Short-Term Hyperglycemic Dysregulation in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Does Not Change Myocardial Triglyceride Content or Myocardial Function

OBJECTIVE—To evaluate the effects of hyperglycemia due to partial insulin deprivation on myocardial triglyceride (TG) content and myocardial function in patients with type 1 diabetes

Calpain inhibition mediates autophagy-dependent protection against polyglutamine toxicity.

Over recent years, accumulated evidence suggests that autophagy induction is protective in animal models of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Intense research in the field has elucidated different pathways through which autophagy can be upregulated and it is important to establish how modulation of these pathways impacts upon disease progression in vivo and therefore which, if any, may have further therapeutic relevance. In addition, it is important to understand how alterations in these target pathways may affect normal physiology when constitutively modulated over a long time period, as would be required for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Here we evaluate the potential protective effect of downregulation of calpains. We demonstrate, in Drosophila, that calpain knockdown protects against the aggregation and toxicity of proteins, like mutant huntingtin, in an autophagy-dependent fashion. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, overexpression of the calpain inhibitor, calpastatin, increases autophagosome levels and is protective in a mouse model of Huntington's disease, improving motor signs and delaying the onset of tremors. Importantly, long-term inhibition of calpains did not result in any overt deleterious phenotypes in mice. Thus, calpain inhibition, or activation of autophagy pathways downstream of calpains, may be suitable therapeutic targets for diseases like Huntington's disease.This is the published version of the manuscript. It is available online from NPG in Cell Death and Differentiaiton here: http://www.nature.com/cdd/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/cdd2014151a.html

3D modelling: Crossing traditional boundaries between different research areas

It is the very nature of the archeological discipline to reconstruct the past. 3D modelling is the most recent development in the visualization of the archaeological interpretative process. Finally extra dimensions can be given to the past. Generating 3D models provide a vast amount of new information never foreseen: the advantage to move around and turn the reconstructions forces the specialist to reconsider the original data-set. New questions can be asked. Details cannot be ignored and uncertainties not smuggled away. But 3D models do not convey information themselves. It is the process towards the 3D model that does. It is the gathering of data and research to build the model and the choices that where made by the modellers and/or scholars (i.e. their agency) that conveys the information that leads to an interpretation. These interpretations can now be more comprehensive than ever because the extra dimension forces to look for anwers, and frequently these answers are outside the research area and even the field of the specialist. Therefore a 3D reconstruction may be regarded as the status-quo of what is known about a specific subject, from the excavated site to what French anthropologists might indicate about the role of the material culture associated with it. It is not the digital object that proves something by itself, but it is how we engage with the digital object in order to unravel how someone in the past might have engaged with it. Therefore we cannot stress enough that – and we are certainly not the first - that 3D modelling is primarly a research tool, and not a theoretical paradigm nor an explanatory device on itself. But it has to be repeated because in our opinion too much emphasis is still put on either practical case-studies or highly complex, even unintelligible, theoretical contemplations. We stress that three-dimensional techniques are most valuable if used as a method to enhance and enrich any ongoing research. Nonetheless, we do not underestimate nor deny the power and potential of 3D modelling, on the contrary, but we might not consider 3D applications as an exclusive and distinct discipline, because then it risks that it becomes only restrictive. It is a transdisciplinary tool that compels to comprise knowledge from all disciplines: it forces specialists to move beyond their specialization and think spatially, they are forced to cross their traditional boundaries of research areas

Een effectiviteitsstudie naar de Resolutions Approach

Het is niet eenvoudig gebleken om het resultaat van interventies voor kindermishandeling in gezinnen te onderzoeken. Deze gezinnen lijken niet alleen untreatable, maar ook unresearchable. Samen met praktijkdeskundigen is nu een effectiviteitsstudie naar de Resolutions Approach opgezet: een project dat is opgestart vanuit de praktijk en met de praktijk, met een onderzoeksopzet die probeert aan te sluiten bij de heterogene doelgroep

An Architectural Approach for Improving Aesthetics of PV

In order to improve the social acceptance of photovoltaic modules, the choice in panel color and size should be enlarged. Although various approaches have been reported to change the appearance of PV modules, it often adds complexity to the manufacturing process. Here an approach is presented in which a design module can be manufactured on standard module lines, by adding a print interlayer to the module. First results are shown on small PV panels, including performance and stability tests. Also full size panels are shown with an aluminum back panel including mounting structures for easy mounting on roofs and facades. The results show that although there is a drop in conversion efficiency by applying a print, the overall drop is lower than expected based on the print coverage. The stability tests show promising results after thermal cycling, damp heat, UV degradation and outdoor exposure