Publications by authors named "Michelsen A"

Empirical studies worldwide show that warming has variable effects on plant litter decomposition, leaving the overall impact of climate change on decomposition uncertain. We conducted a meta-analysis of 109 experimental warming studies across seven continents, using natural and standardised plant material, to assess the overarching effect of warming on litter decomposition and identify potential moderating factors. We determined that at least 5.

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Background: The Bari-SolidAct randomized controlled trial compared baricitinib with placebo in patients with severe COVID-19. A post hoc analysis revealed a higher incidence of serious adverse events (SAEs) among SARS-CoV-2-vaccinated participants who had received baricitinib. This sub-study aimed to investigate whether vaccination influences the safety profile of baricitinib in patients with severe COVID-19.

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  • South Asian women have a heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) after experiencing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) compared to white Nordic women, potentially linked to low-grade immune activation.
  • A study compared plasma levels of certain immune markers (sTIM-3, sCD25, sCD27, sLAG-3) in 266 women with a history of GDM and found higher sTIM-3 levels in South Asian women, especially those with normal glucose tolerance.
  • The research indicated that differences in adipose insulin resistance between the ethnic groups might be partially explained by sTIM-3 levels and waist-height ratio, emphasizing the role of immune cell activation in metabolic issues among South Asian
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Unlabelled: Nitrogen (N) cycling in organic tundra soil is characterised by pronounced seasonal dynamics and strong influence of the dominant plant functional types. Such patterns in soil N-cycling have mostly been investigated by the analysis of soil N-pools and net N mineralisation rates, which, however, yield little information on soil N-fluxes. In this study we investigated microbial gross N-transformations, as well as concentrations of plant available N-forms in soils under two dominant plant functional types in tundra heath, dwarf shrubs and mosses, in subarctic Northern Sweden.

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  • People with HIV (PWH) are more likely to have heart problems compared to those without HIV.
  • Researchers studied certain markers in blood to see if they could help understand heart risks in PWH and found that some levels were higher in those who hadn't started treatment.
  • They discovered that two specific markers, CysB and IL-18, were linked to the presence of fatty deposits in the neck arteries of PWH.
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Background: Scrub typhus, caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi involves infiltration of a mixture of perivascular lymphocytes and macrophages into affected organs. We investigated if this is characterized by chemokine dysregulation.

Methods: mRNA expression of chemokines and receptors were screened in whole blood by cDNA microarray in a subgroup of patients and controls.

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  • Climate change affects carbon pools in the Arctic tundra, and the study observed responses over nine years to increased snow depth and summer warming in West Greenland.
  • Summer warming significantly boosted vegetation, particularly the shrub Betula nana, while snow addition negatively impacted this plant, and moss biomass also increased under warmer conditions.
  • Results indicated that changes in rhizosphere soil characteristics were more pronounced than in bulk soil, with summer warming leading to increased organic carbon in the top soil layers, highlighting the complex interactions between plant growth and belowground carbon dynamics.
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Climate change in high latitude regions leads to both higher temperatures and more precipitation but their combined effects on terrestrial ecosystem processes are poorly understood. In nitrogen (N) limited and often moss-dominated tundra and boreal ecosystems, moss-associated N fixation is an important process that provides new N. We tested whether high mean annual precipitation enhanced experimental warming effects on growing season N fixation in three common arctic-boreal moss species adapted to different moisture conditions and evaluated their N contribution to the landscape level.

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  • The study aimed to explore how the relationship between SARS-CoV2 viral load (VL) and inflammation markers changes over time in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and if these markers can predict severe health outcomes.
  • Researchers collected samples from 160 patients and found that higher levels of specific inflammatory markers at admission were linked to severe outcomes, while the association between VL and inflammation markers strengthened in the days following hospitalization.
  • The findings suggest that certain inflammatory markers, particularly when combined with high VL, could help identify severe cases, leading to potential changes in treatment approaches that use both antiviral and anti-inflammatory strategies.
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Antiretroviral treatment (ART) has converted HIV from a lethal disease to a chronic condition, yet co-morbidities persist. Incomplete immune recovery and chronic immune activation, especially in the gut mucosa, contribute to these complications. Inflammasomes, multi-protein complexes activated by innate immune receptors, appear to play a role in these inflammatory responses.

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Climate change is exposing subarctic ecosystems to higher temperatures, increased nutrient availability, and increasing cloud cover. In this study, we assessed how these factors affect the fluxes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) (i.e.

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There is a reciprocal relationship between extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling and inflammation that could be operating in the progression of severe COVID-19. To explore the immune-driven ECM remodelling in COVID-19, we in this explorative study analysed these interactions in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. RNA sequencing and flow analysis were performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

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This study aimed to enhance our understanding of the agreement between two sampling methods for the detection of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) pathogens in calves using high-throughput real-time qPCR (ht-RT-qPCR). In total, 233 paired nasal swab (NS) and non-endoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (nBAL) samples were collected from 152 calves from 12 Danish cattle herds. In 202 of the observations, the calves were examined using a standardized clinical protocol.

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The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large-scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization factors of plant-derived carbon, using the Tea Bag Index (TBI).

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Background: The GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide is used to treat hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes but is also known to induce weight loss, preserve the beta cell and reduce cardiovascular risk. The mechanisms underlying these effects are however still not completely known. Herein we explore the effect of liraglutide on markers of immune cell activity in a population of obese individuals with prediabetes or newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are large reservoirs of organic carbon. Climate warming may stimulate ecosystem respiration and release carbon into the atmosphere. The magnitude and persistency of this stimulation and the environmental mechanisms that drive its variation remain uncertain.

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Introduction: Chemokines mediate recruitment and activation of leucocytes. Chemokine ligand 18 (CCL18) is mainly expressed by monocytes/macrophages and dendritic cells. It is highly expressed in chronic inflammatory diseases, and locally in atherosclerotic plaques, particularly at sites of reduced stability, and systemically in acute coronary syndrome patients.

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Aims: In the current paper, we aim to explore the effect of both current and former long-term anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use on regulation of systemic inflammatory markers and mediators of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling and their association with hormones and echocardiographic myocardial pathology in weightlifters.

Methods And Results: In a cross-sectional study, 93 weightlifting AAS users, of whom 62 were current and 31 were past users, with at least 1-year cumulative AAS use (mean 11 ± 7 accumulated years of AAS use), were compared with 54 non-using weightlifting controls (WLCs) using clinical interview, blood pressure measurements, and echocardiography. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor (TNF), interferon (IFN)-γ, growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, sex hormones, and lipids were analysed.

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Plant biomass is a fundamental ecosystem attribute that is sensitive to rapid climatic changes occurring in the Arctic. Nevertheless, measuring plant biomass in the Arctic is logistically challenging and resource intensive. Lack of accessible field data hinders efforts to understand the amount, composition, distribution, and changes in plant biomass in these northern ecosystems.

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Purpose: The mechanisms that control inflammation in scrub typhus are not fully elucidated. The Notch pathways are important regulators of inflammation and infection, but have not been investigated in scrub typhus.

Methods: Plasma levels of the canonical Notch ligand Delta-like protein 1 (DLL1) were measured by enzyme immunoassay and RNA expression of the Notch receptors (NOTCH1, NOTCH2 and NOTCH4) in whole blood was analyzed by real-time PCR in patients with scrub typhus (n = 129), in patients with similar febrile illness without O.

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Animal welfare is of increasing public interest, and the pig industry in particular is subject to much attention. The aim of this study was to identify and compare areas of animal welfare concern for commercial pigs in four different production stages: (1) gestating sows and gilts; (2) lactating sows; (3) piglets; and (4) weaner-to-finisher pigs. One welfare assessment protocol was developed for each stage, comprising of between 20 and 29 animal welfare measures including resource-, management- and animal-based ones.

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