| 1. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 2. |
- Fang, Evandro F., et al.
(författare)
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A research agenda for ageing in China in the 21st century (2nd edition): Focusing on basic and translational research, long-term care, policy and social networks.
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ageing Research Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 1568-1637. ; 64
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the key issues facing public healthcare is the global trend of an increasingly ageing society which continues to present policy makers and caregivers with formidable healthcare and socio-economic challenges. Ageing is the primary contributor to a broad spectrum of chronic disorders all associated with a lower quality of life in the elderly. In 2019, the Chinese population constituted 18 % of the world population, with 164.5 million Chinese citizens aged 65 and above (65+), and 26 million aged 80 or above (80+). China has become an ageing society, and as it continues to age it will continue to exacerbate the burden borne by current family and public healthcare systems. Major healthcare challenges involved with caring for the elderly in China include the management of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs), physical frailty, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, with emerging challenges such as providing sufficient dental care, combating the rising prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among nursing home communities, providing support for increased incidences of immune diseases, and the growing necessity to provide palliative care for the elderly. At the governmental level, it is necessary to make long-term strategic plans to respond to the pressures of an ageing society, especially to establish a nationwide, affordable, annual health check system to facilitate early diagnosis and provide access to affordable treatments. China has begun work on several activities to address these issues including the recent completion of the of the Ten-year Health-Care Reform project, the implementation of the Healthy China 2030 Action Plan, and the opening of the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders. There are also societal challenges, namely the shift from an extended family system in which the younger provide home care for their elderly family members, to the current trend in which young people are increasingly migrating towards major cities for work, increasing reliance on nursing homes to compensate, especially following the outcomes of the ‘one child policy’ and the ‘empty-nest elderly’ phenomenon. At the individual level, it is important to provide avenues for people to seek and improve their own knowledge of health and disease, to encourage them to seek medical check-ups to prevent/manage illness, and to find ways to promote modifiable health-related behaviors (social activity, exercise, healthy diets, reasonable diet supplements) to enable healthier, happier, longer, and more productive lives in the elderly. Finally, at the technological or treatment level, there is a focus on modern technologies to counteract the negative effects of ageing. Researchers are striving to produce drugs that can mimic the effects of ‘exercising more, eating less’, while other anti-ageing molecules from molecular gerontologists could help to improve ‘healthspan’ in the elderly. Machine learning, ‘Big Data’, and other novel technologies can also be used to monitor disease patterns at the population level and may be used to inform policy design in the future. Collectively, synergies across disciplines on policies, geriatric care, drug development, personal awareness, the use of big data, machine learning and personalized medicine will transform China into a country that enables the most for its elderly, maximizing and celebrating their longevity in the coming decades. This is the 2nd edition of the review paper (Fang EF et al., Ageing Re. Rev. 2015).
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Luo, Yifei, et al.
(författare)
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Technology Roadmap for Flexible Sensors
- 2023
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Ingår i: ACS Nano. - : American Chemical Society. - 1936-0851 .- 1936-086X. ; 17:6, s. 5211-5295
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humans rely increasingly on sensors to address grand challenges and to improve quality of life in the era of digitalization and big data. For ubiquitous sensing, flexible sensors are developed to overcome the limitations of conventional rigid counterparts. Despite rapid advancement in bench-side research over the last decade, the market adoption of flexible sensors remains limited. To ease and to expedite their deployment, here, we identify bottlenecks hindering the maturation of flexible sensors and propose promising solutions. We first analyze challenges in achieving satisfactory sensing performance for real-world applications and then summarize issues in compatible sensor-biology interfaces, followed by brief discussions on powering and connecting sensor networks. Issues en route to commercialization and for sustainable growth of the sector are also analyzed, highlighting environmental concerns and emphasizing nontechnical issues such as business, regulatory, and ethical considerations. Additionally, we look at future intelligent flexible sensors. In proposing a comprehensive roadmap, we hope to steer research efforts towards common goals and to guide coordinated development strategies from disparate communities. Through such collaborative efforts, scientific breakthroughs can be made sooner and capitalized for the betterment of humanity.
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| 5. |
- Rabe, Benjamin, et al.
(författare)
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The MOSAiC Distributed Network: Observing the coupled Arctic system with multidisciplinary, coordinated platforms
- 2024
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Ingår i: Elementa. - 2325-1026. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Central Arctic properties and processes are important to the regional and global coupled climate system. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Distributed Network (DN) of autonomous ice-tethered systems aimed to bridge gaps in our understanding of temporal and spatial scales, in particular with respect to the resolution of Earth system models. By characterizing variability around local measurements made at a Central Observatory, the DN covers both the coupled system interactions involving the ocean-ice-atmosphere interfaces as well as three-dimensional processes in the ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere. The more than 200 autonomous instruments (“buoys”) were of varying complexity and set up at different sites mostly within 50 km of the Central Observatory. During an exemplary midwinter month, the DN observations captured the spatial variability of atmospheric processes on sub-monthly time scales, but less so for monthly means. They show significant variability in snow depth and ice thickness, and provide a temporally and spatially resolved characterization of ice motion and deformation, showing coherency at the DN scale but less at smaller spatial scales. Ocean data show the background gradient across the DN as well as spatially dependent time variability due to local mixed layer sub-mesoscale and mesoscale processes, influenced by a variable ice cover. The second case (May–June 2020) illustrates the utility of the DN during the absence of manually obtained data by providing continuity of physical and biological observations during this key transitional period. We show examples of synergies between the extensive MOSAiC remote sensing observations and numerical modeling, such as estimating the skill of ice drift forecasts and evaluating coupled system modeling. The MOSAiC DN has been proven to enable analysis of local to mesoscale processes in the coupled atmosphere-ice-ocean system and has the potential to improve model parameterizations of important, unresolved processes in the future.
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| 6. |
- Wang, Si-Yu, et al.
(författare)
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Kaempferia galanga L. : Progresses in Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Ethnomedicinal Uses
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Pharmacology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1663-9812. ; 12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- K. galanga is an aromatic medicinal herb. It is locally to India and distributed in China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. K. galanga is a Traditional Chinese Herb Medicine (TCHM), which has been applied to treat cold, dry cough, toothaches, rheumatism, hypertension and so on. In addition, it has been used widely as spices since its highly aromas. The aim of this review is to compile and update the current progresses of ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of K. galanga. All the data on K. galanga were based on different classical literary works, multiple electronic databases including SciFinder, Web of Science, PubMed, etc. The results showed that ninety-seven compounds have been identified from rhizome of K. galanga, including terpenoids, phenolics, cyclic dipeptides, flavonoids, diarylheptanoids, fatty acids and esters. Modern pharmacology studies revealed that extracts or secondary metabolites of the herb possessed anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-tumorous, anti-bacterial, and anti-angiogenesis effects, which were closely related to its abundant ethnomedicinal uses. In conclusion, although previous research works have provided various information of K. galanga, more in-depth studies are still necessary to systemically evaluate phytochemistry, pharmacological activities, toxicity and quality control of this herb.
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| 7. |
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- 2019
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 8. |
- Cao, Wen-Tao, et al.
(författare)
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Facile preparation of robust and superhydrophobic materials for self-cleaning and oil/water separation
- 2017
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Ingår i: Colloids and Surfaces A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0927-7757 .- 1873-4359. ; 529, s. 18-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Superhydrophobic coatings have broad applications owing to their excellent water-resisting and self-cleaning properties. In this study, we have successfully fabricated coated meshes with robust and superhydrophobic surface (i.e., water-repellent magnesium stearate powders on substrates made of phenol-formaldehyde resin). These coated meshes showed superhydrophobicity with water contact angles exceeding 150 degrees and excellent self-cleaning property both in air and oil circumstances. Additionally, the superhydrophobic surfaces also exhibited prominent mechanical stability, thermal stability, corrosion resistance, and oil/water separation properties (> 92%). Therefore, it is believed that the facile fabrication presented in this study may provide a novel methodology and these robust and superhydrophobic coated meshes have potential applications in oil/water separation.
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| 9. |
- Chen, Yu, et al.
(författare)
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The thermodynamics of enhanced dope stability of cellulose solution in NaOH solution by urea
- 2023
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Ingår i: Carbohydrate Polymers. - : Elsevier BV. - 0144-8617 .- 1879-1344. ; 311, s. 120744-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The addition of urea in pre-cooled alkali aqueous solution is known to improve the dope stability of cellulose solution. However, its thermodynamic mechanism at a molecular level is not fully understood yet. By using molecular dynamics simulation of an aqueous NaOH/urea/cellulose system using an empirical force field, we found that urea was concentrated in the first solvation shell of the cellulose chain stabilized mainly by dispersion interaction. When adding a glucan chain into the solution, the total solvent entropy reduction is smaller if urea is present. Each urea molecule expelled an average of 2.3 water molecules away from the cellulose surface, releasing water entropy that over-compensates the entropy loss of urea and thus maximizing the total entropy. Scaling the Lennard-Jones parameter and atomistic partial charge of urea revealed that direct urea/cellulose interaction was also driven by dispersion energy. The mixing of urea solution and cellulose solution in the presence or absence of NaOH are both exothermic even after correcting for the contribution from dilution.
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| 10. |
- Cheng, Shi-Ping, et al.
(författare)
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Haplotype-resolved genome assembly and allele-specific gene expression in cultivated ginger
- 2021
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Ingår i: Horticulture Research. - : Springer Nature. - 2052-7276. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the most valued spice plants worldwide; it is prized for its culinary and folk medicinal applications and is therefore of high economic and cultural importance. Here, we present a haplotype-resolved, chromosome-scale assembly for diploid ginger anchored to 11 pseudochromosome pairs with a total length of 3.1 Gb. Remarkable structural variation was identified between haplotypes, and two inversions larger than 15 Mb on chromosome 4 may be associated with ginger infertility. We performed a comprehensive, spatiotemporal, genome-wide analysis of allelic expression patterns, revealing that most alleles are coordinately expressed. The alleles that exhibited the largest differences in expression showed closer proximity to transposable elements, greater coding sequence divergence, more relaxed selection pressure, and more transcription factor binding site differences. We also predicted the transcription factors potentially regulating 6-gingerol biosynthesis. Our allele-aware assembly provides a powerful platform for future functional genomics, molecular breeding, and genome editing in ginger.
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