| 1. |
- Berglund, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Linking Education and Research : A Roadmap for Higher Education Institutions at the Dawn of the Knowledge Society
- 2019
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Ingår i: Linking education and research. - Basel, Switzerland : MDPI. ; , s. 11-33
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In an era characterized by a move towards a “knowledge society”, universities are central in fostering “knowledgeability”, that is the reflexive understanding of knowledge in knowledge societies. The objective of “knowledgeability” can be met through creating a stronger link between education and research. Furthermore, overall student performance, for example in critical thinking and problem solving, can be improved if research-related activities are incorporated into the curriculum.The aim of this paper is to use international examples to discuss the research- education nexus from four different perspectives, namely context, policy, implementation and quality, with case studies from higher education institutions in Singapore and Sweden.We suggest that different integrative technologies can be used to enhance the links, but it will be essential to consider the inputs of training, service and support in using new technology. Interestingly, the act of evaluating the link between education and research will increase awareness of this linkage by stakeholders involved in both education and research. In turn the link can be strengthened, contributing to increased quality in both education and research.
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| 2. |
- Consiglio, Camila, et al.
(författare)
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Immune system adaptation during gender-affirming testosterone treatment
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Reproductive Immunology. - : Elsevier. - 0165-0378 .- 1872-7603. ; 159, s. 29-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biological sex impacts human immune responses, modulating susceptibility and severity to immune-related diseases. Female generally mount more robust immune responses than males, resulting in lower infection severity and greater autoimmunity incidence. Here, we addressed the contribution of testosterone to human immune function by analyzing a cohort of subjects undergoing gender-affirming testosterone treatment. We performed systems-level immunomonitoring through mass cytometry, scRNA and scA-TAC-Sequencing, and proteome profiling of blood samples at baseline and following 3 and 12 months of treatment. Testosterone treatment was associated with a low-grade inflammatory profile, evidenced by upregulation of proinflammatory plasma proteome (e.g., EN-RAGE, OSM, TNF), and induction of an inflammatory transcriptional program associated with NFkB signaling, and TNF signaling. Following testosterone treatment, higher NFkB activity was revealed in CD4 T, CD8 T, and NK cells in scATACseq analyses. Further, testosterone increased monocytic inflammatory responses upon bacterial stimulation in vitro. Although testosterone was associated with this inflammatory profile, it also exerted negative effects on antiviral immunity. Firstly, the percentage of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) decreased over transition, with pDC also displaying phenotypic changes associated with lower IFN responses. Secondly, bulk transcriptomics analyses show an overall reduction of IFNa responses. Thirdly, testosterone treatment led to reduced IFNa production upon PBMCs stimulation with a viral agonist. Our results show that testosterone has broad effects on the human immune system, and significantly modulates important players in antiviral immunity and inflammatory response. Identifying pathways involved in immune sexual dimorphism will help define novel targets for effective prevention and treatment of immune-mediated diseases.
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| 3. |
- Geng, Jianping, et al.
(författare)
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A Silent Infection Pandemic of COVID-19 : Epidemiological Investigation and Hypothetical Models
- 2020
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology. - : HINDAWI LTD. - 1712-9532 .- 1918-1493. ; 2020
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To explore the epidemic mode of COVID-19, we made an epidemiological investigation, set up hypothetical models, and compared them with hepatitis A virus (HAV) age-specific epidemic characteristic. In the epidemiological investigation, we reported the first familial COVID-19 silent infection in the world. A 19-year-old healthy female COVID-19 virus carrier without any symptoms caused two mild and one severe pneumonia. In hypothetical models, the silent infection rate ranges from 60% to 80% based on 3 sources: China mainland, evacuation of 4 nationals, and the ship "Diamond Princess," respectively. In comparison with HAV, COVID-19 shows the same infection mode in children (aged 0-9 years), but significant difference in young adults (aged 10-44 years) and the elderly (aged 45 years or older). Therefore, we prejudged that COVID-19 is a silent infection pandemic mainly in young adults but threatens the elderly.
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| 4. |
- Hu, Jinhong, et al.
(författare)
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Safety and immunogenicity of a malaria vaccine, Plasmodium falciparum AMA-1/MSP-1 chimeric protein formulated in montanide ISA 720 in healthy adults
- 2008
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PLOS. - 1932-6203. ; 3:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The P. falciparum chimeric protein 2.9 (PfCP-2.9) consisting of the sequences of MSP1-19 and AMA-1 (III) is a malaria vaccine candidate that was found to induce inhibitory antibodies in rabbits and monkeys. This was a phase I randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the PfCP-2.9 formulated with a novel adjuvant Montanide ISA720. Fifty-two subjects were randomly assigned to 4 dose groups of 10 participants, each receiving the test vaccine of 20, 50, 100, or 200 microg respectively, and 1 placebo group of 12 participants receiving the adjuvant only.METHODS AND FINDINGS: The vaccine formulation was shown to be safe and well-tolerated, and none of the participants withdrew. The total incidence of local adverse events (AEs) was 75%, distributed among 58% of the placebo group and 80% of those vaccinated. Among the vaccinated, 65% had events that were mild and 15% experienced moderate AEs. Almost all systemic adverse reactions observed in this study were graded as mild and required no therapy. The participants receiving the test vaccine developed detectable antibody responses which were boosted by the repeated vaccinations. Sixty percent of the vaccinated participants had high ELISA titers (>1:10,000) of antigen-specific antibodies which could also recognize native parasite proteins in an immunofluorescence assay (IFA).CONCLUSION: This study is the first clinical trial for this candidate and builds on previous investigations supporting PfCP-2.9/ISA720 as a promising blood-stage malaria vaccine. Results demonstrate safety, tolerability (particularly at the lower doses tested) and immunogenicity of the formulation. Further clinical development is ongoing to explore optimizing the dose and schedule of the formulation to decrease reactogenicity without compromising immunogenicity.TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) 2002SL0046; Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN66850051 [66850051].
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| 5. |
- Lakshmikanth, Tadepally, et al.
(författare)
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Immune system adaptation during gender-affirming testosterone treatment
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 633:8028, s. 155-164
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune conditions present differently in males and females. SARS-CoV-2 infection in naive males is associated with increased risk of death, whereas females are at increased risk of long COVID, similar to observations in other infections. Females respond more strongly to vaccines, and adverse reactions are more frequent, like most autoimmune diseases. Immunological sex differences stem from genetic, hormonal and behavioural factors but their relative importance is only partially understood. In individuals assigned female sex at birth and undergoing gender-affirming testosterone therapy (trans men), hormone concentrations change markedly but the immunological consequences are poorly understood. Here we performed longitudinal systems-level analyses in 23 trans men and found that testosterone modulates a cross-regulated axis between type-I interferon and tumour necrosis factor. This is mediated by functional attenuation of type-I interferon responses in both plasmacytoid dendritic cells and monocytes. Conversely, testosterone potentiates monocyte responses leading to increased tumour necrosis factor, interleukin-6 and interleukin-15 production and downstream activation of nuclear factor kappa B-regulated genes and potentiation of interferon-γ responses, primarily in natural killer cells. These findings in trans men are corroborated by sex-divergent responses in public datasets and illustrate the dynamic regulation of human immunity by sex hormones, with implications for the health of individuals undergoing hormone therapy and our understanding of sex-divergent immune responses in cisgender individuals.
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