Dual Fluorescence in Glutathione-Derived Carbon Dots Revisited.

Dual-fluorescence carbon dots have great potential as nanosensors in life and materials sciences. Such carbon dots can be obtained via a solvothermal synthesis route with glutathione and formamide. In this work, we show that the dual-fluorescence emission of the synthesis products does not originate from a single carbon dot emitter, but rather from a mixture of physically separate compounds.

Prevalence of Asthma Characteristics in COPD Patients in a Dutch Well-Established Asthma/COPD Service for Primary Care.

Purpose: Primary care COPD guidelines indicate that COPD patients with asthma characteristics should be treated as having asthma. This study aims to describe the prevalence of asthma characteristics in patients with a pulmonologist-confirmed working diagnosis of COPD or ACO.

Patients And Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study used real-life data (collected between 2007 and 2017) from a Dutch asthma/COPD-service, a structured web-based system in which pulmonologists support general practitioners in their diagnosis of patients with suspicion of obstructive lung disease.

Electrolyte Effects on the Stability of Ni-Mo Cathodes for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Water electrolysis to form hydrogen as a solar fuel requires highly effective catalysts. In this work, theoretical and experimental studies are performed on the activity and stability of Ni-Mo cathodes for this reaction. Density functional theory studies show various Ni-Mo facets to be active for the hydrogen evolution reaction, Ni segregation to be thermodynamically favorable, and Mo vacancy formation to be favorable even without an applied potential.

The user experiences and clinical outcomes of an online personal health record to support self-management of bipolar disorder: A pretest-posttest pilot study.

Background: Self-management comprises knowledge, behavior, activities and resources providing people with bipolar disorder (BD) control over fluctuating mood and activity-patterns. The 'Self-management and Dialogue in Bipolar Disorder' project entailed the tailoring of an online personal health record (PHR) originally designed for the chronically ill to monitor condition and share information with their clinician to people with BD (PHR-BD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, utility and user-experiences of participants with BD, relatives, and healthcare professionals who worked with the PHR-BD.

Combining genomewide association study and lung eQTL analysis provides evidence for novel genes associated with asthma.

Background: Genomewide association studies (GWASs) of asthma have identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that modestly increase the risk for asthma. This could be due to phenotypic heterogeneity of asthma. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) is a phenotypic hallmark of asthma.

[Asthma/COPD service in general practice. Study into feasibility and effectiveness].

Objective: A study of the effectiveness and functioning of an asthma/COPD service (AC service).

Design: Observational study.

Method: General practitioners (GPs) in the northern part of the Netherlands can refer patients with airway symptoms to the AC service, which was set up in 2007 by local pulmonologists, GPs and the primary care laboratory CERTE.

The minimal clinically important difference of the Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT): cross-cultural validation and relation with pollen counts.

Background: The Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) monitors control of asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Aims: To determine the CARAT's minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Dutch CARAT.

Methods: CARAT was applied in three measurements at 1-month intervals.

Feasibility and effectiveness of an asthma/COPD service for primary care: a cross-sectional baseline description and longitudinal results.

Background: In 2007, an Asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (AC) service was implemented in the North of the Netherlands to support General Practitioners (GPs) by providing advice from pulmonologists on a systematic basis.

Aims: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this service on patient-related outcomes.

Methods: We report baseline data on 11,401 patients and follow-up data from 2,556 patients.

Common genes underlying asthma and COPD? Genome-wide analysis on the Dutch hypothesis.

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are thought to share a genetic background ("Dutch hypothesis"). We investigated whether asthma and COPD have common underlying genetic factors, performing genome-wide association studies for both asthma and COPD and combining the results in meta-analyses. Three loci showed potential involvement in both diseases: chr2p24.

Budesonide/formoterol maintenance and reliever therapy in primary care asthma management: effects on bronchial hyperresponsiveness and asthma control.

Background: The management of asthma has changed since the introduction of budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort®) as both maintenance and reliever therapy (SMART). SMART and its effects on bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) have not been studied in primary care.

Aims: To compare the effects of SMART and guideline-driven usual care (UC) on BHR and clinical asthma severity in primary care practice.

Host defense against viral infection involves interferon mediated down-regulation of sterol biosynthesis.

Little is known about the protective role of inflammatory processes in modulating lipid metabolism in infection. Here we report an intimate link between the innate immune response to infection and regulation of the sterol metabolic network characterized by down-regulation of sterol biosynthesis by an interferon regulatory loop mechanism. In time-series experiments profiling genome-wide lipid-associated gene expression of macrophages, we show a selective and coordinated negative regulation of the complete sterol pathway upon viral infection or cytokine treatment with IFNγ or β but not TNF, IL1β, or IL6.

An economic evaluation of budesonide/formoterol for maintenance and reliever treatment in asthma in general practice.

Introduction: In budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort(R) Turbuhaler(R), AstraZeneca, Lund, Sweden) maintenance and reliever therapy (SMART), patients with asthma take a daily maintenance dose of budesonide/formoterol, with the option of taking additional doses for symptom relief instead of a short-acting beta(2)-agonist (SABA). This study assesses the cost-effectiveness of SMART compared with usual care in patients with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma treated by general practitioners in the Netherlands from a societal perspective.

Methods: The study was linked to a randomized, active-controlled, open-label, multicenter, 12-month clinical trial, with a prospective collection of resource use.

Development of a questionnaire for the assessment of bronchial hyperresponsiveness.

Introduction: Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) is a hallmark of asthma. Treatment approaches based on BHR severity have been shown to be effective. However, challenge tests are expensive, inconvenient to patients, time consuming, and not easily accessible to general practitioners.

UK Food Standards Agency Workshop Report: the effects of the dietary n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio on cardiovascular health.

This report summarises a workshop convened by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) on 11 September 2006 to review the results of three FSA-funded studies and other recent research on effects of the dietary n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio on cardiovascular health. The objective of this workshop was to reach a clear conclusion on whether or not it was worth funding any further research in this area. On the basis of this review of the experimental evidence and on theoretical grounds, it was concluded that the n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio is not a useful concept and that it distracts attention away from increasing absolute intakes of long-chain n-3 fatty acids which have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health.

Dietary intervention with oil rich fish reduces platelet-monocyte aggregation in man.

Background: Dietary intake of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular events. The mechanisms for this are uncertain and previous studies investigating effects on platelet function have produced inconsistent results. Platelet-monocyte aggregation is a sensitive marker of platelet activation and may contribute to the initiation and progression of atherothrombosis.

Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: systematic review.

Objective: To review systematically the evidence for an effect of long chain and shorter chain omega 3 fatty acids on total mortality, cardiovascular events, and cancer.

Data Sources: Electronic databases searched to February 2002; authors contacted and bibliographies of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) checked to locate studies.

Review Methods: Review of RCTs of omega 3 intake for (3) 6 months in adults (with or without risk factors for cardiovascular disease) with data on a relevant outcome.

Reduced coronary reserve in response to short-term ischaemia and vasoactive drugs in ex vivo hearts from diabetic mice.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the coronary flow (CF) reserve of ex vivo perfused hearts from type 2 diabetic (db/db) and non-diabetic (db/+) mice.

Methods: The hearts were perfused in the Langendorff mode with Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer (37 degrees C, pH 7.4) containing 11 mmol L(-1) glucose as energy substrate.

Toenail cerium levels and risk of a first acute myocardial infarction: the EURAMIC and heavy metals study.

The association between cerium status and risk of first acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was examined in a case-control study in 10 centres from Europe and Israel. Cerium in toenails was assessed by neutron activation analysis in 684 cases and 724 controls aged 70 years or younger. Mean concentrations of cerium were 186 and 173 microg/kg in cases and controls, respectively.

Low toenail chromium concentration and increased risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction.

Chromium intake may increase insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, and the ratio of high density lipoprotein cholesterol to low density lipoprotein cholesterol. However, the epidemiologic evidence on the association between chromium and cardiovascular disease is very limited. To determine whether low toenail chromium concentrations were associated with risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction, the authors conducted an incident, population-based, case-control study in eight European countries and Israel in 1991-1992.

Meta-analysis: high-dosage vitamin E supplementation may increase all-cause mortality.

Background: Experimental models and observational studies suggest that vitamin E supplementation may prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer. However, several trials of high-dosage vitamin E supplementation showed non-statistically significant increases in total mortality.

Purpose: To perform a meta-analysis of the dose-response relationship between vitamin E supplementation and total mortality by using data from randomized, controlled trials.

Lifespan and mitochondrial control of neurodegeneration.

We examine the allometric (comparative scaling) relationships between rates of neurodegeneration resulting from equivalent mutations in a diverse group of genes from five mammalian species with different maximum lifespan potentials. In both retina and brain, rates of neurodegeneration vary by as much as two orders of magnitude and are strongly correlated with maximum lifespan potential and rates of formation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). Cell death in these disorders is directly or indirectly regulated by the intrinsic mitochondrial cell death pathway.

Omega 3 fatty acids for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Background: It has been suggested that omega 3 (W3, n-3 or omega-3) fats from oily fish and plants are beneficial to health.

Objectives: To assess whether dietary or supplemental omega 3 fatty acids alter total mortality, cardiovascular events or cancers using both RCT and cohort studies.

Search Strategy: Five databases including CENTRAL, MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched to February 2002.

Incidence of juvenile-onset Crohn's disease in Scotland: association with northern latitude and affluence.

Background & Aims: The incidence of Crohn's disease in Scottish children has increased steadily over 30 years. Many studies have investigated genetic influence or possible links with childhood events. We aimed to study sociodemographic and/or geographic distribution of juvenile=onset Crohn's disease in Scotland.