| 1. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Hernández-Alvarez, María Isabel, et al.
(författare)
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Deficient Endoplasmic Reticulum-Mitochondrial Phosphatidylserine Transfer Causes Liver Disease
- 2019
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Ingår i: Cell. - : Cell Press. - 0092-8674 .- 1097-4172. ; 177:4, s. 881-895.e17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver is the most common liver disease worldwide. Here, we show that the mitochondrial protein mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) protects against liver disease. Reduced Mfn2 expression was detected in liver biopsies from patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Moreover, reduced Mfn2 levels were detected in mouse models of steatosis or NASH, and its re-expression in a NASH mouse model ameliorated the disease. Liver-specific ablation of Mfn2 in mice provoked inflammation, triglyceride accumulation, fibrosis, and liver cancer. We demonstrate that Mfn2 binds phosphatidylserine (PS) and can specifically extract PS into membrane domains, favoring PS transfer to mitochondria and mitochondrial phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) synthesis. Consequently, hepatic Mfn2 deficiency reduces PS transfer and phospholipid synthesis, leading to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the development of a NASH-like phenotype and liver cancer. Ablation of Mfn2 in liver reveals that disruption of ER-mitochondrial PS transfer is a new mechanism involved in the development of liver disease.
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| 4. |
- Hudson, Lawrence N, et al.
(författare)
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The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2045-7758. ; 7:1, s. 145-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.
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| 5. |
- Bernal, Ximena E., et al.
(författare)
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Empowering Latina scientists
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 363:6429, s. 825-826
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 6. |
- Elsik, Christine G., et al.
(författare)
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The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle : A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution
- 2009
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 324:5926, s. 522-528
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.
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| 7. |
- Ferrari, Raffaele, et al.
(författare)
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Frontotemporal dementia and its subtypes: a genome-wide association study.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Lancet Neurology. - 1474-4465. ; 13:7, s. 686-699
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a complex disorder characterised by a broad range of clinical manifestations, differential pathological signatures, and genetic variability. Mutations in three genes-MAPT, GRN, and C9orf72-have been associated with FTD. We sought to identify novel genetic risk loci associated with the disorder.
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| 8. |
- Hernández, Alison, et al.
(författare)
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Building collective power in citizen-led initiatives for health accountability in Guatemala : the role of networks
- 2020
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Ingår i: BMC Health Services Research. - : Springer Nature. - 1472-6963. ; 20:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Citizen-led accountability initiatives are a critical strategy for redressing the causes of health inequalities and promoting better health system governance. A growing body of evidence points to the need for putting power relations at the forefront of understanding and operationalizing citizen-led accountability, rather than technical tools and best practices. In this study, we apply a network lens to the question of how initiatives build collective power to redress health system failures affecting marginalized communities in three municipalities in Guatemala.Methods: Network mapping and interpretive discussions were used to examine relational qualities of citizen-led initiatives’ networks and explore the resources they offer for mobilizing action and influencing health accountability. Participants in the municipal-level initiatives responded to a social network analysis questionnaire focused on their ties of communication and collaboration with other initiative participants and their interactions with authorities regarding health system problems. Discussions with participants about the maps generated enriched our view of what the ties represented and their history of collective action and also provided space for planning action to strengthen their networks.Results: Our findings indicate that network qualities like cohesiveness and centralization reflected the initiative participants’ agency in adapting to their sociopolitical context, and participants’ social positions were a key resource in providing connection to a broad base of support for mobilizing collective action to document health service deficiencies and advocate for solutions. Their legitimacy as “representatives of the people” enabled them to engage with authorities from a bolstered position of power, and their iterative interactions with authorities further contributed to develop their advocacy capabilities and resulted in accountability gains.Conclusions: Our study provided evidence to counter the tendency to underestimate the assets and capabilities that marginalized citizens have for building power, and affirmed the idea that best-fit, with-the-grain approaches are well-suited for highly unequal settings characterized by weak governance. Efforts to support and understand change processes in citizen-led initiatives should include focus on adaptive network building to enable contextually-embedded approaches that leverage the collective power of the users of health services and grassroots leaders on the frontlines of accountability.
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| 9. |
- Hernandez, Luiza I, et al.
(författare)
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Aptamers overview : selection, features and applications.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry. - : Bentham science publishers. - 1568-0266 .- 1873-4294. ; 15:12, s. 1066-1081
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Apatamer technology has been around for a quarter of a century and the field had matured enough to start seeing real applications, especially in the medical field. Since their discovery, aptamers rapidly emerged as key players in many fields, such as diagnostics, drug discovery, food science, drug delivery and therapeutics. Because of their synthetic nature, aptamers are evolving at an exponential rate gaining from the newest advances in chemistry, nanotechnology, biology and medicine. This review is meant to give an overview of the aptamer field, by including general aspects of aptamer identification and applications as well as highlighting certain features that contribute to their quick deployment in the biomedical field.
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| 10. |
- Hernandez, Luiza I., et al.
(författare)
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Discovery and Proof-of-Concept Study of Nuclease Activity as a Novel Biomarker for Breast Cancer Tumors
- 2021
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Ingår i: Cancers. - : MDPI. - 2072-6694. ; 13:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Simple Summary A diagnostic biomarker for the detection of breast cancer remains an unmet clinical need despite decades of intensive research efforts. Herein, we describe, for the first time, the use of nuclease activity as a biomarker to discriminate between healthy and cancer biopsy samples. We have identified a panel of three nucleic acid probes able to target nucleases derived from breast cancer tumors with high sensitivity and specificity. These results are in good agreement with histopathological analysis as the diagnostic gold standard. Moreover, these findings support nuclease activity as a potential adjacent diagnostic tool and shed light on the use of nuclease activity as a detection biomarker in breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most common pathologies diagnosed in the clinical practice. Despite major advancements in diagnostic approaches, there is no widely accepted biomarker in the clinical practice that can diagnose breast malignancy. Confirmatory diagnosis still relies on the pathological assessment of tissue biopsies by expert pathologists. Thus, there is an unmet need for new types of biomarkers and novel platform technologies that can be easily and robustly integrated into the clinic and that can assist pathologists. Herein, we show that nuclease activity associated to malignant tumors can be used as a novel biomarker in breast cancer, which can be detected via specific degradation of nucleic acid probes. In this study we have identified a set of three chemically modified nucleic acid probes that can diagnose malignancy in biopsy samples with high accuracy (89%), sensitivity (82%) and specificity (94%). This work represents a breakthrough for the potential clinical use of nuclease activity as biomarker, which can be detected via nucleic acids probes, for the clinical diagnosis of malignancy in breast tissue biopsies. This platform technology could be readily implemented into the clinic as adjunct to histopathological diagnostic.
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