bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Protection from lethal Gram-negative bacterial sepsis by targeting Toll-like receptor 4
Authors: Roger Thierry , Froidevaux Céline , Le Roy Didier , Reymond Marlies Knaup , Chanson Anne-Laure , Mauri Davide , Burns Kim , Riederer Beat Michel , Akira Shizuo , Calandra Thierry
Published: January 2009

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), the signal-transducing molecule of the LPS receptor complex, plays a fundamental role in the sensing of LPS from Gram-negative bacteria. Activation of TLR4 signaling pathways by LPS is a critical upstream event in the pathogenesis of Gram-negative sepsis, making TLR4 an attractive target for novel antisepsis therapy. To validate the concept of TLR4-targeted treatment strategies in Gram-negative sepsis, we first showed that TLR4−/−and myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88)−/−mice were fully resistant toEscherichia coli–induced septic shock, whereas TLR2−/−and wild-type mice rapidly died of fulminant sepsis. Neutralizing anti-TLR4 antibodies were then generated using a soluble chimeric fusion protein composed of the N-terminal domain of mouse TLR4 (amino acids 1–334) and the Fc portion of human IgG1. Anti-TLR4 antibodies inhibited intracellular signaling, markedly reduced cytokine production, and protected mice from lethal endotoxic shock andE. colisepsis when administered in a prophylactic and therapeutic manner up to 13 h after the onset of bacterial sepsis. These experimental data provide strong support for the concept of TLR4-targeted therapy for Gram-negative sepsis.
E2A proteins maintain the hematopoietic stem cell pool and promote the maturation of myelolymphoid and myeloerythroid progenitors
Authors: Semerad Craig L. , Mercer Elinore M. , Inlay Matthew A. , Weissman Irving L. , Murre Cornelis
Published: January 2009

Hematopoiesis is a tightly controlled process maintained by a small pool of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Here, we demonstrate that the LT-HSC, MPP, premegakaryocytic/erythroid, Pre CFU-E, Pre GM, MkP, and granulocyte-macrophage compartments were all significantly reduced in E2A-deficient bone marrow. Despite a severe depletion of erythroid progenitors, the erythrocyte and megakaryocyte compartments were equivalent in E2A-deficient bone marrow as compared with wild-type mice. E2A-deficient HSCs also failed to efficiently maintain the HSC pool on serial transplantation, and we demonstrate that the E2A proteins regulate cell cycle progression of HSCs by regulating the expression of p21
Cip1
, p27
Kip1
, and the thrombopoietin receptor, known regulators of HSC self-renewal activity. Based on these observations, we propose that the E2A proteins promote the developmental progression of the entire spectrum of early hematopoietic progenitors and to suppress an erythroid specific program of gene expression in alternative cell lineages. Last, the data mechanistically link E2A, cell cycle regulators, and the maintenance of the HSC pool in a common pathway.
Encapsulation and characterization of proton-bound amine homodimers in a water-soluble, self-assembled supramolecular host
Authors: Pluth Michael D. , Fiedler Dorothea , Mugridge Jeffrey S. , Bergman Robert G. , Raymond Kenneth N.
Published: January 2009

Cyclic amines can be encapsulated in a water-soluble self-assembled supramolecular host upon protonation. The hydrogen-bonding ability of the cyclic amines, as well as the reduced degrees of rotational freedom, allows for the formation of proton-bound homodimers inside of the assembly that are otherwise not observable in aqueous solution. The generality of homodimer formation was explored with smallN-alkyl aziridines, azetidines, pyrrolidines, and piperidines. Proton-bound homodimer formation is observed forN-alkylaziridines (R= methyl, isopropyl, tert-butyl),N-alkylazetidines (R= isopropyl, tert-butyl), andN-methylpyrrolidine. At high concentration, formation of a proton-bound homotrimer is observed in the case ofN-methylaziridine. The homodimers stay intact inside the assembly over a large concentration range, thereby suggesting cooperative encapsulation. Both G3(MP2)B3 and G3B3 calculations of the proton-bound homodimers were used to investigate the enthalpy of the hydrogen bond in the proton-bound homodimers and suggest that the enthalpic gain upon formation of the proton-bound homodimers may drive guest encapsulation.
Direct quantification of polo-like kinase 1 activity in cells and tissues using a highly sensitive and specific ELISA assay
Authors: Park Jung-Eun , Li Luowei , Park Joobae , Knecht Rainald , Strebhardt Klaus , Yuspa Stuart H. , Lee Kyung S.
Published: January 2009

Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular proliferation. Plk1 is overexpressed in ≈80% of human tumors of diverse origins, and overexpression of Plk1 promotes neoplastic transformation of human cells. A growing body of evidence suggests that deregulation of Plk1 closely correlates with prognosis of various cancers in humans. Thus, accurate assessment of Plk1 deregulation would provide clear clinical advantages. However, because of the limited amount of cancer tissues available, quantification of the Plk1 activity has not been feasible. Here, we report the development of a rapid, highly sensitive, and specific ELISA-based Plk1 assay that can quantify the level of Plk1 activity with a small amount (2–20 μg) of total cellular proteins. Unlike the conventional immunocomplex kinase assay, this assay directly utilizes total cellular lysates and does not require a Plk1 enrichment step such as immunoprecipitation or affinity purification. Using this assay, we demonstrated that Plk1 activity is elevated in tumors but not in the surrounding normal tissues and that the level of Plk1 activity significantly diminishes after an antiproliferative chemotherapy. The method described here may provide an innovative tool for assessing the predisposition for cancer development, monitoring early tumor response after therapy, and estimating the prognosis of patients with cancers from multiple organ sites.
Guanylyl cyclase-D in the olfactory CO2neurons is activated by bicarbonate
Authors: Sun Liming , Wang Huayi , Hu Ji , Han Jinlong , Matsunami Hiroaki , Luo Minmin
Published: January 2009

Atmospheric CO2is an important environmental cue that regulates several types of animal behavior. In mice, CO2responses of the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) require the activity of carbonic anhydrase to catalyze the conversion of CO2to bicarbonate and the opening of cGMP-sensitive ion channels. However, it remains unknown how the enhancement of bicarbonate levels results in cGMP production. Here, we show that bicarbonate activates cGMP-producing ability of guanylyl cyclase-D (GC-D), a membrane GC exclusively expressed in the CO2-responsive OSNs, by directly acting on the intracellular cyclase domain of GC-D. Also, the molecular mechanism for GC-D activation is distinct from the commonly believed model of “release from repression” for other membrane GCs. Our results contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of CO2sensing and suggest diverse mechanisms of molecular activation among membrane GCs.
The
Drosophila modigliani
(
moi
) gene encodes a HOAP-interacting protein required for telomere protection
Authors: Raffa Grazia D. , Siriaco Giorgia , Cugusi Simona , Ciapponi Laura , Cenci Giovanni , Wojcik Edward , Gatti Maurizio
Published: January 2009

Several proteins have been identified that protect Drosophila telomeres from fusion events. They include UbcD1, HP1, HOAP, the components of the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs (MRN) complex, the ATM kinase, and the putative transcription factor Woc. Of these proteins, only HOAP has been shown to localize specifically at telomeres. Here we show that the modigliani gene encodes a protein (Moi) that is enriched only at telomeres, colocalizes and physically interacts with HOAP, and is required to prevent telomeric fusions. Moi is encoded by the bicistronic CG31241 locus. This locus produces a single transcript that contains 2 ORFs that specify different essential functions. One of these ORFs encodes the 20-kDa Moi protein. The other encodes a 60-kDa protein homologous to RNA methyltransferases that is not required for telomere protection (Drosophila Tat-like). Moi and HOAP share several properties with the components of shelterin, the protein complex that protects human telomeres. HOAP and Moi are not evolutionarily conserved unlike the other proteins implicated in Drosophila telomere protection. Similarly, none of the shelterin subunits is conserved in Drosophila, while most human nonshelterin proteins have Drosophila homologues. This suggests that the HOAP-Moi complex, we name “terminin,” plays a specific role in the DNA sequence-independent assembly of Drosophila telomeres. We speculate that this complex is functionally analogous to shelterin, which binds chromosome ends in a sequence-dependent manner.
Electrostatic effects on funneled landscapes and structural diversity in denatured protein ensembles
Authors: Weinkam Patrick , Pletneva Ekaterina V. , Gray Harry B. , Winkler Jay R. , Wolynes Peter G.
Published: January 2009

The denatured state of proteins is heterogeneous and susceptible to general hydrophobic and electrostatic forces, but to what extent does the funneled nature of protein energy landscapes play a role in the unfolded ensemble? We simulate the denatured ensemble of cytochrome
c
using a series of models. The models pinpoint the efficacy of incorporating energetic funnels toward the native state in contrast with models having no native structure-seeking tendency. These models also contain varying strengths of electrostatic effects and hydrophobic collapse. The simulations based on these models are compared with experimental distributions for the distances between a fluorescent donor and the heme acceptor that were extracted from time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer experiments on cytochrome
c
. Comparing simulations to detailed experimental data on several labeling sites allows us to quantify the dominant forces in denatured protein ensembles.
Cytokine-induced memory-like natural killer cells
Authors: Cooper Megan A. , Elliott Julie M. , Keyel Peter A. , Yang Liping , Carrero Javier A. , Yokoyama Wayne M.
Published: January 2009

The mammalian immune response to infection is mediated by 2 broad arms, the innate and adaptive immune systems. Innate immune cells are a first-line defense against pathogens and are thought to respond consistently to infection, regardless of previous exposure, i.e., they do not exhibit memory of prior activation. By contrast, adaptive immune cells display immunologic memory that has 2 basic characteristics, antigen specificity and an amplified response upon subsequent exposure. Whereas adaptive immune cells have rearranged receptor genes to recognize the universe of antigens, natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune lymphocytes with a limited repertoire of germ-line encoded receptors for target recognition. NK cells also produce cytokines such as IFN-gamma (IFN-γ) to protect the host during the innate response to infection. Herein, we show that cytokine-activated NK cells transferred into naïve hosts can be specifically detected 7–22 days later when they are phenotypically similar to naïve cells and are not constitutively producing IFN-γ. However, they produce significantly more IFN-γ when restimulated. This memory-like property is intrinsic to the NK cell. By contrast, memory-like NK cells do not express granzyme B protein and kill targets similarly to naïve NK cells. Thus, these experiments identify an ability of innate immune cells to retain an intrinsic memory of prior activation, a function until now attributed only to antigen-specific adaptive immune cells.
Regulation of Cyclin A protein in meiosis and early embryogenesis
Authors: Vardy Leah , Pesin Jillian A. , Orr-Weaver Terry L.
Published: January 2009

In contrast to the extensive analysis of the regulation of Cyclin B protein levels during developmental progression through meiosis in oogenesis, little is known about Cyclin A. Repression of
cyclin A
translation early in prophase I in
Drosophila
is important to maintain the oocyte in meiosis, and this has been shown to be mediated by deadenylation of the mRNA and inhibition by the Bruno repressor. We find that at oocyte maturation as meiosis resumes, Cyclin A protein reappears, coincident with polyadenylation of the mRNA and loss of Bruno repressor. Cyclin A is multiphosphorylated in a pattern consistent with autophosphorylation, and this form accumulates aberrantly in metaphase I if the Cortex form of the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome is inactive. The PAN GU (PNG) kinase positively promotes translation of Cyclin A, beginning in oogenesis, an earlier onset than previously recognized. After egg activation and the completion of meiosis, PNG promotes further polyadenylation of
cyclin A
mRNA and appears to antagonize repression of translation by the PUMILIO inhibitor. Epistasis studies with
png; apc
mutants indicate that PNG acts solely to promote translation, rather than having a parallel function to inhibit degradation. These studies reveal multiple levels of posttranscriptional regulation of Cyclin A protein by translational and proteolytic control during oocyte maturation and the onset of embryogenesis.
City Strategy in a Devolved Setting
Authors: Hurrell Donna-Louise , Hayden Carol
Published: January 2009

This paper discusses the implementation of the DWP City Strategy initiative in a devolved setting. To do this it draws on the experience of the three Scottish Pathfinders — Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow — using their early experience of implementation to identify issues that emerge in relation to some key aspects of the City Strategy approach. The views expressed are those of the Authors and are informed by our working with the Scottish Pathfinders as DWP appointed Area Evaluation Advisors. Views are based on Pathfinder performance to Spring 2008; therefore, since production of this paper, Pathfinder activities have further developed and evolved.
Glycocalyx volume: a critical review of tracer dilution methods for its measurement
Authors: MICHEL CHARLES. C. , CURRY FITZ‐ROY E.
Published: January 2009

A clinical measure of endothelial glycocalyx structure would have great potential importance, because lesions of the glycocalyx may be the first changes to occur in diabetes and in a wide range of vascular diseases. A method recently described by Nieuwdorp et al. for estimating the volume of the luminal glycocalyx of the entire human vascular system would seem to be the first attempt to develop a measure of this kind. It is based on the tracer dilution principle, and this review considers the principles and conditions that underlie this method and the extent to which the conditions appear to have been fulfilled in this case. Our analysis raises two questions about 1) the estimation of the concentration of the tracer (dextran 40) at zero time and 2) the estimation of plasma volume, both of which can be answered by changes in experimental protocol. A third question, concerning the partition coefficient of the tracer between plasma and the fluid within the glycocalyx, cannot be answered at the present time, and until it has been resolved, glycocalyx volume cannot be estimated from the dilution of a macromolecular tracer.
The Vasodilatory Response of Skin Microcirculation to Local Heating is Subject to Desensitization
Authors: CIPLAK MERAL , PASCHE ANTOINE , HEIM ABIGAEL , HAEBERLI CHRISTIAN , WAEBER BERNARD , LIAUDET LUCAS , FEIHL FRANÇOIS , ENGELBERGER ROLF
Published: January 2009

Background: In humans, local heating increases skin perfusion by mechanisms dependent on nitric oxide (NO). Because the vascular effects of NO may be subject to desensitization, we examined whether a first local thermal stimulus would attenuate the hyperemic response to a second one applied later. Methods: Twelve healthy young men were studied. Skin blood flow (SkBF) was measured on forearm skin with laser Doppler imaging. Local thermal stimuli (temperature step from 34 to 41°C maintained for 30 minutes) were applied with temperature‐controlled chambers. We also tested the influence of prior local heating on the vasodilation induced by sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a donor of NO. Results: On reheating the same spot after two hours, the response of SkBF (i.e., plateau SkBF at 30 minutes minus SkBF at 34°C) was lower than during the first stimulation (mean±SD 404±212 perfusion units [PU] vs. 635±100 PU; P<0.001). There was no such difference when reheating after four hours (654±153 vs. 645±103 PU; P=NS). Two, but not four, hours after local heating, the response of SkBF to SNP was reduced. Conclusion: The NO‐dependent hyperemic response induced by local heating in human skin is subject to desensitization. At least one part of the mechanism implicated consists of a desensitization to the effects of NO itself.
Acquired hedonic and sensory characteristics of odours: Influence of sweet liker and propylthiouracil taster status
Authors: Yeomans Martin R. , Prescott John , Gould Natalie J.
Published: January 2009

Repeated pairings of novel food-related odours with sweet tastes can result in enduring changes in sweetness of the odour alone, but have less consistent effects on odour liking. Variation in ability to taste propylthiouracil (PROP) might account for this, since PROP supertasters (ST) have been reported both to experience stronger sweetness intensity and to be more likely to dislike sweetness than do PROP nontasters (NT). Alternatively, individual differences in liking for sweetness may transfer to sweet-paired odours independently of PROP sensitivity. To explore this, evaluations of sucrose, saccharin, and PROP solutions were used to classify 92 volunteers as either sweet likers or dislikers and as PROP ST, NT, or medium tasters (MT). Changes in pleasantness of odours that had been paired with the taste of saccharin increased in sweet likers but decreased in dislikers. Odour sweetness increased regardless of PROP taster or sweet liker status. PROP ST rated saccharin as more bitter than did other taster groups and also showed greater increases in acquired bitterness of the saccharin-paired odour. Overall, these data suggest that individual differences in evaluation of saccharin reliably predict subsequent changes in evaluation of saccharin-paired odours, with hedonic changes corresponding with liking for sweet tastes and sensory changes reflecting differences in sensory quality between PROP taster groups.
Is scanning in probed order recall articulatory?
Authors: Farrell Simon , Lelièvre Anna
Published: January 2009

We consider how theories of serial recall might apply to other short-term memory tasks involving recall of order. In particular, we consider the possibility that when participants are cued to recall an item at an arbitrary position in a sequence, they covertly serially recall the list up to the cued position. One question is whether such “scanning” is articulatory in nature. Two experiments are presented in which the syllabic length of words preceding and following target positions were manipulated, to test the prediction of an articulatory-based mechanism that time to recall an item at a particular position will depend on the number of preceding long words. Although latency was dependent on target position, no word length effects on latency were observed. Additionally, the effects of word length on accuracy replicate recent demonstrations in serial recall that recall accuracy is dependent on the word length of all list items, not just that of target items, in line with distinctiveness assumptions. It is concluded that if scanning does occur, it is not carried out by covert or overt articulation.
Exploring phenotype-associated modules in an oral cavity tumor using an integrated framework
Authors: Sun Zhirong , Luo Jie , Zhou Yun , Luo Junjie , Liu Ke , Li Wenting
Published: January 2009

Motivation: Like most human diseases, tumors are complex traits, the genesis and development of which recruit a number of genes and several important biological processes. As proteins involved in common processes tend to be centralized in the same local area of protein–protein interaction networks, here a novel framework has been developed to identify which areas of the networks are most relevant to a phenotype.

Results: These areas termed ‘coherent modules’ can be regarded as gene sets dynamically defined in the networks. Compared with previous analogous approaches, one critical feature of our method is the optimization of coherent modules for two distinct aspects balanced by tuning a parameter in the framework. First, we seek the low coupling between coherent modules and then maximize the intrinsic similarity within a module. The framework has good expansibility, with classical expression data analysis methods generalized as particular cases. This coherent module approach was applied to an oral cavity tumor dataset with 18 significant coherent modules identified, which could indicate the presence of lymph node metastasis. Further examination shows that most of the modules are responsible for comparatively independent biological processes. Our framework is helpful for the prognosis of tumors and offers a new perspective for tumor research.

Contact:  sunzhr@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
CORNA: testing gene lists for regulation by microRNAs
Authors: Wu X. , Watson M
Published: January 2009

Motivation: With the increasing use of post-genomics techniques to examine a wide variety of biological systems in laboratories throughout the world, scientists are often presented with lists of genes that they must make sense of. A consistently challenging problem is that of defining co-regulated genes within those gene lists. In recent years, microRNAs have emerged as a mechanism for regulating several cellular processes. In this article, we report on how gene lists and microRNA targets data may be integrated to test for significant associations between gene lists and microRNAs.

Results: We discuss CORNA, a package written in R and released under the GNU GPL, which allows users to test gene lists for significant microRNA–target associations using one of three separate statistical tests, to link microRNA targets to functional annotation and to visualize quantitative data associated with those data.

Availability: CORNA is available as an R package from http://corna.sf.net

Contact:  xikun.wu@bbsrc.ac.uk
Climate predictability in the second year
Authors: Hermanson Leon , Sutton Rowan T
Published: January 2009

In this paper, the predictability of climate arising from ocean heat content (OHC) anomalies is investigated in the HadCM3 coupled atmosphere–ocean model. An ensemble of simulations of the twentieth century are used to provide initial conditions for a case study. The case study consists of two ensembles started from initial conditions with large differences in regional OHC in the North Atlantic, the Southern Ocean and parts of the West Pacific. Surface temperatures and precipitation are on average not predictable beyond seasonal time scales, but for certain initial conditions there may be longer predictability. It is shown that, for the case study examined here, some aspects of tropical precipitation, European surface temperatures and North Atlantic sea-level pressure are potentially predictable 2 years ahead. Predictability also exists in the other case studies, but the climate variables and regions, which are potentially predictable, differ. This work was done as part of the Grid for Coupled Ensemble Prediction (GCEP) eScience project.
New tools to support collaboration and virtual organizations
Authors: Frame I , Austen K.F , Calleja M , Dove M.T , White T.O.H , Wilson D.J
Published: January 2009

We describe the use of new eScience tools to support collaboration, including the use of XML data representations to support shared viewing of the information content of data, metadata tools for documenting data and Web 2.0 social networking tools for documenting ideas and the collaboration process. This latter work has led to the development of the
http://SciSpace.net
Web resource.
eScience for molecular-scale simulations and the
e
Minerals project
Authors: Salje E.K.H , Artacho E , Austen K.F , Bruin R.P , Calleja M , Chappell H.F , Chiang G.-T , Dove M.T , Frame I , Goodwin A.L , Kleese van Dam K , Marmier A , Parker S.C , Pruneda J.M , Todorov I.T , Trachenko K , Tyer R.P , Walker A.M , White T.O.H
Published: January 2009

We review the work carried out within the
e
Minerals project to develop eScience solutions that facilitate a new generation of molecular-scale simulation work. Technological developments include integration of compute and data systems, developing of collaborative frameworks and new researcher-friendly tools for grid job submission, XML data representation, information delivery, metadata harvesting and metadata management. A number of diverse science applications will illustrate how these tools are being used for large parameter-sweep studies, an emerging type of study for which the integration of computing, data and collaboration is essential.
Transforming the sensing and numerical prediction of high-impact local weather through dynamic adaptation
Authors: Droegemeier Kelvin K
Published: January 2009

Mesoscale weather, such as convective systems, intense local rainfall resulting in flash floods and lake effect snows, frequently is characterized by unpredictable rapid onset and evolution, heterogeneity and spatial and temporal intermittency. Ironically, most of the technologies used to observe the atmosphere, predict its evolution and compute, transmit or store information about it, operate in a static pre-scheduled framework that is fundamentally inconsistent with, and does not accommodate, the dynamic behaviour of mesoscale weather. As a result, today's weather technology is highly constrained and far from optimal when applied to any particular situation.

This paper describes a new cyberinfrastructure framework, in which remote and
in situ
atmospheric sensors, data acquisition and storage systems, assimilation and prediction codes, data mining and visualization engines, and the information technology frameworks within which they operate, can change configuration automatically, in response to evolving weather. Such dynamic adaptation is designed to allow system components to achieve greater overall effectiveness, relative to their static counterparts, for any given situation.

The associated service-oriented architecture, known as Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery (LEAD), makes advanced meteorological and cyber tools as easy to use as ordering a book on the web. LEAD has been applied in a variety of settings, including experimental forecasting by the US National Weather Service, and allows users to focus much more attention on the problem at hand and less on the nuances of data formats, communication protocols and job execution environments.
Subjective vs. documented reality: A case study of long-term real-life autobiographical memory
Authors: Mendelsohn Avi , Furman Orit , Navon Inbal , Dudai Yadin
Published: January 2009

A young woman was filmed during 2 d of her ordinary life. A few months and then again a few years later she was tested for the memory of her experiences in those days while undergoing fMRI scanning. As time passed, she came to accept more false details as true. After months, activity of a network considered to subserve autobiographical memory was correlated with memory confidence rather than with accuracy. After years, mainly regions of the temporal pole displayed this pattern. These results might reflect a slow process of increased reliance on schemata at the expense of accuracy.
Blocking the BK channel impedes acquisition of trace eyeblink conditioning
Authors: Matthews Elizabeth A. , Disterhoft John F.
Published: January 2009

Big-K+ conductance (BK)-channel mediated fast afterhyperpolarizations (AHPs) following action potentials are reduced after eyeblink conditioning. Blocking BK channels with paxilline increases evoked firing frequency in vitro and spontaneous pyramidal activity in vivo. To examine how increased excitability after BK-channel blockade affects learning, rats received bilateral infusions of paxilline, saline, or nothing into hippocampal CA1 prior to trace eyeblink conditioning. The drug group was slower to acquire the task, but learning was not completely impaired. This suggests that nonspecific increases in excitability and baseline neuronal firing rates caused by in vivo blockade of the BK channel may disrupt correct processing of inputs, thereby impairing hippocampus-dependent learning.
Pentatricopeptide Repeat Proteins with the DYW Motif Have Distinct Molecular Functions in RNA Editing and RNA Cleavage in Arabidopsis Chloroplasts
Authors: Okuda Kenji , Chateigner-Boutin Anne-Laure , Nakamura Takahiro , Delannoy Etienne , Sugita Mamoru , Myouga Fumiyoshi , Motohashi Reiko , Shinozaki Kazuo , Small Ian , Shikanai Toshiharu
Published: January 2009

The plant-specific DYW subclass of pentatricopeptide repeat proteins has been postulated to be involved in RNA editing of organelle transcripts. We discovered that the DYW proteins CHLORORESPIRATORY REDUCTION22 (CRR22) and CRR28 are required for editing of multiple plastid transcripts but that their DYW motifs are dispensable for editing activity in vivo. Replacement of the DYW motifs of CRR22 and CRR28 by that of CRR2, which has been shown to be capable of endonucleolytic cleavage, blocks the editing activity of both proteins. In return, the DYW motifs of neither CRR22 nor CRR28 can functionally replace that of CRR2. We propose that different DYW family members have acquired distinct functions in the divergent processes of RNA maturation, including RNA cleavage and RNA editing.
Free school meals, the plate model and food choices in Finland
Authors: Tikkanen Irma , Urho Ulla‐Marja
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to describe free school meals with respect to a plate model and to analyse how the meals were chosen by pupils at Finnish comprehensive schools.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews the history of the Finnish school catering system and free school meals. It also briefly analyses theoretical approaches to school meals and introduces a plate model based on national nutritional recommendations. The empirical data were collected in 2003 by the second author of this paper. In total, 3,041 pupils returned the questionnaire from ten comprehensive schools. Data from the pupils' school meal choices were analysed using one‐way ANOVA and F‐tests.

Findings

The findings indicate that there were significant differences in the chosen school meals between boys and girls, between classes, and between schools. Thus, the plate model has not been followed when choosing the free school meals.

Practical implications

This paper has, for example, the following implication: school meals should not be considered with respect to food only, but should be viewed from a broader perspective, namely that of pupils' needs and wants.

Originality/value

School meals have previously been studied with multiple theoretical approaches. The authors believe that the broader focus on pupils and their socio‐ecological environment will further increase understanding of their food choices in Finland.
Connecting product attributes with emotional benefits
Authors: Barrena Ramo , Sanchez Mercedes
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to test whether the effects of wine consumption on the emotions vary with the age of the consumer, the objective being to use the results to orient further product differentiation in a highly saturated and competitive market.

Design/methodology/approach

The decision structures of various age groups of wine consumers were explored by means of laddering interviews, a technique drawn from means‐end chain theory, to reveal consumers' attribute‐consequence‐value chains.

Findings

The results reveal that wine consumers perceive an emotional benefit from drinking wine and that this varies with the age of the consumer. The degree of abstraction in the cognitive process involved in the perception of this benefit increases inversely with the age of the consumer. Older people report less complex decision‐making processes. In general terms, consumers drink wine for the sensory pleasure it gives, but younger drinkers are also motivated to drink it for reasons relating to cultural identity and social status, while older generations focus primarily on the potential of wine as a social catalyst.

Originality/value

This study offers the wine industry new alternatives to enhance information, communication and product differentiation campaigns.
Assessing the consumer perception of the term “organic”: a citizens' jury approach
Authors: Barnes Andrew P. , Vergunst Petra , Topp Kairsty
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The paper seeks to assess the knowledge consumers have of organic farming and what they would prefer from the organic system.

Design/methodology/approach

A citizens' jury (CJ) was held in Penicuik, a small town on the peri‐urban fringe of Southeast Scotland. A CJ consists of a small group of people, selected from the general public, who meet over a number of days to deliberate upon a particular question. The major advantage of this approach is the ability to provide a greater level of technical information and offer fewer time constraints on the deliberation process amongst the group. In the case of dairy farming, the jury was presented with evidence of the economic, environmental and welfare impacts of both conventional and organic systems and asked to recommend its favoured system and how it would define the term “organic”.

Findings

The jury's knowledge of certain aspects of farming had improved over the two‐day period and was unanimous in favouring organic agriculture when solely considering the environment, but was mixed towards the animal welfare effects. Conversely, when considering the economic impacts the jury supported the conventional system. This complicated the decision for the group favouring one particular system.

Research limitations/implications

Some bias is introduced into the jury as most citizens either worked or came from an urban background and hence may have less knowledge of dairy systems when compared with those from a rural background. However, most CJs begin from a point where participants have little or no knowledge of the subject and their views are shaped by the CJ process itself.

Practical implications

The findings show the implications of the consumer decision‐making process.

Originality/value

This paper is the first application of a CJ to consider organic food. Previous studies have adopted a questionnaire or focus group approach, both of which impose constraints on information dissemination and time to deliberate on decisions.
Attitude toward organic foods among Taiwanese as related to health consciousness, environmental attitudes, and the mediating effects of a healthy lifestyle
Authors: Chen Mei‐Fang
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Instead of using general food choice motives, this study adopts more specific attitudes – i.e. health consciousness and environmental attitudes – to predict the consumer's attitude toward organic foods. The main objective of the paper is to test the hypothesis whether health consciousness and environmental attitudes influence the consumer's attitude toward organic foods through an individual's healthy lifestyle.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected in Taiwan by means of a national self‐administered consumer questionnaire survey in this study. A series of regression models are used to detect how the mediating role of the healthy lifestyle construct plays in the relationships between the determinant factors (i.e. health consciousness and environmental attitudes) and the consumer's attitude toward organic foods.

Findings

The results are consistent with previous studies, which assert that concern for one's health and for the environment are the two most commonly stated motives for purchasing organic foods, with the former exceeding the latter in importance. In addition, the healthy lifestyle indeed exerts effective mediating effects on the positive relationships between health consciousness and environmental attitudes and the consumer's attitude toward organic foods. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle should be advocated to render the consumer's attitude toward organic foods more positive.

Practical implications

Based on the findings, the selection of advertising messages, social interaction and so forth should revolve around the issues of health consciousness, environmental attitudes, and healthy lifestyle in the future.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to examine the mediating effect of a healthy lifestyle that bears on organic foods. The empirical findings from this study are expected to benefit the continued development of the organic sector in Taiwan's food industry.
Consumer acceptance of wood‐based food additives
Authors: Stern Tobias , Haas Rainer , Meixner Oliver
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes to, and acceptance of, affective communication in the context of pre‐knowledge regarding wood‐based food additives.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of 263 Austrian consumers was carried out to investigate pre‐knowledge, attitude and attitude change as a result of affective communication about wood‐based food additives.

Findings

About 14 per cent of the sample had pre‐knowledge concerning wood‐based food additives. In general the attitudes towards wood‐based additives were significantly better than those towards food additives in general. The results indicate a connection between pre‐knowledge and attitude. Respondents who had knowledge about wood‐based food additives evaluated them better, especially in contrast to those who had wrong ideas about them. Furthermore, it proved possible to improve the evaluations of those respondents who did not know about wood‐based additives by providing basic information.

Practical implications

The provision of additional information would improve the marketing potential of wood‐based additives, especially in contrast to additives in general. If the topic is ignored, there is a risk that public discussion could be based on non‐knowledge‐based conceptions by some consumers. The provision of early impact information is suggested in this regard.

Originality/value

Although the use of wood as a raw material in the food industry is common, it has not been a subject of public or scientific discussion to date.
Select televised sportscasters for Olympic Games by analytic network process
Authors: Liao Sen‐Kuei , Chang Kuei‐Lun
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how a multiple criteria decision‐making method, the analytic network process (ANP) is applied to help Taiwanese TV companies to effectively select optimal televised sportscasters for the Olympic Games.

Design/methodology/approach

After interviewing 44 practitioners, criteria for the selection of the Olympic Games televised sportscasters were collected. To avoid the complicated computing process from additional pairwise comparisons of the ANP, the 12 critical criteria that were mentioned more than 30 times by theses respondents were retained. After discussions with 18 senior executives these were classified in three perspectives to structure the hierarchy for the selection of the Olympic Games televised sportscasters.

Findings

After discussions with the 18 senior executives, it is found that the selection criteria for televised sportscasters are interrelated. Unlike former contributors who ignored the interdependence among factors, a more feasible and accurate approach, the ANP, which captures the dependent relationship, is applied in this paper to handle such problems.

Practical implications

According to the hierarchy base on three perspectives and 12 important criteria, Taiwanese TV companies could select the optimal Olympic Games televised sportscasters more effectively. A practical application of the ANP presented is generic and could be exploited for Taiwanese TV companies.

Originality/value

The Olympic Games are one of the most important and most popular sporting events in the world. This paper contributes to a more effective selection of the optimal Olympic Games televised sportscasters.
Management implications of foreign players in the English Premiership League football
Authors: Madichie Nnamdi
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how one of the biggest phenomena of the twenty‐first century is the internationalisation of professional sports and how premier league football epitomises this. With the influx of foreign players, managers and now owners, European League Football has become big business. This paper aims to provide a theoretical analysis of the management implications of foreign players in the English Premiership League football – renamed the Barclays Premier League to suit the needs of its major sponsors.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach adopted is purely qualitative in nature, evaluating the top Barclays Premier League teams and the impact of globalisation on their reconfigurations since the early 1990s to date. The study draws mainly from a review of the extant literature on sports and management, as well as a critical analysis of media reports.

Findings

Globalisation has emerged as a new force that has changed the way corporations are managed. Financial services, retail and information technology firms have all responded to this new wave – and so also has sports. Unfortunately while sports have the potential to teach lessons on management strategy, management researchers seem to have relegated sports to the sociology and psychology disciplines.

Practical implications

The Barclays Premier league football provides a unique environment for management decisions and processes to occur in a range of markets and at varied levels. However, the globalisation of professional sports has received relatively very little attention in the academic literature – especially in the field of business and management.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the scant literature on the management implications of football by highlighting how globalisation has affected and reconfigured professional sports using the influx of foreign players into the English football league as a point of departure.
Symbolic purchase in sport: the roles of self‐image congruence and perceived quality
Authors: Hee Kwak Dae , Kang Joon‐Ho
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the notion of “symbolic purchase” which has long been documented in the management and marketing literature. In particular, self‐congruity theory has been examined in various domains of consumer behavior. However, little attention has been paid to the area of sport. In sport business, licensed‐merchandise (i.e. team apparel) has become an increasingly important revenue source and it strengthens fan identity and brand loyalty. Therefore, based on the self‐congruity theory, the aim is to investigate the effect of self‐image congruence on sport team‐licensed merchandise evaluation and purchase.

Design/methodology/approach

A proposed model incorporates self‐image congruence (SIC), perceived quality, and purchase intention of team‐licensed merchandise. The reliabilities of the scaled measures were established in a pilot study (n=66). Data (n=260) for this study were collected at two professional basketball games using a convenient sampling method.

Findings

The results of the structural model indicated that the model fits the data well and constructs of self‐image congruence and perceived quality combined explained 43 per cent of the total variance in purchase intention. The findings revealed that both SIC and perceived quality had a direct positive effect on purchase intention while perceived quality also acted as a mediator between SIC and purchase intention.

Research limitations/implications

The findings imply that SIC can be useful in predicting sport fans’ quality perception and purchase decisions on the team‐licensed merchandise. Future studies need to replicate this study in different regions and using different sports (i.e. soccer, baseball, etc.).

Originality/value

The findings extend the literature by incorporating self‐image congruence and perceived product quality in the purchase decision‐making process. This is the first known effort to apply self‐congruity theory in the spectator sport consumption context.
Market reaction to sporting results
Authors: Benkraiem Ramzi , Louhichi Waël , Marques Pierre
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to study the stock market reaction to sporting results of European listed football clubs. Specifically, it tries to examine the impact of the sporting results on the stock market valuation in terms of abnormal returns and trading volume around the dates of matches.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper undertakes an event study around the dates of 745 matches played by European listed football clubs.

Findings

The empirical analysis shows that the sporting results of listed football clubs affect both the abnormal returns and the trading volume around the dates of matches. The movement (positive or negative) and the time when the impact occurs (before or after the match) differ according to the nature of the result (defeat, draw or win) and the match venue (home or away). Findings in this study imply that the success of investments in listed football clubs requires a regular follow‐up of their sporting performances.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first to take into consideration the nature of sporting results (defeat, draw or win) according to the match venue (home or away) in order to study the market reaction in terms of both abnormal returns and trading volume. Unlike some previous studies, it is not limited to studying a single specific context but considers listed football clubs from all over Europe.