In search of an appropriate abstraction level for motif annotations

In: Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative, (pp. 22-28).

Molecular characterization of the CmbR activator-binding site in the metC-cysK promoter region in Lactococcus lactis

The metC-cysK operon involved in sulphur metabolism in Lactococcus lactis is positively regulated by the LysR-type protein CmbR. Transcription from the metC promoter is activated when concentrations of methionine and cysteine in the growth medium are low. The metC promoter region contains two direct and three inverted repeats. Deletion analysis indicated that direct repeat 2 (DR2) is required for activation of the metC promoter by CmbR. Gel mobility shift assays confirmed that CmbR binds to a 407 bp DNA fragment containing the rnetC promoter. This binding was stimulated by O-acetyl-L-serine. Competition experiments with deletion variants of the metC promoter showed that CmbR binding only occurred with fragments containing an intact DR2, confirming that DR2 is the CmbR binding site within the metC promoter

Application of Quantitative MRI Techniques in Ischemic and Congenital Heart Disease image-guided therapy

It is estimated that each year, 30,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from myocardial infarction, and is in fact a major public health care burden. Next to ischaemic heart disease (IHD), thanks to modern medicine, more and more patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) reach adulthood, but nonetheless require lifelong professional care. Imaging techniques are essential in these two groups of patients for establishing diagnosis, guiding therapy and predicting outcomes. This thesis investigated the application of cardiac MRI in patients with IHD and CHD and evaluated novel non-invasive MRI techniques in both humans and in a porcine model. In this thesis we showed that cardiac MRI is an excellent tool for the evaluation of atherosclerotic and congenital cardiovascular disease. It is an excellent tool in predicting outcome after STEM! in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Furthermore, studied in this thesis, the incidence of per procedural complications in patients with CHD seems higher than in the general population suggesting that placement of a pacemaker device might be challenging in this group of patients

Heritability of aggression following social evaluation in middle childhood: An fMRI study.

Middle childhood marks an important phase for developing and maintaining social relations. At the same time, this phase is marked by a gap in our knowledge of the genetic and environmental influences on brain responses to social feedback and their relation to behavioral aggression. In a large developmental twin sample (509 7- to 9-year-olds), the heritability and neural underpinnings of behavioral aggression following social evaluation were investigated, using the Social Network Aggression Task (SNAT). Participants viewed pictures of peers that gave positive, neutral, or negative feedback to the participant’s profile. Next, participants could blast a loud noise toward the peer as an index of aggression. Genetic modeling revealed that aggression following negative feedback was influenced by both genetics and environmental (shared as well as unique environment). On a neural level (n 5 385), the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex gyrus (ACCg) responded to both positive and negative feedback, suggesting they signal for social salience cues. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were specifically activated during negative feedback, whereas positive feedback resulted in increased activation in caudate, supplementary motor cortex (SMA), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Decreased SMA and DLPFC activation during negative feedback was associated with more aggressive behavior aft

Distinctive heritability patterns of subcortical-prefrontal cortex resting state connectivity in childhood: A twin study

Connectivity between limbic/subcortical and prefrontal-cortical brain regions develops considerably across childhood, but less is known about the heritability of these networks at this age. We tested the heritability of limbic/subcortical-cortical and limbic/subcortical-subcortical functional brain connectivity in 7- to 9-year-old twins (N = 220), focusing on two key limbic/subcortical structures: the ventral striatum and the amygdala, given their combined influence on changing incentivised behavior during childhood and adolescence. Whole brain analyses with ventral striatum (VS) and amygdala as seeds in genetically independent groups showed replicable functional connectivity patterns. The behavioral genetic analyses revealed that in general VS and amygdala connectivity showed distinct influences of genetics and environment. VS-prefrontal cortex connections were best described by genetic and unique environmental factors (the latter including measurement error), whereas amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity was mainly explained by environmental influences. Similarities were also found: connectivity between both the VS and amygdala and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) showed influences of shared environment, while connectivity with the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) showed heritability. These findings may inform future interventions that target behavioral control and emotion regulation, by taking into account genetic dispositions as well as shared and unique environmental factors such as child rearing.Development Psychopathology in context: famil

Attachment – public and scientific discourse

In her rather scathing review of ‘The predictive power of attachment’ (January 2017) Elizabeth Meins takes aim at misguided opinions about attachment that circulate in the policy arena. Certainly, policy makers, in an attempt to secure public money that children, families, and schools badly need, tend to exaggerate claims about the critical importance of early experience. The public discourse however should be sharply differentiated from the scientific discourse. Here we focus on Meins’s critique of attachment research. We list some of her comments about the evidence and show that they are largely mistaken

Longitudinal changes in DLPFC activation during childhood are related to decreased aggression following social rejection

Regulating aggression after social feedback is an important prerequisite for developing and maintaining social relations, especially in the current times with larger emphasis on online social evaluation. Studies in adults highlighted the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in regulating aggression. Little is known about the development of aggression regulation following social feedback during childhood, while this is an important period for both brain maturation and social relations. The current study used a longitudinal design, with 456 twins undergoing two functional MRI sessions across the transition from middle (7 to 9 y) to late (9 to 11 y) childhood. Aggression regulation was studied using the Social Network Aggression Task. Behavioral aggression after social evaluation decreased over time, whereas activation in the insula, dorsomedial PFC and DLPFC increased over time. Brain-behavior analyses showed that increased DLPFC activation after negative feedback was associated with decreased aggression. Change analyses further revealed that children with larger increases in DLPFC activity from middle to late childhood showed stronger decreases in aggression over time. These findings provide insights into the development of social evaluation sensitivity and aggression control in childhood