Eindhoven University of Technology

About: Eindhoven University of Technology is a education organization based out in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Computer science. The organization has 22309 authors who have published 52936 publications receiving 1584164 citations. The organization is also known as: Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven & TU/e.

A Simple Publicly Verifiable Secret Sharing Scheme and Its Application to Electronic

Abstract: A publicly verifiable secret sharing (PVSS) scheme is a veri fiable secret sharing scheme with the property that the validity of the shares distributed by the dealer can be verified by any party; hence verification is not limited to the respective participants receiving the shares. We present a new construction for PVSS schemes, which compared to previous solutions by Stadler and later by Fujisaki and Okamoto, achieves improvements both in efficiency and in the type of intractability assumptions. The running time is O(nk), where k is a security parameter, and n is the number of participants, hence essentially optimal. The intractability assumptions are the standard Diffie-Hellman assumption and its decisional variant. We present several applications of our PVSS scheme, among which is a new type of universally verifiable election scheme based on PVSS. The election scheme becomes quite practical and combines several advantages of related electronic voting schemes, which makes it of interest in its own right.

Impaired in vivo mitochondrial function but similar intramyocellular lipid content in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and BMI-matched control subjects.

Abstract: Mitochondrial dysfunction and increased intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content have both been implicated in the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, but the relative contributions of these two factors in the aetiology of diabetes are unknown. As obesity is an independent determinant of IMCL content, we examined mitochondrial function and IMCL content in overweight type 2 diabetes patients and BMI-matched normoglycaemic controls. In 12 overweight type 2 diabetes patients and nine controls with similar BMI (29.4 ± 1 and 29.3 ± 0.9 kg/m2 respectively) in vivo mitochondrial function was determined by measuring phosphocreatine recovery half-time (PCr half-time) immediately after exercise, using phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy. IMCL content was determined by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging and insulin sensitivity was measured with a hyperinsulinaemic–euglycaemic clamp. The PCr half-time was 45% longer in diabetic patients compared with controls (27.3 ± 3.5 vs 18.7 ± 0.9 s, p < 0.05), whereas IMCL content was similar (1.37 ± 0.30 vs 1.25 ± 0.22% of the water resonance), and insulin sensitivity was reduced in type 2 diabetes patients (26.0 ± 2.2 vs 18.9 ± 2.3 μmol min−1 kg−1, p < 0.05 [all mean ± SEM]). PCr half-time correlated positively with fasting plasma glucose (r 2 = 0.42, p < 0.01) and HbA1c (r 2 = 0.48, p < 0.05) in diabetic patients. The finding that in vivo mitochondrial function is decreased in type 2 diabetes patients compared with controls whereas IMCL content is similar suggests that low mitochondrial function is more strongly associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes than a high IMCL content per se. Whether low mitochondrial function is a cause or consequence of the disease remains to be investigated.

Mechanical properties of brain tissue by indentation : interregional variation

Abstract: Although many studies on the mechanical properties of brain tissue exist, some controversy concerning the possible differences in mechanical properties of white and gray matter tissues remains. Indentation experiments are conducted on white and gray matter tissues of various regions of the cerebrum and on tissue from the thalamus and the midbrain to study interregional differences. An advantage of indentation, when compared to standard rheological tests as often used for the characterization of brain tissue, is that it is a local test, requiring only a small volume of tissue to be homogeneous. Indentation tests are performed at different speeds and the force relaxation after a step indent is measured as well. White matter tissue is found to be stiffer than gray matter and to show more variation in response between different samples which is consistent with structural differences between white matter and gray matter. In addition to differences between white matter and gray matter, also different regions of brain tissue are compared.

Understanding the anomalous alkane selectivity of ZIF-7 in the separation of light alkane/alkene mixtures.

Abstract: C2 and C3 alkanes are selectively adsorbed from mixtures over the corresponding alkenes on the zeolite imidazolate framework ZIF-7 through a gate-opening mechanism. As a result, the direct production of the pure alkene upon adsorption and the pure alkane upon desorption in packed columns is possible. Herein, a detailed investigation of the step-wise adsorption and separation of alkanes and alkenes is presented, together with a rigorous performance assessment. A molecular picture of the gate-opening mechanism underlying the unprecedented selectivity towards alkane adsorption is proposed based on DFT calculations and a thermodynamic analysis of the adsorption–desorption isotherms.

MR molecular imaging and fluorescence microscopy for identification of activated tumor endothelium using a bimodal lipidic nanoparticle

Abstract: In oncological research, there is a great need for imaging techniques that specifically identify angiogenic blood vessels in tumors on the basis of differences in the expression level of biomolecular markers. In the angiogenic cascade, different cell surface receptors, including the alphavbeta3-integrin, are strongly expressed on activated endothelial cells. In the present study, we aimed to image angiogenesis by detecting the expression of alphavbeta3 in tumor bearing mice with a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorescence microscopy. To that end, we prepared MR-detectable and fluorescent liposomes, which carry approximately 700 alphavbeta3-specific RGD peptides per liposome. RGD competition experiments and RAD-conjugated liposomes were used as controls for specificity. In vivo, both RAD liposomes and RGD liposomes gave rise to signal increase on T1-weighted MR images. It was established by the use of ex vivo fluorescence microscopy that RGD liposomes and RAD liposomes accumulated in the tumor by different mechanisms. RGD liposomes were specifically associated with activated tumor endothelium, while RAD liposomes were located in the extravascular compartment. This study demonstrates that MR molecular imaging of angiogenesis is feasible by using a targeted contrast agent specific for the alphavbeta3-integrin, and that the multimodality imaging approach gave insight into the exact mechanism of accumulation in the tumor.