| 61. |
- Chen, D., et al.
(författare)
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A tree-ring delta O-18 based reconstruction of East Asia summer monsoon over the past two centuries
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) exhibits considerable decadal variations since the late 20th century. Efforts to examine long-term behaviors and dynamics of the EASM are impeded largely due to the shortness of instrumental meteorological records. So far, reconstructions of the EASM with annual resolution from its core regions remain limited. We conduct the first 200-year robust EASM reconstruction based on tree-ring cellulose delta O-18 records derived from Pinus massoniana trees growing in the middle Yangtze River basin, one of the core EASM areas. The delta O-18 chronology accounts for 46.2% of the actual variation in an index of the EASM from 1948 to 2014. The reconstructed EASM indicates that the monsoon intensity was below average before the 1950s, peaked in the 1950s-1970s, and then began to decline. The reconstructed EASM is negatively correlated with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), but this teleconnection is dynamic through time, i.e. enhanced (reduced) ENSO variability coheres with strong (weak) EASM-ENSO connections. In addition, despite high ENSO variability since the 1980s, the EASM-ENSO relationship weakened possibly due to anthropogenic impact, particularly aerosol emissions.
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| 62. |
- Choi, Jaeyeong, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of binding between model protein GA-Z and human serum albumin using asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation and small angle X-ray scattering.
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protein-based drugs often require targeted drug delivery for optimal therapy. A successful strategy to increase the circulation time of the protein in the blood is to link the therapeutic protein with an albumin-binding domain. In this work, we characterized such a protein-based drug, GA-Z. Using asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation coupled with multi-angle light scattering (AF4-MALS) we investigated the GA-Z monomer-dimer equilibrium as well as the molar binding ratio of GA-Z to HSA. Using small angle X-ray scattering, we studied the structure of GA-Z as well as the complex between GA-Z and HSA. The results show that GA-Z is predominantly dimeric in solution at pH 7 and that it binds to monomeric as well as dimeric HSA. Furthermore, GA-Z binds to HSA both as a monomer and a dimer, and thus, it can be expected to stay bound also upon dilution following injection in the blood stream. The results from SAXS and binding studies indicate that the GA-Z dimer is formed between two target domains (Z-domains). The results also indicate that the binding of GA-Z to HSA does not affect the ratio between HSA dimers and monomers, and that no higher order oligomers of the complex are seen other than those containing dimers of GA-Z and dimers of HSA.
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| 63. |
- Chuang, S., et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of resilience potential : development of a resilience assessment grid for emergency departments
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 15:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Resilience engineering has been advocated as an alternative to the management of safety over the last decade in many domains. However, to facilitate metrics for measuring and helping analyze the resilience potential for emergency departments (EDs) remains a significant challenge. The study aims to redesign the Hollnagel’s resilience assessment grid (RAG) into a custom-made RAG (ED-RAG) to support resilience management in EDs. Methods The study approach had three parts: 1) translation of Hollnagel’s RAG into Chinese version, followed by generation of a tailored set of ED-RAG questions adapted to EDs; 2) testing and revising the tailored sets until to achieve satisfactory validity for application; 3) design of a new rating scale and scoring method. The test criteria of the ED-RAG questionnaire adopted the modified three-level scoring criteria proposed by Bloom and Fischer. The study setting of the field test is a private regional hospital. Results The fifth version of ED-RAG was acceptable after a field test. It has three sets of open structured questions for the potentials to respond, monitor, and anticipate, and a set of structured questions for the potential to learn. It contained 38 questions corresponding to 32 foci. A new 4-level rating scale along with a novel scaling method can improve the scores conversion validity and communication between team members and across investigations. This final version is set to complete an interview for around 2 hours. Conclusions The ED-RAG represents a snapshot of EDs’resilience under specific conditions. It might be performed multiple times by a single hospital to monitor the directions and contents of improvement that can supplement conventional safety management toward resilience. Some considerations are required to be successful when hospitals use it. Future studies to overcome the potential methodological weaknesses of the ED-RAG are needed.
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| 64. |
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| 65. |
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| 66. |
- Colon, Celian, et al.
(författare)
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Fragmentation of production amplifies systemic risks from extreme events in supply-chain networks
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 15:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climatic and other extreme events threaten the globalized economy, which relies on increasingly complex and specialized supply-chain networks. Disasters generate (i) direct economic losses due to reduced production in the locations where they occur, and (ii) to indirect losses from the supply shortages and demand changes that cascade along the supply chains. Firms can use inventories to reduce their risk of shortages. Since firms are interconnected through the supply chain, the level of inventory hold by one firm influences the risk of shortages of the others. Such interdependencies lead to systemic risks in supply chain networks. We introduce a stylized model of complex supply-chain networks in which firms adjust their inventory to maximize profit. We analyze the resulting risks and inventory patterns using evolutionary game theory. We report the following findings. Inventories significantly reduce disruption cascades and indirect losses at the expense of a moderate increase in direct losses. The more fragmented a supply chain is, the less beneficial it is for individual firms to maintain inventories, resulting in higher systemic risks. One way to mitigate such systemic risks is to prescribe inventory sizes to individual firms—a measure that could, for instance, be fostered by insurers. We found that prescribing firm-specific inventory sizes based on their position in the supply chain mitigates systemic risk more effectively than setting the same inventory requirements for all firms.
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| 67. |
- Comendeiro-Maaløe, Micaela, et al.
(författare)
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Acknowledging the role of patient heterogeneity in hospital outcome reporting : Mortality after acute myocardial infarction in five European countries
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:2, s. 0228425-0228425
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Hospital performance, presented as the comparison of average measurements, dismisses that hospital outcomes may vary across types of patients. We aim at drawing out the relevance of accounting for patient heterogeneity when reporting on hospital performance.METHODS: An observational study on administrative data from virtually all 2009 hospital admissions for Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) discharged in Denmark, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. Hospital performance was proxied using in-hospital risk-adjusted mortality. Multilevel Regression Modelling (MLRM) was used to assess differences in hospital performance, comparing the estimates of random intercept modelling (capturing hospital general contextual effects (GCE)), and random slope modelling (capturing hospital contextual effects for patients with and without congestive heart failure -CHF). The weighted Kappa Index (KI) was used to assess the agreement between performance estimates.RESULTS: We analysed 46,875 admissions of AMI, 6,314 with coexistent CHF, discharged from 107 hospitals. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 5.2%, ranging from 4% in Sweden to 6.9% in Portugal. The MLRM with random slope outperformed the model with only random intercept, highlighting a much higher GCE in CHF patients [VPC = 8.34 (CI95% 4.94 to 13.03) and MOR = 1.69 (CI95% 1.62 to 2.21) vs. VPC = 3.9 (CI95% 2.4 to 5.9), MOR of 1.42 (CI95% 1.31 to 1.54) without CHF]. No agreement was observed between estimates [KI = -0,02 (CI95% -0,08 to 0.04].CONCLUSIONS: The different GCE in AMI patients with and without CHF, along with the lack of agreement in estimates, suggests that accounting for patient heterogeneity is required to adequately characterize and report on hospital performance.
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| 68. |
- Costache, Madalina Elena, et al.
(författare)
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Higher- and lower-order personality traits and cluster subtypes in social anxiety disorder
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 15:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD) can come in different forms, presenting problems for diagnostic classification. Here, we examined personality traits in a large sample of patients (N = 265) diagnosed with SAD in comparison to healthy controls (N = 164) by use of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP). In addition, we identified subtypes of SAD based on cluster analysis of the NEO-PI-R Big Five personality dimensions. Significant group differences in personality traits between patients and controls were noted on all Big Five dimensions except agreeableness. Group differences were further noted on most lower-order facets of NEO-PI-R, and nearly all KSP variables. A logistic regression analysis showed, however, that only neuroticism and extraversion remained significant independent predictors of patient/control group when controlling for the effects of the other Big Five dimensions. Also, only neuroticism and extraversion yielded large effect sizes when SAD patients were compared to Swedish normative data for the NEO-PI-R. A two-step cluster analysis resulted in three separate clusters labelled Prototypical (33%), Introvert-Conscientious (29%), and Instable-Open (38%) SAD. Individuals in the Prototypical cluster deviated most on the Big Five dimensions and they were at the most severe end in profile analyses of social anxiety, self-rated fear during public speaking, trait anxiety, and anxiety-related KSP variables. While additional studies are needed to determine if personality subtypes in SAD differ in etiological and treatment-related factors, the present results demonstrate considerable personality heterogeneity in socially anxious individuals, further underscoring that SAD is a multidimensional disorder.
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| 69. |
- Courtney, Travis A, et al.
(författare)
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Coral calcification responses to the North Atlantic Oscillation and coral bleaching in Bermuda
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 15:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has been hypothesized to drive interannual variability in Bermudan coral extension rates and reef-scale calcification through the provisioning of nutritional pulses associated with negative NAO winters. However, the direct influence of the NAO on Bermudan coral calcification rates remains to be determined and may vary between species and reef sites owing to implicit differences in coral life history strategies and environmental gradients across the Bermuda reef platform. In this study, we investigated the connection between negative NAO winters and Bermudan Diploria labyrinthiformis, Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Orbicella franksi coral calcification rates across rim reef, lagoon, and nearshore reef sites. Linear mixed effects modeling detected an inverse correlation between D. labyrinthiformis calcification rates and the winter NAO index, with higher rates associated with increasingly negative NAO winters. Conversely, there were no detectable correlations between P. strigosa or O. franksi calcification rates and the winter NAO index suggesting that coral calcification responses associated with negative NAO winters could be species-specific. The correlation between coral calcification rates and winter NAO index was significantly more negative at the outer rim of the reef (Hog Reef) compared to a nearshore reef site (Whalebone Bay), possibly indicating differential influence of the NAO as a function of the distance from the reef edge. Furthermore, a negative calcification anomaly was observed in 100% of D. labyrinthiformis cores in association with the 1988 coral bleaching event with a subsequent positive calcification anomaly in 1989 indicating a post-bleaching recovery in calcification rates. These results highlight the importance of assessing variable interannual coral calcification responses between species and across inshore-offshore gradients to interannual atmospheric modes such as the NAO, thermal stress events, and potential interactions between ocean warming and availability of coral nutrition to improve projections for future coral calcification rates under climate change.
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| 70. |
- Cunningham, Janet, et al.
(författare)
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Impact of time and temperature on gut microbiota and SCFA composition in stool samples
- 2020
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 15:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gut dysbiosis has been implicated in the pathophysiology of a growing number of non-communicable diseases. High through-put sequencing technologies and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) profiling enables surveying of the composition and function of the gut microbiota and provide key insights into host-microbiome interactions. However, a methodological problem with analyzing stool samples is that samples are treated and stored differently prior to submission for analysis potentially influencing the composition of the microbiota and its metabolites. In the present study, we simulated the sample acquisition of a large-scale study, in which stool samples were stored for up to two days in the fridge or at room temperature before being handed over to the hospital. To assess the influence of time and temperature on the microbial community and on SCFA composition in a controlled experimental setting, the stool samples of 10 individuals were exposed to room and fridge temperatures for 24 and 48 hours, respectively, and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, qPCR and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. To best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the influence of storage time and temperature on the absolute abundance of methanogens, and ofLactobacillus reuteri. The results indicate that values obtained for methanogens,L.reuteriand total bacteria are still representative even after storage for up to 48 hours at RT (20 degrees C) or 4 degrees C. The overall microbial composition and structure appeared to be influenced more by laboratory errors introduced during sample processing than by the actual effects of temperature and time. Although microbial activity was demonstrated by elevated SCFA at both 4 degrees C and RT, SCFAs ratios were more stable over the different conditions and may be considered as long as samples are come from similar storage conditions.
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