Respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms in patients with IPF or sarcoidosis and controls.

Introduction: Besides dyspnoea and cough, patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or sarcoidosis may experience distressing non-respiratory symptoms, such as fatigue or muscle weakness. However, whether and to what extent symptom burden differs between patients with IPF or sarcoidosis and individuals without respiratory disease remains currently unknown.

Objectives: To study the respiratory and non-respiratory burden of multiple symptoms in patients with IPF or sarcoidosis and to compare the symptom burden with individuals without impaired spirometric values, FVC and FEV1 (controls).

Patient Activation for Self-Management in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis or Sarcoidosis.

Background: Self-management is considered important in the management of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or sarcoidosis. However, data about the degree of activation for self-management is lacking.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the degree of activation for self-management in patients with IPF or sarcoidosis using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and to evaluate the association between PAM scores, clinical characteristics, and health-related outcomes.

Severe Fatigue is Highly Prevalent in Patients with IPF or Sarcoidosis.

In patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) next to dyspnea, fatigue is expected to be the most prevalent symptom. Surprisingly, the prevalence of severe fatigue has been scarcely studied in ILD patients and limited information on its associated factors is available. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of severe fatigue in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or pulmonary sarcoidosis and to identify the relationship between fatigue, patient characteristics, and clinical parameters.

Validation of 4-meter-gait-speed test and 5-repetitions-sit-to-stand test in patients with pulmonary fibrosis: a clinimetric validation study.

Patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) have a clear exercise intolerance. The 4-meter-gait-speed (4MGS) test and the 5-repetitions-sit-to-stand (5STS) test are easy, inexpensive and reliable measures of functional performance. Both tests have been validated in healthy adults and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Using Outcome Measures in Daily Practice: Development and Evaluation of an Implementation Strategy for Physiotherapists in the Netherlands.

Purpose: To describe the development of an educational programme for physiotherapists in the Netherlands, two toolkits of measurement instruments, and the evaluation of an implementation strategy.

Method: The study used a controlled pre- and post-measurement design. A tailored educational programme for the use of outcome measures was developed that consisted of four training sessions and two toolkits of measurement instruments.

Characterization of polarity development through 2- and 3-D imaging during the initial phase of microspore embryogenesis in Brassica napus L.

Isolated microspores of B. napus in culture change their developmental pathway from gametophytic to sporophytic and form embryo-like structures (ELS) upon prolonged heat shock treatment (5 days at 32 °C). ELS express polarity during the initial days of endosporic development.

Microtubule configurations and nuclear DNA synthesis during initiation of suspensor-bearing embryos from Brassica napus cv. Topas microspores.

In the new Brassica napus microspore culture system, wherein embryos with suspensors are formed, ab initio mimics zygotic embryogenesis. The system provides a powerful in vitro tool for studying the diverse developmental processes that take place during early stages of plant embryogenesis. Here, we studied in this new culture system both the temporal and spatial distribution of nuclear DNA synthesis places and the organization of the microtubular (MT) cytoskeleton, which were visualized with a refined whole mount immunolocalization technology and 3D confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Gametophytic development of Brassica napus pollen in vitroenables examination of cytoskeleton and nuclear movements.

Isolated microspores and pollen suspension of Brassica napus "Topas" cultured in NLN-13 medium at 18°C follow gametophytic pathway and develop into pollen grains closely resembling pollen formed in planta. This culture system complemented with whole-mount immunocytochemical technology and novel confocal laser scanning optical technique enables detailed studies of male gametophyte including asymmetric division, cytoskeleton, and nuclear movements. Microtubular cytoskeleton configurationally changed in successive stages of pollen development.

Current use and barriers and facilitators for implementation of standardised measures in physical therapy in the Netherlands.

Background: In many countries, the need for physical therapists to use standardised measures has been recognised and is recommended in clinical practice guidelines. Research has shown a lack of clinimetric knowledge and clinical application of measurement instruments in daily practice may hamper implementation of these guidelines.

Objectives: The aims of our study were a) to investigate the current use of measurement instruments by Dutch physical therapists; b) to investigate the facilitators and barriers in using measurement instruments.

Quantitative trait loci for glucosinolate accumulation in Brassica rapa leaves.

Glucosinolates and their breakdown products have been recognized for their effects on plant defense, human health, flavor and taste of cruciferous vegetables. Despite this importance, little is known about the regulation of the biosynthesis and degradation in Brassica rapa. Here, the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for glucosinolate accumulation in B.

Regeneration of zygotic-like microspore-derived embryos suggests an important role for the suspensor in early embryo patterning.

The inaccessibility of the zygote and proembryos of angiosperms within the surrounding maternal and filial tissues has hampered studies on early plant embryogenesis. Somatic and gametophytic embryo cultures are often used as alternative systems for molecular and biochemical studies on early embryogenesis, but are not widely used in developmental studies due to differences in the early cell division patterns with seed embryos. A new Brassica napus microspore embryo culture system, wherein embryogenesis highly mimics zygotic embryo development, is reported here.

Comparison of international guideline programs to evaluate and update the Dutch program for clinical guideline development in physical therapy.

Background: Clinical guidelines are considered important instruments to improve quality in health care. Since 1998 the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy (KNGF) produced evidence-based clinical guidelines, based on a standardized program. New developments in the field of guideline research raised the need to evaluate and update the KNGF guideline program.

Combined transcriptome and proteome analysis identifies pathways and markers associated with the establishment of rapeseed microspore-derived embryo development.

Microspore-derived embryo (MDE) cultures are used as a model system to study plant cell totipotency and as an in vitro system to study embryo development. We characterized and compared the transcriptome and proteome of rapeseed (Brassica napus) MDEs from the few-celled stage to the globular/heart stage using two MDE culture systems: conventional cultures in which MDEs initially develop as unorganized clusters that usually lack a suspensor, and a novel suspensor-bearing embryo culture system in which the embryo proper originates from the distal cell of a suspensor-like structure and undergoes the same ordered cell divisions as the zygotic embryo. Improved histodifferentiation of suspensor-bearing MDEs suggests a new role for the suspensor in driving embryo cell identity and patterning.

Heterologous expression of the BABY BOOM AP2/ERF transcription factor enhances the regeneration capacity of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).

Gain-of-function studies have shown that ectopic expression of the BABY BOOM (BBM) AP2/ERF domain transcription factor is sufficient to induce spontaneous somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh) and Brassica napus (B. napus L.

Silencing of the pollen-specific gene NTP303 and its family members in tobacco affects in vivo pollen tube growth and results in male sterile plants.

In seed plants, successful fertilization requires correct regulation of pollen tube growth. At germination and during growth, the pollen tube interacts with tissues from the pistil while the pollen tube extends via tip growth. Despite the fact that much research has been devoted to the mechanisms regulating pollen tube growth, many aspects are currently unknown.

Reliability of the Dutch Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI).

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the Dutch version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), an instrument for measuring functional status (capability and performance in self-care, mobility and social function) of young children using parent interviews.

Design: Inter-interviewer reliability was studied after scoring audiotaped interviews by a second researcher. For test-retest reliability the same parent was interviewed twice within three weeks; in inter-respondent reliability both parents of a child were interviewed independently within a few days.

Creating and being created: the changing panorama of paediatric rehabilitation.

Paediatric rehabilitation as a discipline is rapidly changing, especially during the last decades. In the past, paediatric rehabilitation was characterized by merely adult intervention strategies in a miniaturized form, delivered by a merely adult patients-oriented profession. Theories on childhood development, however, changed, as did the focus of interventions: from impairments to function, from the child itself to family, community and peers.

Discriminative validity of the Dutch Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory.

Objective: To examine the discriminative validity of the Dutch Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) to differentiate functional status between children with and without disabilities.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: A university children's hospital in the Netherlands.

Ectopic expression of BABY BOOM triggers a conversion from vegetative to embryonic growth.

The molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation and maintenance of the embryonic pathway in plants are largely unknown. To obtain more insight into these processes, we used subtractive hybridization to identify genes that are upregulated during the in vitro induction of embryo development from immature pollen grains of Brassica napus (microspore embryogenesis). One of the genes identified, BABY BOOM (BBM), shows similarity to the AP2/ERF family of transcription factors and is expressed preferentially in developing embryos and seeds.