| 1. |
- Schroeder, J., et al.
(författare)
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Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of evolutionary biology. - : Wiley. - 1420-9101 .- 1010-061X. ; 26:9, s. 2063-2069
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.
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| 2. |
- dos Remedios, C. G., et al.
(författare)
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The Sydney Heart Bank : improving translational research while eliminating or reducing the use of animal models of human heart disease
- 2017
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Ingår i: Biophysical Reviews. - : Springer Nature. - 1867-2450 .- 1867-2469. ; 9:4, s. 431-441
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Sydney Heart Bank (SHB) is one of the largest human heart tissue banks in existence. Its mission is to provide high-quality human heart tissue for research into the molecular basis of human heart failure by working collaboratively with experts in this field. We argue that, by comparing tissues from failing human hearts with age-matched non-failing healthy donor hearts, the results will be more relevant than research using animal models, particularly if their physiology is very different from humans. Tissue from heart surgery must generally be used soon after collection or it significantly deteriorates. Freezing is an option but it raises concerns that freezing causes substantial damage at the cellular and molecular level. The SHB contains failing samples from heart transplant patients and others who provided informed consent for the use of their tissue for research. All samples are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen within 40 min of their removal from the patient, and in less than 5–10 min in the case of coronary arteries and left ventricle samples. To date, the SHB has collected tissue from about 450 failing hearts (>15,000 samples) from patients with a wide range of etiologies as well as increasing numbers of cardiomyectomy samples from patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The Bank also has hearts from over 120 healthy organ donors whose hearts, for a variety of reasons (mainly tissue-type incompatibility with waiting heart transplant recipients), could not be used for transplantation. Donor hearts were collected by the St Vincent’s Hospital Heart and Lung transplantation team from local hospitals or within a 4-h jet flight from Sydney. They were flushed with chilled cardioplegic solution and transported to Sydney where they were quickly cryopreserved in small samples. Failing and/or donor samples have been used by more than 60 research teams around the world, and have resulted in more than 100 research papers. The tissues most commonly requested are from donor left ventricles, but right ventricles, atria, interventricular system, and coronary arteries vessels have also been reported. All tissues are stored for long-term use in liquid N or vapor (170–180 °C), and are shipped under nitrogen vapor to avoid degradation of sensitive molecules such as RNAs and giant proteins. We present evidence that the availability of these human heart samples has contributed to a reduction in the use of animal models of human heart failure.
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| 3. |
- Li, A., et al.
(författare)
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Heart research advances using database search engines, human protein atlas and the sydney heart bank
- 2013
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Ingår i: Heart, Lung and Circulation. - : Elsevier BV. - 1443-9506 .- 1444-2892. ; 22:10, s. 819-826
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This Methodological Review is intended as a guide for research students who may have just discovered a human "novel" cardiac protein, but it may also help hard-pressed reviewers of journal submissions on a "novel" protein reported in an animal model of human heart failure. Whether you are an expert or not, you may know little or nothing about this particular protein of interest. In this review we provide a strategic guide on how to proceed. We ask: How do you discover what has been published (even in an abstract or research report) about this protein? Everyone knows how to undertake literature searches using PubMed and Medline but these are usually encyclopaedic, often producing long lists of papers, most of which are either irrelevant or only vaguely relevant to your query. Relatively few will be aware of more advanced search engines such as Google Scholar and even fewer will know about Quertle. Next, we provide a strategy for discovering if your "novel" protein is expressed in the normal, healthy human heart, and if it is, we show you how to investigate its subcellular location. This can usually be achieved by visiting the website "Human Protein Atlas" without doing a single experiment. Finally, we provide a pathway to discovering if your protein of interest changes its expression level with heart failure/disease or with ageing.
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| 4. |
- Marrocco, V., et al.
(författare)
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PKC and PKN in heart disease
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-2828. ; 128, s. 212-226
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The protein kinase C (PKC) and closely related protein kinase N (PKN) families of serine/threonine protein kinases play crucial cellular roles. Both kinases belong to the AGC subfamily of protein kinases that also include the CAMP dependent protein kinase (PKA), protein kinase B (PKB/AKT), protein kinase G (PKG) and the ribosomal protein S6 kinase (S6K). Involvement of PKC family members in heart disease has been well documented over the years, as their activity and levels are mis-regulated in several pathological heart conditions, such as ischemia, diabetic cardiomyopathy, as well as hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy. This review focuses on the regulation of PKCs and PKNs in different pathological heart conditions and on the influences that PKC/PKN activation has on several physiological processes. In addition, we discuss mechanisms by which PKCs and the closely related PKNs are activated and turned-off in hearts, how they regulate cardiac specific downstream targets and pathways, and how their inhibition by small molecules is explored as new therapeutic target to treat cardiomyopathies and heart failure.
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| 7. |
- D'Urban Jackson, J., et al.
(författare)
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Polygamy slows down diversification in shorebirds
- 2017
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Ingår i: ASAB Winter Meeting 2017 (Abstract), December 7-8, Londont, UK..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Here we introduce a novel hypothesis concerning the role of sexual selection in speciation. As an alternative to sexual selection leading to reproductive isolation, the “dispersal to mate” hypothesis predicts that sexual selection pressure may act to slow speciation since polygamous individuals can access additional mates by increased breeding dispersal. High breeding dispersal should hence increase gene flow and reduce diversification in polygamous species (i.e. species under elevated sexual selection pressure). Here we test this hypothesis to assess how polygamy affects population divergence in shorebirds using genetic differentiation and subspecies richness as proxies for diversification. Across 79 populations of ten plover species (genus: Charadrius), in addition to subspecies data from 136 shorebird species, our results suggest that dispersal associated with polygamy may facilitate gene flow and limit population divergence. Therefore, intense sexual selection, as occurring in polygamous species, may act rather as a brake than an engine of speciation in shorebirds. We encourage future research to further investigate this hypothesis using theoretical, direct tracking and genetic approaches which will inevitably improve our understanding of the relationships between sexual selection, dispersal and diversification.
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| 8. |
- D'Urban Jackson, J., et al.
(författare)
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Polygamy slows down population divergence in shorebirds
- 2017
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Ingår i: Evolution. - : Wiley. - 0014-3820. ; 71:5, s. 1313-1326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sexual selection may act as a promotor of speciation since divergent mate choice and competition for mates can rapidly lead to reproductive isolation. Alternatively, sexual selection may also retard speciation since polygamous individuals can access additional mates by increased breeding dispersal. High breeding dispersal should hence increase gene flow and reduce diversification in polygamous species. Here, we test how polygamy predicts diversification in shorebirds using genetic differentiation and subspecies richness as proxies for population divergence. Examining microsatellite data from 79 populations in 10 plover species (Genus: Charadrius) we found that polygamous species display significantly less genetic structure and weaker isolation-by-distance effects than monogamous species. Consistent with this result, a comparative analysis including 136 shorebird species showed significantly fewer subspecies for polygamous than for monogamous species. By contrast, migratory behavior neither predicted genetic differentiation nor subspecies richness. Taken together, our results suggest that dispersal associated with polygamy may facilitate gene flow and limit population divergence. Therefore, intense sexual selection, as occurs in polygamous species, may act as a brake rather than an engine of speciation in shorebirds. We discuss alternative explanations for these results and call for further studies to understand the relationships between sexual selection, dispersal, and diversification.
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| 9. |
- Lal, S., et al.
(författare)
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Tissue microarray profiling in human heart failure
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proteomics. - : Wiley-VCH Verlagsgesellschaft. - 1615-9853 .- 1615-9861.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tissue MicroArrays (TMAs) are a versatile tool for high-throughput protein screening, allowing qualitative analysis of a large number of samples on a single slide. We have developed a customizable TMA system that uniquely utilizes cryopreserved human cardiac samples from both heart failure and donor patients to produce formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections. Confirmatory upstream or downstream molecular studies can then be performed on the same (biobanked) cryopreserved tissue. In a pilot study, we applied our TMAs to screen for the expression of four-and-a-half LIM-domain 2 (FHL2), a member of the four-and-a-half LIM family. This protein has been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure in a variety of animal models. While FHL2 is abundant in the heart, not much is known about its expression in human heart failure. For this purpose, we generated an affinity-purified rabbit polyclonal anti-human FHL2 antibody. Our TMAs allowed high-throughput profiling of FHL2 protein using qualitative and semiquantitative immunohistochemistry that proved complementary to Western blot analysis. We demonstrated a significant relative reduction in FHL2 protein expression across different forms of human heart failure.
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| 10. |
- Thies, L., et al.
(författare)
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Population and subspecies differentiation in a high latitude breeding wader, the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ardea. - : Netherlands Ornithologists' Union. - 0373-2266. ; 106:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Exploring the patterns of genetic structure in the context of geographical and phenotypic variation is important to understand the evolutionary processes involved in speciation. We investigated population and subspecies differentiation in the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, a high latitude wader that breeds in arctic and temperate zones from northeast Canada across Eurasia to the Russian Far East. Three subspecies, hiaticula, tundrae and psammodromus, are currently widely recognised, whereas a fourth subspecies, kolymensis, has been proposed based on geographic isolation and phenotypic differences. We genotyped 173 samples from eleven Common Ringed Plover breeding sites, representing all four putative subspecies, at eight polymorphic microsatellite loci to examine the patterns of population and subspecies differentiation. Bayesian clustering identified three genetic clusters among samples, corresponding to the breeding sites of the three currently recognised subspecies. The existence of the subspecies kolymensis was not supported. We also detected the presence of a previously unknown hybridisation zone extending from Northern Scandinavia to Belarus. Differentiation of the subspecies tundrae and hiaticula most likely occurred in allopatry on the Eurasian continent during past glaciation events, followed by population expansion leading to colonisation of Iceland and Greenland. The lack of genetic differentiation within the tundrae subspecies is consistent with ongoing range expansion and high gene flow maintained through migratory behaviour. We discuss the importance of historic climate changes, migratory behaviour and mating system on shaping the observed pattern of genetic differentiation.
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