28,950 results match your criteria: "VU-University[Affiliation]"

Background: Evidence is lacking on the most effective values clarification methods (VCMs) in patient decision aids (PtDAs). We tested the effects of an adaptive conjoint analysis (ACA)-based VCM compared with a ranking-based VCM and no VCM on several decision-related outcomes, with the decisional conflict and its subscale "perceived values clarity" as primary outcomes.

Design: Online experimental study with 3 conditions: no VCM versus ranking-based VCM versus -based VCM ( = 282; = 63.

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Aerobic fitness in children with cerebral palsy compared to typically developing peers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Braz J Phys Ther

December 2024

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, location VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam Movement Sciences Research Institute, Rehabilitation and Development, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Societal Participation and Health, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Aerobic fitness is a key health indicator, and this study compares aerobic fitness levels in children with cerebral palsy (CP) to their typically developing (TD) peers using a maximal exercise test.* -
  • A systematic review included 36 studies involving 510 children with CP and 173 TD peers, revealing a significant difference in peak oxygen uptake (VO) between the two groups, with CP children averaging 32.84 mL/kg/min compared to 45.02 mL/kg/min for TD peers.* -
  • The findings indicate that children with CP, especially those with higher Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels, have severely compromised aerobic fitness, suggesting that promoting physical activity is essential for their
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Keeping pace in the age of innovation: The perspective of Dutch pharmaceutical science students on the position of machine learning training in an undergraduate curriculum.

Curr Pharm Teach Learn

February 2025

Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Background: Over the years, approaches of the pharmaceutical industry to discover and develop drugs have changed rapidly due to new scientific trends. Among others, they have started to explore Machine Learning (ML), a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as a promising tool to generate new hypotheses regarding drug candidate selections for clinical trials and to predict adverse side effects. Despite these recent developments, the possibilities of ML in pharmaceutical sciences have so far hardly penetrated the training of pharmaceutical science students.

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Background: Previous studies showed opposite effects of NOTCH1 and NOTCH2 on mesothelioma cell survival under hypoxia. Mechanisms underlying these effects are not still clear and this pathway plays a key role in angiogenesis and cancer stem cells (CSCs) self-renewal processes.

Purpose: In this study we evaluated whether NOTCH1, NOTCH2 copy number alterations (CNAs) might predict prognosis of patients with pleural mesothelioma (PM) and if the modulation of this pathway might target CSCs, potentiating pemetrexed activity, also in hypoxic conditions.

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Advances in target drugs and immunotherapy for biliary tract cancer.

Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol

October 2024

Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, VU University Medical Center (VUmc), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Article Synopsis
  • - There has been significant progress in the treatment of biliary tract cancers (BTC) with the introduction of targeted therapies and immunotherapy, moving past years of stagnation in treatment options.
  • - The overview covers existing therapies like FGFR, IDH, and HER2 inhibitors, along with emerging targets such as KRAS and pathways like MAPK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR, plus newer therapeutic approaches like CAR-T and vaccines.
  • - Challenges include a limited patient pool for targeted therapies, with discussions on how to design clinical trials effectively, along with insights into promising trials that could change BTC treatment practices.
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Objectives: The Toddler Oral Health Intervention (TOHI) was launched in 2017 to promote oral health prevention at well-baby clinics, with a focus on parents with children aged 6-48 months. This study aims to evaluate the integrity of motivational interviewing (MI) as one of the core intervention pillars in the TOHI study.

Methods: The TOHI study was conducted at nine well-baby clinics in the central and southern regions of the Netherlands, with 11 trained oral health coaches (OHCs) delivering a tailored individual counselling programme.

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Background: Diagnosing bipolar disorder (BD) is challenging, and adequate treatment is of major importance to minimalize the consequences of the illness. Early recognition is one way to address this. Although in clinical research the prodromal phase of BD is gaining interest, the perspective of patients with BD and their caregivers on prodromal symptoms is still lacking.

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From advisors to mentors: fostering supportive mentorship in academia.

Trends Microbiol

December 2024

A-LIFE Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081, HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

A supportive mentorship has long-lasting effects on shaping students' personal and professional development. Here, we outline important aspects of mentoring and indicators of good mentors, focusing on effective mutualistic interaction. We believe that traditional academic advice should be expanded to include supportive group mentoring to foster future top scientific talent.

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Background: Patients with gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma with tumour-positive lymph nodes (ypN+) or positive surgical margins (R1) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and resection are at high risk of recurrence. Adjuvant nivolumab is effective in oesophageal/oesophagogastric junction cancer and residual pathological disease following chemoradiation and surgery. Immune checkpoint inhibition has shown efficacy in advanced gastro-oesophageal cancer.

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Aims: A genotype-guided P2Y12-inhibitor de-escalation strategy, switching acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients without a CYP2C19 loss-of-function allele from ticagrelor or prasugrel to clopidogrel, has shown to reduce bleeding risk without affecting effectivity of therapy by increasing ischemic risk. We estimated the cost-effectiveness of this personalized approach compared to standard dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT; aspirin plus ticagrelor/prasugrel) in the Netherlands.

Methods And Results: We developed a one-year decision tree based on results of the FORCE-ACS registry, comparing a cohort of ACS patients who underwent genotyping with a cohort of ACS patients treated with standard DAPT.

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Antiviral activity of cathelicidins against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV): Mechanisms, and efficacy.

Virus Res

December 2024

Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Division Infectious Diseases & Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CL, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a harmful coronavirus infecting pigs, which is resulting in substantial financial losses in the global pig industry. The lack of effective vaccines or treatments underscores the pressing need for new antiviral strategies. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), specifically cathelicidins such as LL-37, have demonstrated promising activity against a range of viruses.

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CSF proteins of inflammation, proteolysis and lipid transport define preclinical AD and progression to AD dementia in cognitively unimpaired individuals.

Mol Neurodegener

November 2024

Neurochemistry Laboratory and Biobank, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

This preclinical AD CSF proteome study identified a panel of 12-CSF markers detecting amyloid positivity and clinical progression to AD with high accuracy; some of these CSF proteins related to immune function, neurotrophic processes, energy metabolism and endolysosomal functioning (e.g., ITGB2, CLEC5A, IGFBP-1, CST3) changed before amyloid positivity is established.

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Inhibition of lysophosphatidic acid receptor 2 attenuates neonatal chronic lung disease in mice by preserving vascular and alveolar development.

Eur J Pharmacol

December 2024

Department of Neonatology, Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, The First School of Medicine, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Maternal and Child Health and Diseases, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address:

Aim: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a common morbidity in extremely premature infants. Previous studies demonstrated the important role of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) in inflammation in BPD. However, the role of LPA and its receptors in hyperoxia-induced vascular malformations in BPD remains to be elucidated.

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Chromosomal copy number based stratification of gastric cancer has added prognostic value to Lauren's histological classification.

BJC Rep

August 2024

Department of Pathology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Background: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) recognizes four molecular subgroups of gastric cancer: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive, microsatellite instable (MSI), genomically stable (GS), and chromosomal instable (CIN). Since a GS/CIN classifier is lacking, alternative markers such as Lauren's histopathology or CDH1/p53 immunohistochemistry are commonly applied. Here we compared survival of gastric cancer subgroups determined by four methods.

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Protein requirement in obesity.

Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care

January 2025

Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health, Sport and Physical Activity, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Purpose Of Review: The combined obesity and ageing pandemic require action to avoid a total health system infarct. Obesity is largely challenged with caloric restriction and endurance exercise, likely to be assisted by drugs. The older adults with the highest obesity levels may face extreme loss of muscle mass and increased risk of sarcopenic obesity.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as important mediators of intercellular communication in the heart under homeostatic and pathological conditions, such as myocardial infarction (MI). However, the basic mechanisms driving cardiomyocyte-derived EV (CM-EV) production following stress are poorly understood. In this study, we generated human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) that express NanoLuc-tetraspanin reporters.

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Short-term Frailty Index Fluctuations in Older Adults: Noise or Signal?

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci

December 2024

Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University & Nova Scotia Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Background: Reversible short-term fluctuations in the frailty index (FI) are often thought of as representing only noise or error. Here, we assess (i) the size and source of short-term FI fluctuations, (ii) variation across sociodemographic characteristics, (iii) association with chronic diseases, (iv) correlation with age, frailty level, frailty change, and mortality, and (v) whether fluctuations reflect discrete health transitions.

Methods: Nationwide, biweekly longitudinal data from 426 community-dwelling older adults (70+) were collected in the FRequent health Assessment In Later life (FRAIL70+) study using a measurement burst design (5 122 repeated observations, median of 13 repeated observations per person).

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Kinetics of imidazole propionate from orally delivered histidine in mice and humans.

NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes

November 2024

Department of Internal and Vascular Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Imidazole Propionate (ImP), a gut-derived metabolite from histidine, affects insulin signaling in mice and is elevated in type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the source of histidine and the role of the gut microbiota remain unclear. We conducted an intervention study in mice and humans, comparing ImP kinetics in mice on a high-fat diet with varying histidine levels and antibiotics, and assessed ImP levels in healthy and T2D subjects with histidine supplementation.

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Background: Primary phalloplasty in transgender men can be performed using a single or double free or pedicled flap to reconstruct the shaft and, if desired, the urethra. Vascular complications may result in total or partial loss of the used flap(s). Surgical management after flap loss in primary phalloplasty presents a challenge to the reconstructive surgeon.

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Minimizing gut microbiome confounding factors in cardiovascular research.

Cardiovasc Res

December 2024

Hypertension Research Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, 25 Rainforest Walk, Melbourne, Clayton, 3800 VIC, Australia.

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Article Synopsis
  • Trauma and post-traumatic stress play a significant role in voice-hearing, and trauma-focused therapy (TFT) may help, but previous research has been inconclusive.
  • The study aimed to evaluate the impact of TFT on voice-hearing in individuals with PTSD and psychosis, using daily questionnaires to assess changes over time.
  • Results indicated that TFT led to a significant reduction in voice-hearing compared to a waiting-list control group, with improvements in PTSD symptoms also correlated with reductions in voice-hearing.
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Whole-cell metabolic control analysis.

Biosystems

October 2023

Systems Biology Lab, A-LIFE, AIMMS, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Article Synopsis
  • Metabolic control analysis (MCA) has evolved to study how cells manage metabolism by adjusting enzyme activity, now applied in a whole-cell context to understand growth-rate optimization through protein concentration.
  • The research shows that elementary flux modes (EFMs) are the most efficient metabolic networks, determined by protein-concentration constraints needed for maximizing growth.
  • Using data from S. cerevisiae and E. coli, the study illustrates how specific metabolic patterns emerge under different growth conditions, aiming to renew interest in MCA for uncovering universal biochemical principles across species.
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Background: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) or non-hyperaemic pressure ratios are recommended to assess functional relevance of intermediate coronary stenosis. Both diagnostic methods require the placement of a pressure wire in the coronary artery during invasive coronary angiography. Quantitative flow ratio (QFR) is an angiography-based computational method for the estimation of FFR that does not require the use of pressure wires.

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