Zoekresultaten

EIP-AGRI Focus Group Bee health and sustainable beekeeping

The EIP-AGRI Focus Group on Bee health and sustainable beekeeping was established in spring 2019 to identify, structure and develop main replies to the main question: How can we ensure the sustainability of beekeeping in the face of challenges linked to pests and diseases, intensification of agriculture and climate change?

Over-expression of Arabidopsis AtCHR23 chromatin remodeling ATPase results in increased variability of growth and gene expression

Plants are sessile organisms that deal with their -sometimes adverse- environment in well-regulated ways. Chromatin remodeling involving SWI/SNF2-type ATPases is thought to be an important epigenetic mechanism for the regulation of gene expression in different developmental programs and for integrating these programs with the response to environmental signals. In this study, we report on the role of chromatin remodeling in Arabidopsis with respect to the variability of growth and gene expression in relationship to environmental conditions.

There is no blank slate

Skeletal muscle performance and ageing

The world population is ageing rapidly. As society ages, the incidence of physical limitations is dramatically increasing, which reduces the quality of life and increases healthcare expenditures. In western society, ~30% of the population over 55 years is confronted with moderate or severe physical limitations. These physical limitations increase the risk of falls, institutionalization, co-morbidity, and premature death. An important cause of physical limitations is the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass, also referred to as sarcopenia. Emerging evidence, however, clearly shows that the decline in skeletal muscle mass is not the sole contributor to the decline in physical performance. For instance, the loss of muscle strength is also a strong contributor to reduced physical performance in the elderly. In addition, there is ample data to suggest that motor coordination, excitation-contraction coupling, skeletal integrity, and other factors related to the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems are critically important for physical performance in the elderly. To better understand the loss of skeletal muscle performance with ageing, we aim to provide a broad overview on the underlying mechanisms associated with elderly skeletal muscle performance. We start with a system level discussion and continue with a discussion on the influence of lifestyle, biological, and psychosocial factors on elderly skeletal muscle performance. Developing a broad understanding of the many factors affecting elderly skeletal muscle performance has major implications for scientists, clinicians, and health professionals who are developing therapeutic interventions aiming to enhance muscle function and/or prevent mobility and physical limitations and, as such, support healthy ageing.

Brain and Technology: to an argument based practice!

Since the emergence of modern man some 200,000 years ago, people and technologyhave been inextricably linked to each other. However, unlike traditional technology -such as leverage (and derivative applications such as hammers, wheels and crankshafts),and control of fire - smart technology is equipped with adaptive capacity. Whereas intraditional technology people have to think and handle in terms of technology in orderto apply technology successfully and purposefully, technology with, for example, itsown learning ability adapts to humans. This means that smart technology influencesdevelopment in a different way than traditional technology. Changes in the relationship between human development (brain) and smarttechnology - technology with its own learning capacity and adaptability - have led tothe articulation of 4 requirements technology should meet: 1. it must be sustainable, 2. it must not block development and if it does it must be clear how, 3. there must bea logical argument why the technique can be used and how it can be explained, also in terms of psychological development and, finally, 4. the social and ethical discoursemust be stated in a transparent way. At a fast pace, futurologists and management gurus are presenting “theories” abouthow smart technology will change us permanently as individuals. Requirements 1(sustainability) and 2 (technology influencing human development) are at stake here.However, these ideas cannot be substantiated by scientific research. Psychology(and the other social and human sciences) have not yet been able to generate a convincing interpretation of what is going on in the area of brain and technology (living technology). In fact, there is a need for argumentation. In order to arrive at an argument-based psychology, insight into the non-linearityof processes is indispensable.  The Brain & Technology research group is exploring the great possibilities to bridge the distance between people and their limitations by using smart technology, or possibilities, especially when it comes to argument based applied psychology!  In this document, mainly the argument requirement is considered, because in the rapidly changing technological processes, the argument often does not sufficiently develop and the argument lies pre-eminently at the level of applied psychology, brain and technology.

Emerging Technologies from a psychological perspective

Technology has always been a very distinctive feature of human existence. Technology is to humans what nature is to other organisms: our host. Man is nature, but through technology – humans came to stand against nature and its biodiversity; technology is now a global enterprise, advancing on a scale and pace that has never been seen before. The paper argues that this poses a threat not only to the planet and biodiversity but above all to humans themselves. A psychological perspective is chosen, that of the thinking and feeling person, which is contrasted with emerging (smart) technologies. It is concluded that man is not a rational “machine”, but a small-scale storyteller, a provider of meaning, especially emotionally involved with each other. Systems and standardization stand in the way. But as globalized humanity faces the dangers of diminishing (bio- and cultural) diversity, we need the unifying power of technology to restore balance.