways is not always clear, and will need to be investigated further