| 1. |
- Casimir, Justin, et al.
(författare)
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Småskalighet som ett medel för att bana väg för framtidens livsmedel?
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The food value chain system in Sweden is well established making it hard for small companies to develop new products and even harder to create new food supply systems Obstacles could lay at the beginning of the chain (food production or processing), at the end (marketing, consumer) or could even be related to the legislative regulation framing the food supply chain. Smaller actors often lack resources and networks to develop their sector. However, their degree of creativity, innovativeness, and engagement is high, and their energy is needed in the development of new sustainable food value chains.The aim of this project was to develop and apply a methodology for evaluating food value chains, focusing on profitable small-scale production systems in Sweden that show potential for fast development of new products that quickly reach the market. The work also included identifying Swedish raw food materials with growth potential and to identify how they could come into greater demand. Ten food value chains with high development potential in Sweden and for export were mapped and the main bottlenecks briefly described. Three food chains where selected based on a potential-difficulty-benefit matrix. The three selected food value chains were: (i) Hops, (ii) Swedish forest berries, and (iii) Land-based fish farming. These three food value chains where further studied looking at the whole value chain, from production to end consumer. Through literature review and contacts with relevant stakeholders (telephone interview, face-to-face interview, or workshop) the bottlenecks were clarified and potential solutions for increased demand where identified.Swedish hops production is carried out by passionate and engaged smaller actors, mostly on a hobby level, and the hops is used as an ingredient for beer. Germany and the USA produce about 75% of the worldwide production These hops varieties are not adapted to the Swedish climate and therefore result in a low volume and poor quality. However, domestic varieties have been grown in the past giving better yield under Swedish climate conditions. More work is needed to characterize the quality of Swedish hops. At the present time, knowledge about the characteristics of Swedish hops is low, explaining the lack of interest from brewers. In Sweden most hops are harvested by hand, making it nearly impossible to be profitable on the market. The mechanization of the harvesting step is necessary to move Swedish hops from a hobby to a commercial activity. No solutions are available on the Swedish market, RISE together with SLU is looking to develop a hops harvester fulfilling Swedish and EU regulations and adapted to small scale cultivation. At the end of the value chain, innovative products could increase the need for Swedish hops, for example by developing beers brewed with fresh hops. Moreover, hops have antiseptic characteristics and could potentially be used in other food products than beer.Only about four percent of the berries that are produced by the Swedish forests every year are picked. The largest volumes picked are for bilberry (Swedish: blåbär), lingonberry, and cloudberry and most of them are washed and frozen in Sweden. Processing of berries, however, has to a large extent moved out of the country while the products produced for the Swedish market are quite traditional, low-processed foods such as jams, juices and dessert soups. The majority of the Swedish berries mainly bilberries due to their nutritional content are exported and are further processed into value added powders or extracts in Asia and Europe. In Sweden this kind of value chain is under developed largely due to knowledge barriers and to the currently very traditional market. However, there is a great consumer interest in berries and they have a perceived healthiness also in Sweden. Consumers are also increasingly aware of the origin of berries used as ingredients in products such as jams, purees and juice, as well as in health food products. To fill this gap between consumer interest/demand and raw materials available new businesses can be developed. To facilitate such development there is a need for knowledge generation and transfer along the whole value chain (picking, processing, product development and consumer studies), which can be generated by starting up new innovation and research projects. It is also of importance to facilitate networking, for example in the ‘berry network’ (coordinated by RISE), as the creation of a new value chain will require different businesses to cooperate. Also, product development projects will need support for testing, pilot production, and possibly in finding investment funding for new equipment.Land-based fish farming is small in comparison to traditional fish farming in Sweden, but several actors see a great potential in this system which has a lower impact on the environment compared to conventional fish farms. For instance, the Swedish farmer federation (LRF) has invested in a land-based fish farm recently. As in other EU-countries, the number of active farms in Sweden is decreasing and some see the potential to recycle unused animal stables into fish farms. A major bottleneck for land-based fish farming is current legislation as it is based on conventional fish farming and therefore does not consider the environmental benefits of land-based systems. Knowledge should be spread to relevant authorities and policy makers to open a dialog and facilitate the development of a relevant regulatory framework. Regarding the production phase, access to sustainably produced feed and technical competence are lacking. Moreover, as the technology is costly learning through trial and error would not be recommended. A testbed dedicated to land-based fish farming could support companies who wish to try modifications to their system. Furthermore, smaller producers have difficulties in finding processing solutions for their products; e.g. slaughterhouses and conditioning. Two potential solutions would be to develop a land-based fish farm cooperative and/or mobile systems that could take care of smaller productions. Finally, the competition on the market is tough as land-based fishes are competing with large-scale conventional fish farms from Norway and Asia. To overcome this bottleneck, the sector could develop its own certification as well as increasing the consumers awareness and knowledge.Some conclusions could be applied to all the studied food chains. For instance, each value chain can be seen as a puzzle with many pieces. In order to develop new food value chains many separate pieces need to fall into place. Therefore, it is necessary to increase collaboration between stakeholders but also to have a stakeholder driven coordination of this collaboration. The stakeholders within the developing value chains often do not have all the resources to carry out this task, especially if they are small businesses. The development of cooperatives also seems to be a solution to overcome bottlenecks in the studied food chains. Likewise, logistics in the developing value chains have a great margin for improvement. Furthermore, this project focused on value chains where food commodities are the end product but investigating the potential for non-food uses would also be of interest.The method used in this project can be replicated to other value chains with potential of development. It would help the users to get a holistic view of the current bottlenecks and facilitate contact between stakeholders. The list of bottlenecks can be followed up and used as an indicator to evaluate if the value chain in moving forward.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Dayeh, Tasnim, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of human pancreatic islets from type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic donors identifies candidate genes that influence insulin secretion.
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLoS Genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404. ; 10:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Impaired insulin secretion is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Epigenetics may affect disease susceptibility. To describe the human methylome in pancreatic islets and determine the epigenetic basis of T2D, we analyzed DNA methylation of 479,927 CpG sites and the transcriptome in pancreatic islets from T2D and non-diabetic donors. We provide a detailed map of the global DNA methylation pattern in human islets, β- and α-cells. Genomic regions close to the transcription start site showed low degrees of methylation and regions further away from the transcription start site such as the gene body, 3'UTR and intergenic regions showed a higher degree of methylation. While CpG islands were hypomethylated, the surrounding 2 kb shores showed an intermediate degree of methylation, whereas regions further away (shelves and open sea) were hypermethylated in human islets, β- and α-cells. We identified 1,649 CpG sites and 853 genes, including TCF7L2, FTO and KCNQ1, with differential DNA methylation in T2D islets after correction for multiple testing. The majority of the differentially methylated CpG sites had an intermediate degree of methylation and were underrepresented in CpG islands (∼7%) and overrepresented in the open sea (∼60%). 102 of the differentially methylated genes, including CDKN1A, PDE7B, SEPT9 and EXOC3L2, were differentially expressed in T2D islets. Methylation of CDKN1A and PDE7B promoters in vitro suppressed their transcriptional activity. Functional analyses demonstrated that identified candidate genes affect pancreatic β- and α-cells as Exoc3l silencing reduced exocytosis and overexpression of Cdkn1a, Pde7b and Sept9 perturbed insulin and glucagon secretion in clonal β- and α-cells, respectively. Together, our data can serve as a reference methylome in human islets. We provide new target genes with altered DNA methylation and expression in human T2D islets that contribute to perturbed insulin and glucagon secretion. These results highlight the importance of epigenetics in the pathogenesis of T2D.
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| 4. |
- Edlund, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Defective exocytosis and processing of insulin in a cystic fibrosis mouse model
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Endocrinology. - 1479-6805. ; 241:1, s. 45-57
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) is a common complication for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). The cause of CFRD is unclear, but a commonly observed reduction in first-phase insulin secretion suggests defects at the beta cell level. Here we aimed to examine beta- and alpha-cell function in the Cftrtm1EUR/F508del mouse model (C57BL/6J), which carries the most common human mutation in CFTR, the F508del mutation. CFTR expression, beta cell mass, insulin granule distribution, hormone secretion and single cell capacitance changes were evaluated using islets (or beta cells) from F508del mice and age-matched wild-type mice aged 7-10 weeks. Granular pH was measured with DND-189 fluorescence. Serum glucose, insulin and glucagon levels were measured in vivo, and glucose tolerance was assessed using IPGTT. We show increased secretion of proinsulin and concomitant reduced secretion of C-peptide in islets from F508del mice compared to WT mice. Exocytosis and number of docked granules was reduced. We confirmed reduced granular pH by CFTR stimulation. We detected decreased pancreatic beta cell area, but unchanged beta cell number. Moreover, the F508del mutation caused failure to suppress glucagon secretion leading to hyperglucagonemia. In conclusion, F508del mice have beta cell defects resulting in 1) reduced number of docked insulin granules and reduced exocytosis, and 2) potential defective proinsulin cleavage and secretion of immature insulin. These observations provide insight into the functional role of CFTR in pancreatic islets and contribute to increased understanding of the pathogenesis of CFRD.
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| 5. |
- Efe, C., et al.
(författare)
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Validation of Risk Scoring Systems in Ursodeoxycholic Acid-Treated Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis
- 2019
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Ingår i: American Journal of Gastroenterology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0002-9270 .- 1572-0241. ; 114:7, s. 1101-1108
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION: Risk stratification based on biochemical variables is a useful tool for monitoring ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA)-treated patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Several UDCA response criteria and scoring systems have been proposed for risk prediction in PBC, but these have not been validated in large external cohorts. METHODS: We performed a study on data of 1746 UDCA-treated patients with PBC from 25 centers in Europe, United States, and Canada. The prognostic performance of the risk scoring systems (GLOBE and UK-PBC) and the UDCA response criteria (Barcelona, Paris I, Paris II, Rotterdam, and Toronto) were evaluated. We regarded cirrhosis-related complications (ascites, variceal bleeding, and/or hepatic encephalopathy) as clinical end points. RESULTS: A total of 171 patients reached a clinical end point during a median 7 years (range 1-16 years) of follow-up. The 5-, 10- and 15-year adverse outcome-free survivals were 95%, 85%, and 77%. The GLOBE and UK-PBC scores predicted cirrhosis-related complications better than the UDCA response criteria. The hazard ratio (HR) for a 1 standard deviation increase was HR 5.05 (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.43-5.74, P < 0.001) for the GLOBE score and HR 3.39 (95% CI: 3.10-3.72, P < 0.001) for the UK-PBC score. Overall, the GLOBE and UK-PBC risk scores showed similar and excellent prognostic performance (C-statistic, 0.93; 95% CI: 0.91%-95% vs 0.94; 95% CI: 0.91%-0.96%). DISCUSSION: In our international, multicenter PBC cohort, the GLOBE and UK-PBC risk scoring systems were good predictors of future cirrhosis-related complications.
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| 6. |
- Eliasson, Eliska, et al.
(författare)
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No colonization resistance to Campylobacter jejuni in broilers fed brown algal extract-supplemented diets
- 2024
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Microbiology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-302X. ; 15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis is the most commonly reported zoonosis within the EU, with poultry products regarded as the primary source of transmission to humans. Therefore, finding strategies to reduce Campylobacter colonization in broilers holds importance for public health. Recent studies suggest that supplementation of broiler feed with brown algal extracts, particularly laminarin, can provide beneficial effects on broiler gut health, growth performance, and gut microbiota. However, its effect on gut microbiota development and subsequent reduction of Campylobacter loads in broiler caeca during the later stages of the birds' lives remains unclear.Methods Experimental colonization of Ross 308 broilers with two different strains of C. jejuni was conducted, with groups fed either a basal diet or the same basal diet supplemented with 725 ppm algal extract from Saccharina latissima to provide 290 ppm laminarin. Fecal samples were collected for bacterial enumeration, and caecal samples were obtained before and after the C. jejuni challenge for the determination of microbiota development.Results and discussion No significant differences in fecal C. jejuni concentrations between the groups fed different diets or exposed to different C. jejuni strains were observed. This suggests that both strains colonized the birds equally well and that the laminarin rich algal extract did not have any inhibitory effect on C. jejuni colonization. Notably, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealed detailed data on the caecal microbiota development, likely influenced by both bird age and C. jejuni colonization, which can be valuable for further development of broiler feed formulations aimed at promoting gut health.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Eliasson, Emma T., et al.
(författare)
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Unpacking stigma : Meta-analyses of correlates and moderators of personal stigma in psychosis
- 2021
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Ingår i: Clinical Psychology Review. - : Elsevier. - 0272-7358 .- 1873-7811. ; 89
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Personal stigma entails perceived, experienced and internalised stigmatisation. Mental Health stigma has been widely researched across a range of countries and a meta-analysis of their associations and moderators in psychosis is timely. Meta-analyses were conducted examining the correlates and moderators of personal stigma in terms of: (1) demographic variables (2) illness related variables (3) symptoms/negative outcomes, and (4) aspects of wellbeing. Associations were obtained from a total of 216 records. Several demographic factors including age, economic status, employment, and rural residence had small associations with aspects of personal stigma (r's = 0.12 to -0.13). Personal stigma aspects were inversely related to medication adherence (r's = -0.20, -0.21), and positively associated with insight and number of hospitalisations (r's = 0.09-0.19). Most symptoms were positively associated with personal stigma (r's = 0.10-0.43), whereas inverse relations with wellbeing variables were identified (r's = -0.13 to -0.54). Moderator effects emerged including that of cultural setting and sex, age and education level, highlighting the role of cultural and demographic factors in shaping personal stigma aspects in psychosis. The present study also highlights the importance of recognizing the negative effect of actual stigma and discrimination experiences; particularly its detrimental impact on self-image and its complex role in shaping the internalisation of societal stigma.
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| 9. |
- Eliasson, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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Strategy for optimizing LC-MS data processing in Metabolomics : A design of experiments approach
- 2012
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Ingår i: Analytical Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0003-2700 .- 1520-6882. ; 84:15, s. 6869-6876
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A strategy for optimizing LC-MS metabolomics data processing is proposed. We applied this strategy on the XCMS open source package written in R on both human and plant biology data. The strategy is a sequential design of experiments (DoE) based on a dilution series from a pooled sample and a measure of correlation between diluted concentrations and integrated peak areas. The reliability index metric, used to define peak quality, simultaneously favors reliable peaks and disfavors unreliable peaks using a weighted ratio between peaks with high and low response linearity. DoE optimization resulted in the case studies in more than 57% improvement in the reliability index compared to the use of the default settings. The proposed strategy can be applied to any other data processing software involving parameters to be tuned, e.g., MZmine 2. It can also be fully automated and used as a module in a complete metabolomics data processing pipeline.
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| 10. |
- Eliasson, Pernilla, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Hypoxia rescues hematopoietic stem cells from oxidative stress-induced cell death and preserves the long-term repopulation ability
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A balanced regulation of the ability of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to undergo self-renewal and give rise to new blood cells is crucial for blood homeostasis. Recent studies utilizing genetically modified mice have demonstrated that reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage cellular functions and decrease the lifespan of long-term (LT) HSCs. These LT-HSCs are predominately located in a low-oxygen, or hypoxic, niche, essential for maintaining stem cell capacities. Here, we show that hypoxic culturing rescues HSCs from oxidative stress-induced cell death. Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1 and its target gene pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) were both crucial for survival and long term repopulating ability of HSCs, but less important for hypoxic resistance towards oxidative stress. Moreover, hypoxia increased the expression of Foxo3a, a transcription factor important in adaption to stress stimuli. In conclusion, hypoxia protects LT-HSCs from oxidative stress, possibly by multiple mechanisms, where Foxo3a is likely to play a central role.
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