Fortnight for Freedom

Homily of Most Reverend William E. Lori - Archbishop of Baltimore in the Basilica of theNational Shrine of the Assumption, on June 21, 2012Homily of Most Reverend William E. Lori - Archbishop of Baltimore in the Basilica of theNational Shrine of the Assumption, on June 21, 201

Red Galaxies at High Redshift

From its origin at the center of a star to the edge, through the surrounding gas and dust in the distant galaxy, through the intergalactic medium, traveling billions of light years only to be reflected by a mirror and captured by a detector; the little amount of light observed from galaxies in the early universe contains a wealth of historic information. This thesis concentrates on translating the luminosities and colors of distant galaxies to physical properties such as distance, mass, age of the stellar population, and dust content. Analyzing deep optical and infrared observations of distant (redshift z~2.5) galaxies, we learn that massive galaxies have on average redder colors than less massive galaxies, although simulations show that mass underestimates of star-forming galaxies are possible. Roughly half of the red galaxies at high redshift owe their color to an old, quiescent stellar population. The other half is still actively star-forming, but obscured by large columns of dust. The abundance of star-forming and quiescent galaxies is consistent with a model that assigns a key role to collisions between gas-rich disk galaxies involving quasar activity, and leaving red spheroids as remnants. However, this model does not reproduce the colors of dusty red galaxies.LEI Universiteit LeidenNWO Leids Kerkhoven-Bosscha FondsSterrewacht Leiden - OU

Homilía por la libertad

Homily of Most Reverend William E. Lori - Archbishop of Baltimore in the Basilica of theNational Shrine of the Assumption, on June 21, 2012Homilía del Reverendo William E. Lori – Arzobispo de Baltimore en la Basílica de la CapillaNacional de la Asunción, el 21 de junio de 201

Mesh expansion as the cause of bulging after abdominal wall hernia repair

__Background__ Recurrence is the most important complication of abdominal wall reconstruction. It is pos

Allogeneic transplantation of the radial side of the hand in the rhesus monkey : technical, functional and immunological aspects.

As this is the era of transplantation it is inevitable that the field of allogeneic transplantation for the reconstruction of the upper extremity is explored also. This double-thesis deals with a number of aspects concerning allogeneic transplantation of the radial side of the hand in a rhesus monkey model. In the introduction the reasons for investigating the possibility of hand transplantation from one individual to another are clarified. In particular, the reasons why experiments in a nonhuman primate model were preferred, are explained. Should hand transplantation in man ever be performed, three major questions will always be foremost: is allogeneic transplantation of such a composite tissue allograft technically feasible, can allograft acceptance by the host be established, and if so will sensory and functional recovery occur? These questions inspired the authors to perform the experimental work presented. An attempt was made to integrate the major multi-disciplinary facets, clinically as well as preclinically. S.E.R. Hovius focussed on the technical and functional aspects of transplantation of this composite tissue allograft. H.P.J.D. Stevens examined the immunological aspects of this subject, and new ways to improve the immunosuppressive regimen for transplantation. Prior to the rationale of the experiments an introduction with regard to these aspects is presente

Long-term outcome of muscle strength in ulnar and median nerve injury: Comparing manual muscle strength testing, grip and pinch strength dynamometers and a new intrinsic muscle strength dynamometer

Objective: To compare the outcome of muscle strength with manual muscle strength testing grip and pinch strength measurements and a dynamometer which allows for measurements of the intrinsic muscles of the hand in isolation (the Rotterdam Intrinsic Hand Myometer, RIHM). Methods: Thirty-four patients more than 2 years after ulnar and/or median nerve injury. Muscle strength was evaluated using manual muscle strength testing (MMST), grip, pinch and intrinsic muscle strength measurements. Results: Manual muscle strength testing showed that most muscles recover to grade 3 or 4. Average grip strength recovery, as percentage of the uninjured hand, was 83%. Pinch strength recovery was 75%, 58% and 39% in patients with ulnar, median and combined nerve injuries, respectively. The RIHM measurements revealed a poor recovery of the ulnar nerve innervated muscles in particular (26-37%). No significant correlation (Pearson) was found between the measurements of the RIHM and grip strength. Pinch strength was significantly correlated with strength of the abduction of thumb and opposition of the thumb strength (r 0.55 and 0.72, p = 0.026, 0.002) as measured with the RIHM. Conclusion: While manual muscle strength testing and grip strength measurements show a reasonable to good recovery, measurements of the intrinsic muscles by means of the RIHM showed poor recovery of intrinsic muscle strength after peripheral nerve injury. No correlation was found between the recovery of intrinsic muscle strength and grip strength measurements

Preaxial polydactyly of the foot: Clinical and genetic implications for the orthopedic practice based on a literature review and 76 patients

Background and purpose — Preaxial polydactyly of the foot is a rare malformation and clinicians are often unfamiliar with the associated malformations and syndromes. In order to give guidelines for diagnostics and referral to a clinical geneticist, we provide an overview of the presentation using a literature review and our own patient population. Patients and methods — The literature review was based on the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) project. From the HPO dataset, all phenotypes describing preaxial polydactyly were obtained and related diseases were identified and selected. An overview was generated in a heatmap, in which the phenotypic contribution of 12 anatomical groups to each disease is displayed. Clinical cases were obtained from our hospital database a

Characterization of a three-dimensional mucosal equivalent: Similarities and differences with native oral mucosa

The aim of this study was to create and characterize a tissue-engineered mucosal equivalent (TEM) that closely resembles native mucosa. TEM consists of human primary keratinocytes and fibroblasts isolated from biopsies taken from healthy donors and seeded onto a de-epidermized dermis and cultured for 14 days at the air/liquid interface. The structure of TEM was examined and compared with native nonkeratinizing oral mucosa (NNOM). The various components of the newly formed epidermal layer, basement membrane and underlying connective tissue were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. The mucosal substitute presented in this study showed a mature stratified squamous epithelium that was similar to that of native oral mucosa, as demonstrated by K19, desmoglein-3 and involucrin staining. In addition, the expression of basement membrane components collagen type IV, laminin-5 and integrin α6 and β4 in TEM proved to be consistent with native oral mucosa. The expression of PAS, Ki67, K10 and K13, however, appeared to be different in TEM compared to NNOM. Nevertheless, the similarities with native oral mucosa makes TEM a promising tool for studying the biology of mucosal pathologies such as oral mucositis or fibrosis as well as the development of new therapies. Copyrigh