bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Organization Culture
Authors: Glynn Mary Ann , Giorgi Simona , Lockwood Christi
Published: March 2013

The concept of organizational culture was introduced to the field of management and organization studies in the late 1970s, and it began to attract significant scholarly attention in the early to mid-1980s. Building on insights from sociology and anthropology, organizational scholars argued that organizations could possess distinct cultures, or sets of shared values, beliefs, and norms that guide the attitudes and actions of organizational members. Researchers suggested that organizational culture could significantly affect organizational outcomes, reasoning that culture could be used as a resource to affect employee actions, distinguish firms from one another, and create competitive advantage for those with superior cultures. As such, understanding organizational culture has traditionally been seen as an avenue for equipping business leaders with the tools needed to enable effective performance through the creation and management of an appropriate culture. Although early studies of organizational culture generally portrayed it as consistent among employees, across levels and between departments, subsequent work spoke to the possibility of heterogeneous manifestations of culture within a single organization, suggesting that the creation and maintenance of a desired organizational culture may be more complex and nuanced than initially understood. As such, theoretical paradigms and research methods used for inquiry in this area have been diverse. For example, while some scholars have studied culture from a functionalist standpoint, focusing on normative forces promoting homogeneity and uniformity, others have approached it from an interpretive paradigm, emphasizing the meanings that social actions have for individuals in organizations. Methodologically, studies have employed both qualitative and quantitative methods, each of which has yielded unique insights on some aspects of culture. As a result, researchers in management and organization have taken a range of approaches to understanding organizational culture, from exploring the forces that may create and change culture, to studying it as a driver of performance and effectiveness, to linking it with identity and employee personality. The readings here reflect this diversity in theoretical and methodological approaches and are organized as follows. The first sections provide an introduction to organizational culture, including introductory works, early contributions, overviews, and textbooks. Next, major paradigmatic approaches are reviewed, and the roles of culture in organizational life, as independent variable, dependent variable, and moderator, are discussed. Then, methodological approaches are reviewed, investigating culture and related concepts. Finally, disciplinary influences and emerging approaches are discussed.
Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions
Authors: Newburry William
Published: March 2013

Geert Hofstede’s seminal 1980 book, Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, along with its 2001 reissue and expansion and related journal articles, is without question the most influential work on culture in the field of international management. The two versions of the book alone have been cited over 9,000 times in the Web of Science Database and over 33,000 times by Google Scholar. Related articles and books that reiterate and expand upon his original exposition of his four cultural dimensions have been cited thousands of times more. While his work is not without criticism, as will be noted later in this bibliography, it has nonetheless stood the test of time, and Google Scholar citation patterns suggest that Hofstede’s collective work has been cited as many times between 2007 and 2012 as it has since its original publication. Hofstede defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes members of one group from another” (Hofstede 2001, cited under National Culture; p. 1). Researchers have modeled national culture assuming that societies vary along specific cultural dimensions. While there are many cultural frameworks, some of which will be summarized in a subsequent section, Hofstede’s original four cultural dimensions—Power Distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, and Uncertainty Avoidance—remain among the most used. A fifth cultural dimension, Long-Term Orientation, was added later, based on subsequent research in China with Michael Harris Bond.
Behavioral and Cognitive Geography
Authors: Montello Daniel R.
Published: March 2013

Behavioral geography is an approach to human geography that attempts to understand human activity in space, place, and environment by studying it at the disaggregate level of analysis—at the level of the individual person. Behavioral geographers analyze data on the behavior of individual people, recognizing that individuals vary from each other. A key tenet of behavioral geography holds that models of human activity and interaction can be improved by incorporating more realistic assumptions about human behavior. For example, behavioral geographers agree with other human geographers that distance (or related factors such as travel time or effort) is an important determinant of human activity, but they maintain that it is subjective rather than objective distance that is typically important. It’s not how far away the store is that matters, it’s how far away you think it is. And because different people’s beliefs about distances may vary considerably from one another and from objective distance, spatial activities will be more variable and less optimal than nonbehavioral models predict. Thus, the disaggregate study of human geography naturally leads behavioral researchers to consider what the individual knows or believes about the world as playing an important role in explaining what the individual does or will do—that is, people do what they do because of what they think is true. People evaluate decision alternatives according to their beliefs in order to make behavioral choices in space and place. What people think, in turn, arises from perceptual knowledge acquired via the senses, as organized and interpreted by existing beliefs and schematic knowledge structures and processes. These, in turn, are products of people’s genetic and experiential histories and are often mediated by symbolic representations, such as maps and language. To recognize how prominent the study of human mind has become in behavioral geography, as well as in many other science and humanities disciplines, I explicitly refer to this subarea as behavioral and cognitive geography. Behavioral and cognitive geography further maintains that human-environment relations are dynamic and bidirectional: The actions and mental states of individuals cause, and are caused by, physical and social environments, within the context of ongoing and changing interactions. Because of these various interests and beliefs, behavioral and cognitive geography has inherent interdisciplinary connections, particularly with various subfields of psychology, but also with other behavioral and cognitive disciplines, such as linguistics, anthropology, economics, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, and environmental disciplines, such as planning, architecture, urban studies, and environmental studies. Given this fundamental interdisciplinarity, much of the literature cited here has been published not only within geography and cartography, but also within psychology, linguistics, computer science, and other fields.
Sports
Authors: Iber Jorge
Published: March 2013

From the inception f the field of sports history in the early 1970s, a major area of research regarding US sports history has been documenting how racial and ethnic minorities played, participated in, and used athletics for various purposes, such as to challenge negative ethnic stereotypes and to hold on to aspects of their own cultures. Several early projects dealt with baseball in the lives of African Americans, particularly about the Negro Leagues and their importance to civic life in the years after the Great Migration. Subsequently, scholars researched other groups and their experiences with sport. A worthwhile example of such works on Italian Americans (Baldassaro 2011) is noted under General Overviews and Related Articles. While the discipline has expanded, one glaring lacuna has remained: the participation of the Latino community in sport (at all levels) and the significance thereof. Fortunately, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries a few individuals have begun to remedy this gap. While certainly not the oldest project, the most important early work is Viva Baseball! Latin Major Leaguers and Their Special Hunger (Regalado 1998, cited under Baseball).
Dominican-American Literature
Authors: Torres-Saillant Silvio
Published: March 2013

Scholarship on the literary production of Dominicans in the United States has grown steadily since the late 1980s, when scholars of Dominican descent began to make a case for the inclusion of their writings in Latino literature. While individuals of Dominican ancestry had written in the United States at least since the start of the 20th century, a cadre of literary artists with a sense of the cultural meaning of their location “in the United States” as opposed to “in the Dominican Republic” did not emerge until the massive immigration of people from the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. The death of the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, whose government had limited the population’s mobility to foreign destinations, the passage by the US Congress of the 1965 Immigration Act, which increased immigrant quotas from the Caribbean and other parts of the Third World, and the US military invasion of 1965 to “prevent another Cuba” all figure as the principal causes of the “great exodus.” With the cities of New York; Providence, Rhode Island; and Lawrence, Massachusetts, serving initially as their principal destinations, Dominicans soon formed neighborhoods mostly in the Northeast. By the late 1970s the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights had become the mecca of Dominican life in the country and a hub of writers. There emerged the first Spanish-language literary magazines, literary groups, and anthologies. With the arrival on the literary scene of authors of Dominican ancestry working in English and publishing in mainstream venues, the literature of this group began to attract critical attention. Julia Alvarez published her collection of poems Homecoming in 1984. Then her novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent (1991) made her a household name. The triumphant debut collection of short fiction Drown (1996) by Junot Díaz, who subsequently added a Pulitzer Prize to his credit with the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), further increased the public appeal of writers of Dominican descent. The first-rate poetry of Rhina P. Espaillat, whose literary practice preceded the formation of Dominican neighborhoods in New York, and the compelling prose fiction of Loida Maritza Pérez, Angie Cruz, Ana-Maurine Lara, Annecy Báez, and Nelly Rosario have made it increasingly common for scholars to work on this literary production. The vigorous productivity of Hispanophone authors—from Marianela Medrano to Yrene Santos, Juan Tineo, and Miriam Ventura––has attracted less scholarly consideration. The hybrid writings of Josefina Báez, who moves from English to Spanish and vice versa, have elicited substantial interest by literary critics.
Soccer (Fútbol) in the Americas
Authors: Pescador Juan Javier
Published: March 2013

Soccer, association football, or simply “fútbol,” is by and large the most popular sport among Latino communities in the United States. This is particularly true in the Mexican, Guatemalan, Honduran, Salvadoran, Costa Rican, Panamanian, Colombian, Peruvian, Argentinian, Brazilian, Bolivian, Uruguayan, Paraguayan, and Ecuadorian communities. In large metropolitan areas, rural communities, or midsize cities, people of Latin American descent and origin participate in soccer teams, tournaments, leagues, clubs, and associations in massive numbers. Soccer affiliation easily represents the largest demographic participation in voluntary associations by Latinas and Latinos in the United States. As soccer players, referees, organizers, spectators, and consumers, Latin Americans and US-born Latinos participate in the sport on a regular basis and have made it not only an integral part of their recreational activities and leisure behavior but also a singular feature of the Latina/o popular culture and experience in the United States. For Latin American communities in the United States, soccer associations have played a fundamental role in structuring recreational activities for players, organizers, and their families. Leisure and entertainment are not, however, the only factors to consider. In fact, soccer associations are by far the largest civic and voluntary organizations among people of Latin American ancestry/origin in the United States, and these organizations have made a permanent contribution to the formation of a social life for Latinas and Latinos in American society. Soccer and other sports organizations have traditionally functioned as social venues to identify and develop leadership skills, as well as to provide agency and representation for the community to voice its needs and concerns, and to gain access to public facilities in organized and autonomous ways.
Borderlands
Authors: Rosas Gilberto
Published: March 2013

Paradoxically cast as material and imaginary; utopic and dystopic; militarized and peaceful; masculine and feminine; and white, brown, and Other, Latinos hold long-standing concerns regarding borders and their representations and possibilities. Indeed the term “borderlands” offers the promise of disrupting stagnating debates on identity. It likewise holds the pitfalls of becoming subject to appropriation sans the anchor of long-standing identity politics. Indeed, these tensions infuse competing approaches to the border, those who take the materiality of the international boundary between the United States and Mexico as a point of departure versus those who take borders in all their permutations as instigating new mediations of difference and broad new cultural imaginaries. Feminists, critical race scholars, Chicano and Latino scholars, and scholars vested in questions of decoloniality have used metaphorical renderings of the border as points of departure. They contrast sharply with those who see it as a site of violent subjugation and oppression. Borders are of particular import as border controls and undocumented border crossings have intensified across the globe during the long moment of neoliberal globalization and particularly following 11 September 2001. Many works, of course, draw from both these currents. In this respect, the vast interdisciplinary nature of the scholarship and the heavy influence of intersectionality, or the notion that race, class, and gender intertwine complexly and are mutually reinforcing, render such categorization fraught if not problematic.
Hermitian Hamiltonian equivalent to a given non-Hermitian one: manifestation of spectral singularity
Authors: Samsonov Boris F.
Published: March 2013

One of the simplest non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, first proposed by Schwartz in 1960, that may possess a spectral singularity is analysed from the point of view of the non-Hermitian generalization of quantum mechanics. It is shown that the
η
operator, being a second-order differential operator, has supersymmetric structure. Asymptotic behaviour of the eigenfunctions of a Hermitian Hamiltonian equivalent to the given non-Hermitian one is found. As a result, the corresponding scattering matrix and cross section are given explicitly. It is demonstrated that the possible presence of a spectral singularity in the spectrum of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian may be detected as a resonance in the scattering cross section of its Hermitian counterpart. Nevertheless, just at the singular point, the equivalent Hermitian Hamiltonian becomes undetermined.
PT
-symmetric deformations of integrable models
Authors: Fring Andreas
Published: March 2013

We review recent results on new physical models constructed as

-symmetrical deformations or extensions of different types of integrable models. We present non-Hermitian versions of quantum spin chains, multi-particle systems of Calogero–Moser–Sutherland type and nonlinear integrable field equations of Korteweg–de Vries type. The quantum spin chain discussed is related to the first example in the series of the non-unitary models of minimal conformal field theories. For the Calogero–Moser–Sutherland models, we provide three alternative deformations: a complex extension for models related to all types of Coxeter/Weyl groups; models describing the evolution of poles in constrained real-valued field equations of nonlinear integrable systems; and genuine deformations based on antilinearly invariant deformed root systems. Deformations of complex nonlinear integrable field equations of Korteweg–de Vries type are studied with regard to different kinds of

-symmetrical scenarios. A reduction to simple complex quantum mechanical models currently under discussion is presented.
Stabilizing and destabilizing perturbations of
PT
-symmetric indefinitely damped systems
Authors: Kirillov O. N.
Published: March 2013

Eigenvalues of a potential dynamical system with damping forces that are described by an indefinite real symmetric matrix can behave as those of a Hamiltonian system when gain and loss are in a perfect balance. This happens when the indefinitely damped system obeys parity–time (

) symmetry. How do pure imaginary eigenvalues of a stable

-symmetric indefinitely damped system behave when variation in the damping and potential forces destroys the symmetry? We establish that it is essentially the tangent cone to the stability domain at the exceptional point corresponding to the Whitney umbrella singularity on the stability boundary that manages transfer of instability between modes.
The Bethe ansatz and the Tzitzéica–Bullough–Dodd equation
Authors: Dorey Patrick , Faldella Simone , Negro Stefano , Tateo Roberto
Published: March 2013

The theory of classically integrable nonlinear wave equations and the Bethe ansatz systems describing massive quantum field theories defined on an infinite cylinder are related by an important mathematical correspondence that still lacks a satisfactory physical interpretation. In this paper, we shall extend this link to the case of the classical and quantum versions of the Tzitzéica–Bullough–Dodd model.
A ‘Dysonization’ scheme for identifying quasi-particles using non-Hermitian quantum mechanics
Authors: Jones-Smith Katherine
Published: March 2013

Dyson analysed the low-energy excitations of a ferromagnet using a Hamiltonian that was non-Hermitian with respect to the standard inner product. This allowed for a facile rendering of these excitations (known as spin waves) as weakly interacting bosonic quasi-particles. More than 50 years later, we have the full denouement of the non-Hermitian quantum mechanics formalism at our disposal when considering Dyson’s work, both technically and contextually. Here, we recast Dyson’s work on ferromagnets explicitly in terms of two inner products, with respect to which the Hamiltonian is always self-adjoint, if not manifestly ‘Hermitian’. Then we extend his scheme to doped anti-ferromagnets described by the
t
–
J
model, with hopes of shedding light on the physics of high-temperature superconductivity.
PT
symmetry as a necessary and sufficient condition for unitary time evolution
Authors: Mannheim Philip D.
Published: March 2013

While Hermiticity of a time-independent Hamiltonian leads to unitary time evolution, in and of itself, the requirement of Hermiticity is only sufficient for unitary time evolution. In this paper, we provide conditions that are both necessary and sufficient. We show that

symmetry of a time-independent Hamiltonian, or equivalently, reality of the secular equation that determines its eigenvalues, is both necessary and sufficient for unitary time evolution. For any

-symmetric Hamiltonian
H
, there always exists an operator
V
that relates
H
to its Hermitian adjoint according to
V
HV
−1
=
H
†
. When the energy spectrum of
H
is complete, Hilbert space norms 〈
ψ
1
|
V
|
ψ
2
〉 constructed with this
V
are always preserved in time. With the energy eigenvalues of a real secular equation being either real or appearing in complex conjugate pairs, we thus establish the unitarity of time evolution in both cases. We also establish the unitarity of time evolution for Hamiltonians whose energy spectra are not complete. We show that when the energy eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian are real and complete, the operator
V
is a positive Hermitian operator, which has an associated square root operator that can be used to bring the Hamiltonian to a Hermitian form. We show that systems with

-symmetric Hamiltonians obey causality. We note that Hermitian theories are ordinarily associated with a path integral quantization prescription in which the path integral measure is real, while in contrast, non-Hermitian but

-symmetric theories are ordinarily associated with path integrals in which the measure needs to be complex, but in which the Euclidean time continuation of the path integral is nonetheless real. Just as the second-order Klein–Gordon theory is stabilized against transitions to negative frequencies because its Hamiltonian is positive-definite, through

symmetry, the fourth-order derivative Pais–Uhlenbeck theory can equally be stabilized.
PT
quantum mechanics
Authors: Bender Carl M. , DeKieviet Maarten , Klevansky S. P.
Published: March 2013

-symmetric quantum mechanics (PTQM) has become a hot area of research and investigation. Since its beginnings in 1998, there have been over 1000 published papers and more than 15 international conferences entirely devoted to this research topic. Originally, PTQM was studied at a highly mathematical level and the techniques of complex variables, asymptotics, differential equations and perturbation theory were used to understand the subtleties associated with the analytic continuation of eigenvalue problems. However, as experiments on

-symmetric physical systems have been performed, a simple and beautiful physical picture has emerged, and a

-symmetric system can be understood as one that has a balanced loss and gain. Furthermore, the

phase transition can now be understood intuitively without resorting to sophisticated mathe- matics. Research on PTQM is following two different paths: at a fundamental level, physicists are attempting to understand the underlying mathematical structure of these theories with the long-range objective of applying the techniques of PTQM to understanding some of the outstanding problems in physics today, such as the nature of the Higgs particle, the properties of dark matter, the matter–antimatter asymmetry in the universe, neutrino oscillations and the cosmological constant; at an applied level, new kinds of

-synthetic materials are being developed, and the

phase transition is being observed in many physical contexts, such as lasers, optical wave guides, microwave cavities, superconducting wires and electronic circuits. The purpose of this Theme Issue is to acquaint the reader with the latest developments in PTQM. The articles in this volume are written in the style of mini-reviews and address diverse areas of the emerging and exciting new area of

-symmetric quantum mechanics.
LIN-41/TRIM71: emancipation of a miRNA target
Authors: Ecsedi Matyas , Großhans Helge
Published: March 2013

lin-41 (lineage variant 41)/TRIM71 (tripartite motif 71) is well known for being a conserved target of the let-7 (lethal 7) microRNA (miRNA), a regulatory relationship found in animals evolutionarily as distant as Caenorhabditis elegans and humans. It has thus been studied extensively as a model for miRNA-mediated gene silencing. In contrast, the developmental and molecular functions of LIN41 have historically received less attention. However, LIN41 proteins are now emerging as important regulators of cell proliferation and differentiation in stem and progenitor cells. Moreover, LIN41's functions appear to involve two distinct molecular activities; namely, protein ubiquitylation and post-transcriptional silencing of mRNAs. Thus, LIN41 is ready for a scientific life of its own.
Inflammation and Hras signaling control epithelial–mesenchymal transition during skin tumor progression
Authors: Wong Christine E. , Yu Jennifer S. , Quigley David A. , To Minh D. , Jen Kuang-Yu , Huang Phillips Y. , Del Rosario Reyno , Balmain Allan
Published: March 2013

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is thought to be an important, possibly essential, component of the process of tumor dissemination and metastasis. About 20%–30% ofHrasmutant mouse skin carcinomas induced by chemical initiation/promotion protocols have undergone EMT. Reduced exposure to TPA-induced chronic inflammation causes a dramatic reduction in classical papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), but the mice still develop highly invasive carcinomas with EMT properties, reduced levels of Hras and Egfr signaling, and frequentInk4/Arfdeletions. Deletion ofHrasfrom the mouse germline also leads to a strong reduction in squamous tumor development, but tumors now acquire activatingKrasmutations and exhibit more aggressive metastatic properties. We propose that invasive carcinomas can arise by different genetic and biological routes dependent on exposure to chronic inflammation and possibly from different target cell populations within the skin. Our data have implications for the use of inhibitors of inflammation or of Ras/Egfr pathway signaling for prevention or treatment of invasive cancers.
Who is attracted to an organisation using a forced distribution performance management system?
Authors: Blume Brian D. , Rubin Robert S. , Baldwin Timothy T.
Published: March 2013

Arguments related to forced distribution systems (FDS) are often dogmatic, but typically do not consider for whom such systems might be most and least appealing. We examine the relationships between participants' individual differences (cognitive ability, collectivism and core self‐evaluations) and their attraction to an organisation utilising an FDS. From a sample of 143 advanced undergraduate students, we found that individuals were more likely to be attracted to an organisation using FDS when they possessed higher levels of cognitive ability and perceived FDS to be fairer. We also found a significant interaction between respondents' collectivism and fairness perceptions of FDS, indicating that individuals who are high in collectivism are particularly sensitive to perceptions of FDS fairness. Implications for organisational practice and future research are discussed.
Income Convergence of Central Asian Turkic Republics: A Panel Study for Beta and Sigma Convergences for Six Asian Economies
Authors: Yorucu Vedat
Published: March 2013

The purpose of this study is to apply empirically the regional income convergence for a set of six Turkic Republics of the former Soviet Union, viz. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. These countries ranked among the least developed centrally planned economies, and there are significant inter‐country differences. For example, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, being oil and gas producers, had a significant growth during the last decade, but they are also transition economies in the midst of transforming their economies after decades of centrally controlled economic planning under the Soviet system. The research question analysed here is whether these Turkic Asian economies share a significant convergence experience since independence from the Soviet Union. Two kinds of convergence in these six transition economics are examined: beta convergence of incomes and sigma convergence of institutional convergence. The results demonstrate empirical evidence of beta income convergence, especially in the resource‐rich republics of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, while the sigma convergence is uniformly lacking suggesting institutional divergence. Accordingly, beta convergence of incomes is rather superficial as it is not supported by evidence of institutional and policy efficiency captured by sigma convergence.
Rat ultrasonic vocalizations demonstrate that the motivation to contextually reinstate cocaine‐seeking behavior does not necessarily involve a hedonic response
Authors: Barker David J. , Bercovicz Danielle , Servilio Lisa C. , Simmons Steven J. , Ma Sisi , Root David H. , Pawlak Anthony P. , West Mark O.
Published: March 2013

Human self‐reports often indicate that changes in mood are a major contributor to drug relapse. Still, arguments have been made that instances of drug‐seeking following abstinence in animal models (i.e. relapse/reinstatement) may be outside of hedonic control. Therefore, the present study utilized ultrasonic vocalizations in the rat in order to evaluate affect during cocaine self‐administration and contextual reinstatement of cocaine‐seeking in a pre‐clinical model of drug relapse (abstinence‐reinstatement model). Results show that while subjects effectively reinstated drug‐seeking (lever pressing) following 30 days of abstinence, and spontaneously recovered/reinstated drug‐seeking following 60 days of abstinence, ultrasonic vocalizations did not increase over baseline levels during either reinstatement session. These results are consistent with previous results from our laboratory and current theories of addiction suggesting that cues that are weakly associated with drug consumption can motivate drug‐seeking behavior that is outside of hedonic processing.
Efficacy of Carbon Dioxide Insufflation for Cerebral and Cardiac Protection During Open Heart Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Sun Yanhua , Ji Bingyang , Zhu Xian , Zheng Zhe
Published: March 2013

In spite of widespread application around the world, there has been controversy on the cerebral and cardiac protection efficacy of carbon dioxide insufflation (CDI) during open heart surgery. To make a comprehensive evaluation, we screened all relevant published randomized controlled trials to perform the first systematic review and meta‐analysis for CDI during open heart surgery. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Controlled Clinical Trial register, WANFAN, CQVIP, and CNKI database for published articles. Randomized controlled trials were included when the research provided data of neurological complications postoperatively, creatinine kinase, MB isoenzyme (CK‐MB) on the first postoperative day, or all‐cause mortality. We chose a fixed‐effects model when the trials showed low heterogeneity, otherwise a random effects model was used. The quality of studies was assessed by modified Jadad scale. Four studies were included in this meta‐analysis. The overall pooled relative risk (RR) for neurological complications was 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.57, 4.46], and the z‐score for overall effect was 0.89 (P = 0.37). The standardized mean difference of the CK‐MB between groups was 1.15, 95% CI = [−1.27, 3.56], and the z‐score for overall effect was 0.93 (P = 0.35). The overall pooled RR for all‐cause mortality was 0.5, 95% CI = [0.16, 1.64], and the z‐score for overall effect was 1.14 (P = 0.25). There was no significant difference between groups. Because of the insufficiency of powerful evidences, the cerebral and cardiac protection efficacy of CDI during open heart surgery needs to be further verified by more high‐quality trials.
Cloning, tissue expression and polymorphisms of chicken Krüppel‐like factor 7 gene
Authors: Zhang Zhi‐Wei , Wang Zhi‐Peng , Zhang Kun , Wang Ning , Li Hui
Published: March 2013

Krüppel‐like factor 7 (KLF7) has been extensively studied in mammalian species, but its role in birds is still unclear. In the current study, cloning and sequencing showed that the full‐length coding region of chicken KLF7 (Gallus gallus KLF7, gKLF7) was 891 bp long, encoding 296 amino acids. In addition, real‐time RT‐PCR analysis showed that gKLF7 was broadly expressed in all 15 chicken tissues selected, and its expression was significantly different in spleen, proventriculus, abdominal fat, brain, leg muscle, gizzard and heart between fat and lean broilers at 7 weeks of age. Additionally, one novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), XM_426569.3: c. A141G, was identified in the second exon of gKLF7. Association analysis showed that this locus was significantly associated with fatness traits in Arbor Acres broiler random population and the eighth generation of Northeast Agricultural University broiler lines divergently selected for abdominal fat content (NEAUHLF) population (P < 0.05). These results suggest that gKLF7 might be a candidate gene for chicken fatness traits.
Living with inborn errors of cholesterol biosynthesis: lessons from adult patients
Authors: Cardoso M.L. , Barbosa M. , Serra D. , Martins E. , Fortuna A. , Reis‐Lima M. , Bandeira A. , Balreira A. , Marques F.
Published: March 2013

In the last decades, nine inherited errors of the distal part of cholesterol biosynthesis have been recognized. Affected patients present complex malformation syndromes involving different organs and systems with variable degrees of severity. We report on the phenotype evolution of three patients with enzymatic defects at three distinct steps of such pathway: Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome, X‐linked dominant chondrodysplasia punctata type 2 and congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects syndrome. The patients' natural history, from childhood to adulthood, is thoroughly described in order to contribute for a better knowledge of these diseases. Our ultimate goals are to contribute for a better characterization of the long‐term course of these metabolic disorders and for the recognition of such diseases in older patients.
A New Method to Evaluate Volumetric Changes in Sinus Augmentation Procedure
Authors: Dellavia Claudia , Speroni Stefano , Pellegrini Gaia , Gatto Alessandra , Maiorana Carlo
Published: March 2013

Background

In sinus augmentation procedure, the assessment of volume changes of grafted materials is important both in the clinical practice and in dental research to evaluate the features of filling materials.

Purpose

In this study, we assessed the repeatability of a new method proposed to evaluate volumetric changes following sinus lift augmentation procedure.

Materials and Methods

In 10 patients, maxillary sinus augmentation procedure with simultaneous implant placement was performed. Maxillary cone beam computer tomographies were taken 1 week after surgery (T1) and 6 months after surgery (T2). At each evaluation the gap inside the implant between the fixture and the bottom of the screw was used as reference point (Rp), and a standardized volume of interest (VOI) centered on the Rp was selected. Masks were chosen to select the graft and bone tissue within the VOI; the volume at T1, T2, and the difference of volume between T1 and T2 were computed. Expert and non‐expert operators performed the analysis. Method errors were computed.

Results

The error of the method was 1% for both intra‐operator and inter‐operator measurements. Tissue contraction at T2 was 19 ± 4% of the total initial volume.

Conclusions

The standardization of the method allows to obtain repeatable measurements.
miR‐34c works downstream of p53 leading to dairy goat male germline stem‐cell (mGSCs) apoptosis
Authors: Li M. , Yu M. , Liu C. , Zhu H. , He X. , Peng S. , Hua J.
Published: March 2013

Objectives

Recent lines of evidence have indicated that miR‐34c can play important roles in regulation of the cell cycle, cell senescence and apoptosis of mouse and human tumour cells, spermatogenesis, and male germ‐cell apoptosis. However, there is little information on the effects of miR‐34c on proliferation and apoptosis of livestock male germ cells. The dairy goat is a convenient domestic species for biological investigation and application. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of miR‐34c on apoptosis and proliferation of dairy goat male germline stem cells (mGSCs), as well as to determine the relationship between p53 and miR‐34c in this species.

Materials and methods

Morphological observation, miRNA in situ hybridisation (ISH), bromodeoxyuridine staining, flow cytometry, quantitative‐RT‐PCR (Q‐RT‐PCR) and western blotting were utilized to ascertain apoptosis and proliferation of mGSCs, through transfection of miR‐34c mimics (miR‐34c), miR‐34c inhibitor (anti‐miR‐34c), miR‐34c mimics and inhibitors co‐transfected (mixture) compared to control groups.

Results

Results manifested that miR‐34c over‐expression promoted mGSCs apoptosis and suppressed their proliferation. Simultaneously, a variety of apoptosis‐related gene expression was increased while some proliferation‐related genes were downregulated. Accordingly, miR‐34c promoted apoptosis in mGSCs and reduced their proliferation; moreover, expression of miR‐34c was p53‐dependent.

Conclusions

This study is the first to provide a model for study of miRNAs and mechanisms of proliferation and apoptosis in male dairy goat germ cells.
Proliferation and osteo/odontoblastic differentiation of stem cells from dental apical papilla in mineralization‐inducing medium containing additional KH2PO4
Authors: Wang L. , Yan M. , Wang Y. , Lei G. , Yu Y. , Zhao C. , Tang Z. , Zhang G. , Tang C. , Yu J. , Liao H.
Published: March 2013

Objectives

Stem cells from the dental apical papilla (SCAPs) can be induced to differentiate along both osteoblast and odontoblast lineages. However, little knowledge is available concerning their differentiation efficiency in osteogenic media containing additional KH2PO4.

Materials and methods

Stem cells from the dental apical papilla were isolated from apical papillae of immature third molars and treated with two kinds of mineralization‐inducing media, MM1 and MM2, differing in KH2PO4 concentration. Proliferation and osteo/odontogenic differentiation capacity of MM1/MM2‐treated SCAPs were investigated and compared both in vitro and in vivo.

Results

Cell counting and flow cytometry demonstrated that MM2 containing 1.8 mm additional KH2PO4 significantly enhanced proliferative potential of SCAPs, compared to MM1. Osteo/odontogenic capacity of SCAPs was much better in MM2 medium than in MM1, as indicated by elevated alkaline phosphatase activity, increased calcium deposition and upregulated expression of osteo/odontoblast‐specific genes/proteins (for example, runt‐related transcription factor 2, osterix, osteocalcin, dentin sialoprotein, and dentin sialophosphoprotein). In vivo transplantation findings proved that SCAPs in MM2 group generated more mineralized tissues, and presented higher expression of osteo/odontoblast‐specific proteins (osteocalcin and dentin sialoprotein) than those in the MM1 group.

Conclusion

Mineralization‐inducing media supplemented with 1.8 mm additional KH2PO4 significantly enhanced cell proliferation and improved differentiation capacity of SCAPs along osteo/odontogenic cell lineages, compared to counterparts lacking additional KH2PO4.
Epigenetically induced changes in nuclear textural patterns and gelatinase expression in human fibrosarcoma cells
Authors: Poplineau M. , Doliwa C. , Schnekenburger M. , Antonicelli F. , Diederich M. , Trussardi‐Régnier A. , Dufer J.
Published: March 2013

Objective

Chromatin texture patterns of tumour cell nuclei can serve as cancer biomarkers, either to define diagnostic classifications or to obtain relevant prognostic information, in a large number of human tumours. Epigenetic mechanisms, mainly DNA methylation and histone post‐translational modification, have been shown to influence chromatin packing states, and therefore nuclear texture. The aim of this study was to analyse effects of these two mechanisms on chromatin texture, and also on correlation with gelatinase expression, in human fibrosarcoma tumour cells.

Materials and methods

We investigated effects of DNA hypomethylating agent 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine (5‐azadC) and histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) on nuclear textural characteristics of human HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells, evaluated by image cytometry, and expression of gelatinases MMP‐2 and MMP‐9, two metalloproteinases implicated in cancer progression and metastasis.

Results

5‐azadC induced significant variation in chromatin higher order organization, particularly chromatin decondensation, associated with reduction in global DNA methylation, concomitantly with increase in MMP‐9, and to a lesser extent, MMP‐2 expression. TSA alone did not have any effect on HT1080 cells, but exhibited differential activity when added to cells treated with 5‐azadC. When treated with both drugs, nuclei had higher texture abnormalities. In this setting, reduction in MMP‐9 expression was observed, whereas MMP‐2 expression remained unaffected.

Conclusions

These data show that hypomethylating drug 5‐azadC and histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA were able to induce modulation of higher order chromatin organization and gelatinase expression in human HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells.
Identification and biological characterization of chicken embryonic cardiac progenitor cells
Authors: Bai C. , Hou L. , Zhang M. , Wang L. , Guan W. , Ma Y.
Published: March 2013

Objectives: Many kinds of cardiac progenitor cell populations have been identified, including c‐kit+, Nkx2.5+s and GATA4+ cells. However, these progenitors have limited ability to differentiate into different cardiac cell types. Recently, a new kind of cardiac progenitor cell named the multipotent Isl1+ cardiovascular progenitor (MICPs) has been identified, which also expresses Nkx2.5, GATA4, CD34 and Flk1. Materials and methods: In this study, we have isolated and characterized MICPs from chicken embryonic heart tissues using immunofluorescence and PCR. Results: Results shown that they express markers of cardiac progenitor cells, with high clonality. They have the ability to self‐renew and can give rise to three types of heart cell in vitro. Conclusions: Myocytes, smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. Our work provides evidence for a developmental paradigm of the heart, that endothelial and muscle lineage diversification arises from multipotent cardiac progenitor cells. Existence of these cells provides a new opportunity for myocardial injury repair.
Management Innovation and Adoption of Emerging Technologies: The Case of Cloud Computing
Authors: Khanagha Saeed , Volberda Henk , Sidhu Jatinder , Oshri Ilan
Published: March 2013

This paper examines the effect of management innovation on a firm's ability to effectively adopt an emerging core technology. Organizing for technological change is often associated with structural dilemmas for incumbents: while structural contingent solutions such as spatially separated units and parallel organizations have been frequently discussed as enablers of handling contradictory requirements of existing and emerging technologies, there is empirical evidence that such solutions are likely to be either unfeasible or unsustainable in the cases of core technologies. Our analysis on the adoption process of a new core technology by a large telecommunication firm reveals the role of management innovation in fulfilling seemingly paradoxical structural requirements of knowledge accumulation in a dynamic knowledge environment. We discuss how a novel structural approach enabled the organization to overcome rigidities in the existing routines and foster a favorable environment for adoption of cloud technology and to overcome organizational challenges, with which the firm's conventional practices failed to commensurate.
Couples Therapy with Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors (CSA) and their Partners: Establishing a Context for Witnessing
Authors: Nasim Ron , Nadan Yochay
Published: March 2013

This article proposes a clinical practice for therapy with couples in which one partner suffered sexual abuse in childhood. Such couples often encounter unique difficulties with physical contact, intimacy, sexuality, communication, and trust, and their relationship dynamic may be marked by reenactments of past traumatic relational patterns. This clinical practice is founded on the assumption that establishing the witnessing lacking during the traumatic event in childhood can break the traumatic reenactments in adulthood, and spur recovery. The suggested practice may facilitate twofold witnessing: the couple's therapist witnesses the reenactments of the trauma in the couple's relationship; and the survivor's partner witnesses the trauma's effect on the survivor's personal life and relationship. Twofold witnessing can help break the cycle of traumatic reenactment and help the survivor integrate the events of her life into a more coherent, continuous narrative. The partner's presence also facilitates acknowledgement of what happened to the survivor, and helps the survivor elaborate on her stories of resistance, survival, and strength. Finally, each of the partners is able to appear more wholly and fully, and together to tell the preferred stories of their life as a couple, replete with the multiple relational patterns they wish to live, which may contradict the characteristics of the original trauma.
Physical strength is associated with Mini‐Mental State Examination scores in Spanish institutionalized elderly
Authors: Pedrero‐Chamizo Raquel , Albers Ulrike , Tobaruela José L , Meléndez Agustín , Castillo Manuel J , González‐Gross Marcela
Published: March 2013

Aim

The present cross‐sectional study aimed at assessing muscle strength of hands, the dominant arm and legs in Spanish institutionalized elderly people according to sex, age and cognitive status.

Methods

A total of 153 elderly subjects (102 females, 51 males, mean age 83.6 ± 6.8 years) living in the region of Madrid were measured for handgrip strength (kg) with a Takei TKK 5101 digital dynamometer (range 5–100 kg, precision 0.1 kg), and arm and leg endurance strength (repetitions) according to the Rikli and Jones tests. Cognitive status was determined with the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE).

Results

The values for men and women were, respectively: 23.5 ± 7.3 kg and 11.6 ± 4.6 kg (right handgrip), 22.0 ± 7.8 kg and 10.7 ± 4.8 kg (left handgrip), 13 ± 5 and 10 ± 5 repetitions (arm strength), 8 ± 5 and 5 ± 4 repetitions (legs strength), and 21 ± 6 and 17 ± 7 (MMSE score). All parameters were significantly higher for men (P ≤ 0.01), but strength decline with age was less pronounced in women. In all MMSE groups, lower strength was associated with lower cognitive status.

Conclusions

Strength values were lower in older subjects in both sexes; this difference was higher in men than in women. Higher strength values were associated with better cognitive status, which was the most influencing variable, even more than sex and age. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2013; 13: 1026–1034.