| 1. |
- Cuni-Sanchez, Aida, et al.
(författare)
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High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 596:7873, s. 536-542
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tropical forests store 40–50per cent of terrestrial vegetation carbon. However, spatial variations in aboveground live tree biomass carbon (AGC) stocks remain poorly understood, in particular in tropical montane forests. Owing to climatic and soil changes with increasing elevation, AGC stocks are lower in tropical montane forests compared with lowland forests. Here we assemble and analyse a dataset of structurally intact old-growth forests (AfriMont) spanning 44 montane sites in 12 African countries. We find that montane sites in the AfriMont plot network have a mean AGC stock of 149.4megagrams of carbon per hectare (95% confidence interval 137.1–164.2), which is comparable to lowland forests in the African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network4 and about 70per cent and 32per cent higher than averages from plot networks in montane and lowland forests in the Neotropics, respectively. Notably, our results are two-thirds higher than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change default values for these forests in Africa8. We find that the low stem density and high abundance of large trees of African lowland forests is mirrored in the montane forests sampled. This carbon store is endangered: we estimate that 0.8 million hectares of old-growth African montane forest have been lost since 2000. We provide country-specific montane forest AGC stock estimates modelled from our plot network to helpto guide forest conservation and reforestation interventions. Our findings highlight the need for conserving these biodiverse and carbon-rich ecosystems.
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| 2. |
- Gomila, Margarita, et al.
(författare)
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Achromobacter marplatensis sp. nov., isolated from a pentachlorophenol contaminated soil.
- 2011
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Ingår i: International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology. - : Microbiology Society. - 1466-5034 .- 1466-5026. ; 61:9, s. 2231-2237
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A polyphasic taxonomic approach was applied for the study of a Gram negative bacterium (B2(T)) isolated from soil by selective enrichment with pentachlorophenol. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of strain B2(T) showed that this strain belongs to the genus Achromobacter, within the Betaproteobacteria. The 16S rRNA gene sequence possessing more than 99% similarity to the sequences of the type strains of all species in Achromobacter, with the highest sequence similarities to those of A. spanius CCM 7183(T) and A. piechaudii CCM 2986(T) (99.8 %). On the basis of phylogenetic analysis, genomic DNA-DNA similarities and phenotypic characteristics, including chemotaxonomic (cell fatty acid profile) analysis, a novel species is proposed, Achromobacter marplatensis sp. nov., with the type strain B2(T) (= CCM 7608(T) = CCUG 56371(T) = CECT 7342(T)).
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| 3. |
- Kaiser, Karol, et al.
(författare)
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MEIS-WNT5A axis regulates development of fourth ventricle choroid plexus
- 2021
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Ingår i: Development. - : The Company of Biologists. - 0950-1991 .- 1477-9129. ; 148:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The choroid plexus (ChP) produces cerebrospinal fluid and forms an essential brain barrier. ChP tissues form in each brain ventricle, each one adopting a distinct shape, but remarkably little is known about the mechanisms underlying ChP development. Here, we show that epithelial WNT5A is crucial for determining fourth ventricle (4V) ChP morphogenesis and size in mouse. Systemic Wnt5a knockout, or forced Wnt5a overexpression beginning at embryonic day 10.5, profoundly reduced ChP size and development. However, Wnt5a expression was enriched in Foxj1-positive epithelial cells of 4V ChP plexus, and its conditional deletion in these cells affected the branched, villous morphology of the 4V ChP. We found that WNT5A was enriched in epithelial cells localized to the distal tips of 4V ChP villi, where WNT5A acted locally to activate non-canonical WNT signaling via ROR1 and ROR2 receptors. During 4V ChP development, MEIS1 bound to the proximal Wnt5a promoter, and gain- and loss-of-function approaches demonstrated that MEIS1 regulated Wnt5a expression. Collectively, our findings demonstrate a dual function of WNT5A in ChP development and identify MEIS transcription factors as upstream regulators of Wnt5a in the 4V ChP epithelium.
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| 4. |
- Sedlacek, Ondrej, et al.
(författare)
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Influence of Chain Length of Gradient and Block Copoly(2-oxazoline)s on Self-Assembly and Drug Encapsulation
- 2022
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Ingår i: Small. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1613-6810 .- 1613-6829. ; 18:17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amphiphilic gradient copolymers represent a promising alternative to extensively used block copolymers due to their facile one-step synthesis by statistical copolymerization of monomers of different reactivity. Herein, an in-depth analysis is provided of micelles based on amphiphilic gradient poly(2-oxazoline)s with different chain lengths to evaluate their potential for micellar drug delivery systems and compare them to the analogous diblock copolymer micelles. Size, morphology, and stability of self-assembled nanoparticles, loading of hydrophobic drug curcumin, as well as cytotoxicities of the prepared nanoformulations are examined using copoly(2-oxazoline)s with varying chain lengths and comonomer ratios. In addition to several interesting differences between the two copolymer architecture classes, such as more compact self-assembled structures with faster exchange dynamics for the gradient copolymers, it is concluded that gradient copolymers provide stable curcumin nanoformulations with comparable drug loadings to block copolymer systems and benefit from more straightforward copolymer synthesis. The study demonstrates the potential of amphiphilic gradient copolymers as a versatile platform for the synthesis of new polymer therapeutics.
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