bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Seriously pink: a cross-cultural examination of the perceived image of rosé wine
Authors: Velikova Natalia , Charters Steve , Bouzdine-Chameeva Tatiana , Fountain Joanna , Ritchie Caroline , Dodd Tim H.
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine consumer preferences and perceptions of rosé wine with an ultimate purpose of constructing a perceived image of rosé in the cross-cultural context.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study was conducted in four markets, comprising the USA, New Zealand, France and the UK. The data were collected via a structured questionnaire through a combination of survey administration modes (pen-and-paper and online). Descriptive statistics, chi-square, factor analysis and ANOVA were used for analysis.

Findings

– One of the key findings revolves around the construction of the perceived image of rosé and how this image varies in different markets. Effectively, this study presents an overview of the perceived reputation of rosé in four different market structures, shaped by different cultural and image management issues.

Practical implications

– The most crucial implication of this research is the cultural variation in consumer attitudes toward rosé wine and its impact on marketing strategies to effectively target rosé consumers in different markets.

Originality/value

– The vast majority of studies on wine consumer behaviour focus on red or white wines, whereas research on consumption of rosé is virtually non-existent. However, recent market trends indicate a growing popularity of rosé wine around the world. The current study is the first to concentrate on rosé as the focal point of research investigation. The study not only offers insights on the perceived image of rosé based on empirical data, but also provides a broader cross-cultural perspective on how this image varies in different markets.
The consumption of management ideas: a cognitive perspective
Authors: Van Rossem Annick , Heusinkveld Stefan , Buelens Marc
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– Building on recent research that emphasizes the role of managers as central in the adoption and implementation of management ideas, the purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons why managers may vary in their responses toward these ideas.

Design/methodology/approach

– Drawing on a cognitive perspective, the research uses a repertory grid approach to analyze survey data from 189 managers.

Findings

– Rather than stressing only the role of organizational context, the paper indicates the likelihood that more invariant mental models shaped by especially position and disposition play an important role in explaining the way managers view and eventually implement management ideas.

Originality/value

– The findings indicate the significance of cognitive factors in explaining managers’ attitudes toward ideas, and advance the understanding of the variety in managers’ responses toward these ideas, particularly in implementation trajectories.
The organizational slack and performance relationship: a configurational approach
Authors: Marlin Dan , Geiger Scott W
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the organizational literature and improve the understanding of the slack and performance link by: examining the slack and performance relationship using a configurational approach and by considering equifinality and its possible effects on this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using cluster analysis, ANCOVA, and means comparisons this study identifies different configurations of slack and their associated performance implications.

Findings

– The results show that configurations with higher levels of slack outperform those with lower levels of slack suggesting a positive relationship between slack and firm performance. The findings also demonstrate that alternative configurations of slack can result in similar levels of performance suggesting the existence of equifinality in this relationship.

Research limitations/implications

– This study contributes to prior research by moving beyond traditional linear and contingency views of slack and considering a configurational approach. An important contribution of this study is that while level of slack may be important it appears that how the various types of slack are bundled also serves as an important factor in firm outcomes and should be examined by future researchers.

Practical implications

– The results indicate that managerial attention should be paid to not only identifying appropriate levels and types of slack for the organization but also to appropriate ways to bundle theses resources.

Originality/value

– This study provides an important contribution to the literature by determining if certain slack bundles result in higher levels of performance and if there are multiple ways of bundling slack resources that result in similar performance outcomes.
On “growing up” with QROM: invited contribution for the anniversary issue
Authors: Pritchard Katrina
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the experience of “growing up” with QROM in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the journal.

Design/methodology/approach

– Personal reflection.

Findings

– Reading, writing and reviewing for QROM has given the inspiration and confidence to develop the author’s own qualitative research practice, but the author hopes it does not stop there. The author looks forward to the next ten years.

Originality/value

– To revisit the editors’ original question and ask: why do the author still need QROM?
The future of qualitative research: unity, fragmentation or pluralism?
Authors: Duberley Joanne
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to argue that in order to maintain the legitimacy of qualitative management research it is important to re-emphasise the link between epistemology and methodology and recognise that different knowledge-constituting assumptions can underpin what might on the surface seem to be very similar methodologies. This means that the ways in which any research is evaluated needs to be tied explicitly to the underlying philosophical assumptions at play and those involved in undertaking, judging and publishing research need to show increased awareness in the philosophical assumptions which underpin their judgements of research quality and a willingness to accept difference.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper is a discussion piece.

Findings

– This is a discussion piece.

Originality/value

– The paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the future of qualitative methods in management research.
Continuing to build community in qualitative research
Authors: Cunliffe Ann L. , Locke Karen
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– This short paper celebrates the tenth year Anniversary ofQROMby highlighting the importance of continuing to build community and support for qualitative researchers across the world. It also elaborates the relationship between the journal and the biennial international Qualitative Research in Management conference. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– Review article.

Findings

– The importance of a supportive community of qualitative scholars.

Originality/value

– The need for collaboration.
Reflexivity and beyond – a plea for imagination in qualitative research methodology
Authors: Gabriel Yiannis
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that, important as reflexivity is, it does not constitute the gold standard of qualitative research. Instead the author makes a plea for the use of sociological imagination.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper makes use of data from the ISI Web of Science database to demonstrate the increasing popularity of the concept of reflexivity.

Findings

– All researchers exercise reflexivity in as much as carrying out research alters both the subject and the object of the research. Conscious reflexivity enables researchers to question their assumptions and consequences of their work but does not guarantee high quality research. For this, creative imagination in recognizing the creative possibilities afforded by the data, are essential.

Originality/value

– Arguing against the emerging orthodoxy of qualitative research methodology, the original proposal of this paper lies in its plea to relax methodological strictures and judge the quality of research pragmatically in terms of its scientific value and social usefulness.
The next challenge: from mixed to merged methods
Authors: Gobo Giampietro
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– In social sciences, after having witnessed several “turns” (cognitive, linguistic, pragmatic, interactional), the authors observe the rise of the “qualitative turn”. Therefore quantitative research methods are not mainstream anymore. One effect of this rebalance between quality and quantity is the recent “resurgence” of mixed methods. However, a new challenge presses social research: creating new methods, which could combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single instrument, squeezing the advantages of both in a single technique. With the benefit of lowering the costs and making more consistent the findings. Some “merged” methods already exist and QROM could be a visionary laboratory. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– An overview of recent research on the spread and use of social research methods in different countries.

Findings

– In social sciences quantitative methods are not mainstream anymore.

Research limitations/implications

– The time has come for a further step in the direction of a full integration of qualitative and quantitative methods.

Practical implications

– Envisioning the future needs for creating new methods, which could combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a single instrument, squeezing the advantages of both in a single technique. With the benefit of lowering the costs and making more consistent the research findings. Some “merged” methods already exist and QROM could be a visionary laboratory.

Social implications

– The rise of “qualitative turn” in social sciences will change the power relations in academy and in the market research. New generations of researchers will bring social research back to the times of Chicago School, where qualitative research was dominated. Only posterity will know if this will be good or not.

Originality/value

– This brief paper envisions the need to go beyond the current “mixed” methods fashion in favour of full “merged” methods research.
What we can learn from de-valued and marginalised work/research
Authors: Grandy Gina , Simpson Ruth , Mavin Sharon
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how QROM has become an outlet that gives voice to de-valued and marginalised work/research and those who undertake it. The authors present an overview of the research published in the journal over the past ten years that has provided rich accounts of hidden and marginalised groups and experiences. The authors also summarise the unique contributions of the research covered in the special issue the authors co-edited on doing dirty research using qualitative methodologies: lesson from stigmatized occupations (volume 9, issue 3).

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors adopt a literature review approach identifying key pieces covered in QROM that surface various forms of qualitative methods employed to illuminate the everyday practices of “Other” occupations, individuals and groups; experiences situated outside of the mainstream and often hidden, devalued and stigmatised as a result.

Findings

– The authors conclude that the articles published in QROM have demonstrated that in-context understandings are critically important. Such studies offer insights that are both unique and transferable to other settings. A number of invisible or hidden issues come to light in studying marginalised work/ers such as: the hidden texts, ambiguities and ambivalence which mark the experiences of those marginalised; that stigmatised work/research is embodied, emotional and reflexive; and, that expectations of reciprocity and insider-outsider complexities make the research experience rich, but sometimes uncomfortable.

Originality/value

– The authors review the research published in QROM over the past ten years that contributes to understandings of work, research and experiences of those who are often de-valued, silenced and marginalised in mainstream business and management studies.
Reading the past to imagine the future
Authors: Gherardi Silvia
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ten years of the journal through a personal reflection.

Design/methodology/approach

– A review of the articles published in the last ten years.

Findings

– I argue that what has distinguished QROM in these ten years are two distinctive features: reflexivity on practices of qualitative research, and openness to the application of qualitative methods to unusual research topics.

Originality/value

– The main limit of the paper resides in the subjectivity of the person who has read the articles. Other readers may have different opinions and may have chosen different criteria.
Poly-vocal, divergent and rigorous: QROM ten years on
Authors: Hyde Paula
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to review themes emerging in articles published in QROM over the previous ten years.

Design/methodology/approach

– Retrospective review article.

Findings

– Over the previous ten years of QROM, the content of articles has been extremely diverse as the journal has been able to sustain a valuable “dissensus”. This has meant that the journal provides a forum for rigorous, poly-vocal accounts about qualitative method and organisational life such that multiple, contrasting accounts might be held together for examination.

Originality/value

– A research agenda is proposed that argues for further examination of what happens to different voices in organisations and management and in associated research practice.
Strategic planning approaches to knowledge management: a taxonomy
Authors: Bolisani Ettore , Scarso Enrico
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss and propose a taxonomy of approaches to the strategic planning of knowledge management (KM). The concept of KM strategy is relatively recent and has been developed based on the assumption that any KM programme requires the definition of long-term goals, resources and plans, i.e. a KM strategic planning. Empirical evidence shows that the conditions for the successful implementation of KM can change from a company to another and in relation to the external context, and this may call for different appropriate approaches to KM planning.

Design/methodology/approach

– By drawing inspiration from the classic literature about strategic planning and combining it with the KM literature, a taxonomy of four possible approaches to KM strategic planning is developed. This taxonomy is based on the combination of two dimensions, namely: the nature (rational vs emergent) of the planning process, and the competitive factors (internal vs external) that drive the strategy formulation. Examples of companies, drawn from an analysis of recent case studies based on secondary data, are then provided, with the purpose to depict the features of each KM strategic planning approach, as well as asses the consistency and usefulness of the formulated taxonomy.

Findings

– The analysis of available empirical data shows that the proposed taxonomy fits cases that can be found in real life. The two dimensions of KM strategic planning previously presented allow to highlight the differences in the behaviour of companies. This can provide important food for thought for strategic thinking applied to KM, and can also reinforce the link between KM and other areas of management.

Practical implications

– The awareness that companies can follow different approaches to KM planning is important for executives that consider KM as a primary activity for their companies. In particular, in the case of an emergent KM strategy, managers should be able to recognize it, and, as far as possible, to align it with the company’s overall strategic goals.

Originality/value

– To date, the literature has primarily focused on the definition of different types of KM strategies, while the process that can lead to the formulation of these strategies has been less studied. The paper aims to fill this gap by identifying, discussing and classifying different possible approaches to KM strategic planning that a company can adopt.
Strategies to enhance intergenerational learning and reducing knowledge loss
Authors: Bratianu Constantin , Leon Ramona Diana
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the main strategies used in organizations to enhance intergenerational learning (IGL) and reduce knowledge loss. The emphasis is on universities that have an age layered or nested structure.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research is based on an integrated approach of literature search, content analysis, survey based on interviews and questionnaires and the analytic hierarchy process method. The research questions are as follows: What is the level of awareness in organizations about knowledge loss and the role of IGL in reducing its consequences? What kind of organizational structure is adequate for promoting IGL? What are the most suitable strategies for enhancing IGL and reducing knowledge loss?

Findings

– Universities have a nested generational structure, which makes them adequate for IGL. The most used strategies for enhancing IGL are mentoring, intergenerational research teams and intergenerational creativity workshops.

Research limitations/implications

– Empirical investigations covered only four universities. Research should be extended to a larger number of universities and also to companies.

Practical implications

– Findings are valuable for organizations having an aging workforce and which want to reduce knowledge loss through the IGL process.

Originality/value

– The study provides an insight look of how organizations experiencing a workforce aging phenomenon can enhance IGL to reduce knowledge loss.
Study on the separated bus lanes effectiveness in city centres
Authors: Saleh Wafaa , Ziolkowski Robert
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– Under deteriorating conditions of travelling in urban areas, especially city centers, prioritization of public transport is one of the main ways of its enhancing. In developed countries sophisticated control traffic systems are being implemented while in developing countries such solutions due to implementation cost are very rare. The purpose of this paper is to assess public transport operational effectiveness under diverse operational schemes present in two similar in size and traffic characteristics cities. The assessment is based on average journey times and speeds during peak and off peak hours.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology includes measurements and estimates of bus rides through in-field measurements in Edinburgh, UK and in Bialystok, Poland. In-field evaluations have been conducted using average speed and travel times. The data were collected by utilizing a portable GPS data logger that allowed monitoring and recording bus position along tested streets in one second intervals. Traffic optimization in Edinburgh is provided by separated bus lanes and control urban traffic system while in Bialystok the only prioritization is supported by bus lanes. The research areas in Edinburgh and in Bialystok covered streets in city centers and adjacent districts.

Findings

– The findings show large operational potential in developing separated bus lanes in city centers of developing countries when due to cost they cannot afford implementing advanced ITS solutions. The introduction of bus lanes should be proceeded even at the expense of individual users. It has been found that well developed road network in city center with separated bus lanes can provide operating speed at comparable levels to speed of buses operating along lower volume corridors.

Originality/value

– The comparison of bus lanes working under different traffic management conditions was carried out. Conducted analyses showed great potential of proper planning strategy of road network development toward the improvement of public transport performance.
Efficacy of the bioagents Bacillus isolates and Trichoderma spp. in the control of wilt/root-rot disease in chickpea
Authors: Mudawi Hanan Ibrahim , Idris Mohamed Osman
Published: November 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ability of four microorganisms to reduce disease infection of root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus spp.) and Fusarium spp. the causal agent of wilt/root-rot disease complex in chickpea.

Design/methodology/approach

– A pot experiment was conducted for three consecutive winter seasons. A completely randomized design with five replicates was adopted. Two Bacillus isolates and Trichoderma harzianum and T. viride and their combinations were applied in infected soil. The effect on plant growth parameters, disease incidence and severity, root necrosis, weight of shoot and root, nematode population density and reproductive index were assessed.

Findings

– The applications significantly (p=0.05) reduced the wilt/root-rot diseases complex. The reduction was attributed to the decline of the population density of nematodes in soil and root, and the suppression of the disease complex compared to controls, represented by reproductive index and the disease intensity index. Combinations were better than individual inoculation. The use of Bacillus isolate B3 and T. harzianum increased the number of flowers by 88.34 per cent. Reduction in the severity of root necrosis was in the range of 2.22-5.55 within a scale of 1-10. These findings indicate the significance of utilizing local bioagents for control of wilt/root-rot disease complex in chickpea plants.

Originality/value

– The microorganisms used in this study are indigenous.
Whatever happened to the Norwegian Medical Need Clause? Lessons for current debates in EU pharmaceutical regulation
Authors: Brooks Eleanor , Geyer Robert
Published: November 2015

Until 1994, pharmaceutical products seeking market authorisation in Norway were required to demonstrate a fulfilment of unmet medical need. This clause enabled the national regulator to dramatically limit the number of products on the market whilst encouraging price competition to keep drug expenditure low and was credited with encouraging the development of drugs with genuine added therapeutic value and reducing the incidence of antimicrobial resistance. Norway was forced to abandon its Medical Need Clause (MNC) when it joined the European Economic Area as it was incompatible with the acquis communautaire of the European Union. This article reviews Norway's experience with its MNC in light of contemporary debates in European health policy. It discusses the potential contribution of an MNC‐style regulation to improving health, reducing illness, ensuring sustainable health systems and fostering pharmaceutical innovation. It concludes by asking how these findings can inform current European Union debates over the growing cost of prescription drugs and direction of pharmaceutical development.
Microencapsulation of Oils: A Comprehensive Review of Benefits, Techniques, and Applications
Authors: Bakry Amr M. , Abbas Shabbar , Ali Barkat , Majeed Hamid , Abouelwafa Mohamed Y. , Mousa Ahmed , Liang Li
Published: November 2015

Microencapsulation is a process of building a functional barrier between the core and wall material to avoid chemical and physical reactions and to maintain the biological, functional, and physicochemical properties of core materials. Microencapsulation of marine, vegetable, and essential oils has been conducted and commercialized by employing different methods including emulsification, spray‐drying, coaxial electrospray system, freeze‐drying, coacervation, in situ polymerization, melt‐extrusion, supercritical fluid technology, and fluidized‐bed‐coating. Spray‐drying and coacervation are the most commonly used techniques for the microencapsulation of oils. The choice of an appropriate microencapsulation technique and wall material depends upon the end use of the product and the processing conditions involved. Microencapsulation has the ability to enhance the oxidative stability, thermostability, shelf‐life, and biological activity of oils. In addition, it can also be helpful in controlling the volatility and release properties of essential oils. Microencapsulated marine, vegetable, and essential oils have found broad applications in various fields. This review describes the recognized benefits and functional properties of various oils, microencapsulation techniques, and application of encapsulated oils in various food, pharmaceutical, and even textile products. Moreover, this review may provide information to researchers working in the field of food, pharmacy, agronomy, engineering, and nutrition who are interested in microencapsulation of oils.
Microwave‐Osmotic/Microwave‐Vacuum Drying of Whole Cranberries: Comparison with Other Methods
Authors: Wray Derek , Ramaswamy Hosahalli S.
Published: November 2015

A novel drying method for frozen‐thawed whole cranberries was developed by combining microwave osmotic dehydration under continuous flow medium spray (MWODS) conditions with microwave vacuum finish‐drying. A central composite rotatable design was used to vary temperature (33 to 67 °C), osmotic solution concentration (33 to 67 °B), contact time (5 to 55 min), and flow rate (2.1 to 4.1 L/min) in order to the determine the effects of MWODS input parameters on quality of the dried berry. Quality indices monitored included colorimetric and textural data in addition to anthocyanin retention and cellular structure. Overall it was found that the MWODS‐MWV process was able to produce dried cranberries with quality comparable to freeze dried samples in much shorter time. Additionally, cranberries dried via the novel process exhibited much higher quality than those dried via either vacuum or convective air drying in terms of color, anthocyanin content, and cellular structure.
Phenotypic Characters and Molecular Epidemiology ofCampylobacter Jejuniin East China
Authors: Zeng Dexin , Zhang Xiaoping , Xue Feng , Wang Yanhong , Jiang Luyan , Jiang Yuan
Published: November 2015

In this study, we investigated the distribution, phenotypic and molecular typing characters ofCampylobacter jejuniin domestic fowl, and livestock populations in East China, to provide some reference for researches on its molecular epidemiology. A total of 1250 samples were collected from different animal sources, andC. jejunistrains were then isolated and tested for antibiotic sensitivity. Antibiotics‐resistance gene and pathogenic genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction. Phylogenic analysis on theC. jejunistrains was performed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method. The results showed that 108 out of the 1250 samples (mean 8.64%) wereC. jejunipositive. These 108C. jejunistrains were highly sensitive to antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, amoxicillin, amikacin, cefotaxime, and azithromycin, whereas they were highly resistant to antibiotics such as cefoperazone, cotrimoxazole, cefamandole, sulfamethoxazole, and cefradine. Pathogenicity related gene identification indicated that the mean carrying rate of adhesion related gene cadF and racR, flagellin gene flaA, toxin regulating gene cdtA, cdtB, cdtC, wlaN and virB11, heat shock proteins and transferring proteins related genes dnaJ and ceuE, CiaB and pldA were 92.45%, 38.69%, 73.58%, 71.70%, 52.83%, 96.23%, 12.26%, 1.89%, 0.94%, 65.09%, 39.62% and 9.43%, respectively. A total of 58.82% of these strains contained more than 6 pathogenicity‐related genes. MLST typed 58 ST types from the 108 isolatedC. jejunistrains, including 24 new types, and ST‐21 was the major type, accounting for 39.3% of the total strains.
New austral records of massive swarming by a chloropid fly, Chloromerus striatifrons (Diptera: Chloropidae)
Authors: Farrow Roger , Butterfield Martin , Cranston Peter S
Published: November 2015

Mass aggregations, including aerial swarms, of a yellow swarming chloropid fly are reported from Australia. The species, Chloromerus striatifrons (Becker), is endemic to south‐eastern Australia and has been reported swarming only once previously, 40 years ago.
Computing education in children's early years: A call for debate
Authors: Manches Andrew , Plowman Lydia
Published: November 2015

International changes in policy and curricula (notably recent developments in England) have led to a focus on the role of computing education in the early years. As interest in the potential of computing education has increased, there has been a proliferation of programming tools designed for young children. While these changes are broadly to be welcomed, the pace of change has arguably led to more attention to the tools than to key questions about pedagogy. This paper proposes three areas of research (Logo; computational thinking; and teaching STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics) that may inform computing education for young children and suggests that a greater focus on thinking skills and connections to manifestations of computers in the real world is needed. Above all, the paper calls for an informed debate about the trend towards introducing computing education to children in the early years.
Job Anxiety, Work‐Related Psychological Illness and Workplace Performance
Authors: Jones Melanie K. , Latreille Paul L. , Sloane Peter J.
Published: November 2015

This article uses matched employee–employer data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey to examine the relationship between employee psychological health and workplace performance in 2004 and 2011. Using two measures of work‐related psychological health — namely employee‐reported job anxiety and manager‐reported workforce stress, depression and anxiety — we find a positive relationship between psychological ill‐health and absence, but not quits. The association between psychological ill‐health and labour productivity is less clear, with estimates sensitive to sector, time period and the measure of psychological health. The 2004–2011 panel is further used to explore the extent to which change in psychological health is related to change in performance.
Determinants of the Wage Share: A Panel Analysis of Advanced and Developing Economies
Authors: Stockhammer Engelbert
Published: November 2015

Wage shares have declined substantially in all OECD countries and most developing economies since 1980. This study uses a new ILO/IILS dataset on adjusted wage shares for a panel of up to 43 developing and 28 advanced economies (1970–2007) to explain changes in wage shares and assess the relative contributions of technological change, financialization, globalization and welfare state retrenchment. We find strong negative effects of financialization as well as negative effects of welfare state retrenchment. Globalization has (in production) robust negative effects in advanced as well as in developing economies, which is at odds with the Stolper–Samuelson theorem. We find small, and for developing countries positive effects of technological change. Our results support a Political Economy approach to explaining income distribution.
Natural and synthetic flavonoid modulation of TRPC5 channels
Authors: Naylor Jacqueline , Minard Aisling , Gaunt Hannah J , Amer Mohamed S , Wilson Lesley A , Migliore Marco , Cheung Sin Y , Rubaiy Hussein N , Blythe Nicola M , Musialowski Katie E , Ludlow Melanie J , Evans William D , Green Ben L , Yang Hongjun , You Yun , Li Jing , Fishwick Colin W G , Muraki Katsuhiko , Beech David J , Bon Robin S
Published: November 2015

Background and Purpose

The TRPC5 proteins assemble to create calcium‐permeable, non‐selective, cationic channels. We sought novel modulators of these channels through studies of natural products.

Experimental Approach

Intracellular calcium measurements and patch clamp recordings were made from cell lines. Compounds were generated by synthetic chemistry.

Key Results

Through a screen of natural products used in traditional Chinese medicines, the flavonol galangin was identified as an inhibitor of lanthanide‐evoked calcium entry in TRPC5 overexpressing HEK 293 cells (IC50 0.45 μM). Galangin also inhibited lanthanide‐evoked TRPC5‐mediated current in whole‐cell and outside‐out patch recordings. In differentiated 3T3‐L1 cells, it inhibited constitutive and lanthanide‐evoked calcium entry through endogenous TRPC5‐containing channels. The related natural flavonols, kaempferol and quercetin were less potent inhibitors of TRPC5. Myricetin and luteolin lacked effect, and apigenin was a stimulator. Based on structure–activity relationship studies with natural and synthetic flavonols, we designed 3,5,7‐trihydroxy‐2‐(2‐bromophenyl)‐4H‐chromen‐4‐one (AM12), which inhibited lanthanide‐evoked TRPC5 activity with an IC50 of 0.28 μM. AM12 also inhibited TRPC5 activity evoked by the agonist (−)‐Englerin A and was effective in excised outside‐out membrane patches, suggesting a relatively direct effect. It inhibited TRPC4 channels similarly, but its inhibitory effect on TRPC1–TRPC5 heteromeric channels was weaker.

Conclusions and Implications

The data suggest that galangin (a natural product from the ginger family) is a TRPC5 inhibitor and that other natural and synthetic flavonoids contain antagonist or agonist capabilities at TRPC5 and closely related channels depending on the substitution patterns of both the chromone core and the phenyl ring.
APT070 (mirococept), a membrane‐localizing C3 convertase inhibitor, attenuates early human islet allograft damage in vitro and in vivo in a humanized mouse model
Authors: Xiao Fang , Ma Liang , Zhao Min , Smith Richard A , Huang Guocai , Jones Peter M , Persaud Shanta , Pingitore Attilio , Dorling Anthony , Lechler Robert , Lombardi Giovanna
Published: November 2015

Background and Purpose

A major obstacle to islet cell transplantation is the early loss of transplanted islets resulting from the instant blood‐mediated inflammation reaction (IBMIR). The activation of complement pathways plays a central role in IBMIR. The aim of this study was to test the inhibitory effect of “painting” human islets with APT070, a membrane‐localizing C3 convertase inhibitor, on inflammation evoked by exposure to human serum in vitro and by transplantation in vivo in a humanized diabetic mouse model.

Experimental Approach

In vitro, human islets pre‐incubated with APT070 were exposed to allogeneic whole blood. In vivo, similarly treated islets were transplanted underneath the kidney capsule of streptozotocin‐induced diabetic NOD‐SCID IL2rγ−/− mice that had been reconstituted with human CD34+ stem cells. Complement activation and islet hormone content were assayed using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays. Supernatants and sera were assayed for cytokines using cytometric beads array. Morphology of the islets incubated with human serum in vitro and in graft‐bearing kidney were evaluated using immunofluorescence staining.

Key Results

Pre‐incubation with APT070 decreased C‐peptide release and iC3b production in vitro, with diminished deposition of C4d and C5b‐9 in islets embedded in blood clots. In vivo, the APT070‐treated islets maintained intact structure and showed less infiltration of inflammatory cells than untreated islets. The pretreatments also significantly reduced pro‐inflammatory cytokines in supernatants and sera.

Conclusions and Implications

Pre‐treatment of islets with APT070 could reduce intra‐islet inflammation with accompanying preservation of insulin secretion by beta cells. APT070 could be as a potential therapeutic tool in islet transplantation.
2‐Amino‐4‐hydroxyethylaminoanisole sulfate – a coupler causing contact allergy from use in hair dyes
Authors: Madsen Jakob T. , Andersen Klaus E.
Published: November 2015

Background

Allergic contact dermatitis resulting from the use of permanent hair dyes is common. Approximately 100 hair dye chemicals are permitted in Europe. Hair dye ingredients may change over time, and hence new hair dye allergens should be looked for continuously.

Objectives

To review positive patch test reactions to the coupler 2‐amino‐4‐hydroxyethylaminoanisole sulfate 2% pet. from 2005 to 2014.

Methods

Patch test results from the Allergen Bank database for eczema patients patch tested with 2‐amino‐4‐hydroxyethylaminoanisole sulfate 2% pet. from 2005 to 2014 were reviewed.

Results

A total of 902 dermatitis patients (154 from the dermatology department and 748 from 65 practices) were patch tested with amino‐4‐hydroxyethylaminoanisole sulfate 2% pet. from 2005 to 2014. Thirteen (1.4%) patients had a positive patch test reaction. Our results do not indicate irritant reactions.

Conclusions

2‐Amino‐4‐hydroxyethylaminoanisole sulfate is a new but rare contact allergen.
Pseudoangiomatous xanthelasmoid mastocytosis: two case reports showing the hypervascularity of this rare variant of cutaneous mastocytosis
Authors: Kolivras Athanassios , André Josette , Thompson Curtis , Sass Ursula , Fraitag Sylvie
Published: November 2015

Xanthelasmoid mastocytosis or xanthelasmoidea is a rare clinical variant of cutaneous mastocytosis characterized by a yellow hue of the clinical lesions, which are often misdiagnosed as juvenile xanthogranuloma. We present two pediatric cases of xanthelasmoid mastocytosis presenting as isolated mastocytomas, which are notable histopathologically for their hypervascularity. This pseudoangiomatous variant of cutaneous mastocytosis is important for pathologists to have knowledge of, so that a diagnosis of a vascular tumor is not rendered accidentally. The yellow hue has previously been explained by the usual deep and solid dermal mast cell infiltrate. In the two presented cases, however, the mast cell infiltrate was sparse, and the yellow color cannot be related to infiltrate density. We believe that the hypervascularity is at least one factor in the production of clinical xanthelasmoid appearance, and we propose the term ‘pseudoangiomatous xanthelasmoid mastocytosis’ to properly describe this rare variant of cutaneous mastocytosis.
Negative range size–abundance relationships in Indo‐Pacific bird communities
Authors: Reeve Andrew Hart , Borregaard Michael Krabbe , Fjeldså Jon
Published: November 2015

The positive relationship between range size and abundance is one of the best‐documented patterns in macroecology, but a growing number of studies from isolated tropical areas have reported negative or neutral relationships. It has been hypothesized that the combination of geographic isolation and environmental stability create selection pressures that favor narrowly specialized species, which could drive these non‐positive relationships. To test this idea, we measured the range size–abundance relationships of eleven bird communities in mature and degraded forest on four islands in the Indo‐Pacific, namely Flores in the Lesser Sundas, Seram in the Moluccas, and the New Caledonian islands of Grande Terre and Lifou. Local abundance data was gathered through extensive and methodologically consistent surveying, and regressed against global range size using linear mixed effect models. The relationship between range size and abundance was significantly negative across all combined mature and degraded forest communities. As negative relationships were found in degraded forest with little environmental stability, we conclude that the abundance of small‐ranged species on the study islands cannot be ascribed to narrow specialization. Rather, cross‐habitat community comparisons indicate that locally abundant endemic and near‐endemic species adapted to a broad spectrum of local environmental conditions cause the observed negative relationships. We suspect that geographic isolation facilitates the evolution of species that are simultaneously broad‐niched, small‐ranged, and abundant, as water barriers limit the range expansions that would typically accompany species’ attainment of high local population densities. The consistently negative relationships found across Indo‐Pacific islands represent a striking deviation from the positive range size–abundance relationship ‘rule’, and future studies should seek to determine whether the patterns detected here extend to geographically isolated mainland environments.
Abiotic mediation of a mutualism drives herbivore abundance
Authors: Mooney Emily H. , Phillips Joseph S. , Tillberg Chadwick V. , Sandrow Cheryl , Nelson Annika S. , Mooney Kailen A.
Published: November 2015

Species abundance is typically determined by the abiotic environment, but the extent to which such effects occur through the mediation of biotic interactions, including mutualisms, is unknown. We explored how light environment (open meadow vs. shaded understory) mediates the abundance and ant tending of the aphid Aphis helianthi feeding on the herb Ligusticum porteri. Yearly surveys consistently found aphids to be more than 17‐fold more abundant on open meadow plants than on shaded understory plants. Manipulations demonstrated that this abundance pattern was not due to the direct effects of light environment on aphid performance, or indirectly through host plant quality or the effects of predators. Instead, open meadows had higher ant abundance and per capita rates of aphid tending and, accordingly, ants increased aphid population growth in meadow but not understory environments. The abiotic environment thus drives the abundance of this herbivore exclusively through the mediation of a protection mutualism.
Impact of fraction unbound, CYP3A, and CYP2D6 in vivo activities, and other potential covariates to the clearance of tramadol enantiomers in patients with neuropathic pain
Authors: de Moraes Natália V. , Lauretti Gabriela R. , Coelho Eduardo B. , Godoy Ana Leonor P. C. , Neves Daniel V. , Lanchote Vera L.
Published: November 2015

The pharmacokinetics of tramadol is characterized by a large interindividual variability, which is partially attributed to polymorphic CYP2D6 metabolism. The contribution of CYP3A, CYP2B6, fraction unbound, and other potential covariates remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of in vivo activities of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 and 3A as well as other potential covariates (CYP2B6 genotype to the SNP g.15631G>T, fraction unbound, age, body weight, creatinine clearance) to the enantioselective pharmacokinetics of tramadol. Thirty patients with neuropathic pain and phenotyped as CYP2D6 extensive metabolizers were treated with a single oral dose of 100 mg tramadol. Multiple linear regressions were performed to determine the contribution of CYP activities and other potential covariates to the clearance of tramadol enantiomers. The apparent total clearances were 44.9 (19.1–102‐2) L/h and 55.2 (14.8–126.0) L/h for (+)‐ and (−)‐tramadol, respectively [data presented as median (minimum–maximum)]. Between 79 and 83% of the overall variation in apparent clearance of tramadol enantiomers was explained by fraction unbound, CYP2D6, and CYP3A in vivo activities and body weight. Fraction unbound explained 47 and 41% of the variation in clearance of (+)‐tramadol and (−)‐tramadol, respectively. Individually, CYP2D6 and CYP3A activities were shown to have moderate contribution on clearance of tramadol enantiomers (11–16% and 11–18%, respectively). In conclusion, factors affecting fraction unbound of drugs (such as hyperglycemia or co‐administration of drugs highly bound to plasma proteins) should be monitored, because this parameter dominates the elimination of tramadol enantiomers.
Helicobacter pylori CagA protein induces factors involved in the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in infected gastric epithelial cells in an EPIYA‐ phosphorylation‐dependent manner
Authors: Sougleri Ioanna S. , Papadakos Konstantinos S. , Zadik Mairi P. , Mavri‐Vavagianni Mary , Mentis Andreas F. , Sgouras Dionyssios N.
Published: November 2015

As a result of Helicobacter pylori adhesion to gastric epithelial cells, the bacterial effector cytotoxin‐associated gene A (CagA) is translocated intracellularly, and after hierarchical tyrosine phosphorylation on multiple EPIYA motifs, de‐regulates cellular polarity and contributes to induction of an elongation and scattering phenotype that resembles the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Stromelysin‐1/matrix metalloproteinase‐3 (MMP‐3) has been reported to induce a sequence of molecular alterations leading to stable EMT transition and carcinogenesis in epithelial cells. To identify the putative role of CagA protein in MMP‐3 induction, we exploited an experimental H. pylori infection system in gastric epithelial cell lines. We utilized isogenic mutants expressing CagA protein with variable numbers of EPIYA and phosphorylation‐deficient EPIFA motifs, as well as cagA knockout and translocation‐deficient cagE knockout strains. Increased levels of MMP‐3 transcriptional activation were demonstrated by quantitative real time‐PCR for strains with more than two terminal EPIYA phosphorylation motifs in CagA. MMP‐3 expression in total cell lysates and the corresponding culture supernatants was associated with CagA expression and translocation and was dependent on CagA phosphorylation. A CagA EPIYA phosphorylation‐dependent increase in gelatinase and caseinolytic activity was also detected in culture supernatants by zymography. A significant increase in the transcriptional activity of the mesenchymal markers Vimentin, Snail and ZEB1 and the stem cell marker CD44 was observed in the case of CagA containing phosphorylation‐functional EPIYA motifs. Our data suggest that CagA protein induces EMT through EPIYA phosphorylation‐dependent up‐regulation of MMP‐3. Moreover, no significant increase in EMT and stem cell markers was observed following infection with H. pylori strains that cannot effectively translocate CagA protein.
Maternal consumption of non‐toxic Microcystis by Daphnia magna induces tolerance to toxic Microcystis in offspring
Authors: Lyu Kai , Guan Haoyong , Wu Changcan , Wang Xingyu , Wilson Alan E. , Yang Zhou
Published: November 2015

Freshwater cyanobacterial blooms are a worldwide environmental issue. These blooms often comprise both non‐toxic and toxic species and strains. Populations of some zooplankton, including Daphnia, have been shown to adapt locally to toxic Microcystis through maternal effects. However, Microcystis populations vary spatially and temporally in the absolute and relative abundances of non‐toxic and toxic genotypes.

We examined variation in induction of tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria in offspring from two Daphnia magna clones (JS and AH) fed diets containing Scenedesmus by itself or in combination with either a non‐toxic or a toxic clone of Microcystis aeruginosa. The diets containing Microcystis included relatively more cyanobacteria within each week of the 3 week experiment (week 1–10%, week 2–20%, week 3–40%). Daphnia neonates were collected from these three treatments at the end of the third week and fed a diet containing Scenedesmus and toxic Microcystis for 3 weeks before a suite of life‐history, physiological and biochemical measurements were made on the surviving animals.

Neonates from mothers fed toxic and non‐toxic Microcystis showed enhanced growth and reproduction compared to neonates produced from mothers fed only Scenedesmus. Our results showed that Daphnia neonates could be induced to tolerate toxic cyanobacteria when their mothers were fed diets containing non‐toxic or toxic strains of cyanobacteria. Furthermore, elevated RNA–DNA ratios, superoxide dismutase activity and catalase activity in neonates fed diets containing non‐toxic or toxic Microcystis clones suggested that the mechanisms behind these changes involved processes associated with metabolism and antioxidation.

Our study shows that non‐toxic cyanobacteria can induce tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria and further elucidates the general importance of maternal effects on tolerance of cyanobacteria in herbivorous zooplankton.