Publications by authors named "Graaf D"

Exposure to pesticides is one of the main drivers of global bee decline. However, the occurrence of pesticides in bee-attracting crops remains underexposed due to the lack of efficient on-site screening approaches for multi-analyte monitoring. Utilizing color-encoded superparamagnetic microspheres, we constructed a portable 8-plex indirect competitive microsphere-based immunoassay for the simultaneous determination of multiple bee-hazardous residues (Bee-Plex).

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  • * Research focused on IL1RN rs9973741, highlighting that this gout risk allele (G) is associated with decreased production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-1Ra after stimulation and increased IL-1β production in immune cells.
  • * The findings suggest that the genetic variations in the IL1RN-IL1F10 locus influence how immune cells respond to MSU crystals, contributing to the inflammatory processes involved in gout.
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Honey bees are rapidly declining, which poses a significant threat to our environment and agriculture industry. These vital insects face a disease complex believed to be caused by a combination of parasites, viruses, pesticides, and nutritional deficiencies. However, the real aetiology is still enigmatic.

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Nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) is a pathogenic factor in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that is not addressed specifically by current therapies. NFκB is activated by inflammatory factors that stimulate toll-like receptors (TLRs) and receptors for interleukin-1 (IL-1) family members. IL-1 is considered a master regulator of inflammation, and IL-1 receptor signaling is inhibited by the IL-1 receptor antagonist anakinra.

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While studies on the sublethal effects of chemical residues in beeswax on adult honey bees are increasing, the study protocols assessing the impacts on honey bee brood in realistic conditions still need to be investigated. Moreover, little is known about the residue's effect on gene expression in honey bee brood. This study reports the effects of chlorpyriphos-ethyl, acrinathrin and stearin worker pupae exposure through contaminated or adulterated beeswax on the gene expression of some key health indicators, using a novel in vivo realistic model.

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Implementation of marker-assisted selection (MAS) in modern beekeeping would improve sustainability, especially in breeding programs aiming for resilience against the parasitic mite . Selecting honey bee colonies for natural resistance traits, such as brood-intrinsic suppression of varroa mite reproduction, reduces the use of chemical acaricides while respecting local adaptation. In 2019, eight genomic variants associated with varroa non-reproduction in drone brood were discovered in a single colony from the Amsterdam Water Dune population in the Netherlands.

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The mechanisms of action behind decreased mite reproduction (DMR) are still unknown, but current hypotheses state that DMR is the result of brood-intrinsic and/or external disturbances in the -honey bee pupa signal interactions. For accurate and precise DMR phenotyping, sufficient single infested honey bee brood cells are required (e.g.

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Unlabelled: In recent years, managed honey bee colonies have been suffering from an increasing number of biotic and abiotic stressors, resulting in numerous losses of colonies worldwide. A pan-European study, EPILOBEE, estimated the colony loss in Belgium to be 32.4% in 2012 and 14.

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Background: Physical capacity and physical activity are important aspects of physical functioning and quality of life in people with a chronic disease such as Parkinson disease (PD) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Both physical capacity and physical activity are currently measured in the clinic using standardized questionnaires and tests, such as the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and the Timed Up and Go test (TUG). However, relying only on in-clinic tests is suboptimal since they offer limited information on how a person functions in daily life and how functioning fluctuates throughout the day.

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The Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) plays an essential role in crop pollination, environment diversity, and the production of honey bee products. However, the health of individual honey bees and their colonies is under pressure due to multiple stressors, including viruses as a significant threat to bees. Monitoring various virus infections could be a crucial selection tool during queen rearing.

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In 2019, a joint eight-variant model was published in which eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in seven Apis mellifera genes were associated with Varroa destructor drone brood resistance (DBR, i.e. mite non-reproduction in drone brood).

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Gait disorders are a disabling feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). To avoid falls, people with PD should be able to adequately adapt their gait. This requires correct response inhibition and integration of visual information.

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Ethiopia has a high potential for the production of honey and other apiary products due to its ideal agroecology. This potential is, however, not yet well utilized due to weak production and valorization systems. The study analyzed beekeeping systems and their honey value chain to detect the barriers and to explore ways to better exploit the existing potential.

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In this work we aim to provide a quantitative method allowing the probing of the physiological status of honeybee colonies by providing them with a gentle, short, external artificial vibrational shockwave, and recording their response. The knock is provided by an external electromagnetic shaker attached to the outer wall of a hive, driven by a computer with a 0.1 s long, monochromatic vibration at 340Hz set to an amplitude that occasionally yields a mild response from the bees, recorded by an accelerometer placed in the middle of the central frame of the colony.

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Article Synopsis
  • Honey bee colonies are vital for society and the economy, but beekeepers face challenges like parasites, reduced pollen, and pesticide exposure, necessitating a better understanding of colony health.
  • To address these issues, the B-GOOD project was created to develop a Health Status Index (HSI) for bee colonies by collecting and analyzing various data points related to colony health and environmental conditions.
  • This project emphasizes the importance of standardized data collection and machine learning to provide beekeepers with targeted guidance and contribute to sustainable beekeeping practices.
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Introduction: Evaluation of bradykinesia is based on five motor tasks from the MDS-UPDRS. Visually scoring these motor tasks is subjective, resulting in significant interrater variability. Recent observations suggest that it may be easier to hear the characteristic features of bradykinesia, such as the decrement in sound intensity or force of repetitive movements.

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Invasive vectors can induce dramatic changes in disease epidemiology. While viral emergence following geographical range expansion of a vector is well known, the influence a vector can have at the level of the host's pathobiome is less well understood. Taking advantage of the formerly heterogeneous spatial distribution of the ectoparasitic mite that acts as potent virus vector among honeybees , we investigated the impact of its recent global spread on the viral community of honeybees in a retrospective study of historical samples.

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  • IL-38 is primarily known as an anti-inflammatory cytokine but also acts as a growth factor in the murine small intestine (SI), promoting organoid size through WNT3a.
  • In IL-38-deficient mice, organoids develop more slowly due to decreased expression of intestinal stemness markers, indicating IL-38's role in supporting stem cell properties.
  • While IL-1R9's involvement in IL-38 signaling remains uncertain, silencing of IL-1R6 impairs the growth response to IL-38, suggesting IL-1R6 is the main receptor for IL-38 in intestinal stem cell regulation.
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Purpose: Patients with chronic painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) may experience a negative impact of CIPN on daily life. They can use various coping (i.e.

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  • This study investigates how women in a Facebook group for those affected by the Essure sterilization device share personal experiences and support each other in dealing with related medical issues.
  • Analyzing 3,491 posts over two months, the research found that 92% of messages offered some form of social support, with emotional and informational support being the most common.
  • The results showed a strong relationship between giving and receiving support, but only a small fraction of posts (2.2%) included direct medical advice.
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Autoimmune skin diseases are understood as conditions in which the adaptive immune system with autoantigen-specific T cells and autoantibody-producing B cells reacting against self-tissues plays a crucial pathogenic role. However, there is increasing evidence that inflammasomes, which are large multiprotein complexes that were first described 20 years ago, contribute to autoimmune disease progression. The inflammasome and its contribution to the bioactivation of interleukins IL-1β and IL-18 play an essential role in combating foreign pathogens or tissue damage, but may also act as a pathogenic driver of myriad chronic inflammatory diseases when dysfunctionally regulated.

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mites and the viruses it vectors are two major factors leading to high losses of honey bees () colonies worldwide. However, honey bees in some African countries show resilience to varroa infestation and/or virus infections, although little is known about the mechanisms underlying this resilience. In this study, we investigated the expression profiles of some key molecular markers involved in olfactory sensing and RNA interference, as these processes may contribute to the bees' resilience to varroa infestation and virus infection, respectively.

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Purpose: A significant proportion of cancer patients suffer from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). This descriptive study aimed to examine patients' experience of CIPN symptoms, daily limitations, involvement of healthcare professionals, and social support.

Methods: Cross-sectional data have been collected in the Netherlands via a national online questionnaire comprising closed items only (February 2021).

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