Showing papers by "Maastricht University published in 2008"
TL;DR: The mechanism by which quercetin may operate as an antioxidant as well as the potential use of this antioxidant as a nutraceutical (tested both ex vivo and in vivo) will be discussed.
1,598 citations
Johns Hopkins University1, University of Barcelona2, Mayo Clinic3, Maastricht University4, Washington University in St. Louis5, St Mary's Hospital6, Beaumont Hospital7, University of Bordeaux8, University of Oklahoma9, University of Pennsylvania10, Northwestern University11, University of Michigan12, Cleveland Clinic13, Harvard University14, University of California, Los Angeles15
1,257 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that primate IT across species may host a common code, which combines a categorical and a continuous representation of objects.
1,229 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the interface between personality psychology and economics and examined the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle, and developed simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology.
Abstract: This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promising avenues for future research.
1,206 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the interface between personality psychology and economics and examined the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle, and developed simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology.
Abstract: This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promising avenues for future research.
1,036 citations
TL;DR: Growing evidence suggests that HIF-, mTOR- and UPR-dependent responses to hypoxia act in an integrated way, influencing each other and common downstream pathways that affect gene expression, metabolism, cell survival, tumorigenesis and tumour growth.
Abstract: Hypoxia occurs in the majority of tumours, promoting angiogenesis, metastasis and resistance to therapy. Responses to hypoxia are orchestrated in part through activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor family of transcription factors (HIFs). Recently, two additional O(2)-sensitive signalling pathways have also been implicated: signalling through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase and signalling through activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Although they are activated independently, growing evidence suggests that HIF-, mTOR- and UPR-dependent responses to hypoxia act in an integrated way, influencing each other and common downstream pathways that affect gene expression, metabolism, cell survival, tumorigenesis and tumour growth.
835 citations
University of Milan1, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens2, Maastricht University3, Tohoku University4, Jichi Medical University5, University of Valencia6, University of Bonn7, University College Dublin8, University of Edinburgh9, University of Padua10, Columbia University11, Complutense University of Madrid12, King's College London13, Semmelweis University14
TL;DR: The main topics addressed include the methodology of home blood pressure monitoring, its diagnostic and therapeutic thresholds, its clinical applications in hypertension, with specific reference to special populations, and its applications in research.
Abstract: This document summarizes the available evidence and provides recommendations on the use of home blood pressure monitoring in clinical practice and in research. It updates the previous recommendations on the same topic issued in year 2000. The main topics addressed include the methodology of home blood pressure monitoring, its diagnostic and therapeutic thresholds, its clinical applications in hypertension, with specific reference to special populations, and its applications in research. The final section deals with the problems related to the implementation of these recommendations in clinical practice.
832 citations
TL;DR: CT and MRI demonstrate an equally poor performance in the detection of lymph node metastases from prostate cancer and will misrepresent the patient's true status regarding nodal metastases, and thus misdirect the therapeutic strategies offered to the patient.
794 citations
TL;DR: Predictors of healing differ between patients with and without PAD, suggesting that diabetic foot ulcers with or without concomitant PAD should be defined as two separate disease states.
Abstract: Aims/hypothesis
Outcome data on individuals with diabetic foot ulcers are scarce, especially in those with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). We therefore examined the clinical characteristics that best predict poor outcome in a large population of diabetic foot ulcer patients and examined whether such predictors differ between patients with and without PAD.
778 citations
University of Rome Tor Vergata1, University of Edinburgh2, University of Michigan3, Leiden University4, King's College London5, Imperial College London6, University of Genoa7, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center8, University of London9, Dartmouth College10, National Jewish Health11, University of Barcelona12, Sapienza University of Rome13, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust14, University of Florence15, Erasmus University Rotterdam16, University of Washington17, University College London18, Maastricht University19
TL;DR: The American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society jointly created a Task Force on “Outcomes for COPD pharmacological trials: from lung function to biomarkers” to inform the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease research community about the possible use and limitations of current outcomes and markers.
Abstract: The American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society jointly created a Task Force on "Outcomes for COPD pharmacological trials: from lung function to biomarkers" to inform the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease research community about the possible use and limitations of current outcomes and markers when evaluating the impact of a pharmacological therapy. Based on their review of the published literature, the following document has been prepared with individual sections that address specific outcomes and markers, and a final section that summarises their recommendations.
756 citations
TL;DR: The latest observations about the structure of SCCmec are described, the techniques used to study the molecular epidemiology and evolution of S. aureus as well as some challenges that researchers face in the future are described.
TL;DR: Executive function and verbal memory are candidate bipolar endophenotypes given large deficits in these domains in bipolar patients and small, but intermediate, cognitive impairments in first-degree relatives.
Abstract: Background. Previous work suggests that impairments in executive function and verbal memory in particular may persist in euthymic bipolar patients and serve as an indicator of genetic risk (endophenotype). Method. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken. Effects sizes were extracted from selected papers and pooled using meta-analytical techniques. Results. In bipolar patients, large effect sizes (d>0.8) were noted for executive functions (working memory, executive control, fluency) and verbal memory. Medium effect sizes (0.5 < d < 0.8) were reported for aspects of executive function (concept shifting, executive control), mental speed, visual memory, and sustained attention. Small effect sizes (d<0.5) were found for visuoperception. In first-degree relatives, effect sizes were small (d < 0.5), but significantly different from healthy controls for executive function and verbal memory in particular. Conclusions. Executive function and verbal memory are candidate bipolar endophenotypes given large deficits in these domains in bipolar patients and small, but intermediate, cognitive impairments in first-degree relatives.
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TL;DR: In this paper, an institutional approach, that tries to bridge both the macro and micro levels of analysis, and that encompasses both formal and informal institutions, offers a promising way to advance our understanding of the different forms of the contemporary MNE.
Abstract: The prevailing ownership-based theories of the firm are increasingly being challenged by new forms of organising, as exemplified by the Asian network multinational enterprise (MNE). We believe that an institutional approach, that tries to bridge both the macro and micro levels of analysis, and that encompasses both formal and informal institutions, offers a promising way to advance our understanding of the different forms of the contemporary MNE. This paper introduces a theoretical framework which draws substantially on the work of Douglass North, and examines how an institutional dimension can be incorporated into the three components of the OLI paradigm.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employ the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), in which intentions are regarded as resulting from attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms, and the results show that the two most important variables to explain entrepreneurial intentions are entrepreneurial alertness and the importance attached to financial security.
Abstract: – This paper sets out to present a detailed empirical investigation of the entrepreneurial intentions of business students. The authors employ the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), in which intentions are regarded as resulting from attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms., – The methodology used was a replication study among samples of undergraduate students of business administration at four different universities (total n=1,225). Five operationalisations of intentions are used as well as a composite measure. Prior to the main study, qualitative research conducted at two other universities (total n=373) was held to operationalise the components of the TPB., – The results show that the two most important variables to explain entrepreneurial intentions are entrepreneurial alertness and the importance attached to financial security., – Various research design features are used that result in better and more detailed explanations of entrepreneurial intentions., – Should one want to stimulate entrepreneurship in educational or training settings, then this paper's results provide guidance. Several suggestions are offered on how entrepreneurial alertness can be improved and financial security concerns can be reduced., – The study provides detailed and solid results on entrepreneurial intentions which are positioned in the career literature.
TL;DR: Mechanisms responsible for the increased diastolic stiffness of the diabetic heart differ in heart failure with reduced and normal LVEF: Fibrosis and AGEs are more important when LveF is reduced, whereas cardiomyocyte resting tension is more importantWhen LVEf is normal.
Abstract: Background— Excessive diastolic left ventricular stiffness is an important contributor to heart failure in patients with diabetes mellitus. Diabetes is presumed to increase stiffness through myocardial deposition of collagen and advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Cardiomyocyte resting tension also elevates stiffness, especially in heart failure with normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The contribution to diastolic stiffness of fibrosis, AGEs, and cardiomyocyte resting tension was assessed in diabetic heart failure patients with normal or reduced LVEF. Methods and Results— Left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy samples were procured in 28 patients with normal LVEF and 36 patients with reduced LVEF, all without coronary artery disease. Sixteen patients with normal LVEF and 10 with reduced LVEF had diabetes mellitus. Biopsy samples were used for quantification of collagen and AGEs and for isolation of cardiomyocytes to measure resting tension. Diabetic heart failure patients had higher dia...
Rolf C. Hagen Group1, University of Tübingen2, University of Hamburg3, Lund University4, Karolinska Institutet5, University of Copenhagen6, Radboud University Nijmegen7, Erasmus University Rotterdam8, Charité9, Institut Gustave Roussy10, University of Duisburg-Essen11, University of Cologne12, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust13, Norwegian University of Science and Technology14, University of British Columbia15, Hannover Medical School16, University of Amsterdam17, Hochschule Hannover18, Southampton General Hospital19, Oregon Health & Science University20, St Bartholomew's Hospital21, Maastricht University22, University of Mainz23, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg24, Aarhus University25
TL;DR: F refinements in the treatment of early- and advanced-stage testicular cancer have emerged from clinical trials, and expert clinical skills will continue to be one of the major determinants for the prognosis of patients with germ cell cancer.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce a theoretical framework that draws substantially on the work of Douglass North, and examine how an institutional dimension can be incorporated into the three components of the OLI paradigm.
Abstract: The prevailing ownership-based theories of the firm are increasingly being challenged by new forms of organising, as exemplified by the Asian network multinational enterprise (MNE). We believe that an institutional approach, that tries to bridge both the macro and micro levels of analysis, and that encompasses both formal and informal institutions, offers a promising way to advance our understanding of the different forms of the contemporary MNE. This paper introduces a theoretical framework that draws substantially on the work of Douglass North, and examines how an institutional dimension can be incorporated into the three components of the OLI paradigm.
TL;DR: Evidence is added that long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with increased mortality due to traffic-related air pollution and several traffic exposure variables in a Dutch cohort.
Abstract: Background: Several studies have found an effect on mortality of between-city contrasts in long-term exposure to air pollution. The effect of within-city contrasts is still poorly understood. Objectives: We studied the association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and mortality in a Dutch cohort. Methods: We used data from an ongoing cohort study on diet and cancer with 120,852 subjects who were followed from 1987 to 1996. Exposure to black smoke (BS), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), as well as various exposure variables related to traffic, were estimated at the home address. We conducted Cox analyses in the full cohort adjusting for age, sex, smoking, and area-level socioeconomic status. Results: Traffic intensity on the nearest road was independently associated with mortality. Relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for a 10-μg/m3 increase in BS concentrations (difference between 5th and 95th percentile) were 1.05 (1.00-1.11) for natural cause, 1.04 (0.95-1.13) for cardiovascular, 1.22 (0.99-1.50) for respiratory, 1.03 (0.88-1.20) for lung cancer, and 1.04 (0.97-1.12) for mortality other than cardiovascular, respiratory, or lung cancer. Results were similar for NO2 and PM2.5, but no associations were found for SO2. Conclusions: Traffic-related air pollution and several traffic exposure variables were associated with mortality in the full cohort. Relative risks were generally small. Associations between natural-cause and respiratory mortality were statistically significant for NO2 and BS. These results add to the evidence that long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with increased mortality.
TL;DR: This work combines functional magnetic resonance imaging with a data-mining algorithm and retrieve what and whom a person is listening to from the neural fingerprints that speech and voice signals elicit in the listener's auditory cortex.
Abstract: Can we decipher speech content ("what" is being said) and speaker identity ("who" is saying it) from observations of brain activity of a listener? Here, we combine functional magnetic resonance imaging with a data-mining algorithm and retrieve what and whom a person is listening to from the neural fingerprints that speech and voice signals elicit in the listener's auditory cortex These cortical fingerprints are spatially distributed and insensitive to acoustic variations of the input so as to permit the brain-based recognition of learned speech from unknown speakers and of learned voices from previously unheard utterances Our findings unravel the detailed cortical layout and computational properties of the neural populations at the basis of human speech recognition and speaker identification
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unemployment rates, and found that the entrepreneurial effect is stronger than the refugee effect, which is the opposite of the former.
TL;DR: Recursive Feature Elimination is evaluated in terms of sensitivity of discriminative maps (Receiver Operative Characteristic analysis) and generalization performances and compare it to previously used univariate voxel selection strategies based on activation and discrimination measures.
TL;DR: In this review, it is discussed how enlarged adipocytes, an impaired blood flow through adipose tissue, adipOSE tissue hypoxia, adiposes tissue inflammation and macrophage infiltration are interrelated and may induce insulin resistance.
TL;DR: Any potential benefits associated with a moderately elevated protein intake must be evaluated in the light of customary dietary practices and individual variability.
TL;DR: High mobility group B1 can mediate amplification of inflammation and angiogenesis through increased secretion of HMGB1 and increased expression of the receptors it can interact with, as well as its contribution to pathologies involving endothelial cells.
Abstract: Sustained proinflammatory responses in rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, and diabetic retinopathy, as well as in cancer, are often associated with increased angiogenesis that contributes to tissue disruption and disease progression. High mobility group B1 (HMGB1) has been recognized as a proinflammatory cytokine and more recently, as a proangiogenic factor. HMGB1 can either be passively released from necrotic cells or actively secreted in response to angiogenic and inflammatory signals. HMGB1 itself may signal through the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), and via toll-like receptors, TLR2 and TLR4. Activation of these receptors results in the activation of NFkappaB, which induces the upregulation of leukocyte adhesion molecules and the production of proinflammatory cytokines and angiogenic factors in both hematopoietic and endothelial cells, thereby promoting inflammation. Interestingly, HMGB1 seems to be involved in a positive feedback mechanism, that may help to sustain inflammation and angiogenesis in several pathological conditions, thereby contributing to disease progression. Endothelial cells express HMGB1, as well as the receptors RAGE, TLR2, and TLR4, and in diverse pathologies HMGB1 and its receptors are overexpressed. Furthermore, HMGB1-induced signaling can activate NFkappaB, which can subsequently induce the expression of HMGB1 receptors. Thus, HMGB1 can mediate amplification of inflammation and angiogenesis through increased secretion of HMGB1 and increased expression of the receptors it can interact with. In this review, we discuss signaling cascades that HMGB1 can induce via TLRs and RAGE, as well as its contribution to pathologies involving endothelial cells.
TL;DR: The results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior.
Abstract: In the present research, the authors investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relative influence of automatic versus controlled precursors on self-regulatory behavior. In 2 studies, on sexual interest behavior (Study 1) and the consumption of tempting food (Study 2), automatic attitudes toward the temptation of interest had a stronger influence on behavior for individuals who scored low rather than high in working memory capacity. Analogous results emerged in Study 3 on anger expression in a provoking situation when a measure of the automatic personality trait of angriness was employed. Conversely, controlled dispositions such as explicit attitudes (Study 1) and self-regulatory goals (Studies 2 and 3) were more effective in guiding behavior for participants who scored high rather than low in working memory capacity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior.
TL;DR: Since chronic oxidative stress plays a major role in the pathophysiology of several chronic inflammatory diseases, it is hypothesized that telomere length is reducing at a faster rate during oxidative stress, therefore, assessment of telomeres length might be a useful biomarker of disease progression.
TL;DR: Two progressive strategies for MCTS are introduced, called progressive bias and progressive unpruning, which enable the use of relatively time-expensive heuristic knowledge without speed reduction.
Abstract: Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a new best-first search guided by the results of Monte-Carlo simulations. In this article, we introduce two progressive strategies for MCTS, called progressive bias and progressive unpruning. They enable the use of relatively time-expensive heuristic knowledge without speed reduction. Progressive bias directs the search according to heuristic knowledge. Progressive unpruning first reduces the branching factor, and then increases it gradually again. Experiments assess that the two progressive strategies significantly improve the level of our Go program Mango. Moreover, we see that the combination of both strategies performs even better on larger board sizes.
TL;DR: Findings indicate that dietary cholesterol, possibly in the form of modified plasma lipoproteins, is an important risk factor for the progression to hepatic inflammation in diet‐induced NASH.
TL;DR: It is concluded that evidence for deleterious effects of lipid accumulation in non-adipose tissue (lipotoxicity) is strong, however, while ample human data is available for skeletal muscle and the liver, future research should focus on cholesterol accumulation in the pancreas and the heart.
TL;DR: It is tempting to suggest that dietary beta-glucans may be a useful tool to prime the host immune system and increase resistance against invading pathogens.