Publications by authors named "S Akker"

Phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGL) are rare neuroendocrine tumours that arise not only in adulthood but also in childhood and adolescence. Up to 70-80% of childhood PPGL are hereditary, accounting for a higher incidence of metastatic and/or multifocal PPGL in paediatric patients than in adult patients. Key differences in the tumour biology and management, together with rare disease incidence and therapeutic challenges in paediatric compared with adult patients, mandate close expert cross-disciplinary teamwork.

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Article Synopsis
  • Phaeochromocytomas (PCC) and paragangliomas (PGL), together called PPGLs, are neuroendocrine tumors from neural crest cells in the nervous system.
  • Predicting the behavior and metastatic potential of these tumors is challenging due to limitations in available genetic and other diagnostic markers.
  • The study introduces hyperpolarised C-MR (HP-MR) as a new non-invasive technique to analyze tumor metabolism and potentially understand disease behavior better, illustrated by a case study of PPGL metabolism.
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Phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma are highly heritable tumours; half of those associated with a germline mutation are caused by mutations in genes for Krebs's cycle enzymes, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). Inheritance of SDH alleles is assumed to be Mendelian (probability of 50% from each parent). The departure from transmission of parental alleles in a ratio of 1:1 is termed transmission ratio distortion (TRD).

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We present a sustainable, inherently safe battery chemistry that is based on widely available and cheap materials, that is, iron and manganese hosted in alginate bio-material known from the food and medical industry. The resulting battery can be recycled to allow circularity. The electrodes were synthesised by the alginate caging the multi-valent metals to form a hydrogel in an aqueous environment.

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