| 31731. |
- Hickey, A, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating cut points : a simple method for new wearables
- 2016
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Ingår i: Maturitas. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-5122 .- 1873-4111. ; 83, s. 78-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wearable technology is readily available for continuous assessment due to a growing number of commercial devices with increased data capture capabilities. However, many commercial devices fail to support suitable parameters (cut points) derived from the literature to help quantify physical activity (PA) due to differences in manufacturing. A simple metric to estimate cut points for new wearables is needed to aid data analysis.ObjectiveThe purpose of this pilot study was to investigate a simple methodology to determine cut points based on ratios between sedentary behaviour (SB) and PA intensities for a new wrist worn device (PRO-Diary™) by comparing its output to a validated and well characterised ‘gold standard’ (ActiGraph™).Study designTwelve participants completed a semi-structured (four-phase) treadmill protocol encompassing SB and three PA intensity levels (light, moderate, vigorous). The outputs of the devices were compared accounting for relative intensity.ResultsCount ratios (6.31, 7.68, 4.63, 3.96) were calculated to successfully determine cut-points for the new wrist worn wearable technology during SB (0–426) as well as light (427–803), moderate (804–2085) and vigorous (≥2086) activities, respectively.ConclusionOur findings should be utilised as a primary reference for investigations seeking to use new (wrist worn) wearable technology similar to that used here (i.e., PRO-Diary™) for the purposes of quantifying SB and PA intensities. The utility of count ratios may be useful in comparing devices or SB/PA values estimated across different studies. However, a more robust examination is required for different devices, attachment locations and on larger/diverse cohorts.
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| 31732. |
- Hickey, Doron G., et al.
(författare)
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Chimeric human opsins as optogenetic light sensitisers
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Experimental Biology. - Cambridge : Company of Biologists LTD. - 0022-0949 .- 1477-9145. ; 224:14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human opsin-based photopigments have great potential as light-sensitisers, but their requirement for phototransduction cascade-specific second messenger proteins may restrict their functionality in non-native cell types. In this study, eight chimeric human opsins were generated consisting of a backbone of either a rhodopsin (RHO) or long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) opsin and intracellular domains from G(q/11)-coupled human melanopsin. Rhodopsin/melanopsin chimeric opsins coupled to both Gi and G(q/11) pathways. Greater substitution of the intracellular surface with corresponding melanopsin domains generally showed greater G(q/11) activity with a decrease in Gi activation. Unlike melanopsin, rhodopsin and rhodopsin/melanopsin chimeras were dependent upon exogenous chromophore to function. By contrast, wild-type LWS opsin and LWS opsin/melanopsin chimeras showed only weak Gi activation in response to light, whilst G(q/11) pathway activation was not detected. Immunocytochemistry (ICC) demonstrated that chimeric opsins with more intracellular domains of melanopsin were less likely to be trafficked to the plasma membrane. This study demonstrates the importance of Ga coupling efficiency to the speed of cellular responses and created human opsins with a unique combination of properties to expand the range of customised optogenetic biotools for basic research and translational therapies.
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| 31733. |
- Hicks, B., et al.
(författare)
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Differential susceptibility to allostatic load and educational inequalities in coronary heart disease
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 30, s. V73-V73
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Differential exposure to lifestyle factors may mediate the association between education and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, differential susceptibility (the effect of exposure to the same “dose” of risk factors differs across groups) may also elevate CVD risk but the causal pathways remain unclear. Allostatic Load (AL) is a marker of cumulative biological burden resulting from mal-adaptation to chronic stressors. We aimed to examine the role of differential exposure and susceptibility to AL and other factors in coronary heart disease (CHD) educational gradients in Europe.Methods: 51,328 35-74-year-old participants originally free of CVD from 21 European cohorts in the BiomarCaRE consortium were identified and followed for a median of 10 years to their first CHD event. We defined an AL score as the sum of z-scores of 8 markers from the cardiovascular, metabolic, and inflammatory systems. To investigate the mediating role of AL (and smoking, alcohol and BMI) on educational differences in CHD incidence we applied marginal structural models and three-way decomposition on gender-specific additive hazards models.Results: AL was a significant mediator of the association between educational status and CHD. The highest proportion mediated was observed in women, with 28% (95%CI 20% to 44%) attributable to differential exposure and 8% (95%CI 0% to 16%) to differential susceptibility. In men, AL mediated 16% of the increased CHD risk in the less educated, with 2% (95%CI 0%-6%) attributable to differential susceptibility. The effects of smoking, alcohol and BMI were relatively small for men and women, with a limited role of differential susceptibility.Conclusions: While we found evidence of differential susceptibility to AL on CHD, effects were modest and the mediating effect of AL (and other lifestyle factors) was predominately via differential exposure. Controlling disproportionate exposure to AL may help reduce CHD morbidity among those with lower education.
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| 31734. |
- Hicks, Blánaid, et al.
(författare)
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Roles of allostatic load, lifestyle and clinical risk factors in mediating the association between education and coronary heart disease risk in Europe
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 0143-005X .- 1470-2738. ; 75:12, s. 1147-1154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Previous studies have shown that differential exposure to lifestyle factors may mediate the association between education and coronary heart diseases (CHD). However, few studies have examined the potential roles of allostatic load (AL) or differential susceptibility.Methods: 25 310 men and 26 018 women aged 35–74 and CHD free at baseline were identified from 21 European cohorts and followed for a median of 10 years, to investigate the mediating role of AL, as well as of smoking, alcohol use and body mass index (BMI), on educational differences in CHD incidence, applying marginal structural models and three-way decomposition.Results: AL is a mediator of the association between educational status and CHD incidence, with the highest proportion mediated observed among women and largely attributable to differential exposure, (28% (95% CI 19% to 44%)), with 8% (95% CI 0% to 16%) attributable to differential susceptibility. The mediating effects of smoking, alcohol and BMI, compared with AL, were relatively small for both men and women.Conclusion: Overall, the educational inequalities in CHD incidence were partially mediated through differential exposure to AL. By contrast, the mediation of the educational gradient in CHD by investigated lifestyle risk factors was limited. As differential susceptibility in men was found to have a predominant role in the accumulation of AL in low educational classes, the investigation of AL-related risk factors is warranted.
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| 31735. |
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| 31736. |
- Hicks Pries, Caitlin E., et al.
(författare)
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Decadal warming causes a consistent and persistent shift from heterotrophic to autotrophic respiration in contrasting permafrost ecosystems
- 2015
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 21:12, s. 4508-4519
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil carbon in permafrost ecosystems has the potential to become a major positive feedback to climate change if permafrost thaw increases heterotrophic decomposition. However, warming can also stimulate autotrophic production leading to increased ecosystem carbon storage-a negative climate change feedback. Few studies partitioning ecosystem respiration examine decadal warming effects or compare responses among ecosystems. Here, we first examined how 11 years of warming during different seasons affected autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration in a bryophyte-dominated peatland in Abisko, Sweden. We used natural abundance radiocarbon to partition ecosystem respiration into autotrophic respiration, associated with production, and heterotrophic decomposition. Summertime warming decreased the age of carbon respired by the ecosystem due to increased proportional contributions from autotrophic and young soil respiration and decreased proportional contributions from old soil. Summertime warming's large effect was due to not only warmer air temperatures during the growing season, but also to warmer deep soils year-round. Second, we compared ecosystem respiration responses between two contrasting ecosystems, the Abisko peatland and a tussock-dominated tundra in Healy, Alaska. Each ecosystem had two different timescales of warming (<5years and over a decade). Despite the Abisko peatland having greater ecosystem respiration and larger contributions from heterotrophic respiration than the Healy tundra, both systems responded consistently to short- and long-term warming with increased respiration, increased autotrophic contributions to ecosystem respiration, and increased ratios of autotrophic to heterotrophic respiration. We did not detect an increase in old soil carbon losses with warming at either site. If increased autotrophic respiration is balanced by increased primary production, as is the case in the Healy tundra, warming will not cause these ecosystems to become growing season carbon sources. Warming instead causes a persistent shift from heterotrophic to more autotrophic control of the growing season carbon cycle in these carbon-rich permafrost ecosystems.
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| 31737. |
- Hicks, Sheila
(författare)
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Who Is Responsible for Today’s Northern Landscapes, Climate or Human Beings?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Northern Studies. - Umeå : Umeå University. - 1654-5915 .- 2004-4658. ; 8:2, s. 89-102
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present-day landscapes of northern Fennoscandia are the end result of a process of evolution. Mountains and valleys have scarcely altered during the last 10,000 years, whereas coastal areas have slowly but constantly changed. The nature of the vegetation that covers the landscape and is driven primarily by climate, has changed at a faster rate, but fastest of all have been the changes resulting from human activities. Steps towards the present-day situation are briefly reviewed on different temporal and spatial scales and on each the impacts of climate and people are weighed one against the other. Environmental reconstructions are made on the basis of pollen analysis and historical/ archaeological records, while a quantified basis for their interpretation is provided by present day reference situations. Examples from palaeoecological research projects provide illustrations. On the coarsest spatial and temporal scales the bigger driving force is climate, but if the focus is on a small area and the time considered the last 100 years, then it is people who have played the bigger role in producing what we see. Two important questions for the north are: which impact will have the bigger effect in the future, the climate or human beings, and will future changes be reversible or not?
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| 31738. |
- Hidaka, Akihisa, et al.
(författare)
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Intake of Dietary Fruit, Vegetables, and Fiber and Risk of Colorectal Cancer According to Molecular Subtypes : A Pooled Analysis of 9 Studies
- 2020
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Ingår i: Cancer Research. - 0008-5472 .- 1538-7445. ; 80:20, s. 4578-4590
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protective associations of fruits, vegetables, and fiber intake with colorectal cancer risk have been shown in many, but not all epidemiologic studies. One possible reason for study heterogeneity is that dietary factors may have distinct effects by colorectal cancer molecular subtypes. Here, we investigate the association of fruit, vegetables, and fiber intake with four well-established colorectal cancer molecular subtypes separately and in combination. Nine observational studies including 9,592 cases with molecular subtypes for microsatellite instability (MSI), CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP), and somatic mutations in BRAF and KRAS genes, and 7,869 controls were analyzed. Both case-only logistic regression analyses and polytomous logistic regression analyses (with one control set and multiple case groups) were used. Higher fruit intake was associated with a trend toward decreased risk of BRAF-mutated tumors [OR 4th vs. 1st quartile = 0.82 (95% confidence interval, 0.65–1.04)] but not BRAF-wildtype tumors [1.09 (0.97–1.22); P difference as shown in case-only analysis = 0.02]. This difference was observed in case–control studies and not in cohort studies. Compared with controls, higher fiber intake showed negative association with colorectal cancer risk for cases with microsatellite stable/MSI-low, CIMP-negative, BRAF-wildtype, and KRAS-wildtype tumors (Ptrend range from 0.03 to 3.4e-03), which is consistent with the traditional adenoma-colorectal cancer pathway. These negative associations were stronger compared with MSI-high, CIMP-positive, BRAF-mutated, or KRAS-mutated tumors, but the differences were not statistically significant. These inverse associations for fruit and fiber intake may explain, in part, inconsistent findings between fruit or fiber intake and colorectal cancer risk that have previously been reported.
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| 31739. |
- Hidalgo, Aurelio, et al.
(författare)
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Thermus thermophilus as a cell factory for the production of a thermophilic Mn-dependent catalase which fails to be synthesized in an active form in Escherichia coli
- 2004
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Ingår i: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. - 0099-2240 .- 1098-5336. ; 70:7, s. 3839-3844
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thermostable Mn-dependent catalases are promising enzymes in biotechnological applications as H(2)O(2)-detoxifying systems. We cloned the genes encoding Mn-dependent catalases from Thermus thermophilus HB27 and HB8 and a less thermostable mutant carrying two amino acid replacements (M129V and E293G). When the wild-type and mutant genes were overexpressed in Escherichia coli, unmodified or six-His-tagged proteins of the expected size were overproduced as inactive proteins. Several attempts to obtain active forms or to activate the overproduced proteins were unsuccessful, even when soluble and thermostable proteins were used. Therefore, a requirement for a Thermus-specific activation factor was suggested. To overcome this problem, the Mn-dependent catalase genes were overexpressed directly in T. thermophilus under the control of the Pnar promoter. This promoter belongs to a respiratory nitrate reductase from of T. thermophilus HB8, whose transcription is activated by the combined action of nitrate and anoxia. Upon induction in T. thermophilus HB8, a 20- to 30-fold increase in catalase specific activity was observed, whereas a 90- to 110-fold increase was detected when the laboratory strain T. thermophilus HB27::nar was used as the host. The thermostability of the overproduced wild-type catalase was identical to that previously reported for the native enzyme, whereas decreased stability was detected for the mutant derivative. Therefore, our results validate the use of T. thermophilus as an alternative cell factory for the overproduction of thermophilic proteins that fail to be expressed in well-known mesophilic hosts.
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| 31740. |
- Hidding, Bert, et al.
(författare)
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Flooding tolerance and horizontal expansion of wetland plants : facilitation by floating mats?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Aquatic Botany. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3770 .- 1879-1522. ; 113, s. 83-89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Water level fluctuations (WLF) can be important disturbances promoting the diversity of riparian plant communities, but are currently absent from many managed aquatic ecosystems. A lack of WLF is thought to reduce plant diversity and hamper hydrosere succession. However, a positive impact of WLF on plant diversity may crucially depend on nutrient availability and the presence of a potential ecosystem engineer, the floating plant Strati otes abides, that may provide structural support to riparian plants. We tested the interactive effects of 40 cm flooding, presence of S. abides and sediment nutrient availability (N and P) on growth and horizontal expansion of eight wetland plant species in a 10 week experiment. Seven out of eight species showed a significant elongation response to flooding. Compared to stagnant water levels, flooding in combination with high nutrient availability decreased horizontal expansion in two short species and increased it in two tall species, whereas flooding decreased horizontal expansion in two other short species under both nutrient levels. In this 10 week experiment, we observed no effect of S. abides on the measured plant parameters. This experiment shows short-term negative effects of flooding on most of the short species. On the long-term, we hypothesize that improvements in water quality and seedling recruitment due to drawdown may result in net positive effects of WLF in the riparian zone, but as the species that were rare in the field happened to be short, care should be taken to maintain rare species when allowing more WLF.(C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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