Optimisation of the Processing Strategy for Utilisation of Australian Wheat in Instant Noodles

Established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Progra

Are wheat-based farming systems in South Asia feminizing?

This article pulls together the state of knowledge on the degree to which wheat-based systems in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, are feminizing. It is not yet possible to make definitive statements. However, it is clear that wheat-based systems are undergoing far-reaching changes in relation to “who does what” and “who decides.” There are some commonalities across all four countries. Intersectionalities shape women’s identities and abilities to exert their agency. Purdah is a cultural norm in many locations. Nevertheless, each country displays different meta-trends. In Nepal managerial feminization is increasing unlike in Pakistan. Women in Bangladesh spend the least time in field work whereas in other countries they are often strongly engaged. There are strong local variations within countries as well which we explore. Establishing the extent of feminization is challenging because studies ask different questions, operate at different levels, and are rarely longitudinal. Researchers often construct men as primary farmers, leading to a failure to find out what men and women really do and decide. This diminishes the value of many studies. Cultural perceptions of honor can make men respondents reluctant to report on women’s agency and women can be reluctant to claim agency openly. We provide suggestions for better research, and urge support to women as workers and decision-makers.</p

BSAVA Formulary: Your questions answered

A new edition of the BSAVA Small Animal Formulary has been published. Ian Ramsey explains what is in and what is out of this new version

Простір публічних комунікацій сучасних релігійних організацій

Porous aluminum oxide (PAO) is a nanoporous material used for various (bio)­technological applications, and tailoring its surface properties via covalent modification is a way to expand and refine its application. Specific and complex chemical modification of the PAO surface requires a stepwise approach in which a secondary reaction on a stable initial modification is necessary to achieve the desired terminal molecular architecture and reactivity. We here show that the straightforward initial modification of the bare PAO surface with bromo-terminated phosphonic acid allows for the subsequent preparation of PAO with a wide scope of terminal reactive groups, making it suitable for (bio)­functionalization. Starting from the initial bromo-terminated PAO, we prepared PAO surfaces presenting various terminal functional groups, such as azide, alkyne, alkene, thiol, isothiocyanate, and <i>N</i>-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). We also show that this wide scope of easily accessible tailored reactive PAO surfaces can be used for subsequent modification with (bio)­molecules, including carbohydrate derivatives and fluorescently labeled proteins

Are wheat-based farming systems in South Asia feminizing?

This article pulls together the state of knowledge on the degree to which wheat-based systems in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, are feminizing. It is not yet possible to make definitive statements. However, it is clear that wheat-based systems are undergoing far-reaching changes in relation to “who does what” and “who decides.” There are some commonalities across all four countries. Intersectionalities shape women’s identities and abilities to exert their agency. Purdah is a cultural norm in many locations. Nevertheless, each country displays different meta-trends. In Nepal managerial feminization is increasing unlike in Pakistan. Women in Bangladesh spend the least time in field work whereas in other countries they are often strongly engaged. There are strong local variations within countries as well which we explore. Establishing the extent of feminization is challenging because studies ask different questions, operate at different levels, and are rarely longitudinal. Researchers often construct men as primary farmers, leading to a failure to find out what men and women really do and decide. This diminishes the value of many studies. Cultural perceptions of honor can make men respondents reluctant to report on women’s agency and women can be reluctant to claim agency openly. We provide suggestions for better research, and urge support to women as workers and decision-makers

Good manufacturing practice production of CD34+ progenitor-derived NK cells for adoptive immunotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia

Allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapy is a promising, well-tolerated adjuvant therapeutic approach for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). For reproducible NK cell immunotherapy, a homogenous, pure and scalable NK cell product is preferred. Therefore, we developed a good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant, cytokine-based ex vivo manufacturing process for generating NK cells from CD3

Cellular immunotherapy in hematological malignancies

Contains fulltext : 178256.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Radboud University, 24 november 2017Promotores : Blijlevens, N.M.A., Jansen, J.H. Co-promotores : Dolstra, H., Schaap, N.P.M

Does it stick? : Macromolecular building blocks for antifouling coatings

The undesired deposition of material onto a surface, also known as fouling, is a recurring challenge for many applications. The work described in this Thesis combines the fields of organic chemistry and surface chemistry for the development of antifouling coatings: from the synthesis of the macromolecular building blocks to their application on surfaces as coatings and testing of antifouling properties.Chapter 1 of this thesis provides an introduction to the concepts of fouling and antifouling. The most applied antifouling coating are discussed alongside the most promising, state-of-the-art polymer materials that make up these coatings. Furthermore, macromolecules such as polymers and dendrimers that make for interesting candidates to serve as new building blocks for antifouling coatings are discussed. Especially dendrimers represent interesting candidates due to the high level of control over their architecture and the possibility for multivalent interactions. Zwitterionic dendrimers (ZID) are modified with an equal number of oppositely charged groups have found use in many biomedical applications. However, the design of and control over the synthesis of these dendrimers remains challenging, in particular with respect to achieving full charge-neutral modification of the dendrimer. In Chapter 2 the design, synthesis and characterization of fully zwitterionic, charge-neutral carboxybetaine and sulfobetaine zwitterionic dendrimers is described. Additionally, also the synthesis and characterization of ZIDs that contain a variable number of alkyne and azide groups are presented. Proof-of-principle coupling of an azide-biotin conjugate by click chemistry showed that these ZIDs indeed can be further modified. Especially the functionalized dendrimers are potential candidates for antifouling applications but also for biomedical applications such as drug delivery, since they allow straightforward anchoring or (bio)functionalization via click chemistry.&nbsp;To form an antifouling coating, the developed ZID needs to be coupled to a surface. Chapter 3 reports different strategies to enable covalent immobilization of ZIDs on a surface. The first explored method was amide bond-mediated binding of the ZID’s carboxylates to amine-terminated surfaces. Next to this, two types of click reactions, copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloadditions (CuAAC) and thiol-yne chemistry, between pre-installed functional groups on the ZIDs and the surfaces were tested. These strategies all resulted in monolayers of ZID, although the two click chemistry-based routes yielded slightly higher levels of immobilized ZID, i.e., thicker and more hydrophilic layers. To further increase the immobilization load of the ZID, a grafting-through approach was tested that led to multilayers of ZID by reacting&nbsp; methacrylate-functionalized ZIDs onto a pre-coated surface. The multilayers showed increasing thickness and hydrophilicity with each newly formed layer, and displayed antifouling properties that were slightly better than the oligoethylene oxide monolayers which were used as a reference. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For these immobilization strategies, an undesirable surface pre-functionalization step was needed. To circumvent this, the macromolecules themself were designed to have an intrinsic affinity towards the surface. In the research described in Chapter 4, poly(l-lysine) (PLL) was used as a coupling agent. Two different routes were developed to synthesize polymer-dendrimer hybrids by the interconnection of PLL and ZID. The first route led to network-like structures in which PLL and ZIDs were crosslinked by multiple amide bonds. The second route led to a more defined, linear PLL-ZID macromolecule, which was formed via click coupling of multiple ZIDs to a single PLL backbone. These two different types of PLL-ZID systems were self-assembled onto silicon oxide surfaces from aqueous solutions to form thin, hydrophilic coatings. Especially the linear variant yielded good antifouling properties towards single-protein solutions and diluted human serum, as shown in detail by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements. The formed coatings could be further bio-functionalized using the remaining carboxylate moieties. An on-surface biofunctionalization step by biotin demonstrated the possibility to use the PLL-ZID hybrids coatings for selective detection of target analytes (streptavidin), while the underlying coating maintained its antifouling properties.Chapter 5 presents possibilities to create poly(N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide) (HPMA) polymer brush-based coatings without having to perform sensitive polymerization reactions on-surface. HPMA polymers were grafted form a PLL backbone to create a so-called “bottlebrush” polymer, which could self-assemble onto a surface in a similar fashion like the PLL-ZID copolymers reported in Chapter 4. Three routes towards such PLL-HPMA-coated surfaces were developed ranging from “classic” grafting-from to entirely grafting-to in order to compare differences in outcome and overall antifouling performance of the coatings. Additionally, a grafting-to bottlebrush was synthesized that contained 5% carboxybetaine in its side chains, which offered the possibility for further functionalization after an ester activation step. Eventually, all surface modification routes yielded coatings that showed single-protein antifouling properties.Finally, in Chapter 6 the differently developed building blocks and coatings are discussed in terms of synthesis, antifouling properties and ease of application. The findings of this research are placed in a broader context and recommendations for further research are given.&nbsp