bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elucidation of independently modulated genes in Streptococcus pyogenes reveals carbon sources that control its expression of hemolytic toxins
Authors: Hirose Yujiro , Poudel Saugat , Sastry Anand V. , Rychel Kevin , Szubin Richard , Zielinski Daniel , Lim Hyun Gyu , Menon Nitasha , Bergsten Helena , Uchiyama Satoshi , Hanada Tomoki , Kawabata Shigetada , Palsson Bernhard O. , Nizet Victor
Published: August 2022

Streptococcus pyogenes can cause a wide variety of acute infections throughout the body of its human host. The underlying transcriptional regulatory network (TRN) is responsible for altering the physiological state of the bacterium to adapt to each host environment. Consequently, an in-depth understanding the comprehensive dynamics of its TRN could inform new therapeutic strategies. Here, we compiled 116 existing high-quality RNA-seq data sets of S. pyogenes serotype M1, and estimated the TRN structure in a top-down fashion by performing independent component analysis (ICA). The algorithm computed 42 independently modulated sets of genes (iModulons). Four iModulons contained nga-ifs-slo virulence-related operon, which allowed us to identify carbon sources that control its expression. In particular, dextrin utilization upregulated nga-ifs-slo operon by activation of two-component regulatory system CovRS-related iModulons, and changed bacterial hemolytic activity compared to glucose or maltose utilization. Finally, we show that the iModulon-based TRN structure can be used to simplify interpretation of noisy bacterial transcriptome at the infection site.
Phosphosite Scanning reveals a complex phosphorylation code underlying CDK-dependent activation of Hcm1
Authors: Conti Michelle M. , Li Rui , Narváez Ramos Michelle A. , Zhu Lihua Julie , Fazzio Thomas G. , Benanti Jennifer A.
Published: August 2022

Ordered cell cycle progression is coordinated by cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs). CDKs often phosphorylate substrates at multiple sites clustered within disordered regions. However, for most substrates, it is not known which phosphosites are functionally important. We developed a high-throughput approach, Phosphosite Scanning, that tests the importance of each phosphosite within a multisite phosphorylated domain. We show that Phosphosite Scanning identifies multiple combinations of phosphosites that can regulate protein function and reveals specific phosphorylations that are required for phosphorylation at additional sites within a domain. We applied this approach to the yeast transcription factor Hcm1, a conserved regulator of mitotic genes that is critical for accurate chromosome segregation. Phosphosite Scanning revealed a complex CDK-regulatory circuit that mediates processive phosphorylation of key activating sites in vivo. These results illuminate the mechanism of Hcm1 activation by CDK and establish Phosphosite Scanning as a powerful tool for decoding multisite phosphorylated domains.
Vibrio cholerae alkalizes its environment via citrate metabolism to inhibit enteric growth
Authors: Kostiuk Benjamin , Becker Mark E. , Churaman Candice N. , Black Joshua J. , Payne Shelley M. , Pukatzki Stefan , Koestler Benjamin J.
Published: August 2022

Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative pathogen, living in constant competition with other bacteria in both marine environments and during human infection. One competitive advantage of V. cholerae is the ability to metabolize diverse carbon sources such as chitin and citrate. We observed that when V. cholerae strains were grown on a medium with citrate, the medium’s chemical composition turned into a hostile alkaline environment for Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri. We found that although the ability to exclude competing bacteria was not contingent on exogenous citrate, V. cholerae citrate metabolism mutants ΔoadA-1, ΔcitE, and ΔcitF mutants were not able to inhibit S. flexneri or E. coli growth. Lastly, we demonstrated that while the V. cholerae mediated increased medium pH was necessary for the enteric exclusion phenotype, secondary metabolites such as bicarbonate (protonated to carbonate in the raised pH) from the metabolism of citrate enhanced the ability to inhibit the growth of E. coli. These data provide a novel example of how V. cholerae outcompetes other Gram-negative bacteria.
Fundamental metabolic strategies of heterotrophic bacteria
Authors: Gralka Matti , Pollak Shaul , Cordero Otto X.
Published: August 2022

Through their metabolism, heterotrophic microbes drive carbon cycling in many environments (1). These microbes consume (and produce) hundreds to thousands of different metabolic substrates, begging the question of what level of description is required to understand the metabolic processes structuring their communities: do we need to account for the detailed metabolic capabilities of each organism, or can these capabilities be understood in terms of a few well-conserved carbon utilization strategies that could be more easily interpreted and more robustly predicted? Based on the high-throughput phenotyping of a diverse collection of marine bacteria, we showed that the fundamental metabolic strategy of heterotrophic microbes can be understood in terms of a single axis of variation, representing their preference for either glycolytic (sugars) or gluconeogenic (amino and organic acids) carbon sources. Moreover, an organism’s position on this axis is imprinted in its genome, allowing us to successfully predict metabolic strategy across the bacterial tree of life. Our analysis also unveils a novel and general association between metabolic strategy and genomic GC content, which we hypothesize results from the difference in C:N supply associated with typical sugar and acid substrates. Thus, our work reveals a fundamental constraint on microbial evolution that structures bacterial genomes and communities and can be leveraged to understand diversity in functional terms, beyond catalogs of genes and taxa.
The Alphaherpesvirus Latency Associated Promoter 2 (LAP2) Drives Strong Transgene Expression in Peripheral Tissue Depending on Administration Route and AAV Serotype
Authors: Maturana Carola J. , Chan Angela , Verpeut Jessica L. , Engel Esteban A.
Published: August 2022

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) has shown great translational potential in treating a variety of diseases often requiring strong and ubiquitous transgene expression. However, the genetic payload of AAV vectors is limited to <4.9 kb and some commonly used gene promoters are large in sizeable and susceptible to transcriptional silencing. We validated a short (404 bp), strong and persistent promoter obtained from the genome of pseudorabies virus (PRV) called alphaherpesvirus latency-associated promoter 2 (LAP2). We evaluated the biodistribution and potency of transgene expression in mouse peripheral tissue and organs when using AAV8-LAP2 and AAV9-LAP2, both of which achieved transgene expression like that of the ubiquitous promoter, EF1α. LAP2 drives potent transgene expression in liver and kidney after systemic retro-orbital administration and in skeletal muscle after intramuscular delivery. Additionally, we observed broad transduction throughout the lung albeit at lower levels than other tissues. Notably, in skeletal muscle LAP2 resulted in preferential transduction of myofiber types 2. A direct side-by-side comparison between LAP2 and EF1α, demonstrates that regardless of the AAV serotype and route of administration, LAP2 is as powerful and persistent as EF1α promoter despite being 66% smaller in size, thus allowing for larger therapeutic payloads.
Depletion of Plasma Membrane PI4P by ORP5 Requires Hydrolysis by SAC1 in Acceptor Membranes
Authors: Doyle Colleen P. , Timple Liz , Hammond Gerald R. V.
Published: August 2022

Oxysterol binding protein (OSBP)-related proteins (ORPs) 5 and 8 have been shown to deplete the lipid phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P) at sites of membrane contact between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and plasma membrane (PM). This is believed to be caused by transport of PI4P from the PM to the ER, where PI4P is degraded by an ER-localized SAC1 phosphatase. This is proposed to power the anti-port of phosphatidylserine (PS) lipids from ER to PM, up their concentration gradient. Alternatively, ORPs have been proposed to sequester PI4P, dependent on the concentration of their alternative lipid ligand. Here, we aimed to distinguish these possibilities in living cells by orthogonal targeting of ORP5 to PM-mitochondrial contact sites. We demonstrate that ORP5 is unable to deplete PM PI4P or accumulate the lipid in mitochondrial outer membranes when acting alone, ruling out both lipid transport and sequestration models. However, when combined with orthogonal targeting of SAC1 to the mitochondrial outer membrane, ORP5 facilitates depletion of PM PI4P when targeted to PM-mitochondria contact sites. We conclude that PI4P depletion from the PM by ORP5 requires transport of PI4P to the tethered organelle membrane, which must be closely coupled to PI4P hydrolysis by SAC1. The data are most compatible with a lipid transfer reaction by ORP family members.
A two-decade microbial time series from a freshwater lake, introducing the limony and TYMEFLIES datasets
Authors: Rohwer Robin R. , McMahon Katherine D.
Published: August 2022

How microbial communities change over time is key to understanding how ecosystems will respond to global change, and to answering fundamental questions about how microbial ecology and evolution unfold. However, our understanding of microbial change is limited by a lack of long-term observations. Using archived filters from freshwater Lake Mendota (WI, USA), we created a 20-year microbial time series that begins in year 2000, a decade before Illumina DNA sequencing hit the market. We characterized 1,023 samples and controls with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in the “limony” dataset, and 471 samples and controls with shotgun metagenome sequencing in the “TYMEFLIES” dataset. In addition to the raw sequencing data, we point users to associated data products: paired environmental data collected by the North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research program (NTL-LTER), our R package to work with curated limony data, and metagenomic assemblies and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) created from the TYMEFLIES dataset. The limony and TYMEFLIES datasets, along with their paired environmental data and reference genomes, are a unique and ready-to-use resource for diverse scientists including limnologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, bioinformaticians, modellers, and educators.
Production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor gates plasticity in developing visual cortex
Authors: Kaneko Megumi , Stryker Michael P.
Published: August 2022

We have previously shown that recovery of visual responses to a deprived eye during the critical period in mouse primary visual cortex (V1) requires both export of mRNA encoding brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to the dendrites of cortical cells (Kaneko et al., 2012) and phosphorylation of the TrkB receptor for BDNF (Kaneko et al., 2008a). TrkB phosphorylation is not required for the loss of response during monocular deprivation (MD). Studies in vitro show that formation of new connections requires BDNF (Meyer-Franke et al., 1995, 1998; Gottmann et al., 2009). We have now studied the temporal relationship between the production of mature BDNF and the recovery of visual responses. Visual cortical responses to an eye whose vision has been occluded for several days during the critical period and is then re-opened recovers rapidly during binocular vision or more slowly following reverse occlusion, when the previously intact fellow eye is occluded in a model of “patch therapy” for amblyopia. The time to recovery of visual responses differed by 18 hours between these two procedures, but in each the production of mature BDNF preceded the recovery by 6 hours. These findings suggest that a spurt of BDNF secretion stimulates the growth of connections serving the deprived eye to restore visual responses.

Significance Statement

By demonstrating that BDNF production precedes rather than merely accompanies the increase in cortical responses, we provide further evidence that BDNF production plays a causal role, thereby gating the plasticity that underlies the recovery of visual cortex from monocular deprivation.
Simultaneous Profiling of Host Expression and Microbial Abundance by Spatial Meta-Transcriptome Sequencing
Authors: Lyu Lin , Li Xue , Feng Ru , Zhou Xin , Guha Tuhin K. , Yu Xiaofei , Chen Guo Qiang , Yao Yufeng , Su Bing , Zou Duowu , Snyder Michael P. , Chen Lei
Published: August 2022

We developed an analysis pipeline that can extract microbial sequences from Spatial Transcriptomic (ST) data and assign taxonomic labels, generating a spatial microbial abundance matrix in addition to the default host expression matrix, enabling simultaneous analysis of host expression and microbial distribution. We called the pipeline Spatial Meta-transcriptome (SMT) and applied it on both human and murine intestinal sections and validated the spatial microbial abundance information with alternative assays. Biological insights were gained from this novel data that demonstrated host-microbe interaction at various spatial scales. Finally, we tested experimental modification that can increase microbial capture while preserving host spatial expression quality, and by use of positive controls, quantitatively demonstrated the capture efficiency and recall of our methods. This proof of concept work demonstrates the feasibility of Spatial Meta-transcriptomic analysis, and paves the way for further experimental optimization and application.
A novel pathogenic CDH3 variant underlying heredity hypotrichosis simplex detected by whole-exome sequencing (WES)—a case report
Authors: Kadhi Ayat , Hamie Lamiaa , Tamer Christel , Nemer Georges , Kurban Mazen
Published: August 2022

Heredity hypotrichosis simplex (HHS) is a rare nonsyndromic disease form of hypotrichosis simplex (HS) characterized by progressive hair follicle (HF) miniaturization. It is usually inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. The differential diagnosis of HHS and the treatments remain challenging despite recent advancement. In this report, we describe a 19-yr-old female affected with HHS alongside most of her family members. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed for some of the family members to unravel the culprit gene involved in HHS phenotype and ascertain the dermatological examination that was done to classify the phenotypes of the disease. A novel pathogenic variant in the CDH3 gene (p.Ser223GlyfsTer4) was identified as a plausible disease-causing variant for HHS. This is the first report to associate CDH3 variants with a HHS phenotype without macular degeneration using WES. WES is an important tool for genotype–phenotype correlation, precision in diagnosis, and in-depth understanding of the disease mechanisms, leading to possible novel therapeutic targets treatment and better patient outcomes.
Assessment of aviation operators’ efficacy in highly automated systems
Authors: Jazzar Abeer , Alharasees Omar , Kale Utku
Published: August 2022

Purpose

Technological advances and the adaption of higher levels of automation serve as a potential cause of aviation incidents and accidents. This study aims to investigate the effect of automated systems on the operator’s performance total load (work, task, information, communication and mental) in highly advanced systems.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was designed for aviation operators (Pilots, ATCOs) to understand the intensity to which automation has affected their working environment and personal behavior. In total, 115 responses were received from 44 countries worldwide. Approximately, 66% of respondents were pilots, 27% Air traffic controllers and 7% were both pilots and ATCOs with various experience levels.

Findings

Based on the results of this questionnaire, this study suggests the following: creating a total load management model to understand the best load balance an operator could perform at providing rapidly updated aviation training methods and approaches investigating the influence and consequences of adding new tools to the operator’s working station and redesigning it to achieve top operator-machine equilibrium redesigning information and alerting systems.

Practical implications

Intrinsic limitations include an implicit expression of bias in the way questions are phrased, ambiguity in question phrasing that leads to incorrect conclusions and challenges regarding articulating complex concepts.

Originality/value

In this paper, the authors aimed to assess and investigate factors leading to current and future incidents and accidents resulting from human factors, specifically caused or developed because of highly automated systems.
New emerging capabilities for managing data-driven innovation in healthcare: the role of digital platforms
Authors: Pietronudo Maria Cristina , Zhou Fuli , Caporuscio Andrea , La Ragione Giuseppe , Risitano Marcello
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This article aims to understand the role of intermediaries that manage innovation challenges in the healthcare scenario. More specifically, it explores the role of digital platforms in addressing data challenges and fostering data-driven innovation in the health sector.

Design/methodology/approach

For exploring the role of platforms, the authors propose a theoretical model based on the platform’s dynamic capabilities, assuming that, because of their set of capabilities, platforms may trigger innovation practices in actor interactions. To corroborate the theoretical framework, the authors present a detailed in-depth case study analysis of Apheris, an innovative data-driven digital platform operating in the healthcare scenario.

Findings

The paper finds that the innovative data-driven digital platform can be used to revolutionize established practices in the health sector (a) accelerating research and innovation; (b) overcoming challenges related to healthcare data. The case study demonstrates how data and intellectual property sharing can be privacy-compliant and enable new capabilities.

Originality/value

The paper attempts to fill the gap between the use of the data-driven digital platform and the critical innovation practices in the healthcare industry.
A formative evaluation of an adolescent online E-cigarette prevention program
Authors: Merrill Ray M. , Hanson Carl L.
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study is a formative evaluation of an adolescent online e-cigarette prevention program (Clearing the Vapor) giving attention to identifying higher risk adolescent populations, confirming the theory of change, and assessing short-term outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The evaluation was conducted using online pre-test and post-test survey data collected from adolescent program participants age 10–18 from 2019 to 2021. Analyses included risk ratios on perceived risk, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions across demographic variables. Pre-test and post-test comparisons were conducted with analysis involving the t-test and the McNemar test.

Findings

Prevalence of e-cigarette use was higher among males, older adolescents, and in racial/ethnic groups other than Whites and Asians. Adolescents with lower confidence to say “no” were more likely to use e-cigarettes. Greater perception of harm by using e-cigarettes increased the likelihood of adolescents feeling competent to explain to peers the harmful effects of e-cigarettes. Mean change in commitment levels to not use e-cigarettes increased for males and females, all ages, and racial/ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic Blacks and American Indians. Improvement in non-Hispanic Whites was significantly greater than for non-Hispanic Blacks, American Indians, and Hispanics.

Originality/value

Improvement in programming should give careful attention to the incorporation of more prevention activities and to materials tailored specifically to racial/ethnic participants. As a theory of change, findings support the utility of the Clearing the Vape prevention programming to address perceptions of harm that e-cigarettes are safe, confidence in explaining the harmful effects of use, and the development of skills to resist use.
From defining as assertion to defining as explaining meaning: teachers' learning through theory-informed lesson study
Authors: Adler Jill , Mwadzaangati Lisnet , Takker Shikha
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The aim is the introduction of lesson study (LS) in geometry in Malawi secondary schools supported by a teaching framework that includes a focus on language responsive teaching.

Design/methodology/approach

The study reports an LS on geometry for professional development (PD) of secondary teachers. Data analysed includes lesson plans, transcripts of lessons, reflective discussions. The analytical approach is qualitative content analysis.

Findings

Teachers' lexicalisation of an exterior angle of a triangle evolved as a function of a teaching framework that guided their participation in planning, teaching and reflecting through LS cycle, and that was derived from networking between theories.

Research limitations/implications

This is both a small-scale study, and a limited content focus in the lesson, a function of LS being a new practice, and teachers simultaneously learning ideas about geometry teaching, those embedded in the framework and doing LS.

Practical implications

The paper includes a description of how LS might contribute to teachers' learning of language responsive teaching, and so is useful for others working on LS and language practices.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to learn more about how networking theories to inform and support LS can create learning opportunities for teachers, particularly about language responsive teaching, an interest and concern worldwide.
Internationalization and domestic political support: a differentiation of R&D-related foreign and domestic firms in Turkey
Authors: Kleiner-Schaefer Timo , Tatoglu Ekrem , Liefner Ingo
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This paper contributes insights into how different firm types in the emerging market (EM) of Turkey respond to upgrading pressures in terms of internationalization and the usage of domestic political support. It seeks to highlight how the usage of and the responses to different strategies, connections and policy instruments vary with firm types.

Design/methodology/approach

Binary logistic regression analysis is used to differentiate and identify characteristics of firms regarding market-seeking strategies and their usage of institutional and financial support. The analysis is based on survey data from firms located in the metro-region of Istanbul: advanced market multinational enterprises (AMNEs), Turkish MNEs (TMNEs) and domestic Turkish firms (DTFs).

Findings

Different types of firms within the population of innovative firms in the EM setting of Turkey show significant variety regarding the usage of and the responses to key factors affecting internationalization. AMNEs particularly benefit from investment and export incentives as well as from establishing political connections in Turkey. DTFs significantly use tax incentives and primarily seek advanced markets. TMNEs particularly benefit from investment and export incentives and prefer to target advanced markets.

Research limitations/implications

Using Turkey as a single-country setting is a limitation to the generalizability of the results. Future studies could use more cases of AMNEs to compare different countries of origin. In addition, the intended focus on R&D-related firms produces specific outcomes for such companies.

Practical implications

National and regional policies need to pursue different strategies for the surveyed groups of firms to attract and maintain foreign direct investments (FDIs) of AMNEs as well as to support outward FDIs of domestic firms and EM MNEs. In particular, policies for market entries and knowledge sourcing in advanced markets are becoming a crucial factor for EM firms in overcoming a shortage of resources at home.

Originality/value

This paper’s findings challenge existing theories such as the concept of psychic distance or liabilities of foreignness, which do not always provide an adequate explanation for internationalization activities of EM firms. In addition, it is highly relevant to apply an eclectic or multidimensional concept when conducting research in EMs in order to capture the interrelated constructs of upgrading, internationalization and political support.
Assessing technological impact on vaccine supply chain performance
Authors: Rai Pratik , Bera Sasadhar , Ray Pritee
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The study aims to develop an integrated quantitative approach and suggest a framework to assess the impact of a technological intervention on the internal process dimension of the vaccine supply chain (VSC) system for multiple administered regions.

Design/methodology/approach

An evaluation index system is developed by selecting suitable performance indicators (PIs) that define the objectives of a VSC. Then multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are applied to obtain pre and post-intervention relative ranks for the regions and performance scores of the objectives. A bilateral data envelopment analysis (DEA) compares significant efficiency differences between improvement and deterioration groups.

Findings

This study demonstrates that technological intervention improves the internal process dimension of a VSC for the regions under consideration. The empirical study delivers two groups of regions showing improvement or deterioration in relative performance ranking due to the technological intervention. However, the efficiency-based bilateral comparison may reveal an insignificant difference between the two groups.

Practical implications

Decision-makers associated with VSC will find the suggested model helpful in assessing the impact of technological intervention. They can easily identify specific objectives of VSC's internal process dimension, whether a particular region has observed an improvement or deterioration in its relative performance and maximize the outcome by focusing on the areas of concern for a specific region.

Originality/value

This study is the first to provide a quantitative approach that empirically determines relative performance improvement or deterioration of different regions for a set of identified VSC objectives in the context of the Indian states.
Do leaders and followers see eye to eye? Exploring patterns of congruent expectations and self-views in leader-follower relationships
Authors: Coyle Patrick Terrence , Foti Roseanne
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The authors examine mutually exclusive sub-groups of congruent expectations for leader and follower roles relate to sub-groups of self-other endorsement, and how these patterns predict relationship quality.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examine patterns of congruent implicit theories relate to patterns of self-other endorsement, at the dyadic level, using latent class analysis in 193 working-adult dyads. The authors then examine how these patterns predict leader and follower assessments of relationship quality using general linear models (GLM).

Findings

The authors supported 4 classes of dyads with specific patterns of congruent (or incongruent) ILT's and IFT's: Role congruent, exchange congruent, committed leader congruent, and role incongruent dyads. Class membership predicted leader-assessed leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived support. The authors then supported 3 classes of self-other endorsement: dyads with mutual endorsement, leader identity endorsement, and no endorsement. Class membership predicted follower-assessed LMX, perceived support, and perceived contribution from leaders. Class membership corresponded meaningfully.

Originality/value

The authors empirically examine the extent to which relationship behavior can be understood: (1) by similar implicit theories, or (2) through identification with a leader or follower role. Moreover, the authors uncover unique combinations of congruence, and address a key challenge posed by traditional variable-oriented strategies typically used in LMX research.
CSR, moral licensing and organizational misconduct: a conceptual review
Authors: Bouzzine Yassin Denis , Lueg Rainer
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize how past corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the occurrence of organizational misconduct by the means of moral licensing.

Design/methodology/approach

To this end, the authors conduct a conceptual review and develop a framework illustrating how moral credits and moral credentials (moral licensing) may institutionalize irresponsibility and lead to subsequent misconduct.

Findings

The authors propose a conceptual framework that describes the relationship between past CSR and organizational misconduct by the means of moral licensing. Based on initial literature-based findings, this paper provides confirmatory evidence for the authors’ framework and illustrates that past CSR might be used as a moral licensing tool that eventually fosters the occurrence of organizational misconduct.

Research limitations/implications

The authors propose future researchers account for the moral licensing effect when examining the antecedents of misconduct and explore the potential moderators of this effect.

Practical implications

The authors recommend that organizations establish management control systems that specifically address the issue of moral licensing when evaluating CSR initiatives. The authors also propose that organizations should adhere to a consistent CSR strategy that potentially fosters the selection of moral leaders who are not prone to moral licensing.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to connect corporate social responsibility, moral licensing and organizational misconduct from a conceptual perspective.
Does motivation matter? How leader behaviors influence employee vigor at work
Authors: Yang Fu , Chen Gang , Yang Qiuling , Huang Xin
Published: August 2022

Purpose

This study supposes to provide new insights into the role of leader behaviors in motivating employees by examining how and when spiritual leadership and contingent reward leadership facilitate employee vigor at work.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from self-determination theory (SDT), the current study proposes that spiritual leadership intrinsically motivates employees, whereas contingent reward leadership extrinsically motivates employees – both of which subsequently improve employee vigor at work. The theoretical model was tested through a sample of 191 employees collected across three time points in China.

Findings

Results revealed that spiritual leadership positively facilitates employee vigor at work through enhancing their work enjoyment, and employees' need for achievement can amplify the effects of spiritual leadership. In addition, employees' performance-reward expectancy transmits the effects of contingent reward leadership on employee vigor at work, and leaders' performance expectations play a key role in strengthening the positive influences of contingent reward leadership.

Originality/value

Based on SDT, this study provides a comprehensive explanation of how and when two patterns of leader behaviors affect employee vigor at work. Therefore, the authors provide significant insights for leadership and work design in human resource management.
Transnational cooperation in enhancing researchers’ wider employability: the TRANSPEER project
Authors: Lees James , Gorini Lucrezia , Torjussen Stian , Oliveira Margarida , Pinto Paula , Potes Barbas Maria , Martins Madalena , Jones Melanie S. , Sheppard Victoria , Petronilho Ana , Trindade Margarida
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an example of best practice towards enhancing employability in the cross-sectoral labour market for doctorate-holders. This was achieved through an Erasmus+ KA2 (Strategic Partnership) skills development project which created a training programme (TRANSPEER) involving a multi-disciplinary cohort of researchers at a range of career stages, drawn from universities in Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

Research support staff designed and delivered four transnational training events for the cohort, with the overarching theme of enhancing researcher employability. An initial skills awareness survey of the researcher cohort was undertaken prior to the start of the programme; this survey was repeated after each event. An additional aim of the project was the development of the consortium’s research support staff through exposure to the facilitation techniques and methodologies of their international colleagues.

Findings

The findings indicate that transnational collaboration in researcher development enhances the learning environment for participating researchers and provides significant professional development opportunities for both researchers and researcher developers. The findings further suggest the benefits of mixing cohorts across career stages and engaging researchers with novel and interactive approaches on themes not typically addressed in academic competence development offerings.

Originality/value

Transversal skills development cooperation between universities – especially transnational cooperation – is rare. Even more so is the professional development of research support staff in a transnational context. This paper outlines the benefits of such collaborative activities.
Family supportive supervisor behaviors: lessons from research
Authors: Andrade Maureen Snow
Published: August 2022

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the workplace in significant ways, creating changes in the daily work routines of individuals globally, many of which are likely to be permanent. Women, in particular, were affected by increased childcare responsibilities and faced with decisions about the future of their careers. The purpose of this practitioner article is to present an overview of work-related challenges and opportunities resulting from COVID-19, introduces the concept of family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB), and shares ideas for application.

Design/methodology/approach

The concept of FSSB offers insights into the role of supervisors in the adoption of family-friendly approaches that not only mitigate the challenges women, and parents in general, face in the workplace but offers organizations the opportunity to assess the degree to which these practices are present and adopt relevant training and policies. The paper examines the literature on FSSB.

Findings

The review identifies ways in which organizations can apply FSSB to support women (and all parents) in the workplace. These include a better understanding of the supervisor role, the need to examine policies and practice and make supervisors accountable and direction for FSSB training.

Originality/value

The paper shares key outcomes of FSSB and provides practical ways for its implementation by leaders and managers. It links the challenges and opportunities of COVID-19 to enhanced FSSB practices.
Spatiotemporal dynamics of genetic variation at the quantitative and molecular levels within a natural Arabidopsis thaliana population
Authors: Méndez‐Vigo Belén , Castilla Antonio R. , Gómez Rocío , Marcer Arnald , Alonso‐Blanco Carlos , Picó F. Xavier
Published: August 2022

Evolutionary change begins at the population scale. Therefore, understanding adaptive variation requires the identification of the factors maintaining and shaping standing genetic variation at the within‐population level. Spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity represent ecological drivers of within‐population genetic variation, determining the evolutionary trajectory of populations along with random processes. Here, we focused on the effects of spatiotemporal heterogeneity on quantitative and molecular variation in a natural population of the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

We sampled 1093 individuals from a Spanish A. thaliana population across an area of 7.4 ha for 10 years (2012–2021). Based on a sample of 279 maternal lines, we estimated spatiotemporal variation in life‐history traits and fitness from a common garden experiment. We genotyped 884 individuals with nuclear microsatellites to estimate spatiotemporal variation in genetic diversity. We assessed spatial patterns by estimating spatial autocorrelation of traits and fine‐scale genetic structure. We analysed the relationships between phenotypic variation, geographical location and genetic relatedness, as well as the effects of environmental suitability and genetic rarity on phenotypic variation.

The common garden experiment indicated that there was more temporal than spatial variation in life‐history traits and fitness. Despite the differences among years, genetic distance in ecologically relevant traits (e.g. flowering time) tended to be positively correlated to genetic distance among maternal lines, while isolation by distance was less important. Genetic diversity exhibited significant spatial structure at short distances, which were consistent among years. Finally, genetic rarity, and not environmental suitability, accounted for genetic variation in life‐history traits.

Synthesis. Our study highlighted the importance of repeated sampling to detect the large amount of genetic diversity at the quantitative and molecular levels that a single A. thaliana population can harbour. Overall, population genetic attributes estimated from our long‐term monitoring scheme (genetic relatedness and genetic rarity), rather than biological (dispersal) or ecological (vegetation types and environmental suitability) factors, emerged as the most important drivers of within‐population structure of phenotypic variation in A. thaliana.
Assembling care: How nurses organise care in uncharted territory and in times of pandemic
Authors: Kuijper Syb , Felder Martijn , Bal Roland , Wallenburg Iris
Published: August 2022

This article draws on ethnographic research to conceptualise how nurses mobilise assemblages of caring to organise and deliver COVID care; particularly so by reorganising organisational infrastructures and practices of safe and good care. Based on participatory observations, interviews and nurse diaries, all collected during the early phase of the pandemic, the research shows how the organising work of nurses unfolds at different health‐care layers: in the daily care for patients and their families, in the coordination of care in and between hospitals, and at the level of the health‐care system. These findings contrast with the dominant pandemic‐image of nurses as ‘heroes at the bedside’, which fosters the classic and microlevel view of nursing and leaves the broader contribution of nurses to the pandemic unaddressed. Theoretically, the study adds to the literature on translational mobilisation and assemblage theory by focussing on the layered and often invisible organising work of nurses in health care.
Dynamics of wilful ignorance in organizations
Authors: Alvesson Mats , Einola Katja , Schaefer Stephan M.
Published: August 2022

Contemporary society is obsessed with knowledge, leaving its less seductive counterpart, ignorance, in the shadows. However, as an expanding literature suggests, it is equally important to understand ignorance and consider its varieties. This study specifies the nature of wilful ignorance in organizations. It does so by (a) making a distinction between the will of an actor and the epistemic properties of ignorance, and showing how these two form a dynamic relationship, (b) linking wilful ignorance to its various drivers and (c) suggesting how our concept of wilful ignorance can be used in the study of organizations. Rather than reducing the phenomenon into a simple to know/to ignore dichotomy, we concentrate on its processual and dynamic nature. Moreover, we explore the complexities and ambiguity inherently involved in all knowing and ignoring as well as the role of agency in reducing the harmful effects of wilful ignorance in organizations.
Reactive synovitis of the knee joint after COVID‐19 vaccination: The first ultrastructural analysis of synovial fluid
Authors: Vanaskova Eliska , Kelbich Petr , Novotny Tomas
Published: August 2022

Background

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection and the resulting coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID‐19) have spread all around the world since 2019 and have affected millions of people. The development of COVID‐19 vaccines helped to decelerate the spread of the virus. However, as in the case of vaccines against other infectious diseases, adverse events can also present with COVID‐19 vaccines.

Case Presentation

We report here a rare case of a 53‐year‐old man with knee‐joint synovitis, after the first dose of messenger RNA vaccine, with no fever and a negative COVID‐19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. During a clinical examination the suspicion of pyogenic arthritis was excluded by blood tests and by a complex joint effusion examination, including a microbiological and cytological‐energy analysis of the synovial fluid. The treatment received by our patient consisted of 3 doses of dexamethasone administered intravenously over a period of 3 days. All the symptoms improved after this therapy, and in the 3‐week follow‐up period we recorded full recovery with no consequences.

Conclusion

Case reports on patients undergoing COVID‐19 vaccination should be examined in order to detect rare and long‐term side‐effects. This is the first report to present the outcomes of an ultrastructural analysis of post‐vaccination synovitis.
Colour matching by arthropods in burned and unburned backgrounds in a Neotropical savanna
Authors: de Alcantara Viana João Vitor , Lourenço Garcia de Brito Vinícius , de Melo Celine
Published: August 2022

The visual properties of the background occupied by organisms are a key aspect of visual camouflage. Changes in background coloration by fires may mediate the differential survival of prey against visually oriented predators and modify the prey camouflage strategy. This phenomenon may be common in environments where the fire is a continuous modulator of the community, such as Neotropical savannas. In this study, we investigated whether arthropods match burned and unburned trunks in coloration in order to camouflage relative to the visual system of potential bird predators. We also investigated in which type of the trunk the black and brown morphotypes ofRonderosia bergii(Orthoptera) preferentially occupy and whether the morphotypes present colour matching in the burned and unburned trunks. We recorded the arthropod community on backgrounds against which they had low contrast relative to other available backgrounds. We found that specimens ofR. bergiipreferentially occupy burned backgrounds. In addition, we also found that black morphotypes ofR. bergiishowed lower contrasts on burned trunks to the achromatic channel, while browner morphotypes showed lower contrasts on unburned backgrounds in the chromatic channel. We propose three explanations operating behind the observed pattern of the studied community: differential predation; background selection; and animal colour change.
Relationships of low‐grade systemic inflammation and nutritional status with erectile dysfunction severity in men on dialysis
Authors: Fujita Naoki , Hatakeyama Shingo , Momota Masaki , Hamaya Tomoko , Tobisawa Yuki , Yoneyama Tohru , Okamoto Teppei , Yamamoto Hayato , Yoneyama Takahiro , Hashimoto Yasuhiro , Yoshikawa Kazuaki , Ohyama Chikara
Published: August 2022

Background

Low‐grade systemic inflammation and malnutrition are frequently observed in patients on dialysis and contribute to the development of endothelial dysfunction; however, the role of these conditions in erectile dysfunction (ED) severity remains to be elucidated.

Objectives

To investigate the relationships of low‐grade systemic inflammation and nutritional status with ED severity in men on dialysis.

Materials and methods

The present study included 71 men on dialysis. The sexual health inventory for men (SHIM) was used to assess ED. Men were classified as the mild/moderate (SHIM score ≥ 8) and severe ED (SHIM score ≤ 7) groups. C‐reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) and Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) were used to evaluate low‐grade systemic inflammation and nutritional status, respectively. We performed multivariate analysis to assess the relationships of CAR and GNRI with severe ED.

Results

The median age of the included men was 64 years old. All men had any degree of ED with 65% having severe ED. In the univariate analyses, a significant association was observed between elevated CAR (≥0.09) and severe ED (odds ratio [OR]: 4.038, p = 0.025), whereas no significant association was observed between lower GNRI (<92) and severe ED (OR: 2.357, p = 0.109). In the multivariate analysis, an association between elevated CAR and severe ED was still significant (OR: 5.985, p = 0.010).

Discussion and conclusion

Low‐grade systemic inflammation was significantly associated with ED severity, whereas lower GNRI was not. These results may be helpful for further research to identify the optimal treatment for men suffering from severe ED.
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Rural Health Equity Strategic Action Plan: excellence through equity
Authors: Clancy Bridget
Published: August 2022

Wherever there are people there will be a need for surgical care. Rural people have all kinds of problems and need all kinds of surgeons. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Rural Health Equity Strategic Action Plan (RHESAP) was endorsed by Council in December 2020. The goal is to increase the rural surgical workforce and increase access to care, through providing motivated surgeons with the training they need to work where they are needed most. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Surgical Education and Training Programs (SET) aim to train generalist surgeons across all nine surgical disciplines. To increase the rural surgical workforce and increase access to care, we need to select for rural origin, rural medical school and rural work experience, provide all trainees with the opportunity for positive rural work exposure with an aligned rural curriculum, and we need to support surgeons already living and working in rural areas. In future, with persistent health inequity for underserved populations and the impacts of climate change, we anticipate an increasing need for a culturally and emotionally intelligent, broad‐scope surgical workforce, across all surgical disciplines, with the skills, confidence and motivation to work collaboratively and effectively in surgical teams, in areas of need and limited resource environments, including globally.