bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social participation, social capital and daily tobacco smoking: a population-based multilevel analysis in Malmö, Sweden
Authors: Lindström Martin , Moghaddassi Mahnaz , Bolin Kristian , Lindgren Björn , Merlo Juan
Published: December 2003

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contextual and individual factors on daily tobacco smoking. Methods: The public-health survey in Malmö 1994 is a cross-sectional study. A total of 5,600 individuals aged 20 - 80 years were invited to answer a postal questionnaire. The participation rate was 71%. A multilevel logistic regression model, with individuals at the first level and neighbourhoods at the second, was performed. We analysed the effect (intra-area correlation, cross-level modification and odds ratios) of individual and neighbourhood factors on smoking after adjustment for individual factors. Results: Neighbourhood factors accounted for 2.5% of the crude total variance in daily tobacco smoking. This effect was significantly reduced when the individual factors such as education were included in the model. However, individual social capital, measured by social participation, only marginally affected the total neighbourhood variance in daily tobacco smoking. In fact, no significant variance in daily tobacco smoking remained after the introduction of the individual factors other than individual social capital in the model. Conclusion: In Malmö, the neighbourhood variance in daily tobacco smoking is mainly affected by individual factors other than individual social capital, especially socioeconomic status measured as level of education.
The return of the kings: Temporality in the construction of EU identity
Authors: Petersson Bo , Hellström Anders
Published: December 2003

The authors analyze how pro-federative representatives of the European Commission exploit the temporal dimension of identity construction within the EU. The paper shows, through the analysis of speeches and statements of Commission members, how efforts are made to construct a common past and visualize a common future to enhance common identities within the EU. The common past is invoked through recurrent claims that Europe is on the point of being reunified, and, most prominently, through references to the words and deeds of the Founding Fathers of the EU, notably Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman. This near past seems to make up the affective glue most counted upon to promote common identifications. Furthermore, the temporal dimension is used to invoke visions pertaining to the near future, here labelled the common near. Most often, these visions deal with the favourable and harmonious conditions to arise once the current enlargement is completed.
Reasons for divorce among muslim arabs in israel: An exploratory study
Authors: Cohen Orna , Savaya Rivka
Published: December 2003

This is an exploratory, cross-cultural study examining the reasons for divorce in a sample of 312 Muslim Arabs in Israel. Findings showed a combination of modern and traditional reasons, which reflect the transition that Arab society in Israel is undergoing. On the modern side, over two-thirds of both the men and women endorsed ‘did not get along’ and communications problems, common reasons in the West today. On the traditional side, large proportions of respondents cited physical violence and interference by relatives – reasons which are more common in traditional societies, where divorce is stigmatized and otherwise very difficult. In addition, a sizeable proportion of the men cited problems of conception.
Mitochondrial Nitric‐oxide Synthase: Role in Pathophysiology
Authors: Haynes Virginia , Elfering Sarah , Squires Rachel , Traaseth Nathaniel , Solien Joseph , Ettl Adam , Giulivi Cecilia
Published: December 2003

The biochemistry of the mitochondrial production of nitric oxide is reviewed to gain insight into the basic role of this radical in mitochondrial and cellular oxidative metabolism. The mitochondrial production of nitric oxide is catalyzed by a nitric‐oxide synthase (mtNOS). This enzyme has the same cofactor and substrate requirements as other constitutive nitric‐oxide synthases. Its occurrence was demonstrated in various mitochondrial preparations from different organs and species using diverse approaches (oxidation of oxymyoglobin, electron paramagnetic resonance in conjunction with spin trap, radiolabeled L‐arginine, immunohistochemistry, nitric‐oxide electrode). MtNOS has been identified as the alpha isoform of nNOS, acylated at a Thr or Ser residue, and phosphorylated at the C‐terminal end. Endogenous nitric oxide reversibly inhibits oxygen consumption and ATP synthesis by competitive inhibition of cytochrome oxidase. Nitric oxide is the first molecule that fulfills the requirement for a cytochrome oxidase activity modulator: it is a competitive inhibitor, produced endogenously at a fair rate near the target site, at concentrations high enough to exhibit an inhibitory effect on cytochrome oxidase. The role of the mitochondrial nitric oxide production is discussed in terms of the physiological (modulating oxygen gradients into tissues) and pathological (abrogation of oxygen gradient modification, apoptosis, protein nitrative/oxidative stress) implications. IUBMB Life, 55: 599‐603, 2003
Genetic Aberrations in Chernobyl‐Related Thyroid Cancers: Implications for Possible Future Nuclear Accidents or Nuclear Attacks
Authors: Ermak Gennady , Figge James J. , Kartel Nikolai A. , Davies Kelvin JA
Published: December 2003

Cases of thyroid cancer among children in Belarus represent a unique model system in which the cause of the cancer is known ‐ radiation. Although other sources of radiation‐induced cancers are diminishing (survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and individuals exposed to diagnostic or therapeutic radiation) fears of radiation exposure from accidents and terrorism are increasing. Our analysis of current data reveals that Chernobyl‐related cancer cases might have a specific pattern of genetic aberrations. These data strongly confirm the hypothesis that radiation‐induced cancers might arise as a result of specific gene aberrations that are distinct from those in sporadic cancers, suggesting that methods of prevention and treatment of radiation‐induced cancers might require a different approach. Understanding of the molecular mechanisms of Chernobyl‐related papillary thyroid carcinomas will help to identify mechanisms by which radiation causes aberrations and oncogenic cell transformation. Thus, in turn, it will be important in the development of new treatments or technologies to minimize the effects of radiation damage from nuclear accidents or nuclear attacks. IUBMB Life, 55: 637‐641, 2003
Control of the Nitric Oxide‐Cytochrome c Oxidase Signaling Pathway under Pathological and Physiological Conditions
Authors: Shiva Sruti , Darley‐Usmar Victor
Published: December 2003

Prominent among the mechanisms of interaction of nitric oxide (NO) with intracellular targets are the reactions with heme proteins. For example, the mechanism through which NO induces synthesis of the second messenger cyclic GMP involves the binding of NO to the heme in soluble guanylate cyclase. It has only recently been appreciated that NO binding to the binuclear oxygen binding site in cytochrome c oxidase may also serve as a signal transduction pathway. We postulate that NO is uniquely positioned to control mitochondrial respiration and in doing so regulates oxygen gradients within the cell. In this short overview the mechanisms of NO‐dependent regulation of mitochondrial function will be discussed in the context of some of the biological and physiological consequences. IUBMB Life, 55: 585‐590, 2003
Spindle checkpoint proteins Mad1 and Mad2 are required for cytostatic factor–mediated metaphase arrest
Authors: Tunquist Brian J. , Eyers Patrick A. , Chen Lin G. , Lewellyn Andrea L. , Maller James L.
Published: December 2003

In cells containing disrupted spindles, the spindle assembly checkpoint arrests the cell cycle in metaphase. The budding uninhibited by benzimidazole (Bub) 1, mitotic arrest-deficient (Mad) 1, and Mad2 proteins promote this checkpoint through sustained inhibition of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome. Vertebrate oocytes undergoing meiotic maturation arrest in metaphase of meiosis II due to a cytoplasmic activity termed cytostatic factor (CSF), which appears not to be regulated by spindle dynamics. Here, we show that microinjection of Mad1 or Mad2 protein into early Xenopus laevis embryos causes metaphase arrest like that caused by Mos. Microinjection of antibodies to either Mad1 or Mad2 into maturing oocytes blocks the establishment of CSF arrest in meiosis II, and immunodepletion of either protein blocked the establishment of CSF arrest by Mos in egg extracts. A Mad2 mutant unable to oligomerize (Mad2 R133A) did not cause cell cycle arrest in blastomeres or in egg extracts. Once CSF arrest has been established, maintenance of metaphase arrest requires Mad1, but not Mad2 or Bub1. These results suggest a model in which CSF arrest by Mos is mediated by the Mad1 and Mad2 proteins in a manner distinct from the spindle checkpoint.
Ca2+-dependent redox modulation of SERCA 2b by ERp57
Authors: Li Yun , Camacho Patricia
Published: December 2003

We demonstrated previously that calreticulin (CRT) interacts with the lumenal COOH-terminal sequence of sarco endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium ATPase (SERCA) 2b to inhibit Ca2+ oscillations. Work from other laboratories demonstrated that CRT also interacts with the ER oxidoreductase, ER protein 57 (also known as ER-60, GRP58; ERp57) during folding of nascent glycoproteins. In this paper, we demonstrate that ERp57 overexpression reduces the frequency of Ca2+ oscillations enhanced by SERCA 2b. In contrast, overexpression of SERCA 2b mutants defective in cysteines located in intralumenal loop 4 (L4) increase Ca2+ oscillation frequency. In vitro, we demonstrate a Ca2+-dependent and -specific interaction between ERp57 and L4. Interestingly, ERp57 does not affect the activity of SERCA 2a or SERCA 2b mutants lacking the CRT binding site. Overexpression of CRT domains that disrupt the interaction of CRT with ERp57 behave as dominant negatives in the Ca2+ oscillation assay. Our results suggest that ERp57 modulates the redox state of ER facing thiols in SERCA 2b in a Ca2+-dependent manner, providing dynamic control of ER Ca2+ homeostasis.
AHNAK interaction with the annexin 2/S100A10 complex regulates cell membrane cytoarchitecture
Authors: Benaud Christelle , Gentil Benoît J. , Assard Nicole , Court Magalie , Garin Jerome , Delphin Christian , Baudier Jacques
Published: December 2003

Remodelling of the plasma membrane cytoarchitecture is crucial for the regulation of epithelial cell adhesion and permeability. In Madin-Darby canine kidney cells, the protein AHNAK relocates from the cytosol to the cytosolic surface of the plasma membrane during the formation of cell–cell contacts and the development of epithelial polarity. This targeting is reversible and regulated by Ca2+-dependent cell–cell adhesion. At the plasma membrane, AHNAK associates as a multimeric complex with actin and the annexin 2/S100A10 complex. The S100A10 subunit serves to mediate the interaction between annexin 2 and the COOH-terminal regulatory domain of AHNAK. Down-regulation of both annexin 2 and S100A10 using an annexin 2–specific small interfering RNA inhibits the association of AHNAK with plasma membrane. In Madin-Darby canine kidney cells, down-regulation of AHNAK using AHNAK-specific small interfering RNA prevents cortical actin cytoskeleton reorganization required to support cell height. We propose that the interaction of AHNAK with the annexin 2/S100A10 regulates cortical actin cytoskeleton organization and cell membrane cytoarchitecture.
Surrogate Light Chain Expressing Human Peripheral B Cells Produce Self-reactive Antibodies
Authors: Meffre Eric , Schaefer Anne , Wardemann Hedda , Wilson Patrick , Davis Eric , Nussenzweig Michel C.
Published: December 2003

Human B cells that coexpress surrogate and conventional light chains (V-preB+L+) show an unusual heavy and light chain antibody repertoire that display evidence of receptor editing. However, it is unclear whether V-preB+L+ B cells have been silenced by receptor editing or still express autoreactive antibodies. Here we report that 68% of the antibodies expressed by V-preB+L+ B cells are autoreactive. A majority of these autoantibodies are true antinuclear antibodies (ANA), and 50% of the ANAs are also reactive with a diverse group of antigens that include dsDNA, ssDNA, immunoglobulin, insulin, and bacterial lipopolysaccharide. Such antibodies are rarely encountered among conventional B cells. We conclude that V-preB+L+ B cells are a unique subset of normal circulating human B cells that escape central tolerance mechanisms and express self-reactive antibodies including potentially harmful ANAs.
Induction of Apoptosis in Starfish Eggs Requires Spontaneous Inactivation of MAPK (Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinase) Followed by Activation of p38MAPK
Authors: Sasaki Kayoko , Chiba Kazuyoshi
Published: December 2003

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) prevents DNA replication and parthenogenesis in maturing oocytes. After the meiotic cell cycle in starfish eggs, MAPK activity is maintained until fertilization. When eggs are fertilized, inactivation of MAPK occurs, allowing development to proceed. Without fertilization, highly synchronous apoptosis of starfish eggs starts 10 h after germinal vesicle breakdown, which varies according to season and individual animals. For induction of the apoptosis, MAPK should be activated for a definite period, called the MAPK-dependent period, during which eggs develop competence to die, although the exact duration of the period was unclear. In this study, we show that the duration of the MAPK-dependent period was ∼8 h. Membrane blebbing occurred ∼2 h after the MAPK-dependent period. Surprisingly, when MAPK was inhibited by U0126 after the MAPK-dependent period, activation of caspase-3 occurred earlier than in the control eggs. Thus, inactivation of MAPK is a prerequisite for apoptosis. Also, even in the absence of the inhibitor, MAPK was inactivated spontaneously when eggs began to bleb, indicating that inactivation of MAPK after the MAPK-dependent period acts upstream of caspase-3. Inactivation of MAPK also resulted in the activation of p38MAPK, which may contribute to apoptotic body formation.
SpecificN-Glycans Direct Apical Delivery of Transmembrane, but Not Soluble or Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored Forms of Endolyn in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney Cells
Authors: Potter Beth A. , Ihrke Gudrun , Bruns Jennifer R. , Weixel Kelly M. , Weisz Ora A.
Published: December 2003

The sialomucin endolyn is a transmembrane protein with a unique trafficking pattern in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Despite the presence of a cytoplasmic tyrosine motif that, in isolation, is sufficient to mediate basolateral sorting of a reporter protein, endolyn predominantly traverses the apical surface en route to lysosomes. Apical delivery of endolyn is disrupted in tunicamycin-treated cells, implicating a role for N-glycosylation in apical sorting. Site-directed mutagenesis of endolyn's eight N-glycosylation sites was used to identify two N-glycans that seem to be the major determinants for efficient apical sorting of the protein. In addition, apical delivery of endolyn was disrupted when terminal processing of N-glycans was blocked using glycosidase inhibitors. Missorting of endolyn occurred independently of the presence or absence of the basolateral sorting signal, because apical delivery was also inhibited by tunicamycin when the cytoplasmic tyrosine motif was mutated. However, we found that apical secretion of a soluble mutant of endolyn was N-glycan independent, as was delivery of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored endolyn. Thus, specific N-glycans are only essential for the apical sorting of transmembrane endolyn, suggesting fundamental differences in the mechanisms by which soluble, glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored, and transmembrane proteins are sorted.
Efficient filtering methods for clustering cDNAs with spliced sequence alignment
Authors: Shibuya Tetsuo , Kashima Hisashi , Konagaya Akihiko
Published: December 2003

Motivation: Clustering sequences of a full-length cDNA library into alternative splice form candidates is a very important problem.

Results: We developed a new efficient algorithm to cluster sequences of a full-length cDNA library into alternative splice form candidates. Current clustering algorithms for cDNAs tend to produce too many clusters containing incorrect splice form candidates. Our algorithm is based on a spliced sequence alignment algorithm that considers splice sites. The spliced sequence alignment algorithm is a variant of an ordinary dynamic programming algorithm, which requires O(nm) time for checking a pair of sequences where n and m are the lengths of the two sequences. Since the time bound is too large to perform all-pair comparison for a large set of sequences, we developed new techniques to reduce the computation time without affecting the accuracy of the output clusters. Our algorithm was applied to 21 076 mouse cDNA sequences of the FANTOM 1.10 database to examine its performance and accuracy. In these experiments, we achieved about 2–12-fold speedup against a method using only a traditional hash-based technique. Moreover, without using any information of the mouse genome sequence data or any gene data in public databases, we succeeded in listing 87–89% of all the clusters that biologists have annotated manually.

Availability: We provide a web service for cDNA clustering located at https://access.obigrid.org/ibm/cluspa/, for which registration for the OBIGrid (http://www.obigrid.org) is required.
GIS: a biomedical text-mining system for gene information discovery
Authors: Chiang Jung-Hsien , Yu Hsu-Chun , Hsu Huai-Jen
Published: December 2003

Summary: We present a biomedical text-mining system focused on four types of gene-related information: biological functions, associated diseases, related genes and gene–gene relations. The aim of this system is to provide researchers an easy-to-use bio-information service that will rapidly survey the rapidly burgeoning biomedical literature.

Availability:  http://iir.csie.ncku.edu.tw/~yuhc/gis/
GRIL: genome rearrangement and inversion locator
Authors: Darling Aaron E. , Mau Bob , Blattner Frederick R. , Perna Nicole T.
Published: December 2003

Summary: GRIL is a tool to automatically identify collinear regions in a set of bacterial-size genome sequences. GRIL uses three basic steps. First, regions of high sequence identity are located. Second, some of these regions are filtered based on user-specified criteria. Finally, the remaining regions of sequence identity are used to define significant collinear regions among the sequences. By locating collinear regions of sequence, GRIL provides a basis for multiple genome alignment using current alignment systems. GRIL also provides a basis for using current inversion distance tools to infer phylogeny.

Availability: GRIL is implemented in C++ and runs on any x86-based Linux or Windows platform. It is available from http://asap.ahabs.wisc.edu/gril

Supplementary information: The GRIL web site contains a detailed description of the GRIL's algorithms, an example of applying GRIL to five genomes, and verification of the correctness of the results.
WILMA—automated annotation of protein sequences
Authors: Prlić Andreas , Domingues Francisco S. , Lackner Peter , Sippl Manfred J.
Published: December 2003

Summary: Large-scale annotation of sets of proteins is a frequently occurring task in association with genome sequencing projects. Here, we present an automated platform for the functional annotation of large sets of protein sequences. Various bioinformatics tools are used to achieve a comprehensive description of protein sequences and to link these results to standard Gene Ontology descriptors for molecular function, biological processes and cellular components. Access to the annotation is provided via a web-interface and database queries. These interfaces allow to formulate proteome wide queries as well as the investigation of details of individual results. WILMA annotations of the proteomes of Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Arabidopsis thaliana and Caenorhabditis elegans are accessible at http://www.came.sbg.ac.at/wilma/
A global test for groups of genes: testing association with a clinical outcome
Authors: Goeman Jelle J. , van de Geer Sara A. , de Kort Floor , van Houwelingen Hans C.
Published: December 2003

Motivation: This paper presents a global test to be used for the analysis of microarray data. Using this test it can be determined whether the global expression pattern of a group of genes is significantly related to some clinical outcome of interest. Groups of genes may be any size from a single gene to all genes on the chip (e.g. known pathways, specific areas of the genome or clusters from a cluster analysis).

Result: The test allows groups of genes of different size to be compared, because the test gives one p-value for the group, not a p-value for each gene. Researchers can use the test to investigate hypotheses based on theory or past research or to mine gene ontology databases for interesting pathways. Multiple testing problems do not occur unless many groups are tested. Special attention is given to visualizations of the test result, focussing on the associations between samples and showing the impact of individual genes on the test result.

Availability: An R-package globaltest is available from http://www.bioconductor.org
BugView: a browser for comparing genomes
Authors: Leader David P.
Published: December 2003

Summary:  BugView is a Java application for visualizing homologous genes on a pair of related genomes, and can also be used to view individual genomes. It accepts files of prokaryotic or eukaryotic genomes in GenBank format and allows users to assign homologous pairs, and make and save annotations.

Availability:  http://www.gla.ac.uk/~dpl1n/BugView/

Supplementary information:  http://www.gla.ac.uk/~dpl1n/BugView/BugViewManual.pdf provides a full description of the application.
The Governance of Early Modern Trade: The Case of Hans Thijs, 1556–1611
Authors: Gelderblom Oscar
Published: December 2003

In this article the organization of early modern trade is analyzed through a case study of the business of Hans Thijs, an Antwerp merchant who worked in Danzig and Amsterdam in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. His career demonstrates how early modern merchants combined markets, personal relations, and firms to govern their transactions. The complementary relationships among these institutions helped to minimize information and enforcement costs. A comparison of Hans Thijs' business organization in Danzig (1585–1595) and in Amsterdam (1595–1611) shows that trade was governed more efficiently in markets of greater scale and scope.
Similar MLL-associated leukemias arising from self-renewing stem cells and short-lived myeloid progenitors
Authors: Cozzio Antonio , Passegué Emmanuelle , Ayton Paul M. , Karsunky Holger , Cleary Michael L. , Weissman Irving L.
Published: December 2003

We have used the hematopoietic system as a model to investigate whether acute myeloid leukemia arises exclusively from self-renewing stem cells or also from short-lived myeloid progenitors. When transduced with a leukemogenic MLL fusion gene, prospectively isolated stem cells and myeloid progenitor populations with granulocyte/macrophage differentiation potential are efficiently immortalized in vitro and result in the rapid onset of acute myeloid leukemia with similar latencies following transplantation in vivo. Regardless of initiating cell, leukemias displayed immunophenotypes and gene expression profiles characteristic of maturation arrest at an identical late stage of myelomonocytic differentiation, putatively a monopotent monocytic progenitor stage. Our findings unequivocally establish the ability of transient repopulating progenitors to initiate myeloid leukemias in response to an MLL oncogene, and support the existence of cancer stem cells that do not necessarily overlap with multipotent stem cells of the tissue of origin.
SUMO modification of a novel MAR-binding protein, SATB2, modulates immunoglobulin μ gene expression
Authors: Dobreva Gergana , Dambacher Julia , Grosschedl Rudolf
Published: December 2003

Nuclear matrix attachment regions (MARs) are regulatory DNA sequences that are important for higher-order chromatin organization, long-range enhancer function, and extension of chromatin modifications. Here we characterize a novel cell type-specific MAR-binding protein, SATB2, which binds to the MARs of the endogenous immunoglobulin μ locus in pre-B cells and enhances gene expression. We found that SATB2 differs from the closely related thymocyte-specific protein SATB1 by modifications of two lysines with the small ubiquitive related modifier (SUMO), which are augmented specifically by the SUMO E3 ligase PIAS1. Mutations of the SUMO conjugation sites of SATB2 enhance its activation potential and association with endogenous MARs in vivo, whereas N-terminal fusions with SUMO1 or SUMO3 decrease SATB2-mediated gene activation. Sumoylation is also involved in targeting SATB2 to the nuclear periphery, raising the possibility that this reversible modification of a MAR-binding protein may contribute to the modulation of subnuclear DNA localization.
Stabilization of stalled DNA replication forks by the BRCA2 breast cancer susceptibility protein
Authors: Lomonosov Mikhail , Anand Shubha , Sangrithi Mahesh , Davies Rachel , Venkitaraman Ashok R.
Published: December 2003

How dividing mammalian cells overcome blocks to DNA replication by DNA damage, depleted nucleotide pools, or template-bound proteins is unclear. Here, we show that the response to blocked replication requires BRCA2, a suppressor of human breast cancer. By using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we demonstrate that Y-shaped DNA junctions at stalled replication forks disappear during genome-wide replication arrest in BRCA2-deficient cells, accompanied by double-strand DNA breakage. But activation of the replication checkpoint kinase Chk2 is unaffected, defining an unexpected function for BRCA2 in stabilizing DNA structures at stalled forks. We propose that in BRCA2 deficiency and related chromosomal instability diseases, the breakdown of replication forks, which arrest or pause during normal cell growth, triggers spontaneous DNA breakage, leading to mutability and cancer predisposition.
Desperately seeking shelf availability: an examination of the extent, the causes, and the efforts to address retail out‐of‐stocks
Authors: Corsten Daniel , Gruen Thomas
Published: December 2003

With all the hype around efficient consumer response (ECR) and the brave new world of technologies, one would believe that retail out‐of‐stocks have gone down over the last ten years. That is wrong. Retailers have been struggling with considerable out‐of‐stocks for decades – with little evidence of improvement. A similar wrong belief is that shoppers are also still unwilling to accept low service levels. In fact, increasingly, consumers switch brands when they do not find the brand they wanted. But retailers must be wary, because the results of our research show that increasingly shoppers switch stores quickly and may never come back. So, who is to blame? The supply chain. And where to tackle it? On the shop floor. Over the past two years, we have conducted a major, worldwide study of the extent, causes, and consumer responses to out‐of‐stocks in the fast‐moving consumer goods industry. In this article, we report these findings and provide insight to solving this chronic industry problem.
Town centre management (TCM): a case study of Achmore
Authors: Paddison Andrew
Published: December 2003

Town centre vitality and viability is of importance to a range of stakeholders: users, producers and intermediaries. Within the stakeholder grouping of intermediaries, town centre management (TCM) is a co‐ordinated response – of public and private sectors – through which the town centre “product” can be managed and developed. Utilising evidence from a range of Scottish town centres, this case study illustrates the contextual issues – at both micro and macro‐levels – that TCM operated under. Initially, the formative stages of strategy formulation and development are outlined followed by a review of the first three years. In particular, infrastructural issues, funding sources, TCM marketing and management structures are focused upon. Finally, initial progress is reviewed against the original plan and a number of emergent issues – widening funding sources and increasing the scope of marketing – are prioritised for the second stage of TCM.
What every retailer should know about the way into the shopper’s head
Authors: Soars Brenda
Published: December 2003

Retail sector companies often overlook the positive contribution psychology could make to their success. At a time when more decisions than ever are made in‐store, any media must provide a pathway to the purchase that is subconsciously triggered and therefore it would be a wise move to spend more on below‐the‐line and through‐the‐line strategies. A key challenge is to create an environment where the shopper perceives a one‐to‐one relationship with the store; to optimise the shopper’s time; to make it appear as if the ranging, and categorisation of products has been personalised just for them; and by attention to this, retailers will deliver an experience the shopper will want to repeat. So what is the smartest technique to pinpoint what they really want? By using a combination of brain imaging and eye scanning technologies to delve into the mind of the shopper, the desired insight could be within reach.
The value of customer and prospect databases as a corporate asset
Authors: Wood Andy
Published: December 2003

This paper investigates how retailers can obtain value from their customer and prospect databases. In the current fickle economic climate it has never been so important for organisations to be able to provide added‐value insights into their immediate and longer‐term development. Total DM conducted a telephone and e‐mail survey amongst marketing professionals from or representing the UK’s top 1,000 companies to determine different sector’s ability to obtain short‐term customer acquisition costs and longer‐term ongoing customer profitability. Secondary research was then performed to measure data richness for each industry. This measure took different factors into account, including penetration of loyalty. Retailers were found to be the overall winners at extending commercial value from their customer and prospect databases. This was greatly influenced by the large volume of customer information potentially available to retailers. The survey concluded that it was individual retailers who were able to exploit their databases to the full who would be able to win investor confidence.
Retail statistics at your fingertips
Authors: Findlay Anne M.
Published: December 2003

The article provides an introduction to obtaining and using Web‐based retail data for countries outwith the UK. The potential and accessibility of such data are reviewed and assessed. The article is a rough guide to data sources and is pragmatic in nature. A summary table provides a ready guide by country. Worked examples are included for Brazil, Japan, Spain, Australia and the USA.
Is self‐service the future of services?
Authors: Fitzsimmons James A.
Published: December 2003

Describes all the automated processes that can be utilised when making a business trip and how human interaction within the service sector has been replaced by machines. This has the potential for customization, accuracy, convenience and speed, dependent on individual customer acceptance of the new system.
E‐government: the realities of using IT to transform the public sector
Authors: Hazlett Shirley‐Ann , Hill Frances
Published: December 2003

This paper examines how electronic government is being used in the delivery and improvement of public services in the UK, and the actual and potential problems inherent in this. Although there have been examples of very creative use of electronic government in the public sector, there have also been numerous spectacular failures. This paper highlights a number of problematic issues surrounding its use. These include the fact that government's two central aims, namely high quality customer service and value‐for‐money, could potentially be in conflict; and the lack of evidence to support the claim that the use of technology in service delivery results in less bureaucracy and increased quality. Clearly these tensions and issues need to be much more fully explored so that a “government for people” can be created. The paper concludes by posing the question: Can e‐government produce truly innovative, responsive public services, or merely exacerbate electronically, existing shortcomings?
E‐service quality and the public sector
Authors: Buckley Joan
Published: December 2003

Definitions of e‐service and e‐government are considered in seeking to contextualise the discussion, and a distinction is drawn between e‐government and e‐public service. Current theoretical and empirical work is considered in conjunction with the contribution of the usability school and the commercial literature related to outcome measurement. While profit motivation has little relevance in the public sector, homogeneity of consumers, definability of tasks and finite and measureable outcomes can serve as likely conditions of success in e‐public service. The public sector is then considered in light of this knowledge. It is proposed that there is a continuum of public sector organisations based on complexity of task. Initial evidence suggests that e‐service delivery has greater potential for success in public sector tasks that have low or limited levels of complexity. Finally, the paper concludes that any discussion of e‐public service must take cognisance of the context, both internal and external, in which e‐service is delivered.
Improving satisfaction with bank service offerings: measuring the contribution of each delivery channel
Authors: Patrício Lia , Fisk Raymond P. , Falcão e Cunha João
Published: December 2003

This article presents the results of a qualitative study of a Portuguese bank regarding customer use of Internet banking integrated in a multi‐channel offering that includes high street branches, telephone banking, and automatic teller machines. The results show that performance evaluation is a key factor influencing channel use. Customers tend to use the different service delivery systems in a complementary way, taking into account their assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Customer characteristics, and the type of financial operation, are also identified as important factors influencing this process. These results indicate that, in a multi‐channel context, customer satisfaction with Internet services depends not only on the performance of this channel in isolation, but also on how it contributes to satisfaction with the overall service offering.
E‐quality in the e‐services provision of legal practices
Authors: Douglas Alex , Muir Lindsey , Meehan Karon
Published: December 2003

This paper examines the quality issues facing private legal practices as they try to offer services on the Internet. The threats and opportunities from offering high quality e‐services are examined as well as potential problems. E‐service operations are divided into “hard”, that is those operations concerned with ensuring the customer receives what was ordered at the right time, place, cost and condition, and “soft”, that is those concerned with Web site design, data information readiness and transactions. Quality measures for both types are proposed and the implications for the legal profession examined. The second half of the paper reports the findings of a survey of Merseyside legal practices in order to see the extent to which they are facing the challenges of the Internet and the issues of e‐service provision. The results show that the legal profession is being slow to introduce Internet technology and only a few firms are offering limited e‐services to their clients. The old attitudes of an aged and learned profession are proving difficult barriers to overcome as the profession battles to bring itself into the twenty‐first century.
Investigating the adoption of electronic customer service by Australian businesses
Authors: Thi Hong Chau Nguyen Don , Murphy Jamie , Olaru Doina
Published: December 2003

This study investigates electronic customer service, e‐service, by Australian organisations, replicating and building on Heuchan et al.’s study of relationships among organisational characteristics and e‐service. Compared to one year earlier, the study found more organisations with Web sites, shorter response times to customer e‐mails and higher response quality to customer e‐mails. Response rate and response quality, however, was virtually the same – poor. Australian organisations have e‐service tools such as Web sites and e‐mail, yet they face an assimilation gap delivering e‐service. Organisational diffusion of innovations provides a theoretical base for these results and future research. The paper gives manager insights into existing e‐service and ways to improve e‐service in their organisation.
Internet users' perceptions of online service quality: a comparison of online buyers and information searchers
Authors: Cai Shaohan , Jun Minjoon
Published: December 2003

Service quality is widely accepted as one of the key determinants of online retailers' success. This exploratory study identified four key dimensions of online service quality as perceived by two groups of Internet users, online buyers and information searchers. The derived dimensions were: Web site design/content, trustworthiness, prompt/reliable service, and communication. This study also revealed that there were significant differences between these two Internet user groups regarding their perceptions on the identified dimensions. Furthermore, this research found that all of the four dimensions significantly influenced online buyers' evaluation of overall online service quality, while only three dimensions, Web site design/content, trustworthiness, and communication, had a significant impact on information searchers' assessment of overall online service quality. Managerial implications and recommendations are also presented.
Tailoring e‐service quality through CRM
Authors: Gurău Călin
Published: December 2003

The specific advantages of the Internet as a transaction and communication channel present new opportunities for businesses to create a long‐term relationship with their customers. The level of e‐service quality is an essential component of this customer‐centric strategy. The paper presents a predictive method to establish the optimum level of e‐service quality, taking into consideration customers’ satisfaction, customers’ profitability, the competitive conditions of the market, and company's capabilities. However, the effective use of this method requires the implementation of e‐CRM systems, structured around a customer‐centric approach. Therefore, the re‐design of the company structure and processes using a customer‐focused philosophy is also assessed in a stage‐by‐stage analysis.
HNH family subclassification leads to identification of commonality in the His‐Me endonuclease superfamily
Authors: Mehta Preeti , Katta Krishnamohan , Krishnaswamy Sankaran
Published: December 2003

The HNHc (SMART ID: SM00507) domain (SCOP nomenclature: HNH family) can be subclassified into at least eight subsets by iterative refinement of HMM profiles. An initial clustering of 323 proteins containing the HNHc domain helped identify the subsets. The subsets could be differentiated on the basis of the pattern of occurrence of seven defining features. Domain association is also different between the subsets. The subsets show organism as well as domain‐based clustering, suggestive of propagation by both duplication and horizontal transfer events. Structure‐based sequence analysis of the subsets led to the identification of common structural and sequence motifs in the HNH family with the other three families under the His‐Me endonuclease superfamily.
Protein flexibility and intrinsic disorder
Authors: Radivojac Predrag , Obradovic Zoran , Smith David K. , Zhu Guang , Vucetic Slobodan , Brown Celeste J. , Lawson J. David , Dunker A. Keith
Published: December 2003

Comparisons were made among four categories of protein flexibility: (1) low‐B‐factor ordered regions, (2) high‐B‐factor ordered regions, (3) short disordered regions, and (4) long disordered regions. Amino acid compositions of the four categories were found to be significantly different from each other, with high‐B‐factor ordered and short disordered regions being the most similar pair. The high‐B‐factor (flexible) ordered regions are characterized by a higher average flexibility index, higher average hydrophilicity, higher average absolute net charge, and higher total charge than disordered regions. The low‐B‐factor regions are significantly enriched in hydrophobic residues and depleted in the total number of charged residues compared to the other three categories. We examined the predictability of the high‐B‐factor regions and developed a predictor that discriminates between regions of low and high B‐factors. This predictor achieved an accuracy of 70% and a correlation of 0.43 with experimental data, outperforming the 64% accuracy and 0.32 correlation of predictors based solely on flexibility indices. To further clarify the differences between short disordered regions and ordered regions, a predictor of short disordered regions was developed. Its relatively high accuracy of 81% indicates considerable differences between ordered and disordered regions. The distinctive amino acid biases of high‐B‐factor ordered regions, short disordered regions, and long disordered regions indicate that the sequence determinants for these flexibility categories differ from one another, whereas the significantly‐greater‐than‐chance predictability of these categories from sequence suggest that flexible ordered regions, short disorder, and long disorder are, to a significant degree, encoded at the primary structure level.
On the analysis of membrane protein circular dichroism spectra
Authors: Sreerama Narasimha , Woody Robert W.
Published: December 2003

Analysis of circular dichroism spectra of proteins provides information about protein secondary structure. Analytical methods developed for such an analysis use structures and spectra of a set of reference proteins. The reference protein sets currently in use include soluble proteins with a wide range of secondary structures, and perform quite well in analyzing CD spectra of soluble proteins. The utility of soluble protein reference sets in analyzing membrane protein CD spectra, however, has been questioned in a recent study that found current reference protein sets to be inadequate for analyzing membrane proteins. We have examined the performance of reference protein sets available in the CDPro software package for analyzing CD spectra of 13 membrane proteins with available crystal structures. Our results indicate that the reference protein sets currently available for CD analysis perform reasonably well in analyzing membrane protein CD spectra, with performance indices comparable to those for soluble proteins. Soluble + membrane protein reference sets, which were constructed by combining membrane proteins with soluble protein reference sets, gave improved performance in both soluble and membrane protein CD analysis.
Expression and biochemical characterization of two small heat shock proteins from the thermoacidophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus tokodaii strain 7
Authors: Usui Keisuke , Ishii Noriyuki , Kawarabayasi Yutaka , Yohda Masafumi
Published: December 2003

We expressed and characterized two sHsps, StHsp19.7 and StHsp14.0, from a thermoacidophilic crenarchaeon, Sulfolobus tokodaii strain 7. StHsp19.7 forms a filamentous structure consisting of spherical particles and lacks molecular chaperone activity. Fractionation of Sulfolobus extracts by size exclusion chromatography with immunoblotting indicates that StHsp19.7 exists as a filamentous structure in vivo. On the other hand, StHsp14.0 exists as a spherical oligomer like other sHsps. It showed molecular chaperone activity to protect thermophilic 3‐isopropylmalate dehydrogenase (IPMDH) from thermal aggregation at 87°C. StHsp14.0 formed variable‐sized complexes with denatured IPMDH at 90°C. Using StHsp14.0 labeled with fluorescence or biotin probe and magnetic separation, subunit exchanges between complexes were demonstrated. This is the first report on the filament formation of sHsp and also the high molecular chaperone activity of thermophilic archaeal sHsps.
Detection of homologous proteins by an intermediate sequence search
Authors: John Bino , Sali Andrej
Published: December 2003

We developed a variant of the intermediate sequence search method (ISSnew) for detection and alignment of weakly similar pairs of protein sequences. ISSnew relates two query sequences by an intermediate sequence that is potentially homologous to both queries. The improvement was achieved by a more robust overlap score for a match between the queries through an intermediate. The approach was benchmarked on a data set of 2369 sequences of known structure with insignificant sequence similarity to each other (BLAST E‐value larger than 0.001); 2050 of these sequences had a related structure in the set. ISSnew performed significantly better than both PSI‐BLAST and a previously described intermediate sequence search method. PSI‐BLAST could not detect correct homologs for 1619 of the 2369 sequences. In contrast, ISSnew assigned a correct homolog as the top hit for 121 of these 1619 sequences, while incorrectly assigning homologs for only nine targets; it did not assign homologs for the remainder of the sequences. By estimate, ISSnew may be able to assign the folds of domains in ∼29,000 of the ∼500,000 sequences unassigned by PSI‐BLAST, with 90% specificity (1 − false positives fraction). In addition, we show that the 15 alignments with the most significant BLAST E‐values include the nearly best alignments constructed by ISSnew.
Helix formation and the unfolded state of a 52‐residue helical protein
Authors: Cao Wei , Bracken Clay , Kallenbach Neville R. , Lu Min
Published: December 2003

A growing class of proteins in biological processes has been found to be unfolded on isolation under normal solution conditions. We have used NMR spectroscopy to characterize the structural and dynamic properties of the unfolded and partially folded states of a 52‐residue alanine‐rich protein (Ala‐14) at temperatures from −5°C to 40°C. At 40°C, alanine residues in Ala‐14 adopt ϕ and ψ angles, consistent with a significant ensemble population of polyproline II conformation. Analysis of relaxation rates in the protein reveals that a series of residues, Gln 35–Ala 36–Ala 37–Lys 38–Asp 39–Asp 40–Ala 41–Ala 42, displays slow motional dynamics at both −5°C and 40°C. Temperature‐dependent chemical shift changes indicate that this region is the site of helix initiation. The remaining N‐terminal residues become increasingly dynamic as they extend from the nucleation site. The C terminus remains dynamic and changes less with temperature, indicating it is relatively unstructured. Ala‐14 provides a high‐resolution portrait of the unfolded state and the process of helix nucleation and propagation in the absence of tertiary contacts, information that bears on early events in protein folding.