| 1. |
- Allansson, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Overweight and obese children have lower cortisol levels than normal weight children
- 2014
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Ingår i: Acta Paediatrica. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0803-5253 .- 1651-2227. ; 103:3, s. 295-299
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AIM: The stress hormone cortisol is vital to survival, and a disturbed circadian rhythm can be deleterious to health. However, little is known about cortisol levels in healthy children. The aim of this study was to examine cortisol levels in relation to body mass index (BMI), age and sex. METHODS: Salivary samples were collected in early morning, late morning and evening, on four consecutive days, from 342 children aged 6-12years using Salivette((R)) tubes. Samples were analysed using a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA). School nurses measured the children's height and weight, and these measurements were used to calculate their BMI. RESULTS: The children displayed a circadian rhythm in cortisol secretion, with morning zeniths and evening nadirs. Average cortisol levels in early morning, late morning and evening were significantly lower in overweight and obese children than in their normal weight counterparts. Cortisol levels did not vary significantly with age or sex. CONCLUSION: Our findings may suggest cortisol suppression in overweight and obese children. We found no evidence that sex or age influences cortisol levels. These findings highlight the need for further research on the relationship between stress and obesity in children.
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| 2. |
- Carstensen, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Factors regulating the coastal nutrient filter in the Baltic Sea
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 49:6, s. 1194-1210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The coastal zone of the Baltic Sea is diverse with strong regional differences in the physico-chemical setting. This diversity is also reflected in the importance of different biogeochemical processes altering nutrient and organic matter fluxes on the passage from land to sea. This review investigates the most important processes for removal of nutrients and organic matter, and the factors that regulate the efficiency of the coastal filter. Nitrogen removal through denitrification is high in lagoons receiving large inputs of nitrate and organic matter. Phosphorus burial is high in archipelagos with substantial sedimentation, but the stability of different burial forms varies across the Baltic Sea. Organic matter processes are tightly linked to the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. Moreover, these processes are strongly modulated depending on composition of vegetation and fauna. Managing coastal ecosystems to improve the effectiveness of the coastal filter can reduce eutrophication in the open Baltic Sea.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Bernhard, Iréne, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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A digital society for all? : Meanings, practices and policies for digital diversity
- 2019
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2019. - Honolulu, HI, USA. - 9780998133126 ; , s. 3067-3076
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concept of digital divides has been on the agenda in research and policy making for at least the last 20 years. But it is still, a challenge to grasp this concept that is so elusive and transforming. Inclusion, access and equality are still key values for democratic governance and must be addressed in particular when forming and contributing to a digital government. This paper seeks to intervene in current debates on digital divides and digital inclusion by analyzing two cases of responses among street-level public administration in relation to e-government services in Sweden. The case studies are strategically chosen and conducted in national agencies and in local public libraries. Three lines of contributions are discussed, firstly thei mportance to care for equality secondly the need to seethe non-users, and thirdly to discuss the potential of putting focus on digital diversity.
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| 5. |
- Biström, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Epstein-Barr virus infection after adolescence and Human herpesvirus 6A as risk factors for multiple sclerosis
- 2021
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Ingår i: European Journal of Neurology. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 1351-5101 .- 1468-1331. ; 28:2, s. 579-586
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and purpose: Infections with human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) have been linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) development. For EBV, late infection has been proposed as a risk factor, but serological support is lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate how age affects the EBV and HHV-6A associated risks of developing MS.Methods: In this nested case–control study, Swedish biobanks were accessed to find pre-symptomatically collected blood samples from 670 individuals who later developed relapsing MS and 670 matched controls. A bead-based multiplex assay was used to determine serological response against EBV and HHV-6A. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.Results: Seropositivity against EBV exhibited a pattern where associations switched from a decreased risk of developing MS in the group below 20 years of age to an increased risk amongst individuals aged 20–29 and 30–39 years (p for trend 0.020). The age of transition was estimated to be 18.8 years. In contrast, HHV-6A was associated with increased MS risk in all age groups (total cohort odds ratio 2.1, 95% confidence interval 1.6–2.7).Conclusions: This study suggests EBV infection after adolescence and age independent HHV-6A infection as risk factors for MS.
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| 6. |
- Bost, Jeremy P., et al.
(författare)
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Novel endosomolytic compounds enable highly potent delivery of antisense oligonucleotides
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 5:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The therapeutic and research potentials of oligonucleotides (ONs) have been hampered in part by their inability to effectively escape endosomal compartments to reach their cytosolic and nuclear targets. Splice-switching ONs (SSOs) can be used with endosomolytic small molecule compounds to increase functional delivery. So far, development of these compounds has been hindered by a lack of high-resolution methods that can correlate SSO trafficking with SSO activity. Here we present in-depth characterization of two novel endosomolytic compounds by using a combination of microscopic and functional assays with high spatiotemporal resolution. This system allows the visualization of SSO trafficking, evaluation of endosomal membrane rupture, and quantitates SSO functional activity on a protein level in the presence of endosomolytic compounds. We confirm that the leakage of SSO into the cytosol occurs in parallel with the physical engorgement of LAMP1-positive late endosomes and lysosomes. We conclude that the new compounds interfere with SSO trafficking to the LAMP1-positive endosomal compartments while inducing endosomal membrane rupture and concurrent ON escape into the cytosol. The efficacy of these compounds advocates their use as novel, potent, and quick-acting transfection reagents for antisense ONs.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Collin, Sven-Olof Yrjö, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Options are a CEO's best friend : executive compensation in Swedish listed corporations
- 2014
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Ingår i: IUP Journal of Corporate Governance. - : Gale Group. - 0972-6853. ; 13:3, s. 40-71
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ownership influences both the level and composition of executive compensation. The present study examines this by adding identity of the owner and the owner's capacity to create a governance strategy to the traditional ownership concentration measure. Through a test on Swedish corporations listed as on 2008, it is found that the identity of the owner influences the level of compensation, and the concentration of ownership negatively influences the propensity to use options. This is interpreted as a sign that options are not so much an incentive instrument, aligning the CEO's interest with the absent owners' interest, but more of a recruitment instrument and an indication of CEO strength
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Elias, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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Governance: att styra med insikt snarare än avsikt. : en studie om flernivåstyrning och sektorssamverkan i Göteborg och Malmö
- 2011
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna skrift diskuterar aktiviteter i och resultat av ett pilotprojekt inom Mistra Urban Futures, kallat Multi-level governance. Pilotprojektets fokus har varit flernivåstyrning eller, vilket kommer att diskuteras senare, kanske snarare sektorssamverkan. Mistra Urban Futures (fortsättningsvis MURF) är ett transdisciplinärt kunskapscenter, lokaliserat i Göteborg sedan 2010. Centret är ett konsortium med Mistra som huvudfinansiär, men där även SIDA, Göteborgs Stad, Chalmers, Göteborgs universitet, Västra Götalandsregionen, Länsstyrelsen Västra Götaland, Göteborgskommunens kommunalförbund och IVL Svenska Miljöinstitutet står för både finansiering och kunskapande. Kunskapscentret är således uppbyggt både av forskningsmiljöer och förvaltningar och myndigheter som på olika vis praktiskt arbetar med att genomföra hållbar urban utveckling. Centrets första år har präglats av en sökande verksamhet med olika öppna workshops och föreläsningar, med syfte att generera input till de kunskapsprojekt som skall prägla verksamheten under det kommande knappa decenniet. Pilotprojekten har varit fem stycken till antalet och har fokuserat olika problem eller möjligheter för hållbar urban utveckling, exempelvis klimatförändringar, medborgarinflytande och näringslivsfrågor. Pilotprojekten, som pågick mellan april 2010 till och med slutet av 2011, har inledningsvis tjänat som centrets huvudsakliga processer avseende input till den framtida kunskapande verksamheten.1 Varje pilotprojekt har haft ett delat ledarskap, med en forskare och en praktiker, som tillsammans lett en arbetsgrupp huvudsakligen – men inte uteslutande – bestående av representanter från konsortiets parter. Även arbetsgrupperna har varit bemannade av såväl forskare som praktiker. Utgångspunkten för detta är att Mistra Urban Futures har ett transdisciplinärt kunskapande som en grundläggande utgångspunkt.2 I MURF uttrycks detta allmänt som att alla är kunskapsbärare och att alla är kunskapsproducenter. Vetenskaplig kunskap och praktisk kunskap skall i det här sammanhanget arbeta tillsammans. Det är den förutsättningar för att skapa hållbar urban utveckling. I projektgruppen för det pilotprojekt som avrapporteras i denna skrift, har Lars Lilled (Göteborgs Stad, Social resursförvaltning/S2020), Kerstin Elias Göteborgsregionens kommunalförbund (GR) och White), Elin Johansson (Länsstyrelsen Västra Götaland och Kungsbacka kommun), Jan Gustafsson (Trafikverket), Ylva Löf (Göteborgs Stad, Stadsbyggnadskontoret och GR) och Magnus Johansson (Malmö högskola, institutionen för urbana studier och institutet för hållbar stadsutveckling (ISU)) deltagit vid sidan av projektledarna Joakim Forsemalm (Göteborgs universitet, Göteborg Research Institute och Radar Arkitektur och Planering) och Stig Montin (Göteborgs- och Örebros universitet).
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| 12. |
- Engdahl, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Increased Serological Response Against Human Herpesvirus 6A Is Associated With Risk for Multiple Sclerosis
- 2019
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-3224. ; 10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human herpesvirus (HHV)-6A or HHV-6B involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS) etiology has remained controversial mainly due to the lack of serological methods that can distinguish the two viruses. A novel multiplex serological assay measuring IgG reactivity against the immediate-early protein 1 from HHV-6A (IE1A) and HHV-6B (IE1B) was used in a MS cohort (8,742 persons with MS and 7,215 matched controls), and a pre-MS cohort (478 individuals and 476 matched controls) to investigate this further. The IgG response against IE1A was positively associated with MS (OR = 1.55, p = 9 × 10-22), and increased risk of future MS (OR = 2.22, p = 2 × 10-5). An interaction was observed between IE1A and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibody responses for MS risk (attributable proportion = 0.24, p = 6 × 10-6). In contrast, the IgG response against IE1B was negatively associated with MS (OR = 0.74, p = 6 × 10-11). The association did not differ between MS subtypes or vary with severity of disease. The genetic control of HHV-6A/B antibody responses were located to the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) region and the strongest association for IE1A was the DRB1*13:01-DQA1*01:03-DQB1*06:03 haplotype while the main association for IE1B was DRB1*13:02-DQA1*01:02-DQB1*06:04. In conclusion a role for HHV-6A in MS etiology is supported by an increased serological response against HHV-6A IE1 protein, an interaction with EBV, and an association to HLA genes.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Eveborn, David, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Phosphorus in soil treatment systems : accumulation and mobility
- 2014
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Ingår i: Water Research. - : Elsevier. - 0043-1354 .- 1879-2448. ; 64, s. 42-52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In several western countries, septic tanks with subsequent soil treatment systems (STS) are a common treatment technique for domestic wastewater in rural areas. However the suitability of STS (especially relatively close to surface waters) can be questioned since the discharge of phosphorus (P) from such effluents is not well known. In this study, six STS in Sweden (11 to 28 years old) were investigated by means of batch and column experiments on samples taken from the unsaturated subsoil beneath the distribution pipes. At all sites the wastewater had clearly influenced the soil. This was observed through decreased pH, increased amounts of oxalate extractable metals and altered P sorption properties. The amount of accumulated P in the STS (defined as the amount of total P in the STS samples minus the amount of total P in unused soil samples) were found to be between 0.32 and 0.87 kg m-3, which in most cases was just a small fraction of the estimated P load (< 30%). Column studies revealed that remarkably high P concentrations (up to 6 mg L-1) were leached from the material when deionized water was applied. However, the response to deionized water varied between the sites. The affinity for P in the soils was well correlated to the amount of oxalate-extractable aluminium (as evidenced by a strong relationship between oxalate-extractable Al and oxalate-extractable P) and generally soils with high content of oxalate extractable Al was also less vulnerable to P leakage.
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| 15. |
- Fjellman, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Ungas politiska (icke-)deltagande på sociala medier – hellre offline?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Sociologisk Forskning. - : Sveriges Sociologförbund. - 0038-0342 .- 2002-066X. ; 55:2-3, s. 293-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the Swedish general election in 2018, social media is expected to play a major role for young people, since social media is their most important source for news and communication. This qualitative interview and focus group study analyses attitudes to political participation in social media of 110 Swedish young persons. Using an explorative perspective, this study offers empirical results, based on the attitudes of politically active as well as inactive participants, that partially contradict the existing body of research in the field. Results indicate that the participation divide, described in previous studies, is not as clear cut. It has been assumed that the politically confident young persons are more active in social media whereas the unconfident remain passive. However, our results indicate that such divides cut through the most confident and unconfident groups. Even some of the most active young people in the study state that they refrain from participating in social media. The study also shows that politically active individuals experience social pressure to participate in social media.
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| 16. |
- Forsemalm, Joakim, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Governance - att styra med insikt snarare än avsikt
- 2011
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna skrift diskuterar aktiviteter i och resultat av ett pilotprojekt inom Mistra Urban Futures, kallat Multi-level governance. Pilotprojektets fokus har varit flernivåstyrning, eller snarare sektorssamverkan. Att hålla historien om samverkansprocessen levande, att den bör få ett tydligt slut och att samlas kring ett varumärke är några av de faktorer för framgångsrikt samarbete och lärande som projektet identifierat. Men hjälp av detta samt övriga identifierade faktorer hoppas man lättare kunna bemöta komplexiteten i frågorna kring hållbar stadsutveckling som är en stor utmaning för lokal och regional politik samt förvaltning eftersom olika former av samverkan ofta ses som centrala för att möta denna utmaning.
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| 17. |
- Garcia, Fredrik, 1986-
(författare)
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Lokal demokrati på distans : vem tar ordet när fullmäktige blir digitala?
- 2022
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis studies the differences between analogue and digital council meetings in how they are organized and how speaking times are distributed between men and women, and hard and soft issues. The study is based on Swedish municipal council meetings, which share similar features with national parliamentary meetings and seek legitimacy through meetings and debate. Perspectives on meeting sites and components are combined with a time perspective on parliamentary activity, where women's representation and formal meeting procedures are set in focus. By studying video recordings of six council meetings in three municipalities, time is used to measure components of three analogue and three digital meetings. Measures of relative speaking time or speech duration are constructed and applied to meeting structure and how women and men spend their speaking time. Findings indicate that the roles of meeting secretaries and chairmen changed when faced with new digital challenges. The meeting formality decreased in the digital meetings, which is in line with previous research. Women generally accounted for a smaller proportion of speaking time in relation to their numerical representation. They spent more of their speaking time debating soft issues, such as social care, while men spent more of their speaking time debating hard issues, such as economy and infrastructure. The findings are in line with previous research on the policy areas with which women and men most engage. In the digital meetings, differences between men and women where still observed, but less noticeable. This could be interpreted as the digital format having potential benefits for women's representation in certain circumstances. The findings have implications for the understanding on how digital parliamentary meetings strive to create legitimacy. However, more research is needed to be able to generalize beyond the specific context of this study and to understand the mechanisms that can explain differences between men's and women's speaking time. The contribution of the thesis lies primarily in the development of a new method for measuring speaking time which, in relation to previous research, presents greater robustness from a reliability and validity perspective.
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| 18. |
- Grahn, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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New crystal structures of human glutathione transferase A1-1 shed light on glutathione binding and the conformation of the C-terminal helix.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. - 0907-4449. ; 62:Pt 2, s. 197-207
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human glutathione transferase A1-1 is a well studied enzyme, but despite a wealth of structural and biochemical data a number of aspects of its catalytic function are still poorly understood. Here, five new crystal structures of this enzyme are described that provide several insights. Firstly, the structure of a complex of the wild-type human enzyme with glutathione was determined for the first time at 2.0 angstroms resolution. This reveals that glutathione binds in the G site in a very similar fashion as the glutathione portion of substrate analogues in other structures and also that glutathione binding alone is sufficient to stabilize the C-terminal helix of the protein. Secondly, we have studied the complex with a decarboxylated glutathione conjugate that is known to dramatically decrease the activity of the enzyme. The T68E mutant of human glutathione transferase A1-1 recovers some of the activity that is lost with the decarboxylated glutathione, but our structures of this mutant show that none of the earlier explanations of this phenomenon are likely to be correct. Thirdly, and serendipitously, the apo structures also reveal the conformation of the crucial C-terminal region that is disordered in all previous apo structures. The C-terminal region can adopt an ordered helix-like structure even in the apo state, but shows a strong tendency to unwind. Different conformations of the C-terminal regions were observed in the apo states of the two monomers, which suggests that cooperativity could play a role in the activity of the enzyme.
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| 19. |
- Guldevall, Karolin, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Microchip screening platform for assessment of cytotoxic effector cells
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Here we report a screening platform for assessment of the cytotoxic potential of individual natural killer (NK) or T cells within larger populations. Human primary NK cells or human Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)- specific T cells were distributed across a silicon-glass microchip containing 32 400 individual microwells loaded with target cells. Through fluorescence screening and automated image analysis the numbers of effector and live or dead target cells in each well could be assessed at different time-points after initial mixing. Cytotoxicity was also studied by time-lapse live-cell imaging in microwells quantifying the killing potential of individual NK cells. Although most resting NK cells (≈75%) were non-cytotoxic to the leukemia cell line K562, some NK cells were able to kill several (≥3) target cells within the 12 hours long experiment. We demonstrate that this assay can be used to enumerate and characterize cytotoxic cells, something that could find clinical applications, e.g. in the selection of donors for stem cell transplantation or generation of highly specific and cytotoxic cells for adoptive immunotherapy.
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| 20. |
- Guldevall, Karolin, et al.
(författare)
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Microchip screening Platform for single cell assessment of NK cell cytotoxicity
- 2016
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : FRONTIERS MEDIA SA. - 1664-3224. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here, we report a screening platform for assessment of the cytotoxic potential of individual natural killer (NK) cells within larger populations. Human primary NK cells were distributed across a silicon-glass microchip containing 32,400 individual microwells loaded with target cells. Through fluorescence screening and automated image analysis, the numbers of NK and live or dead target cells in each well could be assessed at different time points after initial mixing. Cytotoxicity was also studied by time-lapse live-cell imaging in microwells quantifying the killing potential of individual NK cells. Although most resting NK cells (approximate to 75%) were non-cytotoxic against the leukemia cell line K562, some NK cells were able to kill several (>= 3) target cells within the 12-h long experiment. In addition, the screening approach was adapted to increase the chance to find and evaluate serial killing NK cells. Even if the cytotoxic potential varied between donors, it was evident that a small fraction of highly cytotoxic NK cells were responsible for a substantial portion of the killing. We demonstrate multiple assays where our platform can be used to enumerate and characterize cytotoxic cells, such as NK or T cells. This approach could find use in clinical applications, e.g., in the selection of donors for stem cell transplantation or generation of highly specific and cytotoxic cells for adoptive immunotherapy.
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| 21. |
- Gunnarsson, Carina, et al.
(författare)
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Utvinning av högvärdiga komponenter för förbättrad värdekedja för vall till etanol och bioolja
- 2022
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Grass-clover ley holds an importance role for a sustainable crop production and is mainly used as feed for ruminants. But ley also contains proteins, if extracted, suitable for monogastric animals such as pigs and poultry. If these proteins are extracted, the degree of self-sufficiency of proteins in Sweden can increase and better resource utilization is achieved. In this study we evaluated the utilization of fresh and ensiled grass-clover ley in a straw-based agricultural biorefinery for producing protein concentrate, ethanol, bio-oil and biogas.Practical lab scale tests of extraction of high value components for food and feed applications from the liquid fraction after ley pressing were carried out. Pretreatments of the solid fraction prior to ethanol fermentation, bio-oil production using HTL (hydrothermal liquefaction) and biogas production were tested. The system for production and supply of the ley was described and the potential for increased ley production in Sweden was quantified. The environmental and economic efficiency of the proposed biorefinery system was evaluated using environmental systems analysis and technoeconomic assessment.In terms of system profitability, a high protein yield in the extracted protein concentrate it is important. To achieve that, a thorough pre-treatment using mechanical biomass disintegration before fractioning is crucial. This may need to be done in several steps. Screw pressing is a common technique for fractionating ley into a liquid and solid fraction. Double pressing combined with enzymatic treatments or only water addition during the second pressing stage were found to increase the protein yield compared to single pressing. Second pressing had no effect on the amino acid profile of the protein concentrate.After pressing fresh ley, heat coagulation or isoelectric precipitation can be used to precipitate protein concentrates in one- or two-step processes to produce protein fractions with different functional properties. Tests showed that it is possible to recover chlorophyll and carotenoids from the ley using supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. which is a suitable method for food applications as toxic organic solvents can be avoided. The ensiling process degrades the protein into smaller peptides or free amino acids which makes ensiled grass less suitable for protein recovery by heat coagulation or isoelectric precipitation. Fresh and ensiled timothy and meadow fescue showed a similar amino acid profile as soybeans.The initial hypothesis that mechanical pressing may disintegrate the lignocellulosic structure of ley sufficiently to produce a sugar stream with a high concentration of sugar for further fermentation by enzymatic hydrolysis was not confirmed. The content of sugars released after the enzymatic hydrolysis was relatively low. The fibre fraction after the mechanical pressing can be suitable for ethanol production if an additional pretreatment method will be incorporated. Fermentation of pressed and steam-exploded ensiled mixed ley showed promising results. The bio-oils produced with the HTL-process were described of high quality, i.e., high carbon content and low ash content. Although, the obtained materials are not directly integrable in today's refineries, the ensiling did not seem to affect the material's potential for biofuel production. The methane potential tests that were carried out in the project of the liquid residual fraction after protein extraction and after the HTL process showed that both can be suitable for methane production, but they showed great behavior differences.The results from the environmental system analysis showed that extraction of high-quality products from ley, straw and sawdust according to the studied system reduces climate impact (CO2 eq) when the use of ethanol, bio-oil and biogas replaces fossil fuels, protein concentrate replaces soy as feed and carbon dioxide replaces fossil carbon dioxide. At present, the climate impact from extracted protein concentrate is higher than for soybean meal. Grass source for protein extraction followed by ethanol and bio-oil production as an alternative to straw-based ethanol and bio-oil production did not seem to improve the profitability of the studied biorefinery system. Profitability may be improved if protein extraction is performed the whole all year and not seasonal. Higher prices of the extracted protein concentrate may also improve profitability.The potential for increased grassland cultivation in Sweden for biorefining was estimated at approximately 3.4 million tonnes grass per year. This included incorporating grassland in the crop rotation in grain-dominated areas, intensification of existing grassland cultivation, utilization of fallow and abandoned arable land for grassland cultivation.Based on the results and the experience acquired from this project, we suggest an extraction plant for grass-clover ley that operates for both fresh and ensiled grassland all year. The plant needs to be supplemented with more advanced technologies such as membrane filtration for the extraction of amino acids from the ensiled ley during the winter season. The protein extraction plants should be located near farms. The extraction plant is also suggested to be located together with a biogas plant to enable co-digesting residual fractions with manure. Thereby, enabling plant nutrients and minerals in digestate to be returned to arable land. Utilizing the solid fiber fraction for biofuel production with fermentation and HTL in large-scale processes remains promising.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Gustafsson, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Anterograde delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor to striatum via nigral transduction of recombinant adeno-associated virus increases neuronal death but promotes neurogenic response following stroke.
- 2003
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Ingår i: European Journal of Neuroscience. - : Wiley. - 1460-9568 .- 0953-816X. ; 17:12, s. 2667-2678
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- o explore the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor for survival and generation of striatal neurons after stroke, recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors carrying brain-derived neurotrophic factor or green fluorescent protein genes were injected into right rat substantia nigra 4–5 weeks prior to 30 min ipsilateral of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor–recombinant adeno-associated viral transduction markedly increased the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein by nigral cells. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor was transported anterogradely to the striatum and released in biologically active form, as revealed by the hypertrophic response of striatal neuropeptide Y-positive interneurons. Animals transduced with brain-derived neurotrophic factor-recombinant adeno-associated virus also exhibited abnormalities in body posture and movements, including tilted body to the right, choreiform movements of left forelimb and head, and spontaneous, so-called 'barrel' rotation along their long axis. The continuous delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor had no effect on the survival of striatal projection neurons after stroke, but exaggerated the loss of cholinergic, and parvalbumin- and neuropeptide Y-positive, γ-aminobutyric acid-ergic interneurons. The high brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in the animals subjected to stroke also gave rise to an increased number of striatal cells expressing doublecortin, a marker for migrating neuroblasts, and cells double-labelled with the mitotic marker, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-5'monophosphate, and early neuronal (Hu) or striatal neuronal (Meis2) markers. Our findings indicate that long-term anterograde delivery of high levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor increases the vulnerability of striatal interneurons to stroke-induced damage. Concomitantly, brain-derived neurotrophic factor potentiates the stroke-induced neurogenic response, at least at early stages.
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| 24. |
- Gustafsson, Elin
(författare)
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Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in cerebral ischemia: a quantitative study on surviving and newly formed neurons
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study explores the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) for neuronal vulnerability and neurogenesis following cerebral ischemia in the rat. Cerebral ischemia results in selective neuronal cell loss in specific brain regions. We here demonstrate the rank order of vulnerability in two regions affected by global forebrain ischemia, i.e., hippocampus and striatum, by combining specific immunocytochemical markers and stereological quantification methods. Furthermore, we found that the resistant cholinergic striatal interneurons increased their expression of the neurotrophin receptors p75NTR and TrkA, indicating a role for the neurotrophins for the cholinergic interneurons high resistance. By scavenging BDNF from the tissue we demonstrate that endogenous BDNF is neuroprotective for hippocampal CA4 pyramidal cells and NPY-positive hilar interneurons, and for striatal cholinergic interneurons. In contrast, when elevating the striatal BDNF levels by increasing the continuous anterograde transport from substantia nigra, we caused an increased vulnerability of NPY- and parvalbumin-immunoreactive as well as the cholinergic striatal interneurons. To explore the role of BDNF in ischemia-induced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus, we transduced the hilus with a viral BDNF vector. The increased levels of BDNF resulted in a halted ischemia-induced neuronal differentiation in the dentate gyrus (DG), without affecting the survival of newly formed cells. To study this further, we scavenged BDNF from the hilus. The decreased levels of endogenous BDNF caused an increased number of newly formed neurons following the ischemic insult, demonstrating that both exogenous and endogenous BDNF can counteract the neuronal differentiation step. On the contrary, increasing the levels of BDNF via induced anterograde transport from the substantia nigra promoted stroke-induced neurogenesis in the striatum. Taken together these data reveal a remarkable diversity of BDNF in hippocampal and striatal cellular plasticity following cerebral ischemia.
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| 25. |
- Gustafsson, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Intraventricular Infusion of TrkB-Fc Fusion Protein Promotes Ischemia-Induced Neurogenesis in Adult Rat Dentate Gyrus.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Stroke: a journal of cerebral circulation. - 1524-4628. ; 34:11, s. 2710-2715
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and Purpose-We have previously shown that delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through direct intrahippocampal gene transduction with a viral vector suppresses the formation of new dentate granule cells triggered by global forebrain ischemia. Here, we investigated whether inhibition of endogenous BDNF alters ischemia-induced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. Methods-Rats were subjected to 30 minutes of global forebrain ischemia and then received intraventricular infusion of either the BDNF scavenger, TrkB-Fc fusion protein, or control Hu-Fc for 2 weeks. In parallel, all animals were injected intraperitoneally with the mitosis marker 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate (BrdU). Animals were killed at 2 or 6 weeks after the ischemic insult, and neurogenesis was then assessed immunocytochemically with epifluorescence or confocal microscopy. Results-Infusion of TrkB-Fc fusion protein gave rise to elevated numbers of ischemia-generated new neurons, double-labeled with BrdU and the early neuronal marker Hu or the mature neuronal marker NeuN, in the dentate subgranular zone and granule cell layer at 2 and 6 weeks after the insult. Conclusions-Our findings provide evidence that endogenous BDNF counteracts neuronal differentiation, but not cell proliferation or survival, in ischemia-induced dentate gyrus neurogenesis.
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