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| 2. |
- Frick, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Enlargement of visual processing regions in social anxiety disorder is related to symptom severity
- 2014
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Ingår i: Neuroscience Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3940 .- 1872-7972. ; 583, s. 114-119
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with altered brain function and structure, but most structural studies include small samples and findings are mixed. This study compared regional gray matter volume between 48 SAD patients and 29 healthy controls (HC) as well as the relationship between volume and symptom severity. Structural magnetic resonance images from SAD patients and HC were evaluated using standard voxel-based morphometry (VBM) processing in the SPM8 software package. Social anxiety symptom severity was rated in SAD patients by a clinician using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). SAD patients had greater regional gray matter volume in the lingual gyrus and lateral occipital cortex than the controls, and within the SAD group a positive correlation was found between symptom severity and regional gray matter volume in the lingual gyrus and the retrosplenial cortex. These findings replicate and extend earlier reports of enlarged visual processing areas in SAD. Increased gray matter volume in regions involved in visual processing and self-consciousness could underlie, or be the result of, abnormal emotional information processing and self-focused attention previously demonstrated in patients with SAD.
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| 3. |
- Hamis, S., et al.
(författare)
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Spatial cumulant models enable spatially informed treatment strategies and analysis of local interactions in cancer systems
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Mathematical Biology. - : Springer Nature. - 0303-6812 .- 1432-1416. ; 86:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Theoretical and applied cancer studies that use individual-based models (IBMs) have been limited by the lack of a mathematical formulation that enables rigorous analysis of these models. However, spatial cumulant models (SCMs), which have arisen from theoretical ecology, describe population dynamics generated by a specific family of IBMs, namely spatio-temporal point processes (STPPs). SCMs are spatially resolved population models formulated by a system of differential equations that approximate the dynamics of two STPP-generated summary statistics: first-order spatial cumulants (densities), and second-order spatial cumulants (spatial covariances). We exemplify how SCMs can be used in mathematical oncology by modelling theoretical cancer cell populations comprising interacting growth factor-producing and non-producing cells. To formulate model equations, we use computational tools that enable the generation of STPPs, SCMs and mean-field population models (MFPMs) from user-defined model descriptions (Cornell et al. Nat Commun 10:4716, 2019). To calculate and compare STPP, SCM and MFPM-generated summary statistics, we develop an application-agnostic computational pipeline. Our results demonstrate that SCMs can capture STPP-generated population density dynamics, even when MFPMs fail to do so. From both MFPM and SCM equations, we derive treatment-induced death rates required to achieve non-growing cell populations. When testing these treatment strategies in STPP-generated cell populations, our results demonstrate that SCM-informed strategies outperform MFPM-informed strategies in terms of inhibiting population growths. We thus demonstrate that SCMs provide a new framework in which to study cell-cell interactions, and can be used to describe and perturb STPP-generated cell population dynamics. We, therefore, argue that SCMs can be used to increase IBMs' applicability in cancer research.
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| 4. |
- Munasinghe, Manisha, et al.
(författare)
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When and why are mitochondria paternally inherited?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Genetics and Development. - : Elsevier. - 0959-437X .- 1879-0380. ; 80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In contrast with nuclear genes that are passed on through both parents, mitochondrial genes are maternally inherited in most species, most of the time. The genetic conflict stemming from this transmission asymmetry is well-documented, and there is an abundance of population-genetic theory associated with it. While occasional or aberrant paternal inheritance occurs, there are only a few cases where exclusive paternal inheritance of mitochondrial genomes is the evolved state. Why this is remains poorly understood. By examining commonalities between species with exclusive paternal inheritance, we discuss what they may tell us about the evolutionary forces influencing mitochondrial inheritance patterns. We end by discussing recent technological advances that make exploring the causes and consequences of paternal inheritance feasible.
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| 5. |
- Patten, Manus M., et al.
(författare)
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Adaptation in the face of internal conflict : the paradox of the organism revisited
- 2023
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Ingår i: Biological Reviews. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1464-7931 .- 1469-185X. ; 98:5, s. 1796-1811
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paradox of the organism refers to the observation that organisms appear to function as coherent purposeful entities, despite the potential for within-organismal components like selfish genetic elements and cancer cells to erode them from within. While it is commonly accepted that organisms may pursue fitness maximisation and can be thought to hold particular agendas, there is a growing recognition that genes and cells do so as well. This can lead to evolutionary conflicts between an organism and the parts that reside within it. Here, we revisit the paradox of the organism. We first outline its conception and relationship to debates about adaptation in evolutionary biology. Second, we review the ways selfish elements may exploit organisms, and the extent to which this threatens organismal integrity. To this end, we introduce a novel classification scheme that distinguishes between selfish elements that seek to distort transmission versus those that seek to distort phenotypic traits. Our classification scheme also highlights how some selfish elements elude a multi-level selection decomposition using the Price equation. Third, we discuss how the organism can retain its status as the primary fitness-maximising agent in the face of selfish elements. The success of selfish elements is often constrained by their strategy and further limited by a combination of fitness alignment and enforcement mechanisms controlled by the organism. Finally, we argue for the need for quantitative measures of both internal conflicts and organismality.
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| 6. |
- Ågren, Arvid
(författare)
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Eine Idee mit Biss
- 2022
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Ingår i: Merkur. - : KLETT-COTTA VERLAG. - 0026-0096. ; 76:872, s. 75-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 7. |
- Ågren, Arvid, et al.
(författare)
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Meiosis solved the problem of gerrymandering
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Genetics. - : Springer Nature. - 0022-1333 .- 0973-7731. ; 101:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gerrymandering, the structuring of voting districts to favour certain politicians and political groups, undermines fair elections and presents a serious challenge to democracy. We introduce a solution to gerrymandering inspired by the biological process of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms, meiosis, in which the boundaries of electorates are frequently redrawn by randomizing algorithms. By demonstrating the deep parallels between meiosis and John Rawls's concept of a 'veil of ignorance', we also show how one of the biggest threats to the integrity of meiosis--selfish genetic elements, genes that promote their own transmission at the expense of organismal fitness--can inspire another potential advantage to frequent random redistricting.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Ågren, J. Arvid, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic conflicts and the case for licensed anthropomorphizing
- 2022
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Ingår i: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. - : Springer Nature. - 0340-5443 .- 1432-0762. ; 76:12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of intentional language in biology is controversial. It has been commonly applied by researchers in behavioral ecology, who have not shied away from employing agential thinking or even anthropomorphisms, but has been rarer among researchers from more mechanistic corners of the discipline, such as population genetics. One research area where these traditions come into contact-and occasionally clash-is the study of genetic conflicts, and its history offers a good window to the debate over the use of intentional language in biology. We review this debate, paying particular attention to how this interaction has played out in work on genomic imprinting and sex chromosomes. In light of this, we advocate for a synthesis of the two approaches, a form of licensed anthropomorphizing. Here, agential thinking's creative potential and its ability to identify the fulcrum of evolutionary pressure are combined with the rigidity of formal mathematical modeling.
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