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| 2. |
- Torrens, J., et al.
(författare)
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Advancing urban transitions and transformations research
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. - : Elsevier. - 2210-4224. ; 41, s. 102-105
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Urban transitions and transformations research fosters a dialogue between sustainability transitions theory an inter- and transdisciplinary research on urban change. As a field, urban transitions and transformations research encompasses plural analytical and conceptual perspectives. In doing so, this field opens up sustainability transitions research to new communities of practice in urban environments, including mayors, transnational municipal networks, and international organizations.
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| 3. |
- Aghaei, Mohammadreza, et al.
(författare)
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Collective Intelligence for Energy Flexibility - Collectief : An EU H2020 Project for Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Flexibility in Existing Buildings
- 2023
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Ingår i: 2023 International Conference on Future Energy Solutions, FES 2023. - 9798350332308
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- COLLECTiEF (Collective Intelligence for Energy Flexibility) is an EU-funded H2020 project running from June 2021 to May 2025. COLLECTiEF aims to enhance, implement, test, and evaluate an interoperable and saleable energy management system based on collective intelligence that allows easy and seamless integration of legacy equipment into a collaborative network within and between existing buildings and urban energy systems with reduced installation cost, data transfer, and computational power while increasing user comfort, energy flexibility, climate resilience, and data security. To achieve this goal, the COLLECTiEF solution requires the development of software and hardware packages to smart up buildings and their legacy equipment on a large scale while maintaining simple and robust communication with the energy grid. Here, we present the project concept, structure, objectives, and working packages. Furthermore, the main progress and achievements obtained during the first two years of the project are presented.
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| 4. |
- Barceló, Isabel M., et al.
(författare)
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Filling knowledge gaps related to AmpC-dependent β-lactam resistance in Enterobacter cloacae
- 2024
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Enterobacter cloacae starred different pioneer studies that enabled the development of a widely accepted model for the peptidoglycan metabolism-linked regulation of intrinsic class C cephalosporinases, highly conserved in different Gram-negatives. However, some mechanistic and fitness/virulence-related aspects of E. cloacae choromosomal AmpC-dependent resistance are not completely understood. The present study including knockout mutants, β-lactamase cloning, gene expression analysis, characterization of resistance phenotypes, and the Galleria mellonella infection model fills these gaps demonstrating that: (i) AmpC enzyme does not show any collateral activity impacting fitness/virulence; (ii) AmpC hyperproduction mediated by ampD inactivation does not entail any biological cost; (iii) alteration of peptidoglycan recycling alone or combined with AmpC hyperproduction causes no attenuation of E. cloacae virulence in contrast to other species; (iv) derepression of E. cloacae AmpC does not follow a stepwise dynamics linked to the sequential inactivation of AmpD amidase homologues as happens in Pseudomonas aeruginosa; (v) the enigmatic additional putative AmpC-type β-lactamase generally present in E. cloacae does not contribute to the classical cephalosporinase hyperproduction-based resistance, having a negligible impact on phenotypes even when hyperproduced from multicopy vector. This study reveals interesting particularities in the chromosomal AmpC-related behavior of E. cloacae that complete the knowledge on this top resistance mechanism.
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| 5. |
- Barceló, Isabel M., et al.
(författare)
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Role of enzymatic activity in the biological cost associated with the production of ampC b-lactamases in pseudomonas aeruginosa
- 2022
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Ingår i: Microbiology Spectrum. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 2165-0497. ; 10:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the current scenario of growing antibiotic resistance, understanding the interplay between resistance mechanisms and biological costs is crucial for designing therapeutic strategies. In this regard, intrinsic AmpC β-lactamase hyperproduction is probably themost important resistancemechanismof Pseudomonas aeruginosa, proven to entail important biological burdens that attenuate virulence mostly under peptidoglycan recycling alterations. P. aeruginosa can acquire resistance to new β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (ceftazidime-avibactam and ceftolozane-tazobactam) through mutations affecting ampC and its regulatory genes, but the impact of these mutations on the associated biological cost and the role that β-lactamase activity plays per se in contributing to the above-mentioned virulence attenuation are unknown. The same questions remain unsolved for plasmid-encoded AmpC-type β-lactamases such as FOX enzymes, some of which also provide resistance to new β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitor combinations. Here, we assessed from different perspectives the effects of changes in the active center and, thus, in the hydrolytic spectrum resistance to inhibitors of AmpC-type β-lactamases on the fitness and virulence of P. aeruginosa, using site-directed mutagenesis; the previously described AmpC variants T96I, G183D, and ΔG229-E247; and, finally, blaFOX-4 versus blaFOX-8. Our results indicate the essential role of AmpC activity per se in causing the reported full virulence attenuation (in terms of growth, motility, cytotoxicity, and Galleria mellonella larvae killing), although the biological cost of the above-mentioned AmpC-type variants was similar to that of the wild-type enzymes. This suggests that there is not an important biological burden that may limit the selection/spread of these variants, which could progressively compromise the future effectiveness of the above-mentioned drug combinations.
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| 6. |
- Barceló, Isabel M., et al.
(författare)
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Transferable AmpCs in Klebsiella pneumoniae : interplay with peptidoglycan recycling, mechanisms of hyperproduction, and virulence implications
- 2024
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Ingår i: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 0066-4804 .- 1098-6596. ; 68:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chromosomal and transferable AmpC β-lactamases represent top resistance mechanisms in different gram-negatives, but knowledge regarding the latter, mostly concerning regulation and virulence-related implications, is far from being complete. To fill this gap, we used Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) and two different plasmid-encoded AmpCs [DHA-1 (AmpR regulator linked, inducible) and CMY-2 (constitutive)] as models to perform a study in which we show that blockade of peptidoglycan recycling through AmpG permease inactivation abolished DHA-1 inducibility but did not affect CMY-2 production and neither did it alter KP pathogenic behavior. Moreover, whereas regular production of both AmpC-type enzymes did not attenuate KP virulence, when blaDHA-1 was expressed in an ampG-defective mutant, Galleria mellonella killing was significantly (but not drastically) attenuated. Spontaneous DHA-1 hyperproducer mutants were readily obtained in vitro, showing slight or insignificant virulence attenuations together with high-level resistance to β-lactams only mildly affected by basal production (e.g., ceftazidime, ceftolozane/tazobactam). By analyzing diverse DHA-1-harboring clinical KP strains, we demonstrate that the natural selection of these hyperproducers is not exceptional (>10% of the collection), whereas mutational inactivation of the typical AmpC hyperproduction-related gene mpl was the most frequent underlying mechanism. The potential silent dissemination of this kind of strains, for which an important fitness cost-related contention barrier does not seem to exist, is envisaged as a neglected threat for most β-lactams effectiveness, including recently introduced combinations. Analyzing whether this phenomenon is applicable to other transferable β-lactamases and species as well as determining the levels of conferred resistance poses an essential topic to be addressed.
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| 7. |
- Blanco, L, et al.
(författare)
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Traumatic Events in Dual Disorders: Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of clinical medicine. - : MDPI AG. - 2077-0383. ; 9:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Psychological trauma has been identified in substance use disorders (SUD) as a major etiological risk factor. However, detailed and systematic data about the prevalence and types of psychological trauma in dual disorders have been scarce to date. In this study, 150 inpatients were recruited and cross-sectionally screened on their substance use severity, psychological trauma symptoms, comorbidities, and clinical severity. One hundred patients fulfilled criteria for a dual disorder, while 50 patients were diagnosed with only SUD. Ninety-four percent of the whole sample suffered from at least one lifetime traumatic event. The prevalence rates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis for dual disorder and only SUD was around 20% in both groups; however, patients with dual disorder presented more adverse events, more childhood trauma, more dissociative symptoms, and a more severe clinical profile than patients with only SUD. Childhood maltreatment can also serve as a predictor for developing a dual disorder diagnosis and as a risk factor for developing a more complex and severe clinical profile. These data challenge our current clinical practice in the treatment of patients suffering from dual disorder or only SUD diagnosis and favor the incorporation of an additional trauma-focused therapy in this population. This may improve the prognosis and the course of the illness in these patients.
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| 8. |
- Vervoort, Joost M., et al.
(författare)
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9 Dimensions for evaluating how art and creative practice stimulate societal transformations
- 2024
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Ingår i: Ecology and Society. - : Resilience Alliance. - 1708-3087. ; 29:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is an urgent need to engage with deep leverage points in sustainability transformations-fundamental myths, paradigms, and systems of meaning making-to open new collective horizons for action. Art and creative practice are uniquely suited to help facilitate change in these deeper transformational leverage points. However, understandings of how creative practices contribute to sustainability transformations are lacking in practice and fragmented across theory and research. This lack of understanding shapes how creative practices are evaluated and therefore funded and supported, limiting their potential for transformative impact. This paper presents the 9 Dimensions tool, created to support reflective and evaluative dialogues about links between creative practice and sustainability transformations. It was developed in a transdisciplinary process between the potential users of this tool: researchers, creative practitioners, policy makers, and funders. It also brings disciplinary perspectives on societal change from evaluation theory, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and more in connection with each other and with sustainability transformations, opening new possibilities for research. The framework consists of three categories of change, and nine dimensions: changing meanings (embodying, learning, and imagining); changing connections (caring, organizing, and inspiring); and changing power (co-creating, empowering, and subverting). We describe how the 9 Dimensions tool was developed, and describe each dimension and the structure of the tool. We report on an application of the 9 Dimensions tool to 20 creative practice projects across the European project Creative Practices for Transformational Futures (CreaTures). We discuss user reflections on the potential and challenges of the tool, and discuss insights gained from the analysis of the 20 projects. Finally, we discuss how the 9 Dimensions can effectively act as a transdisciplinary research agenda bringing creative practice further in contact with transformation research.
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| 9. |
- Westman, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Compound Urban Crises
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 51:6, s. 1402-1415
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The crises that cities face—such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism—are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.
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