| 1. |
- Bank, Natasha, 1983-
(författare)
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Sustainability-Oriented Business Incubators
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the attraction, selection, and support in sustainability-oriented business incubators. Business incubators as hatcheries for start-ups are considered key tools to enhance job creation and strengthen regional economies. While the world population grows and consumption of natural resources increases, the ecosystem services decline. If these issues are not properly addressed, the economic, social, and environmental pressures that are growing in our societies will lead to disasters and threats to humankind. Green incubators can implement sustainability thinking and the related principles in the start-up community right from the beginning, and hence play a significant role in reorienting start-up businesses towards sustainability.This study shows the importance of making business incubators better known to their potential clients in order to increase visibility and attract more green tenants. The sustainability-oriented business incubators (SOBI), to have a better selection of tenants, need to attract more sustainable entrepreneurs in the first place. Moreover, the selection criteria affect the in-house atmosphere of the incubator, which in turn affects the attraction of more like-minded tenants to the incubator. In addition, word of mouth through partners and referrals by successfully graduated tenants, as well as expert management teams including coaches and consultants and their related networks and mediations, exert more influence on the attraction. In other words, the attraction is dependent both on the selection criteria and the support given to the tenants. To attract proper tenants, a rich local environment, regional and inter-regional collaboration, a well-planned, well-structured pre-incubation process, and credibility of incubators with managerial sustainability expertise and well-established networks are also essential.When it comes to the selection processes, different factors affect the selection criteria, including business incubators’ goal and agenda such as job creation, diversification of the local economy, utilization of vacant property, commercialization of research, investment as well as owner and sponsors (including public and private), physical characters such as age, size, and occupancy rates. Furthermore, incubators might have different selection strategies such as rigorous-vs-flexible as well as entrepreneur-vs-idea priorities. The initial ambition of SOBIs is to select business ideas that are primarily geared towards sustainability. However, the empirical data has shown that it is not always achievable to attract a sufficient number of green tenants to meet those criteria. The challenges, for example, could be due to economic cycles, specialization, and high-bar (i.e., eligibility) criteria, location limits, lack of sustainable-minded entrepreneurs, and the like.In recent years, increased awareness about sustainability issues and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as signals from green financiers, business owners, and other stakeholders, have forced many incubators to adjust their selection criteria to match sustainability requirements. However, empirical results show that the support given to tenants in green incubators has not been different from conventional ones. But more recently (especially during the past two-three years), institutional forces and the need for more legitimacy have led more and more incubators (even conventional ones) to change their mindset and provide more support towards sustainable business ideas. The conclusions of this study imply that business incubators need to strive for making sustainable entrepreneurs, not selecting them. In order to provide comprehensive sustainability-oriented support, SOBIs need to recruit sustainability experts and educate management teams as well as their tenants about sustainability issues.
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| 4. |
- Casas Garcia, Belén, et al.
(författare)
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Integrated experimental-computational analysis of a HepaRG liver-islet microphysiological system for human-centric diabetes research
- 2022
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 17:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Microphysiological systems (MPS) are powerful tools for emulating human physiology and replicating disease progression in vitro. MPS could be better predictors of human outcome than current animal models, but mechanistic interpretation and in vivo extrapolation of the experimental results remain significant challenges. Here, we address these challenges using an integrated experimental-computational approach. This approach allows for in silico representation and predictions of glucose metabolism in a previously reported MPS with two organ compartments (liver and pancreas) connected in a closed loop with circulating medium. We developed a computational model describing glucose metabolism over 15 days of culture in the MPS. The model was calibrated on an experiment-specific basis using data from seven experiments, where HepaRG single-liver or liver-islet cultures were exposed to both normal and hyperglycemic conditions resembling high blood glucose levels in diabetes. The calibrated models reproduced the fast (i.e. hourly) variations in glucose and insulin observed in the MPS experiments, as well as the long-term (i.e. over weeks) decline in both glucose tolerance and insulin secretion. We also investigated the behaviour of the system under hypoglycemia by simulating this condition in silico, and the model could correctly predict the glucose and insulin responses measured in new MPS experiments. Last, we used the computational model to translate the experimental results to humans, showing good agreement with published data of the glucose response to a meal in healthy subjects. The integrated experimental-computational framework opens new avenues for future investigations toward disease mechanisms and the development of new therapies for metabolic disorders.
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| 5. |
- Dam, Veerle, et al.
(författare)
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Association of menopausal characteristics and risk of coronary heart disease : A pan-European case-cohort analysis
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press. - 0300-5771 .- 1464-3685. ; 48:4, s. 1275-1285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Earlier age at menopause has been associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but the shape of association and role of established cardiovascular risk factors remain unclear. Therefore, we examined the associations between menopausal characteristics and CHD risk; the shape of the association between age at menopause and CHD risk; and the extent to which these associations are explained by established cardiovascular risk factors.Methods: We used data from EPIC-CVD, a case-cohort study, which includes data from 23 centres from 10 European countries. We included only women, of whom 10 880 comprise the randomly selected sub-cohort, supplemented with 4522 cases outside the sub-cohort. We conducted Prentice-weighted Cox proportional hazards regressions with age as the underlying time scale, stratified by country and adjusted for relevant confounders.Results: After confounder and intermediate adjustment, post-menopausal women were not at higher CHD risk compared with pre-menopausal women. Among post-menopausal women, earlier menopause was linearly associated with higher CHD risk [HRconfounder and intermediate adjusted per-year decrease = 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-1.03, p = 0.001]. Women with a surgical menopause were at higher risk of CHD compared with those with natural menopause (HRconfounder-adjusted = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.10-1.42, p < 0.001), but this attenuated after additional adjustment for age at menopause and intermediates (HR = 1.12, 95% CI = 0.96-1.29, p = 0.15). A proportion of the association was explained by cardiovascular risk factors.Conclusions: Earlier and surgical menopause were associated with higher CHD risk. These associations could partially be explained by differences in conventional cardiovascular risk factors. These women might benefit from close monitoring of cardiovascular risk factors and disease.
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| 6. |
- Dam, Veerle, et al.
(författare)
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Genetically Determined Reproductive Aging and Coronary Heart Disease : A Bidirectional 2-sample Mendelian Randomization
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. - : The Endocrine Society. - 0021-972X .- 1945-7197. ; 107:7, s. E2952-E2961
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Accelerated reproductive aging, in women indicated by early natural menopause, is associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in observational studies. Conversely, an adverse CHD risk profile has been suggested to accelerate menopause. Objectives: To study the direction and evidence for causality of the relationship between reproductive aging and (non-)fatal CHD and CHD risk factors in a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, using age at natural menopause (ANM) genetic variants as a measure for genetically determined reproductive aging in women. We also studied the association of these variants with CHD risk (factors) in men. Design: Two-sample MR, using both cohort data as well as summary statistics, with 4 methods: simple and weighted median-based, standard inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression, and MR-Egger regression. Participants: Data from EPIC-CVD and summary statistics from UK Biobank and publicly available genome-wide association studies were pooled for the different analyses. Main Outcome Measures: CHD, CHD risk factors, and ANM. Results: Across different methods of MR, no association was found between genetically determined reproductive aging and CHD risk in women (relative risk estimateIVW = 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-1.01), or any of the CHD risk factors. Similarly, no associations were found in men. Neither did the reversed analyses show evidence for an association between CHD (risk factors) and reproductive aging. Conclusion: Genetically determined reproductive aging is not causally associated with CHD risk (factors) in women, nor were the genetic variants associated in men. We found no evidence for a reverse association in a combined sample of women and men.
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| 8. |
- Fortuin-de Smidt, Melony C., et al.
(författare)
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Physical activity attenuates but does not eliminate coronary heart disease risk amongst adults with risk factors : EPIC-CVD case-cohort study
- 2022
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Ingår i: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2047-4873 .- 2047-4881. ; 29:12, s. 1618-1629
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the association between physical activity and the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in individuals with and without CHD risk factors.METHODS AND RESULTS: EPIC-CVD is a case-cohort study of 29 333 participants that included 13 582 incident CHD cases and a randomly selected sub-cohort nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Self-reported physical activity was summarized using the Cambridge physical activity index (inactive, moderately inactive, moderately active, and active). Participants were categorized into sub-groups based on the presence or the absence of the following risk factors: obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2), hypercholesterolaemia (total cholesterol ≥6.2 mmol/L), history of diabetes, hypertension (self-reported or ≥140/90 mmHg), and current smoking. Prentice-weighted Cox regression was used to assess the association between physical activity and incident CHD events (non-fatal and fatal).Compared to inactive participants without the respective CHD risk factor (referent), excess CHD risk was highest in physically inactive and lowest in moderately active participants with CHD risk factors. Corresponding excess CHD risk estimates amongst those with obesity were 47% [95% confidence interval (CI) 32-64%] and 21% (95%CI 2-44%), with hypercholesterolaemia were 80% (95%CI 55-108%) and 48% (95%CI 22-81%), with hypertension were 80% (95%CI 65-96%) and 49% (95%CI 28-74%), with diabetes were 142% (95%CI 63-260%), and 100% (95%CI 32-204%), and amongst smokers were 152% (95%CI 122-186%) and 109% (95%CI 74-150%).CONCLUSIONS: In people with CHD risk factors, moderate physical activity, equivalent to 40 mins of walking per day, attenuates but does not completely offset CHD risk.
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| 9. |
- Peters, Sanne Ae, et al.
(författare)
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Parity, breastfeeding and risk of coronary heart disease: A pan-European case-cohort study.
- 2016
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Ingår i: European journal of preventive cardiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2047-4881 .- 2047-4873. ; 23:16, s. 1755-1765
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is uncertainty about the direction and magnitude of the associations between parity, breastfeeding and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). We examined the separate and combined associations of parity and breastfeeding practices with the incidence of CHD later in life among women in a large, pan-European cohort study.
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| 10. |
- Wennberg, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Structure, genomic DNA typing and kinetic characterization of the D allozyme of placental alkaline phosphatase
- 2002
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Ingår i: Human Mutation. - : Hindawi Limited. - 1059-7794 .- 1098-1004. ; 19:3, s. 258-267
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The D allozyme of placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) displays enzymatic properties at variance with those of the common PLAP allozymes. We have deduced the amino acid sequence of the PLAP D allele by PCR cloning of its gene, ALPP. Two coding substitutions were found in comparison with the cDNA of the common PLAP F allele, i.e., 692C>G and 1352A>G, which translate into a P209R and E429G substitution. A single nucleotide primer extension (SNuPE) assay was developed using PCR primers that enable the amplification of a 1.9 kb PLAP fragment. Extension primers were then used on this PCR fragment to detect the 692C>G and 1352A>G substitution. The SNuPE assay on these two nucleotide substitutions enabled us to distinguish the PLAP F and D alleles from the PLAP S/I alleles. Functional studies on the D allozyme were made possible by constructing and expressing a PLAP D cDNA, i.e., [Arg209, Gly429]PLAP, into wild-type Chinese hamster ovary cells. We determined the kcat and Km, of the PLAP S, F, and D allozymes using the non-physiological substrate p-nitrophenylphosphate at an optimal pH (9.8) as well as two physiological substrates, i.e., pyridoxal-5-phosphate and inorganic pyrophosphate at physiological pH (7.5). We found that the biochemical properties of the D allozyme of PLAP are significantly different from those of the common PLAP allozymes. These biochemical findings suggest that a suboptimal enzymatic function by the PLAP D allozyme may be the basis for the apparent negative selective pressure of the PLAP D allele. The development of the SNuPE assay will enable us to test the hypothesis that the PLAP D allele is subjected to intrauterine selection by examining genomic DNA from statistically informative population samples.
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