Objectives To assess the impact of BCG vaccination on systemic inflammation in neonates, focusing on sex-specific differences and the relationship between circulating inflammatory proteins and immune responses, including cytokine production and antibody levels. Methods A randomized clinical trial was …

Cyclophosphamide (CPA) is a commonly used alkylating chemotherapeutic drug that targets rapidly dividing cells causing apoptosis by crosslinking DNA. While effective against neoplasms, CPA can also affect healthy immune cells. This study investigated whether a single dose of CPA alters healthy lymphoid …

Obesity is a growing global burden with numerous significant health implications, including a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study investigates the role of obese adipose tissue on AD pathology in male APPswe/PSEN1-dE9 (APP/PSEN-1) transgenic mice, with a focus on cognitive decline, …

Some individuals, even when heavily exposed to an infectious tuberculosis patient, do not develop a specific T-cell response as measured by interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). This could be explained by an IFN-γ-independent adaptive immune response, or an effective innate host response clearing Mycobacterium …

Oncology physiotherapists frequently provide care for patients experiencing severe immunosuppression. Exercise immunology, the science that studies the effects of exercise on the immune system, is a rapidly evolving field with direct relevance to oncology physiotherapists. Understanding oncology physiotherapists’ …

This thesis investigated how homeostatic resilience can be determined based on the response of various biomarkers during and after a standardised bicycle ergometer test. The test model had to be reproducible and widely applicable to people with varying health statuses. To this end, two controlled human …

Introduction: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adult people with HIV is lower than that of the general population. Previously, no differences were detected in HRQoL of Dutch children with perinatal HIV (PHIV) compared with norm groups. In this study, we compared HRQoL of PHIV young adults (PHIV-YA, …

Background: In the Netherlands, general practitioners (GPs) play a key role in provider-initiated HIV testing, but opportunities for timely diagnosis are regularly missed. We implemented an educational intervention to improve HIV testing by GPs from 2015 to 2020, and observed a 7% increase in testing …

Owing to the non-toxic, nonimmunogenic effects and high affinity to specific molecules, some single-stranded oligonucleotides, namely aptamers, can be exploited in biochemical applications to deliver bioactive elements and interact with the desired targets. Among many identified aptamers, D#7 was utilized …