Phylogenetic and functional marker genes to study ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOM) in the environment

The oxidation of ammonia plays a significant role in the transformation of fixed nitrogen in the global nitrogen cycle. Autotrophic ammonia oxidation is known in three groups of microorganisms. Aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea convert ammonia into nitrite during nitrification. Anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (anammox) oxidize ammonia using nitrite as electron acceptor and producing atmospheric dinitrogen. The isolation and cultivation of all three groups in the laboratory are quite problematic due to their slow growth rates, poor growth yields, unpredictable lag phases, and sensitivity to certain organic compounds. Culture-independent approaches have contributed importantly to our understanding of the diversity and distribution of these microorganisms in the environment. In this review, we present an overview of approaches that have been used for the molecular study of ammonia oxidizers and discuss their application in different environments

Support for research at TU Delft

Researchers at Dutch institutions of higher education are placing ever-growing demands on the field of computing power, networking services and data storage facilities. Access to a high quality, low threshold ICT infrastructure has become a prerequisite to do research. As such, the need for suitable support in order to simplify access for researchers is growing all the time.Although all universities and research institutions are addressing the issue of research support, each institution is taking an independent approach to the matter. To gain a clearer picture of the different research support options available, SURF approached four institutions: Delft University of Technology(TU Delft), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) and the university medical centres in Leiden (LUMC) and Maastricht (MUMC+).Research Suppor

Alternative metrics at Dutch university libraries

The role of a librarian at many universities and research institutions has changed and is still changing. For most libraries a common thread is the knowledge flow and technological innovations in order to support the researchers in augmenting their academic output, academic visibility and impact. A challenge for the Library however, is how to contribute to the increased visibility of the researchers beyond the obvious publication strategy and how to make it measurable. Alternative metrics makes part of these endeavours. When it comes to altmetrics an obvious role of a library is analysis of the market, comparison of the different tools and advice to the end users; to a lesser extent the implementation of altmetrics at an institutional level. Similarly as several Dutch libraries, the TU Delft Library is currently conducting a comparative analysis of the major tools on the market. The Delft library, however, will make a step further by experimenting with the use of different tools on a pilot scale in order to be able to implement alternative metrics at an institutional level and embed it in the research lifecycle. These plans will be presented at the conference. The situation in the rest of the Netherlands may be somewhat different. Other universities in the Netherlands may approach alternative metrics in a different way and have different visions. Up to now no concrete initiatives have been taken to approach alternative metrics centrally - on a national level. TU Delft is conducting a survey to collect the data from the Dutch university libraries on their approach to altmetrics. In the questionnaire the university libraries are asked about their vision with regard to altmetrics, their goals, barriers, implementation plans, and if already set in place - about their workflows and usage statistics. The results of this survey will be presented as well as some thoughts on future steps at the Dutch university libraries.TU Delft LibraryDelft University of Technolog

Building a 'data repository' for heterogenous technical research communities through collaborations

The paper describes the project ‘3TU.Datacentrum’, an initiative of the libraries of the three Dutch Technical Universities. Its aim is to build a data curation facility for the improvement of data management, providing data curation services for data producers of the Technical Universities and enabling data reuse. The libraries initiated this project in their function as information- and knowledge brokers in emerging e-science. Playing a role in the management of research data offers an opportunity to get more thoroughly involved in the scientific process and to interconnect research data with all other sources managed by the libraries. The project builds on the experience from previous TU Delft research (E-Archive and Darelux). Initial interviews with managers and researchers in leading research areas of the Technical Universities were followed by in-depth investigation of the benefits and barriers for data producers. Additional work with research groups in technology- and engineering science confirmed the need for collaboration in data management. Data producers from these heterogeneous research communities identified benefits for data producers in three clusters: quality improvement, increase in research impact and efficiency (saving time on administration). Building the data curation infrastructure and setting up the data librarianship were the primary challenges for the library staff. In collaboration with national and international ‘colleagues’ of the data center the project is currently expanding the data set collection and selecting and developing formal license agreements, guidelines and tools, data citability, as well as selection and usage criteria for long-term access to and preservation of research data. Preliminary conclusions are that while the data curation principle is easily adopted, the data producers will not as easily invest their time in data archiving. Building a data curation facility to meet the diverse needs of heterogeneous research communities requires considerable efforts that can only be realized by (inter)national collaboration between data centers and data users.LibraryDelft University of Technolog

One more time ‘altmetrics @ TU Delft’ – this time with data -

The TU Delft Library strives to contribute to the increased visibility of the researchers beyond the obvious publication strategy thereby contributing to the mission of the university: bringing science to society. Alternative metrics make part of these endeavours. TU Delft Library and the Department of Maritime and Transport Technology are currently conducting a comparative analysis and an exploratory study of the major altmetric tools within the context of the AIDA project. This exploratory study involves analysis of the possibilities of embedding one or more altmetric tools in the TU Delft toolbox for automatic analysis of research trends either for individual researcher or at an institutional level. The results of the study will demonstrate whether new Library services can be developed to support the goals of the institution and the scientific staff.Research SupportTransport Engineering and Logistic

Real-world analysis of cost, health care resource utilization, and supportive care in Hodgkin lymphoma patients with frontline failure

Machaon Bonafede,1 Joseph Feliciano,2 Qian Cai,1 Virginia Noxon,1 Nicole Princic,1 Akshara Richhariya,2 David J Straus3,4 1IBM Watson Health, Cambridge, MA, USA; 2Seattle Genetics, Inc., Bothell, WA, USA; 3Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; 4John P Leonard Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the economic burden of frontline failure (FLF) among classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients during and after treatment.Patients and methods: The population consisted of adult HL patients identified from January 2010 through September 2015 without any other primary cancer prior to HL diagnosis, who also had a frontline (FL) regimen indicative of curative intent. Patients were characterized as FLF (those who restart, switch to any chemotherapy; had a hematopoietic stem cell transplant; or newly initiated radiation therapy [RT] after discontinuing FL) or non-FLF (those not considered as FLF). Direct health care utilization and expenditures were measured over both fixed and variable length follow-up periods and during FL therapy.Results: There were 77 FLF and 602 non-FLF patients who met the final inclusion criteria. FLF and non-FLF patients were demographically similar with mean age 38.5 years and 47.5% females. Average per patient per month (PPPM) costs were significantly higher for FLF patients during all follow-up (US$20,266 vs US$7,772, P<0.05). Annual total expenditures were significantly higher among FLF patients (US$198,388) vs non-FLF patients (US$37,549). FLF (vs non-FLF) patients had a significantly shorter duration of FL therapy (116 vs 131 days, P=0.024) and higher total PPPM expenditures during FL (US$29,040 vs US$16,369, P<0.05). Annual cost varied by failure type with those who failed due to restart incurring the highest cost (US$269,189) and those who switched incurring the lowest cost (US$46,951). FLF patients had a significantly greater utilization in every health care resource category during follow-up.Conclusion: FLF (vs non-FLF) patients utilized substantially more health care resources and incurred a substantially higher economic burden. Over 5 years, FLF patients with at least two lines of treatment were projected to incur US$535,846 of health care costs. Further research is needed to determine optimal treatment that could reduce the risk of progression, need for treatment after FL, and enhance long-term clinical and economic outcomes. Keywords: Hodgkin lymphoma, health care outcomes, treatment failure, administrative claims database, retrospective analysi