202 results match your criteria: "Vrije University Amsterdam[Affiliation]"

Background: Multidisciplinary transitional care interventions aim to improve the coordination and continuity of healthcare during hospitalization and after discharge for patients with complex care needs related to physical, nutritional, or psychosocial status. Implementing such interventions is complex as they involve many stakeholders across multiple settings. Numerous studies have evaluated patients', family members', and healthcare professionals' experiences with multidisciplinary transitional care interventions, which can provide insight into facilitators and barriers to their implementation.

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Structure and degradation dynamics of dietary pectin.

Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr

December 2024

Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Pectin, a complex dietary fiber, constitutes a key structural component of the cell walls of numerous edible plant products. It is resistant to digestion by human enzymes and undergoes depolymerization and saccharification in the gastrointestinal tract through the action of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) produced by gut microbiota. This enzymatic breakdown generates intermediate structural fragments, which are subsequently converted into pectin oligosaccharides (POS) and monosaccharides.

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Many European countries have increased retirement ages to address the challenge of population ageing. However, job strain which is the combination of high job demands and low job control may be an obstacle to extending the working lives of older workers. Job strain is associated with poor health and early work exit among older workers, but less is known about whether job strain impacts working life expectancy (WLE)-an increasingly employed summary measure capturing the length of working lives.

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Background: Cleft palate surgery can be complicated by fistula development. It is well known that undernutrition in general leads to more postoperative complications. However, little is known about postoperative fistula development after cleft palate surgery in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC's).

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Background: Musculoskeletal disorders are an extensive burden to society, yet few studies have explored and replicated modifiable prognostic factors associated with high societal costs. This study aimed to replicate previously identified associations between nine modifiable prognostic factors and high societal costs among people on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders.

Methods: Pooled data from a three-arm randomised controlled trial with 6 months of follow-up were used, including 509 participants on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders in Norway.

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Previous studies demonstrated the existence of hand and tool areas in lateral and ventral occipitotemporal cortex (OTC), as well as an overlap between them. We reinvestigated this organization using 7T fMRI, benefiting from a higher signal-to-noise ratio than 3T. This enabled us to include a wider array of categories to achieve a more holistic perspective, and to omit certain spatial preprocessing steps.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigated how well four noninvasive body measurement methods can predict diabetes and hypertension risk in the Lao population using data from a national health survey involving 3,240 adults aged 18 and older.
  • Among the tested indices, the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) showed the strongest predictive ability for both diabetes (AUC = 0.73) and hypertension (AUC = 0.70), making it effective for various settings, including urban and rural areas.
  • The WHtR can be utilized as a reliable screening tool for public health and clinical purposes in Laos, with an optimal threshold of 0.5 applicable across different sexes, ages, and ethnic groups.
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Study Question: Can secondary follicles be obtained from cultured cryopreserved-thawed human ovarian cortical tissue?

Summary Answer: We obtained high-quality secondary follicles from cultured cryopreserved-thawed human ovarian cortical tissue from cis female donors (cOVA), but not from trans masculine donors (tOVA) in the same culture conditions.

What Is Known Already: The in vitro growth of oocytes present in unilaminar follicles into metaphase II stage (MII) oocytes has been previously achieved starting from freshly obtained ovarian cortical tissue from adult cis female donors. This involved a multi-step culture protocol and the first step included the transition from unilaminar follicles to multilayered secondary follicles.

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Pronounced spatial disparities in heatwave trends are bound up with a diversity of atmospheric signals with complex variations, including different phases and wavenumbers. However, assessing their relationships quantitatively remains a challenging problem. Here, we use a network-searching approach to identify the strengths of heatwave-related atmospheric teleconnections (AT) with ERA5 reanalysis data.

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Purpose: Multiple studies have explored the needs and experiences of patients, family members, and healthcare professionals regarding hospital-to-home transitions. Our study aimed to identify, critically appraise, and summarize these studies in a qualitative meta-synthesis.

Materials And Methods: Medline, CINAHL and Embase were systematically searched to identify eligible articles from inception to June 2024.

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Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Gingival Fibroblasts Inhibits Osteoclast Formation.

Cells

June 2024

Department of Periodontology, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam and Vrije University Amsterdam, Gustav Mahlerlaan 3004, 1081 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Gingival fibroblasts (GFs) can differentiate into osteoblast-like cells and induce osteoclast precursors to differentiate into osteoclasts. As it is unclear whether these two processes influence each other, we investigated how osteogenic differentiation of GFs affects their osteoclast-inducing capacity. To establish step-wise mineralization, GFs were cultured in four groups for 3 weeks, without or with osteogenic medium for the final 1, 2, or all 3 weeks.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines use modified mRNA to instruct cells to produce the viral spike protein, with the aim of triggering an immune response while the mRNA itself degrades in a few days.
  • Recent studies show that this modified mRNA can actually persist in the body for up to a month and can be found in heart and skeletal muscle, while the spike protein can remain detectable in the bloodstream for over six months.
  • The article highlights how these prolonged effects can lead to immune responses that may impact tissue health, noting significant changes in heart muscle function even in individuals without symptoms.
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Objectives: To evaluate the 1-year cost-effectiveness of strength exercise or aerobic exercise compared with usual care for patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA), from a societal and healthcare perspective.

Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis embedded in a three-arm randomised controlled trial.

Participants And Setting: A total of 161 people with symptomatic knee OA seeking Norwegian primary or secondary care were included in the analyses.

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Introduction: The development of cocaine use disorder in females is suggested to be more strongly related to neural mechanisms underlying stress-reactivity, whereas in males it is suggested to be more strongly related to neural mechanisms underlying drug cue-reactivity. Existing evidence, however, is based on neuroimaging studies that either lack a control group and/or have very small sample sizes that do not allow to investigate sex differences.

Methods: The main objective of the current study was to investigate sex differences in the neural correlates of cocaine and negative emotional cue-reactivity within high-risk intranasal cocaine users (CUs: 31 males and 26 females) and non-cocaine-using controls (non-CUs: 28 males and 26 females).

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Distinct ultrastructural phenotypes of glial and neuronal alpha-synuclein inclusions in multiple system atrophy.

Brain

November 2024

Laboratory of Biological Electron Microscopy, Institute of Physics, School of Basic Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud 1015, Switzerland.

Multiple system atrophy is characterized pathologically by the accumulation of alpha-synuclein (aSyn) into glial cytoplasmic inclusions (GCIs). The mechanism underlying the formation of GCIs is not well understood. In this study, correlative light and electron microscopy was employed to investigate aSyn pathology in the substantia nigra and putamen of post-mortem multiple system atrophy brain donors.

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Various interventions are used in practice to reduce prejudice against lesbian women and gay men. Often these have not been developed or evaluated for effectiveness by researchers. In this study, we used theory-based evaluation (TBE) to determine whether the assumptions underlying three types of interventions (knowledge interventions, guessing games, and theater and movie interventions) often used in practice in the Netherlands are in line with evidence from the scientific literature.

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Engaging patients in designing a transmural allied health pathway: A qualitative exploration of hospital-to-home transitions.

Health Expect

April 2024

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Introduction: The transition from hospital to home is often suboptimal, resulting in patients not receiving the necessary allied healthcare after discharge. This may, in turn, lead to delayed recovery, a higher number of readmissions, more emergency department visits and an increase in mortality and healthcare costs. This study aimed to gain insight into patients' experiences, perceptions, and needs regarding hospital-to-home transition, focusing on allied healthcare as a first step towards the development of a transitional integrated allied healthcare pathway for patients with complex care needs after hospital discharge.

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Activation of endodontic irrigants using a 9.3 µm CO₂ and diode lasers: A laboratory proof of concept model.

Am J Dent

February 2024

Division of Cariology and Endodontology, CUMD - University Clinics of Dental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

Purpose: To investigate the differences between irrigant propagation and temperature changes using laser-activated irrigation (LAI) at different settings in an artificial root canal model.

Methods: Using an artificial resin root canal model, irrigant activation was achieved in 19 experimental groups with eight samples each. A 9,300 nm CO₂ laser, two diode lasers with different settings (wavelengths 455, 808, 970, and 980 nm) were compared to 2,940 nm Er:YAG laser and traditional needle irrigation.

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In-depth immunophenotyping by flow cytometry of peripheral blood dendritic cell (DC) populations of psoriasis vulgaris without (PsO; N = 23) or with psoriatic arthritis (PsA; N = 15), before (T1) and after 12 months (T2) therapy with the anti-TNF drugs infliximab, etanercept, the anti-IL-17A secukinumab and the anti-IL12/IL-23 ustekinumab. Compared to healthy donors (N = 38), patients with PsA displayed lower frequencies of dendritic cell subsets pDC, cDC1 and cDC2, which were normalized following treatment except pDC. In contrast, patients with PsO only displayed lower frequencies of pDC which were normalized following treatment.

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Objectives: The objective was to identify modifiable prognostic factors of high societal costs among people on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders, and to identify modifiable prognostic factors of high costs related to separately healthcare utilisation and productivity loss.

Design: A prospective cohort study with a 1-year follow-up.

Participants And Setting: A total of 549 participants (aged 18-67 years) on sick leave (≥ 4 weeks) due to musculoskeletal disorders in Norway were included.

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Lignin bioconversion based on genome mining for ligninolytic genes in Erwinia billingiae QL-Z3.

Biotechnol Biofuels Bioprod

February 2024

State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Life Sciences, Biomass Energy Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, People's Republic of China.

Background: Bioconversion of plant biomass into biofuels and bio-products produces large amounts of lignin. The aromatic biopolymers need to be degraded before being converted into value-added bio-products. Microbes can be environment-friendly and efficiently degrade lignin.

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Aims: Depression and anxiety are the leading contributors to the global burden of disease among young people, accounting for over a third (34.8%) of years lived with disability. Yet there is limited evidence for interventions that prevent adolescent depression and anxiety in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of adolescents live.

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Background: People living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have an increased risk of experiencing cardiovascular (CV) events, particularly after an exacerbation. Such CV burden is not yet known for incident COPD patients. We examined the risk of severe CV events in incident COPD patients in periods following either moderate and/or severe exacerbations.

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