bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The influence of culture and framing on investment decision-making
Authors: Fehrenbacher Dennis , Roetzel Peter Gordon , Pedell Burkhard
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Cultural studies in business and economics research are still limited to particular cultures. Knowledge on cultural differences may help international corporations to adapt management practices according to the markets they are operating in. The purpose of this paper is to study the issue of escalation of commitment and framing in a new cultural setting involving Germany and Vietnam. This setting is unique and particularly interesting, for Germany being the biggest European market and Vietnam being one of the fastest growing emerging markets in Asia.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a lab experiment with student participants from Germany and Vietnam.

Findings

In a 2×2 in between-experiment, the authors find strong support that Vietnamese participants have a stronger tendency to invest additional resources and evidence that negatively framed information leads to the higher escalation of commitment. Implications are discussed.

Originality/value

The unique empirical comparison is important because differences between other western and eastern countries do not necessarily generalize to the setting.
A two-stage skilled manpower planning model with demand uncertainty
Authors: Sadeghi-Dastaki Mohsen , Afrazeh Abbas
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Human resources are one of the most important and effective elements for companies. In other words, employees are a competitive advantage. This issue is more vital in the supply chains and production systems, because of high need for manpower in the different specification. Therefore, manpower planning is an important, essential and complex task. The purpose of this paper is to present a manpower planning model for production departments. The authors consider workforce with individual and hierarchical skills with skill substitution in the planning. Assuming workforce demand as a factor of uncertainty, a two-stage stochastic model is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

To solve the proposed mixed-integer model in the real-world cases and large-scale problems, a Benders’ decomposition algorithm is introduced. Some test instances are solved, with scenarios generated by Monte Carlo method. For some test instances, to find the number of suitable scenarios, the authors use the sample average approximation method and to generate scenarios, the authors use Latin hypercube sampling method.

Findings

The results show a reasonable performance in terms of both quality and solution time. Finally, the paper concludes with some analysis of the results and suggestions for further research.

Originality/value

Researchers have attracted to other uncertainty factors such as costs and products demand in the literature, and have little attention to workforce demand as an uncertainty factor. Furthermore, most of the time, researchers assume that there is no difference between the education level and skill, while they are not necessarily equivalent. Hence, this paper enters these elements into decision making.
Implementing the Challenger Sales Model at Cars.com: a case study
Authors: Isaac Mathew S. , Abraham Ajay T. , Richards Elaine Y.
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent implementation of the Challenger Sales Model (CSM) at Cars.com, an online automotive marketplace that generated $633m in sales in 2016 with a sales force of over 500 representatives, and to identify insights related to the implementation that may be relevant to sales researchers and other organizations considering similar implementations. A more specific aim is to determine whether establishing “constructive tension” between salespeople and their customers, which is a key tenet of the CSM, was perceived as a source of value for Cars.com.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study is based primarily on in-depth interviews with 15 employees spanning different sales and/or training responsibilities in the organization, from the current CEO (previously the former Senior Vice President of Sales) to sales representatives from different sales teams.

Findings

Five major insights emerged from this research: (1) Because it represents a change in the established norms governing interpersonal dynamics, constructive tension is often more difficult for salespeople to foster when interacting with existing (vs prospective) customers. (2) Whereas leading with insights is more difficult when interacting with prospective (vs existing) customers, sustaining meaningful insights over time is a major challenge when dealing with existing customers. (3 )Products that are more transactional or price-driven are ineffective at creating constructive tension and incompatible with the CSM. (4) Creating value from constructive tension requires the entire sales organization to share a common vision of what it means to be a Challenger and to adopt consistent nomenclature and formal programs for training and coaching. (5) Even more than other consultative sales models, the successful implementation of the CSM demands company-wide integration and makes it untenable for most indirect sales teams.

Originality/value

Although prior academic research has offered critiques of the CSM, the present paper is one of the first to use a discovery-oriented, qualitative research approach to provide a retrospective look at the actual implementation of the CSM within an organization. This approach results in novel insights, such as the identification of conditions when high-pressure versus low-pressure selling techniques are likely to be more successful, that may be of interest to sales researchers and to other companies considering a large-scale implementation of the CSM or related sales methodologies.
Moderating effects of environmental uncertainty on behavioural intentions in business markets – a study across theoretical perspectives
Authors: Tzempelikos Nektarios , Kooli Kaouther
Published: September 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty on the impact of the focal constructs of relationship quality and relationship value on behavioural intentions across the theoretical perspectives of commitment-trust and relationship value. The study examines to which extent the application of these two theoretical perspectives can absorb part of the environmental uncertainty in a buyer/seller relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used empirical data from UK manufacturers from different sectors to test the hypotheses developed. The sample ranged from small enterprises to multi-billion companies. A structured questionnaire was used as a research instrument.

Findings

The effects of relationship quality and relationship value on behavioural intentions are not found, to a large extent, to be moderated by environmental uncertainty. The findings support that the commitment-trust and relationship value perspectives can absorb part of the uncertainty firms face in business markets.

Research limitations/implications

The current study investigates the customer perspective only. Future dyadic research will be able to offer a more holistic view of the focal constructs and their performance outcomes.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that firms may find it productive to invest in more relationship marketing efforts in markets with higher levels of uncertainty to improve performance.

Originality/value

Although the role of environmental uncertainty as a key exogenous factor in relationship effectiveness should not be overlooked, the theoretical perspectives of commitment-trust and relationship value suggest that relevant approaches in explaining how favourable behavioural intentions can be generated succeed in absorbing part of the uncertainty that organizations can face in business relationships.
Analysis of oscillations in continuous expenditures and their multiple causalities: a case study
Authors: Telles Charles Roberto , Cunha Andrea Regina Burakoski da , Chueiri Ana Maria Sawaya , Kuromiya Kamila
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamics of public spending in the continuous services sector of the Secretary of State for Education of Paraná.

Design/methodology/approach

Understand the dynamics of public spending in view of the oscillations between years that these expenses present, understanding the expenditure system as a non-linear and complex system in which the causes that generate oscillations in the annual expenses are originated by several random variables.

Findings

It was found that several variables affect a public service. Many times policies or other actions try to achieve efficiency in controlling or containing public financial resources. It is not uncommon such actions do not have any determinant or robust effect at their prior objectives due to the nature of phenomena.

Research limitations/implications

Government expenditures constitute an event of great complexity with respect to the magnitude of financial units and the budget flow involved in each of these units. In this sense, all the financial units that compose the great public expenditure scenario are inserted in heterogeneous contexts considering the dynamics of geographic, social, cultural and political administrative space of a State.

Practical implications

The methods exposed in the paper are important tools to verify how policy, financial, administrative and other dimensions of actions taken influenced a continuous expenditure system. The main objective remained in identifying the strong influence of actions toward random variables that might affect the event.

Social implications

Public money from taxes is used for policy purposes. Therefore, the best use of resources, financial, natural and human is needs for any public service.

Originality/value

The paper presents an important pace to achieve a better measurement of public continuous expenditures as well as strategies for management regarding the complexity of events within the context.
A cross-cultural study on perceived quality in upscale hotels in Italy and Croatia
Authors: Šerić Maja
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Most of the cross-cultural empirical research in hospitality has focused on Western and Eastern differences and has neglected cultural diversity in Europe. As cultural differences in Europe do exist and have important implications for managers operating in hotel industry, the purpose of this paper is to examine perceived quality in upscale (four- and five-star) hotels in two Mediterranean countries: Italy and Croatia.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected among 335 guests in upscale hotels in Italy and 475 hotel guests in Croatia. This work adopts a cross-cultural approach in two different ways. First, perceived quality is assessed in hotels in two different countries. Second, national culture of guests is considered in their evaluations of perceived quality in each country.

Findings

Surprisingly, hotels in Croatia, an emerging tourist destination, performed better than hotels in Italy, a top worldwide destination. The results show significant differences in perceived quality evaluations according to national cultures of hotel guests in each country. However, while in Croatia domestic guests perceived higher levels of quality than other guests, in Italy, perceived quality was rated lower by Italians than by their American counterparts.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study contribute to better understanding of perceived quality in cross-cultural research in hospitality.

Practical implications

Implications are discussed for both Italian and Croatian hotel managers, two direct competitors in the Mediterranean area.

Originality/value

This paper covers several research gaps: lack of cross-cultural research in hospitality marketing, poor examination of perceived quality in hotels from the cross-cultural perspective, and poor consideration of cultural diversity within European countries.
Application of rough set and netnography in tourism marketing analysis
Authors: Sajjadian Fatemeh , Sheikh Reza , Souri Mohammad Ehsan , Sana Shib Sankar
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Social media has given customers more power over sharing their knowledge, opinions and experiences with each other. Tourists as customers of destinations are also using text ads on social media and websites to share their experiences. The purpose of this study is to find out the factors which have affect on the decisions of tourists towards the most popular destinations in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz of Iran.

Design/methodology/approach

Netnography methodology has been applied to 2,852 comments showing travelers’ experiences through TripAdvisor.com. As a result, ten major factors have been discovered. According to these factors, a questionnaire has been designed and distributed among 449 tourists. In the second step, the collected data are used by rough set theory to discover the rules of destination recommendation based on the factors discovered before. Finally, eight main rules are determined to further analysis.

Findings

The findings confirm that beauty, cultural attractions, safety, welfare, costs and dealing with passengers are more important than other observed dimensions.

Originality/value

In this study, first the factors affecting consumer behavior in the tourism industry have been investigated. Based on this, the comments of tourists who have traveled to one of the cities Shiraz, Isfahan or Teheran and shared their experiences on TripAdvisor.com are studied. Further, the rules are discovered based on the rough set theory, and owing to the large number of objects (449 customer), the Rosetta software has been used.
Impact of JIT, TQM and green supply chain practices on environmental sustainability
Authors: Green Kenneth W. , Inman R. Anthony , Sower Victor E. , Zelbst Pamela J.
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the complementary impact of JIT, TQM and green supply chain practices on environmental performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from a sample of 225 US manufacturing managers are analyzed using a PLS-SEM methodology.

Findings

JIT and TQM are directly and positively associated with green supply chain management practices. JIT, TQM and green supply chain practices are complementary in that combined they provide a greater impact on environmental performance than if implemented individually.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is limited to US manufacturing managers, with a low response rate.

Practical implications

Successful implementations of JIT and TQM improvement programs support the implementation of green supply chain management practices leading to improved environmental performance.

Social implications

The combination of JIT, TQM and green manufacturing practices improves the environment by eliminating all forms of waste and providing customers with eco-friendly products and services.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to empirically assess the complementary impact of JIT, TQM and green supply chain practices within the context of environmental sustainability.
Charities as symbolic families: ethnographic evidence from Spain
Authors: Grau Rebollo Jorge , Escribano Castaño Paula , Valenzuela-Garcia Hugo , Lubbers Miranda Jessica
Published: September 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the care provision of charity organizations that assist people in situations of economic vulnerability. After analyzing central theoretical elements of kinning, the authors contend that charity organizations function as symbolic families for people in need.

Design/methodology/approach

Ethnographic fieldwork was performed in two sites of a large catholic charity organization in the outskirts of Barcelona. Ethnographic fieldwork included participant observations and informal interviews with individuals located under the official poverty threshold.

Findings

Symbolic family bonds among different individuals are created through the entwining of interconnectedness, obligation and commitment, sense of belonging, interdependence and the projection of symbolic spaces of hearth. The authors propose the term of “disposable families” (akin to that of Desmond’s, 2013 for dyadic relationships) because a remarkable feature of these bonds is its short-term nature.

Social implications

The consideration of charities as symbolic families offers new insights into their social role and may contribute to reshaping the social function within emergency situations.

Originality/value

This research opens new ground for the understanding of charities as something else than care providers, as the relational dimension with clients extends beyond the conventional patron/client relationship. This fact has particular relevance in an economic context of post-crisis, with the Welfare State withdrawal and a deterioration of the traditional sources of informal support.
Recognizability of heterologous co‐chaperones with Streptococcus intermedius DnaK and Escherichia coli DnaK
Authors: Tomoyasu Toshifumi , Tsuruno Keigo , Tanatsugu Ryosuke , Miyazaki Aya , Kondo Hiroyuki , Tabata Atsushi , Whiley Robert A. , Sonomoto Kenji , Nagamune Hideaki
Published: September 2018

Streptococcus intermedius DnaK complements the temperature‐sensitive phenotype of an Escherichia coli dnaK null mutant only when co‐chaperones DnaJ and GrpE are co‐expressed. Therefore, whether S. intermedius DnaK and E. coli DnaK can recognize heterologous co‐chaperones in vitro was examined. Addition of heterologous GrpE to DnaK and DnaJ partially stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity, and almost completely stimulated luciferase refolding activity. Addition of heterologous DnaJ to GrpE and DnaK also stimulated ATPase activity; however, significant luciferase refolding activity was not observed. Moreover, E. coli DnaJ had a negative effect on the luciferase refolding activity of the S. intermedius DnaK chaperone system. In E. coli chaperone mutants, with the exception of E. coli DnaJ, stronger expression of the heterologous co‐chaperones partially or almost completely complemented the temperature‐sensitive‐phenotype. These results indicate that all heterologous co‐chaperones can at least partially recognize DnaK of a distantly related species. A region of the ATPase domain that is present in the DnaK of gram‐negative bacteria is absent from the DnaK of gram‐positive bacteria. This region is believed to be important for recognition of co‐chaperones from gram‐negative bacteria. However, insertion of this segment into S. intermedius DnaK failed to increase its ability to recognize E. coli co‐chaperones, implying that this region is unnecessary or insufficient for the recognition of E. coli co‐chaperones. Thus, our data suggest that a basic structural similarity is conserved among the components of the S. intermedius and E. coli DnaK chaperone systems, allowing weak associations between heterologous components.
Change in drivers of mangrove crown displacement along a salinity stress gradient
Authors: Vovides Alejandra G. , Berger Uta , Grueters Uwe , Guevara Roger , Pommerening Arne , Lara‐Domínguez Ana Laura , López‐Portillo Jorge
Published: September 2018

Crown displacement in trees is an adaptive response driven by neighbours that optimizes space use and reduces competition. But it can also be the result of wind force. Although morphological responses to neighbours have been well studied, the interplay between neighbours and wind in driving crown shape, and the implications for plant interactions remain poorly understood. However, it is crucial to predict such changes in vegetation structure and function under the scope of global change. We test the hypothesis that aboveground interactions are reduced with increasing soil stress and that wind becomes the main driver of crown shape in mangrove forests.

We investigated the effect of neighbours and wind intensity and direction on crown displacement of mangrove canopy and below canopy trees along a salinity gradient, and assessed crown asymmetry for three mangrove tree species, as well as the contribution of crown displacement on reducing crown‐projected area overlap and thus neighbourhood competition.

Results show that crown displacement of canopy trees is strongly influenced by winds at all salinities. At low salinities, competition for space accounted for 48% of crown displacement away from neighbours, compared to 49% found for the synthetized effects of wind and neighbours. While trees below the canopy displace their crowns away from their neighbours, no response to wind could be detected. This can be due to the wind protection conferred by a dense canopy stand related to bigger crowns that effectively reduce wind drag. At higher salinities, there was a reduction in canopy overlap due to crown displacement, which suggests reduced aboveground plant interactions with increasing soil stress.

While neighbourhood avoidance is a fundamental strategy for optimal light foraging, this study shows that wind strength and directionality are main drivers of crown shape with increasing stress and highlights their potential influence in plant interactions and forest structure, pointing to an increased susceptibility of trees to disturbances that should be further studied.

Aplain language summaryis available for this article.
Nutrient addition affects scaling relationship of leaf nitrogen to phosphorus in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Yan Zhengbing , Li Xiuping , Tian Di , Han Wenxuan , Hou Xinghui , Shen Haihua , Guo Yalong , Fang Jingyun
Published: September 2018

Ambient nutrient changes influence the coupling of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in terrestrial ecosystems, but whether it could alter the scaling relationship of plant leaf N to P concentrations remains unclear.

Here, we conducted experimental manipulations using Arabidopsis thaliana, with five levels of N and P additions and nine repeated experiments, and then evaluated the changes in the scaling relationship of leaf N to P concentrations under nutrient additions.

Overall, leaf N concentration scaled as 0.552 power of leaf P concentration for all data pooled. However, when considering the effect of the type of nutrient addition, the scaling relationship for pooled data of the five levels of N addition was insignificant at two growth stages (young‐leaf and mature‐leaf stages), whereas the scaling relationship for pooled data of the five levels of P addition was significant with exponents of 0.290 and 0.268 at the two growth stages, respectively. Furthermore, the scaling exponent decreased with the increasing levels of N addition, but increased with the increasing levels of P addition. This suggests that high nutrient availability decreases the variability in its own concentration, but promotes the fluctuation in another tightly associated nutrient concentration in leaves among plant individuals. We call this as Nutrient Availability–Individual Variability Hypothesis.

Our results suggest that scaling relationship of leaf N to P concentrations is largely modulated by the type and level of nutrient addition, and analyses of leaf N vs. P scaling relationships using pooled data could lose much information rooted in biologically and ecologically significant variances. These findings provide important implications for the parameterization in modelling stoichiometric growth and nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems, and for understanding population structures, processes and functioning under varying nutrient environments. However, whether our observed patterns in A. thaliana could be extended to those at community level warrants further studies and more validations.

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An investigation of the quality of pretend play ability in children with cerebral palsy
Authors: dos Santos Daniela Medeiros , Lucisano Renata Valdívia , Pfeifer Luzia Iara
Published: September 2018

Background

Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of permanent disorders in the development of movement and posture due to non‐progressive disturbances during foetal or infant brain development that can result in activity limitations, including engagement in pretend play.

Methods

Twenty children aged four to seven years with spastic CP participated in this descriptive qualitative study. The Child‐Initiated Pretend Play Assessment (ChIPPA) clinical observations were analysed from five categories: Time, Interaction with the examiner, Imitation, Theme and Story.

Results

Seventy per cent (70%) of the children completed the assessment (Time), and 90% of children interacted socially with the examiner during the play (Interaction with the examiner). All children initiated their pretend play without requiring examiner demonstration (Imitation). Sixty per cent (60%) of the children were appropriate to their stage of development for Theme. Finally, 60% of the children set up a scenario, but did not develop a narrative (Story).

Conclusion

Qualitative aspects of the children's pretend play performance were satisfactory, showing typical play indicators in all the categories, except for ‘Story’. ‘Story’ represents more complexity in a child's pretend play ability. Therefore, a play intervention is suggested to stimulate and expand the pretend play ability of preschool children with CP.
Violence in the Household and Happiness in Mexico
Authors: Charles‐Leija Humberto , Aboites Gilberto , Llamas Ignacio
Published: September 2018

This article has two purposes: first to investigate whether violence influences wellbeing; second to investigate whether the effect of violence is greater for women than for men. The results show that there is a significant impact on the wellbeing of individuals when suffering violence from someone with whom they live, with women being more severely affected than men.
Exposure to herbicides reduces larval sensitivity to insecticides in Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
Authors: Liu Shi‐Wei , Elzaki Mohammed Esmail Abdalla , Staehelin Christian , Ma Zhi‐Hui , Qin Zhong , Wang Rui‐Long
Published: September 2018

Herbicides and insecticides are widely used in modern agriculture. It has been reported in various studies that application of insecticides can increase tolerance of herbivorous insects to insecticides. However, limited information exists on susceptibility to insecticides when insects are exposed to herbicides. This study was conducted to investigate the potential impact of the herbicides trifluralin and 2‐methyl‐4‐chlorophenoxyacetic acid sodium salt (MCPA‐Na) on the susceptibility of the nocturnal moth Spodoptera litura to the insecticides λ‐cyhalothrin, phoxim and bifenthrin. We found that larvae exposed to trifluralin or MCPA‐Na became significantly less susceptible to both insecticides than non‐exposed control larvae. Herbicide‐treated larvae did not show altered growth under the used test conditions. However, heads of herbicide‐treated larvae showed increased expression of the acetylcholinesterase genes SlAce1 and SlAce2. Moreover, the fat body and midgut of herbicide‐treated larvae displayed elevated expression of detoxification genes (the carboxylesterase gene SlCarE; the glutathione S‐transferase genes SlGSTe2 and SlGSTe3; the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase genes CYP6B48, CYP9A40 and CYP321B1). The CYP6B48 gene exhibited highest inducibility. In conclusion, the data of this study suggest that exposure of S. litura larvae to herbicides may stimulate detoxification mechanisms that compromise the efficacy of insecticides.
The influence of Trichoderma brevicompactum treatment and drought on physiological parameters, abscisic acid content and signalling pathway marker gene expression in leaves and roots of tomato
Authors: Racić Gordana , Vukelić Igor , Prokić Ljiljana , Ćurčić Nataša , Zorić Miroslav , Jovanović Ljubinko , Panković Dejana
Published: September 2018

Trichoderma species are widely known for their antagonistic properties, but plant growth promotion and abiotic stress tolerance have also been reported. Mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance, such as drought in plants in interaction with Trichoderma spp., remain unclear. In this work, the results about the influence of Trichoderma brevicompactum on the physiological parameters and abscisic acid (ABA) content in leaves and roots of tomato, as well as the Trichoderma‐modulated plant response to drought are presented. Both in optimally watered plants and droughted plants treated with Trichoderma, the relative water content (RWC) was 17% higher than in untreated plants. Drought lowered RWC by 25% in both Trichoderma‐untreated and ‐treated plants. Under drought conditions, the better water status of plants treated with Trichoderma is connected with lower stomatal conductance and closure of stomata. The lower increase of root ABA content in Trichoderma‐treated plants that we observed could be an adaptive advantage in sense of smaller inhibition of plant growth induced by drought. Trichoderma modulation of the salicylic acid (SA) marker genes response to drought was observed in leaves. Our results suggest that signalling pathways of jasmonic acid (JA), SA and ABA are involved in response to both drought and Trichoderma. The mutual effect of the tested treatments leads to the modification of gene expression in comparison to the reaction to a single stress. The upregulation of SA marker genes in leaves and JA marker genes in the roots 2 weeks after the interaction with T. brevicompactum indicates that it could be promising biocontrol agent.
The effects of high temperatures on individuals and populations of the green spruce aphid Elatobium abietinum (Walker)
Authors: Straw Nigel A. , Bladon Freia M. , Day Keith R. , Fielding Nick J.
Published: September 2018

Green spruce aphid Elatobium abietinum is an important defoliating pest of Sitka spruce Picea sitchensis that may become more damaging in the future as a result of climate change.

Mild winters and higher spring temperatures increase E. abietinum population densities, although this positive response to warmer conditions might be over‐ridden if E. abietinum is adversely affected by exceptionally high summer temperatures.

In laboratory experiments, aphids exposed to temperatures above 25 °C became more restless and were more likely to drop from the shoot, and subsequently showed a reduction in mean relative growth rate. In contrast, survival was not reduced significantly unless temperatures exceeded 35 °C.

Field data from Radnor Forest in Wales indicated that E. abietinum populations in the autumn were inversely correlated with mean and maximum summer temperatures, at temperatures below those that had a negative impact in the laboratory.

The greater sensitivity of populations in the field to high summer temperatures may reflect higher temperatures at the needle surface compared with the temperature of the surrounding air, or associated increases in natural enemy activity.

The results from the present study indicate that high temperatures during mid‐summer have a significant impact on E. abietinum individuals and populations and, ultimately, may influence how the aphid responds to climate change.
Biocompatibility of Polysulfone Hemodialysis Membranes and Its Mechanisms: Involvement of Fibrinogen and Its Integrin Receptors in Activation of Platelets and Neutrophils
Authors: Koga Yoko , Fujieda Hiroaki , Meguro Hiroyuki , Ueno Yoshiyuki , Aoki Takao , Miwa Keishi , Kainoh Mie
Published: September 2018

Activation of blood cells during hemodialysis is considered to be a significant determinant of biocompatibility of the hemodialysis membrane because it may affect patient health adversely through microvascular inflammation and oxidative stress. This study found very different cell activation among various polysulfone (PSf) hemodialysis membranes. For example, CX‐U, a conventional PSf membrane, induced marked adhesion of platelets to its surface and increased surface expression of activated CD11b and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by neutrophils; while NV‐U, a hydrophilic polymer‐immobilized PSf membrane, caused little platelet adhesion and slight CD11b expression and ROS production by neutrophils. Analysis of the molecular mechanisms of the above phenomena on CX‐U and NV‐U indicated that anti‐integrin GPIIb/IIIa antibody blocked platelet adhesion, and that the combination of anti‐CD11b (integrin α subunit of Mac‐1) and anti‐integrin αvβ3 antibodies blocked ROS production by neutrophils. Plasma‐derived fibrinogen, a major ligand of GPIIb/IIIa, Mac‐1, and αvβ3 on membranes, was thus analyzed and found to be more adsorbed to CX‐U than to NV‐U. Moreover, comparison between five PSf membranes showed that the number of adherent platelets and neutrophil ROS production increased with increasing fibrinogen adsorption. These results suggested that fibrinogen, adsorbed on membranes, induced GPIIb/IIIa‐mediated platelet activation and Mac‐1/αvβ3‐mediated neutrophil activation, depending on the amount of adsorption. In conclusion, the use of biocompatible membranes like NV‐U, which show lower adsorption of fibrinogen, is expected to reduce hemodialysis‐induced inflammation and oxidative stress by minimizing cell activation.
German Diabetes Study – Baseline data of retinal layer thickness measured by SD‐OCT in early diabetes mellitus
Authors: Schröder Katharina , Szendroedi Julia , Benthin Anna , Gontscharuk Veronika , Ackermann Philipp , Völker Magdalena , Steingrube Nadine , Nowotny Bettina , Ziegler Dan , Müssig Karsten , Geerling Gerd , Kuß Oliver , Roden Michael , Guthoff Rainer ,   for the GDS Cohort
Published: September 2018

Purpose

Recent studies highlighted that early diabetic neurodegeneration is present before microvascular changes are visible. Retinal neurodegeneration can decrease retinal layer thickness. We aimed to determine whether decreased retinal layer thickness is present already in the early time course of disease.

Methods

A cross‐sectional analysis of patients and healthy adults from the German Diabetes Study (GDS, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier number: CT01055093, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01055093). Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM) within the last 12 months. Retinal layers thickness in the nasal pericentral segment was measured by spectral domain ocular coherence tomography (SD‐OCT). For statistical analysis proc mixed (sas‐version 9.4) was used.

Results

One hundred and seventy‐eight eyes of 89 patients with type 1 DM (58 males, age 36 ± 11 years, BMI 25.5 ± 4.2 kg/m²) and 242 eyes of 121 patients with type 2 DM (84 males, age 53 ± 10 years, BMI 31.9 ± 6.3 kg/m²) with a disease duration of less than 1 year were compared to 76 eyes of 38 controls (27 males, age 41 ± 16 years, BMI 27.3 ± 6.4 kg/m²). Analysis of retinal layer thickness and visual function did not reveal a significant difference between patients and controls.

Conclusion

In the early course of DM potential, neurodegeneration does not relate to measureable changes of retinal layer thickness.
Investigation of an outbreak caused by antibiotic‐susceptible Klebsiella oxytoca in a neonatal intensive care unit in Norway
Authors: Rønning Torunn Gresdal , Aas Christina Gabrielsen , Støen Ragnhild , Bergh Kåre , Afset Jan Egil , Holte Mari Sagli , Radtke Andreas
Published: September 2018

Aim

Klebsiella spp. have been stated to be the most frequent cause of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) outbreaks. We report an outbreak of Klebsiella oxytoca in a NICU at a tertiary care hospital in Norway between April 2016 and April 2017. This study describes the outbreak, infection control measures undertaken and the molecular methods developed.

Methods

The outbreak prompted detailed epidemiological and microbial investigations, where whole‐genome sequencing (WGS) was particularly useful for both genotyping and development of two new K. oxytoca‐specific real‐time PCR assays. Routine screening of patients, as well as sampling from numerous environmental sites, was performed during the outbreak. A bundle of infection control measures was instigated to control the outbreak, among them strict cohort isolation.

Results

Five neonates had symptomatic infection, and 17 were found to be asymptomatically colonised. Infections varied in severity from conjunctivitis to a fatal case of pneumonia. A source of the outbreak could not be determined.

Conclusion

This report describes K. oxytoca as a significant pathogen in a NICU outbreak setting and highlights the importance of developing appropriate microbiological screening methods and implementing strict infection control measures to control the outbreak in a setting where the source could not be identified.
Validation of the diagnosis of necrotising enterocolitis in a Swedish population‐based observational study
Authors: Challis Pontus , Larsson Linn , Stoltz Sjöström Elisabeth , Serenius Fredrik , Domellöf Magnus , Elfvin Anders
Published: September 2018

Aim

The definition of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is based on clinical and radiological signs that can be difficult to interpret. The aim of the present study was to validate the incidence of NEC in the Extremely Preterm Infants in Sweden Study (EXPRESS)

Methods

The EXPRESS study consisted of all 707 infants born before 27 + 0 gestational weeks during the years 2004–2007 in Sweden. Of these infants, 38 were recorded as having NEC of Bell stage II or higher. Hospital records were obtained for these infants. Furthermore, to identify missed cases, all infants with a sudden reduction of enteral nutrition, in the EXPRESS study were identified (n = 71). Hospital records for these infants were obtained. Thus, 108 hospital records were obtained and scored independently by two neonatologists for NEC.

Results

Of 38 NEC cases in the EXPRESS study, 26 were classified as NEC after validation. Four cases not recorded in the EXPRESS study were found. The incidence of NEC decreased from 6.3% to 4.3%.

Conclusion

Validation of the incidence of NEC revealed over‐ and underestimation of NEC in the EXPRESS study despite carefully collected data. Similar problems may occur in other national data sets or quality registers.
Inpatient toxicology services improve resource utilization for intoxicated patients: a systematic review
Authors: Legg Robert G. , Little Mark
Published: September 2018

Aims

Presentations of intoxicated patients to hospital are frequent and increasing. We aimed to review the existing evidence that the presence of inpatient clinical toxicology services reduces use of resources without impacting on the care of these patients.

Methods

We conducted a literature search using the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase for articles that measured length of stay (and other outcomes) for the target population, with toxicology services as an intervention. The articles were reviewed with respect to the ROBINS‐I tool.

Results

Seven relevant articles were identified. Six of these studies demonstrated reduced hospital length of stay for intoxicated patients in hospitals with inpatient toxicology services. None of the articles demonstrated a detriment in morbidity or mortality. There were also improvements in other resource‐related outcomes.

Conclusions

The presence of inpatient toxicology services appears to improve resource utilization, in reduction of length of stay, as well as a number of other related outcomes. It does this without compromising on patient morbidity or mortality. Thus, it should be considered as a potential model of care for future toxicology services, especially with current trends of increasing demand for service efficiency.
The role of protein disulphide isomerase AGR2 in the tumour niche
Authors: Delom Frederic , Nazaraliyev Amal , Fessart Delphine
Published: September 2018

In recent years, the discovery of ‘tumour niche’, a microenvironment that favours tumour development has changed our perspective of cancer. This microenvironment generated by the tumour cells itself and surrounding cells is capable of providing essential elements for its growth. Consequently, the homoeostasis of the secretory pathway (SP) has become an essential player in cancer development. The SP not only promotes cellular adaptation to protein misfolding due to oncogenic transformation or challenging tumour niche but also allows tumour cells to produce specific secretomes. This impacts tumour cells in cis‐ or trans‐ as well as stromal cells in the tumour niche. In this context, the Anterior GRadient 2 (AGR2) protein has been identified as a key player. AGR2 is a protein disulphide isomerase that resides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mediates the formation of disulphide bonds, catalyses the cysteine‐based redox reactions and assists the quality control of proteins. AGR2 not only plays an essential role in the homoeostasis of the SP but also exerts pro‐oncogenic gain‐of‐function due to its reported mislocalisation in the tumour niche microenvironment. In this review, we summarise the dual role of AGR2, inside and outside the ER, on the tumour niche and its microenvironment.
Holocene vegetation dynamics and hydrological variability in forested peatlands of the Clay Belt, eastern Canada, reconstructed using a palaeoecological approach
Authors: Magnan Gabriel , Le Stum‐Boivin Éloise , Garneau Michelle , Grondin Pierre , Fenton Nicole , Bergeron Yves
Published: September 2018

Forested peatlands are widespread in boreal regions of Canada, and these ecosystems, which are major terrestrial carbon sinks, are undergoing significant transformations linked to climate change, fires and human activities. This study targets millennial‐scale vegetation dynamics and related hydrological variability in forested peatlands of the Clay Belt south of James Bay, eastern Canada, using palaeoecological data. Changes in peatland vegetation communities were reconstructed using plant macrofossil analyses, and variations in water‐table depths were inferred using testate amoeba analyses. High‐resolution analyses of macroscopic charcoal >0.5 mm were used to reconstruct local fire history. Our data showed two successional pathways towards the development of present‐day forested peatlands influenced by autogenic processes such as vertical peat growth and related drying, and allogenic factors such as the occurrence of local fires. The oldest documented peatland initiated in a wet rich fen around 8000 cal. aBPshortly after land emergence and transformed into a drier forested bog rapidly after peat inception that persisted over millennia. In the second site, peat started to accumulate from ~5200 cal. aBPover a mesic coniferous forest that shifted into a wet forested peatland following a fire that partially consumed the organic layer ~4600 cal. aBP. The charcoal records show that fires rarely occurred in these peatlands, but they have favoured the process of forest paludification and influenced successional trajectories over millennia. The macrofossil data suggest thatPicea mariana(black spruce) persisted on the peatlands throughout their development, although there were periods of more open canopy due to local fires in some cases. This study brings new understanding on the natural variability of boreal forested peatlands which may help predict their response to future changes in climate, fire regimes and anthropogenic disturbances.
Parent–Infant Room Sharing During the First Months of Life: Longitudinal Links With Behavior During Middle Childhood
Authors: Beijers Roseriet , Cassidy Jude , Lustermans Hellen , de Weerth Carolina
Published: September 2018

Current recommendations encourage parent–infant room sharing for the first 6 months of life. This longitudinal study (N = 193) is the first to examine long‐term relations of early room sharing with three domains of child behavior: sleep, behavior problems, and prosocial behavior. Information on room sharing was collected daily for infants’ first 6 months. At ages 6, 7, and 8 years, outcomes were assessed with maternal and teacher questionnaires and behavioral observations. Early room sharing was not related to sleep problems or behavior problems. Additionally, more weeks of room sharing were positively related to higher maternal ratings of child sleep quality and more prosocial behavior. In conclusion, early room sharing appears to be related to positive, but not negative, behavior outcomes in middle childhood.
Shading‐Based Surface Recovery Using Subdivision‐Based Representation
Authors: Deng Teng , Zheng Jianmin , Cai Jianfei , Cham Tat‐Jen
Published: September 2018

This paper presents subdivision‐based representations for both lighting and geometry in shape‐from‐shading. A very recent shading‐based method introduced a per‐vertex overall illumination model for surface reconstruction, which has advantage of conveniently handling complicated lighting condition and avoiding explicit estimation of visibility and varied albedo. However, due to its discrete nature, the per‐vertex overall illumination requires a large amount of memory and lacks intrinsic coherence. To overcome these problems, in this paper we propose to use classic subdivision to define the basic smooth lighting function and surface, and introduce additional independent variables into the subdivision to adaptively model sharp changes of illumination and geometry. Compared to previous works, the new model not only preserves the merits of the per‐vertex illumination model, but also greatly reduces the number of variables required in surface recovery and intrinsically regularizes the illumination vectors and the surface. These features make the new model very suitable for multi‐view stereo surface reconstruction under general, unknown illumination condition. Particularly, a variational surface reconstruction method built upon the subdivision representations for lighting and geometry is developed. The experiments on both synthetic and real‐world data sets have demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve memory efficiency and improve surface detail recovery.
Cell block is a valuable adjunct to conventional smear for thyroid fine needle aspiration: 2395 cases with histological correlation
Authors: Jiang Ke , Zhou Junyi , Lei Jianyong , Liu Ying , Li Jinnan , Su Xueying , Li Zhihui , Wei Tao , Jiang Yong , Zhu Jingqiang
Published: September 2018

Aims

Conventional smears (CS) of samples obtained by fine needle aspiration (FNA) have proven useful in thyroid nodules evaluation, but the additional contribution of cell block (CB) has only been investigated in a limited fashion. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether the auxiliary application of CB adds to the diagnostic accuracy of the CS by a College of American Pathologists‐accredited hospital laboratory.

Methods

All thyroid FNA samples processed with CS only or combined CB and CS in West China Hospital from January 2011 to December 2015 were retrospectively collected. All specimens were classified according to Bethesda System, and the distribution of Bethesda (2009) categories was compared between CS and combined CS and CB. Further, we compared the diagnostic performance between these two groups for nodules with follow‐up histopathology.

Results

A total of 11 011 thyroid nodules from 10 206 patients were included. Of these, 2395 nodules from 2211 patients underwent surgical resection. The unsatisfactory rate decreased significantly from 18.1% to 9.8% in the total group and from 1.7% to 0.8% in the group with surgery after combined use of CS and CB. The proportion of atypia/follicular lesion of undetermined significance also declined slightly. Furthermore, all of the sensitivities, specificities, accuracies and positive predictive values increased significantly after the combined use of CS and CB for different calculation methods.

Conclusions

Combined use of CS and CB can significantly decrease the unsatisfactory rate of thyroid FNAs, improve the diagnostic efficacy, and thus should be routinely applied in thyroid nodule evaluation if available.