Fokko J van der Woude's research while affiliated with Universität Heidelberg and other places

... Daily IP injections of a small amount of heparin in the STZ diabetic rat prevented these pathological responses even though the animals sustained hyperglycemic levels of glucose throughout the experiments [13,14]. This led to clinical trials with heparin for treatment of diabetic patients [15]. However, the molecular and cellular mechanism(s) underlying the roles of heparin are still unclear. ...

... [4][5][6] Subsequently, cold storage (CS) and ischemiareperfusion injury (IRI) further exacerbate the heightened immunogenicity of the allograft. 7 Sitting at the interface between the donor allograft and the recipient immune system are donor endothelial cells (ECs), which play a central role in an allograft's immunogenicity as semi-professional antigen-presenting cells. 8 Early injuries induced by BD, CS, and IRI activate and prime these cells to be immunogenic. ...

... Increased levels of T-cell activation markers such as soluble interleukin-2 receptor and soluble CD30 receptor were described in Wegener's granulomatosis and Churg-Strauss syndrome and they correlated with clinical disease activity. In patients with Wegener's granulomatosis, relapse was often associated with or preceded by raised levels of these markers [56]. ...

... It has been demonstrated in two independent clinical studies that catecholamines are capable of delivering protective effects on kidney transplants: Donor employment of catecholamines resulted in both less acute rejection episodes and a profound improvement of long-term graft survival (12,13). Although the molecular mechanisms remain to be elucidated in detail it is clear that the hemodynamic properties of the adrenergic substances cannot entirely explain these salutary effects (14). In particular, dopamine has been shown to stimulate the production of the heat-shock protein heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in endothelial and proximal tubular epithelial cells in a dose-dependent manner (15). ...

... Interestingly, the increase in RSNA during intravenous infusion of bradykinin was suppressed in CIH-exposed rats despite a similar decrease in MAP and equivalent plasma levels of bradykinin in CIH-exposed and sham rats. This indicates no alteration in the vascular reactivity to kinin-kallilkrein system, as was suggested for SHR [41]. Therefore, the attenuated RSNA response to systemic bradykinin administration is most likely related to impaired baroreflex control of RSNA in response to intravenous bradykinin-mediated hypotension in CIH-exposed rats, consistent with previous studies from our research group [46,57]. ...

... Morphologically, the diabetic rats developed glomerular sclerosis with increased PAS-positive extracellular matrix synthesis and increased mesangial matrix area in the glomeruli, however, zerumbone was able to ameliorate the morphological deterioration. Furthermore, fibronectin, a major extracellular matrix protein, was induced in diabetic rats but normalized by zerumbone [24]. Our results also show that, along with the decreases in MCP-1 and ICAM-1 expression, zerumbone treatment significantly decreases TGF-β1 expression. ...

... Interestingly, patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and positive ANCAs have more serologically active SLE and more necrotic areas on renal biopsy than ANCA-negative patients [63]. PR3-ANCA-positive samples have 99% specificity for GPA, and MPO-ANCA-positive samples have an 80% specificity for MPA [64]. The role of ANCAs as a diagnostic biomarker is indisputable, yet their predictive value for disease relapse and treatment response remains under investigation. ...

... Seven different algorithms, including support vector regression (SVR) [17], K-nearest neighbors regression (KNR) [18], linear regression (LR) [19], decision tree (DT) [20], random forest (RF) [21], gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) [22] and artificial neural network (ANN) [23], were used as base learners for fusion algorithm to predict influent indexes for WWTP. These algorithms were chosen based on their successful application in regression prediction tasks. ...

... This hypothesis is reinforced by the evidence that altered carnosinase activity in human serum is associated with mutations in the N-terminal signal peptide due to polymorphisms of the CNDP1 gene [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Some of the mutations are associated with differential glycation patterns that reduce secretion and alter serum hydrolytic activity [31]. Therefore, the lack of a signal peptide in the primary sequence of rodent enzymes is likely the reason why no carnosinase activity is detectable in the serum of such species. ...

... It has been shown that dopamine slows down the vicious circle of intracellular calcium accumulation and ATP loss due to its reducing properties and can thus delay cold ischaemia damage. The prerequisite is that dopamine has been accumulated in sufficient concentration in the intracellular space prior to cold preservation [25]. ...