A Hemoperfusion Column Based on Activated Carbon Granules Coated with an Ultrathin Membrane of Cellulose Acetate

A hemoperfusion system has been developed which makes use of activated carbon encapsulated with cellulose acetate. Studies have revealed that there are no stagnant flow regions in the column, there i? minimal particle release and the coating is 30 Å thick. The relationships between pore size, pore volume and surface area have been examined. Twenty-five patients in grade IV coma have been treated with the column for treatment of drug overdose or agricultural chemical poisoning; the clinical course of one meprobamate-poisoned patient is described in detail

Kleinschalige bioraffinage in de Achterhoek; een duurzame oplossing voor het mestprobleem

We kampen in Nederland al decennia met een mestprobleem, in feite een mest overschot. In dit rapport worden nieuwe aanpakken van dit probleem voorgesteld, gedeeltelijk gecombineerd met verlaging van mineralen in het voer. De nieuwe aanpak wordt mogelijk indien we er in slagen de efficiëntie van de diervoeders te verbeteren en indien we de belangrijkste componenten van het diervoeder, eiwit en de energie behoefte van de dieren, in Nederland zelf te produceren. Bioraffinage van met name gras en in op termijn ook van mais, is doorslaggevend omdat we daarmee de componenten voor de rundveevoeders kunnen ontsluiten waardoor een hoger rendement wordt bereikt. Door graseiwit in te zetten als varkensvoeder zijn we niet langer afhankelijk van de import van sojaschroot en andere restproducten uit de plantaardige olie verwerkende industrie. Wanneer we deze bioraffinage uitvoeren in kleinschalige fabriekjes, voor de maisraffinage het liefst gekoppeld aan een biogas vergistingsinstallatie, dan kunnen de mineralen die niet voor het dier nodig zijn, direct zonder dure concentreringsbehandelingen naar het agrarische veld terug gebracht worden als bemesting

Sticks and carrots for reducing property-level risks from floods: an EU-US comparative perspective

In discussing legal and policy frameworks for flood risk management, the attention is often put on increasing resilience in public spaces. In terms of private properties, discussions are geared toward enhancing the adaptive capacity of future developments. This paper focuses on the instruments associated with resilience of existing privately owned residential buildings mainly from the perspective of post-flood policies and compensation regimes. The paper scrutinizes the relevant legal and policy landscapes in the United States, the European Union and two Member States – the UK and the Netherlands. The goal is to provide mutual lessons learned between the EU, its Member States, and the US and to set forth generally applicable recommendations for improving post-flood policies for existing buildings

Why Nonprofits Are Easier to Endorse on Social Media: The Roles of Warmth and Brand Symbolism

Brands often seek endorsements by consumers on social media (e.g., likes on Facebook). But is this marketing strategy feasible for all brands? To answer this question, this research investigates in seven studies the processes that underlie consumers' intention to endorse brands on social media. We suggest that consumers aim to signal their identity by endorsing brands online. Based on the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework and related research in (social) cognition and consumer behavior, we argue that consumers on social media primarily want to emphasize their warmth rather than their competence. Experimental studies 1, 2, and 3 distinguish between nonprofit and for-profit brands and show that brand warmth (and not competence) mediates the effect of brand type (nonprofit vs. for-profit) on consumers' intentions to endorse brands and branded content on social media. Experiment 4 demonstrates that this process is moderated by brand symbolism (moderated mediation). A high level of brand symbolism increases the positive effect of warmth on consumers' intention to endorse brands online, but only for for-profit brands. The fifth experiment shows that these effects are conditional upon the public vs. private distinction in consumer behavior: consumers prefer to publicly affiliate with nonprofit (vs. for-profit) brands but with regard to private affiliations, there is no difference between both types of brands. In experiment 6, the causal role of warmth (vs. competence) is further examined. Finally, we demonstrate that perceptions of brands' warmth and not competence reduce the efforts that brands need to make to achieve consumers' endorsements on their real brand pages on Facebook

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Analysing and evaluating flood risk governance in the Netherlands : Drowning in safety?

The Netherlands has a long tradition of flood risk management, due to its special physical location in the delta of four major river systems. This low-lying country is historically characterised by a ‘fight against water’. The Flood Risk Governance Arrangement of the Netherlands is characterised by a strong focus on reducing flood probability and governmental responsibility. A key characteristic is the statutory right to flood protection from the state. The arrangement of actors, rules, resources and discourses is focused on probability-reduction by administrative organisations. Nevertheless, in recent years a number of changes towards a broader number of Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs) can be observed and different modes of governance are starting to emerge. This report provides insights into the ways in which flood risk governance is changing in the Netherlands, as well as into the extent to which the system enables or constrains societal resilience to flooding. This report is a deliverable of the EU 7th Framework Project STAR-FLOOD (www.starflood.eu). STAR-FLOOD focuses on Flood Risk Governance. The project investigates strategies for dealing with flood risks in 18 vulnerable urban regions in six European countries: England in the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. The project assesses Flood Risk Governance Arrangements from a combined public administration and legal perspective, with the aim of making European regions more resilient to flood risks. This report is the country report on the Netherlands and forms the empirical core of the STAR-FLOOD research project, in which analyses, explanations and evaluations of The Netherlands, including three case studies, have been performed