Eindrapportage van het onderzoeksprogramma Welzijn gezelschapsdieren

Dit eindrapport beschrijft de resultaten van het onderzoeksprogramma Welzijn Gezelschapsdieren. Hoofdstuk 1 geeft in het kort de achterliggende redenen voor en de totstandkoming van het programma weer. De hoofdstukken 2 tot en met 7 geven een overzicht van opzet, verloop en bevindingen van de zes afzonderlijke projecten. In hoofdstuk 8 wordt het geheel kort geëvalueerd

Keratin 19 marks poor differentiation and a more aggressive behaviour in canine and human hepatocellular tumours

Keratin 19 marks poor differentiation and a more aggressive behaviour in canine and human hepatocellular tumours Renee GHM van Sprundel1, Ted SGAM van den Ingh2, Valeer J Desmet3, Azeam Katoonizadeh3, Louis C Penning1, Jan Rothuizen1, Tania Roskams3 and Bart Spee13* * Corresponding author: Bart Spee [email protected] Author Affiliations 1 Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 TCCI Consultancy BV, Utrecht, The Netherlands 3 Department of Morphology and Molecular Pathology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium For all author emails, please log on. Comparative Hepatology 2010, 9:4 doi:10.1186/1476-5926-9-4 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.comparative-hepatology.com/content/9/1/4 Received: 23 November 2009 Accepted: 18 February 2010 Published: 18 February 2010 © 2010 van Sprundel et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Regenerative and fibrotic pathways in canine hepatic portosystemic shunt and portal vein hypoplasia, new models for clinical hepatocyte growth factor treatment

BACKGROUND: We analyzed two spontaneous dog diseases characterized by subnormal portal perfusion and reduced liver growth: (i) congenital portosystemic shunts (CPSS) without fibrosis and (ii) primary portal vein hypoplasia (PPVH), a disease associated with fibrosis. These pathologies, that lack inflammation or cholestasis, may represent simplified models to study liver growth and fibrosis. To investigate the possible use of those models for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) treatment, we studied the functionality of HGF signaling in CPSS and PPVH dogs and compared this to aged-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) to analyze the mRNA expression of HGF, transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), and relevant mediators in liver biopsies from cases with CPSS or PPVH, in comparison with healthy control dogs. CPSS and PPVH were associated with a decrease in mRNA expression of HGF and of MET proto-oncogene (c-MET). Western blot analysis confirmed the Q-PCR results and showed that intracellular signaling components (protein kinase B/Akt, ERK1/2, and STAT3) were functional. The TGF-β1 mRNA levels were unchanged in CPSS whereas there was a 2-fold increase in PPVH indicating an active TGF-β1 pathway, consistent with the observation of fibrosis seen in PPVH. Western blots on TGF-β1 and phosphorylated Smad2 confirmed an activated pro-fibrotic pathway in PPVH. Furthermore, Q-PCR showed an increase in the amount of collagen I present in PPVH compared to CPSS and control, which was confirmed by Western blot analysis. CONCLUSION: The pathophysiological differences between CPSS and PPVH can adequately be explained by the Q-PCR measurements and Western blots. Although c-MET levels were reduced, downstream signaling seemed to be functional and provides a rational for HGF-supplementation in controlled studies with CPSS and PPVH. Furthermore both diseases may serve as simplified models for comparison with more complex chronic inflammatory diseases and cirrhosis

Overview of effects of motor learning strategies in neurological and geriatric populations: a systematic mapping review

Systematic review protocol under review. Review Stage at time of this submission - Data analysis.This protocol was registered with the International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (INPLASY) on 14 March 2024 and was last updated on 14 March 2024.Regieorgaan SI

Piezoresistive cantilever designed for torque magnetometry

New piezoresistive silicon cantilevers designed specifically for torque magnetometry on microscopic samples have been microfabricated and tested. These levers have been optimized to detect the torque in two directions corresponding to flexion and torsion. Torque resolution of 10 E-14 N m can be achieved depending on the operating mode. In one version an integrated loop allows an absolute calibration of the device with an accuracy of ~1%. This loop can also be used to excite the lever mechanically. One application is the determination of the mass of nanogram samples by measuring the resonance frequency shift (nanobalance)

Психолого-педагогічний аналіз комунікативної діяльності педагога

У статті комунікативна діяльність розглядається як структурно-функціональний компонент педагогічної діяльності вчителя, аналізується взаємозв’язок педагогічної й комунікативної задач, розкриваються особливості процесу вирішення комунікативно-педагогічної задачі.In the article communicative activities are considered as structural and functional components of the teacher’s pedagogical activities, the relationship of pedagogical and communicative tasks are analyzed, features of the solution process communicative and pedagogical tasks are revealed

Detection of Helicobacter pylori in bile of cats

Lymphocytic cholangitis (LC) in cats is a biliary disease of unknown etiology. Helicobacter spp. were recently implicated in human primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Because of the similarities between PSC/PBC with LC, we hypothesized that Helicobacter spp. are involved in feline LC. A PCR with Helicobacter genus-specific 16S rRNA primers was performed on DNA isolated from feline bile samples. Four of the 15 (26%) LC samples were positive, whereas only 8/51 (16%) of non-LC samples were PCR positive (p=0.44). Sequence analysis of the amplicons revealed a 100% identity with the Helicobacter pylori specific DNA fragments. Our data suggest an etiological role of H. pylori in feline LC and that cats are a potential zoonotic reservoir

Козацькі могили у творчості Тараса Шевченка

The detoxification of ammonia occurs mainly through conversion of ammonia to urea in the liver via the urea cycle and glutamine synthesis. Congenital portosystemic shunts (CPSS) in dogs cause hyperammonemia eventually leading to hepatic encephalopathy. In this study, the gene expression of urea cycle enzymes (carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CPS1), ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTC), argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS1), argininosuccinate lyase (ASL), and arginase (ARG1)), N-acetylglutamate synthase (NAGS), Glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD1), and glutamate-ammonia ligase (GLUL) was evaluated in dogs with CPSS before and after surgical closure of the shunt. Additionally, immunohistochemistry was performed on urea cycle enzymes and GLUL on liver samples of healthy dogs and dogs with CPSS to investigate a possible zonal distribution of these enzymes within the liver lobule and to investigate possible differences in distribution in dogs with CPSS compared to healthy dogs. Furthermore, the effect of increasing ammonia concentrations on the expression of the urea cycle enzymes was investigated in primary hepatocytes in vitro. Gene-expression of CPS1, OTC, ASL, GLUD1 and NAGS was down regulated in dogs with CPSS and did not normalize after surgical closure of the shunt. In all dogs GLUL distribution was localized pericentrally. CPS1, OTC and ASS1 were localized periportally in healthy dogs, whereas in CPSS dogs, these enzymes lacked a clear zonal distribution. In primary hepatocytes higher ammonia concentrations induced mRNA levels of CPS1. We hypothesize that the reduction in expression of urea cycle enzymes, NAGS and GLUD1 as well as the alterations in zonal distribution in dogs with CPSS may be caused by a developmental arrest of these enzymes during the embryonic or early postnatal phase

A novel method for engineering autologous non-thrombogenic in situ tissue-engineered blood vessels for arteriovenous grafting

The durability of prosthetic arteriovenous (AV) grafts for hemodialysis access is low, predominantly due to stenotic lesions in the venous outflow tract and infectious complications. Tissue engineered blood vessels (TEBVs) might offer a tailor-made autologous alternative for prosthetic grafts. We have designed a method in which TEBVs are grown in vivo, by utilizing the foreign body response to subcutaneously implanted polymeric rods in goats, resulting in the formation of an autologous fibrocellular tissue capsule (TC). One month after implantation, the polymeric rod is extracted, whereupon TCs (length 6 cm, diameter 6.8 mm) were grafted as arteriovenous conduit between the carotid artery and jugular vein of the same goats. At time of grafting, the TCs were shown to have sufficient mechanical strength in terms of bursting pressure (2382 +/- 129 mmHg), and suture retention strength (SRS: 1.97 +/- 0.49 N). The AV grafts were harvested at 1 or 2 months after grafting. In an ex vivo whole blood perfusion system, the lumen of the vascular grafts was shown to be less thrombogenic compared to the initial TCs and ePTFE grafts. At 8 weeks after grafting, the entire graft was covered with an endothelial layer and abundant elastin expression was present throughout the graft. Patency at 1 and 2 months was comparable with ePTFE AV-grafts. In conclusion, we demonstrate the remodeling capacity of cellularized in vivo engineered TEBVs, and their potential as autologous alternative for prosthetic vascular grafts.Vascular Surger