The architecture of miracle-working statues in the Southern Netherlands

In the 17th century, the Southern Netherlands saw the erection or restoration of numerous sanctuaries dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In many cases, they housed a miracle-working statue. This essay analyzes the architecture of these sanctuaries through the histories that were written about their statues. It examines how the history of the statues, as recorded in contemporary textual and visual sources, represents and interprets their material surroundings, including the architecture, in order to understand how the statues were thought to relate to these surroundings. Three types of historical narratives are distinguished, each explaining the presence and actions of a statue on its site. These three types will, in turn, shed light on the characteristics and development of the material surroundings of the miracle-working statues

The cinematic spaces of the Horizontal Metropolis : the image of Flemish suburbia

The condition of the ‘Flemish urban landscape’ has been a difficult subject to tackle for urban planners as well as policy makers for more than half a century. Uncontrolled urbanization resulted in a highly fragmented settlement structure that covers almost the entire territory, also indicated as a ‘horizontal metropolis’. The current demographic, economic and ecological consequences such as structural traffic jams, noise nuisance, chronic flooding, .... seem to have little effect on the everyday conception of these spaces. The daily practice of consuming space in Flanders continues unimpededly, still four hectares of open space disappear every day through further urbanization. Regardless the unplanned and perhaps chaotic outcome, the moods and behavior concerning space and urbanization seem to be shaped by rather individual desires and practices. Apparently there is a (growing) distance between the urban discourse and the everyday life and practice in how the city and the space are perceived. It is important to investigate these differences, since perceptions have an influence on the evolutions of spaces. These perceptions determine not only the ideas about the city and the space, the way in which these areas are depicted also affects those who live and work in it. This research assumes that the cinematic space reflects the intrinsic characteristics, the experience value and the typical dynamics of this urbanized space. But the visualizations in films also influence the way in which we understand what spaces and places mean and how we deal with it. Therefore the analysis of the cinematic representations of the horizontal metropolis will be deployed to explore how space and place in film shape our political, social and cultural definition of space. In particular the case of ‘Suburbia’, essential to urbanization, will be explored to discover how visualizations reflect and relate to the discourse of urban professionals

Left ventricular diastolic function in relation to the urinary proteome: a proof-of-concept study in a general population

Background: In previous studies, we identified two urinary proteomic classifiers, termed HF1 and HF2, which discriminated subclinical diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction from normal. HF1 and HF2 combine information from 85 and 671 urinary peptides, mainly up- or down-regulated collagen fragments. We sought to validate these classifiers in a population study. Methods: In 745 people randomly recruited from a Flemish population (49.8 years; 51.3% women), we measured early and late diastolic peak velocities of mitral inflow (E and A) and mitral annular velocities (e' and a') by conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography, and the urinary proteome by capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry. Results: In the analyses adjusted for sex, age, body mass index, blood pressure, heart rate, LV mass index and intake of medications, we expressed effect sizes per 1-SD increment in the classifiers. HF1 was associated with 0.204 cm/s lower e' peak velocity (95% confidence interval, 0.057–0.351; p = 0.007) and 0.145 higher E/e' ratio (0.023–0.268; p = 0.020), while HF2 was associated with a 0.174 higher E/e' ratio (0.046–0.302; p = 0.008). According to published definitions, 67 (9.0%) participants had impaired LV relaxation and 96 (12.9%) had elevated LV filling pressure. The odds of impaired relaxation associated with HF1 was 1.38 (1.01–1.88; p = 0.043) and that of increased LV filling pressure associated with HF2 was 1.38 (1.00–1.90; p = 0.052). Conclusions: In a general population, the urinary proteome correlated with diastolic LV dysfunction, proving its utility for early diagnosis of this condition

The effect of dietary non-starch polysaccharide level and bile acid supplementation on fat digestibility and the bile acid balance in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

This study investigated in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) if dietary bile acid supplementation is effective in restoring hampered fat digestibility related to conditions that enhance fecal bile acid loss (i.e., high dietary non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) level and high feeding level). Four diets were formulated according to a two-by-two factorial design. A Low- and High-NSP level (0 vs. 160 g kg-1 inclusion of a NSP-rich ingredient mixture) and two bile acid supplementation levels (0 vs. 2 g kg-1 inclusion of sodium taurocholate) were tested. A contrast in feeding level (i.e., feed intake) was created by subsequently feeding fish restrictively (1.1% BW d-1) for four weeks and to satiation for three weeks. The apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of all nutrients was affected by feeding period (i.e., restricted vs. satiation feeding), but the effect was dependent on diet composition with the ADC decline between feeding periods being larger for the High-NSP diets. The ADC of all macronutrients decreased alongside dietary NSP level, but this decrease was much more pronounced for fat compared to starch and protein, especially during satiation feeding (6.7%). This large drop in fat ADC during satiation feeding of NSP-rich diets occurred alongside enhanced fecal bile acid loss and correlated with a negative bile acid balance. The correlation between the bile acid balance and fat ADC found during satiation feeding of diets without bile acid supplementation was not present in fish fed diets with bile acid supplementation. In contrast to fat ADC, the ADC of protein and starch were independent from bile acid supplementation. In conclusion, dietary bile acid supplementation is an effective way to remediate decreased fat ADC related to enhanced fecal bile acid loss in rainbow trout, but is not effective in improving protein and starch ADC.</p

Management of a pregnant woman with fibromuscular dysplasia

No abstract available

Urinary proteomics pilot study for biomarker discovery and diagnosis in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

Background Biomarker discovery and new insights into the pathophysiology of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) may emerge from recent advances in high-throughput urinary proteomics. This could lead to improved diagnosis, risk stratification and management of HFrEF. Methods and Results Urine samples were analyzed by on-line capillary electrophoresis coupled to electrospray ionization micro time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-MS) to generate individual urinary proteome profiles. In an initial biomarker discovery cohort, analysis of urinary proteome profiles from 33 HFrEF patients and 29 age- and sex-matched individuals without HFrEF resulted in identification of 103 peptides that were significantly differentially excreted in HFrEF. These 103 peptides were used to establish the support vector machine-based HFrEF classifier HFrEF103. In a subsequent validation cohort, HFrEF103 very accurately (area under the curve, AUC = 0.972) discriminated between HFrEF patients (N = 94, sensitivity = 93.6%) and control individuals with and without impaired renal function and hypertension (N = 552, specificity = 92.9%). Interestingly, HFrEF103 showed low sensitivity (12.6%) in individuals with diastolic left ventricular dysfunction (N = 176). The HFrEF-related peptide biomarkers mainly included fragments of fibrillar type I and III collagen but also, e.g., of fibrinogen beta and alpha-1-antitrypsin. Conclusion CE-MS based urine proteome analysis served as a sensitive tool to determine a vast array of HFrEF-related urinary peptide biomarkers which might help improving our understanding and diagnosis of heart failure

Cadmium-Related Mortality and Long-Term Secular Trends in the Cadmium Body Burden of an Environmentally Exposed Population

BACKGROUND: Few population studies have reported on the long-term changes in the internal cadmium dose and simultaneously occurring mortality. OBJECTIVE: We monitored blood cadmium (BCd), 24-hr urinary cadmium (UCd), and mortality in an environmentally exposed population. METHODS: Starting from 1985, we followed BCd (until 2003), UCd (until 1996), and mortality (until 2007) among 476 and 480 subjects, randomly recruited from low- exposure areas (LEA) and high-exposure areas (HEA). The last cadmium-producing plant in the HEA closed in 2002. RESULTS: From 1985-1989 to 1991-1996, BCd decreased by 40.3% and 18.9% in the LEA and HEA, respectively (p < 0.0001 for between-area difference). From 1991-1996 until 2001-2003, BCd remained unchanged in the HEA (+ 1.8%) and increased by 19.7% in the LEA (p < 0.0001). Over the entire follow-up period, the annual decrease in BCd averaged 2.7% in the LEA (n = 258) and 1.8% in the HEA (n = 203). From 1985-1989 to 1991-1996, UCd fell by 12.9% in the LEA and by 16.6% in the HEA (p = 0.22), with mean annual decreases of 2.7% (n = 366) and 3.4% (n = 364). Over 20.3 years (median), 206 deaths (21.5%) occurred. At baseline, BCd (14.6 vs. 10.2 nmol/L) and UCd (14.1 vs. 8.6 nmol/24-hr) were higher in deaths than in survivors. The risks (p <= 0.04) associated with a doubling of baseline UCd were 20% and 44% for total and noncardiovascular mortality, and 25% and 33% for a doubling of BCd. CONCLUSIONS: Even if zinc-cadmium smelters close, historical environmental contamination remains a persistent source of exposure. Environmental exposure to cadmium increases total and noncardiovascular mortality in a continuous fashion without threshold

Peripheral blood mitochondrial DNA content in relation to circulating metabolites and inflammatory markers: a population study

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content might undergo significant changes caused by metabolic derangements, oxidative stress and inflammation that lead to development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. We, therefore, investigated in a general population the association of peripheral blood mtDNA content with circulating metabolites and inflammatory markers. We examined 310 subjects (50.6% women; mean age, 53.3 years) randomly selected from a Flemish population. Relative mtDNA content was measured by quantitative real-time PCR in peripheral blood cells. Peak circulating metabolites were quantified using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The level of inflammation was assessed via established inflammatory markers. Using Partial Least Squares analysis, we constructed 3 latent factors from the 44 measured metabolites that explained 62.5% and 8.5% of the variance in the contributing metabolites and the mtDNA content, respectively. With adjustments applied, mtDNA content was positively associated with the first latent factor (P = 0.002). We identified 6 metabolites with a major impact on the construction of this latent factor including HDL3 apolipoproteins, tyrosine, fatty acid with αCH2, creatinine, β-glucose and valine. We summarized them into a single composite metabolite score. We observed a negative association between the composite metabolic score and mtDNA content (P = 0.001). We also found that mtDNA content was inversely associated with inflammatory markers including hs-CRP, hs-IL6, white blood cell and neutrophil counts as well as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (P≤0.0024). We demonstrated that in a general population relative peripheral blood mtDNA content was associated with circulating metabolites indicative of perturbed lipid metabolism and with inflammatory biomarkers