The cultivation of ethnographic discovery is not only about being insightful in the field by paying attention to unexpected events and unforeseen social processes. We should also search for potentially surprising or disturbing findings after the fieldwork. This can provide additional ways to create an original and sustainable understanding of research material. In this chapter, we discuss a study

Lignin is one of the world's most abundant organic polymers, and 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylate lactonase (LigI) catalyzes the hydrolysis of 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylate (PDC) in the degradation of lignin. The pH has profound effects on enzyme catalysis and therefore we studied this in the context of LigI. We found that changes of the pH mostly affects surface residues, while the residues at the active

A promise of genomics in precision medicine is to provide individualized genetic risk predictions. Polygenic risk scores (PRS), computed by aggregating effects from many genomic variants, have been developed as a useful tool in complex disease research. However, the application of PRS as a tool for predicting an individual's disease susceptibility in a clinical setting is challenging because PRS t

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibition is a glucose-lowering medication for type 2 diabetes. It works through stimulation of insulin secretion and inhibition of glucagon secretion in a glucose-dependent manner, resulting in lowered fasting and postprandial glycemia with low risk of hypoglycemia. As impaired insulin secretion and augmented glucagon secretion are key factors underlying hyperglyce

Mammalian metabolism comprises a series of interlinking pathways that include two major cycles: the folate and methionine cycles. The folate-mediated metabolic cycle uses several oxidation states of tetrahydrofolate to carry activated one-carbon units to be readily used and interconverted within the cell, which are required for nucleotide synthesis, methylation and metabolism, particularly for pro

Today, more than half of the world’s population live in cities, and by mid-century it is predicted that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. This sees cities at the forefront of sustainability, needing to meet social needs within our ecological boundaries. An overarching guiding roadmap to consider sustainability is the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Go

Background The protein C (PC) anticoagulant system has a key role in maintaining hemostatic balance. One missense (Ser219Gly) variant in the PC receptor (PROCR) was associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE) in genome-wide association studies. Objectives This study aimed to determine the thrombotic risk of rare and common PROCR variants in a large population-based cohort of middle-aged and older

Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and their associated comorbidities impact brain metabolism and function and constitute risk factors for cognitive impairment. Alterations to taurine homeostasis can impact a number of biological processes, such as osmolarity control, calcium homeostasis, and inhibitory neurotransmission, and have been reported in both metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders. Models of n

The cultivation of ethnographic discovery is not only about being insightful in the field by paying attention to unexpected events and unforeseen social processes. We should also search for potentially surprising or disturbing findings after the fieldwork. This can provide additional ways to create an original and sustainable understanding of research material. In this chapter, we discuss a study

Background: Infertility is a well-known sequela of cancer treatment. Despite guidelines recommending early discussions about risk of fertility impairment and fertility preservation options, not all patients of reproductive age receive such information. Aims: This study aimed to investigate young adult cancer patients’ receipt of fertility-related information and use of fertility preservation, and

In order to tap the energy saving and climate mitigation potential of buildings, transaction costs of implementing energy efficient technologies need to be better understood and ultimately reduced. The objective of this paper is to identify and analyze the nature and scale of transaction costs resulting from the application of the passive house concept in energy efficient renovations. Related conc

As no one symptom can predict disease severity or the need for dedicated medical support in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we asked whether documenting symptom time series over the first few days informs outcome. Unsupervised time series clustering over symptom presentation was performed on data collected from a training dataset of completed cases enlisted early from the COVID Symptom Study

S1P (Sphingosine-1-phosphate) is an important regulator of immune cell trafficking and vascular dysfunction contributing to the development and progression of overt hypertension. Although targeting S1P signaling revealed therapeutic potential in different experimental hypertension studies, validations of S1P-blood pressure (BP) associations in humans are lacking. In a translational approach, we ex

Background: Stroke has a high burden of disease in women, and adverse pregnancy outcomes have been identified as important risk factors for stroke later in life. However, long-term risks of stroke associated with preterm delivery and whether such risks are attributable to familial confounding are unclear. Such knowledge is needed to improve long-term risk assessment and stroke prevention in women.