bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evolution of dispersal syndrome and its corresponding metabolomic changes
Authors: Tung Sudipta , Mishra Abhishek , Gogna Navdeep , Sadiq Mohammed Aamir , Shreenidhi P.M. , Sruti V.R. Shree , Dorai Kavita , Dey Sutirth
Published: August 2017

Dispersal is one of the strategies for organisms to deal with climate change and habitat degradation. Therefore, investigating the effects of dispersal evolution on natural populations is of considerable interest to ecologists and conservation biologists. Although it is known that dispersal itself can evolve due to selection, the behavioral, life-history and metabolic consequences of dispersal evolution are not well understood. Here we explore these issues by subjecting four outbred laboratory populations ofDrosophila melanogasterto selection for increased dispersal. The dispersal-selected populations had similar values of body size, fecundity and longevity as the non-selected lines (controls), but evolved significantly greater locomotor activity, exploratory tendency, and aggression. Untargeted metabolomic fingerprinting through NMR spectroscopy suggested that the selected flies evolved elevated cellular respiration characterized by greater amounts of glucose, AMP and NAD. Concurrent evolution of higher level of Octopamine and other neurotransmitters indicate a possible mechanism for the behavioural changes in the selected lines. We discuss the generalizability of our findings in the context of observations from natural populations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the evolution of metabolome due to selection for dispersal and its connection to dispersal syndrome evolution.
Flax latitudinal adaptation atLuTFL1altered architecture and promoted fiber production
Authors: Gutaker Rafal M , Zaidem Maricris , Fu Yong-Bi , Diederichsen Axel , Smith Oliver , Ware Roselyn , Allaby Robin G
Published: August 2017

After domestication in the Near East around 10,000 years ago several founder crops, flax included, spread to European latitudes. On reaching northerly latitudes the architecture of domesticated flax became more suitable to fiber production over oil, with longer stems, smaller seeds and fewer axillary branches. Latitudinal adaptations in crops typically result in changes in flowering time, often involving the PEBP family of genes that also have the potential to influence plant architecture. Two PEBP family genes in the flax genome,LuTFL1andLuTFL2, vary in wild and cultivated flax over latitudinal range with cultivated flax receivingLuTFL1alleles from northerly wild flax populations. Compared to a background of population structure of flaxes over latitude, theLuTFL1alleles display a level of differentiation that is consistent with selection for an allele III in the north. We demonstrate through heterologous expression inArabidopsis thalianathatLuTFL1is a functional homolog ofTFL1inA. thalianacapable of changing both flowering time and plant architecture. We conclude that specialized fiber flax types could have formed as a consequence of a natural adaptation of cultivated flax to higher latitudes.
The LRR-Roc-COR module of theChlorobium tepidumRoco protein: crystallization and X-ray crystallographic analysis
Authors: Deyaert Egon , Kortholt Arjan , Versées Wim
Published: August 2017

Roco proteins are characterized by the presence of a Roc-COR supradomain harbouring GTPase activity, which is often preceded by an LRR domain. The most notorious member of the Roco protein family is the Parkinson's disease-associated LRRK2. The Roco protein from the bacteriumChlorobium tepidumhas been used as a model system to investigate the structure and mechanism of this class of enzymes. Here, the crystallization and crystallographic analysis of the LRR-Roc-COR construct of theC. tepidumRoco protein is reported. The LRR-Roc-COR crystals belonged to space groupP212121, with unit-cell parametersa= 95.6,b= 129.8,c= 179.5 Å, α = β = γ = 90°, and diffracted to a resolution of 3.3 Å. Based on the calculated Matthews coefficient, Patterson map analysis and an initial molecular-replacement analysis, one protein dimer is present in the asymmetric unit. The crystal structure of this protein will provide valuable insights into the interaction between the Roc-COR and LRR domains within Roco proteins.
N′-[(1E)-1-(4-Chlorophenyl)ethylidene]-2-(2,3-dimethylanilino)benzohydrazide
Authors: Mohamed Shaaban K. , Jasinski Jerry P. , Akkurt Mehmet , McGurk Elizabeth A. , Albayati Mustafa R. , Mohamed Alaa F.
Published: August 2017

In the title compound, C23H22ClN3O, the dihedral angle between the planes of the chlorophenyl and dimethylphenyl rings is 62.49 (10)°. These rings make dihedral angles of 21.11 (9) and 59.85 (9)°, respectively, with the central benzene ring. In the crystal, molecules are linked into a three-dimensional supramolecular network by N—H...N, N—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen bonds, and weak C—H...π interactions.
A systematic approach to investigating how information security and privacy can be achieved in BYOD environments
Authors: Bello Abubakar Garba , Murray David , Armarego Jocelyn
Published: August 2017

Purpose

This paper’s purpose is to provide a current best practice approach that can be used to identify and manage bring your own device (BYOD) security and privacy risks faced by organisations that use mobile devices as part of their business strategy. While BYOD deployment can provide work flexibility, boost employees’ productivity and be cost cutting for organisations, there are also many information security and privacy issues, with some widely recognised, and others less understood. This paper focuses on BYOD adoption, and its associated risks and mitigation strategies, investigating how both information security and privacy can be effectively achieved in BYOD environments.

Design/methodology/approach

This research paper used a qualitative research methodology, applying the case study approach to understand both organisational and employee views, thoughts, opinions and actions in BYOD environments.

Findings

This paper identifies and understands BYOD risks, threats and influences, and determines effective controls and procedures for managing organisational and personal information resources in BYOD.

Research limitations/implications

The scope of this paper is limited to the inquiry and findings from organisations operating in Australia. This paper also suggests key implications that lie within the ability of organisations to adequately develop and deploy successful BYOD management and practices.

Originality/value

This paper expands previous research investigating BYOD practices, and also provides a current best practice approach that can be used by organisations to systematically investigate and understand how to manage security and privacy risks in BYOD environments.
A service-oriented application creation process in ubiquitous environments
Authors: Taktak Hajer , Moussa Faouzi
Published: August 2017

Purpose

Many features constitute an adaptive system such as user model, interface specification, business functionalities and service implementation. Context awareness is an important facet of service oriented application creation dealing with the gathering, use and representation of context information. Generally, user interfaces and services communities work separately on the adaptation process and do not converge. The aim of this work is to manage the system’s functionalities and the user interface that delivers data to the relevant consumer early since the design phase until the code generation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors discuss how a unified method based on a model-driven architecture for adaptive user interface and pervasive service creation eases the work of designers and developers, limits incompatibility issues and supports dynamic generation of systems adapted to different contexts of use.

Findings

The proposed approach is able to support a semi-automatic ubiquitous application generation with service, behavior, presentation and content adaptation.

Originality/value

In this paper, the authors tackle context-awareness at two levels: system functionalities and user interface generation. The authors also tackle adaptation at the specification and implementation levels.
FinTechs in China – with a special focus on peer to peer lending
Authors: Stern Caroline , Makinen Mikko , Qian Zongxin
Published: August 2017

Purpose

China is a country with the most number of operating peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms (approximately 2,000) worldwide. This study aims to provide an overview on FinTechs in China. It was examined why payment services and P2P lending are so popular in China and what are the determinants for the emergence of P2P lending platforms in different provinces in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducted a descriptive analysis of P2P lending in China and an empirical analysis of determinants of P2P lending in China.

Findings

This descriptive analysis shows that the surge in the number of the P2P platforms in China follows an inverted U-shaped phenomenon. However, the outstanding balances of P2P lenders is still increasing, while average yields of P2P lenders have sharply plunged. The empirical findings indicate that P2P lending is more extensive in the region with more mobile phone subscriptions; outstanding balance of P2P lenders in region is negatively associated with the size of traditional banking sector; and the number of the P2P platforms in negatively related to the fixed assets investments in region, whereas average yield is positively associated with the fixed assets investments.

Originality/value

Currently, almost no research papers with empirical analysis of FinTechs, especially P2P lenders, exist. This study estimates a simple model to find determinants of P2P lending.
Exploring health work: a critical-action perspective
Authors: Hassard John , Hyde Paula , Wolfram Cox Julie , Granter Edward , McCann Leo
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a hybrid approach to the research developed during a multi-researcher, ethnographic study of NHS management in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

This methodological paper elaborates a hybrid approach to the sociological analysis – the critical-action theory – and indicates how it can contribute to the critical health management studies.

Findings

After exploring the various theoretical, methodological and philosophical options available, the paper discusses the main research issues that influenced the development of this perspective and the process by which the critical-action perspective was applied to the studies of managerial work in four health service sectors – acute hospitals, ambulance services, community services and mental healthcare.

Research limitations/implications

This methodological perspective enabled a critical analysis of health service organisation that considered macro, meso and micro effects, in particular and in this case, how new public management drained power from clinicians through managerialist discourses and practices.

Practical implications

Healthcare organisations are often responding to the decisions that lie outside of their control and may have to enact changes that make little sense locally. In order to make sense of these effects, micro-, meso- and macro-level analyses are necessary.

Originality/value

The critical-action perspective is presented as an adjunct to traditional approaches that have been taken to the study of health service organisation and delivery.
Critical healthcare management studies: green shoots
Authors: Kitchener Martin , McDermott Aoife M. , Cooper Simon
Published: August 2017

Purpose

While critical approaches have enriched research in proximate fields, their impact has been less marked in studies of healthcare management. In response, the 2016 Organizational Behaviour in Health Care Conference hosted its first-ever session dedicated to the emergent field of critical healthcare management studies (CHMSs). The purpose of this paper is to present five papers selected from that conference.

Design/methodology/approach

In this introductory paper, the authors frame the contributions as “green shoots” in a field of CHMS which contains four main furrows of activity: questioning the taken-for-granted; moving beyond instrumentalism; reflexivity and meanings in research; and challenging structures of domination (Kitchener and Thomas, 2016). The authors conclude by presenting an agenda for further cultivating the field of CHMS.

Findings

The papers evidence the value of CHMS, and provide insight into the benefits of broadening theoretical and methodological approaches in pursuit of critical insights.

Research limitations/implications

CHMS works to explicate the multiple and competing ideologies and interests inherent in healthcare. As pragmatic imperatives push the provision of health and social care out of the organisational contexts and into private space, there is a particular need to simultaneously understand, and critically interrogate, the implications of new, as well as existing, forms of care.

Practical implications

This paper reviews, frames and details practical next steps in developing CHMS. These include: enhanced engagement with a wider range of actors than is currently the norm in mainstream healthcare management research; a broadening of theoretical and methodological lenses; support for critical approaches among editors and reviewers; and enhanced communication of critical research via its incorporation into education and training programmes.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to an emerging stream of CHMS research, and works to consolidate next steps for the field.
Making history critical
Authors: Learmonth Mark
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore a possible discursive history of National Health Service (NHS) “management” (with management, for reasons that will become evident, very much in scare quotes). Such a history is offered as a complement, as well as a counterpoint, to the more traditional approaches that have already been taken to the history of the issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Document analysis and interviews with UK NHS trust chief executives.

Findings

After explicating the assumptions of the method it suggests, through a range of empirical sources that the NHS has undergone an era of administration, an era of management and an era of leadership.

Research limitations/implications

The paper enables a recasting of the history of the NHS; in particular, the potential for such a discursive history to highlight the interests supported and denied by different representational practices.

Practical implications

Today’s so-called leaders are leaders because of conventional representational practices – not because of some essence about what they really are.

Social implications

New ideas about the nature of management.

Originality/value

The value of thinking in terms of what language does – rather than what it might represent.
Is the MRCPsych fit for purpose?
Authors: Watkins Lance Vincent
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the current Royal College of Psychiatrists Membership (MRCPsych) written examination is a suitable assessment tool to distinguish between candidates in a high-stakes examination.

Design/methodology/approach

Review of current educational theory and evidence in relation to the use of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) as an assessment form.

Findings

When MCQ’s are constructed correctly they provide an efficient and objective assessment tool. However, when developing assessment tools for high-stakes scenarios, it is important that MCQs are used alongside other tests that may scrutinize other aspects of competence. It may be argued that written assessment can only satisfy the first stage of Miller’s pyramid. The evidence outlined demonstrates that this may not be the case and higher order thinking and problem solving can be assessed with appropriately constructed questions. MCQs or any other singular assessment alone, cannot demonstrate clinical competence or mastery.

Originality/value

Increasingly, the MRCPsych examination is used around the world to establish levels of competency and expertise in psychiatry. It is therefore essential that the Royal College of Psychiatrists lead the way in innovation of assessment procedures which are linked to current educational theory. The author has evidenced how the current MRCPsych, may at least in part, hold inherent biases which are not related to a candidate’s competency.
Child and adolescent mental health nurses’ perceptions of their professional identity: an exploratory study
Authors: Rasmussen Philippa , Conroy Tiffany , Grønkjær Mette
Published: August 2017

Purpose

Nurses with specialised knowledge, experience and education are needed to provide specific care in nursing subspecialties such as child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) nursing. However, some of these attributes are implicit and not clear to the wider nursing community. The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of a conceptual framework for CAMH inpatient nursing practice to other areas of CAMH nursing practice. This paper presents an exploratory study regarding the applicability of the framework to two small cohorts of CAMH nurses. This study was conducted in Tasmania, Australia and Northern Denmark. These settings were chosen due to the self-perceived knowledge gap surrounding the role and professional identity of these Australian and Danish CAMH nurses.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory qualitative study within the social constructivist paradigm was undertaken. The method of data collection was two focus groups of CAMH nurses in Tasmania, Australia and Northern Denmark. The data were analysed using an adaptation of a six-phase thematic analysis process.

Findings

The analysis of the data resulted in three themes: individual preparation and experience of CAMH nurses, knowledge transfer and nurses’ perceptions of their individual and team roles. The findings have contributed new knowledge of CAMH nursing.

Originality/value

The findings of this study may support the applicability of the conceptual framework with participants’ endorsing that it reflects their role.
Between change and reproduction
Authors: Ernst Jette
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of organizational space in attempts at practice redesign and innovation that involve a break with the traditional professional boundaries in a recently established Danish hospital department.

Design/methodology/approach

Organizational ethnography combined with Bourdieusian theorization. The data used for this paper are derived from 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork. The author performed participant and meeting observations combined with interviews and the reading of internal and external documents.

Findings

Despite the department’s attempts at pursuing practice redesign and innovation by breaking with the institutionalized professional boundaries as well as role hierarchies, and emphasizing collaboration between nurses and doctors, the paper demonstrates how the attempts at change meet invisible impediments in practice and how organizational space plays an important yet, overlooked part in reproducing field tradition.

Originality/value

By virtue of Bourdieusian theorization in combination with organizational ethnography, the paper contributes with unique insights into a seldom studied part of hospital organization, which is how organizational space, rather than being a backdrop for organizational life, is constructed and used by professionals whose habitus renders this space an active component in delimiting professional work as well as the scope of change.
The asymmetric impact of rational and irrational components of fear index on S&P 500 index returns
Authors: Soydemir Gökçe , Verma Rahul , Wagner Andrew
Published: August 2017

Purpose

Investors’ fear can be rational, emanating from the natural dynamics of economic fundamentals, or it can be quasi rational and not attributable to any known risk factors. Using VIX from Chicago Board Options Exchange as a proxy for investors’ fear, the purpose of this paper is to consider the following research questions: to what extent does noise play a role in the formation of investors’ fear? To what extent is the impact of fear on S&P 500 index returns driven by rational reactions to new information vs fear induced by noise in stock market returns? To what extent do S&P 500 index returns display asymmetric behavior in response to investor’s rational and quasi rational fear?

Design/methodology/approach

In a two-step process, the authors first decompose investors’ fear into its rational and irrational components by generating two additional variables representing fear induced by rational expectations and fear due to noise. The authors then estimate a three-vector autoregression (VAR) model to examine their relative impact on S&P 500 returns.

Findings

Impulse responses generated from a 13-variable VAR model show that investors’ fear is driven by risk factors to some extent, and this extent is well captured by the Fama and French three-factor and the Carhart four-factor models. Specifically, investors’ fear is negatively related to the market risk premium, negatively related to the premium between value and growth stocks, and positively related to momentum. The magnitude and duration of the impact of the market risk premium is almost twice that of the impact of the premium on value stocks and the momentum of investors’ fear. However, almost 90 percent of the movement in investors’ fear is not attributable to the 12 risk factors chosen in this study and thus may be largely irrational in nature. The impulse responses suggest that both rational and irrational fear have significant negative effects on market returns. Moreover, the effects are asymmetric on S&P 500 index returns wherein irrational upturns in fear have a greater impact than downturns. In addition, the component of investors’ fear driven by irrationality or noise has more than twice the impact on market returns in terms of magnitude and duration than the impact of the rational component of investors’ fear.

Originality/value

The results are consistent with the view that one of the most important drivers of stock market returns is irrational fear that is not rooted in economic fundamentals.
Evaluating measures of individual investors’ expectations of risk and return
Authors: Hellström Jörgen , Olsson Rickard , Stålnacke Oscar
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure individual investors’ expectations of risk and return and to evaluate different expectation measures.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors measure individual investors’ expectations of risk and return regarding an index fund and two stocks using survey data on a random sample of individual investors in Sweden. The survey contains three different return and four different risk expectation measures. To evaluate the different expectation measures, three different evaluation perspectives are considered.

Findings

The risk expectations obtained from the different measures are positively correlated across respondents, but their average magnitudes differ considerably across measures. The return expectations are also positively correlated, and their magnitudes also differ, but to a lesser extent. Consequently, the same individual can express risk expectations that either underestimate or overestimate the forward risk, depending on the measure that is used. The variations in the expectations mainly relate to differences in the responses to the questions underlying the different measures, rather than to the methods used to obtain the expectations. The results from the evaluation of the measures indicate that the expectation measure proposed by Dominitz and Manski (2011) is the only measure for which it is possible to distinguish between individuals’ expectations, using all three of the evaluation perspectives.

Originality/value

This is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first paper that evaluates different survey measures of individual investors’ expectations of risk and return.
Homophobia, Brexit and constitutional change
Authors: Channing Iain , Ward Jonathan
Published: August 2017

Purpose

This paper addresses some of the future challenges that the vote to leave the European Union (EU) may have on the UK’s constitutional framework. The potential abolition of the Human Rights Act 1998 and its replacement with a Bill of Rights is examined in relation to the interpretation of freedom of expression. More specifically, this is analysed in relation to the often conflicting freedoms to express homophobic views and to freely express one’s sexual identity. With EU law protecting many of the recently won rights favouring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, the purpose of this paper is to underline the potential dangers should this layer of international scrutiny be lost and highlight where more improvements for equality are still needed.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper offers a critical reflection on the recent political and judicial rhetoric which has accompanied the issues of LGBT social and legal equality. Recent judgements from domestic and European courts are analysed to identify how any potential re-interpretation of freedom of expression may affect the LGBT community.

Findings

While the UK has made welcome strides in improving the legal equality of the LGBT community, it is argued that the potential loss of judicial scrutiny from the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice may have negative consequences. An examination of recent judicial and political discourse demonstrates that homophobic expression – or at least tacit acceptance of it – still permeates throughout these institutional spheres.

Originality/value

The paper highlights how the subtleties of constitutional changes following Brexit may threaten the current progression of LGBT rights in the UK and proposes that a commitment to freedom of expression must give greater recognition to the right to express sexual identity.
Managing risk and patient involvement in choosing treatment for cancer: an analysis of two communication practices
Authors: Alby Francesca , Fatigante Marilena , Zucchermaglio Cristina
Published: August 2017

Drawing on conversation analyses of oncology consultations collected in Italy, the article examines the communication practices used to recommend treatments. We found that the oncologist formulates the treatment recommendation (TR) for high‐risk patients in terms of a ‘mandatory’ choice and for low‐risk patients as an ‘optional’ type of decision. In the first case the doctor presses to reach a decision during the visit while in the second case leaves the decision open‐ended. Results show that high‐risk patients have less time to decide, are pressured towards choosing an option, but have more opportunities for involvement inTRduring the visit. Low‐risk patients instead have more time and autonomy to make a choice, but they are also less involved in the decision‐making in the visit time. Moreover, we document thatTRis organised through sequential activities in which the oncologist informs the patient of alternative therapeutic options while at the same time building a case for the kind of treatment she/he believes to be best for the patient's health. We suggest that in this field risk plays a key role in decision‐making which should be better understood with further studies and taken into account in the debate on shared decision‐making and patient‐centred communication.
Gentrifying China's Urbanization? Why Culture and Capital Aren't Enough
Authors: Tomba Luigi
Published: August 2017

China's urban areas are expanding and changing, with significant physical and social consequences. The analysis of such consequences often constructs the violence and demolition that precedes the redevelopment of villages and neighbourhoods as the direct result of the authoritarian nature of the Chinese state. Such violence is visible in countless cases where the state prevails over the rights of homeowners, farmers or simple citizens in the process of building, rebuilding or pacifying the cities. Much of this violence, together with the agency it generates among local communities, advances processes that elsewhere have been classified as ‘gentrification’, resulting in the replacement of one class with another and an increase in the market value of (state‐owned) land. This essay argues that this process is not epiphenomenal to urbanization; rather, the upgrading (of people and buildings) is central to both local and national state projects to develop cities, the goal of which is to increase control over the territory while increasing the market and symbolic value of urban areas.
Contextual Urban Theory and the ‘Appeal’ of Gentrification: Lost in Transposition?
Authors: Cartier Carolyn
Published: August 2017

The significance of practising theory in context reflects current debates in urban studies as well as the history of poststructural thought whose scholarship, informed by postcolonial critique and understandings of ethics and responsibility in international research collaboration, continues to give evident substance to the nature of epistemological violence. This essay takes up the challenge of contextual theory and empirical research through a critical comparative approach that ultimately finds how the expansive gentrification balloon pops as a consequence of assumptions and misassumptions that leave consequential data hiding in plain sight. The contributions of this essay include treatment of the transposition of ideas as a theoretical, methodological and ethical problem, and an original comparative summary of the frequency of ‘gentrification’ in the news media of ten major cities in addition to the print and online media of Hong Kong. The analysis demonstrates not only how context matters in research design, but also how distinction in the articulation of theoretical argument will be upheld or deflated by knowledge of, and acquired in, context. The essay summarizes the arguments for the larger Interventions forum, and concludes that a critical‐theoretical comparative international urban studies generates and builds through refinement of theory in iterative dialogue with historical processes.
Mortality and causes of death among women with a history of placental abruption
Authors: Riihimäki Outi , Paavonen Jorma , Luukkaala Tiina , Gissler Mika , Metsäranta Marjo , Andersson Sture , Nuutila Mika , Pukkala Eero , Melin Johanna , Tikkanen Minna
Published: August 2017

Introduction

Women with a history of placental abruption have an increased later morbidity, but not much is known of the later mortality.

Material and methods

Data on women with placental abruption (index cohort) between 1969 and 2005 (n = 7805) were collected from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and the Finnish Medical Birth Register. A matched reference cohort consisted of women without placental abruption (n = 23 523). The causes of death were retrieved from the Cause‐of‐Death Register. Cause‐specific mortality was compared by hazard ratios (HR). Standardized mortality ratios were calculated to compare both cohorts with the general female population. The main outcome measure was subsequent mortality.

Results

By the end of 2013 there were 395 deaths in the index cohort and 863 deaths in the reference cohort. The overall mortality was increased in the index cohort compared with the reference cohort [HR 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24–1.57]. The index cohort had an increased risk of death from respiratory tract malignancies (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.05–2.82), alcohol‐related causes (HR 1.84, 95% CI 1.25–2.72), and external causes (HR 1.63, 95% CI 1.19–2.22), especially suicide (HR 1.71, 95% CI 1.07–2.74). The mortality from cardiovascular diseases did not differ. The standardized mortality ratio was increased in the index cohort compared with the general Finnish female population (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.02–1.24), especially for respiratory tract malignancies (HR 1.79, 95% CI 1.16–2.64). The index cohort women tended to die younger than referent women (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Overall mortality among women with a history of placental abruption is increased. These women tend to die younger than referent women do.
Dry eye disease and oxidative stress
Authors: Seen Sophia , Tong Louis
Published: August 2017

Dry eye, an age‐related condition, is a multifactorial disease of the tears and ocular surface that results in symptoms of discomfort, visual disturbance and tear film instability. Environmental factors are also often implicated in dry eye including exposure to pollutants, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and ozone as well as the chronic use of preserved eyedrops such as in the treatment of glaucoma. These factors increase oxidative stress and ocular surface inflammation. Here, we reviewed the cellular, animal and clinical studies that point to the role of oxidative stress in dry eye disease. The biomarkers used to indicate oxidative damage in ocular surface tissues include 8‐hydroxy‐2 deoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG), 4‐hydroxynonenal (HNE) and malondialdehyde (MDD). Antioxidative defences in the ocular surface occur in the form of tear proteins such as lactoferrin and S100A proteins, and enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase, catalase and mitochondrial oxidative enzymes. An imbalance between the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the action of protective enzymes will lead to oxidative damage, and possibly inflammation. A small number of interventional studies suggest that oxidative stress may be directly targeted in topical therapy of dry eye treatment. For example, in vitro studies suggest that L‐carnitine and pterostilbene, a blueberry component may reduce oxidative stress, and in animal studies, alpha‐lipoic acid (ALP) and selenoprotein P may be helpful. Examples of treatments used in clinical trials include vitamin B12 eyedrops and iodide iontophoresis. With recent emphasis on ageing medicine and preventive holistic health, as well as the role of environmental science, research on oxidative stress in the ocular surface is likely to have increasing impact in the coming years.
Long‐term results of deep sclerectomy in normal‐tension glaucoma
Authors: Harju Mika , Suominen Sakari , Allinen Pasi , Vesti Eija
Published: August 2017

Purpose

To study the long‐term outcome of deep sclerectomy with and without mitomycin‐C (MMC) in patients with normal‐tension glaucoma (NTG).

Methods

We prospectively analysed consecutive patients randomized to surgery performed either with (MMC group) or without (non‐MMC) MMC. Surgery was considered totally successful if, after surgery, the preoperative intra‐ocular pressure (IOP) level was reduced by 25% without medication, and a qualified success if medication was required to achieve the same limits.

Results

A total of 37 patients were enrolled, 15 in the MMC and 22 in the non‐MMC group. The median (range) follow‐up was 7.9 (1.0–9.0) years, with a drop‐out of three (8%) patients. The preoperative IOP was 15 (11–21) mmHg in the MMC and 15 (10–19) mmHg in the non‐MMC group. At the last 6‐ to 9‐year follow‐up, IOP was significantly reduced to 9 (2–13) mmHg (p = 0.002) and 10 (5–13) mmHg (p < 0.001). The overall (groups combined) complete and qualified success rates were 50% and 71%, with no significant difference between groups (p = 0.48 and p = 0.25). Goniopuncture was performed in 87% and 100% of eyes in the MMC and non‐MMC groups (p = 0.14). Needling with MMC injection was performed 0 (0–1) times in the MMC group and 0.5 (0–4) times in the non‐MMC group (p = 0.056). We encountered no cases of hyphema, shallow anterior chamber, hypotony maculopathy, choroidal effusion, late bleb leakage, blebitis, endophthalmitis or malignant glaucoma.

Conclusion

In NTG, long‐term significant IOP reduction can be achieved with deep sclerectomy with a low incidence of sight‐threatening complications.
TRPM5 in the battle against diabetes and obesity
Authors: Vennekens R. , Mesuere M. , Philippaert K.
Published: August 2017

TRPM5 is a non‐selective monovalent cation channel activated by increases in intracellular Ca2+. It has a distinct expression pattern: expression is detected in chemosensitive tissues from solitary chemosensory cells to the taste receptor cells and in pancreatic β‐cells. The role of TRPM5 has been investigated with the use of knockout mouse models. Trpm5−/− mice have a lack of type II taste perception and show reduced glucose‐induced insulin secretion. Expression levels of TRPM5 are reduced in obese, leptin‐signalling‐deficient mice, and mutations in TRPM5 have been associated with type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome. In this review, we aim to give an overview of the activation, selectivity, modulation and physiological roles of TRPM5.
Dams, political framing and sustainability as an empty signifier: The case of Belo Monte
Authors: Atkins Ed
Published: August 2017

The construction of a hydroelectric dam involves the prolonged contest between pro‐ and anti‐dam coalitions adopting various storylines to provide the project with meaning. These representations of dams are often open to reinvention and transformation, allowing for the introduction of new portrayals. This work adopts Ernesto Laclau's and Chantal Mouffe's Discourse Analytic framework to explore how supporters of the Belo Monte project in Brazil have integrated narratives of environmental sustainability into the positioning of the facility. Following recent scholarship, these appeals to sustainability are cast as a tool to legitimize construction whilst concealing negative social and environmental consequences. In doing so, this work asserts that the ambiguity – or emptiness – of the concept of sustainability has allowed for the pro‐dam coalition to adopt such a storyline to legitimise a project that possesses questionable environmentalist credentials.
Does robot‐assisted radical prostatectomy benefit patients with prostate cancer and bone oligometastases?
Authors: Jang Won Sik , Kim Myung Soo , Jeong Won Sik , Chang Ki Don , Cho Kang Su , Ham Won Sik , Rha Koon Ho , Hong Sung Joon , Choi Young Deuk
Published: August 2017

Objective

To investigate the peri‐operative and oncological outcomes of robot‐assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) in patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer (PCa).

Patients and Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the records of 79 patients with oligometastatic PCa treated with RARP or androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) between 2005 and 2015 at our institution. Of these 79 patients, 38 were treated with RARP and 41 were treated with ADT without local therapy. Oligometastatic disease was defined as the presence of five or fewer hot spots detected by preoperative bone scan. We evaluated peri‐operative outcomes, progression‐free survival (PFS), and cancer‐specific survival (CSS). We analysed data using Kaplan–Meier methods, with log‐rank tests and multivariate Cox regression models.

Results

Patients treated with RARP experienced similar postoperative complications to those previously reported in RP‐treated patients, and fewer urinary complications than ADT‐treated patients. PFS and CSS were longer in RARP‐treated compared with ADT‐treated patients (median PFS: 75 vs 28 months, P = 0.008; median CSS: not reached vs 40 months, P = 0.002). Multivariate analysis further identified RARP as a significant predictor of PFS and CSS (PFS: hazard ratio [HR] 0.388, P = 0.003; CSS: HR 0.264, P = 0.004).

Conclusions

We showed that RARP in the setting of oligometastatic PCa is a safe and feasible procedure which improves oncological outcomes in terms of PFS and CSS. In addition, our data suggest that RARP effectively prevents urinary tract complications from PCa. The study highlights results from expert surgeons and highly selected patients that cannot be extrapolated to all patients with oligometastatic PCa; to confirm our findings, large, prospective, multicentre studies are required.
Bitter substances from plants used in traditional Chinese medicine exert biased activation of human bitter taste receptors
Authors: Behrens Maik , Gu Ming , Fan Shengjie , Huang Cheng , Meyerhof Wolfgang
Published: August 2017

The number and variety of bitter compounds originating from plants are vast. Whereas some bitter chemicals are toxic and should not be ingested, other compounds exhibit health beneficial effects, which is manifest in the cross‐cultural believe that the bitterness of medicine is correlated with the desired medicinal activity. The bitter taste receptors in the oral cavity serve as sensors for bitter compounds and, as they are expressed in numerous extraoral tissues throughout the body, may also be responsible for some physiological effects exerted by bitter compounds. Chinese herbal medicine uses bitter herbs since ancient times for the treatment of various diseases; however, the routes by which these herbs modify physiology are frequently not well understood. We therefore screened 26 bitter substances extracted from medical herbs for the activation of the 25 human bitter taste receptors. We identified six receptors activated by in total 17 different bitter compounds. Interestingly, we observed a bias in bitter taste receptor activation with 10 newly identified agonists for the broadly tuned receptor TAS2R46, seven agonists activating the TAS2R14 and two compounds activating narrowly tuned receptors, suggesting that these receptors play dominant roles in the evaluation and perhaps physiological activities of Chinese herbal medicines.
Synthesis, enzyme inhibitory kinetics, and computational studies of novel 1‐(2‐(4‐isobutylphenyl) propanoyl)‐3‐arylthioureas as Jack bean urease inhibitors
Authors: Abdul Fattah Tanzeela , Saeed Aamer , Channar Pervaiz Ali , Ashraf Zaman , Abbas Qamar , Hassan Mubashir , Larik Fayaz Ali
Published: August 2017

In this article, synthesis of a novel 1‐(2‐(4‐isobutylphenyl)propanoyl)‐3‐arylthioureas (4a–j) as jack bean urease inhibitors has been described. Freshly prepared 2‐(4‐isobutylphenyl) propanoyl isothiocyanate was treated with substituted aromatic anilines in one pot using anhydrous acetone. The compounds 4e, 4h, and 4j showed IC50 values 0.0086 nm, 0.0081 nm, and 0.0094 nm, respectively. The enzyme inhibitory kinetics results showed that compound 4h inhibit the enzyme competitively while derivatives 4e and 4j are the mixed type inhibitors. The compound 4h reversibly binds the urease enzyme showing Ki value 0.0012 nm. The Ki values for 4e and 4j are 0.0025 nm and 0.003 nm, respectively. The antioxidant activity results reflected that compounds 4b, 4i, and 4j showed excellent radical scavenging activity. Moreover, the cytotoxic activity of the target compounds was evaluated using brine shrimp assay and it was found that all of the synthesized compounds exhibited no cytotoxic effects to brine shrimps. The computational molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation of title compounds were also performed, and results showed that the wet laboratory findings are in good agreement to the dry laboratory results. Based upon our results, it is proposed that compound 4h may act as a lead candidate to design the clinically useful urease inhibitors.
The role of immediate provisional restorations on implants with a hydrophilic surface: A randomised, single‐blind controlled clinical trial
Authors: Donos Nikolaos , Horvath Attila , Mezzomo Luis André , Dedi Dina , Calciolari Elena , Mardas Nikos
Published: August 2017

Objectives

To compare the radiographic bone changes, clinical parameters and aesthetic outcomes of immediately provisionalised and conventionally restored implants at 12‐ and 24‐months post‐implant placement.

Material and methods

In 24 patients, 24 bone level implants with a hydrophilic (SLActive) surface were placed in healed sites and they were either immediately provisionalised with a non‐occluding temporary crown (test group) or left without a crown (control group). In both groups, the definitive restoration was placed 16 weeks after implant placement. Clinical and radiographic parameters were calculated at 12‐ and 24‐months post‐implant placement, together with implant success/survival rates according to three different sets of criteria. The aesthetic outcome was evaluated through the Papilla Fill Index and the Pink Aesthetic Score.

Results

The mean marginal bone loss at 1 year was −0.73 mm (SD 0.83 mm) in the test group and −0.22 mm (SD 0.46 mm) in the control group (p > .05). Whilst 100% survival rate and positive aesthetic outcomes were recorded in both groups, three patients of the test group did not fulfil all success criteria.

Conclusions

Immediate provisionalisation may represent a viable option for the replacement of single missing teeth, with radiographic, clinical and aesthetic results comparable to those of conventionally loaded implants at 2 years of follow‐up.
Physical activity interventions for children and young people with cerebral palsy
Authors: Gorter Jan Willem
Published: August 2017

This commentary is on the systematic reviews by Bloemen et al. and Reedman et al. on pages 1004–1010 and 1011–1018 of this issue.
Making international aid effective: An agenda for aligning aid to social business
Authors: Rahaman Muhammad Mustafizur , Khan Niaz Ahmed
Published: August 2017

In the context of heightened interest in social business and a renewed focus on the performance of international aid, this article explores the role and place of aid in addressing poverty in relation to the rapidly growing social business regime. Research on the subject is surprisingly limited. The article begins by operationalizing the key concepts, and developing a conceptual framework by exploring the possible nexus points between aid alignment and social business. It then addresses a number of key dimensions of aid; notably, a comparative account of possible aid investment in social business vis‐à‐vis conventional projects and private sector enterprises; an examination of the realities on the ground of the social business projects; and policy implications of the study together with some recommendations.