bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Risk Committees and Implied Cost of Equity Capital
Authors: Al‐Hadi Ahmed , Hussain Syed Mujahid , Al‐Yahyaee Khamis Hamed , Al‐Jabri Hamdan Saif
Published: August 2017

We investigate the association between the existence of risk committee and implied cost of equity capital in a unique institutional setting where the formation of the board risk committee as part of the risk governance mechanism is not mandatory in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) financial institutions. Using data from the six GCC countries, we find that implied cost of equity capital is negatively associated with the existence of board risk committee. These findings indicate that GCC financial firms with better risk governance practices at board level have lower implied cost of equity capital. We contribute to the extant literature on‐board risk governance in emerging market context.
How does role transition affect the experience of trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioners: Qualitative evidence synthesis
Authors: Moran Gregory M. , Nairn Stuart
Published: August 2017

Background

Advanced Clinical Practitioners have been developed to address current and future gaps in the medical workforce. Insight into problems associated with Advanced Clinical Practitioner transition may help present and future trainees adapt to their changing and demanding health environment.

Aims

To identify potential problems experienced by trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioners during transition and what the implications might be for workforce planning.

Design

A qualitative evidence synthesis to examine the issue of role transition for Advanced Clinical Practitioners.

Data sources

The electronic databases accessed (1997–2016) were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, BNI, AMED and PubMed and also included Researchgate, thesis publications, hand searching and NHS staffing reports.

Review methods

Eleven studies were identified between 1997 ‐ 2016. Thematic synthesis was undertaken, creating codes, descriptive and analytical themes. Quality appraisal of individual studies was conducted using the tool of Walsh and Downe.

Findings

Six analytical themes were identified that addressed the key issues of transition discussed in the 11 articles and which were directly related to the proposed research project: experience of change, orientation to role, mentorship, clinical skills, clinical supervision and Masters’ level education.

Conclusions

Findings from all 11 articles were similar. Where these six themes were ignored, there was often either a failure to reach expected goals or resignation from the role. Future employers must ensure that they establish a comprehensive orientation and education programme to be certain that qualified Advanced Clinical Practitioners are suitably prepared for their role in health care.
Commentary: A refresh for evidence‐based psychological therapies – reflections on Marchette and Weisz (2017)
Authors: Fonagy Peter , Allison Elizabeth
Published: August 2017

Is the introduction of evidence‐based psychotherapy into mainstream child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) a breakthrough for a scientific approach to child mental health? Or are we still in the dark ages despite our best efforts to link evidence with practice (EBP)?
The evolving professional identity of the clinical research nurse: A qualitative exploration
Authors: Kunhunny Swapna , Salmon Debra
Published: August 2017

Aims and objectives

To examine the perspectives of CRNs in the UK on their professional role identity, in order to inform the professional practice of Clinical Research Nursing.

Background

Clinical research nurses (CRN) make a significant contribution to healthcare research within the UK and internationally. However, lack of clarity about their role, and scope of practice renders their contribution within the profession and in the minds of the wider public invisible. This has implications in terms of promoting the role nurses play not only in terms of recruitment, retention, and care of research participants but also as research leaders of the future.

Design

Exploratory qualitative design using thematic analysis conducted within a realist paradigm.

Results

Participants viewed the positive aspects of their identity ‘as agents of change’ who were fundamental to the clinical research process. Resourcefulness and the ability to guide members of the research team were valued as key to job satisfaction. Successful navigation through the complexity of advice, support, management and leadership tasks related to their role in caring for research patients were role affirming and generated a sense of pride. However, lack of recognition, clarity of the role and career development opportunities within an identified structure undermined the CRN identity and optimism about progression in the future. Participants reported feeling invisible to colleagues within the clinical community, isolated and excluded from wider nursing groups.

Conclusions

The study describes UK CRN practice, highlighting the positive benefits and challenges associated with the role, including the need to support professional and career development to maximise their research contribution.

Relevance to clinical practice

This study provides nurses, health care and research organisations and academic nursing educators with a broadened understanding of the professional role, identity and context of clinical research nursing practice in the United Kingdom, with recommendations to improve its professional efficiency and recognition.
Characterization of Pythium spp. associated with root rot of tobacco seedlings produced using the float tray system in Zimbabwe
Authors: Mufunda Fortunate , Muzhinji Norman , Sigobodhla Tertu , Marunda Mike , Chinheya Cleopas Chenayi , Dimbi Susan
Published: August 2017

The study was undertaken to identify and characterize Pythium isolates associated with root rot disease of tobacco seedlings as a first step towards developing management strategies for the pathogen. A total of 85 Pythium isolates were collected from diseased tobacco seedlings during 2015–2016 tobacco growing season. The isolates were identified to species level using sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region. Thereafter, a subset of the isolates was tested for sensitivity to the commonly used fungicides, metalaxyl, azoxystrobin and a combination of fenamidone/propamocarbby growing isolates on Potato Dextrose Agar plates amended with the fungicides. The sequence analysis of the ITS‐rDNA identified Pythium myriotylum as the dominant Pythium species associated with the root rot of tobacco seedlings in Zimbabwe. Pythium aphanidermatum and P. insidiosum were also identified albeit at lower frequencies. Phylogenetic analyses of the ITS region of the P. myriotylum isolates showed little sequence diversity giving rise to one distinct clade. The fungicide sensitivity tests showed that metalaxyl provided the best control of P. myriotylum in vitro, as compared to other fungicides. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study to determine and characterize Pythium species associated with root rot of tobacco in the float seedling production system in Zimbabwe.
Herbivory and presence of a dominant competitor interactively affect salt marsh plant diversity
Authors: Daleo Pedro , Alberti Juan , Bruschetti Carlos Martín , Martinetto Paulina , Pascual Jesús , Iribarne Oscar
Published: August 2017

Question

Do herbivory and the presence of a dominant grass competitor interactively affect herbaceous communities and assembly rules in a SW Atlantic salt marsh?

Location

Upper salt marsh, Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, Argentina.

Methods

We performed a field factorial experiment over 4 yr to evaluate the separate and interactive effects of (1) herbivory and (2) competition with the dominant grass species (i.e. Spartina densiflora) on the salt marsh subordinate plant community. The factorial design includes dominant grass removal and herbivory manipulation.

Results

Our results show that herbivory and presence of the dominant competitor interactively affect subordinate plant cover and diversity. Results further indicate that, in the presence of the dominant competitor, patch‐to‐patch variation in subordinate species composition is lower than expected at random, a result consistent with the expected outcomes of deterministic exclusion following light competition. Removal of the dominant grass nevertheless led to patch‐to‐patch dissimilarity in subordinate species composition, far from the dissimilarity expected at random, indicating increased importance of deterministic processes that drive communities to diverge.

Conclusion

Our results show that the conditional effect of herbivory on plant diversity can be determined by the presence of a single plant species. Dominant plant species, in addition, may not only affect plant species diversity by determining the number and identity of subordinate species in a given patch (i.e. α‐diversity) but also by affecting spatial variability through habitat homogenization.
Losing Work, Moving Away? Regional Mobility After Job Loss
Authors: Fackler Daniel , Rippe Lisa
Published: August 2017

Using German survey data, we investigate the relationship between involuntary job loss and regional mobility. Our results show that job loss has a strong positive effect on the propensity to relocate. We also analyse whether displaced workers who relocate to a different region after job loss are better able to catch up with non‐displaced workers in terms of labour market performance than those staying in the same region. Our findings do not support this conjecture as we find substantial long‐lasting earnings losses for movers and stayers and even slightly but not significantly higher losses for movers.
L2 Motivation and Multilingual Identities
Authors: HENRY ALASTAIR
Published: August 2017

By tradition, L2 motivation research has a monolingual bias – the motivational systems of a learner's different languages conceptualized as separate entities rather than as cognitively interconnected. At a time when multilingualism has become a new world order (Douglas Fir Group,) and where there is evidence of powerful identity experiences connected to speaking several languages (Pavlenko,) this is unfortunate. In alignment with the multilingual and dynamic turns in SLA (de Bot,; May,), and adopting a complexity thought modeling approach (Larsen–Freeman & Cameron,), this article explores multilingual learners’ L2 motivation. It is suggested that the motivational systems of a multilingual learner's different languages can be understood as constituting a higher‐levelmultilingual motivational self systemthat is part of an ecology of interconnected and interpenetrating systems. This system contains multilingual self guides, one of which is theideal multilingual self. Drawing on construal‐level theory (Trope & Liberman,), the manner and effects of mental representations of an ideal multilingual self are assessed. Finally, it is suggested that motivation deriving from a broader identity that encompasses but, in important ways, transcends a multilingual person's language‐specific identities has a central role to play in multilingual education.
Plurilingualism in Europe: Exploring Attitudes Toward English and Other European Languages Among Adolescents in Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain
Authors: BUSSE VERA
Published: August 2017

This article explores adolescent students’ attitudes toward learning English and other European languages studied at secondary school. The study is based on 2255 qualitative responses to a survey conducted in Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The data reveal that, although differences between countries shape the experience of foreign language learning in different ways, students in all four countries are highly aware of the global status of English. This can be a positive stimulus for students’ attitudes toward English but it can also negatively affect their attitudes toward learning other languages, as these can be perceived as less valuable. While perceived societal importance can differ from personal relevance and while identity issues, ability beliefs, contextual factors on the school and classroom level, as well as social‐relational contexts (especially the relationship to the teacher) also play a role in shaping students’ attitudes, the data demonstrate that macro‐contextual factors exert considerable influence. They also suggest that more attention must be paid to stimulating positive attitudes toward language diversity and to fostering plurilingual aspirations in young Europeans.
Ecological and physiological thermal niches to understand distribution of Chagas disease vectors in Latin America
Authors: DE LA VEGA G. J. , SCHILMAN P. E.
Published: August 2017

In order to assess how triatomines (Hemiptera, Reduviidae), Chagas disease vectors, are distributed through Latin America, we analysed the relationship between the ecological niche and the limits of the physiological thermal niche in seven species of triatomines. We combined two methodological approaches: species distribution models, and physiological tolerances. First, we modelled the ecological niche and identified the most important abiotic factor for their distribution. Then, thermal tolerance limits were analysed by measuring maximum and minimum critical temperatures, upper lethal temperature, and ‘chill‐coma recovery time’. Finally, we used phylogenetic independent contrasts to analyse the link between limiting factors and the thermal tolerance range for the assessment of ecological hypotheses that provide a different outlook for the geo‐epidemiology of Chagas disease. In triatomines, thermo‐tolerance range increases with increasing latitude mainly due to better cold tolerances, suggesting an effect of thermal selection. In turn, physiological analyses show that species reaching southernmost areas have a higher thermo‐tolerance than those with tropical distributions, denoting that thermo‐tolerance is limiting the southern distribution. Understanding the latitudinal range along its physiological limits of disease vectors may prove useful to test ecological hypotheses and improve strategies and efficiency of vector control at the local and regional levels.
Extreme drought stress shifts net facilitation to neutral interactions between shrubs and sub‐canopy plants in an arid desert
Authors: Zhang Gefei , Zhao Wenzhi , Zhou Hai , Yang Qiyue , Wang Xiaofen
Published: August 2017

The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) predicts that the importance or intensity of competition and facilitation will change inversely along abiotic stress gradients. It was originally postulated that increasing environmental stress can induce a monotonic increase in facilitation. However, more recent models predicted that the relationship between severity and interaction exhibits a hump‐shaped pattern, in which positive interactions prevail under moderate stress but decline at the extreme ends of stress gradients. In the present study, we conducted a field experiment along a temporal rainfall gradient for five consecutive years, in order to investigate interactions in a shrub‐herbaceous plant community at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert, and, more specifically, investigated the effects of Calligonum mongolicum, a dominant shrub species, on both abiotic environmental variables and the performance of sub‐canopy plant species. We found that shrubs can improve sub‐canopy water regimes, soil properties, plant biomass, density, cover, and richness and, more importantly, that the positive effect of shrubs on sub‐canopy soil moisture during the summer diminishes as rainfall decreases, a pattern that partly explains the collapse of the positive interaction between shrubs and their understory plants. These results provide empirical evidence that the positive effect of shrubs on understory plant communities in extreme arid environments may decline and become neutral with increasing drought stress.
A prospective randomised clinical study on evaluation of platelet‐rich fibrin versus zinc oxide eugenol in the management of alveolar osteitis
Authors: Hussain I. , Singh S. , Jain H. , Kumar S. , Anand K.R. , Batool N. , Saikia J.
Published: August 2017

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of platelet‐rich fibrin (PRF) in the management of alveolar osteitis and further compare the results with those of zinc‐oxide Eugenol (ZOE).

Materials and methods

A total of 40 patients with alveolar osteitis following extraction of mandibular molars were randomly divided into two groups on the basis of treatment, in which Group A patient's received PRF and Group B received ZOE as an obtundant dressing. Pain (VAS), degree of inflammation and number of exposed socket walls were noted and evaluated at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th post‐operative day.

Results

Group A showed better and faster socket healing than Group B. However, symptomatic pain relief was faster in Group B than in Group A.

Conclusion

PRF might be a treatment of choice in the management of alveolar osteitis.
The Effect of Distribution Processes on Replenishment Lead Time and Inventory
Authors: Bradley James R.
Published: August 2017

We investigate the interrelationship of distribution center picking policies and supply chain inventory performance. In particular, we show how the picking sequence in the upstream supply chain link affects the inventory levels of items being replenished to a downstream link for a common “ship‐when‐full” trailer dispatching policy. Perturbing the picking sequence affects items’ inventory levels asymmetrically which causes the aggregate system inventory to vary. We separate the items in replenishment into those units in transit and those awaiting shipment from the upstream distribution step: we call the latter the residual replenishment. We show that the process governing aggregate residual replenishment is Markov and has a stationary distribution that is discrete uniform. Computing the item‐level residual distribution is intractable and so we develop analytical models from which we derive hypotheses for the effectiveness of stable vs. random picking sequences, how item residual replenishment varies with stable picking sequences, and how the aggregate inventory level changes with picking sequence. These suggest a heuristic sequencing algorithm for minimizing inventory, which performs well in simulation tests over a large testbed of parameter sets.
Quality and Efficiency of the Clinical Decision‐Making Process: Information Overload and Emphasis Framing
Authors: Laker Lauren F. , Froehle Craig M. , Windeler Jaime B. , Lindsell Christopher John
Published: August 2017

The healthcare industry has invested heavily in electronic health records and other clinical information systems in order to improve caregivers' access to information and ability to share information with other care providers. It has been shown that these systems can readily induce in their users a state of information overload, where the volume and complexity of information overwhelms the user, leading to lower decision speed and quality. This research introduces and tests a cognitive technique called “emphasis framing” as an operational tactic to help mitigate the effects of information overload, thereby improving the quality and timeliness of clinical decision‐making. Emphasis framing is the highlighting or stressing of some aspect or component of the information being exchanged in order to make it more easily processed, or more likely to be processed, by the recipient. We conducted a controlled laboratory experiment with emergency department physicians experiencing information overload to measure the effect of emphasis framing on two operational performance metrics: (1) the quality of the physician's clinical evaluation, and (2) the efficiency (timeliness) of the physician's clinical decision‐making. Our findings show that the emphasis frame helped mitigate the effects of information overload and increased the quality of clinical decision‐making. Contrary to expectations, however, we found decision‐making took longer with the emphasis frame, reinforcing the need to consider the impacts of quality/speed trade‐offs. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Never Change a Winning Policy? Public Sector Performance and Politicians' Preferences for Reforms
Authors: Geys Benny , Sørensen Rune J.
Published: August 2017

Despite the increasing stress on performance in public sector organizations, there is still little empirical evidence on whether—and if so, how—politicians respond to performance information. This article addresses this research gap by linking registry statistics on school performance in Norway's 428 municipalities with data from an information experiment embedded in a survey of local politicians. Findings show that school performance bears only a weak relationship to politicians' preferences for resource‐related reforms, but it strongly affects preferences for governance‐related reforms, indicating the importance of accounting for heterogeneity across alternative types of (school) reforms. Moreover, local politicians are, on average, well informed about school performance. This reflects the force of local inhabitants' high information level on politicians' accountability.
Explaining Self‐Interested Behavior of Public‐Spirited Policy Makers
Authors: Zamir Eyal , Sulitzeanu‐Kenan Raanan
Published: August 2017

Public choice theory (PCT) has had a powerful influence on political science and, to a lesser extent, public administration. Based on the premise that public officials are rational maximizers of their own utility, PCT has a quite successful record of correctly predicting governmental decisions and policies. This success is puzzling in light of behavioral findings showing that officials do not necessarily seek to maximize their own utility. Drawing on recent advances in behavioral ethics, this article offers a new behavioral foundation for PCT's predictions by delineating the psychological processes that lead well‐intentioned people to violate moral and social norms. It reviews the relevant findings of behavioral ethics, analyzes their theoretical and policy implications for officials' decision making, and sets an agenda for future research.
Does transnational private governance reduce or displace labor abuses? Addressing sorting dynamics across global supply chains
Authors: Koenig‐Archibugi Mathias
Published: August 2017

The attention of practitioners and scholars of private regulation of working conditions is focused on whether and how corporate buyers can help improve labor and safety standards in the factories that supply them by adopting codes of conduct, joining social certification schemes, participating in social audit processes, and financing safety improvements. I argue that more attention should be paid to the possibility that private regulation schemes – whatever degree of compliance they achieve – mostly result in a displacement effect or sorting dynamic that leaves the overall level of working conditions unchanged. I sketch a research agenda aimed at identifying the conditions under which a sorting dynamic can occur and at conceiving innovative private governance designs that could avoid it.
Interplay between the Inverse Scattering Method and Fokas's Unified Transform with an Application
Authors: Caudrelier Vincent
Published: August 2017

It is known that the initial‐boundary value problem for certain integrable Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) on the half‐line with integrable boundary conditions can be mapped to a special case of the inverse scattering method (ISM) on the full‐line. This can also be established within the so‐called unified transform (UT) of Fokas for initial‐boundary value problems with linearizable boundary conditions. In this paper, we show a converse to this statement within the Ablowitz‐Kaup‐Newell‐Segur (AKNS) scheme: the ISM on the full‐line can be mapped to an initial‐boundary value problem with linearizable boundary conditions. To achieve this, we need a matrix version of the UT that was introduced by the author to study integrable PDEs on star‐graphs. As an application of the result, we show that the new, nonlocal reduction of the AKNS scheme introduced by Ablowitz and Musslimani to obtain the nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation can be recast as an old, local reduction, thus putting the nonlocal NLS and the NLS equations on equal footing from the point of view of the reduction group theory of Mikhailov.
The Modern Drama of coup d'État and Systems of Discipline: Foucault and Political Ceremony
Authors: Akbalik Bilge
Published: August 2017

The objective of my comments is to draw attention to the complex relationship between the juridico‐political model of sovereignty and disciplinary power in Foucault's work. I suggest that Elden's reading of Foucault and Shakespeare opens up new ways to understand contemporary forms of governmentality through a genealogy of political ceremony and theatricality. More specifically, my comments seek to show that an examination of the ceremoniality of coup d'État in connection with what Foucault calls the “democratization of sovereignty” is potentially fruitful for examining modern forms of the government of civil society and counterconduct.
Information and Communication Technology and Ethnic Conflict in Myanmar: Organizing for Violence or Peace?
Authors: Bergren Anne , Bailard Catie Snow
Published: August 2017

Objective

In a country as historically conflict ridden as Myanmar, will the reduced communication costs yielded by the recent expansion of mobile telephony create political affordances that make collective organization for peace or violence more likely to prevail?

Method

Applying a random effects model of time‐series cross‐sectional data, we test the relationship shared by ethnic groups’ increasing access to mobile telephony and their incidence of violent conflict against the state. By comparing differences in the effect across two distinct periods of time—before and after mobile phones became widely available—we can conduct robust tests of this relationship.

Results

The results of the analysis offer only marginal support for the prediction that increased access to mobile phones amplified groups’ incidence of violence against the state. More often, the direction of the effect traveled in the opposite direction, suggesting that the spread of mobile phones possibly served as a pacifying force for certain ethnic groups.

Conclusions

Within the context of Myanmar, the expansion of mobile telephony has not encouraged greater violence and may instead serve as a pacifying force.
United Nations, Uniting Nations: International Support Cues and American Attitudes on Environmental Sustainability*
Authors: Johnson Tyler , Rickard Victoria
Published: August 2017

Objective

We ask whether framing U.N. actions in terms of institutional origins or multilateral support has differential effects on attitudes toward environmental sustainability policy.

Methods

A survey experiment exposed individuals to different descriptions of U.N. Agenda 21, a 1992 sustainable development policy document.

Results

Individuals who learned about Agenda 21 in terms of the international consensus behind the document at its inception were significantly more likely to support it and find it important. Conservative individuals who learned Agenda 21 was a U.N. document were significantly less likely to believe it was important and to want the federal government to incentivize implementation.

Conclusions

Framing U.N. action in terms of international consensus may be a gateway toward building support among Americans in general. Framing U.N. action in terms of the institution behind the action has little effect on opinion, except in some instances when it turns conservatives against said action.
Smoothly varying in‐plane stiffness heterogeneity evaluated under uniaxial tensile stress
Authors: Considine J.M. , Pierron F. , Turner K.T. , Lava P. , Tang X.
Published: August 2017

Identification of spatially varying stiffness is a challenging, but important, research topic in the mechanics of materials and can provide the necessary information for material suitability, damage, and process control, especially for high‐value applications. One homogeneous and 3 heterogeneous virtual field method (VFM) formulations were used to create a methodology for varying stiffness identification. Two finite element method simulations were used to demonstrate the validity and capability of the formulations. A tensile test protocol was implemented to identify spatially varying stiffness of uniaxial tensile paperboard specimens using digital image correlation. A recently published form of VFM, which enforces global equilibrium in the spatial frequency domain, was used to better examine smoothly varying stiffnesses. Two tensile specimens of a single commercial paperboard, known to contain heterogeneities, were examined, and local stiffnesses were identified. Examination of local equilibrium with VFM was used to explain differences in stiffness identification. A polyethylene terephthalate specimen was used to demonstrate homogeneity.
Incommensurability as Vagueness: a Burden‐Shifting Argument
Authors: Elson Luke
Published: August 2017

Two options are “incommensurate” when neither is better than the other, but they are not equally good. Typically, we will say that one option is better in some ways, and the other in others, but neither is better “all things considered”. It is tempting to think that incommensurability is vagueness – that it is (perhaps) indeterminate which is better – but this “vagueness view” of incommensurability has not proven popular. I set out the vagueness view and its implications in more detail, and argue that it can explain most of the puzzling features of incommensurability. This argument proceeds without appeal to John Broome's “collapsing principle”.
Cytomegalovirus infection management in solid organ transplant recipients across European centers in the time of molecular diagnostics: An ESGICH survey
Authors: Navarro David , San‐Juan Rafael , Manuel Oriol , Giménez Estela , Fernández‐Ruiz Mario , Hirsch Hans H. , Grossi Paolo Antonio , Aguado José María ,   ESGICH CMV Survey Study Group, on behalf of the European Study Group of Infections in Compromised Hosts (ESGICH) from the Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID)
Published: August 2017

Background

Scant information is available about how transplant centers are managing their use of quantitative molecular testing (QNAT) assays for active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection monitoring in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. The current study was aimed at gathering information on current practices in the management of CMV infection across European centers in the era of molecular testing assays.

Methods

A questionnaire‐based cross‐sectional survey study was conducted by the European Study Group of Infections in Immunocompromised Hosts (ESGICH) of the Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). The invitation and a weekly reminder with a personal link to an Internet service provider (https://es.surveymonkey.com/) was sent to transplant physicians, transplant infectious diseases specialists, and clinical virologists working at 340 European transplant centers.

Results

Of the 1181 specialists surveyed, a total of 173 responded (14.8%): 73 transplant physicians, 57 transplant infectious diseases specialists, and 43 virologists from 173 institutions located at 23 different countries. The majority of centers used QNAT assays for active CMV infection monitoring. Most centers preferred commercially available real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) assays over laboratory‐developed procedures for quantifying CMV DNA load in whole blood or plasma. Use of a wide variety of DNA extraction platforms and RT‐PCR assays was reported. All programs used antiviral prophylaxis, preemptive therapy, or both, according to current guidelines. However, the centers used different criteria for starting preemptive antiviral treatment, for monitoring systemic CMV DNA load, and for requesting genotypic assays to detect emerging CMV‐resistant variants.

Conclusions

Significant variation in CMV infection management in SOT recipients still remains across European centers in the era of molecular testing. International multicenter studies are required to achieve commutability of CMV testing and antiviral management procedures.
The management of pregnant women with epilepsy: a multidisciplinary collaborative approach to care
Authors: Bhatia Meena , Adcock Jane E , Mackillop Lucy
Published: August 2017

Key content

Epilepsy is the most common serious neurological problem encountered in pregnancy; however, women with epilepsy are often not referred to high‐risk pregnancy services.

The 2015 Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE‐UK) report on maternal mortality highlights that the care of pregnant women with epilepsy requires urgent improvement.

The two most recently available guidelines (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines) require comparative critical appraisal.

Collaboration between general practitioners, specialist epilepsy nurses/midwives, obstetricians, obstetric physicians, neurologists and anaesthetists is vital to ensure optimal standardised management.

Learning objectives

To understand the role of pre‐conception counselling: to include advice on seizure control, anti‐epileptic drugs (AEDs) and pre‐conception folic acid.

To understand the risk factors associated with poor outcomes in pregnant women with epilepsy.

To understand the risks associated with specific types of AEDs: mono‐ and polytherapy.

To understand the issues regarding the titration of AEDs during pregnancy, postnatal and breastfeeding periods.

To understand the importance of a multidisciplinary antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal schedule of care and special considerations.

Ethical issues

When should we advise women to avoid pregnancy?

When, how and by whom should AEDs be modified?

Are women with epilepsy aware of the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy in pregnancy?
PIKfyve activity regulates reformation of terminal storage lysosomes from endolysosomes
Authors: Bissig Christin , Hurbain Ilse , Raposo Graça , van Niel Guillaume
Published: August 2017

The protein complex composed of the kinase PIKfyve, the phosphatase FIG4 and the scaffolding protein VAC14 regulates the metabolism of phosphatidylinositol 3,5‐bisphosphate, which serves as both a signaling lipid and the major precursor for phosphatidylinositol 5‐phosphate. This complex is involved in the homeostasis of late endocytic compartments, but its precise role in maintaining the dynamic equilibrium of late endosomes, endolysosomes and lysosomes remains to be determined. Here, we report that inhibition of PIKfyve activity impairs terminal lysosome reformation from acidic and hydrolase‐active, but enlarged endolysosomes. Our live‐cell imaging and electron tomography data show that PIKfyve activity regulates extensive membrane remodeling that initiates reformation of lysosomes from endolysosomes. Altogether, our findings show that PIKfyve activity is required to maintain the dynamic equilibrium of late endocytic compartments by regulating the reformation of terminal storage lysosomes.
Status of wound management in Korea
Authors: Namgoong Sik , Han Seung‐Kyu
Published: August 2017

In spite of a period of intense economic, social, and political hardship following the Korean War, the Republic of Korea has made great strides in economic growth over the past half century, and also remarkable progress in the medical field. However, wound research has been slow to take off in South Korea. Meanwhile, as is the case in many countries in Western Europe and North America, South Korea is seeing a steady increase in its aged population. The growth in the geriatric population has in turn brought on more cases of chronic wounds. Though South Korea only began to recognize the importance of wound management in the early 2000s, it was fortunate enough to have sophisticated related industries, such as biotechnology and information technology, and brilliant, industrious, and eager wound researchers, contributing to rapid development of the field. The country has particular strengths in research for innovative cell‐based treatments and products for managing wounds. Notwithstanding government policy ill‐equipped to sufficiently support such advancement, better communication between experts and public officials will no doubt bring forth even more achievements in this very promising field. It is in this context that this article aims to summarize current wound management practices, research, training, product development, and government policies regarding wound management in South Korea as of the year 2017.
Investigation on Flow Characteristics of Pump-Turbine Runners With Large Blade Lean
Authors: Zhu Baoshan , Tan Lei , Wang Xuhe , Ma Zhe
Published: August 2017

Frequent changes in the operating modes pose significant challenges in the development of a pump-turbine with high efficiency and stability. In this paper, two pump-turbine runners, one with a large positive blade lean and the other with a large negative lean, are investigated numerically and experimentally. These two runners are designed by using the optimum stacking condition at the high pressure edge (HPE). The experimental and the numerical results show that both runners have good efficiency performances, and pressure fluctuations for the runner with a negative blade lean are much lower than those for the runner with a positive blade lean. The internal flow field analyses clarify the effects of the blade lean on the pressure distribution around the runner blades. In the turbine mode at partial load, the negative blade lean can control flow separation in the high pressure side of the runner and then reduce the pressure fluctuations in the vaneless space.
Modeling the Microslip in the Flange Joint and Its Effect on the Dynamics of a Multistage Bladed Disk Assembly
Authors: Firrone Christian M. , Battiato Giuseppe , Epureanu Bogdan I.
Published: August 2017

The complex architecture of aircraft engines requires demanding computational efforts when the dynamic coupling of their components has to be predicted. For this reason, numerically efficient reduced-order models (ROM) have been developed with the aim of performing modal analyses and forced response computations on complex multistage assemblies being computationally fast. In this paper, the flange joint connecting two turbine disks of a multistage assembly is studied as a source of nonlinearities due to friction damping occurring at the joint contact interface. An analytic contact model is proposed to calculate the local microslip based on the different deformations that the two flanges in contact take during vibration. The model is first introduced using a simple geometry representing two flanges in contact, and then, it is applied to a reduced finite element model in order to calculate the nonlinear forced response.
An Approximate Analysis of Quasi-Periodic Systems Via Floquét Theory
Authors: Sharma Ashu , Sinha S. C.
Published: August 2017

Parametrically excited linear systems with oscillatory coefficients have been generally modeled by Mathieu or Hill equations (periodic coefficients) because their stability and response can be determined by Floquét theory. However, in many cases, the parametric excitation is not periodic but consists of frequencies that are incommensurate, making them quasi-periodic. Unfortunately, there is no complete theory for linear dynamic systems with quasi-periodic coefficients. Motivated by this fact, in this work, an approximate approach has been proposed to determine the stability and response of quasi-periodic systems. It is suggested here that a quasi-periodic system may be replaced by a periodic system with an appropriate large principal period and thus making it suitable for an application of the Floquét theory. Based on this premise, a systematic approach has been developed and applied to three typical quasi-periodic systems. The approximate boundaries in stability charts obtained from the proposed method are very close to the exact boundaries of original quasi-periodic equations computed numerically using maximal Lyapunov exponents. Further, the frequency spectra of solutions generated near approximate and exact boundaries are found to be almost identical ensuring a high degree of accuracy. In addition, state transition matrices (STMs) are also computed symbolically in terms of system parameters using Chebyshev polynomials and Picard iteration method. Stability diagrams based on this approach are found to be in excellent agreement with those obtained from numerical methods. The coefficients of parametric excitation terms are not necessarily small in all cases.
Interaction of a synthetic antimicrobial peptide with a model bilayer platform mimicking bacterial membranes
Authors: Niu Lifang , Wohland Thorsten , Knoll Wolfgang , Köper Ingo
Published: August 2017

Tethered bimolecular lipid membranes are solid supported membrane systems, which provide a versatile model platform for the study of many membrane related processes. Here, such an architecture has been used to study the interaction of the small synthetic antimicrobial peptide, V4, with membranes of various mixed lipid compositions, including membranes containing bacterial lipids. By investigating the binding of the peptide using a range of surface analytical techniques such as surface plasmon resonance and surface plasmon field-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy as well as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, a clear preference of the peptide for negatively charged membranes over zwitterionic ones has been shown. Additionally, the interactions seemed to indicate a cooperative behavior for the peptide binding to a membrane.
News at a glance
Authors: Gramling Carolyn
Published: August 2017

A roundup of weekly science policy and related news.
Atomic bonding
Authors: Stone Richard
Published: August 2017

A U.S.-China project to secure bomb-grade reactor fuel is rekindling ties between the two countries' nuclear scientists.
Webinar | Proteogenomic strategies to advance drug development and precision medicine
Authors: Mälarstig Anders , Gyllensten Ulf
Published: August 2017

The genomics era has had a profound impact on life science research, leading to significant developments such as the use of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), which link polymorphisms in single genes to quantifiable changes in gene expression associated with specific diseases. As the end products and biological effectors of gene expression, proteins are crucial for improving our understanding of human biology, developing new and better drugs, and advancing precision medicine. Proteomics technologies have lagged behind their genomics counterparts, but recent breakthroughs are now combining these methods in powerful ways. The journey to clinical utility, however, remains challenging. Association of a protein biomarker with any given disease process, for example, needs to be assessed in terms of disease-independent, confounding factors that may modulate protein expression levels among different individuals. Moreover, understanding whether an associated protein is causally involved in (or merely reflects) a disease process is extremely valuable information for identifying new drug targets. Our panelists will discuss how multi-omics and epidemiological approaches are accelerating important advances in the use of protein biomarkers for clinical research and pharmaceutical development.
Island biogeography: Taking the long view of nature’s laboratories
Authors: Whittaker Robert J. , Fernández-Palacios José María , Matthews Thomas J. , Borregaard Michael K. , Triantis Kostas A.
Published: August 2017

Dynamics of island biodiversity

Fifty years ago, MacArthur and Wilson published their influential book,
The Theory of Island Biogeography
. This work provided a quantitative framework for understanding the ecological processes governing the diversity of species on oceanic islands. Whittaker
et al.
review the subsequent progress in the field, focusing particularly on the integration of the ecological model with island geophysical dynamics. Recent work is showing how immigration, speciation, and extinction respond to the phases of emergence, development, and submergence in oceanic islands.

Science
, this issue p.
eaam8326
Comment on “Active sites for CO
2
hydrogenation to methanol on Cu/ZnO catalysts”
Authors: Nakamura Junji , Fujitani Tadahiro , Kuld Sebastian , Helveg Stig , Chorkendorff Ib , Sehested Jens
Published: August 2017

Kattel
et al
. (Reports, 24 March 2017, p. 1296) report that a zinc on copper (Zn/Cu) surface undergoes oxidation to zinc oxide/copper (ZnO/Cu) during carbon dioxide (CO
2
) hydrogenation to methanol and conclude that the Cu-ZnO interface is the active site for methanol synthesis. Similar experiments conducted two decades ago by Fujitani and Nakamura
et al
. demonstrated that Zn is attached to formate rather than being fully oxidized.
Influence, integrity, and the FDA: An ethical framework
Authors: Hey Spencer Phillips , Cohen I. Glenn , Adashi Eli Y. , Kesselheim Aaron S.
Published: August 2017

Evaluate external influences on scientific deliberations
Finding a new purpose for old drugs
Authors: Snyder Evan Y.
Published: August 2017

Drugs used for the treatment of asthma might prevent Parkinson's disease
Accelerating the production of insulating brain cells
Authors: Chung Kwanghun
Published: August 2017

A 3D hydrogel enables rapid and scalable production of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells for transplantation to treat demyelination diseases.
Antibiotics for performing voiding cystourethrogram: a randomised control trial
Authors: Sinha Rajiv , Saha Subhasis , Maji Biplab , Tse Yincent
Published: August 2017

Objective

To assess whether antibiotic reduces voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG)-associated urinary tract infection (UTI).

Design

Open-labelled randomised controlled trial.

Setting

Tertiary paediatric nephrology centre.

Patients

120 children (age 2 months–5 years) undergoing VCUG.

Interventions

Children were randomised into group A (antibiotic, n=72) or group B (no antibiotic, n=48) in 3:2 ratio. Group A received oral antibiotic (cephalexin if <6 months or co-trimoxazole if >6 months old) a day prior to VCUG and continued for 1 day post VCUG.

Main outcome measures

The main outcome measure is incidence of VCUG-associated UTI. Urine was checked on day 3 after VCUG and UTI was defined as significant growth of a single organism in a symptomatic child.

Results

The median age was 8 months (IQR 13 months) with 68% male. Indication for undertaking VCUG was history of UTI (first UTI in infancy=43, recurrent UTI=49) and congenital anomaly of kidney and urinary tract without any UTI (n=28). Post-VCUG UTI was significantly higher among group B in comparison to group A (17% (n=8) vs 1.4% (n=1); p=0.01, OR=14.2 (95% CI 1.7 to 117)). Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis found an abnormal pre-VCUG ultrasound scan to be a significant independent risk factor for post-VCUG UTI (p=0.02, OR=9.51, 95% CI 1.43 to 63.4). The number needed to treat with antibiotic to prevent one post-VCUG UTI was 6.5, which reduced to 4 if only the group with abnormal pre-VCUG ultrasound scan was included.

Conclusions

Antibiotic significantly reduces post-VCUG-acquired UTI especially in those with abnormal ultrasound scans.

Trial registration number

Clinical Trial Registry of India: CTRI/2017/03/00824.
Reporting animal welfare concerns
Authors: Yeates James
Published: August 2017

Veterinary professionals may be faced with cases in which they have serious concerns about the welfare of their patients, other animals or vulnerable people. In this article, the fourth in a series on being involved in potential criminal animal welfare cases, James Yeates discusses how to approach such cases in accordance with professional responsibilities.