1. |
- Zhang, Juqing, et al.
(author)
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Super-enhancers conserved within placental mammals maintain stem cell pluripotency
- 2022
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 119:40
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite pluripotent stem cells sharing key transcription factors, their maintenance involves distinct genetic inputs. Emerging evidence suggests that super-enhancers (SEs) can function as master regulatory hubs to control cell identity and pluripotency in humans and mice. However, whether pluripotency-associated SEs share an evolutionary origin in mammals remains elusive. Here, we performed comprehensive comparative epigenomic and transcription factor binding analyses among pigs, humans, and mice to identify pluripotency-associated SEs. Like typical enhancers, SEs displayed rapid evolu-tion in mammals. We showed that BRD4 is an essential and conserved activator for mammalian pluripotency-associated SEs. Comparative motif enrichment analysis revealed 30 shared transcription factor binding motifs among the three species. The majority of transcriptional factors that bind to identified motifs are known regulators associated with pluripotency. Further, we discovered three pluripotency-associated SEs (SE-SOX2, SE-PIM1, and SE-FGFR1) that displayed remarkable conservation in pla-cental mammals and were sufficient to drive reporter gene expression in a pluripotency-dependent manner. Disruption of these conserved SEs through the CRISPR-Cas9 approach severely impaired stem cell pluripotency. Our study provides insights into the understanding of conserved regulatory mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plu-ripotency as well as species-specific modulation of the pluripotency-associated regula-tory networks in mammals.
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2. |
- Gao, Si, et al.
(author)
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Drivers and reduction solutions of food waste in the Chinese food service business
- 2020
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In: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-5509. ; 26, s. 78-88
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Food waste generated from the food service sector is associated with significant social, ecological and economic impacts. There is lack of knowledge on status quo, drives and solutions for food waste in food service sector despite its importance. In order to understand and identify key issues of food waste and find potential solutions for food waste minimization in food service business, both a questionnaire and a qualitative study were conducted using China as a case country. 228 questionnaires were collected and in a subsequent workshop 51 representatives from 19 enterprises and other organizations joined. The results show that more than half (57%) of the respondents pay no attention to food waste issue, while majority of the respondents (86%) pay attention to regulations and policy on waste issues, suggesting that these instruments would be efficient tools to take actions on reducing food waste. The workshop identified 21 drivers with division of different stages including pre-kitchen (upstream processing, procurement and storage), kitchen and post-kitchen (consumption & communication with consumers), which is then categorized according to the focus (including 13 internal drivers derived from foods service business itself and 8 external factors caused by other parties). 33 possible solutions were proposed for food waste mitigation and reduction, among which 25 were directly for Chinese food service business internal improvement such as food waste management system upgrading, staff capacity raising, innovative actions, more tasteful dishes and adjusted potion size from different angles or for the joint activities by food service business and other relevant stakeholders like consumers interaction, clear communicated procurement standards with upstream suppliers. This paper pinpointed some interesting findings under the Chinese context, such as lacking of food waste measurement, considerable amount of upstream processing waste resulted from combination of unclear standards and buyers’ privilege”, noticeable food waste from central kitchen and decoration/free snacks food waste etc.. This paper has not only identified the current status quo of the Chinese food service business food waste, but also summarized systematically the potential drivers from the business with specific division of different stages and gave out possible solutions, all directly from the staffs’ opinions. The findings would be referential to global food waste issues under similar situation.
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3. |
- Tarnawski, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Integrin Based Isolation Enables Purification of Murine Lineage Committed Cardiomyocytes
- 2015
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In: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 10:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In contrast to mature cardiomyocytes which have limited regenerative capacity, pluripotent stem cells represent a promising source for the generation of new cardiomyocytes. The tendency of pluripotent stem cells to form teratomas and the heterogeneity fromvarious differentiation stages and cardiomyocyte cell sub-types, however, are major obstacles to overcome before this type of therapy could be applied in a clinical setting. Thus, the identification of extracellularmarkers for specific cardiomyocyte progenitors and mature subpopulations is of particular importance. The delineation of cardiomyocyte surfacemarker patterns not only serves as a means to derive homogeneous cell populations by FACS, but is also an essential tool to understand cardiac development. By using single-cell expression profiling in early mouse embryonic hearts, we found that a combination of integrin alpha-1, alpha-5, alpha-6 and N-cadherin enables isolation of lineage committed murine cardiomyocytes. Additionally, we were able to separate trabecular cardiomyocytes from solid ventricular myocardium and atrial murine cells. These cells exhibit expected subtype specific phenotype confirmed by electrophysiological analysis. We show that integrin expression can be used for the isolation of living, functional and lineage-specific murine cardiomyocytes.
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4. |
- Wu, Yi-Jung, et al.
(author)
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Gender, Educational Attainment, and Job Quality in Germany, Sweden, and the UK : Evidence from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey
- 2021
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In: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:23
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This research aims to explore the relationships between gender, educational attainment, and job quality, including work autonomy, work intensity, and job satisfaction across Germany, Sweden, and the UK. The European Working Conditions Survey 2015 was used to achieve this research objective. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis were used to determine how educational level plays an important role in creating gender differences in job quality across three countries. The findings show that receiving postsecondary education can improve work autonomy for both German and Swedish women. However, postsecondary education has different impacts on gender gaps in job quality in these countries. While postsecondary education lowers the gender gap in work autonomy and intensity in Sweden, postsecondary education increases the gender gap in work autonomy and intensity in Germany. Postsecondary education does not significantly decrease gender differences in job satisfaction in Germany or Sweden or any of our job quality measures in the UK. These findings challenge the commonly held belief that higher education has a positive effect on job quality. In fact, gender norms and national institutional factors may also play important roles in this relationship.
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