| 1. |
- Adeloye, Davies, et al.
(författare)
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Research priorities to address the global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the next decade
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Global Health. - : International Global Health Society. - 2047-2986 .- 2047-2978. ; 11, s. 15003-15003
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The global prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has increased markedly in recent decades. Given the scarcity of resources available to address global health challenges and respiratory medicine being relatively under-invested in, it is important to define research priorities for COPD globally. In this paper, we aim to identify a ranked set of COPD research priorities that need to be addressed in the next 10 years to substantially reduce the global impact of COPD. Methods: We adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology to identify global COPD research priorities. Results: 62 experts contributed 230 research ideas, which were scored by 34 researchers according to six pre-defined criteria: answerability, effectiveness, feasibility, deliverability, burden reduction, and equity. The top-ranked research priority was the need for new effective strategies to support smoking cessation. Of the top 20 overall research priorities, six were focused on feasible and cost-effective pulmonary rehabilitation delivery and access, particularly in primary/community care and low-resource settings. Three of the top 10 overall priorities called for research on improved screening and accurate diagnostic methods for COPD in low-resource primary care settings. Further ideas that drew support involved a better understanding of risk factors for COPD, development of effective training programmes for health workers and physicians in low resource settings, and evaluation of novel interventions to encourage physical activity. Conclusions: The experts agreed that the most pressing feasible research questions to address in the next decade for COPD reduction were on prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation of COPD, especially in low resource settings. The largest gains should be expected in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) settings, as the large majority of COPD deaths occur in those settings. Research priorities identified by this systematic international process should inform and motivate policymakers, funders, and researchers to support and conduct research to reduce the global burden of COPD.
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| 2. |
- Billhardt, Anja
(författare)
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Functional analyses of growth and development in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Land plants developed from a freshwater charophycean algae about 500 million years ago. Today, they consist of two main clades, the vascular plants and the non-vascular bryophytes including hornworts, liverworts and mosses. To adapt to challenges within a terrestrial habitat, the first land plants evolved a diversity of hormonal and genetic pathways regulating growth and development. Analyses regarding these networks are mainly based on the angiosperm Arabidopsis thaliana. Genes of other land plant lineages that are inexistent in Arabidopsis are often not considered in functional studies, resulting in an incomplete picture of land plant evolution. The remarkable phylogenetic position of bryophytes makes them interesting for studies of gene function as they might carry different characteristics compared to e.g. angiosperms. In difference to vascular plants, the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha harbors a small, low genetic redundant genome containing most gene families present in Arabidopsis. Thus making it an advantageous model organism to determining specific gene function. This thesis focuses on describing how dormancy and the circadian clock regulate growth in Marchantia. To avoid growth during unfavorable environmental, plants apply dormancy programs. Marchantia applies dormancy in gemmae, small asexual propagules produced by the shoot in a cup. Gemmae are dormant in the cup until they are dispersed by rain and subsequently germinating. I show that high levels of absisic acid (ABA), inhibits gemmae germination within the cup. Gemmae with a manipulated MpCYP707A, a gene involved in catabolism of ABA and seed dormancy regulation in Arabidopsis, showed altering dormancy suggesting that ABA homeostasis is fundamental for regulation of gemmae dormancy. Because dormant gemmae are not physically attached to the cup it has been speculated that the signal maintaining dormancy of gemmae is a gas. I found that gemmae mutated in positive and negative regulators of the ethylene signaling pathway showed decreased and increased dormancy respectively, suggesting that ethylene regulates dormancy through ABA.I also found that the circadian clock in Marchantia regulates growth of the thallus, possibly by affecting auxin levels. The circadian clock in land plants appears in structural differences between species. I showed that the gene MpDET1 has a conserved structure but harbors a different function compared to Arabidopsis. In Arabidopsis, growth is regulated by the clock through PIF genes, but in Marchantia, this pathway appears independent of PIF. Although the clock mechanism appear well conserved in land plants, its structure and function has evolved, creating diversity between land plant groups.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Leebens-Mack, James H., et al.
(författare)
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One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 574:7780, s. 679-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Green plants (Viridiplantae) include around 450,000-500,000 species(1,2) of great diversity and have important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, as part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative, we sequenced the vegetative transcriptomes of 1,124 species that span the diversity of plants in a broad sense (Archaeplastida), including green plants (Viridiplantae), glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and red algae (Rhodophyta). Our analysis provides a robust phylogenomic framework for examining the evolution of green plants. Most inferred species relationships are well supported across multiple species tree and supermatrix analyses, but discordance among plastid and nuclear gene trees at a few important nodes highlights the complexity of plant genome evolution, including polyploidy, periods of rapid speciation, and extinction. Incomplete sorting of ancestral variation, polyploidization and massive expansions of gene families punctuate the evolutionary history of green plants. Notably, we find that large expansions of gene families preceded the origins of green plants, land plants and vascular plants, whereas whole-genome duplications are inferred to have occurred repeatedly throughout the evolution of flowering plants and ferns. The increasing availability of high-quality plant genome sequences and advances in functional genomics are enabling research on genome evolution across the green tree of life.
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