141,077 results match your criteria: "University of Amsterdam; C.P.Fitzsimons@uva.nl.[Affiliation]"

Despite various efforts in the field, no consistent predictors of treatment outcome in anxiety disorders have been identified. Based on the Dynamic System Theory, this study proposes a novel, dynamic predictor of treatment outcome in those with public speaking anxiety. It was assessed whether speed of return to one's interpretation bias equilibrium after an experimentally-induced perturbation (i.

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Integrating lines of research on children's curiosity-driven learning.

J Exp Child Psychol

January 2025

Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1001 NK Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Epistemic curiosity is considered indispensable in children's learning, but previous empirical research on children's curiosity-driven learning has been fragmented; separate research lines tend to focus on single learning outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed at integrating different research lines by adapting an existing paradigm to investigate not only the relation between children's state curiosity and their memory performance but also their desire to explore. In addition, this study examined a possible mechanism through which curiosity affects recall: increased attentional processes.

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Globally, more than 100 countries have adopted net-zero targets. Most studies agree on how this increases the chance of keeping end-of-century global warming below 2°C. However, they typically make assumptions about net-zero targets that do not capture uncertainties related to gas coverage, sector coverage, sinks, and removals.

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Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), composed of the core subunits EED, SUZ12, and either EZH1 or EZH2, is critical for maintaining cellular identity in multicellular organisms. PRC2 deposits H3K27me3, which is thought to recruit the canonical form of PRC1 (cPRC1) to promote gene repression. Here, we show that EZH1-PRC2 and cPRC1 are the primary Polycomb complexes on target genes in non-dividing, quiescent cells.

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The Divine in the Clinic: Assisted Reproduction and Religious Practice in Ghana and South Africa.

J Relig Health

January 2025

School of Social Sciences, 20 Chancellor's Walk, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, 3880, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • The study examines spiritual practices among both staff and patients in assisted reproduction settings in Ghana and South Africa, highlighting how these interventions complement high-tech methods.
  • It discusses the creation of sacred spaces within clinics and various rituals associated with in vitro fertilization (IVF) that reinforce the moral agency of those involved.
  • The research also addresses the challenges of adapting assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to different cultural and religious environments, emphasizing the need for careful translation of practices.
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Evolution of Omicron lineage towards increased fitness in the upper respiratory tract in the absence of severe lung pathology.

Nat Commun

January 2025

Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA.

The emergence of the Omicron lineage represented a major genetic drift in SARS-CoV-2 evolution. This was associated with phenotypic changes including evasion of pre-existing immunity and decreased disease severity. Continuous evolution within the Omicron lineage raised concerns of potential increased transmissibility and/or disease severity.

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Objectives: Robust evidence highlights the crucial role of nutrition for people with cancer, and international organizations recognize it as a basic human right linked to health and food. Within this context, we aim to emphasize the critical role of nutrition care for cancer patients and to highlight the essential contributions of nurses in providing patient-centered nutrition care.

Methods: This opinion paper synthesizes evidence and perspectives from peer-reviewed articles and position papers.

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Students' perspective on the Dutch National Pharmacotherapy Assessment, a national survey study among final-year medical students.

Eur J Pharmacol

January 2025

Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Department of Internal Medicine, section Pharmacotherapy, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Research and Expertise Centre in Pharmacotherapy Education (RECIPE), Amsterdam, Netherlands; Interprofessional Collaboration and Medication Safety at the Faculty of Health, Sports and Social Work, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Amsterdam Public Health, Quality of Care, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Introduction: The Dutch National Pharmacotherapy Assessment (DNPA) was introduced in 2013 to improve clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) education. This study investigated final-year medical students' perceived motivation and level of preparation for the DNPA in different scenarios: mandatory vs. non-mandatory, and traditional high-stakes assessment programme vs.

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The impact of summative, formative or programmatic assessment on the Dutch National Pharmacotherapy Assessment: a retrospective multicentre study.

Eur J Pharmacol

January 2025

Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Department of Internal Medicine, section Pharmacotherapy, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Research and Expertise Centre in Pharmacotherapy Education (RECIPE), Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Interprofessional Collaboration and Medication Safety at the Faculty of Health, Sports and Social Work, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam The Netherlands; Amsterdam Public Health, Quality of Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Background: The Dutch National Pharmacotherapy Assessment (DNPA), which focuses on assessing medication safety and essential drug knowledge, was introduced to improve clinical pharmacology and therapeutics education in the Netherlands. This study investigated how the performance of final-year medical students on the DPNA was affected by the assessment programme (traditional with summative or formative assessment, and programmatic assessment).

Methods: This multicentre retrospective longitudinal observation study (2019-2023) involved final-year medical students from four medical schools in the Netherlands.

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Individual patient and donor seroprofiles in convalescent plasma treatment of COVID-19 in REMAP-CAP clinical trial.

J Infect

January 2025

Radcliffe Department of Medicine and BRC Haematology Theme, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Microbiology Services, NHS Blood and Transplant, Colindale, UK; Infection and Immunity, University College of London, London, UK.

Objectives: Convalescent plasma (CP) treatment of COVID-19 has shown significant therapeutic effect only when administered early. We investigated the importance of patient and CP seroprofiles on treatment outcome in REMAP-CAP CP trial.

Methods: We evaluated neutralising antibodies (nAb), anti-spike (S) IgM, IgG, IgG avidity, IgG fucosylation and respiratory viral loads in a sub-set of patients (n=80) and controls (n=51) before and after transfusion, comparing them to those in the CP units (n=157) they received.

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DYRK1A-TGF-β signaling axis determines sensitivity to OXPHOS inhibition in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dev Cell

January 2025

State Key Laboratory of Systems Medicine for Cancer, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China. Electronic address:

Intervening in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) has emerged as a potential therapeutic strategy for certain types of cancers. Employing kinome-based CRISPR screen, we find that knockout of dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) synergizes with OXPHOS inhibitor IACS-010759 in liver cancer cells. Targeting DYRK1A combined with OXPHOS inhibitors activates TGF-β signaling, which is crucial for OXPHOS-inhibition-triggered cell death.

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Coastal eutrophication transforms shallow micro-benthic reef communities.

Sci Total Environ

January 2025

Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR Leiden, the Netherlands; IBED, University of Amsterdam, Sciencepark 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Article Synopsis
  • Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from coastal eutrophication, leading to decreased coral cover and increased harmful organisms like algae and invertebrates.
  • The study focuses on how micro-benthic communities, specifically foraminifera, diatoms, and bacteria, are influenced by turbidity associated with eutrophication in the Spermonde Archipelago, using environmental DNA analysis.
  • Findings indicate that shallower reef flat communities are much more affected by turbidity than deeper reef slope communities, with foraminifera and diatom ESVs serving as indicators of varying turbidity levels, thus highlighting the influence of local environmental conditions on these micro-benthic communities.
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Blood-brain barrier water permeability across the adult lifespan: A multi-echo ASL study.

Neurobiol Aging

January 2025

Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Location VUmc, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research, Dresden, Germany.

An emerging biomarker of blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability is the time of exchange (Tex) of water from the blood to tissue, as measured by multi-echo arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI. This new non-invasive sequence, already tested in mice, has recently been adapted to humans and optimized for clinical scanning time. In this study, we studied the normal variability of Tex over age and sex, which needs to be established as a reference for studying changes in neurological disease.

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This study addresses the relationship between performance validity and treatment outcome in a sample of patients with somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRD). A retrospective analysis was performed in a sample of 337 patients with SSRD who received treatment. Interaction effects were determined between performance validity test (PVT) performance and raw change scores, reliable change index and clinical change of depression, anxiety and physical symptoms.

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Background: Predicting response to targeted cancer therapies increasingly relies on both simple and complex genetic biomarkers. Comprehensive genomic profiling using high-throughput assays must be evaluated for reproducibility and accuracy compared with existing methods.

Methods: This study is a multicenter evaluation of the Oncomine™ Comprehensive Assay Plus (OCA Plus) Pan-Cancer Research Panel for comprehensive genomic profiling of solid tumors.

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Automatic 4D mitral valve segmentation from transesophageal echocardiography: a semi-supervised learning approach.

Med Biol Eng Comput

January 2025

Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.

Performing automatic and standardized 4D TEE segmentation and mitral valve analysis is challenging due to the limitations of echocardiography and the scarcity of manually annotated 4D images. This work proposes a semi-supervised training strategy using pseudo labelling for MV segmentation in 4D TEE; it employs a Teacher-Student framework to ensure reliable pseudo-label generation. 120 4D TEE recordings from 60 candidates for MV repair are used.

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Background: Implementation of semaglutide weight loss therapy has been challenging due to drug supply and cost, underscoring a need to identify those who derive the greatest absolute benefit.

Objectives: Allocation of semaglutide was modeled according to coronary artery calcium (CAC) among individuals without diabetes or established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods: In this analysis, 3,129 participants in the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) without diabetes or clinical CVD met body mass index criteria for semaglutide and underwent CAC scoring on noncontrast cardiac computed tomography.

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Quantifying DNA Lesions and Circulating Free DNA: Diagnostic Marker for Electropathology and Clinical Stage of AF.

JACC Clin Electrophysiol

December 2024

Physiology, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Heart Failure, and Arrhythmias, Amsterdam University Medical Center, location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) persistence is associated with molecular remodeling that fuels electrical conduction abnormalities in atrial tissue. Previous research revealed DNA damage as a molecular driver of AF.

Objectives: This study sought to explore the diagnostic value of DNA damage in atrial tissue and blood samples as an indicator of the prevalence of electrical conduction abnormalities and stage of AF.

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Data from large-scale, randomized, controlled trials demonstrate that contemporary treatments for heart failure (HF) can substantially improve morbidity and mortality. Despite this, observed outcomes for patients living with HF are poor, and they have not improved over time. The are many potential reasons for this important problem, but inadequate use of optimal medical therapy for patients with HF, an important component of guideline-directed medical therapy, in routine practice is a principal and modifiable contributor.

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Value-based healthcare for social insurance medicine: key enablers for adoption in practice.

BMJ Open Qual

December 2024

Department of Public and Occupational Health, Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Background: Driven by rising retirement age and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases impacting work participation, there is an increasing need for quality and efficiency improvement in social insurance medicine (SIM). SIM provides guidance to individuals facing long-term work disability, assess their functional abilities and eligibility for long-term disability benefits. Value-based healthcare (VBHC) targets quality and efficiency improvements in healthcare by placing a priority on improving patient value.

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Pediatric Brain Tumors in Western Kenya: Patient Outcomes and Healthcare Providers' Perspectives.

Pediatr Blood Cancer

January 2025

Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya.

Article Synopsis
  • Pediatric brain tumors in low- and middle-income countries, particularly Western Kenya, are less studied than other pediatric cancers, and effective care relies on collaboration among multiple medical departments.
  • The study found that, between 2015 and 2022, 79 children were diagnosed with brain tumors, primarily medulloblastoma, with a low 2-year event-free survival rate of 13% and a significant treatment abandonment rate of 46%.
  • Improvements in multidisciplinary care were noted from 2020 to 2022, influenced by factors such as resources, knowledge, and relationships among healthcare workers; addressing these barriers is essential for enhancing patient outcomes.
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