Publications by authors named "Kaaij M"

Purpose: Studies looking into the concordance between late effects reported by physicians vs. those reported by Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors are missing.

Methods: A Life Situation Questionnaire focusing on late effects collected data from 1230 HL survivors (median follow-up 14.

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Background: Disease-specific studies on the impact of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) on education or work interruption and resumption are lacking.

Material And Methods: In a cross-sectional study conducted among long-term HL survivors enrolled from 1964 to 2004 in nine randomised EORTC-LYSA trials, the interruption and resumption of education/work was investigated. Survivors alive 5-44 years after diagnosis who were studying or working at time of diagnosis were included ( = 1646).

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  • Spondyloarthritis (SpA) involves abnormal bone growth and inflammation, and current treatments mainly address inflammation but not bone growth; this study focuses on how specific blood vessels (type H) might play a role in SpA pathology.
  • Researchers studied tmTNF-Tg mice, which mimic SpA features, and found increases in type H vessels and bone-forming cells before clinical symptoms appeared, indicating early changes in the disease.
  • The findings suggest that type H vessels contribute to pathologic bone growth in SpA and highlight potential new treatment strategies targeting these vessels in the disease's progression.
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Purpose: Little is known about the employment situation of long-term Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors despite their young age at diagnosis and the favorable prognosis of the disease. In this cross-sectional study, we aim to describe the employment situation in a cohort of long-term HL survivors compared to the general population and investigate the associations with disease characteristics and treatment exposure.

Methods: HL survivors > 25 years (n = 1961) were matched 1:25 to controls (n = 49,025) from the European Union Labour Force Survey.

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Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to disease progression in COVID-19 patients. This observational pilot study aimed to assess mitochondrial function in COVID-19 patients at intensive care unit (ICU) admission (T1), seven days thereafter (T2), and in healthy controls and a general anesthesia group. Measurements consisted of in vivo mitochondrial oxygenation and oxygen consumption, in vitro assessment of mitochondrial respiration in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and the ex vivo quantity of circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

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Background: Hip and pelvic fractures do commonly occur among older adults. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the effect of introduction of the WOLK hip airbag on the incidence of hip fractures.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed among 969 participants residing within 11 long-term care facilities for older patients, belonging to one large healthcare organization in The Netherlands.

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  • Soluble tumor necrosis factor (sTNF) is crucial for the development and function of secondary lymphoid organs (SLO), whereas the role of its transmembrane form (tmTNF) was less clear until this study.
  • Researchers used tmTNF-transgenic (tmTNF-tg) mice and found that tmTNF overexpression led to enlarged lymph nodes and spleens, but with disorganized B and T cell areas and lower germinal center B cells.
  • The overexpression also negatively impacted the formation of plasma cells and shifted their antibody production, with normalization of some features observed upon genetic deletion of TNFRI or -II, indicating that tmTNF is key for SLO development and function
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Background: Patients with potentially curable esophageal cancer can be treated with neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery or definitive chemoradiotherapy with curative intent. For frail older patients choosing the appropriate oncological treatment can be difficult, and data on geriatric deficits as determinants of treatment outcomes are not yet available.

Objectives: To describe the prevalence of geriatric deficits and to study their association with treatment discontinuation and mortality in older patients with potentially curable esophageal cancer.

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  • A study investigated the effects of stopping immunomodulators like thiopurines or methotrexate in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who were on anti-TNF therapies, comparing outcomes of withdrawal versus continuation of treatment.
  • The research included 614 treatment episodes from 543 patients, revealing that withdrawing immunomodulators did not increase the risk of losing response to treatment, although it did lead to a higher frequency of anti-drug antibodies.
  • Key findings highlighted that being in clinical remission at the time of withdrawal lowered the risk of losing treatment response, while higher drug levels before stopping the immunomodulators reduced the chances of developing anti-drug antibodies.
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Purpose: Drug-Related Admissions (DRAs) are a well-known problem among older patients in the Emergency Department (ED). The aim of this study was (a) to investigate the prevalence and clinical manifestations of DRAs and the responsible drugs, (b) to study the association between geriatric characteristics and DRAs, and (c) to study the predictive performance of geriatric screeners for identifying DRAs in older ED patients.

Methods: Patients aged ≥ 70 hospitalized from the ED were included.

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TNF is important in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including spondyloarthritis (SpA). Transgenic (tg) mice overexpressing transmembrane TNF (tmTNF) develop features resembling human SpA. Furthermore, both tmTNF tg mice and SpA patients develop ectopic lymphoid aggregates, but it is unclear whether these contribute to pathology.

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  • Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment with anti-TNFα shows a significant loss of response in the first year (17.2% annually) compared to after four years (4.8% annually), indicating that long-term treatment may improve patient stability.
  • A study of 844 treatment episodes found that the overall incidence of anti-TNFα discontinuation and dose escalations also decreased significantly from the first year to after four years.
  • Factors influencing loss of response included having ulcerative colitis (UC) over Crohn's disease (CD), specific disease types in CD, and gender, while using immunomodulators appeared to reduce the risk of developing anti-drug antibodies.
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Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is characterized by inflammation and new bone formation. The exact pathophysiology underlying these processes remains elusive. We propose that the extensive neoangiogenesis in SpA could play a role both in sustaining/enhancing inflammation and in new bone formation.

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TNF plays a key role in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA). It remains incompletely understood how TNF can lead to different disease phenotypes such as destructive peripheral polysynovitis in RA versus axial and peripheral osteoproliferative inflammation in SpA. We observed a marked increase of transmembrane (tm) versus soluble (s) TNF in SpA versus RA together with a decrease in the enzymatic activity of ADAM17.

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Background: The tumor-selective human adenovirus Delta24-RGD is currently under investigation in phase II clinical trials for patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). To improve treatments for patients with GBM, we explored the potential of combining Delta24-RGD with antibodies targeting immune checkpoints.

Methods: C57BL/6 mice were intracranially injected with GL261 cells and treated with a low dose of Delta24-RGD virus.

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Temozolomide (TMZ) is a chemotherapeutic used for the treatment of glioblastoma. The MGMT repair enzyme (O'-(6)-methyl guanine-DNA-methyltransferase) promoter methylation is a predictive biomarker to TMZ response; interferons (IFNs) type I can downregulate MGMT expression improving survival in patients with unmethylated MGMT promoter. HeberFERON is a co-formulation of IFNs type I and II with higher antiproliferative effect over glioblastoma cell lines than individual IFNs.

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Background: Long-term lymphoma survivors often complain of persistent fatigue that remains unexplained. While largely reported in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), long-term fatigue is poorly documented in non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL). Data collected in two cohort studies were used to illustrate the fatigue level changes with time in the two populations.

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The endothelium is crucially important for the delivery of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body under homeostatic conditions. However, it also contributes to pathology, including the initiation and perpetuation of inflammation. Understanding the function of endothelial cells (ECs) in inflammatory diseases and molecular mechanisms involved may lead to novel approaches to dampen inflammation and restore homeostasis.

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Background: Glioblastoma is the most malignant tumor of the central nervous system and still lacks effective treatment. This study explores mutational biomarkers of 11 drugs targeting either the RTK/Ras/PI3K, the p53 or the Rb pathway using 25 patient-derived glioblastoma stem-like cell cultures (GSCs).

Results: We found that TP53 mutated GSCs were approximately 3.

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Serum-free culture methods for patient-derived primary glioma cultures, selecting for glioma stem-like cells (GSCs), are becoming the gold standard in neurooncology research. These GSCs can be implemented in drug screens to detect patient-specific responses, potentially bridging the translational gap to personalized medicine. Since numerous compounds are available, a rapid and reliable readout for drug efficacies is required.

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  • After cancer treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma, some survivors might have heart problems, known as cardiovascular disease.
  • Researchers tried to find out how much certain treatments, like anthracyclines, vinca-alkaloids, and radiation, can increase this risk.
  • They collected information from over 6000 patients and found that specific treatments were linked to heart issues, with many survivors experiencing problems like heart disease and arrhythmia.
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Sexual dysfunction is a common consequence of cancer treatment, affecting at least half of men and women treated for pelvic malignancies and over a quarter of people with other types of cancer. Problems are usually linked to damage to nerves, blood vessels, and hormones that underlie normal sexual function. Sexual dysfunction also may be associated with depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, and loss of self-esteem.

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Demineralizations around orthodontic brackets are a main disadvantage of orthodontic treatment. Several methods have been advocated to prevent their development, such as fluoride rinses or varnishes. In this randomized clinical trial, a fluoride rinse (a combination of sodium fluoride and amine fluoride) was compared with a placebo rinse, to be used every evening after toothbrushing.

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