De omvorming van onszelf in filosofie, kunst en techniek.

In 2009 verschenen de laatste colleges van Foucault over “Diogenes en de Cynische filosofie”. Foucault kiest daarin uitdrukkelijk voor een benadering van filosofie gericht op de omvorming van onszelf. Dit geeft een nieuwe inkijk in Foucaults werk. In “Wat is Verlichting?” gaat het ook over de omvorming van onszelf, maar daar wordt het thema omzichtiger ingebracht via (gedeeltelijk verhulde) discussies met Kant, Heidegger, Sartre en Habermas. Foucault brengt zo de omvorming van onszelf terug in de hedendaagse filosofie. Deze inzichten kunnen vruchtbaar gebruikt worden bij actuele vraagstukken, bijvoorbeeld in de techniekfilosofie. Met verwijzing naar gebruikersonderzoek en een artistieke verkenningen rond nieuwe technologie geef ik een illustratie en toepassing van Foucaults benadering

Eerst zien, dan genezen?: Een kritische blik op echografie in de eerste lijn

Echografie is bezig aan een opmars in de praktijk van de fysiotherapeut, de huisarts en sportarts. Zoals elke nieuwe techniek brengt de echografie onverwachte en ongewenste neveneffecten met zich mee. Patiënten verwachten soms MRI’s of echo’s, ook al vinden behandelaars dat niet nodig. Beeldvormend onderzoek lijkt meer autoriteit te hebben dan het lichamelijk onderzoek door een arts of fysiotherapeut. Vandaar de vraag hoe de neveneffecten van echografie beter begrepen kunnen worden en welke lessen getrokken kunnen worden voor een goed gebruik in de eerste lijn. Met een wetenschaps- en techniekfilosofische blik wordt kritisch geanalyseerd hoe beeldtechnieken als MRI en echo opvattingen over wetenschappelijke zekerheden over ziekte en genezen veranderen en daarmee ook de relatie tussen therapeut en patiënt beïnvloeden. Uitgaande van een casus wordt vervolgens de implicaties hiervan voor de klinische praktijk besproken, met name gericht op de behandelaar-patiëntrelatie

Meniscus Motion Inside A DoD Inkjet Print-Head Nozzle

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Society for Imaging Sciences and Technology via http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/ist/nipdf/2016/00002016/00000001/art00087A new study of the jetting performance for drop-on-demand (DoD) inkjet print heads investigated meniscus motions inside the transparent nozzles of MicroFab inkjet print heads. A composite image representation of the observed meniscus motions, imaged at high resolution using a spark flash light source, was developed for our subsequent analyses of the influences of drive voltage and pulse dwell time and also the ink properties. At higher drive voltages a slow damped refill (following de-pinning of the meniscus from the very edge of the nozzle exit) was also clearly observed. This and many other interesting phenomena were observed with the composite images: internal bubbles that progressed through the nozzle region over relatively long timescales, internal break-off of the jet from the meniscus surface, satellite formation and merging, and the contact line de-pinning not previously observed before.This research was performed by CSR under the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) scheme, within the University of Cambridge Inkjet Research Centre, funded by Xaar Ltd. SDH supervised and held an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Knowledge Transfer Fellowship (grant no. EP/K5037574/1) for working with a Xaar R&D team during the initial part of this project

Osmotic swelling-induced activation of the extracellular-signal-regulated protein kinases Erk-1 and Erk-2 in intestine 407 cells involves the Ras/Raf-signalling pathway

Human Intestine 407 cells respond to hypo-osmotic stress with a rapid stimulation of compensatory ionic conductances accompanied by a transient increase in the activity of the extracellular-signal-regulated protein kinases Erk-1 and Erk-2. In this study, we examined the upstream regulators of hypotonicity-induced Erk-1/Erk-2 activation and their possible role in cell-volume regulation. The hypotonicity-provoked Erk-1/Erk-2 activation was greatly reduced in cells pretreated with the specific mitogen-activated/Erk-activating kinase inhibitor PD098059 and was preceded by a transient stimulation of Raf-1. Pretreatment of the cells with PMA, GF109203X, wortmannin or Clostridium botulinum C3 exoenzyme did not appreciably affect the hypotonicity-provoked Erk-1/Erk-2 stimulation, suggesting the osmosensitive signalling pathway to be largely independent of protein kinase C and p21(rho). In contrast, expression of dominant negative RasN17 completely abolished the hypotonicity-induced Erk-1/Erk-2 activation. Stimulation of the swelling-induced ion efflux was independent of activation of these mitogen-activated protein kinases, as revealed by hypotonicity-provoked isotope efflux from 125I-- and 86Rb+-loaded cells after pretreatment with PD098059 and after

Osteosarcoma in the distal femur two years after an ipsilateral femoral shaft fracture: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The duration of symptoms preceding a definitive diagnosis of osteosarcoma is quite long. Pathological radiological signs are often evident by the time of diagnosis. Although several case reports have been published on osteosarcoma of the femur, to the best of our knowledge this report is the first one with such an unusual clinical course.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We describe the case of a 58-year-old Caucasian man who presented with a femoral shaft fracture. Two years post-trauma osteosarcoma in the ipsilateral distal femur was diagnosed. Was it coincidence? We think that the history of the trauma is crucial to answering this question.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case report underlines the need to keep up awareness of pathological fractures in emergency medicine and trauma surgery. When radiographs do not raise any suspicion but the history of trauma or the physical examination does, we recommend further radiological and/or histological diagnostic examinations.</p

Adipocyte-specific protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B deletion increases lipogenesis, adipocyte cell size and is a minor regulator of glucose homeostasis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Human and value sensitive aspects of mobile app design: a Foucauldian perspective

Value sensitive concerns remain relatively neglected by software design processes leading to potential failure of technology acceptance. By drawing upon an inter-disciplinary study that employed participatory design methods to develop mobile apps in the domain of youth justice, this paper examines a critical example of an unintended consequence that created user concerns around Focauldian concepts including power, authority, surveillance and governmentality. The primary aim of this study was to design, deploy and evaluate social technology that may help to promote better engagement between case workers and young people to help reduce recidivism, and support young people’s transition towards social inclusion in society. A total of 140 participants including practitioners (n=79), and young people (n=61) contributed to the data collection via surveys, focus groups and one-one interviews. The paper contributes an important theoretically located discussion around both how co-design is helpful in giving ‘voice’ to key stakeholders in the research process and observing the risk that competing voices may lead to tensions and unintended outcomes. In doing so, software developers are exposed to theories from social science that have significant impact on their product

E4orf1: A Novel Ligand That Improves Glucose Disposal in Cell Culture

Reducing dietary fat intake and excess adiposity, the cornerstones of behavioral treatment of insulin resistance(IR), are marginally successful over the long term. Ad36, a human adenovirus, offers a template to improve IR, independent of dietary fat intake or adiposity. Ad36 increases cellular glucose uptake via a Ras-mediated activation of phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase(PI3K), and improves hyperglycemia in mice, despite a high-fat diet and without reducing adiposity. Ex-vivo studies suggest that Ad36 improves hyperglycemia in mice by increasing glucose uptake by adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, and by reducing hepatic glucose output. It is impractical to use Ad36 for therapeutic action. Instead, we investigated if the E4orf1 protein of Ad36, mediates its anti-hyperglycemic action. Such a candidate protein may offer an attractive template for therapeutic development. Experiment-1 determined that Ad36 ‘requires’ E4orf1 protein to up-regulate cellular glucose uptake. Ad36 significantly increased glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, which was abrogated by knocking down E4orf1 with siRNA. Experiment-2 identified E4orf1 as ‘sufficient’ to up-regulate glucose uptake. 3T3-L1 cells that inducibly express E4orf1, increased glucose uptake in an induction-dependent manner, compared to null vector control cells. E4orf1 up-regulated PI3K pathway and increased abundance of Ras–the obligatory molecule in Ad36-induced glucose uptake. Experiment-3: Signaling studies of cells transiently transfected with E4orf1 or a null vector, revealed that E4orf1 may activate Ras/PI3K pathway by binding to Drosophila discs-large(Dlg1) protein. E4orf1 activated total Ras and, particularly the H-Ras isoform. By mutating the PDZ domain binding motif(PBM) of E4orf1, Experiment-4 showed that E4orf1 requires its PBM to increase Ras activation or glucose uptake. Experiment-5: In-vitro, a transient transfection by E4orf1 significantly increased glucose uptake in preadipocytes, adipocytes, or myoblasts, and reduced glucose output by hepatocytes. Thus, the highly attractive anti-hyperglycemic effect of Ad36 is mirrored by E4orf1 protein, which may offer a novel ligand to develop anti-hyperglycemic drugs