The PPARγ Agonist Rosiglitazone Impairs Colonic Inflammation in Mice with Experimental Colitis

Various animal models showed that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ agonists, when given as a gavage shortly preceding colitis induction, protect against inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We have examined the effects of 16 days rosiglitazone treatment via the diet prior to dextran sodium sulphate (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. After 7 days DSS in the drinking water, rosiglitazone-fed mice had lost significantly more weight than control mice. Rosiglitazone-treated mice had more diarrhea, weight of colon and spleen were increased, and length of colon was decreased. Histology showed that rosiglitazone-treated mice had more severe colitis, mainly caused by more ulceration, crypt loss, and edema. Immunofluorescence showed a loss of tight junction structure Zonula Occludens protein 1 (ZO-1) in colons of rosiglitazone-treated mice as compared to control mice. Also, serum amyloid P component (SAP) concentrations in plasma were increased. However, concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (IFN)-γ in colon homogenates, and TNF-α in spleen homogenates were significantly decreased, whereas interleukin (IL)-10 in spleen homogenates was increased. Other cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-12p70 and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) concentrations showed no differences. In conclusion, 16 days pretreatment with rosiglitazone impaired DSS-induced colitis in mice

Bioinformatics for the NuGO proof of principle study: analysis of gene expression in muscle of ApoE3*Leiden mice on a high-fat diet using PathVisio

Insulin resistance is a characteristic of type-2 diabetes and its development is associated with an increased fat consumption. Muscle is one of the tissues that becomes insulin resistant after high fat (HF) feeding. The aim of the present study is to identify processes involved in the development of HF-induced insulin resistance in muscle of ApOE3*Leiden mice by using microarrays. These mice are known to become insulin resistant on a HF diet. Differential gene expression was measured in muscle using the Affymetrix mouse plus 2.0 array. To get more insight in the processes, affected pathway analysis was performed with a new tool, PathVisio. PathVisio is a pathway editor customized with plug-ins (1) to visualize microarray data on pathways and (2) to perform statistical analysis to select pathways of interest. The present study demonstrated that with pathway analysis, using PathVisio, a large variety of processes can be investigated. The significantly regulated genes in muscle of ApOE3*Leiden mice after 12 weeks of HF feeding were involved in several biological pathways including fatty acid beta oxidation, fatty acid biosynthesis, insulin signaling, oxidative stress and inflammation

Option-based Compensation: A Survey

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Stock Option Plans in EuroStoxx 50 Companies

Contains fulltext : 138653.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Employee Stock Options are the most widely used incentive compensation tool, and prior research has shown their advantages. However, research among different peer groups, different time frames, different research methodologies, and the constantly changing public opinion prevents unanimous agreements on the various benefits of Employee Stock Options. In this paper we apply a number of research hy potheses tested in recent US studies to a European sample of EuroStoxx 50 companies. Due to the globalisation, the similar accounting regulations and the IT- and telecommunications revolutions, Europe and the United States have grown closer together than ever before and are expected to display similar business practices. This assessment should be especially relevant for the large European companies, which mostly have a dual listing in the United States and are therefore essentially forced to manage according to American practices. How ever, the results differ significantly from the existing US research, providing in sufficient grounds to accept previous findings for European companies

Flexible hardware design for RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems

This paper presents a scalable hardware implementation of both commonly used public key cryptosystems, RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC) on the same platform. The introduced hardware accelerator features a design which can be varied from very small (less than 20 Kgates) targeting wireless applications, up to a very big design (more than 100 Kgates) used for network security. In latter option it can include a few dedicated large number arithmetic units each of which is a systolic array performing the Montgomery Modular Multiplication (MMM). The bound on the Montgomery parameter has been optimized to facilitate more secure ECC point operations. Furthermore, we present a new possibility for CRT scheme which is less vulnerable to side-channel attacks

Redactioneel. Het ontstaan van het graafschap Holland. Naar een multidisciplinaire benadering

Cities, Migration and Global Interdependenc