Title Participants "A Plague of Texts? A Text-Critical Study of the So-Called ‘Plagues Narrative’ in Exodus 7,14–11,10" "Bénédicte Lemmelijn" "Plaque production by group A arboviruses. I. Influence of D.E.A.E.-dextran on plaques under agar and agarose. Plaque production under carboxymethylcellulose" "STEFAAN PATTYN, L De Vleesschauwer" "Specific Targeting of Atherosclerotic Plaques in ApoE(-/-) Mice Using a New Camelid sdAb Binding the Vulnerable Plaque Marker LOX-1." "Jens De Vos, Iris Mathijs, Catarina Xavier, Sam Massa, Ulrich Wernery" "Purpose Molecular imaging has the potential to provide quantitative information about specific biological aspects of developing atherosclerotic lesions. This requires the generation of reliable, highly specific plaque tracers. This study reports a new camelid single-domain antibody fragment (sdAb) targeting the Lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor (LOX-1), a biomarker for the detection and molecular phenotyping of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques. Procedures A camelid sdAb was generated and selected for high affinity binding to LOX-1. Ex vivo biodistribution and in vivo single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) imaging studies were performed in wild-type mice and in fat-fed atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E-deficient mice with 99mTc-labeled sdAbs. Gamma-counting and autoradiography analyses were performed on dissected aorta segments with different degrees of plaque burden. The specificity of the LOX-1-targeting sdAb was evaluated by blocking with unlabeled sdAb or by comparison with a nontargeting 99mTc-labeled control sdAb. Results We generated a sdAb binding LOX-1 with a KD of 280 pM?±?62 pM affinity. After 99mTc-labeling, the tracer had radiochemical purity higher then 99 % and retained specificity in in vitro binding studies. Tracer blood clearance was fast with concomitant high kidney retention. At 3 h after injection, uptake in tissues other than plaques was low and not different than background, suggesting a restricted expression pattern of LOX-1. Conversely, uptake in aortic segments increased with plaque content and was due to specific LOX-1 binding. In vivo SPECT/CT imaging 160 min after injection in atherosclerotic mice confirmed specific targeting of LOX-1-expressing aortic plaques. Conclusions The LOX-sdAb specifically targets LOX-1-expressing atherosclerotic plaques within hours after injection. The possibility to image LOX-1 rapidly after administration combined with the favourable biodistribution of a sdAb are beneficial for molecular phenotyping of atherosclerotic plaques and the generation of a future prognostic tracer." "Selective removal of macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques as a pharmacological approach for plaque stabilization: benefits vs. potential complications" "Valerie Croons, Wim Martinet, Guido De Meyer" "Atherosclerotic plaque destabilization is a major cause of unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death. Macrophages, which are an essential component of unstable plaques, play a pivotal role in the destabilization process, whereas smooth muscle cells contribute to plaque stability. Selective removal of macrophages is therefore an interesting pharmacological objective to stabilize vulnerable, rupture-prone lesions. Pharmacological agents such as clodronate, nitric oxide donors, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, protein synthesis inhibitors, and statins, that are capable of selectively depleting macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques without affecting smooth muscle or endothelial cells, have recently been identified. This review focuses on the mechanism of action of these drugs as well as on the potential pitfalls of drug-induced macrophage depletion." "Uncertainty in global downwelling plane irradiance estimates from sintered polytetrafluoroethylene plaque radiance measurements" "Alexandre Castagna Mourão e Lima, B. Carol Johnson, Kenneth Voss, Heidi M. Dierssen, Heather Patrick, Thomas A. Germer, Koen Sabbe, Wim Vyverman" "Global downwelling plane irradiance is a necessary variable to normalize water-leaving radiance measurements, reducing the magnitude and spectral variabilities introduced by the incident light field. As a result, the normalized measurements, known as remote sensing reflectance, have higher correlation with the inherent optical properties of the water body and so to the composition of optically active water components. For in situ measurements, the global downwelling plane irradiance can be estimated from the exitant radiance of sintered polytetrafluoroethylene plaques or other diffuse reflectance standards. This allows use of a single spectrometer to measure all necessary variables to estimate the remote sensing reflectance, reducing cost in acquisition and maintenance of instrumentation. However, despite being in use for more than 30 years, the uncertainty associated with the method has been only partially evaluated. In this study, we use a suite of sky radiance distributions for 24 atmospheres and nine solar zenith angles in combination with full bidirectional reflectance distribution function determinations of white and gray plaques to evaluate the uncertainties. The isolated and interactive effects of bidirectional reflectance distribution, shadowing, and tilt error sources are evaluated. We find that under the best-performing geometries of each plaque, and with appropriate estimation functions, average standard uncertainty ranges from 1% to 6.5%. The simulated errors are found to explain both previous empirical uncertainty estimates and new data collected during this study. Those errors are of the same magnitude as uncertainties of plane irradiance sensors (e. g., cosine collectors) and overlap with uncertainty requirements for different uses of in situ data, which supports the continued use of the plaque method in hydrologic optics research and monitoring. Recommendations are provided to improve the quality of measurements and assure that uncertainties will be in the range of those calculated here. (c) 2019 Optical Society of America." "Nul ne plaide par procureur ... Ni par langue étrangère ?" "Beatrice Ponet" "Goat plague or peste des petits ruminants (PPR)" "Stanny Geerts, FRANCIS VERCAMMEN, Jozef Brandt" Plague "PG Janssens" "‘Giudicho essere piu ghuadagnio lo spendere qui che ’l ghuadagniare chosti’ : the plague in the Buonarroti correspondence among anxieties, professional dilemmas and medical beliefs" "Eleonora Serra" "Plague, religion and urban space in sixteenth-century Antwerp" "Rogier van Kooten, Janna Coomans, Claire Weeda" "Antwerp’s response to the outbreak of plague in the 1570s offers new insights into the effects of epidemics on urban communities in relation to their religious, economic, and spatial fabric. Antwerp’s transition from a Catholic to Calvinist government in 1577, and back to Catholicism in 1585, allows us to study its reaction to and the effects of plague across religious boundaries within a short time span. Using GIS, we have compared various rich datasets concerning plague: the register of houses locked in quarantine; the health certificates issued by authorities; plague fatalities recorded in St. Jacob’s parish; a wide range of urban regulations; and information about the size of households, their composition, rents and real estate values in Antwerp. Combined analysis shows that Catholics and Calvinists, whose houses were concentrated in different city districts and who had distinct professional and economic profiles, experienced plague quite differently, both physically and spiritually."