| 1. |
- Hawlader, M. D. H., et al.
(författare)
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Quality of life of COVID-19 recovered patients : a 1-year follow-up study from Bangladesh
- 2023
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Ingår i: Infectious Diseases of Poverty. - : Springer Nature. - 2095-5162. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a danger to global public health because of the unprecedented physical, mental, social, and environmental impact affecting quality of life (QoL). The study aimed to find the changes in QoL among COVID-19 recovered individuals and explore the determinants of change more than 1 year after recovery in low-resource settings. Methods: COVID-19 patients from all eight divisions of Bangladesh who were confirmed positive by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from June 2020 to November 2020 and who subsequently recovered were followed up twice, once immediately after recovery and again 1 year after the first follow-up. The follow-up study was conducted from November 2021 to January 2022 among 2438 individuals using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). After excluding 48 deaths, 95 were rejected to participate, 618 were inaccessible, and there were 45 cases of incomplete data. Descriptive statistics, paired-sample analyses, generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to test the mean difference in participants’ QoL scores between the two interviews. Results: Most participants (n = 1710, 70.1%) were male, and one-fourth (24.4%) were older than 46. The average physical domain score decreased significantly from baseline to follow-up, and the average scores in psychological, social, and environmental domains increased significantly at follow-up (P < 0.05). By the GEE equation approach, after adjusting for other factors, we found that older age groups (P < 0.001), being female (P < 0.001), having hospital admission during COVID-19 illness (P < 0.001), and having three or more chronic diseases (P < 0.001), were significantly associated with lower physical and psychological QoL scores. Higher age and female sex [adjusted odd ratio (aOR) = 1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0–1.6] were associated with reduced social domain scores on multivariable logistic regression analysis. Urban or semi-urban people were 49% less likely (aOR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.4–0.7) and 32% less likely (aOR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.5–0.9) to have a reduced QoL score in the psychological domain and the social domain respectively, than rural people. Higher-income people were more likely to experience a decrease in QoL scores in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains. Married people were 1.8 times more likely (aOR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.3–2.4) to have a decreased social QoL score. In the second interview, people admitted to hospitals during their COVID-19 infection showed a 1.3 times higher chance (aOR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.6) of a decreased environmental QoL score. Almost 13% of participants developed one or more chronic diseases between the first and second interviews. Moreover, 7.9% suffered from reinfection by COVID-19 during this 1-year time. Conclusions: The present study found that the QoL of COVID-19 recovered people improved 1 year after recovery, particularly in psychological, social, and environmental domains. However, age, sex, the severity of COVID-19, smoking habits, and comorbidities were significantly negatively associated with QoL. Events of reinfection and the emergence of chronic disease were independent determinants of the decline in QoL scores in psychological, social, and physical domains, respectively. Strong policies to prevent and minimize smoking must be implemented in Bangladesh, and we must monitor and manage chronic diseases in people who have recovered from COVID-19. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- Gilbert, Mary E., et al.
(författare)
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An animal model of marginal iodine deficiency during development : the thyroid axis and neurodevelopmental outcome
- 2013
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Ingår i: Toxicological Sciences. - : Oxford University Press. - 1096-6080 .- 1096-0929. ; 132:1, s. 177-195
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thyroid hormones (THs) are essential for brain development, and iodine is required for TH synthesis. Environmental chemicals that perturb the thyroid axis result in modest reductions in TH, yet there is a paucity of data on the extent of neurological impairments associated with low-level TH disruption. This study examined the dose-response characteristics of marginal iodine deficiency (ID) on parameters of thyroid function and neurodevelopment. Diets deficient in iodine were prepared by adding 975, 200, 125, 25, or 0 µg/kg potassium iodate to the base casein diet to produce five nominal iodine levels ranging from ample (Diet 1: 1000 μg iodine/kg chow, D1) to deficient (Diet 5: 25 µg iodine/kg chow, D5). Female Long Evans rats were maintained on these diets beginning 7 weeks prior to breeding until the end of lactation. Dams were sacrificed on gestational days 16 and 20, or when pups were weaned on postnatal day (PN) 21. Fetal tissue was harvested from the dams, and pups were sacrificed on PN14 and PN21. Blood, thyroid gland, and brain were collected for analysis of iodine, TH, and TH precursors and metabolites. Serum and thyroid gland iodine and TH were reduced in animals receiving two diets that were most deficient in iodine. T4 was reduced in the fetal brain but was not altered in the neonatal brain. Neurobehavior, assessed by acoustic startle, water maze learning, and fear conditioning, was unchanged in adult offspring, but excitatory synaptic transmission was impaired in the dentate gyrus in animals receiving two diets that were most deficient in iodine. A 15% reduction in cortical T4 in the fetal brain was sufficient to induce permanent reductions in synaptic function in adults. These findings have implications for regulation of TH-disrupting chemicals and suggest that standard behavioral assays do not readily detect neurotoxicity induced by modest developmental TH disruption.
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| 4. |
- Canaider, S., et al.
(författare)
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Human Stem Cell Exposure to Developmental Stage Zebrafish Extracts : a Novel Strategy for Tuning Stemness and Senescence Patterning
- 2014
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Ingår i: Cell. - 2329-7042. ; 2:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Zebrafish exhibits extraordinary ability for tissue regeneration. Despite growing investigations dissecting the molecular underpinning of such regenerative potential, little is known about the possibility to use the chemical inventory of the zebrafishembryo to modulate human stem cell dynamics.Methods: Extracts from zebrafish embryo were collected at different developmental stages, referred to as ZF1, ZF2, ZF3 (early stages), and ZF4, ZF5 (late stages). Human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs), isolated from microfractured fat tissue obtained with a novel non-enzymatic method (Lipogems), were cultured in absence or presence of each developmental stage extract. Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. Nuclear morphology was investigated by cell-permeable dye 4’,6-DAPI. Caspase-3 activity was assessed by ELISA. Gene transcription was monitored by real-time PCR.Results: Late developmental stage extracts decreased cell viability and elicited caspase-3 mediated apoptosis. This effect did not involve Bax or Bcl-2 transcription. Conversely, early developmental stage ZF1 did not affect cell viability or apoptosis, albeit increasing Bax/Bcl-2mRNA ratio. ZF1 enhanced transcription of the stemness/pluripotency genes Oct-4, Sox-2and c-Myc. ZF1 also induced the transcription of TERT, encoding the catalytic subunit of telomerase, as well as the gene expression of Bmi-1, a chromatin remodeler acting as a major telomerase-independent repressor of senescence. These transcriptional responses were restricted to the action of early stage factors, since they were not elicited by late developmental stage ZF5.Conclusions: Exposure to early developmental stage zebrafish embryo extracts may enhance stem cell expression of multipotency and activate both telomerase-dependent and -independent antagonists of cell senescence. These outcomes may prove rewarding during prolonged expansion in culture, as it occurs in most cell therapy protocols.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Davies, Stuart J., et al.
(författare)
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ForestGEO: Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network
- 2021
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Ingår i: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207. ; 253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ForestGEO is a network of scientists and long-term forest dynamics plots (FDPs) spanning the Earth's major forest types. ForestGEO's mission is to advance understanding of the diversity and dynamics of forests and to strengthen global capacity for forest science research. ForestGEO is unique among forest plot networks in its large-scale plot dimensions, censusing of all stems ≥1 cm in diameter, inclusion of tropical, temperate and boreal forests, and investigation of additional biotic (e.g., arthropods) and abiotic (e.g., soils) drivers, which together provide a holistic view of forest functioning. The 71 FDPs in 27 countries include approximately 7.33 million living trees and about 12,000 species, representing 20% of the world's known tree diversity. With >1300 published papers, ForestGEO researchers have made significant contributions in two fundamental areas: species coexistence and diversity, and ecosystem functioning. Specifically, defining the major biotic and abiotic controls on the distribution and coexistence of species and functional types and on variation in species' demography has led to improved understanding of how the multiple dimensions of forest diversity are structured across space and time and how this diversity relates to the processes controlling the role of forests in the Earth system. Nevertheless, knowledge gaps remain that impede our ability to predict how forest diversity and function will respond to climate change and other stressors. Meeting these global research challenges requires major advances in standardizing taxonomy of tropical species, resolving the main drivers of forest dynamics, and integrating plot-based ground and remote sensing observations to scale up estimates of forest diversity and function, coupled with improved predictive models. However, they cannot be met without greater financial commitment to sustain the long-term research of ForestGEO and other forest plot networks, greatly expanded scientific capacity across the world's forested nations, and increased collaboration and integration among research networks and disciplines addressing forest science.
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| 7. |
- Holeski, Liza M, et al.
(författare)
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Patterns of phytochemical variation in Mimulus guttatus (Yellow Monkeyflower)
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0098-0331 .- 1573-1561. ; 39:4, s. 525-536
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The search for general patterns in the production and allocation of plant defense traits will be facilitated by characterizing multivariate suites of defense, as well as by studying additional plant taxa, particularly those with available genomic resources. Here, we investigated patterns of genetic variation in phytochemical defenses (phenylpropanoid glycosides, PPGs) in Mimulus guttatus (yellow monkeyflower). We grew plants derived from several natural populations, consisting of multiple full-sibling families within each population, in a common greenhouse environment. We found substantial variation in the constitutive multivariate PPG phenotype and in constitutive levels of individual phytochemicals within plants (among leaves of different ages), within populations (among full-sibling families), and among populations. Populations consisting of annual plants generally, but not always, had lower concentrations of phytochemicals than did populations of perennial plants. Populations differed in their plastic response to artificial herbivory, both in the overall multivariate PPG phenotype and in the individual phytochemicals. The relationship between phytochemistry and another defense trait, trichomes, differed among populations. Finally, we demonstrated that one of the PPGs, verbascoside, acts as a feeding stimulant rather than a feeding deterrent for a specialist herbivore of M. guttatus, the buckeye caterpillar (Junonia coenia Nymphalidae). Given its available genetic resources, numerous, easily accessible natural populations, and patterns of genetic variation highlighted in this research, M. guttatus provides an ideal model system in which to test ecological and evolutionary theories of plant-herbivore interactions.
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| 8. |
- Keefover-Ring, Ken, et al.
(författare)
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Phenylpropanoid glycosides of Mimulus guttatus (yellow monkeyflower)
- 2014
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Ingår i: Phytochemistry Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 1874-3900 .- 1876-7486. ; 10, s. 132-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Yellow monkeyflower [Mimulus guttatus DC., (Phyrmaceae)] has long been a model plant species for studies in genetics, evolution, and ecology, including plant-animal interactions. Nonetheless, exceedingly little is known about its secondary chemistry. We have discovered that the foliage of yellow monkeyflower contains a diverse suite of phenylpropanoid glycosides (PPGs); a class of compounds with many known biological activities. Using H-1 and C-13 NMR and UV and MS chromatography techniques, we positively identified five PPGs from the leaves of yellow monkeyflower. Four of these compounds occur in other species and one is previously undescribed. We also present UV and high- resolution tandem MS data that putatively identify 11 additional foliar compounds as PPGs. This initial discovery and elucidation of yellow monkeyflower's secondary chemistry will be important for continued study of the genetics and ecology of this model species. (C) 2014 Phytochemical Society of Europe.
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| 9. |
- Rivelsrud, M. C., et al.
(författare)
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Prevalence of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in Adults in Different Healthcare Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses
- 2023
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Ingår i: Dysphagia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0179-051X .- 1432-0460. ; 38:1, s. 76-121
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is prevalent in the elderly and persons with complex medical conditions, resulting in considerable medical and psychosocial consequences and reduced quality of life. Many prevalence studies regard OD in relation to age or diagnosis. Knowledge on the prevalence of OD in different healthcare settings is lacking. This systematic review aimed to estimate the prevalence of OD in adults admitted to hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes, and palliative care facilities through meta-analyses. A systematic literature search was completed including all dates up to March 30, 2021. The methodology and reporting were based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Forty-four out of 1,956 screened articles were deemed eligible. Considerable heterogeneity in definitions of OD and type and quality of selected outcome measures were observed. Overall within-group pooled prevalence estimates for OD determined by meta-analysis were 36.5% (95% CI 29.9 - 43.6) in the hospital setting, 42.5% (95% CI 35.8 - 49.5) in the rehabilitation setting, and 50.2% (95% CI 33.3-67.2) in nursing homes. No OD prevalence data were identified for palliative care facilities. Results for between-group analyses of OD prevalence estimates in the hospital setting were non-significant for type of assessment method, diagnostic group, and type of hospital ward, but indicated significantly higher prevalence estimates in nursing homes when using screening compared to patient-report. Future research should provide OD prevalence data for palliative care, achieve consensus in OD-related terminology when performing prevalence studies, and use screening and assessments with optimal diagnostic performance and psychometric properties.
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| 10. |
- Zegeye, Mulugeta M, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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IL-6 trans-signaling regulates vascular endothelial laminin profile and inflammatory responses : Possible mechanism for immune cell recruitment during atherosclerosis?
- 2021
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Ingår i: Atherosclerosis. - : Elsevier. - 0021-9150 .- 1879-1484. ; 331, s. E61-E61
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background and Aims: We aimed to investigate the role of IL-6 trans-signaling in regulating the release of endothelial inflammatory mediators and endothelial basement mebrane proteins, laminins. We also aimed to investigate the laminin composition in atherosclerotic plaques in relation to the immune cell content.Methods: HUVECs were cultured for in vitro experiments. The BiKE cohort was used to assess expression of laminins in atherosclerotic plaques and healthy vessels. Gene and protein expression was analysed using Microarray/qPCR and proximity extension assay, immunostaining or immunoblotting techniques respectively.Results: The release of 20 inflammatory proteins from ECs was significantly altered (3 downregulated, 17 upregulated) in response to stimulation with IL-6 and sIL-6R (p-value <0.05, FDR 5%). Ingenuity pathway analyses predicted that these proteins enhance lymphocyte binding and transmigration while inhibiting transmigration of granulocytes. ECs treated with combination of IL-6 and sIL-6R upregulated expression of LAMA5 while downregulating LAMA4. Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses showed that both endothelial LAMA4 and LAMA5 were significantly lower in atherosclerotic plaques compared to healthy vessels. In addition, expression of endothelial LAMA5 was significantly lower in plaques from symptomatic patients compared to those from asymptomatic patients. We also showed that endothelial laminins are negatively correlated with immune cell markers.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that IL-6 trans-signaling regulates endothelial inflammatory proteins and laminin production that enhance binding and trans-migration of lymphocytes. In the context of atherosclerosis, expression of laminin alpha chains is altered and also appeared to be associated with plaque stability. Our data also revealed a relationship between laminin chains and immune cell content in atherosclerotic plaques.
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