Genetic Differences in the Immediate Transcriptome Response to Stress Predict Risk-Related Brain Function and Psychiatric Disorders

Depression risk is exacerbated by genetic factors and stress exposure; however, the biological mechanisms through which these factors interact to confer depression risk are poorly understood. One putative biological mechanism implicates variability in the ability of cortisol, released in response to stress, to trigger a cascade of adaptive genomic and non-genomic processes through glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activation. Here, we demonstrate that common genetic variants in long-range enhancer elements modulate the immediate transcriptional response to GR activation in human blood cells. These functional genetic variants increase risk for depression and co-heritable psychiatric disorders. Moreover, these risk variants are associated with inappropriate amygdala reactivity, a transdiagnostic psychiatric endophenotype and an important stress hormone response trigger. Network modeling and animal experiments suggest that these genetic differences in GR-induced transcriptional activation may mediate the risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders by altering a network of functionally related stress-sensitive genes in blood and brain

Een multilevel perspectief op de rol van de provincie Noord-Brabant in een digitaliserend landschap: maatschappelijke opgaven, netwerksturing en dataplatformen voor data commons

BrabantAdvies is door de Provincie Noord-Brabant gevraagd om de ethische, maatschappelijke en politieke vragen rondom digitalisering verder te verkennen. Zo presenteerde BrabantAdvies in 2018 met medewerking van het Avans lectoraat Digitalisering en Veiligheid een eerste verkenning van de implicaties van digitalisering voor het politiek-bestuurlijk handelen van de provincie. Vanuit de Provincie trad de CIO (Marcel Thaens) op als opdrachtgever, in overleg met gedeputeerde Martijn van Gruijthuijsen. BrabantAdvies heeft een aanpak voor die verkenning geformuleerd en daarbij het lectoraat Digitalisering en Veiligheid onder leiding van lector Ben Kokkeler als kennispartner genodigd

Socio-technical system analysis of responsible data sharing in water systems as critical infrastructure

Attention is increasingly focused on the protection of water systems as critical infrastructure, including subsystems of supply, sanitation, hygiene, and management. Similarly increasing consideration is paid to the growing role and impact of data on water systems and management. We explore key challenges associated with data-driven water systems as critical infrastructure. First, we describe the status of water infrastructure as a part of national critical infrastructure. Second, as this infrastructure increasingly relies on the constant flow of data from a huge variety, quality, and complexity of sensors, we provide a descriptive framework to map in detail the particular expertise needed across data-driven water management, applied to the UK water infrastructure as our use case. Third, through the framework of Capabilities Approach (CA) we analyze the specific challenges of data-driven water management, and argue that the current predominant narratives in the water infrastructure discourse have difficulties to effectively convey existing and emerging challenges. Fourth, we further demonstrate the widening gap between infrastructure services and consumer goods, arguing for increased convergence of the utilization of consumer data, and developing open data ecosystems