University of Fribourg

About: University of Fribourg is a education organization based out in Fribourg, Freiburg, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 6040 authors who have published 14975 publications receiving 542500 citations. The organization is also known as: UNIFR & Universität Freiburg.

Bioinspired Polymer Systems with Stimuli-Responsive Mechanical Properties

Abstract: Materials with switchable mechanical properties are widespread in living organisms and endow many species with traits that are essential for their survival. Many of the mechanically morphing materials systems found in nature are based on hierarchical structures, which are the basis for mechanical robustness and often also the key to responsive behavior. Many “operating principles” involve cascades of events that translate cues from the environment into changes of the overall structure and/or the connectivity of the constituting building blocks at various levels. These concepts permit dramatic property variations without significant compositional changes. Inspired by the function and the growing understanding of the operating principles at play in biological materials with the capability to change their mechanical properties, significant efforts have been made toward mimicking such architectures and functions in artificial materials. Research in this domain has rapidly grown in the last two decades and aff...

Nanomaterials Versus Ambient Ultrafine Particles: An Opportunity to Exchange Toxicology Knowledge

Abstract: Background: A rich body of literature exists that has demonstrated adverse human health effects following exposure to ambient air particulate matter (PM), and there is strong support for an importa...

The cuticle and plant defense to pathogens

Abstract: The cuticle provides a physical barrier against water loss and protects against irradiation, xenobiotics, and pathogens. Components of the cuticle are perceived by invading fungi and activate developmental processes during pathogenesis. In addition, cuticle alterations of various types induce a syndrome of reactions that often results in resistance to necrotrophs. This article reviews the current knowledge on the role of the cuticle in relation to the perception of pathogens and activation of defenses.

Set points, settling points and some alternative models: theoretical options to understand how genes and environments combine to regulate body adiposity.

Abstract: The close correspondence between energy intake and expenditure over prolonged time periods, coupled with an apparent protection of the level of body adiposity in the face of perturbations of energy balance, has led to the idea that body fatness is regulated via mechanisms that control intake and energy expenditure. Two models have dominated the discussion of how this regulation might take place. The set point model is rooted in physiology, genetics and molecular biology, and suggests that there is an active feedback mechanism linking adipose tissue (stored energy) to intake and expenditure via a set point, presumably encoded in the brain. This model is consistent with many of the biological aspects of energy balance, but struggles to explain the many significant environmental and social influences on obesity, food intake and physical activity. More importantly, the set point model does not effectively explain the ‘obesity epidemic’ – the large increase in body weight and adiposity of a large proportion of individuals in many countries since the 1980s. An alternative model, called the settling point model, is based on the idea that there is passive feedback between the size of the body stores and aspects of expenditure. This model accommodates many of the social and environmental characteristics of energy balance, but struggles to explain some of the biological and genetic aspects. The shortcomings of these two models reflect their failure to address the gene-by-environment interactions that dominate the regulation of body weight. We discuss two additional models – the general intake model and the dual intervention point model – that address this issue and might offer better ways to understand how body fatness is controlled.