bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reproducing bench-scale cell growth and productivity
Authors: Hecht Ariel , Filliben James , Munro Sarah A. , Salit Marc
Published: April 2018

Reproducing, exchanging, comparing, and building on each other’s work is foundational to technology advances.1Advancing biotechnology calls for reliable reuse of engineered strains.2Reliable reuse of engineered strains requires reproducible growth and productivity. To demonstrate reproducibility for biotechnology, we identified the experimental factors that have the greatest effect on the growth and productivity of our engineered strains.3–6We present a draft of a Minimum Information Standard for Engineered Organism Experiments (MIEO) based on this method. We evaluated the effect of 22 factors onEscherichia coli(E. coli) engineered to produce the small molecule lycopene, and 18 factors onE. coliengineered to produce red fluorescent protein (RFP). Container geometry and shaking had the greatest effect on product titer and yield. We reproduced our results under two different conditions of reproducibility:7conditions of use (different fractional factorial experiments), and time (48 biological replicates performed on 12 different days over four months).
Identification of a Novel Neutralizing and Two Non-Neutralizing Epitopes on Epstein-Barr Virus gp350 Protein
Authors: Mutsvunguma Lorraine Z , Barasa Anne , Warden Charles , Foley Joslyn , Muniraju Murali , Mulama David H , Ye Peng , Qin Hanjun , Wang Jinhui , Wu Xiwei , Mwangi Waithaka , Ogembo Javier Gordon
Published: April 2018

Prevention of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) primary infection has focused on generating neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) targeting the major envelope glycoprotein gp350/220 (gp350). To date, eight gp350 epitopes have been identified, but only one has elicited nAbs. In this study, we generated 23 hybridomas that produced anti-gp350 antibodies. We compared the candidate anti-gp350 antibodies to nAb-72A1 by: (1) testing their ability to detect gp350 using ELISA, flow cytometry, and immunoblot; (2) sequencing their heavy and light chain complementarity-determining regions (CDRs); (3) measuring the ability of each monoclonal antibody (mAb) to neutralize EBV infectionin vitro; and (4) mapping the gp350 amino acids bound by the mAbs using RepliTope peptide microarrays. Eight antibodies recognized both denatured and non-denatured gp350, whereas five failed to react with denatured gp350 but recognized native gp350, suggesting they recognized conformational epitope(s). Sequence analysis of the heavy and light chain variable regions of the hybridomas identified 15 as mAbs with novel CDR regions unique from those of nAb-72A1. Seven of the new mAbs neutralized EBVin vitro, with HB20 and HB17 reducing EBV infection by 40% and >60%, and >30% and 80%, at 10 μg/ml and 50 μg/ml, respectively. Epitope mapping identified nine epitopes and defined their core residues, including two unique immunodominant epitopes,253TPIPGTGYAYSLRLTPRPVSRFL253and875LLLLVMADCAFRRNLSTSHTYTTPPY899, and a novel nAb epitope381GAFASNRTFDIT392. This study provides comprehensivein vitromapping of the exact residues defining nine epitopes of EBV gp350. Our findings will inform novel strategies to design optimal EBV vaccines capable of conferring broader protection against the virus.

Importance

Neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) directed against Epstein-Barr virus envelope glycoprotein gp350/220 (gp350) are generated in humans upon infection or immunization, and are thought to prevent neonatal infection. However, clinical use of exogenous nAbs (passive immunization) is limited to a single study using the only well-characterized nAb, 72A1. The gp350 ectodomain contains at least eight unique B-cell binding epitopes; two of these epitopes are recognized by nAb-72A1. The exact amino acid residues of the other six epitopes and their role in generating nAbs has not been elucidated. We used our 15 newly generated and fully characterized monoclonal antibodies and a peptide-overlapping RepliTope array to provide a comprehensive map of the core amino acid residues that define epitopes of gp350 and to understand their role in generating nAbs. These results will inform design of better-targeted gp350 peptide vaccines that contain only protective epitopes, which will focus the B-cell response to produce predominantly nAbs.
Dogs as reservoirs ofEscherichia colistrains causing urinary tract infection in their owners
Authors: Damborg Peter , Gumpert Heidi , Johansson Laura , Jana Bimal , Frimodt-Møller Niels , Guardabassi Luca
Published: April 2018

It is known that humans and pets living together can share the sameEscherichia colistrain. In this study we assessed the role played by household pets as reservoirs ofE. colistrains causing urinary tract infection (UTI) in their owners. Fecal swabs from 15 dogs and six cats living with 19 patients with community-acquiredE. coliUTI were screened by antimicrobial selective plating to detectE. colidisplaying the same susceptibility profile of the UTI-causing strain. Pet/patient pairs sharing strains with indistinguishable susceptibility and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles were quantitatively screened for fecal carriage of the UTI-causing strain approximately 10 months later using bacterial counts on selective agar supplemented with the relevant antibiotics. Isolates from both time points were characterized by whole-genome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. PFGE revealed indistinguishableE. coliwithin two (11%) pet/patient pairs. In pair A, the UTI-causing strain was detected 10 months later in both the patient (108CFU/g) and her dog (104CFU/g). In pair B, only the dog was colonized with the UTI-causing strain upon re-sampling (105CFU/g), indicating dog-to-man transmission. For both pairs, less than 70 SNPs distinguished any isolate from the first and second sampling. The study shows regular co-carriership of UTI-causingE. colistrains between humans and their pets, and indicates that dogs can be a source of human infection. Although final evidence for transmission is lacking, hygiene precautions should be considered by people fraternizing pets. This may be particularly relevant for persons with a compromised immune system.
Development of an on-chip detection of Zika virus and antibodies simultaneously using array of nanowells
Authors: Semenova Touyana , Voigt Alexandria , Donelan William , Aranyos Alek , Yamamoto Janet , Rathore Mobeen R. , Nguyen Cuong Q.
Published: April 2018

Zika virus (ZIKV) infections are an emerging health pandemic of significant medical importance. ZIKV appeared recently in the Americas from Africa via the South Pacific. The current outbreak has garnered attention by exhibiting unique characteristics of devastating neurodevelopmental defects in newborns of infected pregnant women. Current guidelines for ZIKV diagnostics developed by the Center of Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) consist of nucleic acid testing, plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), and a serologic test for IgM detection. To better accommodate and comply with these guidelines, we developed a simultaneous on-chip detection of ZIKV and anti-ZIKV antibodies using an array of nanowells. Using on-chip microengraving, we were able to detect anti-ZIKV antibodies and their immunoglobulin isotypes. In parallel, applying on-chip real-time PCR with epifluorescence microscopy, we were able to quantify ZIKV viral load as low as one copy. To test clinical samples of patients at the postconvalescent stage, we analyzed samples from 8 patients. The on-chip nanowells could effectively identify antibodies that reacted against ZIKV envelope protein and their isotypes with high sensitivity and specificity. The small sample requirement with high specificity and sensitivity and combined molecular and serological tests could potentially be very advantageous and beneficial in accurate detection of Zika infection for better disease monitoring and management.
Antimicrobial Efficacy and Safety of a Novel Gas Plasma-Activated Catheter Lock Solution
Authors: Bhatt Sudhir , Mehta Poonam , Chen Chen , Daines Dayle A. , Mermel Leonard A. , Chen Hai-Lan , Kong Michael G.
Published: April 2018

Antimicrobial lock solutions are important for prevention of microbial colonization and infection of long-term central venous catheters. We investigated the efficacy and safety of a novel antibiotic-free lock solution formed from gas plasma-activated disinfectant (PAD). Using a luminal biofilm model, viable cells of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans in mature biofilms were reduced by 6 - 8 orders of magnitude with a PAD lock for 60 minutes. Subsequent 24-hour incubation of PAD-treated samples resulted in no detectable regrowth of viable bacteria or fungi. As a comparison, the use of a minocycline/EDTA/ethanol lock solution for 60 minutes led to regrowth of bacteria and fungi, up to 107 - 109 CFU/ml, in 24 hours. The PAD lock solution had minimal impact on human umbilical vein endothelial cell viability, whereas the minocycline/EDTA/ethanol solution elicited cell death in nearly half of human endothelial cells. Additionally, PAD treatment caused little topological change to catheter materials. In conclusion, PAD represents a novel antibiotic-free, non-cytotoxic lock solution that elicits rapid and broad-spectrum eradication of biofilm-laden microbes and which shows promise for the prevention and treatment of intravascular catheter infections.
A novel sialylation site onNeisseria gonorrhoeaelipooligosaccharide links heptose II lactose expression with pathogenicity
Authors: Ram Sanjay , Gulati Sunita , Lewis Lisa A. , Chakraborti Srinjoy , Zheng Bo , DeOliveira Rosane B. , Reed George W. , Cox Andrew D. , Li Jianjun , St. Michael Frank , Stupak Jacek , Su Xia-Hong , Saha Sudeshna , Landig Corinna S. , Varki Ajit , Rice Peter A.
Published: April 2018

Sialylation of lacto-W-neotetraose (LNnT) extending from heptose I (HepI) of gonococcal lipooligosaccharide (LOS) contributes to pathogenesis. Previously, gonococcal LOS sialyltransterase (Lst) was shown to sialylate LOS in Triton X-100 extracts of strain 15253, which expresses lactose from both HepI and HepII, the minimal structure required for mAb 2C7 binding. Ongoing work has shown that growth of 15253 in cytidine monophospho-W-acetylneuraminic acid (CMP-Neu5Ac)-containing media enables binding to CD33/Siglec-3, a cell surface receptor that binds sialic acid, suggesting that lactose termini on LOS of intact gonococci can be sialylated. Neu5Ac was detected on LOSs of strains 15253 and a MS11 mutant with only lactose from HepI and HepII by mass spectrometry; deleting HepII lactose rendered Neu5Ac undetectable. Resistance of HepII lactose Neu5Ac to desialylation by α2-3-specific neuraminidase suggested an α2-6-linkage. Although not associated with increased factor H binding, HepII lactose sialylation inhibited complement C3 deposition on gonococci. 15253 mutants that lacked Lst or HepII lactose were significantly attenuated in mice, confirming the importance of HepII Neu5Ac in virulence. All 75 minimally passaged clinical isolates from Nanjing, China, expressed HepII lactose, evidenced by reactivity with mAb 2C7; mAb 2C7 was bactericidal against the first 62 (of 75) isolates that had been collected sequentially and were sialylated before testing. mAb 2C7 effectively attenuated 15253 vaginal colonization in mice. In conclusion, this novel sialylation site could explain the ubiquity of gonococcal HepII lactosein vivo. Our findings reiterate the candidacy of the 2C7 epitope as a vaccine antigen and mAb 2C7 as an immunotherapeutic antibody.
Avidity-driven polarity establishment via multivalent lipid-GTPase module interactions
Authors: Meca Julien , Massoni-Laporte Aurelie , Sartorel Elodie , Martinez Denis , Loquet Antoine , Habestein Birgit , McCusker Derek
Published: April 2018

While Rho GTPases are indispensible regulators of cellular polarity, the mechanisms underlying their anisotropic activation at membranes have been elusive. Using the budding yeast Cdc42 GTPase module, which includes a Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factor (GEF) Cdc24 and the scaffold Bem1, we find that avidity generated via multivalent anionic lipid interactions is a critical mechanistic constituent of polarity establishment. We identify Cationic-enriched Lipid Interacting Clusters (CLICs) in Bem1 that drive the interaction of the scaffold-GEF complex with anionic lipids at the cell pole. This interaction increases lipid acyl chain ordering, thus contributing to membrane rigidity and feedback between Cdc42 and the membrane environment. Sequential mutation of the Bem1 CLIC motifs, PX domain and the PH domain of Cdc24 lead to a progressive loss of cellular polarity stemming from defective Cdc42 nanoclustering on the plasma membrane and perturbed signaling. Our work demonstrates the importance of avidity via multivalent anionic lipid interactions in the spatial control of GTPase activation.
An optimized toolkit for precision base editing
Authors: Zafra Maria Paz , Schatoff Emma M , Katti Alyna , Foronda Miguel , Breinig Marco , Schweitzer Anabel Y. , Simon Amber , Han Teng , Goswami Sukanya , Montgomery Emma , Thibado Jordana , Sánchez-Rivera Francisco J. , Shi Junwei , Vakoc Christopher R , Lowe Scott W , Tschaharganeh Darjus F. , Dow Lukas E
Published: April 2018

CRISPR base editing is a potentially powerful technology that enables the creation of genetic mutations with single base pair resolution. By re-engineering both DNA and protein sequences, we developed a collection of constitutive and inducible base editing vector systems that dramatically improve the ease and efficiency by which single nucleotide variants can be created. This new toolkit is effective in a wide range of model systems, and provides a means for efficientin vivosomatic base editing.
Machine learning based classification of cells into chronological stages using single-cell transcriptomics
Authors: Singh Sumeet Pal , Janjuha Sharan , Chaudhuri Samata , Reinhardt Susanne , Dietz Sevina , Eugster Anne , Bilgin Halil , Korkmaz Selçuk , Reid John E. , Zararsiz Gökmen , Ninov Nikolay
Published: April 2018

Age-associated deterioration of cellular physiology leads to pathological conditions. The ability to detect premature aging could provide a window for preventive therapies against age-related diseases. However, the techniques for determining cellular age are limited, as they rely on a limited set of histological markers and lack predictive power. Here, we implement GERAS (GEnetic Reference for Age of Single-cell), a machine learning based framework capable of assigning individual cells to chronological stages based on their trans criptomes. GERAS displays greater than 90% accuracy in classifying the chronological stage of zebrafish and human pancreatic cells. The framework demonstrates robustness against biological and technical noise, as evaluated by its performance on independent samplings of single-cells. Additionally, GERAS determines the impact of differences in calorie intake and BMI on the aging of zebrafish and human pancreatic cells, respectively. We further harness the predictive power of GERAS to identify genome-wide molecular factors that correlate with aging. We show that one of these factors, junb, is necessary to maintain the proliferative state of juvenile beta-cells. Our results showcase the applicability of a machine learning framework to classify the chronological stage of heterogeneous cell populations, while enabling to detect pro-aging factors and candidate genes associated with aging.
Changes in patterns of neural activity underlie a time-dependent transformation of memory in rats and humans
Authors: Sekeres Melanie J. , Winocur Gordon , Moscovitch Morris , Anderson John A.E. , Pishdadian Sara , Wojtowicz J. Martin , St-Laurent Marie , McAndrews Mary Pat , Grady Cheryl
Published: April 2018

The dynamic process of memory consolidation involves a reorganization of brain regions that support a memory trace over time, but exactly how the network reorganizes as the memory changes remains unclear. We present novel converging evidence from studies of animals (rats) and humans for the time-dependent reorganization and transformation of different types of memory as measured both by behavior and brain activation. We find that context-specific memories in rats, and naturalistic episodic memories in humans, lose precision over time and activity in the hippocampus decreases. If, however, the retrieved memories retain contextual or perceptual detail, the hippocampus is engaged similarly at recent and remote timepoints. As the interval between the timepoint increases, the medial prefrontal cortex is engaged increasingly during memory retrieval, regardless of the context or the amount of retrieved detail. Moreover, these hippocampal-frontal shifts are accompanied by corresponding changes in a network of cortical structures mediating perceptually-detailed as well as less precise, schematic memories. These findings provide cross-species evidence for the crucial interplay between hippocampus and neocortex that reflects changes in memory representation over time and underlies systems consolidation.
Histone deposition plays an active role in recombination‐dependent replication to balance genome 2 stability upon replication stress
Authors: Hardy Julien , Day Dingli , Ait Saada Anissia , Teixeira-Silva Ana , Dupoiron Louise , Mojallali Fatemeh , Freon karine , Ochsenbein Francoise , Hartmann Brigitte , lambert sarah
Published: April 2018

Replication stress poses a serious threat to genome and epigenome stability. Recombination-Dependent-Replication (RDR) ensures DNA synthesis resumption from arrested forks. Despite the identification of chromatin restoration pathways during DNA repair processes, crosstalk coupling RDR and chromatin assembly is largely unexplored. Here, we addressed the contribution of chromatin assembly to replication stress in fission yeast. We expressed a mutated histone (H3-H113D) to genetically impair replication-dependent chromatin assembly by destabilizing (H3-H4)2 tetramer. We established that DNA synthesis-dependent histone deposition is required for the completion of RDR. Histone deposition prevents joint-molecules from Rqh1-dependent disassembly, a crosstalk contributing to cell survival upon replication stress but channeling RDR towards deleterious events. Asf1 and CAF-1 act in RDR and CAF-1 recruitment to DNA synthesis associated to RDR requires the HR factor Rad52. Our data establish that CAF-1 counteracts Rqh1 activity at sites of replication stress by promoting repair synthesis-coupled histone deposition. These results demonstrate that histone deposition plays an active role in fine-tuning RDR, a benefit counterbalanced by stabilizing at-risk joint molecules for genome stability.
Systematic evaluation of isoform function in literature reports of alternative splicing
Authors: Bhuiyan Shamsuddin A. , Ly Sophia , Phan Minh , Huntington Brandon , Hogan Ellie , Liu Chao Chun , Liu James , Pavlidis Paul
Published: April 2018

Although most mammalian genes have multiple isoforms, an ongoing debate is whether these isoforms are all functional as well as the extent to which they increase the genome’s functional repertoire. To ground this debate in data, we established a curation framework for evaluating experimental evidence of functionally distinct splice isoforms (FDSIs) and analyzed splice isoform function for over 700 human and mouse genes. Despite our bias towards prominently studied genes, we found experimental evidence meeting the classical definition for functionally distinct isoforms for only ~5% of the curated genes. If we relax our criteria, the fraction of genes with support for FDSIs remains low (~13%). We provide evidence that this picture will not change substantially with further curation. Furthermore, many FDSIs did not trace to a specific isoform in Ensembl. Our work has implications for computational analyses of alternative splicing and should help shape research around the role of splicing on gene function from presuming large general effects to acknowledging the need for stronger experimental evidence.
Accountability and responsibility defined
Authors: McGrath Stephen Keith , Whitty Stephen Jonathan
Published: April 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to remove confusion surrounding the terms responsibility and accountability from the general and project management arenas by creating “refined” (with unnecessary elements removed) definitions of these terms.

Design/methodology/approach

A method of deriving refined definitions for a group of terms by ensuring that there is no internal conflict or overlap is adopted and applied to resolve the confusion.

Findings

The confusion between responsibility and accountability can be characterised as a failure to separate the obligation to satisfactorily perform a task (responsibility) from the liability to ensure that it is satisfactorily done (accountability). Furthermore, clarity of application can be achieved if legislative and organisational accountabilities are differentiated and it is recognised that accountability and responsibility transition across organisational levels. A difficulty in applying accountability in RACI tables is also resolved.

Research limitations/implications

Clear definition of responsibility and accountability will facilitate future research endeavours by removing confusion surrounding the terms. Verification of the method used through its success in deriving these “refined” definitions suggests its suitability for application to other contested terms.

Practical implications

Projects and businesses alike can benefit from removal of confusion around the definitions of responsibility and accountability in the academic research they fund and attempt to apply. They can also achieve improvements in both efficiency and effectiveness in undertaking organisation-wide exercises to determine organisational responsibilities and accountabilities as well as in the application of governance models.

Social implications

Refined definitions of responsibility and accountability will facilitate building social and physical systems and infrastructure, benefitting organisations, whether public, charitable or private.

Originality/value

Clarity resulting in the avoidance of confusion and misunderstanding together with their consequent waste of time, resources and money.
Healthcare service failure: how dissatisfied patients respond to poor service quality
Authors: Um Ki Hyun , Lau Antonio K.W.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

Few scholars have so far explored how healthcare service quality affects patient dissatisfaction, leading to negative behavior responses when a healthcare service fails. The purpose of this paper is to examine how different service quality attributes affect patient dissatisfaction leading to a variety of asymmetric negative behavior responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a survey of 453 dissatisfied outpatients in Korea, structural equation modeling with a series of post hoc analyses is used to test the research model. It consists of five hypotheses.

Findings

Outcome quality is found to be the most significant variable affecting patient dissatisfaction, followed by administrative quality, interactive quality, and environmental quality. Dissatisfied patients tend to engage more in active behaviors (e.g. negative word-of-mouth, switching, and complaining) than in remaining passive in a non-linear way. Also, the mediating role of dissatisfaction is found to be significant.

Research limitations/implications

This paper has empirically identified the most significant service quality attributes that lead to dissatisfied patients and negative behaviors on their part. These findings indicate that different quality attributes of service failure lead to different actions. However, this study has suffered from a few limitations as a result of its research context and scope.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the very few empirical studies examining the relationships among the output and process quality attributes, patient dissatisfaction, and actual behaviors in a healthcare service failure context.
Ecotourism as a path to sustainable development in an isolated Magic Town
Authors: Coronado Martínez Yasu , Rosas Baños Mara , Cerón Monroy Hazael
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This study aims to reveal the potential for ecotourism of a locality with high marginalisation index in the municipality of Tlalpujahua, a Magic Town in the State of Michoacán, Mexico.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study was based on several methodologies. First, socioeconomic, environmental, sustainability, geographic and institutional variables were used in the evaluation of 62 localities of the municipality. Geographic information systems identified study areas and determined their potential for ecotourism. Second, participatory diagnosis was used to collect specific information about the locality regarding their organisational aspects, development strategies, current socioeconomic problems, land use and resources availability and interest in developing projects related to ecotourism. Finally, the authors adapted the FAS Model (factors, attractors and support systems) to include environmental and organisational variables contributing to a theoretical approach to ecotourism. To identify attractors, they applied a questionnaire to determine the profile of tourists visiting Magic Towns and their potential interest in ecotourism.

Findings

The authors conclude that ecotourism is a possible alternative to highly marginalised localities within Magic Town municipalities and would be able to expand the benefits engendered by the program. Ecotourism can therefore represent a new option for tourists visiting marginalised communities in Mexico.

Originality/value

A diverse methodology applied key elements to identify localities suitable for ecotourism, characteristics of marginalisation and endowment of natural heritage. The authors conclude that the benefits to localities included in the Magic Towns Program can be expanded to surrounding spaces through strategies such as ecotourism.
Spatial distribution of touristic flows in a gravity model in South America
Authors: Porto Natalia , Garbero Noelia , Espinola Natalia
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of international bilateral tourism demand in countries of Southern Common Market (specifically, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay) and Chile.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, an augmented gravity model is used to investigate the determinants of international bilateral tourism demand in countries of Southern Common Market. The novel aspect of the analysis is that three models of tourism are defined, depending on the spatial distribution of tourist arrivals and departures. An intra-regional model, an extra-regional model and a general model are estimated using a dynamic panel data model.

Findings

The results indicate that traditional gravity variables are significant in explaining bilateral inbound arrivals, but the characteristics and the behavior of the demand of tourism vary on whether the country belongs to the sub-regional bloc.

Research limitations/implications

The differences found in this paper might have some impacts on the desired design and direction of the touristic policies of each country.

Originality/value

This study analyzes the determinants of international tourism demand through different bilateral relationships, differentiating between intra- and extra-block tourisms.
Fiber Bragg grating sensor-based monitoring strategy for slope deformation in centrifugal model test
Authors: Guo Yongxing , Fu Jianjun , Li Longqi , Xiong Li
Published: April 2018

Purpose

Centrifugal model tests can accelerate the characterization of landslides and demonstrate the form of slope failure, which is an important measure to research its instability mechanisms. Simply observing the slope landslide before and after a centrifugal model test cannot reveal the processes involved in real-time deformation. Electromagnetic sensors have severed as an existing method for real-time measurement, however, this approach has significant challenges, including poor signal quality, interference, and complex implementation and wiring schemes. This paper aims to overcome the shortcomings of the existing measurement methods.

Design/methodology/approach

This work uses the advantages of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors with their small form-factor and potential for series multiplexing in a single fiber to demonstrate a monitoring strategy for model centrifugal tests. A slope surface deformation displacement sensor, FBG anchor sensor and FBG anti-slide piling sensor have been designed. These sensors are installed in the slope models, while centrifugal acceleration tests under 100 g are carried out.

Findings

FBG sensors obtain three types of deformation information, demonstrating the feasibility and validity of this measurement strategy.

Originality/value

The experimental results provide important details about instability mechanisms of a slope, which has great significance in research on slope model monitoring techniques and slope stability.
Responses of growing‐season soil respiration to water and nitrogen addition as affected by grazing intensity
Authors: Li Jianjun , Huang Yin , Xu Fengwei , Wu Liji , Chen Dima , Bai Yongfei
Published: April 2018

Most grasslands in the world, including the semi‐arid steppe in China, are threatened by nitrogen deposition, precipitation change and livestock grazing, which greatly affect soil carbon processes (e.g. soil respiration). Although the individual effects of nitrogen deposition and precipitation change on soil respiration are well understood, how their effects on soil respiration are altered by different grazing intensities is unclear.

To determine how the effects of nitrogen deposition and precipitation change on soil respiration are affected by grazing intensity, we conducted an experiment in a semi‐arid steppe involving areas that experienced 10 years of no, light, moderate or heavy grazing. These areas were treated with water addition (110 mm, 30% of the mean annual precipitation) and nitrogen addition (10.5 g m−2 year−1).

Our results showed that relative to no grazing, grazing decreased growing‐season soil respiration by 10%–19%. The decline in soil respiration was mainly via its negative effects on above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and the fungi:bacteria ratio with light grazing, mainly via its negative effects on ANPP and leaf nitrogen content with moderate grazing, and mainly via its negative effects on ANPP, root biomass, microbial biomass and the fungi:bacteria ratio with heavy grazing.

Across all grazing intensities, both water and water+nitrogen addition increased growing‐season soil respiration, whereas nitrogen addition decreased growing‐season soil respiration. Water addition increased growing‐season soil respiration mostly via its positive effect on ANPP with no grazing and with low grazing, and mostly via its positive effects on both plant and microbial variables with moderate and heavy grazing. The pathways determining the nitrogen addition‐induced decline in growing‐season soil respiration were the same within each of the four levels of grazing and mostly resulted from its negative effect on microbial variables.

Our results indicate that the effects of climate change on growing‐season soil respiration and other soil carbon processes in grasslands depend on grazing intensity. The findings suggest that grazing intensity should be considered in future manipulation experiments and should be included in carbon models to accurately simulate soil carbon dynamics under scenarios of climate change in grassland ecosystems.

A plain language summary is available for this article.
Speak! Paradoxical Effects of a Managerial Culture of ‘Speaking Up’
Authors: Cunha Miguel Pina e , Simpson Ace Volkmann , Clegg Stewart R. , Rego Arménio
Published: April 2018

We explore the intrinsic ambiguity of speaking up in a multinational healthcare subsidiary. A culture change initiative, emphasizing learning and agility through encouraging employees to speak up, gave rise to paradoxical effects. Some employees interpreted a managerial tool for improving effectiveness as an invitation to raise challenging points of difference rather than as something ‘beneficial for the organization’. We show that the process of introducing a culture that aims to encourage employees to speak up can produce tensions and contradictions that make various types of organizational paradoxes salient. Telling people to ‘speak up!’ may render paradoxical tensions salient and even foster a sense of low PsySafe.
Narratives and gatekeeping: making sense of triage nurses’ practice
Authors: Johannessen Lars E.F.
Published: April 2018

It is well documented that emergency service staff consider some patients to be ‘inappropriate attenders’. A central example is ‘trivia’, denoting patients with medical problems considered too ‘trivial’ to warrant attention. Although research has repeatedly shown that frontline staff violate guidelines in turning away ‘trivial’ patients, existing research has paid insufficient attention to why staff are willing to engage in guideline‐violating gatekeeping, which may put both themselves and ‘trivial’ patients at risk. To address this issue, the present article explores nurses’ narratives about ‘trivial’ patients – referred to in this context as ‘GP patients’ – drawing on fieldwork data from a Norwegian emergency service. The article reconstructs three narrative clusters, showing that nurses’ gatekeeping is motivated by concerns for the patient being turned away, for nurses and more critically ill patients, and for the service they work for. Some of the issues embedded in these narratives have been under‐analysed in previous research – most importantly, the role of identity and emotion in nurses’ gatekeeping, and how patient narratives can function as ‘social prognoses’ in nurses’ assessments. Analysis of these narratives also reveals an antagonistic relationship between nurses and ‘trivial’ patients that contradicts nurses’ ethical guidelines and indicates a need for healthcare reform.
E‐cigarettes, vaping and performativity in the context of tobacco denormalisation
Authors: Lucherini Mark , Rooke Catriona , Amos Amanda
Published: April 2018

E‐cigarettes are devices through which a nicotine solution is ‘vapourised’ and inhaled by the user. Unlike cigarettes, the process involves no tobacco combustion. However, the inhalation and exhalation of vapour is reminiscent of smoking and there is debate about the possible harms and benefits of e‐cigarette use, including the ‘renormalisation’ of smoking. Despite these debates, there has been little exploration into the embodied and semiotic similarities between smoking and vaping. This paper views the practices of vaping and smoking through the lens of performativity that is, the accumulation of meaning associated with the habits over time and space. Through in‐depth interviews, we explore how young adults from primarily disadvantaged areas in Scotland, understand the similarity in practices between smoking and vaping. Participants talked about financial barriers to using different types of e‐cigarettes, and how their use reflected their views on smoking cessation. They also discussed the embodied similarities between smoking and vaping, with divergent opinions on whether this continuance of habit was beneficial or not, revealing still developing and ambiguous norms around performativity. The norms of vaping were also frequently discussed, with participants’ experiences and views reflecting the contested position of vaping in an environment where cigarette smoking is denormalised.
Habits and orders of everyday life: commensal adjustment in Anglo‐French couples
Authors: Darmon Isabelle , Warde Alan
Published: April 2018

This paper examines processes of habit reshuffling and change in different contexts of household formation, looking specifically at habits regarding eating and commensality. It is based on a study of 14 couples, each with one English and one French partner, half of whom live in France, half in England. We examine the interplay between partners, their determination to eat together as a couple, and the various ‘orders’ associated with their commensal pact (diets, routines, extra‐marital commensality), both when they start as couples and as parents of young children. We draw on the specificity of cross‐national couple experience to cast light on processes of adjustment – to one another, and to the new country of residence for the migrant partner. In particular, we explore the potential of notions of ‘split’ and ‘solid’ ‘patrimonies of incorporated habits’, ‘re‐shuffling’ of habits and dispositions, and ‘habit memory’, to characterize the dynamics of habits at play in each of the orders under scrutiny. Overall, the paper contributes to the analysis of habit as the ‘stuff’ of orders of everyday life.
Use of hand grip strength in nutrition risk screening of older patients admitted to general surgical wards
Authors: Byrnes Angela , Mudge Alison , Young Adrienne , Banks Merrilyn , Bauer Judy
Published: April 2018

Aim

Hand grip strength (HGS) has been proposed as an indicator of nutritional status that is objective, requires minimal assessor training and is quick to administer, making it attractive for use in the acute setting. This study aimed to determine the discriminatory ability of impaired HGS to screen for malnutrition in an older hospital population and assess the added value of combining this with existing screening tools.

Methods

Measures were undertaken during acute admission in patients ≥65 years admitted to general surgical wards. Impaired HGS was defined as a mean value below the lower limit of the 95% CI of population norms and observed HGS standardised as a percentage of this value. Nutritional risk was assessed using the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and malnutrition defined as Patient‐Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG‐SGA) rating B or C. Discriminatory ability of impaired HGS to identify malnourished patients was tested using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Results

Seventy‐five patients (mean age: 74.0 (SD 6.7) years, 60% male) were recruited. Impaired HGS did not accurately identify malnutrition (AUC (95% CI): 0.41 (0.25–0.58), P < 0.001), nor did it improve discriminatory ability of the MST (AUC (95% CI), MST: 0.83 (0.71–0.95), P = 0.32; MST/HGS combined: 0.68 (0.51–0.86), P = 0.035).

Conclusions

HGS was not found to be suitable in screening older inpatients for malnutrition during admission to surgical wards. As such, screening for nutrition risk using an existing validated tool to identify patients for further in‐depth nutritional assessment by an appropriately trained clinician remains the preferred method.
Management of vascular Behçet's disease
Authors: Alibaz‐Oner Fatma , Direskeneli Haner
Published: April 2018

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic, multisystemic, inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent attacks of mucocutaneous, ocular, musculoskeletal, vascular, central nervous system and gastrointestinal manifestations. Treatment of BD changes according to organ involvement, gender and age of the patient with no golden standard therapeutic regimen. Vascular involvement is observed in up to 40% of the patients with BD, especially in young males and is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity. Glucocorticoids, azathioprine and cyclophosphamide are still recommended as the first‐line treatments in vascular BD. However, increasing data with the tumor necrosis factor inhibitors suggest that these agents may also be acceptable options for the management of refractory vascular BD in daily practice. Anticoagulant usage for vascular BD is also still controversial with limited data coming from retrospective studies. There is a clear need for randomized, controlled studies for the management of VBD.
Spread of injectate around hip articular sensory branches of the femoral nerve in cadavers
Authors: Nielsen N. D. , Greher M. , Moriggl B. , Hoermann R. , Nielsen T. D. , Børglum J. , Bendtsen T. F.
Published: April 2018

Background

Anatomical knowledge dictates that regional anaesthesia after total hip arthroplasty requires blockade of the hip articular branches of the femoral and obturator nerves. A direct femoral nerve block increases the risk of fall and impedes mobilisation. We propose a selective nerve block of the hip articular branches of the femoral nerve by an ultrasound‐guided injection in the plane between the iliopsoas muscle and the iliofemoral ligament (the iliopsoas plane). The aim of this study was to assess whether dye injected in the iliopsoas plane spreads to all hip articular branches of the femoral nerve.

Methods

Fifteen cadaver sides were injected with 5 mL dye in the iliopsoas plane guided by ultrasound. Dissection was performed to verify the spread of injectate around the hip articular branches of the femoral nerve.

Results

In 10 dissections (67% [95% confidence interval: 38‐88%]), the injectate was contained in the iliopsoas plane staining all hip articular branches of the femoral nerve without spread to motor branches. In four dissections (27% [8‐55%]), the injection was unintentionally made within the iliopectineal bursa resulting in secondary spread. In one dissection (7% [0.2‐32%]) adhesions partially obstructed the spread of dye.

Conclusion

An injection of 5 mL in the iliopsoas plane spreads around all hip articular branches of the femoral nerve in 10 of 15 cadaver sides. If these findings translate to living humans, injection of local anaesthetic into the iliopsoas plane could generate a selective sensory nerve block of the articular branches of the femoral nerve without motor blockade.
Silencing synaptic MicroRNA‐411 reduces voluntary alcohol consumption in mice
Authors: Most Dana , Salem Nihal A. , Tiwari Gayatri R. , Blednov Yuri A. , Mayfield R. Dayne , Harris R. Adron
Published: April 2018

Chronic alcohol consumption alters the levels of microRNAs and mRNAs in the brain, but the specific microRNAs and processes that target mRNAs to affect cellular function and behavior are not known. We examined the in vivo manipulation of previously identified alcohol‐responsive microRNAs as potential targets to reduce alcohol consumption. Silencing of miR‐411 by infusing antagomiR‐411 into the prefrontal cortex of female C57BL/6J mice reduced alcohol consumption and preference, without altering total fluid consumption, saccharin consumption, or anxiety‐related behaviors. AntagomiR‐411 reduced alcohol consumption when given to mice exposed to a chronic alcohol drinking paradigm but did not affect the acquisition of consumption in mice without a history of alcohol exposure, suggesting that antagomiR‐411 has a neuroadaptive, alcohol‐dependent effect. AntagomiR‐411 decreased the levels of miR‐411, as well as the association of immunoprecipitated miR‐411 with Argonaute2; and, it increased levels of Faah and Ppard mRNAs. Moreover, antagomiR‐411 increased the neuronal expression of glutamate receptor AMPA‐2 protein, a known alcohol target and a predicted target of miR‐411. These results suggest that alcohol and miR‐411 function in a homeostatic manner to regulate synaptic mRNA and protein, thus reversing alcohol‐related neuroadaptations and reducing chronic alcohol consumption.
Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework and Multiple Streams policy theories to examine the role of evidence, research and other types of knowledge in drug policy
Authors: Ritter Alison , Hughes Caitlin Elizabeth , Lancaster Kari , Hoppe Robert
Published: April 2018

Background and aims

The prevailing ‘evidence‐based policy’ paradigm emphasizes a technical–rational relationship between alcohol and drug research evidence and subsequent policy action. However, policy process theories do not start with this premise, and hence provide an opportunity to consider anew the ways in which evidence, research and other types of knowledge impact upon policy. This paper presents a case study, the police deployment of drug detection dogs, to highlight how two prominent policy theories [the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and the Multiple Streams (MS) approach] explicate the relationship between evidence and policy.

Methods

The two theories were interrogated with reference to their descriptions and framings of evidence, research and other types of knowledge. The case study methodology was employed to extract data concerned with evidence and other types of knowledge from a previous detailed historical account and analysis of drug detection dogs in one Australian state (New South Wales). Different types of knowledge employed across the case study were identified and coded, and then analysed with reference to each theory. A detailed analysis of one key ‘evidence event’ within the case study was also undertaken.

Results

Five types of knowledge were apparent in the case study: quantitative program data; practitioner knowledge; legal knowledge; academic research; and lay knowledge. The ACF highlights how these various types of knowledge are only influential inasmuch as they provide the opportunity to alter the beliefs of decision‐makers. The MS highlights how multiple types of knowledge may or may not form part of the strategy of policy entrepreneurs to forge the confluence of problems, solutions and politics.

Conclusions

Neither the Advocacy Coalition Framework nor the Multiple Streams approach presents an uncomplicated linear relationship between evidence and policy action, nor do they preference any one type of knowledge. The implications for research and practice include the contestation of evidence through beliefs (Advocacy Coalition Framework), the importance of venues for debate (Advocacy Coalition Framework), the way in which data and indicators are transformed into problem specification (Multiple Streams) and the importance of the policy (‘alternatives’) stream (Multiple Streams).
The Campaign for Japanese‐Australian Children to enter Australia, 1957–1968: A History of Post‐War Humanitarianism
Authors: Damousi Joy
Published: April 2018

Between 1957 and 1968, the Prime Minister Robert Menzies and several of his ministers, including Alexander Downer, the Minister for Immigration from 1958 to 1963, were inundated with hundreds of letters of protest demanding that action be taken to assist Japanese children fathered by Australian soldiers who had been stationed in Japan during the Allied occupation and beyond it between 1946 and 1956. The response from the Australian public forms the basis of this article to consider how attempts for the transnational movement of children in the postwar period point to understandings of humanitarianism at this time. The response to the predicament of the Japanese‐Australian children offers, I argue, an intriguing narrative of postwar humanitarianism that articulates the beginning of several historic shifts. The incident points to the growing challenge to the White Australia Policy, paradoxically on racialised and paternalistic grounds to bring white Australian children to Australia. The government shifted the discussion from one of immigration to foreign aid as a way of diffusing the public response and in doing so positioned itself in the new narrative about supporting rehabilitation and development. The media was crucial in evoking a response that depoliticized the issue of responsibility by reducing it to an emotional reaction.