bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Has traditional accounting information lost its relevance?
Authors: Appiah Kingsley Opoku , Acheampong Owusu
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether traditional accounting information has lost its relevance in the context of sub-Sahara Africa. Specifically, the study examines whether historical cost and inflation-adjusted data are related to the market value of equity and stock returns on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collect firm-specific data from annual reports of 20 listed firms from the GSE over the period 2007-2012. The authors use ordinary least squares and two stage least square (2SLS) to examine the value relevance of historical and inflation-adjusted income and equity.

Findings

The results suggest that the market equity is related to both historical-cost and inflation-adjusted earnings. Market return is also associated with both historical-cost and inflation-adjusted earnings and book value. Overall, the authors conclude that inflation-adjusted information content is more value relevant than the traditional cost accounting information.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are a wake-up call to policymakers and practitioners in formulating financial reporting policies. This study, however, focuses on only non-financial listed firms on the GSE. Thus, the results may not be valid for all companies in Ghana.

Practical implications

The finding has an implication on the choice of valuation used in the preparation and reporting of financial statements. Accordingly, the authors offer policy directions to financial reporting regulatory authorities to enhance the value relevance of accounting information.

Social implications

Regulators, especially the GSE may improve life of investors if the recommendations are transformed into directives that will help enhance the quality of financial reporting.

Originality/value

The findings suggest that inflation-adjusted data are more relevant in countries with extreme inflationary trend and lax International Financial Reporting Standards compliance enforcement. The results also lend support for the current cost accounting theory.
Social fairness and social marketing
Authors: Kennedy Ann-Marie , Santos Nicholas
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Social marketers set out to undertake interventions that benefit society. However, at times, there can be inadvertent, unintended consequences of these interventions that can be seen as unethical. Such ethical issues can arise from the context, process, method and outcomes of interventions and often bring to the fore the “social fairness” of social marketing. Given that social marketing is aimed at societal benefit, the authors believe that the issue of social fairness is an important one in the context of ethical social marketing. With that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of the application of a normative ethical framework, labelled the integrative justice model (IJM) (Santos and Laczniak, 2009), to social marketing. This amounts to a macro-social marketing ethical framework.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual broadening of a normative ethical framework.

Findings

The authors hold that the IJM provides several helpful normative guidelines for improving the “social fairness” of social marketing. As such, the presented normative framework of macro-social marketing ethics provides useful guidelines for future development of social marketing codes of ethics.

Practical implications

The macro-social marketing ethics framework provides practical guidelines for social marketers to assess ethical issues in social marketing.

Originality/value

The macro-social marketing ethics framework answers the call of Carter, Mayes, Eagle and Dahl (2017) for development of ethical frameworks for social marketers. It provides a reconciliation of multiple normative frameworks to give a set of guidelines for social marketers that are clear and non-contradictory.
A comparative study of the use of electronic resources by LIS and computer science students in two Nigerian universities
Authors: Bana Dorcas , Eze Monica Eberechukwu , Esievo Lovet Ovigue
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to compare the use of electronic resources (e-resources) by undergraduate students in library and information science (LIS) and computer science in two Nigerian universities.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a comparative method. The questionnaire was designed to elicit data from 680 undergraduate students in two universities. Simple percentages and chi square (χ2) statistical tool were used to analyse and test the hypotheses. The results are presented in tables and charts.

Findings

The findings show that the undergraduate students use some of the e-resources and do not use others probably because of lack of awareness or skills to effectively use the e-resources. Overall, almost half of the undergraduate students rated their skills to use e-resources to be high. It also emerged that there is significant difference between LIS students and computer science students use of e-resources.

Practical implications

The findings of this study on e-resources and their use by different subject areas in the university will establish an important foundation for selecting and providing e-resources and services. Such a foundation allows for the development of both useful theory and practical application.

Originality/value

The study reported findings on e-resources used particularly by different user groups in universities in Nigeria. The study will add to the body of knowledge on use of e-resources in Nigeria.
Do the international economic endeavors affect CO2 emissions in open economies of South Asia? An empirical examination under nonlinearity
Authors: Sharma Rajesh , Kautish Pradeep , Uddin Gazi Salah
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper to investigate whether trade liberalization and the financial crisis have contributed to altering the pollution level in selected open economies of South Asia in the long run.

Design/methodology/approach

The study has adopted the panel data framework where results are tested using the generalized method of moments (GMM). The data of five South Asian countries from 1980–2015 have been used for computing results.

Findings

Owing to the globalization endeavors, the scope of energy consumption and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows has increased significantly. The outcomes of the study reveal that globalization has significantly intensified the level of carbon emissions in the selected countries. However, the impact of financial crisis on carbon emission is found insignificant in the long run. Therefore, the study reveals that the level of environmental pollution in South Asia economies is more sensitive to positive economic variations than negative.

Originality/value

Earlier studies have ignored the parallel effect of globalization and financial meltdown on carbon emissions in a country or region. Stating differently, the present study intends to capture the impact of positive (globalization) and negative (financial crisis) global economic movements on carbon emissions in the five open economies. The majority of studies in the past have focused on the relationship between positive economic endeavors and environmental pollution. Furthermore, the study recommends that while framing a trade policy, its possible impact on environmental pollution also needs to be considered.
Research Watch: mental health services supporting social inclusion
Authors: Holttum Sue
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine three recent papers on mental health services and social inclusion.

Design/methodology/approach

A search was carried out for recent papers on mental health and social inclusion. The author selected three papers that each spoke to a similar theme, from slightly different angles, and that seemed to advance understanding of how social inclusion might be supported to a greater degree in mental health services.

Findings

One paper vividly describes some of the blocks to social inclusion, and what that can feel like from a service user perspective, and also points to ways for peer workers to support service users’ social inclusion. A second paper illustrates how mental health professionals and peer workers can choose to stand up for people’s human rights despite lack of organisational support for such actions. The third paper describes pioneering co-designed work to build dedicated support for social inclusion alongside mental health services.

Originality/value

All three papers highlight the ongoing need for better support for social inclusion in mental health services across different countries. They also show how such support can be implemented and even made more mainstream. This raises hope for wider progress in mental health services becoming real enablers of social inclusion.
Employability and innovative work behaviours in SMEs in a Euroregion
Authors: Stoffers Jol , Hendrikx Karolien , Habets Omar , van der Heijden Beatrice
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible differences in the degrees of employability, leader–member exchange (LMX) and innovative work behaviours in a comparison between Belgium and the Netherlands. Although neighbouring countries, disparate national cultures between the two are assumed to influence the amount of employability, LMX and innovative work behaviours among their respective working populations. Furthermore, this paper aims to validate a mediation model across the two countries to test whether employability (partially) mediates the relationship between LMX and innovative work behaviours.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from employees and their immediate supervisors working in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Belgium and the Netherlands supported the hypothesized model. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the mediation model using a multi-source approach.

Findings

The amount of employability and innovative work behaviours of employees appeared to differ significantly between Belgium and the Netherlands. Furthermore, the results suggested that for both countries a positive relationship with one’s immediate supervisor (LMX) is beneficial in the light of workers’ innovative work behaviours, through its impact on employability, which was found to be a full mediator in this relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies using a longitudinal approach could give more insight into the model relationships. Moreover, the variation in systems, national contexts and managerial practices in the Euroregion calls for more cross-national comparative scholarly research.

Practical implications

SMEs often do not employ professionals to manage human resources, that is, supervisors themselves have to carry the responsibility to encourage employees to further develop themselves and to enhance their innovative work behaviours. This while the challenge of more cross-national cooperation encourages a boost for innovations in the Euroregion.

Originality/value

This study is the first cross-national validation of a mediation model wherein a competence-based measure of employability is incorporated as a possible mediator in the relationship between LMX and innovative work behaviours.
Q-method as a tool to facilitate meaningful public engagement with science
Authors: Gauttier Stéphanie
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Researchers are expected to find ways to make citizens participate in research to support responsible and open conceptions of science. New methods for engagement need to be found in order to facilitate engagement. The public needs to build its knowledge and be presented with time for reflexion so as to give an informed opinion on a given topic. Traditional consensus conferences are costly, and surveys are not building citizens’ understanding of science. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The author presents a case where engagement was realized based on Q-method and technique. A research protocol and the results of the engagement are presented.

Findings

This case shows that an adapted version of Q can lead to meaningful engagement for citizens and relevant data for researchers. Participants enjoy the process and can become advocates for a topic. The data collected allow to map out points of views which can be used to inform policy and research.

Originality/value

From a practical point of view, this paper suggests a new way to proceed to citizen engagement with science. It also opens research questions related to the use of the method itself.
The advantages of diving deep: Fin whales quadruple their energy intake when targeting deep krill patches
Authors: Friedlaender Ari S. , Bowers Matthew T. , Cade David , Hazen Elliott L. , Stimpert Alison K. , Allen Ann N. , Calambokidis John , Fahlbusch James , Segre Paolo , Visser Fleur , Southall Brandon L. , Goldbogen Jeremy A.
Published: October 2019

How predators maximize energetic gains while minimizing the costs associated with exploiting heterogeneous prey remains a difficult ecological principle to test in natural systems.

Deep‐diving, air‐breathing predators face conflicting demands of oxygen conservation to extend dive time and oxygen usage from the exercise required to find and capture prey. How predators balance these opposing factors is additionally complicated by prey patches that are heterogeneous spatially, temporally and in quality.

Tags deployed on foraging fin whales revealed that deeper dives consisted of higher feeding rates (lunges/hr), as generally predicted by optimal foraging theory. By simultaneously measuring prey density and distribution in the local environment, we show that whales increased their dive depths in order to forage on the densest prey patches.

Despite the increased travel time needed to find deeper prey during a breath‐hold dive, the increase in feeding rates of fin whales and modelled prey consumption quadrupled compared to shallow foraging. Because the cost of transport is low at this extreme in body size, we posit that feeding on the deep prey patches significantly increases the energetic efficiency of foraging.

Given the increasing recognition that anthropogenic disturbance can curtail deep foraging dives in many cetacean species, endangered fin whales may be susceptible to significant energetic losses that may impact individual fitness and population health in some areas.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
The impact of the different habitats on skull variation in the fossorial subterranean rodents (Rodentia: Spalacidae) from Middle Anatolia
Authors: Yağcı Tuba , Gurbanov Rafig R.
Published: October 2019

In this study, the morphometric variations were investigated in Farmland and Hillside populations of subterranean rodent Nannospalax xanthodon from Central Anatolia. A total of 31 parameters were measured in the skull and mandible of 35 male individuals. Multivariate analysis (MVA) of the obtained cranial data was used to determine the parameters that varied between habitats and chromosomal populations (2n = 54 and 2n = 60). Furthermore, the effect of soil hardness on the morphology of the dorsal skull of male and female individuals was investigated. As a result, habitat differences caused some morphometric variations in the skull dorsal, especially facial bones, whereas the samples with diploid chromosome number 2n = 54 and 2n = 60 were separated by eight cranial parametric measurements. Accordingly, the known effect of ecological factors on phylogenetic variations in digging animals has first discussed in Nannospalax xantodon cytotypes.
Sharing the burden in a free riders’ land: The EU migration and asylum policy in the views of public opinion and politicians
Authors: BASILE LINDA , OLMASTRONI FRANCESCO
Published: October 2019

New divisions have emerged within the European Union over the handling of the recent migration crisis. While both frontline and favoured destination countries are called upon to deal with the number of migrants looking for international protection and better living conditions, no consensus has been reached yet on the quota‐based mechanisms for the relocation of refugees and financial help to exposed countries proposed by the EU. Such mechanisms pose a trade‐off for member states: the EU's response to the crisis offers help to countries under pressure, but it inevitably requires burden‐sharing among all EU members and a limitation of their national sovereignty. Within this scenario, the article compares how public opinion and political elites in ten different EU countries view a common EU migration policy grounded on solidarity and burden‐sharing. By tracing both within‐ and cross‐national patterns of convergence (and divergence), the article shows that contextual factors influence policy preferences, with support for solidarity measures being stronger in countries with higher shares of illegal migrants and asylum seekers. While individuals’ predispositions, identity and ideological orientations account for both masses’ and elites’ attitudes towards burden‐sharing measures, subjective evaluations and beliefs concerning the severity of the crisis provide additional and alternative explanations when looking at the public's preferences. In particular, it is found that concern about the flow of migrants to Europe consolidates the impact of contextual factors, whereas the overestimation of the immigrant population fosters hostility against solidarity measures, with both effects more pronounced as the country's exposure to the crisis increases. In the light of these results, the main implication of this study is that EU institutions have to primarily address entrenched beliefs and misperceptions about immigrants to enhance public support for a joint approach to migration.
Social media impacts the relation between interpersonal conflict and job performance
Authors: Jiang Feng , Lu Su , Zhu Xiji , Song Xin
Published: October 2019

Previous research has predominantly focused on the effects of cognitive and emotional reactions on the relation between interpersonal conflict and job performance. The effects of behavioral reactions, however, have been largely ignored. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate how behavioral reactions indexed by Wechat use affects the above relation. Specifically, demand‐control‐support theory and demand‐control‐person theory form the basis for a stressor–strain model and a joint investigation of 1) Wechat use as mediating the link between interpersonal conflict with job performance and 2) relatedness need satisfaction and emotional social support as moderating the mediation. A moderated mediation model is tested with matched data collected thrice from 300 subordinates and their supervisors. Results highlight the importance of behavioral mechanisms and state‐like individual differences when examining the relationships between interpersonal conflict and job performance.
Bioimpedance Spectroscopy‐Based Fluid Status in Combined Dialysis Compared With Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis: A Cross‐Sectional Study
Authors: Tanaka Mototsugu , Ishibashi Yoshitaka , Hamasaki Yoshifumi , Kamijo Yuka , Idei Mayumi , Nishi Takahiro , Takeda Michio , Nonaka Hiroshi , Nangaku Masaomi , Mise Naobumi
Published: October 2019

Combination therapy with peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis (PD+HD) is widely used in Japan for PD patients with decreased residual renal function. However, fluid status in PD+HD patients has not been well studied. In this cross‐sectional study, we compared fluid status in 41 PD+HD patients with that in 103 HD and 92 PD patients using the bioimpedance spectroscopy. Extracellular water normalized to patient height (NECW, kg/m) was the highest in pre‐HD (8.3 ± 1.6) followed by PD (7.9 ± 2.7), PD+HD (7.5 ± 2.5), and post‐HD patients (6.9 ± 1.5) (P < 0.01). By multiple linear regression analysis, PD+HD was associated with a significantly lower NECW than pre‐HD (β = −0.8, P = 0.03) and similar to PD (β = −0.5, P = 0.24) and post‐HD (β = 0.6, P = 0.08) after adjustment for age, sex, diabetic nephropathy, ischemic heart disease, dialysis period, and daily urine volume. There was no correlation between NECW and daily urine volume in all dialysis groups. Average daily fluid removal (a sum of urine volume and ultrafiltration volume by dialysis) was positively correlated with NECW in PD+HD and pre‐HD, but not in PD and post‐HD patients. Our results suggest that fluid status in PD+HD patients with decreased residual renal function is acceptable as compared with that in HD and PD patients.
CD137 ligand feedback upregulates PD‐L1 expression on lung cancer via T cell production of IFN‐γ
Authors: Wang Helin , Yan Zhuohong , Hao Jianqing , Yang Bin , Wang Jinghui , Yi Ling , Wang Xiaojue , Li Shuping , Zhang Hongtao , Zhang Shucai
Published: October 2019

Background

The expression of PD‐L1 and its regulation in tumors remains unclear. The importance of IFN‐γ in upregulating the PD‐L1 expression in various tumors, and the effects of other essential cytokines in the tumor microenvironment (TME), need to be further elucidated.

Methods

Constitutive expression of PD‐L1 and CD137L in all 13 lung cancer cell lines were tested by flow cytometry. CD137L mRNA of lung cancer cell lines was detected by RT‐PCR. PD‐L1 expression rates following stimulation with these cytokines (IFN‐γ, TNFα and IL2) were measured. After coculture of cells expressing CD137L (lung cancer cells or 293FT cells transfected with CD137L plasmid) with T cells, the PDL1 expression of lung cancer cells and IFN‐γ in supernatant was detected.

Results

Our data revealed that adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma cells had the highest positive expression rate. IFN‐γ was the core‐inducing factor for enhancing the PD‐L1 expression. CD137L was also widely expressed in the lung cancer cell lines at the mRNA level, whereas its expression was generally low at the protein level. However, the low expression of CD137L protein was still enough to induce T cells to produce IFN‐γ, which subsequently increased the PD‐L1 expression by lung cancer cells. The CD137 signal induces IFN‐γ secretion by T cells, which stimulates high‐level of PD‐L1 expression in cancer cells; this negative immune regulation may represent a mechanism of immune escape regulation.

Conclusions

CD137L mRNA was widely expressed in lung cancer cell lines whereas levels of protein expression were generally low. The low level of CD137L protein was still enough to induce T cells to produce IFN‐γ that subsequently increased PD‐L1 expression. The CD137L‐induced negative immune regulation may represent a mechanism of immune escape.
Triple‐entry accounting with blockchain: How far have we come?
Authors: Cai Cynthia Weiyi
Published: October 2019

Although double‐entry accounting has been used for more than 600 years, today’s era of disruptive technological change utilising blockchain and FinTech has led to the emergence of another promising accounting method: triple‐entry accounting. This paper explores triple‐entry accounting, from its conception to the current state of play, using three case studies. We find that: (i) in a blockchain ecosystem, for some accounts, business entities will only need to perform a single entry internally and the opposite entry will be recorded in a public shared ledger; and (ii) triple‐entry accounting is a new and a more efficient way to address fundamental trust and transparency issues that plague current accounting systems. Triple‐entry accounting with blockchain, when properly implemented, can fundamentally improve accounting.
Group B Streptococcus serotypes Ia and V induce differential vaginal immune responses that may contribute to long term colonization of the female reproductive tract
Authors: Sweeney Emma L. , Gardiner Stephanie , Tickner Jacob , Trim Logan , Beagley Kenneth W. , Carey Alison J.
Published: October 2019

Problem

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a common colonizer of the female genital tract at the time of pregnancy and has been associated with severe neonatal infections. Despite trials for GBS vaccines already being underway, the factors influencing vaginal GBS colonization and clearance are currently poorly understood.

Method of study

Within this study, we investigated the host immune responses to GBS infections in mice that affect GBS vaginal colonization and clearance. Cervicovaginal swabs were used to measure vaginal GBS persistence, and vaginal cytokine responses were measured using the BioPlex® system. Lymphocytes isolated from spleens were stimulated with UV‐killed GBS to examine systemic cellular responses. Additional in vitro cellular experiments using human vaginal epithelial cells were also performed, examining the effect pregnancy level hormones had on GBS adhesion, invasion, and cytokine responses.

Results

We observed significant differences in the ability of GBS serotype V infections to persist, compared with GBS serotype Ia vaginal infections. Vaginal cytokine response examination identified temporal changes in cytokine production (IL10, IFNγ, IL6, IL1β, and TNFα) in relation to GBS serotype and clearance or colonization. Lymphocyte proliferation assays also revealed robust cellular immune responses to GBS vaginal infections irrespective of clearance or colonization. In vitro human cellular analyses also identified that vaginal epithelial cell line cytokine production was suppressed in the presence of hormones despite no alteration in adhesion/invasion.

Conclusion

Here, we establish previously unknown, serotype specific, temporal immune responses which may be associated with vaginal GBS colonization or clearance in the female genital tract.
Survey of paediatricians caring for children with life‐limiting conditions found that they were involved in advance care planning
Authors: Fahner Jurrianne C. , Rietjens Judith A. C. , van der Heide Agnes , van Delden Johannes J. M. , Kars Marijke C.
Published: October 2019

Aim

Advance care planning (ACP) is a strategy to align future care and treatment with preferences of patients and families. This study assesses the experiences of ACP among paediatricians caring for children with life‐limiting conditions.

Methods

Paediatricians from five Dutch university hospitals and the national oncology centre completed a survey during May to September 2017, which investigated experiences with ACP in their most recent case of a deceased child and with ACP in general.

Results

A total of 207 paediatricians responded (36%). After exclusion of responses with insufficient data (n = 39), 168 were analysed (29%). These included experiences with an individual case in 86%. ACP themes were discussed with parents in all cases. Topics common to many cases were diagnosis, life expectancy, care goals, the parent's fears and code status. ACP conversations occurred with children in 23% of cases. The joy in living was the most frequent topic. The frequency of ACP conversations was insufficient according to 49% of the respondents. In 60%, it was stated that ACP has to result in a documented code status.

Conclusion

Paediatricians reported having ACP conversations mainly with parents focusing on medical issues. There was limited insight into the child's preferences for care and treatment.
Promoting organ donation registration with the priority incentive: Israeli transplantation surgeons' and other medical practitioners' views and ethical concerns
Authors: Guttman Nurit , Siegal Gil , Appel-Doron Naama , Bar‐On Gitit
Published: October 2019

Because the number of organs available for transplantation does not meet the needs of potential recipients, some have proposed that a potentially effective way to increase registration is to offer a self‐benefit incentive that grants a 'preferred status' or some degree of prioritization to those who register as potential donors, in case they might need organs. This proposal has elicited an ethical debate on the appropriateness of such a benefit in the context of a life‐saving medical procedure. In this paper we review arguments and ethical concerns raised by scholars, and studies of views of members of the public regarding the prioritization incentive system. We also report on our study of the views of those involved in organ transplant and of other medical professionals in Israel, as over half a decade ago Israel implemented a prioritization incentive system. Bioethicists propose that key stakeholders' views can provide additional arguments and perspectives on controversial issues. Proponents justify the prioritization incentive drawing mainly on arguments related to its potential effectiveness, reciprocity and fairness. Opponents point to the fact that registering is not binding and not an actual donation, and raise concerns regarding equity, autonomy and gaming the system. Ethical concerns raised by the practitioners in the study were examined in light of scholars' arguments and actual registration and donation data. Practitioners involved in transplantation raised ethical concerns corresponding to those raised by scholars as well as additional concerns. They also challenged proponents' assumptions regarding the utility of the incentive system from their own experience and argued that proponents obscure the meaning of reciprocity.
A bivalent antihypertensive vaccine targeting L‐type calcium channels and angiotensin AT1 receptors
Authors: Wu Hailang , Wang Yiyi , Wang Gongxin , Qiu Zhihua , Hu Xiajun , Zhang Hongrong , Yan Xiaole , Ke Fan , Zou Anruo , Wang Min , Liao Yuhua , Chen Xiao
Published: October 2019

Background and Purpose

Hypertension has been the leading preventable cause of premature death worldwide. The aim of this study was to design a more efficient vaccine against novel targets for the treatment of hypertension.

Experimental Approach

The epitope CE12, derived from the human L‐type calcium channel (CaV1.2), was designed and conjugated with Qβ bacteriophage virus‐like particles to test the efficacy in hypertensive animals. Further, the hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg)‐CE12‐CQ10 vaccine, a bivalent vaccine based on HBcAg virus‐like particles and targeting both human angiotensin AT1 receptors and CaV1.2 channels, was developed and evaluated in hypertensive rodents.

Key Results

The Qβ‐CE12 vaccine effectively decreased the BP in hypertensive rodents. A monoclonal antibody against CE12 specifically bound to L‐type calcium channels and inhibited channel activity. Injection with monoclonal antibody against CE12 effectively reduced the BP in angiotensin II‐induced hypertensive mice. The HBcAg‐CE12‐CQ10 vaccine showed antihypertensive effects in hypertensive mice and relatively superior antihypertensive effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats and ameliorated L‐NAME‐induced renal injury. In addition, no obvious immune‐mediated damage or electrophysiological adverse effects were detected.

Conclusion and Implications

Immunotherapy against both AT1 receptors and CaV1.2 channels decreased the BP in hypertensive rodents effectively and provided protection against hypertensive target organ damage without obvious feedback activation of renin‐angiotensin system or induction of dominant antibodies against the carrier protein. Thus, the HBcAg‐CE12‐CQ10 vaccine may provide a novel and promising therapeutic approach for hypertension.
Seed dispersal effectiveness by a large‐bodied invasive species in defaunated landscapes
Authors: Pedrosa Felipe , Bercê William , Levi Taal , Pires Mathias , Galetti Mauro
Published: October 2019

Animal‐dispersed plants are increasingly reliant on effective seed dispersal provided by small‐bodied frugivores in defaunated habitats. In the Neotropical region, the non‐native wild pig (Sus scrofa) is expanding its distribution and we hypothesized that they can be a surrogate for seed dispersal services lost by defaunation. We performed a thorough analysis of their interaction patterns, interaction frequencies, seed viability, and characteristics of the seed shadows they produce. We found 15,087 intact seeds in 56% of the stomachs and 5,186 intact seeds in 90% of the scats analyzed, 95% of which were smaller than 10 mm in diameter. Wild pigs were the third most effective disperser among 21 extant frugivore species in a feeding trail experiment in terms of quantity of seeds removed. Gut retention time was 70 ± 23 hr, indicating wild pigs can promote long‐distance seed dispersal. Seed survival after seed handling and gut passage by wild pigs was positively related with seed size, but large seeds were spat out and only smaller seeds were defecated intact, for which we observed a positive or neutral effect on germination relative to manually de‐pulped seeds. Finally, deposition of seeds was four times more frequent in unsuitable than suitable sites for seedling recruitment and establishment. Seed dispersal effectiveness by wild pigs is high in terms of the quantity of seeds dispersed but variable in terms of the quality of the service provided. Our study highlights that negative and positive effects delivered by non‐native species should be examined in a case by case scenario.

Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.
Inclusion oral health: Advancing a theoretical framework for policy, research and practice
Authors: Freeman Ruth , Doughty Janine , Macdonald Mary Ellen , Muirhead Vanessa
Published: October 2019

In response to headlines about the oral health of persons experiencing social exclusion resonating in high‐income countries, and research demonstrating the need for urgent action, a symposium entitled ‘International Perspectives on Socially Inclusive Dentistry: A Call to Action’ was organized for the IADR International Meeting of 2018. The aim of the symposium was to initiate an international dialogue on barriers to care, multidisciplinary action and examples of best practice for service delivery for people experiencing social exclusion; in other words, to develop the idea of inclusion oral health. Through our international exchange, what emerged was an awareness of a lack of professional consensus: What exactly is inclusion oral health? A theoretical framework to push forward the policy, research and practice agenda was clearly needed. This paper advances such a framework. Over the decades, dentistry has forged an approach to service delivery mainly through a business, demand‐led model. While oral health continues to improve globally, an important consequence of this approach is that it compounds the social exclusion that many people are already experiencing because of a constellation of economic, political, cultural and individual factors. Thus, many people are simply not getting the dental care they need. In contrast, drawing on the theoretical literature on social exclusion, intersectionality and othering, we suggest that dentistry could act as an agent for social inclusion as a more responsive, all‐encompassing form of oral health care and delivery. This paper advances a theoretical framework for inclusion oral health, and an action plan to show how inclusion oral health may become one solution in an armamentarium to tackle the global phenomena of oral health inequities.
Single gland excision for MEN1‐associated primary hyperparathyroidism
Authors: Manoharan Jerena , Albers Max B. , Bollmann Carmen , Maurer Elisabeth , Mintziras Ioannis , Wächter Sabine , Bartsch Detlef K.
Published: October 2019

Importance

Guidelines advocate subtotal parathyroidectomy (SPTX) or total parathyroidectomy with autotransplantation (TPTX) with bilateral cervical thymectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1). However, both procedures are associated with a significant risk of permanent hypoparathyroidism.

Objective

The aim of the current study was to compare long‐term results of either single gland excision (SGE, 1‐2 glands), SPTX and TPTX for the treatment of MEN1‐associated pHPT.

Design and setting

Data of genetically confirmed MEN1 patients who underwent surgery for pHPT between 1987 and 2017 were retrieved from a prospective database and were retrospectively analysed.

Results

Eighty‐nine MEN1 patients underwent either TPTX (n = 38, 42.7%), SPTX (n = 23, 25.8%) or SGE (n = 28, 31.5%). The rate of disease persistence after initial surgery was 2.6%, 0% and 14.2% in the TPTX, SPTX and SGE groups, respectively. After median follow‐up of 112 (range 7‐411) months, the rate of recurrent pHPT was significantly higher in the SGE group (n = 19, 21.3%) compared with the TPTX (n = 4, 4.4%, P = .001) and the SPTX (n = 9, 10.1%, P = .03) groups. Analysis of the recurrence‐free time among the surgical groups revealed a significant difference (P = .036). The median time to recurrence was significantly shorter after SGE (101, range 3‐301 months) than after SPTX (139, range 28‐278 months, P = .018) and TPTX (204, range 75‐396 months, P = .049). Twelve (32%) patients who underwent TPTX developed permanent hypoparathyroidism compared with only 4 (17%, P = .06) in the SPTX and 0 in the SGE group (P = .001).

Conclusion

Given the high rate of postoperative permanent hypoparathyroidism after TPTX and SPTX, SGE is a valid option for the treatment of MEN1‐associated pHPT.
Situated Payments for Ecosystem Services: Local Agencies in the Implementation of the Sloping Land Conversion Programme in Southwest China
Authors: He Jun
Published: October 2019

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is an innovative initiative to use market instruments for conservation that has spread across the world since the late 1990s. In assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of PES initiatives, global scholarship has focused on an outcome‐oriented approach. This has led to debate on PES programmes’ contributions to, and the trade‐offs between, conservation and development. Taking the Sloping Land Conversion Programme (SLCP) in China as an example, this article uses a process‐oriented analytical approach to provide novel understandings of PES as a specific type of development practice. The article shows how notions of equity and justice, local knowledge and local institutions have played a role in shaping the processes and outcomes of the SLCP. The actions of local stakeholders in an interplay with the state created a space for negotiating, adapting and adjusting PES implementation, which eventually contributed to a local development pathway for meeting both national conservation interests and local economic development needs. This indicates that attention to situated agency can help illuminate how PES can be smoothly implemented and effectively negotiated in developing countries.
Translating Water Fund Payments for Ecosystem Services in the Ecuadorian Andes
Authors: Joslin Audrey
Published: October 2019

As a form of environmental governance, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is imbued with ideological values that can conflict with those of participating rural communities. The discursive frame surrounding PES may be contentious, even if the conservation activities promoted by these initiatives are not. Moving PES into practice therefore requires a process of translation from urban‐based practitioners to rural communities. Drawing upon an empirical case study of FONAG, a water fund from Ecuador that is often promoted as the ideal type, this article employs data from participant observation, key informant interviews and textual materials to examine this process of translation. The article focuses particularly on the efforts to negotiate the discourse of PES that move the projects into on‐the‐ground practice. While Ecuador's political context has softened the emphasis on economically valuing ecosystem services, FONAG uses neoliberal conservation narratives that identify rural poverty as the main cause of environmental degradation and target the reform of local people through economic incentives. To enrol communities, however, intermediaries are needed to translate water fund PES to appeal to local perspectives, values and institutions. The author argues that contrasting narratives of PES can exist simultaneously between the entities that are implementing PES and the targets of that implementation.
Rubber and Carbon: Opportunity Costs, Incentives and Ecosystem Services in Acre, Brazil
Authors: Greenleaf Maron
Published: October 2019

The concept of ‘opportunity costs’ has been important in theoretical discussions of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). It focuses attention on economic trade‐offs of individual landholders and can make providing ecosystem services, such as tropical forest carbon sequestration, appear to be a cost‐effective way to reduce near‐term carbon emissions. Yet in practice, the concept may be less useful. This article examines how a programme in the Amazonian state of Acre, Brazil, has moved away from the concept of opportunity costs, challenging its theoretical importance. Instead of payments, the Acre programme offers ‘incentives’ intended to make rural people produce more whilst deforesting less. It resonates with the neoliberal commodification of carbon and the dominant valorization of intensive agriculture. Yet it also enlists lessons from Acre's history of rubber production and its rubber tapper‐led social movement, namely that the living forest can be monetarily valuable and that its use can facilitate its protection. This article shows how local history and culture can be used to reshape PES.
The Political Life of Natural Infrastructure: Water Funds and Alternative Histories of Payments for Ecosystem Services in Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Authors: Nelson Sara H. , Bremer Leah L. , Meza Prado Kelly , Brauman Kate A.
Published: October 2019

This article shows the two‐way relation between global norms and local conditions as they shape Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) theory and practice, through a case study of a water fund in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the heartland of the country's sugarcane industry. Drawing on interviews, survey data and historical research, the article argues that the water fund should be understood in the context of the history of infrastructure for the sugarcane industry in the region, and that this infrastructural perspective provides a more nuanced insight into the fund's political life than the traditional PES framing. Furthermore, the article shows how the norms embedded in this locally grown programme circulated through international networks to influence PES theory and design. This case offers one example of the need to attend to the multiple and geographically specific histories of actually existing PES in order to understand its diversity in the present.
Beyond Market Logics: Payments for Ecosystem Services as Alternative Development Practices in the Global South
Authors: Shapiro‐Garza Elizabeth , McElwee Pamela , Van Hecken Gert , Corbera Esteve
Published: October 2019

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) initiatives, which provide financial incentives for management practices thought to increase the production of environmental benefits, have expanded across the global South since the late 1990s. These initiatives have thus far been conceptualized rather narrowly; by their early proponents as a novel economic instrument for more ‘rational’, effective and efficient environmental policy or by their critics as an exogenously imposed conduit of hegemonic neoliberalism. This introductory article to the special issue that follows advocates for and demonstrates a more grounded and historically situated approach for understanding the conformation and outcomes of PES in actual practice. It proposes a framework for examining individual PES initiatives as shaped by dynamic interactions between imposed structure and the development pathways and situated agency of actors in the territories in which they are implemented. It finds that certain ubiquitous components of this approach — the valuation of nature, the creation of institutions and the negotiations that inevitably surround the distribution of benefits — provide potential openings for articulation and engagement that can allow these initiatives to be contested, adapted, hybridized or more fully co‐opted and captured. This framework opens a pathway for more inclusive, nuanced and grounded research on PES and on market‐based environment and development policies more broadly.
Blue‐throated macaws (Ara glaucogularis) succeed in a cooperative task without coordinating their actions
Authors: Tassin de Montaigu Cannelle , Durdevic Kresimir , Brucks Désirée , Krasheninnikova Anastasia , von Bayern Auguste
Published: October 2019

Social complexity may select for socio‐cognitive abilities. The “loose string” task has become a comparative benchmark paradigm for investigating cooperative problem‐solving abilities in many species, thus enhancing our understanding of their evolution. It requires two individuals working together to solve a problem, specifically by pulling the two ends of a string simultaneously to move a reward towards them. A dyad's performance therefore depends on the individuals’ ability to coordinate their pulling action. Many species, including corvids and parrots, have been tested in this paradigm, but most appear insensitive to the exact cooperative nature of the task. We tested another parrot species, blue‐throated macaws, to further our understanding of social cognition in psittacids. Five birds were tested with different partners in a dyadic setting. The study included two control conditions examining the cognitive mechanism underlying their seemingly cooperative behaviour. All birds were able to simultaneously pull the strings, but their performance did not drop when they were denied mutual visual access, and they failed to obtain food when they needed to wait for their partner. Moreover, the parrots decreased their latency to pull with increasing experience. These findings suggest that the birds may have applied an associatively learnt rule, or relied on acoustic cues, rather than coordinating their actions with the partner. This may not necessarily prove a lack of understanding the partner's role, given that their failure to wait in the delay control test might be explained by their poor inhibitory control abilities. Relationship quality (i.e. affiliation and food tolerance) did not influence dyadic success. Future studies are needed in order to disentangle macaws’ potentially limited cooperative abilities from their lack of inhibitory control.
Free prednisolone pharmacokinetics predicted from total concentrations in patients with inflammatory – immunonologic conditions
Authors: Mangin Olivier , Zheng Yi , Bouazza Naïm , Foissac Frantz , Benaboud Sihem , Lui Gabrielle , Hirt Déborah , Mouthon Luc , Tréluyer Jean‐Marc , Urien Saïk
Published: October 2019

Prednisone is an anti‐inflammatory drug widely used in internal medicine and rheumatology, but dosing remains empirical. The active metabolite of prednisone is free prednisolone. The aim of this work was to build a population pharmacokinetic (PK) model that can predict free prednisolone concentrations in patients with inflammatory/immunologic conditions.A total of 107 patients from the department of internal medicine of Cochin hospital provided 343 observations. Blood samples drawn for biological analyses were used for drug determination. Total plasma prednisolone concentrations were measured by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry, and the data were modelled using Monolix. The pharmacokinetics was ascribed a one‐compartment open model with three transit compartments standing for the absorption and metabolism process. The model used predicts free concentrations that served to derive total concentrations given published binding constants. Only size parameters influenced the pharmacokinetics. Free prednisolone CLU/F and VU/F, scaled allometrically on lean body weight, were, respectively, 26.7 L/h and 94.3 L for 50 kg LBW. CLU/F interindividual variability was 0.20. The additive and proportional residual variabilities were, respectively, 4.3 µg/L and 0.20. The results point out some dosing issues, that is the possibility of under‐ or over‐dosage in thin or overweight patients respectively.