Mechanistic factors and innate immune components in vein graft disease

Vein graft surgery to treat occlusive arterial disease is a common applied procedure. Each year more than two million vein graft surgeries are performed worldwide. The major drawback of vein grafting is that within 10 years after vein graft surgery 50-60 % of the vein grafts suffer from patency loss due to thrombosis, intimal hyperplasia formation, accelerated atherosclerosis and rupture. Endogenous factors orchestrate the development and failure of vein grafts. Investigating the role of endogenous constituents on vein graft remodeling can enhance our basic knowledge of the involvement of these factors in vein graft remodeling. By interfering in the function of endogenous factors, as we showed in this thesis, vein graft remodeling can be negatively or positively influenced depending on the factor and strategy used. New therapeutic strategies can be developed based on this knowledge. In this thesis we investigate the role of innate immune components, complement system factors, toll like receptors, mast cells and NK cells and the role of Annexin A5 in vein graft remodeling. Furthermore we explored the role of plaque stability, plaque neovascularization and extracellular matrix remodeling in a hypercholersterolemic mouse vein graft model.Hartstichting, ChipSoftUBL - phd migration 201

Comparative Analysis of Litigation Systems: an Auction-Theoretic Approach.

A simple auction-theoretic framewoek is used to examine symmetric litigation environmentswhere the legal ownership of a disputed asset is unknown by the court. The court observes only the quality of the case presented by each party, and awards the asset to the party presenting the best case. Rational litigants influence the quality of their cases by hiring skillful attorneys. This framework permits us to compare the equilibrium legal expenditures that arise under a continuum of legal systems.AUCTIONS ; ENVIRONMENT ; LEGAL SYSTEM

Tumor Necrosis Factor in Isolated Hepatic Perfusion: credits, debits and future directions

Patients with irresectable hepatic malignancies remain an intriguing clinical problem. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary hepatic malignancy and approximately one million individuals will develop this tumor per year. The incidence of these tumors varies widely worldwide, being most common in the Far East [1]. Recent advances in the early detection of these tumors have improved the prognosis and long-term survival has been reported in patients with small, encapsulated malignancy [2-4]. Nevertheless, the overall prognosis of HCC remains poor and usually expressed in months rather than years [5, 6] Metastatic disease from colorectal cancer is the most common hepatic malignancy in the Western countries. Most frequently, the liver is the site of dissemination with many other sites in the body (lung, brain, bone). On the other hand, in as many as 30 % of patients the liver is the sole site of initial cancer recurrence [7]. If left untreated the mean survival rate in these patients is approximately 6 to 9 months. In contrast, 5-year survival rates up to 35 % have been reported for patients amendable to resection [8-11]. Unfortunately in the majority (75 %) of the patients that have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer metastases confined only to the liver, these metastases are considered unresectable. These patients are eligible for other therapies

An oligopoly model of free banking: Theory and tests

The paper demonstrates that in an environment of free banking where some agents have imperfect information regarding the circulation and debasement rates of alternative money suppliers, the equilibrium supply of money involves mixed strategies. It follows that the circulation and debasement rates are intrinsically stochastic, but that their averages are below the rates set by a monopoly bank. Empirical tests reveal that these predictions are consistent with the free banking era of the United States. The paper is also relevant for the discussion about the future monetary union in the EC

The Herodotus Paradox

The Babylonian bridal auction, described by Herodotus, is regarded as one of the earliest uses of an auction in history. Yet, to our knowledge, the literature lacks a formal equilibrium analysis of this auction. We provide such an analysis for the twoplayer case with complete and incompete information, and in so doing identify what we call the "Herodotus Paradox"

It takes two to tango: Equilibria in a model of sales

We show that the Varian model of sales with more than two firms has two types of equilibria: a unique symmetric equilibrium, and a continuum of asymmetric equilibria. In contrast, the 2-firm game has a unique equilibrium that is symmetric. For the n-firm case the asymmetric equilibria imply mixed strategies that can be ranked by first-order stochastic dominance. This enables one to rule out asymmetric equilibria on economic grounds by constructing a metagame in which both firms and consumers are players. The unique subgame perfect equilibrium of this metagame is symmetric

Inflammation in Vein Graft Disease

Vascular Surger