| 1. |
- Rixen, C., et al.
(författare)
-
Winters are changing: snow effects on Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Arctic Science. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 2368-7460. ; 8:3, s. 572-608
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Snow is an important driver of ecosystem processes in cold biomes. Snow accumulation determines ground temperature, light conditions, and moisture availability during winter. It also affects the growing season's start and end, and plant access to moisture and nutrients. Here, we review the current knowledge of the snow cover's role for vegetation, plant-animal interactions, permafrost conditions, microbial processes, and biogeochemical cycling. We also compare studies of natural snow gradients with snow experimental manipulation studies to assess time scale difference of these approaches. The number of tundra snow studies has increased considerably in recent years, yet we still lack a comprehensive overview of how altered snow conditions will affect these ecosystems. Specifically, we found a mismatch in the timing of snowmelt when comparing studies of natural snow gradients with snow manipulations. We found that snowmelt timing achieved by snow addition and snow removal manipulations (average 7.9 days advance and 5.5 days delay, respectively) were substantially lower than the temporal variation over natural spatial gradients within a given year (mean range 56 days) or among years (mean range 32 days). Differences between snow study approaches need to be accounted for when projecting snow dynamics and their impact on ecosystems in future climates.
|
|
| 2. |
- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(författare)
-
TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
|
|
| 3. |
- Muehlenbein, MP, et al.
(författare)
-
Traveller exposures to animals: a GeoSentinel analysis
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of travel medicine. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1708-8305 .- 1195-1982. ; 27:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundHuman coexistence with other animals can result in both intentional and unintentional contact with a variety of mammalian and non-mammalian species. International travellers are at risk for such encounters; travellers risk injury, infection and possibly death from domestic and wild animal bites, scratches, licks and other exposures. The aim of the present analysis was to understand the diversity and distribution of animal-related exposures among international travellers.MethodsData from January 2007 through December 2018 from the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network were reviewed. Records were included if the exposure was non-migration travel with a diagnosis of an animal (dog, cat, monkey, snake or other) bite or other exposure (non-bite); records were excluded if the region of exposure was not ascertainable or if another, unrelated acute diagnosis was reported.ResultsA total of 6470 animal exposures (bite or non-bite) were included. The majority (71%) occurred in Asia. Travellers to 167 countries had at least one report of an animal bite or non-bite exposure. The majority (76%) involved dogs, monkeys and cats, although a wide range of wild and domestic species were involved. Almost two-thirds (62.6%) of 4395 travellers with information available did not report a pretravel consultation with a healthcare provider.ConclusionsMinimizing bites and other animal exposures requires education (particularly during pretravel consultations) and behavioral modification. These should be supplemented by the use of pre-exposure rabies vaccination for travellers to high-risk countries (especially to those with limited access to rabies immunoglobulin), as well as encouragement of timely (in-country) post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies and Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (herpesvirus B) when warranted.
|
|
| 4. |
- Jespersen, S., et al.
(författare)
-
HIV treatment in Guinea-Bissau : room for improvement and time for new treatment options
- 2020
-
Ingår i: AIDS Research and Therapy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1742-6405. ; 17:1
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite advances in the treatment quality of HIV throughout the world, several countries are still facing numerous obstacles in delivering HIV treatment at a sufficiently high quality, putting patients' lives in jeopardy. The aim of this status article is to give an overview of HIV treatment outcomes in the West African country, Guinea-Bissau, and to assess how newer treatment strategies such as long-acting injectable drugs or an HIV cure may limit or stop the HIV epidemic in this politically unstable and low-resource setting. Several HIV cohorts in Guinea-Bissau have been established and are used as platforms for epidemiological, virological, immunological and clinical studies often with a special focus on HIV-2, which is prevalent in the country. The Bandim Health Project, a demographic surveillance site, has performed epidemiological HIV surveys since 1987 among an urban population in the capital Bissau. The Police cohort, an occupational cohort of police officers, has enabled analyses of persons seroconverting with estimated times of seroconversion among HIV-1 and HIV-2-infected individuals, allowing incidence measurements while the Bissau HIV Cohort and a newer Nationwide HIV Cohort have provided clinical data on large numbers of HIV-infected patients. The HIV cohorts in Guinea-Bissau are unique platforms for research and represent real life in many African countries. Poor adherence, lack of HIV viral load measurements, inadequate laboratory facilities, high rates of loss to follow-up, mortality, treatment failure and resistance development, are just some of the challenges faced putting the goal of "90-90-90″ for Guinea-Bissau well out of reach by 2020. Maintaining undetectable viral loads on treatment as a prerequisite of a cure strategy seems not possible at the moment. Thinking beyond one-pill-once-a-day, long-acting antiretroviral treatment options such as injectable drugs or implants may be a better treatment option in settings like Guinea-Bissau and may even pave the way for an HIV cure. If the delivery of antiretroviral treatment in sub-Saharan Africa in a sustainable way for the future should be improved by focusing on existing treatment options or through focusing on new treatment options remains to be determined.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Abramson, Alex, et al.
(författare)
-
Oral delivery of systemic monoclonal antibodies, peptides and small molecules using gastric auto-injectors
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Nature Biotechnology. - : Springer Nature. - 1087-0156 .- 1546-1696. ; 40:1, s. 103-109
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oral administration provides a simple and non-invasive approach for drug delivery. However, due to poor absorption and swift enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, a wide range of molecules must be parenterally injected to attain required doses and pharmacokinetics. Here we present an orally dosed liquid auto-injector capable of delivering up to 4-mg doses of a bioavailable drug with the rapid pharmacokinetics of an injection, reaching an absolute bioavailability of up to 80% and a maximum plasma drug concentration within 30 min after dosing. This approach improves dosing efficiencies and pharmacokinetics an order of magnitude over our previously designed injector capsules and up to two orders of magnitude over clinically available and preclinical chemical permeation enhancement technologies. We administered the capsules to swine for delivery of clinically relevant doses of four commonly injected medications, including adalimumab, a GLP-1 analog, recombinant human insulin and epinephrine. These multi-day dosing experiments and oral administration in awake animal models support the translational potential of the system.
|
|
| 7. |
- Cea, B., et al.
(författare)
-
Development and Evaluation of an Innovative Method Based on Dilution to Sample Solid and Condensable Fractions of Particles Emitted by Residential Wood Combustion
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Energy & Fuels. - : American Chemical Society. - 0887-0624 .- 1520-5029. ; 35:23, s. 19705-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An innovative and simple method based on dilution, named as the dilution chamber (DC), allowing the measurement of solid and condensable fractions of particulate matter emitted by residential wood combustion appliances has been developed, and its performances have been evaluated. The DC method was then tested by five European institutes (Ineris, ISSI/ENEA, DTI, and RISE) on advanced residential wood log/pellet stoves, under nominal output and low output combustion conditions and using different fuel types. The aim of the study was to evaluate the capability of the DC method to collect the condensable fraction. The DC method was compared with another manual method used to collect the solid and condensable fractions at the same time, the dilution tunnel (DT), on four sampling platforms. A third method, a combining heated filter and impinger filled in with isopropanol collection (SPC-IPA), was also used by Ineris only for comparison with the DC method. PM measurements based on the DC method globally showed a linear correlation with PM measurements based on DT (R2 ranged between 0.81 and 0.99, p < 0.05) specifically for the residential wood stoves under low output conditions when the condensable fraction contributes the most. An analysis and quantification of PAHs related to the total mass of PM of samples taken by the DC method and performed by ENEA/ISSI showed that it produces a condensation effect of semivolatile species comparable or even greater than the DT method. PM emission factors calculated from PM measurements based on the DC method were (i) about 2- to 20-fold higher for the residential wood stoves (EF ranged between 201 to 2420 g GJ-1) compared to those obtained for the residential pellet stoves (EF ranged between 108 to 556 g GJ-1) and (ii) of the same magnitude of PM emission factors from the literature or the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Fraboulet, I., et al.
(författare)
-
European inter-comparison campaigns on pm and OGCS atmospheric emissions test methods from residential wood combustion using a stack simulator generating real biomass combustion gases
- 2020
-
Ingår i: European Biomass Conference and Exhibition Proceedings. - : ETA-Florence Renewable Energies. ; , s. 812-816
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The 20/20/20 target for Europe, will lead to an increased use of biomass combustion, e.g. using wood logs and wood pellets. On the other hand, the Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) lies down stringent requirements on maximum levels of particulate matter (PM) in the ambient air. Domestic wood combustion emits particulate matter (PM) which are of concern to authorities and the public. Several different methods of PM measurements have historically been used to perform type testing of solid fuelled residential appliances and boilers. This method shall give repeatable results that are of a guaranteed traceable accuracy, and by this means give the consumer reliable information on the suitability of a particular appliance or boiler. One of the main methods used in Europe consists of sampling the solid fraction of aerosols using a heated filter, this method does not include the collection of the condensable fraction, OGC measurements are performed using FID method.The aim of this work carried out within the EMPIR IMPRESS2 Project was to evaluate the performances of this method by performing intercomparisons using a stack simulator generating real biomass combustion gases.
|
|
| 10. |
- Gunst, Jesper D., et al.
(författare)
-
Efficacy of the TMPRSS2 inhibitor camostat mesilate in patients hospitalized with Covid-19-a double-blind randomized controlled trial
- 2021
-
Ingår i: eClinicalMedicine. - : Elsevier. - 2589-5370. ; 35
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The trans-membrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) is essential for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cell entry and infection. Efficacy and safety of TMPRSS2 inhibitors in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) have not been evaluated in randomized trials.Methods: We conducted an investigator-initiated, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter trial in patients hospitalized with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from April 4, to December 31, 2020. Within 48 h of admission, participants were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive the TMPRSS2 inhibitor camostat mesilate 200 mg three times daily for 5 days or placebo. The primary outcome was time to discharge or clinical improvement measured as ≥2 points improvement on a 7-point ordinal scale. Other outcomes included 30-day mortality, safety and change in oropharyngeal viral load. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04321096. EudraCT Number: 2020-001,200-42.Findings: 137 patients were assigned to receive camostat mesilate and 68 to placebo. Median time to clinical improvement was 5 days (interquartile range [IQR], 3 to 7) in the camostat group and 5 days (IQR, 2 to 10) in the placebo group (P = 0·31). The hazard ratio for 30-day mortality in the camostat compared with the placebo group was 0·82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0·24 to 2·79; P = 0·75). The frequency of adverse events was similar in the two groups. Median change in viral load from baseline to day 5 in the camostat group was -0·22 log10 copies/mL (p <0·05) and -0·82 log10 in the placebo group (P <0·05).Interpretation: Under this protocol, camostat mesilate treatment was not associated with increased adverse events during hospitalization for Covid-19 and did not affect time to clinical improvement, progression to ICU admission or mortality.
|
|
