bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hierarchical clustering as a rapid tool for surveillance of emerging antibiotic-resistance phenotypes in Klebsiella pneumoniae strains
Authors: Berrazeg Meryem , Drissi Mourad , Medjahed Lakhdar , Rolain Jean Marc
Published: March 2013

Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise, and its early detection and surveillance are critical to implement effective control measures. The aim of this study was to develop a rapid hierarchical clustering bioinformatic tool for application on antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) results (resistant, intermediate, sensitive) of a series of Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates from Algeria and from France for surveillance of antibiotic-resistance phenotypes. A total of 1011 K. pneumoniae strains were collected from August 2008 to December 2012: 221 clinical isolates from western Algeria and 790 clinical isolates from Marseille, France. AST against a panel of 16 antibiotics was done for all isolates. Results of AST were introduced into MultiExperiment Viewer (MeV) software to perform hierarchical clustering, with resistant, intermediate and sensitive being translated to 1, 0 and −1 values, respectively. Hierarchical clustering results were compared to standard resistance phenotypes to evaluate the accuracy of the method. Based on the AST results, the 221 K. pneumoniae strains from Algeria could be separated into six phenotype groups as regards their resistance to β-lactam compounds: extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) (68.3 %), ESBL associated with cephalosporinase (13.1 %), cephalosporinase (0.9 %), penicillinase (3.6 %) and wild-type (14.0 %). Hierarchical clustering by the MeV software applied to the AST results for all 1011 isolates generated clusters that were significantly representative of phenotypic classification and geographical origin, in less than 1 min. Moreover, adding to the dataset the AST results of a K. pneumoniae NDM-1 positive strain, the only strain resistant to imipenem in the series, immediately generated a new branch in the dendrogram. We have developed a rapid and simple hierarchical clustering tool for application on AST results that was able to survey qualitatively and quantitatively the prevalence of known and unknown phenotypes. This tool could be easily implemented in routine clinical microbiology laboratories.
Contamination of ready-to-eat raw vegetables with Clostridium difficile in France
Authors: Eckert Catherine , Burghoffer Béatrice , Barbut Frédéric
Published: March 2013

The presence of Clostridium difficile in food like shellfish, vegetables and meat has been reported in several publications during the past few years. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of ready-to-eat raw vegetables contaminated with C. difficile in France. One hundred and four ready-to-eat salads and vegetables were studied. Toxigenic C. difficile strains were isolated in three samples (2.9 %): two ready-to-eat salads (one heart of lettuce and one lamb’s lettuce salad) and one portion of pea sprouts. The strains belonged to three different PCR ribotypes: 001, 014/020/077 and 015. The detection thresholds for vegetative cells and spores cells varied between 1 and 3 c.f.u. in 20 g salad and between 6 and 15 c.f.u. in 20 g salad, respectively, for the method employed.
Traffic of Human α-Mannosidase in Plant Cells Suggests the Presence of a New Endoplasmic Reticulum-to-Vacuole Pathway without Involving the Golgi Complex
Authors: De Marchis Francesca , Bellucci Michele , Pompa Andrea
Published: March 2013

The transport of secretory proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to the vacuole requires sorting signals as well as specific transport mechanisms. This work is focused on the transport in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants of a human α-mannosidase, MAN2B1, which is a lysosomal enzyme involved in the turnover of N-linked glycoproteins and can be used in enzyme replacement therapy. Although ubiquitously expressed, α-mannosidases are targeted to lysosomes or vacuoles through different mechanisms according to the organisms in which these proteins are produced. In tobacco cells, MAN2B1 reaches the vacuole even in the absence of mannose-6-phosphate receptors, which are responsible for its transport in animal cells. We report that MAN2B1 is targeted to the vacuole without passing through the Golgi complex. In addition, a vacuolar targeting signal that is recognized in plant cells is located in the MAN2B1 amino-terminal region. Indeed, when this amino-terminal domain is removed, the protein is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. Moreover, when this domain is added to a plant-secreted protein, the resulting fusion protein is partially redirected to the vacuole. These results strongly suggest the existence in plants of a new type of vacuolar traffic that can be used by leaf cells to transport vacuolar proteins.
Lipoxygenase6-Dependent Oxylipin Synthesis in Roots Is Required for Abiotic and Biotic Stress Resistance of Arabidopsis
Authors: Grebner Wiebke , Stingl Nadja E. , Oenel Ayla , Mueller Martin J. , Berger Susanne
Published: February 2013

Jasmonates are oxylipin signals that play important roles in the development of fertile flowers and in defense against pathogens and herbivores in leaves. The aim of this work was to understand the synthesis and function of jasmonates in roots. Grafting experiments with a jasmonate-deficient mutant demonstrated that roots produce jasmonates independently of leaves, despite low expression of biosynthetic enzymes. Levels of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, jasmonic acid, and its isoleucine derivative increased in roots upon osmotic and drought stress. Wounding resulted in a decrease of preformed 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid concomitant with an increase of jasmonic acid and jasmonoyl-isoleucine. 13-Lipoxygenases catalyze the first step of lipid oxidation leading to jasmonate production. Analysis of 13-lipoxygenase-deficient mutant lines showed that only one of the four 13-lipoxygenases, LOX6, is responsible and essential for stress-induced jasmonate accumulation in roots. In addition, LOX6 was required for production of basal 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid in leaves and roots. Loss-of-function mutants of LOX6 were more attractive to a detritivorous crustacean and more sensitive to drought, indicating that LOX6-derived oxylipins are important for the responses to abiotic and biotic factors.
Twenty‐first century leadership: international imperatives
Authors: Sheppard Julie‐Anne , Sarros James C. , Santora Joseph C.
Published: February 2013

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to identify the core issues that organisational leaders are facing internationally, as a result of a globalised and rapidly changing international economic environment. Appropriate leadership competencies and skills that enable organisational leaders to effectively deal with these core globalisation issues are examined in detail and are further explained through a conceptual model developed for the purpose of this study.

Design/methodology/approach

Conventional content analysis of extant literature in the leadership, management, organisational development and human resource management fields delimited this study to the identification of three core issues, their sub‐dimensions and associated organisational leadership effectiveness strategies.

Findings

This study presents a conceptual model consolidating current scholarly understanding of the international imperatives affecting twenty‐first century organisational leaders and describes “best practice” leadership skills, competencies and models that will enable managers to lead effectively in a rapidly changing, globalised market‐place.

Originality/value

The simplicity and explicitness of the descriptive‐based conceptual model represented in this review offers an original approach to the link between theory and practice in international organisational leadership, while acting to simplify the perplexing array of viewpoints on leadership approaches. A number of research alternatives are suggested that may lead to the formation of a more predictive “international imperative” model.
Authentic OM problem solving in an ERP context
Authors: Léger Pierre‐Majorique , Cronan Paul , Charland Patrick , Pellerin Robert , Babin Gilbert , Robert Jacques
Published: March 2013

Purpose

It is argued that problem‐based learning (PBL) is a valuable approach to teaching operations management, as it allows learners to apply their knowledge and skills in an environment that is close to real‐life. In fact, many simulations currently exist in the teaching of operations management. However, these simulations lack a connection to real‐life, as they are typically turn‐based and do not use real‐life IT support. The current paper seeks to address this issue by presenting an innovative pedagogical approach designed to provide learners with an authentic problem‐solving experience in operations management within an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes a simulation game called ERPsim whereby students must operate an enterprise in a simulated economic environment using in real time a real‐life ERP system, namely SAP. Based on a survey with instructors, it assesses the extent to which this proposed simulation is aligned with the five characteristics of the PBL approach.

Findings

Survey respondents confirm that significant improvements in student evaluations, learner motivation, attendance, and engagement, as well as increased learner competence with the technology can be achieved by using the proposed approach.

Practical implications

For more than five years this pedagogical approach has been used by more than 250 professors, lecturers, and professional trainers in over 160 universities worldwide. Between September 2009 and June 2011, more than 3,000 simulations games were played by over 16,000 university student teams.

Originality/value

Results and observations on using the proposed pedagogical approach are presented and compared to the main characteristics of the PBL approach (authenticity, ill structured problems, student‐centered, small group settings and facilitator dimensions).
Effects of supply chain integration and market orientation on firm performance
Authors: Liu Hefu , Ke Weiling , Kee Wei Kwok , Hua Zhongsheng
Published: March 2013

Purpose

The present paper aims to investigate the impact of two different dimensions of supply chain integration on two aspects of firm performance in the emerging economy of China. In addition, the moderating effects of market orientation on the relationship between supply chain integration and firm performance are explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from a survey administered to 246 firms in the manufacturing and services industry in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Operational coordination is positively associated with operational performance and business performance. Information sharing affects only operational performance; it has no impact on business performance. Furthermore, the results provide empirical support for the moderating effects of market orientation on the association of supply chain integration and firm performance.

Originality/value

The current paper contributes knowledge on the value‐realizing mechanism of supply chain integration from a resource‐based view. It presents a multidimensional explanation of the relationship among supply chain integration, market orientation, and firm performance in the context of China.
Intertwining relationship marketing with supply chain management through Alderson's transvection
Authors: Engelseth Per , Felzensztein Christian
Published: March 2013

Purpose

This paper's aim is to develop an understanding of how responsiveness in a supply network may be approached from a combined relationship marketing (RM) and supply chain management (SCM) view in a complete seafood supply network context.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of a case study of the upstream part of an integrated supply network from broodstock to predominately export sales.

Findings

Developing responsiveness involves two types of competence; technically generating value through the supply network through product transformations and knowing what the end‐user perceives as value. SCM is proposed as generating value through technical product‐transforming processes while RM as facilitating customer sensing through developed conceptions of value perception in the context of business relationships. Intertwining SCM and RM competencies to achieve responsive product supply is proposed by using Alderson's largely unnoticed transvection understanding of complete marketing channels.

Originality/value

The paper is a novel combination of business management fields evoking differences and complementarities to develop business relationships through intertwining RM and SCM to secure value realisation from an end‐user perspective from a multi‐tier supply network perspective. In business practice this approach provides a mindset and some developed models useful in both strategic planning of a company's role in a wider supply chain setting as well as guidance regarding the purpose of cross‐functional teamwork in operations.
The impact of customer participation on NPD performance: the mediating role of inter‐organisation relationship
Authors: Lin Ming‐Ji James , Huang Chin‐Hua
Published: March 2013

Purpose

Customer participation has been recognised as a critical factor in successful new product development (NPD). However, there is scant empirical evidence on how customer participation affects NPD performance. This research attempts to provide a framework to interpret how inter‐organisational relationships mediate the impact of customer participation on NPD performance based on marketing, innovation management and social networks literature.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study of 179 high‐tech firms in Taiwan is analysed by structural equation modelling.

Findings

The results indicate that the impacts of customer participation as an information resource and customer participation as a co‐developer on NPD performance are mediated by inter‐organisational relationships.

Practical implications

The results offer a guideline for high‐tech firms that decide to involve customers in NPD activities. In order to improve efficiency and effectiveness, this research suggests that firms build inter‐organisational relationships with customers to foster knowledge sharing, cooperation, and problem solving. However, firms should be aware that product innovativeness may be hindered by such close collaborative relationships.

Originality/value

The research demonstrates that the contributions of customer participation may not be regarded as inevitable. The authors confirm that research for investigating the linkage between customer participation and NPD performance should consider the mediating roles of inter‐organisational relationships, which may help resolve the conflicting results obtained by researchers on the contributions of customer participation. In addition, the results show that the establishment of close customer‐supplier relationships during NPD cooperation is a key success factor for both efficiency and effectiveness, but has the opposite effect on product innovativeness.
Salesperson's listening ability as an antecedent to relationship selling
Authors: Drollinger Tanya , B. Comer Lucette
Published: March 2013

Purpose

– In this study, active empathetic listening is purposed as being an antecedent to a salesperson's communication skill, ability to maintain quality relationships and build trust. The study proposes that communication skill, relationship quality and trust all moderate the relationship between AEL and sales performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey research using salespersons was conducted; structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses of the model.

Findings

– The findings confirmed that AEL was positively related to salespersons' communication skills, relationship quality and trust. The proposed moderators of communication and trust received support when predicting sales performance.

Research limitations/implications

– This was the first empirical study to examine the role of AEL in a relationship selling model. AEL was found to directly affect levels of trust, relationship quality and overall communication skills of salespeople. More research on the role of AEL in the relationship selling process should be investigated.

Practical implications

– Managers that focus on long-term relationships in a dyadic buyer-seller relationship may benefit most from this study. A scale that can be used to measure existing levels of AEL in the sales force is included. AEL may better enable salespeople to develop long-term relationships with their customers.

Originality/value

– This study examines a form of listening (AEL) that is proposed to be superior to other forms of listening within the personal selling context. Presently little research on the importance of listening and its impact on relationship building exists. This is the first study to test AEL as an antecedent to relationship skills of salespeople.
Personal interaction and customer relationship management in project business
Authors: Mainela Tuija , Ulkuniemi Pauliina
Published: March 2013

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal interaction in customer relationship management in the project business. The research question addressed is: How is personal interaction intertwined with the management of customer relationships in the project business?

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors connect an extensive knowledge of personal interactions in industrial business relationships with research on social interaction in the project business to enrich their understanding of customer relationship management in that business. Exploratory case study is used to empirically examine two firms providing project business solutions: one provides highly-tailored technological solutions to the process industry, and the other provides professional engineering services to that same industry.

Findings

– The study reveals two specific functions that connect personal interaction with customer relationship management. These two functions explain the importance of personal interaction and disclose the contents of interaction that should be considered in relationship and project management. Furthermore, the authors illustrate how two situational factors influence and are influenced by personal interaction.

Originality/value

– The study suggests specific conceptualization of personal interaction as a part of project business management.
Understanding Syrian accountants' perceptions of, and attitudes towards, social accounting
Authors: Kamla Rania , Gallhofer Sonja , Haslam Jim
Published: March 2013

Purpose

This paper adds to a focus of the social accounting literature (on perceptions and attitudes to social accounting) by seeking to offer insights into Syrian accountants' attitudes towards, and perceptions of, social accounting in Syria in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, with particular attention to its role, future development and implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of an analysis of interviews of Syrian accountants; contextual analysis (and an appreciation of the prior literature).

Findings

Syrian accountants' perceptions are shaped by developments in Syria's socio‐political and economic context, encompassing imperialism/colonialism, globalisation and cultural specificities, including Islam. Interviewees perceived a significant role for a social accounting – that would parallel the Western form of social accounting – in enhancing well‐being in the dynamic context. At the same time, they were reluctant to see the development and implementation of this accounting in Syria as an urgent issue, so that this social accounting might be left initially at least with an even more marginal part to play than in the West. The study suggests that a combination of forces – global developments, Western imperialism and Syria's colonial history – have had a substantively repressive rather than progressive impact on the development of social accounting in Syriavis‐à‐visits more positive potential.

Research limitations/implications

All limitations of interview research apply. This study focuses on Syria in a context when economic transition was a major issue. Further studies of economies in transition would be of interest.

Practical implications

An awareness of how the local and the global interact in debates over social accounting can provide insights for policy makers concerned with accounting regulation.

Originality/value

The focus on Syria, a non‐Western country, enriches the social accounting literature, which focuses mainly on Western developments.
Hedge funds and unconscious fantasy
Authors: Eshraghi Arman , Taffler Richard
Published: March 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to help explain the rapid growth in aggregate hedge fund assets under management until June 2008 followed by their subsequent dramatic collapse in terms of the conflicting emotions such investment vehicles evoke, and, from this, to consider the implications of the excitement‐generating potential underlying all financial innovations.

Design/methodology/approach

Within the framework of critical discourse analysis, this paper explores how hedge funds were represented in the financial press, manager interviews, investor comments, and Congress hearings, before and after the burst of the hedge fund “bubble”. The authors then draw on the psychodynamic literature, and frame the human unconscious need for excitement in this discourse.

Findings

The paper finds evidence demonstrating how hedge funds were transformed in the minds of investors into objects of fascination and desire with their unconscious representation dominating their original investment purpose. Based on a psychoanalytic interpretation of financial markets, and dot.com mania in particular, the authors show how hedge fund investors' search for “phantastic objects” and the associated excitement of being invested in them can become dominant, resulting in risk being ignored.

Research limitations/implications

The authors take an interdisciplinary perspective drawing on the insights of the psychoanalytic understanding of unconscious fantasies, needs and drives as these relate to investment activity.

Practical implications

Public policy implications are that stricter ethical guidelines for the hedge fund industry need to be introduced, and suitability regulations that go beyond mandatory transparent disclosure of investment risks are required.

Originality/value

The paper is one of very few studies concerning investors' emotional attachment to financial innovations, and builds on the emerging field of emotional finance. The conclusions and implications discussed in the paper go beyond any single financial market or product.
Accounting as an instrument of neoliberalisation?
Authors: Zhang Ying , Andrew Jane , Rudkin Kathy
Published: March 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the implementation of fair value accounting (FVA) in China as part of a global process of neoliberalisation and financialisation of political and economic systems. It establishes that FVA forms part of the technical architecture of neoliberalism.

Design/methodology/approach

In considering the processes of neoliberalisation in China, this paper uses a qualitative approach to explore some of the impacts the adoption of FVA has had on Chinese capital markets.

Findings

It is shown that the practice of FVA is imbued with assumptions about the state and the market that have little bearing on the realities of Chinese capital markets. Rather than advancing the public interest, as neoliberal theories claim, this accounting change has failed to transform political and economic power. Instead, it has provided another opportunity to reposition powerful political and economic elites both inside and outside China. This paper argues that the process has reconfigured capital markets in the image of those in advanced capitalist economies, but is devoid of the regulatory and socio‐political apparatus to rationalise its relevance and reliability in the Chinese context.

Originality/value

By positioning the research in broader literature of neoliberalism, this paper offers an alternative framing of the purpose of adopting FVA and, more broadly, the globalisation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The role of the audit committee in resolving auditor‐client disagreements: a Malaysian study
Authors: Salleh Zalailah , Stewart Jenny
Published: March 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to report the findings of semi‐structured interviews with management, external auditors and audit committee members in Malaysia concerning the role of the audit committee in resolving auditor‐client disagreements.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory case study method was applied in seven publicly listed companies in Malaysia. In each company interviews were conducted with an audit committee chair/member, the finance manager/CFO and the external auditor.

Findings

The study finds that, when the issue is very material, the audit committee plays a mediating role as a third‐party intermediary who provides assistance to resolve the dispute. The authority of the committee to act as a mediator comes from its oversight responsibilities, its understanding and awareness of possible issues and the members' accounting and business expertise. Mediation techniques used include controlling the agenda, gathering information, advising and solving problems. With two exceptions, the interviews indicate that the audit committee does not take sides when helping to resolve a dispute. The outcome from the mediation process is generally a compromise solution.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on 21 interviews undertaken in Malaysia. Hence, the findings may not be generalizable to other cultures and jurisdictions. Further, while a number of mediation techniques used by audit committees are identified, the paper does not examine in‐depth the mediation processes used in resolving disagreements.

Originality/value

The study extends the auditor‐client negotiation literature by examining whether the audit committee plays a mediating role to help resolve disagreements. The findings demonstrate that audit committee effectiveness can extend beyond a pure oversight role to more active involvement in resolving contentious accounting issues.
Performance measurement system change in an emerging economy bank
Authors: Munir Rahat , Baird Kevin , Perera Sujatha
Published: March 2013

Purpose

This study aims to describe and understand performance measurement system (PMS) change in an emerging economy bank.

Design/methodology/approach

Using institutional theory as a theoretical lens, the study uses Kasurinen's accounting change model to explain management accounting change as a product of motivators, catalysts and facilitators. The model also focuses on how confusers, frustrators and delayers inhibit PMS change and the role of leaders in the change process. Data were gathered from multiple sources including relevant internal and external documents covering a ten‐year period (1997‐2007), and semi‐structured interviews with managers from different hierarchical levels.

Findings

The bank's PMS experienced two significant changes from 1997 to 2007. While uncertain economic conditions, increasing competition, and pressures to improve performance and enhance accountability motivated changes in the bank's performance measurement system, the major catalysts of change were the financial losses experienced, major regulatory changes, and the appointment of a new board of directors and president. The change leader played an important role in overcoming resistance to change and in ensuring adequate technical support and training was provided to facilitate the change.

Practical implications

Bank managers must be aware of the influence of institutional factors on PMSs. In particular, they need to be aware of the factors that can necessitate change (motivators), initiate change (catalysts) and the prevailing conditions required to support change (facilitators) in order to maintain the utility of PMSs.

Originality/value

The paper provides a more detailed insight into the impact of institutional factors on changes in PMSs in the context of an emerging economy, which will assist practitioners in addressing issues concerning PMSs changes in similar contexts.
“Tailoring” customization services
Authors: Wang Yonggui , Kandampully Jay , Jia He (Michael)
Published: February 2013

Purpose

The aim of this article is to examine the interaction effect of customization mode and regulatory focus on the “tailoring” outcomes of customized services in both the number of options retained and consumer evaluations.

Design/methodology/approach

Two experiments investigate the interaction between customization mode and consumer regulatory focus, together with mediating and moderating factors.

Findings

An interaction effect of customization mode and regulatory focus exists: it significantly influences the number of options retained, and prevention‐focused consumers retain more options in the final customized offering than promotion‐focused consumers in subtractive customization, whereas this effect is reduced in additive customization; it significantly affects how consumers evaluate the customization service with regard to task enjoyment and attitudes toward products; and it is fully mediated by task enjoyment and positively moderated by product familiarity.

Originality/value

This article provides an important contribution to service customization design and regulatory focus theory by shedding light on the interaction between customization mode and consumer regulatory focus and revealing how this interaction affects the decision outcomes of customization services.
The telecom reform process in Europe and the upcoming challenges: overview of the issues and papers in this special edition
Authors: Henten Anders
Published: February 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to the telecommunication reform process in Europe, its status, and upcoming policy issues. Furthermore, it also aims to provide an overview of the papers in this special issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides an introduction to the telecom reform process based on previous research and the papers in this issue of info.

Findings

The introduction argues that the European telecommunication reform process with the telecommunications green paper of 1987 as an important point of departure has been a success in many ways. It has, for example, facilitated the development of mobile, of the internet and its many applications, and considerably lowered prices. However, there are important areas where a single European market has not developed. Moreover, new challenges are rising in terms of upcoming reconfigurations of the whole information communications technology (ICT) area requiring new policy and regulatory answers.

Originality/value

The paper provides a brief introduction to the European telecommunication reform process, its achievements, present challenges, and the policy responses of the European Union. In addition, an overview of the papers of this issue of info is provided.
Professional Migrant Women Decentring Otherness: A Transnational Perspective
Authors: Pio Edwina , Essers Caroline
Published: February 2013

Embraced by their ethnicity and gender many migrant women have negotiated their own spaces in the host country. Yet, much of the literature on migrant women focuses on those who are struggling to make ends meet with low levels of education and how this defines the construction of the Other. We contribute to the limited scholarship in management research on professional migrant women by illustrating how transnational processes play out in the lived experience of professional migrantIndian women inNewZealand, and how they invoke agency in decentring Otherness. This qualitative study foregrounds the navigation of asymmetrical power relations and the strategic deployment of ethnicity, education and caste affiliation, when confronted with processes of exclusion in the labour market. We argue for the need to highlight narratives of professional migrant women which reflect the agency and articulation of their voices, thus reworking notions of the Other in transnational space.
Public Duty and Private Prejudice: Sexualities Equalities and Local Government
Authors: Richardson Diane , Monro Surya
Published: February 2013

Rather than critiquing social institutions and practices that have historically excluded lesbians and gay men, as did earlier social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, since the 1990s the politics of sexuality has increasingly been about demanding equal rights of citizenship. These citizenship demands have, at least to a degree, been answered via a raft of recent legislation in the UK including the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and by associated changes in policy making and practice that emphasize ‘Equality and Diversity’. In this article we consider how the implementation of sexualities equalities policies is related to processes of privatization and individualization. This is illustrated by using sexualities equalities work in local government as a case study to indicate how processes of change and resistance are aided by these processes. The article draws on findings from a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities initiatives in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which examined the views of those who now have a public duty to implement recent legislative and policy shifts and are obliged to develop equalities initiatives concerning ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender reassignment’.
Inattention, hyperactivity and low parental education in children with conduct problems and poor reading skills
Authors: Kallitsoglou Angeliki
Published: February 2013

Concerns over the poor reading performance of children with conduct problems are often expressed by their parents and teachers. In order to intervene effectively with these children, it is necessary to know what their difficulties are, both at school and at home. To date, there is still a lot of ambiguity in relation to the specific difficulties children with conduct problems and coexisting poor reading experience in important academic domains and in the family context. The aim of the present study was to compare the problems of attention and hyperactivity in the classroom and parental education in four groups of children: conduct problems only (CP); conduct problems and coexisting poor reading (CP‐PR); poor reading only (PR); and a comparison group (COM). A sample of 2nd Grade Greek children (n = 113) was selected on the basis of the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale‐28 (CTRS‐28), Conduct Problems Scale and the Reading Ability Detection Test. The CTRS‐28, Inattention and Hyperactivity scales and a brief questionnaire on parental education were used to assess attention, hyperactivity and level of parental education, respectively. The results showed that children with CP‐PR were significantly more inattentive and hyperactive than the other groups of children. Their parents were also more likely to have spent fewer years in school than the parents of CP only and COM children. The earlier findings have implications for intervention planning and theoretical understanding of childhood conduct problems.
Analogical reasoning in adolescents with intellectual disability: effects of external memories and time processing
Authors: Denaes Caroline , Berger Jean‐Louis
Published: February 2013

Analogical reasoning involves the comparison of pictures as well as the memorisation of relations. Young children (4–7 years old) and students with moderate intellectual disability have a short memory span, which hampers them in succeeding traditional analogical tests. In the present study, we investigated if, by providing external memory hints, the visual aid could enable these participants to succeed in analogies comprising more relations than their memory span was able to manage.

Our analogical test, composed of 2 × 2 matrices, was administered in two versions: the standard version, similar to traditional tests, required the participant to memorise all the relations involved in order to discover the solution, whereas the construction version required him/her to construct the answer part by part by using external memories, which potentially increased success by offloading the memory.

Our results show that students with moderate intellectual disability reached results similar to typically developing control children when provided with external memory hints (referred to as external memories). Moreover, in the most complex levels of the test, they did not spend more time than control children in solving the analogies.
Inigo Jones, the Surveyors of the Works and the ‘Parliament House’
Authors: Hawkyard Alasdair
Published: March 2013

Inigo Jones's modern reputation rests on a handful of buildings surviving from late in his career and his designs for masques at court. Recently more attention has focused on his earlier architectural work. Even so, his work for the Stuart kings on the Parliament House has received scant attention. Study of this, perhaps more routine, work demonstrates Jones's ability to respond constructively to problems arising from the use of medieval buildings for purposes other than those originally intended, the imagination of his response, the economy of his proposals, and his innovation. The responses of his immediate predecessors and his successor to the same problems are also considered.
Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults in Asians: Similarities and differences between East and West (亚洲成人隐匿性自身免疫糖尿病的特点：东西方种族差异之比较)
Authors: Xiang Yufei , Zhou Zhiguang , Deng Chao , Leslie Richard D.
Published: March 2013

Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a form of autoimmune diabetes with features of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and in the middle of the diabetes spectrum. Scientists clash on the question of whether this type of diabetes is a unique diabetes subtype. Multicenter studies have been performed in different countries, including the Korea National Diabetes Program (KNDP) collaboratory group, the Ehime study in Japan, the Not Insulin‐Requiring Autoimmune Diabetes (NIRAD) study in Italy, the Nord‐Trøndelag Health (HUNT) study in Norway, the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) in the UK, the Action LADA study in Europe and the LADA China study in China. These studies found universal immunogenetic effects associated with LADA, but with some ethnic differences. Herein we summarize those multicenter studies and compare the ethnic similarities and differences between East and West from epidemiological, clinical, immune, and genetic viewpoints.
Evaluation of beta‐2 microglobulin and alpha‐2 macroglobulin levels in patients with different periodontal diseases
Authors: Ertugrul AS , Sahin H , Dikilitas A , Alpaslan N , Bozoglan A
Published: March 2013

Background

Beta‐2 microglobulin (B2M) and alpha‐2 macroglobulin (A2M) play key roles in the immune system. The aim of this study was to compare B2M and A2M levels in patients with different periodontal diseases.

Methods

Eighty patients (20 periodontally healthy, 20 with gingivitis, 20 with chronic periodontitis and 20 with generalized aggressive periodontitis) were enrolled in the study. The analysis of B2M and A2M was performed on gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay in GCF.

Results

The total levels of B2M and A2M were statistically lower in the periodontally healthy group than in the other groups (p < 0.05) and significantly higher in the generalized aggressive periodontitis group compared to the other groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

B2M and A2M play key roles in the balance between periodontal health and disease. It is proposed that tissues release B2M and A2M to stop inflammation and inhibit the proliferation of microorganisms and this may be the reason for the high levels of B2M and A2M in the generalized aggressive periodontitis and chronic periodontitis groups. B2M and A2M are assumed to be user‐friendly and cost‐effective markers for periodontal disease to identify asymptomatic diseases.
Pemetrexed in combination with cisplatin versus cisplatin monotherapy in East Asian patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer: Results of an exploratory subgroup analysis of a phase III trial
Authors: Urba Susan , Hong Ruey‐Long , Hossain Anwar M , Cheng Rebecca , Orlando Mauro
Published: February 2013

Aim:

An exploratory subgroup analysis of East Asian (EA) patients in a phase III trial was conducted to assess efficacy and safety trends based on ethnicity.

Methods:

The 795 patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck included 111 EA patients randomized to pemetrexed‐cisplatin (n = 55) and placebo‐cisplatin (n = 56) and 684 non‐ EA patients randomized to pemetrexed‐cisplatin (n = 343) and placebo‐cisplatin (n = 341). Treatment differences in median overall survival and progression‐free survival were compared using a stratified log–rank test. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method.

Results:

The median overall survival in the pemetrexed‐cisplatin and placebo‐cisplatin arms of the EA group (6.8 and 5.7 months, respectively [P = 0.275]) was similar to that in the global population (7.3 and 6.3 months, respectively [P = 0.082]); the median progression‐free survival in the pemetrexed‐cisplatin and placebo‐cisplatin arms in the EA group (2.8 and 1.9 months, respectively [P = 0.748]) was similar to that in the global population (3.6 and 2.8 months, respectively [P = 0.166]). Compared to the findings in the global population, overall survival for the EA group receiving prior platinum‐based therapy was longer (P = 0.042 vs P = 0.065). There was no significant interaction between treatment arms and ethnicity.

Conclusion:

Consistent with findings in the global population, pemetrexed‐cisplatin did not improve survival compared with placebo‐cisplatin for the EA group. However, in a subgroup analysis, pemetrexed‐cisplatin showed an overall survival advantage in EA patients receiving prior platinum‐based therapy.
Conscientious Refusals and Reason‐Giving
Authors: Marsh Jason
Published: March 2013

Some philosophers have argued for what I call the reason‐giving requirement for conscientious refusal in reproductive healthcare. According to this requirement, healthcare practitioners who conscientiously object to administering standard forms of treatment must have arguments to back up their conscience, arguments that are purely public in character. I argue that such a requirement, though attractive in some ways, faces an overlooked epistemic problem: it is either too easy or too difficult to satisfy in standard cases. I close by briefly considering whether a version of the reason‐giving requirement can be salvaged despite this important difficulty.
Ca2+‐activated K+ channel (KCa) stimulation improves relaxant capacity of PDE5 inhibitors in human penile arteries and recovers the reduced efficacy of PDE5 inhibition in diabetic erectile dysfunction
Authors: González‐Corrochano R , La Fuente JM , Cuevas P , Fernández A , Chen MX , Sáenz de Tejada I , Angulo J
Published: February 2013

Background and Purpose

We have evaluated the influence of calcium‐activated potassium channels (KCa) activation on cGMP‐mediated relaxation in human penile tissues from non‐diabetic and diabetic patients, and on the effects of PDE5 inhibitors on erectile responses in control and diabetic rats.

Experimental Approach

Cavernosal tissues were collected from organ donors and from patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). Relaxations of corpus cavernosum strips (HCC) and penile resistance arteries (HPRA) obtained from these specimens were evaluated. Intracavernosal pressure (ICP) increases to cavernosal nerve electrical stimulation were determined in anaesthetized diabetic and non‐diabetic rats.

Key Results

Concentration‐dependent vasodilation to the PDE5 inhibitor, sildenafil, in HPRA was sensitive to endothelium removal, NO/cGMP pathway inhibition and KCa blockade. Accordingly, activation of KCa with NS‐8 (10 μM) significantly potentiated sildenafil‐induced relaxations in HPRA (EC50 0.49 ± 0.22 vs. 5.21 ± 0.63 μM). In HCC, sildenafil‐induced relaxation was unaffected by KCa blockade or activation. Potentiating effects in HPRA were reproduced with an alternative PDE5 inhibitor (tadalafil) and KCa activator (NS1619) and prevented by removing the endothelium. Large‐conductance KCa (BK) and intermediate‐conductance KCa (IK) contribute to NS‐8‐induced effects and were immunodetected in human and rat penile arteries. NS‐8 potentiated sildenafil‐induced enhancement of erectile responses in rats. Activation of KCa recovered the impaired relaxation to sildenafil in diabetic HPRA while sildenafil completely reversed diabetes‐induced ED in rats only when combined with KCa activation.

Conclusions and Implications

Activation of KCa improves vasodilatory capacity of PDE5 inhibitors in diabetic and non‐diabetic HPRA, resulting in the recovery of erectile function in diabetic rats. These results suggest a therapeutic potential for KCa activation in diabetic ED.
Retracted: Advances in the physiological and pathological implications of cholesterol
Authors: Cortes Victor A. , Busso Dolores , Mardones Pablo , Maiz Alberto , Arteaga Antonio , Nervi Flavio , Rigotti Attilio
Published: March 2013

Cholesterol has evolved to fulfill sophisticated biophysical, cell signalling, and endocrine functions in animal systems. At the cellular level, cholesterol is found in membranes where it increases both bilayer stiffness and impermeability to water and ions. Furthermore, cholesterol is integrated into specialized lipid‐protein membrane microdomains with critical topographical and signalling functions. At the organismal level, cholesterol is the precursor of all steroid hormones, including gluco‐ and mineralo‐corticoids, sex hormones, and vitamin D, which regulate carbohydrate, sodium, reproductive, and bone homeostasis, respectively. This sterol is also the immediate precursor of bile acids, which are important for intestinal absorption of dietary lipids as well as energy homeostasis and glucose regulation. Complex mechanisms maintain cholesterol within physiological ranges and the dysregulation of these mechanisms results in embryonic or adult diseases, caused by either excessive or reduced tissue cholesterol levels. The causative role of cholesterol in these conditions has been demonstrated by genetic and pharmacological manipulations in animal models of human disease that are discussed herein. Importantly, the understanding of basic aspects of cholesterol biology has led to the development of high‐impact pharmaceutical therapies during the past century. The continuing effort to offer successful treatments for prevalent cholesterol‐related diseases, such as atherosclerosis and neurodegenerative disorders, warrants further interdisciplinary research in the coming decades.