University of Amsterdam

About: University of Amsterdam is a education organization based out in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Randomized controlled trial. The organization has 59309 authors who have published 140894 publications receiving 5984137 citations. The organization is also known as: UvA & Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Hedonic tone and activation level in the mood-creativity link: toward a dual pathway to creativity model.

Abstract: To understand when and why mood states influence creativity, the authors developed and tested a dual pathway to creativity model; creative fluency (number of ideas or insights) and originality (novelty) are functions of cognitive flexibility, persistence, or some combination thereof. Invoking work on arousal, psychophysiological processes, and working memory capacity, the authors argue that activating moods (e.g., angry, fearful, happy, elated) lead to more creative fluency and originality than do deactivating moods (e.g., sad, depressed, relaxed, serene). Furthermore, activating moods influence creative fluency and originality because of enhanced cognitive flexibility when tone is positive and because of enhanced persistence when tone is negative. Four studies with different mood manipulations and operationalizations of creativity (e.g., brainstorming, category inclusion tasks, gestalt completion tests) support the model.

A positive fluid balance is associated with a worse outcome in patients with acute renal failure

Abstract: Despite significant improvements in intensive care medicine, the prognosis of acute renal failure (ARF) remains poor, with mortality ranging from 40% to 65%. The aim of the present observational study was to analyze the influence of patient characteristics and fluid balance on the outcome of ARF in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The data were extracted from the Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely Ill Patients (SOAP) study, a multicenter observational cohort study to which 198 ICUs from 24 European countries contributed. All adult patients admitted to a participating ICU between 1 and 15 May 2002, except those admitted for uncomplicated postoperative surveillance, were eligible for the study. For the purposes of this substudy, patients were divided into two groups according to whether they had ARF. The groups were compared with respect to patient characteristics, fluid balance, and outcome. Of the 3,147 patients included in the SOAP study, 1,120 (36%) had ARF at some point during their ICU stay. Sixty-day mortality rates were 36% in patients with ARF and 16% in patients without ARF (P < 0.01). Oliguric patients and patients treated with renal replacement therapy (RRT) had higher 60-day mortality rates than patients without oliguria or the need for RRT (41% versus 33% and 52% versus 32%, respectively; P < 0.01). Independent risk factors for 60-day mortality in the patients with ARF were age, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II), heart failure, liver cirrhosis, medical admission, mean fluid balance, and need for mechanical ventilation. Among patients treated with RRT, length of stay and mortality were lower when RRT was started early in the course of the ICU stay. In this large European multicenter study, a positive fluid balance was an important factor associated with increased 60-day mortality. Outcome among patients treated with RRT was better when RRT was started early in the course of the ICU stay.

The expanding family of innate lymphoid cells: regulators and effectors of immunity and tissue remodeling

Abstract: Research has identified what can be considered a family of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that includes not only natural killer (NK) cells and lymphoid tissue-inducer (LTi) cells but also cells that produce interleukin 5 (IL-5), IL-13, IL-17 and/or IL-22. These ILC subsets are developmentally related, requiring expression of the transcriptional repressor Id2 and cytokine signals through the common γ-chain of the IL-2 receptor. The functional differentiation of ILC subsets is orchestrated by distinct transcription factors. Analogous to helper T cell subsets, these evolutionarily conserved yet distinct ILCs seem to have important roles in protective immunity, and their dysregulation can promote immune pathology.

Passive Irradiated Circumstellar Disks with an Inner Hole

Abstract: A model for irradiated dust disks around Herbig Ae stars is proposed. The model is based on the flaring disk model given by Chiang and Goldreich in 1997, but with the central regions of the disk removed. The inner rim of the disk is puffed up and is much hotter than the rest of the disk because it is directly exposed to the stellar flux. If located at the dust evaporation radius, its reemitted flux produces a conspicuous bump in the spectral energy distribution (SED) that peaks at 2-3 μm. We propose that this emission is the explanation for the near-infrared bump observed in the SEDs of Herbig Ae stars. We study for which stellar parameters this bump would be observable and find that it is the case for Herbig Ae stellar parameters but not for T Tauri stars, confirming what is found from the observations. We also study the effects of the shadow cast by the inner rim over the rest of the flaring disk. The shadowed region can be quite large, and under some circumstances the entire disk may lie in the shadow. This shadowed region will be much cooler than an unshadowed flaring disk, since its only heating sources are radial radiative diffusion and possible indirect sources of irradiation. Under certain special circumstances the shadowing effect can suppress, or even completely eliminate, the 10 μm emission feature from the spectrum, which might explain the anomalous SEDs of some isolated Herbig Ae stars in the recent sample of Meeus and colleagues. At much larger radii the disk emerges from the shadow and continues as a flaring disk toward the outer edge. The emission from the inner rim contributes significantly to the irradiation of this flaring disk. The complete semianalytical model, including structure of the inner edge, the shadowed region, and the flared outer part, is described in detail in this paper, and we show examples of the general behavior of the model for varying parameters.

Common variants associated with plasma triglycerides and risk for coronary artery disease

Abstract: Triglycerides are transported in plasma by specific triglyceride-rich lipoproteins; in epidemiological studies, increased triglyceride levels correlate with higher risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, it is unclear whether this association reflects causal processes. We used 185 common variants recently mapped for plasma lipids (P < 5 × 10(-8) for each) to examine the role of triglycerides in risk for CAD. First, we highlight loci associated with both low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride levels, and we show that the direction and magnitude of the associations with both traits are factors in determining CAD risk. Second, we consider loci with only a strong association with triglycerides and show that these loci are also associated with CAD. Finally, in a model accounting for effects on LDL-C and/or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, the strength of a polymorphism's effect on triglyceride levels is correlated with the magnitude of its effect on CAD risk. These results suggest that triglyceride-rich lipoproteins causally influence risk for CAD.