PhD these in a nutshell

Fasting

The body adapts if no food is available or you are fasting. That is an evolutionary development because food was not always available in abundance. Mingjuan Deng, from China, tried to figure out how the liver and fatty tissues respond to variability in the amount eaten. The protein PPAR plays a key role as a transcription factor, regulating the expression of hundreds of genes that play roles in the lipid metabolism during fasting. During her research, she also found a new genetic target of PPAR. But it all still remains an enigma.

Decoding the Enigma of Fasting in Liver and Adipose Lipid Metabolism.
Mingjuan Deng. Supervisor Sander Kersten

Drug informer

Remnants of medicines get poured down the sink and end up in ditches and lakes. That can affect aquatic life. How can you show that? Changed swimming behaviour is one possible indicator. Elien Versteegen put this to the test by studying the effects of the pharmaceutical products carbamazepine and citalopram on the swimming behaviour of freshwater prawns. The prawns did indeed exhibit abnormal behaviour, but only with unrealistically high concentrations of the drugs in the water. So that’s no good as an indicator.

Behavioural Effects of Psychopharmaceuticals and their Ecological Relevance in Aquatic Environments.
Elien Versteegen. Supervisor Paul van den Brink

Shedding light on pigs

People and animals react to changes in the light. Alice Scaillierez, from France, investigated what differences in the intensity and spectral composition of light do to the well-being and health of pigs in commercial barns. She used video analyses of aspects such as their posture and movements. The results are not that clear and quite limited, at least in commercial housing with little flexibility.  It seems that pigs quickly adapt to their circumstances. However, extra UV light does increase the production of vitamin D. Scaillierez still recommends more pig-centred lighting in barns.

Enlightened Pigs.
Alice Scaillierez. Supervisor Eddy Bokkers

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PhD these in a nutshell

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