Biology subjects

Persson, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Persson, J..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

A methodological approach to developing evidence-based communication guidelines for Populus spp. cultivation on agricultural land

This study developed and applied a methodology and framework to analyse decision-making and identify communication needs related to Populus spp. cultivation on agricultural land in southern Sweden, where adoption remains limited despite significant biomass potential. By comparing farmers willingness and actual cultivation decisions, and linking these to expectations on economic, agronomic, and environmental outcomes, we moved beyond attitudes to analyse choices. We used Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) to predict cultivation decisions and willingness to cultivate using Net Value of Expected Impact (NVEI) as a predictor. Integrating decision-making with willingness revealed drivers of adoption and barriers persisting despite positive attitudes. NVEI scores strongly predicted both willingness and cultivation decisions, with regional contrasts evident. In the Forested region, farmers anticipated greater economic and agronomic benefits but had lower expectations for biodiversity, suggesting a knowledge gap and a need for communication providing comparative evidence on biodiversity benefits. In the Lowland region, higher expectations for environmental benefits highlight the need for tailored information on biodiversity, landscape value, and ecological connectivity. Low scores for workload and management ease across all groups indicate uncertainty about practical aspects, supporting the need for targeted communication. Overall, regionally tailored, evidence-based guidelines can support informed decision-making.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

Thyroid Hormone Receptor Beta Signaling is a Targetable Driver of Prostate Cancer Growth

Thyroid hormone (TH) signaling plays a major role in the development, energy homeostasis, and metabolism of most tissues. Recent observations have identified THs as drivers of prostate cancer (PCa) tumor development and progression. We reported that the T3-scavenger protein {micro}-crystallin (CRYM) regulates the development and progression of PCa and that this involved crosstalk with the androgen receptor (AR) signaling. However, the mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here, we explored the role of thyroid hormone receptor {beta} (TR{beta}), which is the main effector of TH signaling, in the context of PCa. The use of the TR{beta}-selective antagonist NH-3 inhibited PCa cell proliferation in vitro and reduced tumor size in PCa xenograft models. Notably, NH-3 was highly effective in the engrafted 22Rv1 cell line, a model for castration-resistant PCa (CRPC). Mechanistic studies revealed that NH-3 downregulates AR and the AR target genes Nkx3.1 and KLK3 (PSA). NH-3 was a more effective anticancer agent than enzalutamide and showed synergistic properties in combined use. Evidence from human datasets corroborates our findings whereby elevated TR{beta} expression and mutations in TH signaling pathways are associated with the onset of PCa. Collectively, these results establish TR{beta} as a mediator of tumorigenesis in PCa and identify NH-3 as a promising therapeutic agent for targeting AR signaling, particularly in CRPC.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Age differences in brain functional connectivity underlying proactive interference in working memory.

Aging is typically accompanied by a decline in working memory (WM) capacity, even in the absence of pathology. Proficient WM requires cognitive control processes which can retain goal-relevant information for easy retrieval and resolve interference from irrelevant information. Aging has been associated with a reduced ability to resolve proactive interference (PI) in WM, leading to impaired retrieval of goal-relevant information. It remains unclear how age-related differences in the ability to resolve PI in WM are related to patterns of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the brain. Here we investigated the association between PI in WM and rsFC cross-sectionally (n = 237) and 5-year longitudinally (n = 134) across the adult life span by employing both seed-based and data-driven approaches. Results revealed that the ability to resolve PI was associated with differential patterns of rsFC in younger/middle-aged adults (25-60y) and older adults (65-80y) in two clusters centered in the vermis and caudate. Specifically, more PI was associated with stronger inferior frontal gyrus - vermis connectivity and weaker inferior frontal gyrus - caudate connectivity in older adults, while younger/middle-aged adults showed associations in the opposite directions with the identified clusters. Whole brain multivariate pattern analyses showed age-differential patterns of rsFC indicative of age-related structural decline and age-related compensation. The current results show that rsFC is associated with the ability to control PI in WM and that these associations are modulated by age.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2023

Hub connectivity in the human connectome: Links to aging and processing speed

The human structural brain network, or connectome, has a rich-club organization with a small number of brain regions showing high network connectivity, called hubs. Hubs are centrally located in the network, energy costly, and critical for human cognition. Aging has been associated with changes in brain structure, function, and cognitive decline, such as processing speed. At a molecular level, the aging process is a progressive accumulation of oxidative damage, which leads to subsequent energy depletion in the neuron and causes cell death. However, it is still unclear how age affects hub connections in the human connectome. The current study aims to address this research gap by utilizing a novel measure of structural connectivity strength, fiber bundle capacity (FBC), which is derived from Constrained Spherical Deconvolution (CSD) modeling of white-matter fiber bundles. FBC represents the capacity of a fiber bundle to transfer information and is a less biased measure for quantifying connection strength within biological pathways. We found that hubs exhibit longer-distance connections and higher metabolic rates compared to peripheral brain regions, suggesting that hubs are biologically costly. Although the landscape of structural hubs was relatively age-invariant, there were wide-spread age effects on FBC in the connectome. Critically, these age effects were larger in connections within hub compared to peripheral brain connections. These findings were supported by both a cross-sectional sample with wide age-range (N=137) and a longitudinal sample across 5 years (N=83). Moreover, our results demonstrated that associations between FBC and processing speed were more concentrated in hub connections than chance level, and FBC in hub connections mediated the age-effects on processing speed. Overall, our findings indicate that structural connections of hubs, which demonstrate greater energy demands, are particular vulnerable to aging. The vulnerability may contribute to age-related impairments in processing speed among older adults.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Hippocampal subfield volumes contribute to working memory interference control in aging: Evidence from longitudinal associations over 5 years

In memory, familiar but no longer relevant information may disrupt encoding and retrieval of to-be-learned information. While it has been demonstrated that the ability to resolve proactive interference (PI) in working memory (WM) is reduced in aging, the neuroanatomical components of this decline have yet to be determined. Hippocampal (HC) involvement in age- related decline in control of PI is currently not known. In particular, the association between HC subfield volumes and control of PI in WM has not been examined previously. Here we investigate the associations between mean level and 5-year trajectories of gray matter subfield volumes and PI in WM across the adult life span (N = 157). Longitudinal analyses over 5- years across all participants revealed that reduced volume in the subiculum was related to impaired control of PI. Age-stratified analyses showed that this association was most pronounced in older adults. Furthermore, we found that in older adults the effect of age on PI was mediated by GM volume in the HC. The current results show that HC volume is associated with the ability to control PI in WM, and that these associations are modulated by age.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

GABA quantification in human anterior cingulate cortex

{gamma}-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human brain. It has been shown that altered GABA concentration plays an important role in a variety of psychiatric and neurological disorders. The main purpose of this study was to propose a combination of PRESS and MEGA-PRESS acquisitions for absolute GABA quantification and to compare GABA estimations obtained using total choline (tCho), total creatine (tCr), and total N-acetyl aspartate (tNAA) as the internal concentration references with water referenced quantification. The second aim was to demonstrate the fitting approach of MEGA-PRESS spectra with QuasarX algorithm using a basis set of GABA, glutamate, glutamine, and NAA in vitro spectra. Thirteen volunteers were scanned with the MEGA-PRESS sequence at 3T. Interleaved water referencing was used for quantification, B0 drift correction and to update the carrier frequency of RF pulses in real time. Reference metabolite concentrations were acquired using a PRESS sequence with short TE (30 ms) and long TR (5000 ms). Absolute concentration were corrected for cerebrospinal fluid, gray and white matter water fractions and relaxation effects. Water referenced GABA estimations were significantly higher compared to the values obtained by metabolite references. We conclude that QuasarX algorithm together with the basis set of in vitro spectra improves reliability of GABA+ fitting. The proposed GABA quantification method with PRESS and MEGA-PRESS acquisitions enables the utilization of tCho, tCr, and tNAA as internal concentration references. The use of different concentration references have a good potential to improve the reliability of GABA estimation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Inhibition of p53 improves CRISPR/Cas-mediated precision genome editing

We report here that genome editing by CRISPR/Cas9 induces a p53-mediated DNA damage response and cell cycle arrest. Transient inhibition of p53 prevents this response, and increases the rate of homologous recombination more than five-fold. This provides a way to improve precision genome editing of normal cells, but warrants caution in using CRISPR for human therapies until the mechanism of the activation of p53 is elucidated.

genomics↗