Immunotherapy and beta-cell replacement in type I diabetes mellitus

Control of allo- and auto-immunity is important for pancreas and islet transplantations. In chapter 2 different mechanism of actions of humanized monoclonal antibodies against CD3 and CD25 versus ATG are described. ATG leads to depletion of auto-reactive T-cells by ADCC, CDC and apoptosis induction, while anti-CD3 and daclizumab inhibited T-cell autoreactivity in a non-depleting fashion. In chapter 3, our experience with induction therapy with ATG and daclizumab was reported. ATG Fresenius or daclizumab were well tolerated and equally effective in reducing the incidence of acute rejections in simultaneous pancreas kidney transplantation. Data in Chapter 4 imply that daclizumab is more specifically affecting diabetes related immune responses compared to ATG. Islet transplantation provides an attractive and less invasive alternative to whole-organ pancreas transplantation. In chapter 5 we demonstrated the ability of our T-cell monitoring methods to determine the fate of repeated islet allografts transplanted into patients that express repeated mismatches. In most pancreas transplantations the enteric drainage is favoured exocrine duct management. Facing a higher risk on anastomotic complications in enteric drained pancreas transplantations, primary bladder drainage may be the preferred option. In Chapter 6, we demonstrated that primary bladder drainage followed by enteric conversion is a safe and effective procedure.UBL - phd migration 201

Risks associated with communication delays in infants from underserved South African communities

Contexte: Pour s’épanouir complètement les jeunes enfants ont besoin d’un environnement chaud, réceptif, enrichi et communicatif pour apprendre le langage social et d’autres compétences. Les nourrissons et les tout-petits exposés à des risques psychosociaux souffrent d’un manque d’environnements enrichissants et pourraient souffrir de retards de communication verbale. Objectif: Pour étudier la relation entre les risques psychosociaux et les retards de communication verbale chez les nourrissons des communautés non desservies en Afrique du Sud. Lieu: Services de soins primaires dans le district de Tshwane, en Afrique du Sud. Méthodes: Une entrevue avec les parents et l’Echelle de Compétence linguistique pour les Nourrissons de Rossetti ont été utilisés pour rassembler les données de 201 nourrissons de 6 à 12 mois provenant de leurs gardiens, sélectionnés au moyen d’échantillonnages de proximité. On a remarqué un lien entre les retards et les risques de communication verbale (tests Chi carré et de Fisher). On a utilisé un modèle d’analyse log-linéaire pour modéliser l’effet simultané des risques importants sur la probabilité d’avoir des retards de communication verbale. Résultats: On a trouvé des retards de communication verbale chez 13% des nourrissons. Les nourrissons qui vivent avec deux frères ou soeurs ou plus, nés de mères âgées de 18 à 29 ansqui ont leur propre maison, avaient 39% plus de chance d’avoir des retards de communication verbale

The role of dissociation-related beliefs about memory in trauma-focused treatment

OBJECTIVE: Dysfunctional cognitions play a central role in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However the role of specific dissociation-related beliefs about memory has not been previously investigated. This study aimed to investigate the role of dissociation-related beliefs about memory in trauma-focused treatment. It was hypothesized that patients with the dissociative subtype of PTSD would show higher levels of dissociation-related beliefs, dissociation-related beliefs about memory would decrease after trauma-focused treatment, and higher pre-treatment dissociation-related beliefs would be associated with fewer changes in PTSD symptoms.METHOD: Post-traumatic symptoms, dissociative symptoms, and dissociation-related beliefs about memory were assessed in a sample of patients diagnosed with PTSD ( n = 111) or the dissociative subtype of PTSD ( n  = 61). They underwent intensive trauma-focused treatment consisting of four or eight consecutive treatment days. On each treatment day, patients received 90 min of individual prolonged exposure (PE) in the morning and 90 min of individual eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in the afternoon. The relationship between dissociation-related beliefs about memory and the effects of trauma-focused treatment was investigated. RESULTS: Dissociation-related beliefs about memory were significantly associated with PTSD and its dissociative symptoms. In addition, consistent with our hypothesis, patients with the dissociative subtype of PTSD scored significantly higher on dissociation-related beliefs about memory pre-treatment than those without the dissociative subtype. Additionally, the severity of these beliefs decreased significantly after trauma-related treatment. Contrary to our hypothesis, elevated dissociation-related beliefs did not negatively influence treatment outcome.CONCLUSION: The results of the current study suggest that dissociation-related beliefs do not influence the outcome of trauma-focused treatment, and that trauma-focused treatment does not need to be altered specifically for patients experiencing more dissociation-related beliefs about memory because these beliefs decrease in association with treatment.</p

Origin Of The Far Off-Axis GRB171205A

We show that observed properties of the low luminosity GRB171205A and its afterglow, like those of most other low-luminosity (LL) gamma ray bursts (GRBs) associate with a supernova (SN), indicate that it is an ordinary SN-GRB, which was produced by inverse Compton scattering of glory light by a highly relativistic narrowly collimated jet ejected in a supernova explosion and viewed from a far off-axis angle. As such, VLA/VLBI follow-up radio observations of a superluminal displacement of its bright radio afterglow from its parent supernova, will be able to test clearly whether it is an ordinary SN-GRB viewed from far off-axis or it belongs to a distinct class of GRBs, which are different from ordinary GRBs, and cannot be explained by standard fireball models of GRBs as ordinary GRBsComment: 5 pages, 6 figures, updated data in Fig. 3, Corrected GRB angular distance used in Fig.

N=2 supergravity models with stable de Sitter vacua

In the present talk I shall review the construction of N=2 supergravity models exhibiting stable de Sitter vacua. These solutions represent the first instance of stable backgrounds with positive cosmological constant in the framework of extended supergravities (N >=2). After briefly reviewing the role of de Sitter space--times in inflationary cosmology, I shall describe the main ingredients which were necessary for the construction of gauged N=2 supergravity models admitting stable solutions of this kind.Comment: Prepared for Workshop on the Quantum Structure of Spacetime and the Geometric Nature of Fundamental Interactions, Leuven, Belgium, September 13-19 200

Space-time precoded CDMA-OFDMA employing super-orthogonal complete complementary codes

This paper addresses and illustrates, both analytically as well as by means of simulation, the equivalence of a cyclically rotated complete complementary coded (CRCCC) code division multiple access orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (CDMA-OFDM) BPSK/QPSK system and a narrowband uncoded BPSK/QPSK reference system. The equivalence can be attributed to the MUI-free characteristic performance of CRCCCs. It is demonstrated that when employed in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna configuration along with orthogonal space-time block codes (OSTBCs), the maximum theoretical diversity order of NTxNRx is achieved. Most significantly, simulations show that CDMA-OFDM using CRCCCs is capable of rendering additional multipath diversity gain at no additional processing cost. This signifies improved performance when compared with conventional ST-OFDM systems.This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant reference TP1207183332) and our industry partners Telkom and Bytes Universal Systems.http://www.saiee.org.za/DirectoryDisplay/DirectoryCMSPages.aspx?name=Publications#id=1588&dirname=ARJ&dirid=337am2016Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

Vermeerdering tulp in weefselkweek: een werkbaar protocol

De veredeling van tulp gaat traag door de lange generatietijd en door langzame vermeerdering op het veld. Een veredelingsprogramma van tulp duurt al snel 25 jaar. Dit kan aanzienlijk verkort worden door vermeerdering in weefselkweek. Er is nu een werkbaar protoco

Search for charged Higgs bosons: combined results using LEP data

The four LEP collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have searched for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons in the framework of Two Higgs Doublet Models (2HDMs). The data of the four experiments have been statistically combined. The results are interpreted within the 2HDM for Type I and Type II benchmark scenarios. No statistically significant excess has been observed when compared to the Standard Model background prediction, and the combined LEP data exclude large regions of the model parameter space. Charged Higgs bosons with mass below 80 GeV/c2 (Type II scenario) or 72.5 GeV/c2 (Type I scenario, for pseudo-scalar masses above 12 GeV/c2 ) are excluded at the 95 % confidence level

Accidental Inflation in String Theory

We show that inflation in type IIB string theory driven by the volume modulus can be realized in the context of the racetrack-based Kallosh-Linde model (KL) of moduli stabilization. Inflation here arises through the volume modulus slow-rolling down from a flat hill-top or inflection point of the scalar potential. This situation can be quite generic in the landscape, where by uplifting one of the two adjacent minima one can turn the barrier either to a flat saddle point or to an inflection point supporting eternal inflation. The resulting spectral index is tunable in the range of 0.93 < n_s < 1, and there is only negligible production of primordial gravitational waves r < 10^{-6}. The flatness of the potential in this scenario requires fine-tuning, which may be justified taking into account the exponential reward by volume factors preferring the regions of the universe with the maximal amount of slow-roll inflation. This consideration leads to a tentative prediction of the spectral index $n_s\approx 0.95$ or $n_s \approx 0.93$ depending on whether the potential has a symmetry phi -> - phi or not.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX, uses RevTex

Treatment with insulin (analogues) and breast cancer risk in diabetics; a systematic review and meta-analysis of in vitro, animal and human evidence

INTRODUCTION: Several studies have suggested that anti-diabetic insulin analogue treatment might increase cancer risk. The aim of this study was to review the postulated association between insulin and insulin analogue treatment and breast cancer development, and plausible mechanisms. METHOD: A systematic literature search was performed on breast cell-line, animal and human studies using the key words 'insulin analogue' and 'breast neoplasia' in MEDLINE at PubMed, EMBASE, and ISI Web of Science databases. A quantitative and qualitative review was performed on the epidemiological data; due to a limited number of reported estimates, a meta-analysis was performed for glargine only. A comprehensive overview was composed for in vitro and animal studies. Protein and gene expression was analysed for the cell lines most frequently used in the included in vitro studies. RESULTS: In total 16 in vitro, 5 animal, 2 in vivo human and 29 epidemiological papers were included. Insulin AspB10 showed mitogenic properties in vitro and in animal studies. Glargine was the only clinically available insulin analogue for which an increased proliferative potential was found in breast cancer cell lines. However, the pooled analysis of 13 epidemiological studies did not show evidence for an association between insulin glargine treatment and an increased breast cancer risk (HR 1.04; 95 % CI 0.91-1.17; p=0.49) versus no glargine in patients with diabetes mellitus. It has to be taken into account that the number of animal studies was limited, and epidemiological studies were underpowered and suffered from methodological limitations. CONCLUSION: There is no compelling evidence that any clinically available insulin analogue (Aspart, Determir, Glargine, Glulisine or Lispro), nor human insulin increases breast cancer risk. Overall, the data suggests that insulin treatment is not involved in breast tumour initiation, but might induce breast tumour progression by up regulating mitogenic signalling pathways