bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Facebook
Authors: Murthy Dhiraj
Published: March 2015

Facebook is an online social networking site which has more than 1.2 billion users. The site seeks to foster interactions between “friends” through updates, sharing photographs, and playing games together. The medium also encourages social commentary through these interactions. Facebook has become a household name, not only because of its large user base, but also its prominent use in social movements (including the Arab Spring), elections (e.g., the 2012 American presidential election), the 2011
UK
riots, and a successful feature film about it,
The Social Network
. Facebook relies on the production of large amounts of “user‐generated content,” which can include low‐effort content such as clicking a button to “like” a photograph or a comment on a wall. This follows the trends of other online social networking sites to foster “easy” interactions.
Fashion
Authors: Sullivan Anthony
Published: March 2015

Fashion's changing temporal cycle distinguish it from both dress and style. While dress and style can be used to express, hide, or manipulate a range of identities from gender and class to subcultural affiliation and group belonging, fashion is characterized by a logic of stylistic change. Originating in the intensified sociality of capitalist modernity, “trickle‐down” fashion saw “inferior” classes emulate the innovative styles of their “superiors.” The emergence of “bubble‐up” youth styles in the second half of the twentieth century has transformed fashion as both a material embodied and immaterial practice. Yet today fashion continues to engender a range of critiques which attempt to come to terms with it as a hybrid phenomenon and, most pressingly, with its gender politics and ethical dilemmas.
Femininities
Authors: Smith Alexandra Nutter
Published: March 2015

Manifestations of gender identity presented by people who identify as women are collectively called femininities. Femininity is not biologically determined; rather, gender identities are socially constructed and legitimated over time by the performance of gender within the boundaries of a static masculine–feminine boundary. While many forms of femininity (femininities) are possible, the traits that have historically been deemed most acceptable in patriarchal society include beauty, softness, compassion, and nurturing. In capitalist society, femininity has largely been co‐opted by corporate interests who play on women's insecurity about failing to conform to femininity in order to achieve financial gain. This commodification of a certain kind of femininity has led to the social exclusion and underrepresentation in media of alternative femininities.
Gender and Consumer Culture
Authors: Casey Emma
Published: March 2015

This entry presents key theoretical debates and literature surrounding gender and consumer culture. Drawing on the relative lack of attention that has traditionally been paid to gendered accounts of consumer behavior, the entry suggests some of the reasons for that dearth and discusses some of the key feminist research which has attempted to readdress this imbalance. It concludes by arguing that consumption studies has much to benefit from the dedicated study of women and their consumption experiences.
Gentrification
Authors: Passell Aaron
Published: March 2015

Gentrification is a kind of neighborhood change in which the character of a working‐class or poor area shifts as higher‐status, higher‐income residents move in. It is facilitated and reinforced by commercial entities that support the consumption practices of the new residents. The process raises concerns about the displacement and deprivation of the original residents. The stages of gentrification have become almost clichés, but there is ongoing debate about many elements of the process.
Green Consumption
Authors: Atkinson Lucy
Published: March 2015

Green consumption – the choice of environmentally friendly and prosocial goods and services – has witnessed a resurgence since the turn of the century. Still, it represents a small percentage of overall sales. Although consumers increasingly claim to be concerned about the environment, they rarely follow through with these concerns in the market. Efforts to identify the details of this attitude–behavior gap, or “green gap,” have focused on a variety of attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral causes. Still others have focused on information sources, specifically green advertising and the potential for deceptive claims, as a cause of green consumer misgivings.
Infomercial
Authors: Delaney Tim
Published: March 2015

Derived from the words “information” and “commercial,” an infomercial is a program‐length commercial, designed to resemble regular television programming, that informs or instructs and may often include a discussion or demonstration of specific products, or product line, to an audience. Infomercials are designed to encourage people to consume specific products and represent a money‐making mechanism for many companies.
Intellectual Property
Authors: Granstrand Ove , Holgersson Marcus
Published: March 2015

A property can be defined as a resource with some form of assigned ownership, and an intellectual property is then a property of intellectual or intangible character. An intellectual property right (
IPR
) is a legally codified right created and used to assign ownership to intellectual resources such as knowledge, technologies, brand names, and other types of intellectual creations. The family of
IPRs
includes patent rights, copyrights, design rights, trademark rights, trade secret rights, and some other types of ancillary rights.
IPRs
are granted mainly to incentivize investments in creation and commercialization of new intellectual resources in order to improve the provision of innovations of various kinds to the benefit of consumers and society in general. However,
IPRs
have received criticism not only for creating monopoly distortions but, more recently, also for counteracting innovativeness due to their increasingly dispersed exclusionary function. Nevertheless, various
IPR
laws have become adopted more or less worldwide.
Latinos and Consumption
Authors: Peñaloza Lisa , Chávez Christopher
Published: March 2015

Latinas (feminine) and Latinos (masculine) make up a diverse diaspora configured at the nexus of Native American peoples, Europeans, Blacks, and Asians. Its geographic coordinates span Latin America, the United States, the Caribbean and Mediterranean regions, and a few Southeast Asian nations. As a collective bloc, Latinas/os have evolved into a global social, economic, and cultural force as consumers, corporations, and media institutions have become more transnational in nature. Today, the growing importance of the Latina/o consumer market has raised new concerns over the relationship between collective identity and market activity, and a growing body of research has flourished on a host of topics including globalization, postcolonial development, immigration and acculturation, language ideologies, political incorporation, remittances, transnational family dynamics, marketing representations, and social media participation.
Leisure and Consumption
Authors: Wearing Stephen L. , McDonald Matthew
Published: March 2015

Leisure and consumption have always been intimately linked, in the same way as work and production are. During the industrial Protestant era, consumption and leisure were seen as indulgent, decadent, feminine pursuits not worthy of serious intellectual analysis. One reason for this was that production, commerce, and industry were embodied in the concept of work, emphasized by the dominant culture of the time as central to the development of good character. Consumption, however, was seen as an inconsequential activity engaged in during one's leisure time.
Masculinity
Authors: Maldonado Amias S.
Published: March 2015

Masculinity refers to the social roles, behaviors, and meanings traditionally associated with male bodies in a given society at any point in time. Masculine practices are relational, complex, and highly heterogeneous. Over the past century, masculinity and consumption have become increasingly linked.
Material Culture Studies
Authors: Falls Susan
Published: March 2015

An interdisciplinary endeavor addressing empirical and theoretical questions, material culture studies examine the dynamic role that things play within social organization and in subjective experience. It is partly through our interactions with material culture (at times referred to as “goods,” “commodities,” “objects,” “artifacts,” or even “stuff”) that we both interpret and insert ourselves into the world, and thus it represents an extremely important, but oddly underexamined area of research, perhaps because, as many scholars have pointed out, the ubiquity of material culture makes it easy to overlook. Since most commodities present some aspect of materiality, the field of material culture studies is of considerable significance to consumption studies (and indeed the histories of these two fields of research are entwined). Advances in material culture studies will continue to inform research on consumption by refiguring our understandings of subject–object relations, practices of acquisition and divestment, and processes of interpretation, resistance, and alienation.
Merchandising
Authors: Cook Daniel Thomas
Published: March 2015

Merchandising refers mainly to retail practices that seek to sell and promote products. Perhaps the most common form of merchandising is the display and physical grouping of goods in terrestrial selling space. More broadly, merchandising can include the promotion of related goods through physical or visual juxtaposition and association, such as when a film and a food product or food chain are merchandised together.
Methods of Consumer Research
Authors: Bielenia‐Grajewska Magdalena
Published: March 2015

Consumer research is not restricted to one area of study and it does not rely on a fixed repertoire of methodologies. Since consumer research itself encompasses various factors, characteristics, and environments, the way purchasers behave can be investigated by using different methodological tools, characteristic of, among others, humanities and social studies, as well as those typical of interdisciplinary research (e.g., discourse and network theories). In addition, methods applied to consumer research may rely on such issues as quality and quantity, online and offline environments, as well as verbal and pictorial representation. Taking into account the growing role of neuroscience, which offers new insights into the way people behave, consumer research may also benefit from neuroscientific tools and methods of researching the products and their stakeholders.
Needs, True and False
Authors: Patsiaouras Georgios
Published: March 2015

The classification and understanding of human needs can vary across historical periods, cultures, and socioeconomic contexts. As well as hierarchical or biological representations of needs, since the mid‐twentieth century members of the Frankfurt School have drawn a distinction between true and false needs in advanced industrial and capitalistic societies. How can we identify the difference between true and false needs and what are the major implications of such distinctions for contemporary consumer culture and consumers' well‐being?
Prosumption
Authors: Boesel Whitney Erin , Jurgenson Nathan
Published: March 2015

Prosumption is characterized by the blurring of production and consumption. Prosumption analyses therefore focus on both production and consumption simultaneously, rather than on either independently. Prosumers consume what they produce and/or produce what they consume. Prosumptive practices are increasingly common, and the prosumption concept is particularly relevant to the explosion of user‐generated content online. Users now produce not only open source software, mobile apps, and content for most of “Web 2.0” (including social networking sites) but also individual and collective identities – as well as entire subcultures – through prosuming online content. It is debatable, however, whether the expansion of prosumption online signifies empowerment or exploitation for consumers. Prosumption characterizes prosumer capitalism, and has been further analyzed through the Marxist “labor theory of value,” through Foucauldian notions of government, and through Bourdieusian theories of cultural/social (re)production.
Semiotics
Authors: Rattasepp Silver , Kull Kalevi
Published: March 2015

Semiotics is a discipline that studies meaning and meaning‐making, conceived of as the action of signs, or sign processes, also called semiosis. Any relation of referral, where something stands for something else for someone, can be taken to fall within the scope of semiotics. This includes both linguistic and nonlinguistic sign systems. Therefore, language, communication, codes, symbolism, signification, and hence literature, the arts, media, social patterns of belief and habit, and communicative aspects of biology all comprise the topics studied within semiotics.
Shopping Malls
Authors: Langman Lauren
Published: March 2015

Ever since people lived in permanent settlements, they came to markets, fairs, and bazaars to trade various foods, spices, adornments, and handicrafts from rugs to pottery. With the rise of capitalism, itself based on flourishing trade as markets expanded, a rising merchant class consumed more and more of the newly available goods. Consumption accelerated with capitalism, modernity, industrialization, and the mass production of consumer goods. One early moment of this transformation was seen in the arcades of Paris around 1822 when a more or less self‐contained collage of adjacent shops and stores erected glass roofs over its passageways to protect shoppers from inclement weather. These arcades provided “phantasmagorias” of commodities for the growing, affluent urban classes.
Simulations
Authors: Langman Lauren
Published: March 2015

One of the defining qualities of the twentieth century was the mass production of mechanically reproduced images. Photography, lithography, records, movies, videotapes andCDsbecame ways of recording and widely distributing representations of events, from major wars and disasters to entertainments. While for most of our history, communication media attempted to represent the world, reproduce images of an event that corresponded to the world, one of the most important changes has been the creation of a new order of signs and symbols that simulated the world. According to some theorists, these simulations and simulacra have created a new “reality,” a “hyperreality” of systematically created images and representations that were endless copies where originals never existed. With this blending of image and reality wherein the image triumphed over the real, simulation became more real than reality.
Slow Food Movement
Authors: Bommel Koen Van , Spicer Andre
Published: March 2015

Slow Food is part of a broader backlash against the culture of the global food industry. It has over time managed to transform itself from a somewhat snobbish middle‐class gastronomic movement into one that appeals to a broader constituency of environmentalists and people concerned with fair trade and social justice. Groups that were previously relatively separate were thus linked and the reach of the movement extended as they infused existing products with novel meaning.
Symbolic Exchange
Authors: Ryan Michael T.
Published: March 2015

Symbolic exchange is the organizing principle, the cellular structure, of the earliest forms of society, the forms that Anthony Giddens designates as “tribal cultures.” The exchanges that take place within and between clans, within and between tribes, and between chiefs and other members of the tribe are more than economic exchanges as we know them in modern societies, and their circulation integrates the members of these societies. Marcel Mauss conceptualizes these exchanges as a form of gift giving, and the gift is a “total social phenomenon.” They are multidimensional: economic, moral, religious, mythological, juridical, political, aesthetic, and historical.
Symbolic Value
Authors: Bonazzi Michele
Published: March 2015

The symbolic value of an object refers to the semantic and cultural universe linked to it, which allows consumers to express their identity and social membership. Goods are symbolic as opposed to their supposed functionality; they are symbolic because they represent embodied symbols. The value of a good, therefore, is not only connected to its tangible aspects, that is, its structural characteristics and usefulness, but it is dematerialized and becomes sign, symbol, and communication. A commodity tells a story and at the same time becomes a form of identity expression, with a code and a language that are reflected in the system of meanings attributed to it. This process of signification is developed through a subjective reworking that, however, can be extended to the collective level, through rituals of exchange and sharing. Cultural anthropology has undoubtedly been a particularly fertile field for the study of consumption as a practice of signification.
Wal‐Mart
Authors: Wong Newman Chun Wai
Published: March 2015

Wal‐Mart is an international retail corporation headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, with the principle of “the lowest prices anytime, anywhere.” Over the years, Wal‐Mart has grown from an Arkansas‐based retail chain in the 1960s, to a regional store in the Southern United States in the 1970s, a national chain in the 1980s, and a multinational company in the 1990s. Wal‐Mart has also introduced various innovations in the retail industry, such as Wal‐Mart Supercenters, a general merchandise and grocery hypermarket that allows one‐stop shopping. As a successful enterprise, Wal‐Mart employs rationalized management strategies, including efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control by nonhuman technology. As a powerful economic institution, Wal‐Mart has economic and social impacts on its customers, employees, local communities, and suppliers in the United States and abroad.
Waste
Authors: Chiazza Sara Di , Zuev Dennis
Published: March 2015

Waste is a fundamental concept in understanding the variety of patterns in person–thing relations and the transformation of an object's value. Waste is a ubiquitous product of major human activities and also a part of human moral economy that has tended to stigmatize people related to waste management (cleaning, scavenging, recycling, dumpster diving). Until the 1970s, the general tendency in social sciences was to focus on the production and the circulation of objects inside the life of consumers, neglecting the potentiality that things have to reveal the social and cultural bases that are established and renewed through consumption practices. Parallel to this, the social life of things and their value has been considered more important than the social death of things. This created a vacuum in knowledge of what happens with things after they are thrown away and become waste. Consumption studies and material culture studies have failed to investigate the end product of the process of consumption – waste, and despite following analytically the life and destination of objects, they did not offer insights into the final resting place of waste.
Weddings
Authors: Arend Patricia
Published: March 2015

Weddings are cultural rituals that, until the twenty‐first century, have symbolized the entry point for primarily heterosexual couples into the social, economic, legal, and/or religious relations of marriage. In many places around the world, weddings are also considered to be rites of passage to adulthood. This meaning is de‐emphasized in modern and postmodern consumer societies where individuals frequently establish households separately from their parents, sometimes with their partners, for many years before getting married. Some experts argue that this is because the meaning of marriage is changing. Contemporary weddings are now often understood as consumption rituals that feature highly symbolic, often sacred, objects, many of which are gendered.
Whole Foods Market
Authors: Johnston Josée
Published: March 2015

Whole Foods Market (WFM) is a successfulUS‐based grocery chain specializing in natural and organic foods. Its commercial success speaks to the prominence of natural, organic, and “green” food as a high‐status area of consumption. The case ofWFMalso speaks to the rise of ethical consumption and its win–win rhetoric, emphasizing how individual shopping purchases can generate consumer pleasures, ecological sustainability, and corporate profits.
YouTube
Authors: Hess Aaron
Published: March 2015

YouTubeis a video‐sharing website and digital application. Considered to be a hallmark of Web 2.0 culture and user‐generated content, the site serves as a database of video content, from both individual and institutional authors. Research intoYouTubehas focused on both the production and consumption of content by individual users, drawn from a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches. Designed as a destination for individually produced videos, such as home videos, do‐it‐yourself videos, personal video blogs, and independent short films,YouTubeinvites the sharing of content across users via horizontal distribution. This many‐to‐many distribution contrasts with major media conglomerates and the vertical one‐to‐many distribution of content. Theorizing regarding the production of content forYouTubemarks a collapse of the traditional boundaries of consumption and production, parallel with participatory convergence culture. The Web 2.0YouTubeaesthetic has generated new forms of content and media. The video blog, or vlog, became a mainstay of theYouTubeform, through which a user speaks directly to the camera and edits with a jumpy frame‐to‐frame style. Politically,YouTubehas been a site for the distribution of campaign materials as well as individually authored arguments.
eBay
Authors: Wong Newman Chun Wai
Published: March 2015

Founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995, eBay is an international online auction platform with a headquarters in San José, California. eBay does not have a physical store or sell any tangible products, but provides a virtual platform in which individuals and businesses buy and sell a wide range of products and services. Nearly anything can be listed on eBay, as long as it is not on the list of prohibited or restricted items. Some popular listing categories on eBay include collectables, jewelry, motors, music, sports, technology, and toys.
Behavioral Economics and Consumption
Authors: Reisch Lucia A. , Sunstein Cass R.
Published: March 2015

Behavioral economics explores why people sometimes fail to make rational decisions, and how their behavior departs from the predictions of standard economic models. Insights gained from studies in behavioral economics are used in consumer research and consumer policy to understand and improve individuals' decisions about health, wealth, and happiness.
Biomarkers and cognitive endpoints to optimize trials in Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Insel Philip S. , Mattsson Niklas , Mackin R. Scott , Kornak John , Nosheny Rachel , Tosun‐Turgut Duygu , Donohue Michael C. , Aisen Paul S. , Weiner Michael W. ,   Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: March 2015

Objective

To find the combination of candidate biomarkers and cognitive endpoints to maximize statistical power and minimize cost of clinical trials of healthy elders at risk for cognitive decline due to Alzheimer's disease.

Methods

Four‐hundred and twelve cognitively normal participants were followed over 7 years. Nonlinear methods were used to estimate the longitudinal trajectories of several cognitive outcomes including delayed memory recall, executive function, processing speed, and several cognitive composites by subgroups selected on the basis of biomarkers, including APOE‐ε4 allele carriers, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (Aβ42, total tau, and phosphorylated tau), and those with small hippocampi.

Results

Derived cognitive composites combining Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS)‐cog scores with additional delayed memory recall and executive function components captured decline more robustly across biomarker groups than any measure of a single cognitive domain or ADAS‐cog alone. Substantial increases in power resulted when including only participants positive for three or more biomarkers in simulations of clinical trials.

Interpretation

Clinical trial power may be improved by selecting participants on the basis of amyloid and neurodegeneration biomarkers and carefully tailoring primary cognitive endpoints to reflect the expected decline specific to these individuals.
Effective Approaches to Improve the Electrical Conductivity of PEDOT:PSS: A Review
Authors: Shi Hui , Liu Congcong , Jiang Qinglin , Xu Jingkun
Published: March 2015

The rapid development of novel organic technologies has led to significant applications of the organic electronic devices such as light‐emitting diodes, solar cells, and field‐effect transistors. There is a great need for conducting polymers with high conductivity and transparency to act as the charge transport layer or electrical interconnect in organic devices. Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS), well‐known as the most remarkable conducting polymer, has this role owing to its good film‐forming properties, high transparency, tunable conductivity, and excellent thermal stability. In this Review, various of interesting physical and chemical approaches that can effectively improve the electrical conductivity of PEDOT:PSS are summarized, focusing especially on the mechanism of the conductivity enhancement as well as applications of PEDOT:PSS films. Prospects for future research efforts are also provided. It is expected that PEDOT:PSS films with high conductivity and transparency could be the focus of future organic electronic materials breakthroughs.
Rigorous design of distillation columns using surrogate models based on Kriging interpolation
Authors: Quirante Natalia , Javaloyes Juan , Caballero José A.
Published: March 2015

The economic design of a distillation column or distillation sequences is a challenging problem that has been addressed by superstructure approaches. However, these methods have not been widely used because they lead to mixed‐integer nonlinear programs that are hard to solve, and require complex initialization procedures. In this article, we propose to address this challenging problem by substituting the distillation columns by Kriging‐based surrogate models generated via state of the art distillation models. We study different columns with increasing difficulty, and show that it is possible to get accurate Kriging‐based surrogate models. The optimization strategy ensures that convergence to a local optimum is guaranteed for numerical noise‐free models. For distillation columns (slightly noisy systems), Karush–Kuhn–Tucker optimality conditions cannot be tested directly on the actual model, but still we can guarantee a local minimum in a trust region of the surrogate model that contains the actual local minimum. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2169–2187, 2015
Multiscale modeling of oil uptake in fried products
Authors: Vauvre Jean‐Michaël , Patsioura Anna , Olivier Vitrac , Kesteloot Régis
Published: March 2015

Oil–air biphasic flow has been simulated at the scale of an entire potato tuber tissue using a Kinetic Monte‐Carlo (KMC) formulation parameterized on microscopic observations. Extrapolations to more general configurations are proposed by combining the proposed KMC framework with oil momentum equations integrated at microscopic scale. Branched percolation routes in three‐dimensional honeycomb arrangement of cells are explored using a first‐passage algorithm. Three major applications are presented. KMC simulations are first considered to homogenize sparse dynamic observations at the scale of isolated cells up to the scale of a full tissue. The second application investigates the effect of cell damages on oil uptake. Finally, our general KMC formulation was successfully compared with a diffusive model of oil uptake. Comprehensive rules to set the distribution parameters of all quantities (kinetic and structure parameters) from scarce observations or general assumptions are discussed. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2329–2353, 2015
De Novo interstitial deletion 13q33.3q34 in a male patient with double outlet right ventricle, microcephaly, dysmorphic craniofacial findings, and motor and developmental delay
Authors: McMahon Colin J , Breathnach Colm , Betts David R , Sharkey Freddie H , Greally Marie T
Published: March 2015

We describe a 6‐year‐old male, diagnosed at birth with double outlet right ventricle (DORV), anterior aorta, multiple ventricular septal defects, pulmonary stenosis, microcephaly and mildly dysmorphic craniofacial findings. Chromosomal analysis showed a normal male karyotype but on subsequent array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) analysis a de novo 2.5Mb loss in chromosome 13q at 13q33.3q34, together with an inherited gain at 4p12, were detected. The propositus underwent placement of a Blalock Taussig shunt and subsequently a Glenn and Fontan operation was performed. In this report we propose that COL4A1 and COL4A2 may be candidate genes for congenital heart disease (CHD) in individuals with a deletion in 13q within the 6Mb critical region for cardiac development proposed by Huang et al., [2012]. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
FLCN intragenic deletions in Chinese familial primary spontaneous pneumothorax
Authors: Ding Yibing , Zhu Chengchu , Zou Wei , Ma Dehua , Min Haiyan , Chen Baofu , Ye Minhua , Pan Yanqing , Cao Lei , Wan Yueming , Zhang Wenwen , Meng Lulu , Mei Yuna , Yang Chi , Chen Shilin , Gao Qian , Yi Long
Published: March 2015

Primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) is a significant clinical problem, affecting tens of thousands patients annually. Germline mutations in the FLCN gene have been implicated in etiology of familial PSP (FPSP). Most of the currently identified FLCN mutations are small indels or point mutations that detected by Sanger sequencing. The aim of this study was to determine large FLCN deletions in PSP families that having no FLCN sequence‐mutations. Multiplex ligation‐dependent probe amplification (MLPA) assays and breakpoint analyses were used to detect and characterize the deletions. Three heterozygous FLCN intragenic deletions were identified in nine unrelated Chinese families including the exons 1–3 deletion in two families, the exons 9–14 deletion in five families and the exon 14 deletion in two families. All deletion breakpoints are located in Alu repeats. A 5.5 Mb disease haplotype shared in the five families with exons 9–14 deletion may date the appearance of this deletion back to approximately 16 generations ago. Evidences for founder effects of the other two deletions were also observed. This report documents the first identification of founder mutations in FLCN, as well as expands mutation spectrum of the gene. Our findings strengthen the view that MLPA analysis for intragenic deletions/duplications, as an important genetic testing complementary to DNA sequencing, should be used for clinical molecular diagnosis in FPSP. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Mutations in LONP1, a mitochondrial matrix protease, cause CODAS syndrome
Authors: Dikoglu Esra , Alfaiz Ali , Gorna Maria , Bertola Deborah , Chae Jong Hee , Cho Tae‐Joon , Derbent Murat , Alanay Yasemin , Guran Tulay , Kim Ok‐Hwa , Llerenar Jr Juan C. , Yamamoto Guillerme , Superti‐Furga Giulio , Reymond Alexandre , Xenarios Ioannis , Stevenson Brian , Campos‐Xavier Belinda , Bonafé Luisa , Superti‐Furga Andrea , Unger Sheila
Published: March 2015

Cerebral, ocular, dental, auricular, skeletal anomalies (CODAS) syndrome (MIM 600373) was first described and named by Shehib et al, in 1991 in a single patient. The anomalies referred to in the acronym are as follows: cerebral‐developmental delay, ocular‐cataracts, dental‐aberrant cusp morphology and delayed eruption, auricular‐malformations of the external ear, and skeletal‐spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. This distinctive constellation of anatomical findings should allow easy recognition but despite this only four apparently sporadic patients have been reported in the last 20 years indicating that the full phenotype is indeed very rare with perhaps milder or a typical presentations that are allelic but without sufficient phenotypic resemblance to permit clinical diagnosis. We performed exome sequencing in three patients (an isolated case and a brother and sister sib pair) with classical features of CODAS. Sanger sequencing was used to confirm results as well as for mutation discovery in a further four unrelated patients ascertained via their skeletal features. Compound heterozygous or homozygous mutations in LONP1 were found in all (8 separate mutations; 6 missense, 1 nonsense, 1 small in‐frame deletion) thus establishing the genetic basis of CODAS and the pattern of inheritance (autosomal recessive). LONP1 encodes an enzyme of bacterial ancestry that participates in protein turnover within the mitochondrial matrix. The mutations cluster at the ATP‐binding and proteolytic domains of the enzyme. Biallelic inheritance and clustering of mutations confirm dysfunction of LONP1 activity as the molecular basis of CODAS but the pathogenesis remains to be explored. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Oculoectodermal syndrome is a mosaic RASopathy associated with KRAS alterations
Authors: Peacock Jacqueline D. , Dykema Karl J. , Toriello Helga V. , Mooney Marie R. , Scholten Donald J. , Winn Mary E. , Borgman Andrew , Duesbery Nicholas S. , Hiemenga Judith A. , Liu Cong , Campbell Stacey , Nickoloff Brian P. , Williams Bart O. , Steensma Matthew
Published: March 2015

Oculoectodermal syndrome (OES) is a rare disease characterized by a combination of congenital scalp lesions and ocular dermoids, with additional manifestations including non‐ossifying fibromas and giant cell granulomas of the jaw occurring during the first decade of life. To identify the genetic etiology of OES, we conducted whole‐genome sequencing of several tissues in an affected individual. Comparison of DNA from a non‐ossifying fibroma to blood‐derived DNA allowed identification of a somatic missense alteration in KRAS NM_033360.3(KRAS):c.38G>A, resulting in p.Gly13Asp. This alteration was also observed in the patient's other affected tissues including the skin and muscle. Targeted sequencing in a second, unrelated OES patient identified an NM_033360.3(KRAS):c.57G>C, p.Leu19Phe alteration. Allelic frequencies fell below 40% in all tissues examined in both patients, suggesting that OES is a mosaic RAS‐related disorder, or RASopathy. The characteristic findings in OES, including scalp lesions, ocular dermoids, and benign tumors, are found in other mosaic and germline RASopathies. This discovery also broadens our understanding of the spectrum of phenotypes resulting from KRAS alterations. Future research into disease progression with regard to malignancy risk and investigation of RAS‐targeted therapies in OES is warranted. KRAS sequencing is clinically available and may also now improve OES diagnostic criteria. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Activating Thiolate‐Based Imidoalkylidene Tungsten(VI) Metathesis Catalysts by Grafting onto Silica
Authors: Allouche Florian , Mougel Victor , Copéret Christophe
Published: March 2015

In view of the strong σ‐donor ability of thiolate ligands, a silica‐supported tungsten alkylidene complex was prepared. While the activity of the molecular complex in alkene metathesis was not significant, the activity of the silica‐supported analogue is greatly enhanced, thus illustrating the importance of dissymmetry at the metal center in d0 metathesis catalysts and the specific properties of surface siloxy ligands in activating metathesis catalysts.
Unimolecular 4‐Hydroxypiperidines: New Ligands for Copper‐Catalyzed N‐Arylation
Authors: Patil Pradnya H. , Nallasivam Jothi L. , Fernandes Rodney A.
Published: March 2015

A family of 4‐hydroxypiperidines based mono, bis, tris, and tetrakis unimolecular compounds served as efficient ligands in combination with inexpensive CuI to catalyze Ullmann coupling reactions. A wide range of N‐arylated indoles, benzimidazoles, imidazoles, pyrroles, and adenines were synthesized in moderate to excellent yields.
Systemic effects of Leucaena leucocephala ingestion on ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta) at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar
Authors: Crawford Graham , Puschner Birgit , Affolter Verena , Stalis Ilse , Davidson Autumn , Baker Tomas , Tahara John , Jolly Alison , Ostapak Susan
Published: March 2015

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) is a leguminous tree that is nutritious forage for domestic livestock when ingested in limited amounts. Unfortunately, leucaena contains mimosine, a plant amino acid, that can be toxic when ingested at higher concentrations. Reported toxic effects include alopecia (fur loss), poor body condition, infertility, low birth weight, thyroid gland dysfunction, and organ toxicity. Originally native to Mexico and Central America, leucaena has been introduced throughout the tropics, including Berenty Reserve, Madagascar where it was planted as supplemental browse for livestock. In Berenty, a seasonal syndrome of alopecia in ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta) is associated with eating leucaena. Although much is known about the toxic effects of leucaena and mimosine on domestic animals and humans, the systemic effects on wildlife had not been studied. In a comparison of lemurs that include leucaena in their diet and those that do not, we found that animals that ingest leucaena absorb mimosine but that ingestion does not affect body condition, cause kidney or liver toxicity, or affect the intestinal tract. Alopecia is due to mimosine's interference of the hair follicle cycle. Leucaena ingestion is associated with higher serum albumin, α‐tocopherol, and thyroxine concentrations, suggesting that leucaena may provide some nutritional benefit and that lemurs can detoxify and convert mimosine to a thyroid stimulating metabolite. The primary conservation consequence of leucaena ingestion at Berenty may be increased infant mortality due to the infants' inability cling to their alopecic mothers. The widespread introduction of leucaena throughout the tropics and its rapid spread in secondary forest conditions mean that many other leaf‐eating mammals may be including this tree in their diet. Thus, exposure to leucaena should be considered when wildlife health is being evaluated, and the potential effects on wildlife health should be considered when contemplating leucaena introduction into or near wildlife habitat. Am. J. Primatol. 77:633–641, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Habitat use of bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Wamba: Selection of vegetation types for ranging, feeding, and night‐sleeping
Authors: Terada Saeko , Nackoney Janet , Sakamaki Tetsuya , Mulavwa Mbangi Norbert , Yumoto Takakazu , Furuichi Takeshi
Published: March 2015

Understanding the habitat requirements of great apes is essential for effective conservation strategies. We examined annual habitat use of a bonobo group in the Wamba field site within the Luo Scientific Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Using satellite imagery, we categorized the group's ranging area into three forest types: (1) primary and old secondary forest (P/OS), (2) young secondary forest and agriculture (YS/Ag), and (3) swamp forest (Sw). We tracked the group for 1 year (2007–2008) and compared usage of the three forest types for ranging, feeding, and night‐sleeping. We also recorded what the bonobos ate and monitored monthly fruit availability in each forest type. The group ranged and fed more often in P/OS and less often in YS/Ag and Sw than expected based on habitat availability. Also, the group slept mostly in P/OS (94% of nights monitored), but also in YS/Ag (1%), and Sw (5%). Fruit availability in P/OS had no significant effect on habitat selection, but the group fed in YS/Ag most often during the two months when fruits in P/OS were least abundant. In June, when fruit of Uapaca spp. (selectively eaten by bonobos) was generally abundant in Sw, the group mostly ranged and slept there. The bonobos fed most often on herbaceous plants in all three forest types. In Sw, the bonobos frequently ate mushrooms. Our results show that semi‐open forest with abundant herbaceous plants such as YS/Ag could be an important feeding habitat and may provide fallback food for bonobos when fruits are scarce. Furthermore, Sw can serve seasonally as a main habitat to complement P/OS if adequate food resources and tree nesting opportunities are available. We conclude that bonobos use diverse habitats depending on their needs and we highlight the importance of minor‐use habitats for sustaining populations of target species in conservation planning. Am. J. Primatol. 77:701–713, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Sex differences in kin bias at maturation: Male rhesus macaques prefer paternal kin prior to natal dispersal
Authors: Widdig Anja , Langos Doreen , Kulik Lars
Published: March 2015

Dispersal and mating patterns are known to affect the availability of both maternal and paternal kin within social groups, with important effects on the evolution of sociality. It is generally assumed that the philopatric sex forms stronger social bonds than the dispersing sex, possibly as a result of reduced kin availability for the dispersing sex after departure. However, few primate studies have directly compared whether sex differences in association patterns, particular with kin, are already present prior to dispersal when kin availability should be the same for both sexes. Here, we compared affiliative and aggressive interactions in a female philopatric species, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), to test whether sex differences in kin bias already occur around the age of maturation, when both sexes still live together with kin in their natal group. Our data confirmed that kin availability was the same for both sexes prior to male dispersal. Similar kin availability was partially reflected by comparable association patterns, as both females and males preferentially interacted with maternal kin. However, females had stronger affiliative bonds with maternal kin than males of the same age, indicating that kin associations not only depended upon kin availability, but were also sex‐specific. Similarly, males were significantly more likely to affiliate with paternal kin than non‐kin, as compared to females, suggesting that males discriminated paternal kin from non‐kin earlier in life than females. Males might have a stronger need than females to affiliate with paternal kin due to a reduced integration in the matrilineal family prior to dispersal and the high availability of paternally related age‐peers, with whom males could potentially migrate. Females, in contrast, form stronger affiliations with maternal kin, which may enhance their offspring's survival. More comparative studies are needed to understand the impact of different dispersal regimes on patterns of kin associations. Am. J. Primatol. 78:78–91, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Taking the aggravation out of data aggregation: A conceptual guide to dealing with statistical issues related to the pooling of individual‐level observational data
Authors: Pollet Thomas V. , Stulp Gert , Henzi S. Peter , Barrett Louise
Published: March 2015

Field data often include multiple observations taken from the same individual. In order to avoid pseudoreplication, it is commonplace to aggregate data, generating a mean score per individual, and then using these aggregated data in subsequent analyses. Aggregation, however, can generate problems of its own. Not only does it lead to a loss of information, it can also leave analyses vulnerable to the “ecological fallacy”: the drawing of false inferences about individual behavior on the basis of population level (“ecological”) data. It can also result in Simpson's paradox, where relationships seen at the individual level can be completely reversed when analyzed at the aggregate level. These phenomena have been documented widely in the medical and social sciences but tend to go unremarked in primatological studies that rely on observational data from the field. Here, we provide a conceptual guide that explains how and why aggregate data are vulnerable to the ecological fallacy and Simpson's paradox, illustrating these points using data on baboons. We then discuss one particular analytical approach, namely multi‐level modeling, that can potentially eliminate these problems. By highlighting the issue of the ecological fallacy, and increasing awareness of how datasets are often organized into a number of different levels, we also highlight the manner in which researchers can more positively exploit the structure of their datasets, without any information loss. These analytical approaches may thus provide greater insight into behavior by permitting more thorough investigation of interactions and cross‐level effects. Am. J. Primatol. 77:727–740, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Time taken for superior osteotomy in primary powered endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy: is there a difference between an ultrasonic aspirator and a mechanical burr?
Authors: Ali Mohammad Javed , Ganguly Anasua , Ali Mohammad Hasnat , Naik Milind N.
Published: March 2015

Background

The purpose of this study is to report the time taken for superior osteotomy and complications during this step in primary powered endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (PEnDCR) using the piezoelectric system and mechanical burr.

Methods

This prospective interventional comparative series was performed on all consecutive patients who underwent a primary PEnDCR over a 4‐month period. The surgery was performed as per standard protocols and all patients were operated on by a single surgeon (M.J.A.). Parameters documented were demographic data, type of powered instrument used, time taken for superior osteotomy, exposure of the agger nasi, exposure of entire sac, and complications such as excess bleeding, soft tissue injury, or mucosal burns. Statistical analyses were performed using the linear mixed‐effect model and 2‐sample t tests.

Results

A total of 55 PEnDCRs were studied, 29 in the mechanical burr group and 26 in the piezoelectric or ultrasonic group. The mean time for superior osteotomy in the mechanical burr group was 3.71 minutes (range, 1.75 to 6.58 minutes); in the ultrasonic group it was 4.12 minutes (range, 1.33 to 6.25 minutes). There was no significant difference (p = 0.17) between the 2 groups. Subcategory analyses of time taken by age (p = 0.057) and sex (p = 0.56) did not show any difference between the groups. Two patients in the mechanical burr group had an insignificant superficial sac injury and 1 patient in the ultrasonic group suffered epithelial burns away from the site of osteotomy, which resolved spontaneously without any sequelae. There was no excess bleeding in any of the groups.

Conclusion

The time taken by mechanical burr and piezoelectric system are comparable for superior osteotomy in PEnDCR. If anatomical boundaries are respected, their use appears to be safe without major complications.