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In the last decade, lignin has received much attention as a feedstock to produce bio-based products. This study investigates the potential benefits of using lignin to mitigate the environmental impact of the road construction sector. An environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of various top-layer bio-based asphalts using kraft lignin was conducted. From a cradle-to-grave perspective, lignin-based asphalts were compared with conventional asphalts. The results of the LCA revealed that the climate change impact of lignin-based asphalts could be 30-75% lower than conventional asphalts. For the other ten impact categories, trade-offs were observed. Overall, two key factors to make the environmental impact of lignin-based asphalts lower than conventional asphalts are 1) increasing the amount of bitumen-substituted and 2) using low-grade biomass fuels for process steam in the pulp mill. The substitution of weak filler with lignin was beneficial only for climate change and could lead to a worse overall environmental performance than conventional asphalts. Similarly, higher environmental impacts for lignin-based asphalts could be obtained if the pulp mill consumed natural gas to complete the energy balance to replace the part of the black liquor from which lignin is extracted. This study also includes an in-depth discussion on methodological choices such as the allocation methods for lignin, functional units, and asphalt layers considered. We believe that such a methodological discussion could be helpful to support future Product Category Rules for asphalt mixtures., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Tobias Strating is employed by an industrial partner (Roelofsgroep) that might have financial interests in the technology investigated by this article. Richard Gosselink is the inventor of a patent regarding lignin-based bio-asphalt. The other authors do not have any known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Notch signaling plays an essential role in the proliferation, differentiation and cell fate determination of various tissues, including the developing pancreas. One regulator of the Notch pathway is GDE2 (or GDPD5), a transmembrane ecto-phosphodiesterase that cleaves GPI-anchored proteins at the plasma membrane, including a Notch ligand regulator. Here we report that Gdpd5-knockdown in zebrafish embryos leads to developmental defects, particularly, impaired motility and reduced pancreas differentiation, as shown by decreased expression of insulin and other pancreatic markers. Exogenous expression of human GDE2, but not catalytically dead GDE2, similarly leads to developmental defects. Human GDE2 restores insulin expression in Gdpd5a-depleted zebrafish embryos. Importantly, zebrafish Gdpd5 orthologues localize to the plasma membrane where they show catalytic activity against GPI-anchored GPC6. Thus, our data reveal functional conservation between zebrafish Gdpd5 and human GDE2, and suggest that strict regulation of GDE2 expression and catalytic activity is critical for correct embryonic patterning. In particular, our data uncover a role for GDE2 in regulating pancreas differentiation., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The Dutch neonatal screening scheme for Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH) is primarily based on the determination of thyroxine (T4) in filter paper blood spots. In the lowest 5% of T4 values, thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) is measured in order to be able to correct for occasional low TBG levels. However, because the commercial TBG kit has been withdrawn from the market, alternative strategies are needed to be explored including the assessment of free T4. We evaluated the Neonatal Free Thyroxine (fT4) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kit of Bio-Rad. FT4 as measured in a daily run of random samples correlated with T4. We also observed a correlation between fT4 and T4, and between fT4 and T4/TBG ratio in blood spots with low T4 concentrations. The correlation between fT4 and T4 in blood spots of proven CH-patients was highly significant. ROC curves were constructed for the fT4 assay and the T4/TBG ratio based on 27 CH patients and 215 controls with a complete set of data. The curves of both assays seemed to be rather similar. We conclude that the validity of the fT4 and the T4/TBG-approach seems to be the same. A study with a larger sample size giving the same or even more favorable results for the fT4-approach is necessary before we will change the present CH protocol., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Midface advancement with distraction osteogenesis using the rigid external device (RED) is an effective but invasive treatment to correct the hypoplastic midface. This study draws up an inventory of the stressors, needs and coping strategies of families during this treatment, to determine the best conditions for family-centred care. Data were collected by reviewing the patients' files and administering semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using the software program Atlas.ti and were re-analysed by an independent researcher. Parents and patients were interviewed separately. Fourteen families participated. Four patients had an absolute indication for surgery. All families were eager to have the patient's facial appearance improved. Nevertheless, despite psychological counselling, they experienced stress when confronted with the changed facial appearance. Another stressor was weight loss. Six patients were in a state of acute malnutrition and needed supplementary feeding. We conclude that the best conditions for family-centred care should be aligned to the different phases of treatment. Leading up to surgery it is important to screen families' expectations regarding aesthetic, functional and social outcomes and to assess their capacity to cope with the long treatment and effects of changed facial appearance. Peer contact and psychosocial training to increase self-esteem are tools to enhance co-operation and satisfaction. During the distraction and stabilisation phase, we advise the monitoring of nutritional intake and weight. During all phases of treatment easy accessibility to the team is recommended., (Copyright © 2013 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The tetranuclear aggregate (enH(2))[Fe(4)(mu(3)-O)(heidi)(4)(mu-O,O'-O(2)CNHC(2)H(4)NH(3))] x 4H(2)O contains a novel bidentate zwitterionic carbamic acid ligand. Magnetic studies indicate that the unsymmetrical Fe(4) core is ferrimagnetic with an S=4 ground state. Similar ligands have been obtained on rectangular tetranuclear aggregates [M(4)(mu-O)(mu-OH)(hpdta)(2)(mu-X)(2)](n-) (M[double bond]Fe, Al, Ga). The carbamic acid ligands are considered to result from the hydrolytic activation (fixation) of atmospheric CO(2) by the aggregate precursor to give a carbonato intermediate, which then reacts with the organic diamine used as base in the synthesis. Similar aggregates with acetate ligands result from hydrolytic activation of the DMA used as cosolvent. Closely related mechanisms for these two activation processes are proposed, which are also related to the accepted mechanisms for carbonic anhydrase and urease.