Université libre de Bruxelles

About: Université libre de Bruxelles is a education organization based out in Brussels, Belgium. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Breast cancer. The organization has 24974 authors who have published 56969 publications receiving 2084303 citations. The organization is also known as: ULB.

2018 European Thyroid Association Guideline for the Management of Graves' Hyperthyroidism

Abstract: Graves' disease (GD) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by the infiltration of thyroid antigen-specific T cells into thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSH-R)-expressing tissues. Stimulatory autoantibodies (Ab) in GD activate the TSH-R leading to thyroid hyperplasia and unregulated thyroid hormone production and secretion. Diagnosis of GD is straightforward in a patient with biochemically confirmed thyrotoxicosis, positive TSH-R-Ab, a hypervascular and hypoechoic thyroid gland (ultrasound), and associated orbitopathy. In GD, measurement of TSH-R-Ab is recommended for an accurate diagnosis/differential diagnosis, prior to stopping antithyroid drug (ATD) treatment and during pregnancy. Graves' hyperthyroidism is treated by decreasing thyroid hormone synthesis with the use of ATD, or by reducing the amount of thyroid tissue with radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment or total thyroidectomy. Patients with newly diagnosed Graves' hyperthyroidism are usually medically treated for 12-18 months with methimazole (MMI) as the preferred drug. In children with GD, a 24- to 36-month course of MMI is recommended. Patients with persistently high TSH-R-Ab at 12-18 months can continue MMI treatment, repeating the TSH-R-Ab measurement after an additional 12 months, or opt for therapy with RAI or thyroidectomy. Women treated with MMI should be switched to propylthiouracil when planning pregnancy and during the first trimester of pregnancy. If a patient relapses after completing a course of ATD, definitive treatment is recommended; however, continued long-term low-dose MMI can be considered. Thyroidectomy should be performed by an experienced high-volume thyroid surgeon. RAI is contraindicated in Graves' patients with active/severe orbitopathy, and steroid prophylaxis is warranted in Graves' patients with mild/active orbitopathy receiving RAI.

Design of electrical conductive composites : key role of the morphology on the electrical properties of carbon black filled polymer blends

Abstract: Effect of carbon black (CB) on the morphology of filled polyethylene (PE)/polystyrene (PS) blends has been investigated by image analysis of optical micrographs (2-D analysis) and by the selective extraction of one phase of the binary blends (3-D analysis). The macroscopic electrical resistivity of the filled polyblends strongly depends on the selective localization of CB in one phase or at the interface and above all on the double percolation, i.e. percolation of the polymer phases and percolation of the CB particles. The selective localization of CB in the PE phase has remarkable effects on the polyblend phase morphology. The phase cocontinuity is indeed extended over a much larger composition range, and the phase morphology is stabilized toward post-thermal treatment at 200 °C. In the case of double percolation and selective localization of CB at the polyblend interface, electrical conductivity is observed at a CB content as low as 0.4 wt %.

The stimulus-secretion coupling of glucose-induced insulin release. XXXV. The links between metabolic and cationic events.

Abstract: When isolated rat islets were exposed to glucose, the concentrations of NADH and NADPH, and the NADH/NAD+ and NADPH/NADP+ ratios were increased. The dose-response curve resembled that characterising the glucose-induced secondary rise in45Ca efflux, displaying a sigmoidal pattern with a half-maximal value at glucose 7.5 mmol/l. The glucose-induced increase in NAD(P)H was detectable within 1 min of exposure to the sugar. Except for the fall in ATP concentration and ATP/ADP ratio found at very low glucose concentrations (zero to 1.7 mmol/l) no effect of glucose (2.8–27.8 mmol/l) upon the steady-state concentration of adenine nucleotides was observed. However, a stepwise increase in glucose concentration provoked a dramatic and transient fall in the ATP concentration, followed by a sustained increase in both O2 consumption and oxidation of exogenous + endogenous nutrients. This may be essential to meet the energy requirements in the stimulated B-cell. Although no significant effect of glucose upon intracellular pH was detected by the 5,5-dimethyloxazolidine-2,4-dione method, the net release of H+ was markedly increased by glucose, with a hyperbolic dose-response curve (half-maximal response at glucose 2.9 mmol/l) similar to that characterising the glucose-induced initial fall in45Ca efflux. It is proposed that the generation of both NAD(P)H and H+ participates in the coupling of glucose metabolism to distal events in the secretory sequence, especially the ionophoretic process of Ca2+ inward and outward transport, and that changes in these parameters occur in concert with an increased turn-over rate of high-energy phosphate intermediates.

Transverse-Momentum and Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Hadrons in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV

Abstract: Charged-hadron transverse-momentum and pseudorapidity distributions in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV are measured with the inner tracking system of the CMS detector at the LHC. The charged-hadron yield is obtained by counting the number of reconstructed hits, hit pairs, and fully reconstructed charged-particle tracks. The combination of the three methods gives a charged-particle multiplicity per unit of pseudorapidity dN(ch)/d eta vertical bar(vertical bar eta vertical bar<0.5) = 5.78 +/- 0.01(stat) +/- 0.23(stat) for non-single-diffractive events, higher than predicted by commonly used models. The relative increase in charged-particle multiplicity from root s = 0.9 to 7 TeV is [66.1 +/- 1.0(stat) +/- 4.2(syst)]%. The mean transverse momentum is measured to be 0.545 +/- 0.005(stat) +/- 0.015(syst) GeV/c. The results are compared with similar measurements at lower energies.