Electrical and catalytic properties of some oxides with the fluorite or pyrochlore structure: Part 2: Catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide

The catalytic properties of mixed oxides with the fluorite or pyrochlore structure were investigated using CO oxidation. The presence of ions with a variable valence state, the size of the ions and especially the extent of pyrochlore ordering affect kinetic behaviour and activity of the investigated materials

Electrical and catalytic properties of some oxides with the fluorite or pyrochlore structure: Part 1: Synthesis, characterization and conductivity

In view of their possible use as electrocatalysts, several oxides with the fluorite or pyrochlore structure were investigated. Part I of this paper deals with the synthesis, characterization and electrical conductivity of these materials. All lanthanide titanates investigated (partly doped with Bi) show the pyrochlore structure and are poor conductors, except for the compounds containing Tb. For Nd-zirconates, partly substituted with Ce, the degree of order depends on the amount of Ce and temperature treatment. Ionic and in some cases mixed conductivity was observed. Part II reports about the catalytic activity for CO oxidation

Cancer cachexia from a whole-body perspective

Thirty percent of cancer patients (up to 80% in some forms of cancer) suffer from cachexia syndrome, which is characterised by weight loss, muscle loss, loss of fatty tissue, inflammation and decreased appetite. Eventually 20-60% of patients actually die from the effects of cachexia and not the tumour. With the assistance of CT scans, this research mapped the level of muscle and fatty tissue loss in cancer patients. The body composition of a patient appears to be just as important for their prognosis and survival as the characteristics of the tumour. Currently, in most medical care only the tumour characteristics are used when determining prognosis and treatment. With the results of this research, cancer patients can be more precisely examined in order to possibly receive more appropriate treatment. Additionally, this research showed that cancer patients with cachexia are able to produce protein from food. For a long time this was thought to be impossible. This insight offers possibilities to treat cachexia with food and nutritional supplements. Lastly, the protein production of pancreatic tumours and different organs was measured. It appears that the protein production of the tumour is much lower than the protein production of healthy organs. Therefore, the common assumption that the tumour is responsible for the weight and muscle loss in cancer patients because it “eats” the patient’s nutrients appears to be false. Financed by the Dutch Research Council (NOW

Met het oog op wachttijd

Zonder een goed functionerend hoornvlies, hierna genoemd cornea, kunnen de ogen hun taak niet goed uitvoeren. Iets meer dan 100 jaar geleden, in 1905, werd de eerstes uccesvolle transplantatie van een cornea van een overleden donor uitgevoerd in Tsjechië, door oogarts Zirm. Mede door de ontwikkeling van operatiemicroscopen, extra dun hechtdraad en het gebruik van antibiotica worden vandaag de dag in Nederland ongeveer 900 corneatransplantaties per jaar uitgevoerd. In Nederland is de Nederlandse transplantatie Stichting (NTS) verantwoordelijk voor het toewijzen van cornea’s aan patiënten (Bokhorst et al., 2007).\ud De gemiddelde wachttijd voor een cornea in Nederland is ongeveer een half jaar, ofwel 175 dagen. (Zie figuur 1) De door de NTS en oogartsen meest genoemde oorzaken zijn een tekort aan operatiecapaciteit en cornea’s en de fluctuatie in zowel vraag als aanbod van cornea’s. Ons eerste doel was te onderzoeken in welke mate deze zaken de wachttijd beïnvloeden. Een tweede doel was mogelijke verbeteringen aan te dragen

Toekomstbeeld broeikasgasbalans van het Nederlandse landschap

De mondiale emissies van CO2 zijn de afgelopen jaren substantieel gestegen. Een afbuiging van deze trend lijkt noodzakelijk, wil de concentratie in de atmosfeer niet te hoog oplopen. De internationale gemeenschap probeert die te realiseren door stevige reductiedoelstellingen vast te stellen voor de komende tien tot dertig jaar. De inspanningen zijn gericht op terugdringen van emissies, compensatie van de uitstoot door afvang en opslag van CO2 en de omschakeling naar een duurzame energievoorziening

Improving the quality of palliative and terminal care in the hospital by a network of palliative care nurse champions: The study protocol of the PalTeC-H project

Background: The quality of care of patients dying in the hospital is often judged as insufficient. This article describes the protocol of a study to assess the quality of care of the dying patient and the contribution of an intervention targeted on staff nurses of inpatient wards of a large university hospital in the Netherlands. Methods/Design. We designed a controlled before and after study. The intervention is the establishment of a network for palliative care nurse champions, aiming to improve the quality of hospital end-of-life care. Assessments are performed among bereaved relatives, nurses and physicians on seven wards before and after introduction of the intervention and on 11 control wards where the intervention is not applied. We focus on care provided during the last three days of life, covered in global ratings of the quality of life in the last three days of life and the quality of dying, and various secondary endpoints of treatment and care affecting quality of life and dying. Discussion. With this study we aim to improve the understanding of and attention for patients' needs, and the quality of care in the dying phase in the hospital and measure the impact of a quality improvement intervention targeted at nurses

Activation of 12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate Response Element- and Dyad Symmetry Element-dependent Transcription by Interleukin-5 Is Mediated by Jun N-terminal Kinase/Stress-activated Protein Kinase Kinases

Interleukin-5 (IL-5) is one of the major regulators of eosinophilic granulocytes in vivo. IL-5 exerts its pleiotropic effects by binding to the IL-5 receptor, which is composed of an IL-5-specific a chain and a common bc chain shared with the receptors for IL-3 and granulocyte- macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Previous studies have shown that binding of IL-5 to its receptor triggers the activation of multiple signaling cascades, including the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase, the phosphatidyl -3`-kinase, and the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription pathways. Here we describe that IL-5 activates the serine/threonine protein kinase Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase (JNK/SAPK) pathway. We show that IL-5 activates TPA response element (TRE)-dependent transcription in transfection experiments. TRE activation by IL-5 is mediated by a region of the bc (577- 581) that is also responsible for activation of JNK/SAPK and for activation of dyad symmetry element (DSE)-dependent transcription. Dominant-negative SAPK or ERK kinase-1 was used to demonstrate that JNK/SAPK activation is necessary for induction of DSE- and TREdependent transcription by IL-5, whereas extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 was not essential for TRE- and DSE-dependent transcription. By contrast, IL-5-induced activation of the tyrosine kinase Janus kinase 2 seems to be a prerequisite for TRE- and DSE-dependent transcription. Taken together, we show for the first time that IL-5 activates kinases of the JNK/SAPK family, and that this activation is linked to IL-5-induced TRE- and DSE-dependent transcription