| 1. |
- Manousek, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Hypersensitivity to material and environmental burden as a possible cause of late complications of cardiac implantable electronic devices
- 2018
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Ingår i: Europace. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1099-5129 .- 1532-2092. ; 20:9, s. e140-e147
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimsTo evaluate whether patients with late complications of pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators have hypersensitivity reactions to some of the materials used in generators or in electrodes, or to environmental metal burden.Methods and resultsThe cohort consisted of 20 men and 4 women (mean age: 62.3 +/- 17.2 years) who had a history of late complications of implanted devices. The control group involved 25 men and 8 women (mean age: 64.6 +/- 14.0 years) who had comparable devices, but no history of late complications. Lymphocyte transformation test was used to evaluate hypersensitivity to eight metal pollutants (antimony, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, platinum, tin, and titanium) selected by results of questionnaires on environmental burden, and by material analysis of generators and electrode surfaces. Exposures to metal pollutants were approximately the same in patients and in controls. Titanium alloy used in generators contained at least 99.32% of titanium and trace levels of other metals; higher levels of tin and platinum were detected in electrode surfaces. Hypersensitivity reactions to mercury and tin were significantly more frequent in patients than in controls (patients and controls: mercury: 68.2 and 31.1%, respectively; P = 0.022; tin: 25.0 and 3.2%, respectively; P = 0.035). In contrast, hypersensitivity to manganese was significantly more frequent in controls than in patients (patients and controls: 13.6 and 50.0%, respectively; P = 0.008).ConclusionOur findings suggest a possible relation between hypersensitivity to metals used in implantable devices or to environmental metal burden and the occurrence of their late complications.
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| 2. |
- Novotny, Andreas, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Niche partitioning between planktivorous fish in the pelagic Baltic Sea assessed by DNA metabarcoding, qPCR and microscopy
- 2022
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Marine communities undergo rapid changes related to human-induced ecosystem pressures. The Baltic Sea pelagic food web has experienced several regime shifts during the past century, resulting in a system where competition between the dominant planktivorous mesopredatory clupeid fish species herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus) and the rapidly increasing stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) population is assumed to be high. Here, we investigate diet overlap between these three planktivorous fishes in the Baltic Sea, utilizing DNA metabarcoding on the 18S rRNA gene and the COI gene, targeted qPCR, and microscopy. Our results show niche differentiation between clupeids and stickleback, and highlight that rotifers play an important role in this pattern, as a resource that is not being used by the clupeids nor by other zooplankton in spring. We further show that all the diet assessment methods used in this study are consistent, but also that DNA metabarcoding describes the plankton-fish link at the highest taxonomic resolution. This study suggests that rotifers and other understudied soft-bodied prey may have an important function in the pelagic food web and that the growing population of pelagic stickleback may be supported by the open feeding niche offered by the rotifers.
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| 3. |
- Kaltenbaek, Rainer, et al.
(författare)
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Macroscopic Quantum Resonators (MAQRO) : 2015 update
- 2016
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Ingår i: EPJ Quantum Technology. - : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 2196-0763. ; 3:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Do the laws of quantum physics still hold for macroscopic objects - this is at the heart of Schrodinger's cat paradox - or do gravitation or yet unknown effects set a limit for massive particles? What is the fundamental relation between quantum physics and gravity? Ground-based experiments addressing these questions may soon face limitations due to limited free-fall times and the quality of vacuum and microgravity. The proposed mission Macroscopic Quantum Resonators (MAQRO) may overcome these limitations and allow addressing such fundamental questions. MAQRO harnesses recent developments in quantum optomechanics, high-mass matter-wave interferometry as well as state-of-the-art space technology to push macroscopic quantum experiments towards their ultimate performance limits and to open new horizons for applying quantum technology in space. The main scientific goal is to probe the vastly unexplored 'quantum-classical' transition for increasingly massive objects, testing the predictions of quantum theory for objects in a size and mass regime unachievable in ground-based experiments. The hardware will largely be based on available space technology. Here, we present the MAQRO proposal submitted in response to the 4th Cosmic Vision call for a medium-sized mission (M4) in 2014 of the European Space Agency (ESA) with a possible launch in 2025, and we review the progress with respect to the original MAQRO proposal for the 3rd Cosmic Vision call for a medium-sized mission (M3) in 2010. In particular, the updated proposal overcomes several critical issues of the original proposal by relying on established experimental techniques from high-mass matter-wave interferometry and by introducing novel ideas for particle loading and manipulation. Moreover, the mission design was improved to better fulfill the stringent environmental requirements for macroscopic quantum experiments.
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| 4. |
- Novotny, Andreas, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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DNA metabarcoding highlights cyanobacteria as the main source of primary production in a pelagic food web model
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - 2375-2548. ; 9:17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Models that estimate rates of energy flow in complex food webs often fail to account for species-specific prey selectivity of diverse consumer guilds. While DNA metabarcoding is increasingly used for dietary studies, methodological biases have limited its application for food web modeling. Here, we used data from dietary metabarcoding studies of zooplankton to calculate prey selectivity indices and assess energy fluxes in a pelagic resource-consumer network. We show that food web dynamics are influenced by prey selectivity and temporal match-mismatch in growth cycles and that cyanobacteria are the main source of primary production in the investigated coastal pelagic food web. The latter challenges the common assumption that cyanobacteria are not supporting food web productivity, a result that is increasingly relevant as global warming promotes cyanobacteria dominance. While this study provides a method for how DNA metabarcoding can be used to quantify energy fluxes in a marine food web, the approach presented here can easily be extended to other ecosystems.
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| 5. |
- Serandour, Baptiste, 1995-, et al.
(författare)
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Opportunistic vs selective feeding strategies of zooplankton under changing environmental conditions
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Plankton Research. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0142-7873 .- 1464-3774. ; 45:2, s. 389-403
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The plankton community consists of diverse interacting species. The estimation of species interactions in nature is challenging. There is limited knowledge on how plankton interactions are influenced by environmental conditions because of limited understanding of zooplankton feeding strategies and factors affecting trophic interactions. In this study, we used DNA-metabarcoding to investigate trophic interactions in mesozooplankton predators and the influence of prey availability on their feeding behavior. We found that mesozooplankton feeding strategies vary within species across an environmental gradient. Some species, such as Temora longicornis consistently used a selective strategy, while diets of Centropages hamatus and Acartia spp. varied between stations, showing a trophic plasticity with the prey community. We found a dominance of Synechococcales reads in Temora’s gut content and a high prey diversity for the cladoceran Evadne nordmanni. Our study shows the wide range of prey species that supports mesozooplankton community and helps to understand the spatial and temporal complexity of plankton species interactions and discriminate the selectivity ability of four zooplankton key species. Due to the central role of plankton in marine waters, a better comprehension of the spatiotemporal variability in species interactions helps to estimate fluxes to benthic and pelagic predators.
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