bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is There an Association Between Psychiatric Disorders and Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis? A Large-database Study
Authors: Lee Soo-Bin , Chae Hyun-Wook , Kwon Ji-Won , Sung Sahyun , Lee Hwan-Mo , Moon Seong-Hwan , Lee Byung Ho
Published: March 2021

Background

Children with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) have reduced quality of life related to poor self-image, perhaps because of cosmetic concerns. However, there has not been a large-database epidemiologic study on the association between psychiatric disorders and scoliosis.

Questions/purposes

Using the Korean National Health Insurance database, we asked: (1) How common are psychiatric disorders among children with AIS? (2) After controlling for gender, age, insurance type, and residential district, are psychiatric disorders more common among children with AIS than among age-matched controls?

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted using sample datasets from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2012 to 2016, which is a 10% randomly extracted sample of total inpatients and outpatients each year. The mean number of total patients in each dataset was 1,047,603 ± 34,534. The mean number of children with AIS was 7409 ± 158 for each year. The age criteria was 10 to 19 years for the matching. Mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and behavioral disorders were selected as disorders possibly associated with AIS. We identified children with AIS who had any of the disorders above, and we obtained the prevalence of these disorders based on diagnostic codes. As an exploratory analysis, clinically meaningful variables were selected among the available codes in the dataset, and a univariable logistic regression test was performed for each variable. A multivariable logistic regression test with advanced variables was performed to identify the adjusted odds ratios of psychiatric disorders in children with AIS.

Results

The median (range) prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children with AIS from 2012 to 2016 was 7% (6% to 7%). Compared with children who did not have AIS, and after controlling for gender, age, insurance type, and residential district, children with AIS were more likely to have psychiatric disorders in all 5 years. The adjusted ORs of psychiatric disorders in children with AIS compared with children who did not have AIS ranged from 1.47 to 1.74 (2012: OR 1.60 [95% CI 1.46 to 1.75]; p < 0.001; 2013: OR 1.73 [95% CI 1.58 to 1.89]; p < 0.001; 2014: OR 1.74 [95% CI 1.59 to 1.91]; p < 0.001; 2015: OR 1.71 [95% CI 1.56 to 1.88]; p < 0.001; 2016: OR 1.47 [95% CI 1.33 to 1.62]; p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Considering the higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children with AIS compared with children who did not have AIS, children with AIS and their parents should be counseled about the increased risk of deteriorating mental health of the patients, and surgeons should provide early referral to pediatric psychiatrists. Further studies should investigate the effect of the factors related to AIS, such as curve type, Cobb angle, and treatment modality.

Level of Evidence

Level III, prognostic study.
Palliative Reconstructive Surgery for Advanced Maxillofacial Osteosarcoma in the Peak of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Matter of Ethical Decision-making
Authors: Gasteratos Konstantinos , Alser Osaid , Hart Justin , Chaiyasate Kongkrit
Published: March 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 posed an unprecedented strain to plastic surgery services. The scarcity of validated guidelines—at the beginning of this healthcare crisis—to direct clinical, ethical, transparent decision-making for head and neck cancer patients requiring palliative reconstructive surgery was a difficult situation. We report a 15-year-old girl with an advanced chemoresistant rare radiotherapy-induced mandibular osteosarcoma during the early phase of the pandemic in the United States in mid-March 2020, when official recommendations for triage were still developing. Local guidelines suggested canceling all elective procedures, and allowed operating emergency and/or nonelective cases only. Many surgeons declined surgery due to patient’s poor prognosis and high perioperative risk, but her mother pursued different professional opinions elsewhere. However, upon Beaumont hospital approval, the patient underwent radical en bloc resection of the tumor, hemimandibulectomy, zygomatic resection, maxillectomy, and hemipalate resection followed by reconstruction with free fibula osteocutaneous and anterolateral thigh flaps. The challenging decision to proceed with surgery was based on evidence-based and objective risk-stratifying scores, available at the time, and ethical recommendations from emerging reliable published literature. Despite a favorable postoperative outcome, the patient expired due to cardiac complications of the disease. Our patient taught us that ethical decision-making, sound clinical judgment, and a patient-centered individualized approach remain pivotal aspects of the medical profession. Although the surgery will not provide a cure for the disease, we have found that palliative reconstructive surgery can greatly improve patient’s quality of life, and help family cope with the advancing stages of disease.
Dry Those Crying Eyes
Authors: Rakofsky Jeffrey J. , Rakofsky Sanford I. , Dunlop Boadie W.
Published: March 2021

Purpose/Background

Several clinic-based and large population studies have associated a depression diagnosis or depression severity with dry eye disease (DED) or symptoms. On the other hand, several other large population studies have found that antidepressant use was also associated with DED. Unfortunately, many of the studies finding associations between depression and DED did not control for concomitant antidepressant use, whereas the ones that found associations between antidepressant use and DED did not control for severity of depression or other psychiatric indications for selective serotonin inhibitor use. The purpose of this review was to identify whether depression and antidepressants play an independent role from one another in the onset of DED.

Methods/Procedures

A systematic literature review was conducted searching for DED studies that adjusted for concomitant antidepressant use in depressed patients, that adjusted for depressive symptoms in patients taking antidepressants, and that enrolled depressed patients who were not taking psychiatric medications at the time of the study. Additionally, the prescribing information of marketed antidepressants was reviewed to determine rates of dry eyes reported during clinical trials.

Findings/Results

The literature review initially identified 43 studies with 13 fitting the inclusion criteria. Although these studies varied in their quality, 7 revealed statistically significant associations between depression and DED, whereas 7, including 1 randomized trial, revealed significant associations between antidepressants and DED. Sixteen percent of the antidepressant package inserts inspected reported DED symptoms as an infrequent risk.

Implications/Conclusions

This review suggests that independent of one another, both depression and antidepressant use are associated with DED.
Melancholic Features in Bipolar Depression and Response to Lamotrigine
Authors: Peters Evyn M. , Zhang Yanbo , Lodhi Rohit , Li Hua , Balbuena Lloyd
Published: March 2021

Background

A pilot study suggested lamotrigine may be more effective for bipolar depression with melancholic features. We tested this hypothesis in a pooled analysis of 5 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials of lamotrigine for acute bipolar depression.

Methods

The pooled sample consisted of 1072 adult outpatients. Depressive symptoms were assessed for 7 to 10 weeks with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale. The outcome measure was end-trial response (score reduction ≥ 50%). Melancholic features were assessed with both the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and baseline depression scale items, according to DSM criteria.

Results

The item-based melancholic specifier was associated with numerically larger treatment effects, although subgroup-treatment interactions in logistic regression models did not reach statistical significance. The small subgroup of patients with severe psychomotor retardation also appeared to benefit from lamotrigine. However, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV melancholic specifier was not associated with larger treatment effects. Baseline depression severity was inconsistently associated with response, depending on which scale was used to define severity. The 2 melancholia variables had poor agreement despite having similar prevalences.

Conclusions

Our results do not clearly support the original hypothesis but do reinforce the importance of replicating secondary analyses of clinical trials with additional data.
Diet and Osteoarthritis
Authors: Smith Brittany , Craven Kay , Kolasa Kathryn M.
Published: March 2021

Osteoarthritis is a debilitating joint disease impacting millions of people around the world, but for which few effective treatments exist. It is influenced by both mechanical and systemic factors, each of which may be mitigated by appropriate dietary interventions. Unfortunately, few patients are given advice beyond, “lose some weight.” The effect of weight loss on pain and function is recognized, but less known is the evidence that diet quality may impact pain and function. In this article, we discuss evidence-based weight loss strategies and the additional role of an anti-inflammatory diet on both the progression and severity of osteoarthritis. We present a case from our family medicine practice to demonstrate how evidence-based medical nutrition therapy can be used to help patients with osteoarthritis achieve symptom relief.
Fat Grafting in Radiation-Induced Soft-Tissue Injury: A Narrative Review of the Clinical Evidence and Implications for Future Studies
Authors: Kenny Elizabeth M. , Egro Francesco M. , Ejaz Asim , Coleman Sydney R. , Greenberger Joel S. , Rubin J. Peter
Published: March 2021

Radiation-induced changes in skin and soft tissue result in significant cosmetic and functional impairment with subsequent decrease in quality of life. Fat grafting has emerged as a therapy for radiation-induced soft-tissue injury, and this narrative review aims to evaluate the current clinical evidence regarding its efficacy. A review was conducted to examine the current clinical evidence of fat grafting as a therapy for radiation-induced injury to the skin and soft tissue and to outline the clinical outcomes that can be used to more consistently quantify chronic radiation-induced injury in future clinical studies. The current clinical evidence regarding the efficacy of fat grafting to treat radiation-induced injury of the skin and soft tissue suggests that fat grafting increases skin softness and pliability, induces volume restoration, improves hair growth in areas of alopecia, reduces pain, and improves cosmetic and functional outcomes. However, literature in this field is far from robust and mired by the retrospective nature of the studies, lack of adequate controls, and inherent limitations of small case series and cohorts. A series of actions have been identified to strengthen future clinical data, including the need for physical examination using a validated scale, appropriate imaging, skin biomechanics and microcirculation testing, and histologic analysis. In conclusion, radiation-induced soft-tissue injury is a significant health burden that can lead to severe functional and aesthetic sequelae. Although still in a preliminary research phase, there is promising clinical evidence demonstrating the benefits of fat grafting to treat chronic changes after radiation therapy. Future clinical studies will require larger cohorts, adequate controls, and consistent use of objective measurements.
Insurance Reimbursement in Plastic Surgery
Authors: Kim You J. , Chung Kevin C.
Published: March 2021

The ambiguity of medical finances, both to the patient and to the provider, has direct effects on the quality of care that is delivered to the patient. To encourage transparency in health care, physician reimbursement is a process that must be understood to ensure patient satisfaction, a physician’s willingness to deliver care, and the success of health care facilities. Furthermore, physicians should be aware of the effects that legislative action, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, has on their income. As a field that encompasses both cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, plastic surgeons must know this process intimately to ensure efficient services and appropriate reimbursement. In particular, plastic surgeons should be familiar with how the Affordable Care Act affects their income, practice, and the patient’s access to care. As Medicare and Medicaid continue to increase health care access for many Americans, specialists such as plastic surgeons will need to reinforce the value of the specialty in the continuum of care. As the health care industry moves away from a fee-for-service system to one of value-based care, plastic surgeons need to be at the forefront of this transition to ensure that they are delivering quality care, and receiving appropriate reimbursement. The authors have provided data from the University of Michigan to demonstrate the reimbursement patterns seen in plastic surgery. This Special Topic article provides insight into the reimbursement process in the era of the Affordable Care Act and the various challenges that may be encountered within this field.
Understanding the Basics of Restrictive Covenants in Employment Agreements
Authors: Alderman Amy K. , Bacon-Tinsley Anna
Published: March 2021

Background:

Restrictive covenants are common in contractual agreements involving physicians and need careful consideration to minimize potential conflict during the term of the contract and on physician departure from a group practice or hospital system.

Methods:

A general overview of the different components of restrictive covenants is provided, including specific information related to noncompetes, nonsolicitations, and nondisclosure agreements.

Results:

In general, states will uphold restrictive covenants if the elements of the noncompete are reasonable regarding geographic distance restrictions (e.g., <20 air miles), time restrictions (e.g., <2 years), and scope of services. However, states vary considerably in the interpretation of restrictive covenants. Other components of the contract, such as alternative dispute resolution (mediation and/or arbitration) and buy-out clauses (i.e., liquidated damages provisions), should be considered at the time the agreement is negotiated.

Conclusions:

States are balancing the protection of business interests with the protection of free trade. It is important that physicians seek counsel with an experienced health care attorney with respect to restrictive covenants in his or her specific state. A simple, well-written, and reasonable restrictive covenant can often help limit legal conflict and expense.
Learning from reproducing computational results: introducing three principles and theReproduction Package
Authors: Krafczyk M. S. , Shi A. , Bhaskar A. , Marinov D. , Stodden V.
Published: March 2021

We carry out efforts to reproduce computational results for seven published articles and identify barriers to computational reproducibility. We then derive three principles to guide the practice and dissemination of reproducible computational research: (i) Provide transparency regarding how computational results are produced; (ii) When writing and releasing research software, aim for ease of (re-)executability; (iii) Make any code upon which the results rely as deterministic as possible. We then exemplify these three principles with 12 specific guidelines for their implementation in practice. We illustrate the three principles of reproducible research with a series of vignettes from our experimental reproducibility work. We define a novelReproduction Package, a formalism that specifies a structured way to share computational research artifacts that implements the guidelines generated from our reproduction efforts to allow others to build, reproduce and extend computational science. We make our reproduction efforts in this paper publicly available as exemplarReproduction Packages.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reliability and reproducibility in computational science: implementing verification, validation and uncertainty quantificationin silico’.
Sensitivity-driven simulation development: a case study in forced migration
Authors: Suleimenova D. , Arabnejad H. , Edeling W. N. , Groen D.
Published: March 2021

This paper presents an approach named sensitivity-driven simulation development (SDSD), where the use of sensitivity analysis (SA) guides the focus of further simulation development and refinement efforts, avoiding direct calibration to validation data. SA identifies assumptions that are particularly pivotal to the validation result, and in response model ruleset refinement resolves those assumptions in greater detail, balancing the sensitivity more evenly across the different assumptions and parameters. We implement and demonstrate our approach to refine agent-based models of forcibly displaced people in neighbouring countries. Over 70.8 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, of which 26 million are refugees fleeing from armed conflicts, violence, natural disaster or famine. Predicting forced migration movements is important today, as it can help governments and NGOs to effectively assist vulnerable migrants and efficiently allocate humanitarian resources. We use an initial SA iteration to steer the simulation development process and identify several pivotal parameters. We then show that we are able to reduce the relative sensitivity of these parameters in a secondary SA iteration by approximately 54% on average.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reliability and reproducibility in computational science: implementing verification, validation and uncertainty quantification
in silico
’.
Comparative Assessment of the Prevalence, Practices and Factors Associated with Self-medication with Antibiotics in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Yeika Eugene Vernyuy , Ingelbeen Brecht , Kemah Ben-Lawrence , Wirsiy Frankline Sevidzem , Fomengia Joseph Nkeangu , van der Sande Marianne
Published: March 2021

Background

Self-medication with antibiotics (SMA) is a common practise in many parts of Africa, but its magnitude and drivers are not well-known. This systematic review evaluated and compared the prevalence, reasons, sources, and factors associated with of SMA within African sub-regions.

Methods

An electronic search of PubMed and Google Scholar databases was performed for observational studies conducted between January 2005 and February 2020. Two reviewers independently screened the abstracts and full texts using the PRISMA flowchart and equally performed quality assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative syntheses of selected studies were carried out.

Results

A total of 40 studies from 19 countries were selected for qualitative synthesis. The prevalence of SMA in Africa ranged from 12.1% to 93.9% with a median prevalence of 55.7% (IQR 41%-75%). Western Africa was the sub-region with the highest prevalence 70.1% (IQR 48.3%-82.1%), followed by Northern Africa with 48.1% (IQR 41.1-64.3%). We identified 27 different antibiotics used for self-medication from 13 different antibiotic classes. Penicillins were the most frequently used antibiotics followed by Tetracyclines and Fluoroquinolones. The most frequent indications for SMA were upper respiratory tract symptoms/infections (27 studies). Common sources of antibiotics used for self-medication were community pharmacies (31 studies), family/friends (20 studies), leftover antibiotics from previous treatments (19 studies), and patent medicine stores (18 studies). Commonly reported factors associated with SMA were no education/ low educational status (9 studies), male gender (5 studies), and low income / unemployment (2 studies).

Conclusions

The prevalence of SMA in Africa is high and varies across sub-regions with Western Africa having the highest prevalence. Drivers of SMA are complex comprising of socio-economic factors, limited access to healthcare coupled with absence or poorly implemented policies regulating antibiotic sales.
A Novel Diagnostic Test to Screen SARS-CoV-2 Variants Containing E484K and N501Y Mutations
Authors: Zhao Yanan , Lee Annie , Composto Kaelea , Cunningham Marcus H. , Mediavilla Jose R. , Fennessey Samantha , Corvelo André , Chow Kar Fai , Zody Michael , Chen Liang , Kreiswirth Barry N. , Perlin David S.
Published: March 2021

Spike protein mutations E484K and N501Y carried by SARS-CoV-2 variants have been associated with concerning changes of the virus, including resistance to neutralizing antibodies and increased transmissibility. While the concerning variants are fast spreading in various geographical areas, identification and monitoring of these variants is lagging far behind, due in large part to the slow speed and insufficient capacity of viral sequencing. In response to the unmet need for a fast and efficient screening tool, we developed a single-tube duplex molecular assay for rapid and simultaneous identification of E484K and N501Y mutations from nasopharyngeal swab (NS) samples within 2.5 h from sample preparation to report. Using this tool, we screened a total of 435 clinical NS samples collected from COVID patients at 8 hospitals within the Hackensack Meridian Health network in New Jersey. While B.1.351 and P.1 variants were absent from the current study, our data revealed a dramatic increase in the frequency of E484K over time, underscoring the need for continuous epidemiological monitoring.
Continuous monitoring reveals protective effects ofN-acetylcysteine amide on an isogenic microphysiological model of the neurovascular unit
Authors: Matthiesen Isabelle , Voulgaris Dimitrios , Nikolakopoulou Polyxeni , Winkler Thomas E. , Herland Anna
Published: March 2021

Microphysiological systems mimic the in-vivo cellular ensemble and microenvironment with the goal of providing more human-like models for biopharmaceutical research. We report the first such model of the blood-brain barrier (BBB-on-chip) featuring both isogenic human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cells and continuous barrier integrity monitoring with <2-minute temporal resolution. We showcase its capabilities in the first microphysiological study of nitrosative stress and antioxidant prophylaxis. Relying on off-stoichiometry thiol-ene epoxy (OSTE+) for fabrication greatly facilitates assembly and sensor integration compared to the prevalent polydimethylsiloxane devices. The integrated cell-substrate endothelial resistance monitoring allows us to capture formation and breakdown of our blood-brain barrier model, consisting of co-cultured hiPSC-derived endothelial-like and astrocyte-like cells. We observe clear cellular disruption when exposing the BBB-on-chip to the nitrosative stressor linsidomine, and report on the barrier permeability and barrier-protective effects of the antioxidantN-acetylcysteine amide. Using metabolomic network analysis, we further find drug-induced changes consistent with prior literature regarding, e.g., cysteine and glutathione involvement. A model like ours opens new possibilities for drug screening studies and personalized medicine, relying solely on isogenic human-derived cells and providing high-resolution temporal readouts that can help in pharmacodynamic studies.
Decoding Object Weight from Electromyography during Human Grasping
Authors: Lashgari Elnaz , Pouya Atabak , Maoz Uri
Published: March 2021

Human urges, desires, and intentions manifest themselves in voluntary action. The final stages of such voluntary action are the muscle contractions that bring it about. Electromyography (EMG) signals measure such muscle contractions. Decoding action contents from EMG require advanced methods for detection, decomposition, processing, and classification and remains a challenge in neuroscience. This study presents a new, time-domain method of classifying EMG for grasping different types of objects. Our proposed method can classify objects with different weights with an accuracy of up to 90%. This progress in neuroscience affects other fields like physiology, brain-computer interfaces, robotics, and so on.
SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 caused HLA-A2+CD8+T cell epitope mutations for impaired cellular immune response
Authors: Xiao Chanchan , Mao Lipeng , Wang Zhigang , Zhu Guodong , Gao Lijuan , Su Jun , Chen Xiongfei , Yuan Jun , Hu Yutian , Yin Zhinan , Xie Jun , Ji Weiqing , Niu Haitao , Gao Feng , Luo Oscar Junhong , Xiao Lianbo , Wang Pengcheng , Chen Guobing
Published: March 2021

The rapid spreading of the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variant, B.1.1.7, highlighted the requirements to better understand adaptive immune responses to this virus. Since CD8+T cell responses play an important role in disease resolution and modulation in COVID-19 patients, it is essential to address whether these newly emerged mutations would result in altered immune responses. Here we evaluated the immune properties of the HLA-A2 restricted CD8+T cell epitopes containing mutations from B.1.1.7, and furthermore performed a comprehensive analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 specific CD8+T cell responses from COVID-19 convalescent patients and SARS-CoV-2 vaccinees recognizing the ancestral Wuhan strain compared to B.1.1.7. First, most of the predicted CD8+T cell epitopes showed proper binding with HLA-A2, while epitopes from B.1.1.7 had lower binding capability than those from the ancestral strain. In addition, these peptides could effectively induced the activation and cytotoxicity of CD8+T cells. Our results further showed that at least two site mutations in B.1.1.7 resulted in a decrease in CD8+T cell activation and a possible immune evasion, namely A1708D mutation in ORF1ab1707-1716and I2230T mutation in ORF1ab2230-2238. Our current analysis provides information that contributes to the understanding of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+T cell responses elicited by infection of mutated strains or vaccination.

Graphical Abstract
Energy Landscape of Ubiquitin is Weakly Multidimensional
Authors: Mondal Balaka , Thirumalai D. , Reddy Govardhan
Published: March 2021

Single molecule pulling experiments report time-dependent changes in the extension (X) of a biomolecule as a function of the applied force (f). By fitting the data to one-dimensional analytical models of the energy landscape, the hopping rates between the folded and unfolded states in two-state folders, the height and the location of the transition state (TS) can be extracted. Although this approach is remarkably insightful, there are cases for which the energy landscape is multidimensional (catch bonds being the most prominent). To assess if the unfolding energy landscape in small single domain proteins could be one dimensional, we simulated force-induced unfolding of Ubiquitin (Ub) using the coarse-grained Self-Organized Polymer-Side Chain (SOP-SC) model. Brownian dynamics simulations using the SOP-SC model reveal that the Ub energy landscape is weakly multidimensional (WMD) governed predominantly by a single barrier. The unfolding pathway is confined to a narrow reaction pathway that could be described as diffusion in a quasi 1D X-dependent free energy profile. However, a granular analysis using the Pfold analysis, which does not assume any form for the reaction coordinate, shows that X alone does not account for the height, and more importantly, the location of the TS. The f-dependent TS location moves towards the folded state as f increases, in accord with the Hammond postulate. Our study shows that, in addition to analyzing the f-dependent hopping rates, the transition state ensemble must also be determined without resorting to X as a reaction coordinate in order to describe the unfolding energy landscapes of single domain proteins, especially if they are only WMD.

TOC Graphic
Deep learning for early warning signals of regime shifts
Authors: Bury Thomas M. , Sujith R. I. , Pavithran Induja , Scheffer Marten , Lenton Timothy M. , Anand Madhur , Bauch Chris T.
Published: March 2021

Many natural systems exhibit regime shifts where slowly changing environmental conditions suddenly shift the system to a new and sometimes very different state. As the tipping point is approached, the dynamics of complex and varied systems all simplify down to a small number of possible ‘normal forms’ that determine how the new regime will look. Indicators such as increasing lag-1 autocorrelation and variance provide generic early warning signals (EWS) by detecting how dynamics slow down near the tipping point. But they do not indicate what type of new regime will emerge. Here we develop a deep learning algorithm that can detect EWS in systems it was not explicitly trained on, by exploiting information about normal forms and scaling behaviour of dynamics near tipping points that are common to many dynamical systems. The algorithm detects EWS in 268 empirical and model time series from ecology, thermoacoustics, climatology, and epidemiology with much greater sensitivity and specificity than generic EWS. It can also predict the normal form that will characterize the oncoming regime shift. Such approaches can help humans better manage regime shifts. The algorithm also illustrates how a universe of possible models can be mined to recognize naturally-occurring tipping points.
Exploring the structure and mechanics of thin supported inverse bicontinuous cubic phase lipid films
Authors: Ridolfi Andrea , Humphreys Ben , Caselli Lucrezia , Montis Costanza , Nylander Tommy , Berti Debora , Brucale Marco , Valle Francesco
Published: March 2021

Inverse bicontinuous cubic phase membranes are ubiquitous in nature but their properties and functions are still not fully understood. To shed light on this topic, we herein realize thin supported cubic phase lipid films, characterize their structure and provide the first study of the mechanical properties of these non-lamellar architectures.
Plant phenology influences rhizosphere microbial community and is accelerated by serpentine microorganisms inPlantago erecta
Authors: Igwe Alexandria N. , Quasem Bibi , Liu Naomi , Vannette Rachel L.
Published: March 2021

Serpentine soils are drought-prone and rich in heavy metals, and plants growing on serpentine soils host distinct microbial communities that may affect plant survival and phenotype. However, whether the rhizosphere communities of plants from different soil chemistries are initially distinct or diverge over time may help us understand drivers of microbial community structure and function in stressful soils. Here, we test the hypothesis that rhizosphere microbial communities will converge over time (plant development), independent of soil chemistry and microbial source. We grewPlantago erectain serpentine or nonserpentine soil, with serpentine or nonserpentine microbes and tracked plant growth and root phenotypes. We used 16S rRNA barcoding to compare bacterial species composition at seedling, vegetative, early-, and late-flowering phases. Plant phenotype and rhizosphere bacterial communities were mainly structured by soil type, with minor contributions by plant development, microbe source and their interactions. Serpentine microorganisms promoted early flowering in plants on non-serpentine soils. Despite strong effects of soil chemistry, the convergence in bacterial community composition across development demonstrates the importance of the plant-microbe interactions in shaping microbial assembly processes across soil types.
Goal clarity as a link between humble leadership and project success: the interactive effects of organizational culture
Authors: Ali Mudassar , Li Zhang , Durrani Dilawar Khan , Shah Adnan Muhammad , Khuram Waqas
Published: March 2021

Purpose

Using the lens of conservation of resources (COR) theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of humble leadership on project success by integrating the mediating role of goal clarity. The authors also argue that organizational culture moderates these direct and indirect relationships through goal clarity.

Design/methodology/approach

Time-lagged data were collected from 329 employees in the civil construction sector of Pakistan.

Findings

The results indicate that humble leadership enhances project success through mediating and moderating mechanisms.

Research limitations/implications

The present research ends with an argument, managerial consequences, limits and guidance for future research.

Practical implications

The results influence a project-based organization on the selection and promotion of humility among project managers.

Originality/value

This research answers the following research question, which has been ignored in the literature: What are the suggested mechanisms for humble leadership in promoting project success?
Learning in municipalities after disasters
Authors: Betten Tore , Vian Pettersen Kristian , Albrechtsen Eirik
Published: March 2021

Purpose

Learning at the local level is an important contributor to safe and resilient communities. The purpose of this article is therefore to explore what motivates municipalities in Norway to learn from disasters and how they learn from them. This purpose has been fulfilled by (1) addressing the process of learning from disasters occurring within municipalities, and (2) learning from disasters in other municipalities, in particular from the terrorist incidents that occurred in Oslo on 22 July 2011.

Design/methodology/approach

An interview study was conducted of individuals responsible for municipal emergency preparedness.

Findings

Unwanted events that occur outside municipal borders only trigger learning processes if they are geographically proximate. Events occurring within the geographical borders of the municipality represent greater potential for learning than those occurring outside its borders. Availability of resources for municipal civil protection activities is another factor that has an impact on learning.

Originality/value

The local level plays a key role in generating and maintaining adequate civil protection and emergency preparedness in society. Although the literature on learning from disasters is extensive, learning processes at the local level have been given little attention. This article thus contributes to the existing body of knowledge by studying learning processes following disasters at the local level.
Active management, value investing and pension fund performance
Authors: Otero-González Luis , Durán-Santomil Pablo , Lado-Sestayo Rubén , Vivel-Búa Milagros
Published: March 2021

Purpose

This paper analyses whether the active management and the fundamentals of the pension fund allow products that beat their peers to be identified in terms of risk-adjusted performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample is composed of all the pension funds active in the period 2000 to 2017 investing in the Eurozone. What this means is that a greater similarity is guaranteed in terms of benchmark, assets available for investment and currency. All the data have been retrieved from the Morningstar Direct database.

Findings

The paper reveals that the degree of concentration and value for money are important determinants of performance. In this sense, the strategies of investing in concentrated portfolios that differ from the benchmark and with undervalued assets in terms of price earnings ratio (PER)-return on assets (ROA) achieve better results.

Originality/value

This is one of the few papers that shows the effect of active management and value investing strategies’ on the performance of pension funds.

研究目的

本文旨在分析、我們能否根據退休基金的積極管理及其基本原理, 找到就風險調整表現而言之最優勝產品.

研究設計/方法

我們的樣本包括於2000年至2017年期間活躍於歐元區內投資活動的所有退休基金。這意味著、樣本確保了相關之退休基金就基準、可供投資的資產及貨幣而言、均擁有較大的相似性。所有數據均從晨星基金資料庫檢索得來的。.

研究結果

本文顯示、集中程度和價值比率是決定表現的重要因素。在這個意義上說，如投資在與基準不同的及附有就本益比 – 資產收益率 (PER - ROA) 而言被低估的資產的那些集中投資組合上, 這會是效果較佳的策略.

研究的原創性

探討積極管理和價值投資策略如何影響退休基金表現的學術研究為數不多, 本文乃屬這類研究。.
Reflecting or ruminating: listening to the regrets of life science leaders
Authors: Meldrum Helen Mary
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The overwhelming frequency of failure in trying to bring a safe and effective biotech, pharmaceutical or medical device product to market is truly astounding. This research synthesizes industry leaders' insights on lessons learned from reflecting on professional disappointments.

Design/methodology/approach

This research used a qualitative approach to learning from the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Scientific Officers (CSOs) and Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of the most successful life science firms in the USA. A total of 45 industry leaders were interviewed regarding their lingering regrets about their career misadventures.

Findings

Regrets were unavoidable because there were opportunity costs for every choice each leader made. Commentary about wisdom gained comprised themes regarding valuable time lost, strategies that could have been enacted, products that failed and essential personnel who were not managed optimally. Contrary to expectations, there was little mention of money that was squandered.

Originality/value

Not felt as a solely negative emotion, regrets were recognized by these leaders as a potentially positive influence on their future decisions. Not felt as a solely negative emotion, regret was recognized by these leaders as a potentially positive influence on their future decisions. This exploratory study suggests that learning from retrospective and anticipated regrets benefits life science leaders in gaining clarity of thought regarding their current business challenges. Because prior research on the value of psychological regrets has mostly relied on limited samples, this inquiry contributes a new vantage point by examining a unique population of senior business leaders, thus providing broader applicability to the organizational literature.
Impact of task characteristics on employee agility: the moderating effect of enterprise social media visibility
Authors: Zhu Mengyi , Sun Yuan , Jeyaraj Anand , Hao Jie
Published: March 2021

Purpose

This study aims to explore whether and how task characteristics affect employee agility in the context of enterprise social media (ESM).

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting the social network ties perspective, this study examines how task characteristics (i.e. task complexity, task interdependence and task non-routineness) affect employee agility by promoting their social network ties (i.e. instrumental ties and expressive ties) and how ESM visibility moderates their relationships. Data gathered from 341 ESM users in workplaces were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.2.

Findings

First, task complexity, task interdependence and task non-routineness have positive effects on instrumental and expressive ties, which in turn influences agility; Second, instrumental ties have a stronger effect on employee agility relative to expressive ties; Finally, ESM visibility positively moderates the effects of task complexity and task non-routineness on social network ties.

Practical implications

The findings provide guidance for organizational managers on how to use task characteristics and ESM to improve employee agility, as well as insights for social media designers to optimize ESM functions to improve agility.

Originality/value

This study provides empirical evidence to explain the roles of task characteristics and social network ties in influencing employee agility, thus clarifying the inconsistent findings in extant research. The moderating effects of ESM visibility on the relationships between task characteristics and social network ties are also examined, thus providing further insights on the positive role of ESM in organizations.
Real Estate Insights Strategic planning policy post-pandemic: the “Great Land Question”
Authors: Ratcliffe John
Published: March 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the case for the radical reform of land policy worldwide. It does so, however, in the context of present problems posed by the prevailing coronavirus pandemic. It is a strategic study, not a scientific analysis and is oriented towards the field of the built environment in general and the real estate industry in particular.

Design/methodology/approach

Although it draws on concepts of land management long extolled and covers concerns currently circulating about the prospects for urban planning and property development post-pandemic, the synthesis is original.

Findings

The concluding counsel is that land policy reform, being a component factor of so much of society's endeavours, should figure far more prominently across the political platforms of the world.

Practical implications

Most of the material regarding the “Great Land Question” is based on findings from countless strategic foresight studies conducted by the author over the past 25 years and re-assessed in light of the pandemic. If correct, the practical implications will be significant.

Originality/value

This is a review of existing models.
Credit card payments: do cultural values matter? Evidence from the European Union
Authors: Cornea Delia
Published: March 2021

Purpose

This study analyzes how cultural and social values shape specific attitudes toward credit cards and indebtedness and consumption behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a panel dataset for a selection of European Union countries from 2003 to 2016. The relation between credit card use and social and cultural attitudes is constructed by controlling for past habits in payment behavior and cross-substitution with alternative payment instruments by employing a dynamic panel data analysis based on the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator.

Findings

The total value of credit card payments positively correlated with values emphasizing risk-taking attitudes. When analyzing the propensity of using these instruments for larger purchases, the level of trust is the most relevant predictor. However, the results seemed region-specific with some variables correlating consumption behavior with credit card usage depending on the political and the economic background of the country. Moreover, risk-taking attitudes prevail when they are related to the extent to which countries rely on cash as a preferred payment instrument. Also, credit card usage is mainly explained by past habits and the economic context.

Originality/value

The model expands on previous credit card transaction research by including an additional set of cultural values able to account for the complex nature of payment instruments and their effects on indebtedness and consumption behavior.
Online communication self-disclosure and intimacy development on Facebook: the perspective of uses and gratifications theory
Authors: Lin Yu-Hsun , Chu My Giang
Published: March 2021

Purpose

Motivating users to revisit a social networking site (SNS) by developing a long-term relationship with them is critical for SNS operators to enhance market control and competitiveness. By conceptualizing loyalty intention as an indicator of the long-term relationship, the present study, based on uses and gratification (U&G) theory, aims to explore the role played by online intimacy development with respect to loyalty intention when individuals have gained gratifications through using the SNS.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a questionnaire measuring six types of Facebook gratifications as well as measuring self-disclosure breadth, self-disclosure depth, intimacy with Facebook, intimacy with Facebook friends and loyalty intention. Data, collected from the University of Economics in Vietnam, were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.

Findings

The results support several findings: (1) the gratifications including entertainment, network extension, recognition and emotional support provided by Facebook may stimulate the users' intimacy with Facebook and/or Facebook users; (2) intimacy with Facebook and intimacy with Facebook friends facilitate users' loyalty intention; (3) having a sense of emotional support influences users to engage in self-disclosure with breadth and meaningful depth, thus leading them to develop a sense of intimacy with Facebook friends.

Originality/value

The study contributes to U&G research, intimacy theory and the SNS literature by offering an understanding of users' online communication self-disclosure and intimacy development, wherein the self-disclosure and intimacy stem from the users' gratifications via using specific SNS services and, in turn, create their loyalty intention toward that SNS.
Exploring cultural values in conflict management: a qualitative study of university heads of departments
Authors: Akanji Babatunde , Mordi Chima , Ajonbadi Hakeem , Adekoya Olatunji David
Published: March 2021

Purpose

In seeking to understand the impact of culture on conflict management (CM), extant organisational management research has, for the most part, confined itself to using the one-dimensional collectivism/individualism model of Hofstede's cultural theory. The purpose of this present study is to extend this knowledge area by adopting the more comprehensive analysis of Hofstede's fourfold dimensional typology – power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity – as a conceptual lens to investigate how national culture impacts the interpersonal CM of those in leadership positions in higher education institutions. Specifically, this article explores the extent to which cultural values influence the CM practices of university heads of departments (HODs).

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a qualitative approach, 36 interviews were conducted with heads of different departments across a variety of disciplines in selected Nigerian universities.

Findings

The study's results conceptualise how underlying cultural norms – promoting paternalism, servility and social relations – influence the conflict-handling strategies adopted by university HODs. It consequently emerged from the thematic analysis that in Nigeria, conflict-handling decisions are shaped by status-based dictates, a normative emphasis on communality, masculine hegemony and religious motivation – as opposed to Western cultures, where these benevolent and integrative values play a far smaller role.

Research limitations/implications

The study focussed on a small group of research subjects. Although the sample is not a sample that enables generalisation, the findings provide theoretical insights into how cultural ascendancy could frame conflict resolutions. This research is especially relevant as it runs in a culture significantly different from the ones that originally were investigated and in which managerial books and mainstream practices emerged and, thus, can contribute to challenge and enhance theory.

Originality/value

The study seeks to advance knowledge of the interface between culture and CM in a sub-Saharan African context where literature is scarce.
Impact of cultural values on leadership roles and paternalistic style from the role theory perspective
Authors: Arun Korhan , Gedik Nesli Kahraman , Okun Olcay , Sen Cem
Published: March 2021

Purpose

This paper researches the effects of the cultural context from values' ground on leadership roles and the effects of roles on styles. The idea behind this study is to show that cultural communities have different cultural models regarding the kinds of roles leaders should or should not play.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample was chosen from the part of the town where the immigrant workforce is growing, as well as it is the closest growing economic area to Europe in Turkey.

Findings

The analysis shows that cultural values significantly affect leadership roles. Additionally, there is a correlation between roles and paternalistic leadership style. Asian cultural values do affect leadership roles more than Western values. Additionally, each culture is diminishing the other. As leadership roles increase, they are acting as paternalistic leadership substitutes.

Originality/value

Interestingly we have introduced paternalistic leadership substitutes to literature and showed that paternalistic leadership is not only culturally but also contextually bounded.