bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Expression levels of glycoprotein O (gO) vary between strains of human cytomegalovirus, influencing the assembly of gH/gL complexes and virion infectivity
Authors: Zhang Le , Zhou Momei , Stanton Richard , Kamil Jeremy , Ryckman Brent J.
Published: April 2018

Tropism of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is influenced by the envelope glycoprotein complexes gH/gL/gO and gH/gL/UL128-131. During virion assembly, gO and the UL128-131 proteins compete for binding to gH/gL in the ER. This assembly process clearly differs among strains since Merlin (ME) virions contain abundant gH/gL/UL128-131 and little gH/gL/gO, whereas TR contains much higher levels of total gH/gL, mostly in the form of gH/gL/gO, but much less gH/gL/UL128-131 than ME. Remaining questions include 1) what are the mechanisms behind these assembly differences, and 2) do differences reflectin vitroculture adaptations or natural genetic variations? Since the UL74(gO) ORF differs by 25% of amino acids between TR and ME, we analyzed recombinant viruses in which the UL74(gO) ORF was swapped. TR virions were >40-fold more infectious than ME. Transcriptional repression of UL128-131 enhanced infectivity of ME to the level of TR, despite still far lower levels of gH/gL/gO. Swapping the UL74(gO) ORF had no effect on either TR or ME. A quantitative immunoprecipitation approach revealed that gH/gL expression was within 4-fold between TR and ME, but gO expression was 20-fold less by ME, and suggested differences in mRNA transcription, translation or rapid ER-associated degradation of gO. Trans-complementation of gO expression during ME replication gave 6-fold enhancement of infectivity beyond the 40-fold effect of UL128-131 repression alone. Overall, strain variations in assembly of gH/gL complexes result from differences in expression of gO and UL128-131, and selective advantages for reduced UL128-131 expression during fibroblast propagation are much stronger than for higher gO expression.

IMPORTANCE

Specific genetic differences between independently isolated HCMV strains may result from purifying selection onde novomutations arising during propagation in culture, or random sampling among the diversity of genotypes present in clinical specimens. Results presented indicate that while reduced UL128-131 expression may confer a powerful selective advantage during cell-free propagation of HCMV in fibroblast cultures, selective pressures for increased gO expression are much weaker. Thus, variation in gO expression among independent strains may represent natural genotype variability presentin vivo. This may have important implications for virus-host interactions such as immune recognition, and underscores the value of studying molecular mechanisms of replication using multiple HCMV strains.
Detection of Leishmania DNA in saliva among patients with HIV/AIDS in Trang Province, southern Thailand
Authors: Pandey Netranapha , Siripattanapipong Suradej , Leelayoova Saovanee , Manomat Jipada , Mungthin Mathirut , Tan-ariya Peerapan , Bualert Lertwut , Naaglor Tawee , Siriyasatien Padet , Phumee Atchara , Piyaraj Phunlerd
Published: April 2018

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease causing opportunistic infection among patients with HIV/AIDS. The fatal form of this disease is visceral leishmaniasis (VL). DNA of Leishmania can be detected in saliva, for which the collection is noninvasive and requires little expertise. This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of a nested-PCR to amplify the Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS1) to detect Leishmania DNA in paired saliva and buffy coat samples of 305 Thai patients with HIV/AIDS in Trang Hospital, Trang Province, southern Thailand. For asymptomatic Leishmania infection among Thai patients with HIV/AIDS, the sensitivity and specificity of the nested-PCR-ITS1 in buffy coat were 73.9 and 100%, respectively. However, the sensitivity in saliva was 26.1% and specificity was 100%. Using the nested-PCR-ITS1, saliva and buffy coat samples showed positive agreement in only 52.0% of patients. Saliva tested results with the nested-PCR-ITS1 showed positive agreement with the Direct Agglutination Test (DAT) in 46.5% of patients. Only 12.1% of the samples showed positive agreement for Leishmania infection among all the three tests: saliva, buffy coat and DAT results. Using nucleotide sequencing, at least three species of Leishmania infection were identified in saliva, i.e., L. siamensis (n=28), L. martiniquensis (n=9), and L. donovani complex (n=1). As a result, buffy coat still appears to be a better specimen to diagnose asymptomatic VL infection among individuals with HIV. However, the use of both buffy coat and saliva together as clinical specimens would increase the sensitivity of Leishmania detection.
Enhancement of Macrophage Function by the Antimicrobial Peptide Sublancin Protects Mice from Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureus
Authors: Wang Shuai , Ye Qianhong , Wang Ke , Zeng Xiangfang , Huang Shuo , Yu Haitao , Ge Qing , Qi Desheng , Qiao Shiyan
Published: April 2018

Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) is the major pathogen responsible for community and hospital bacterial infections. Sublancin, a glocosylated antimicrobial peptide isolated fromBacillus subtilis168, possesses anti-bacterial infective effects. In this study, we investigated the role and anti-infection mechanism of sublancin in a mouse model of MRSA-induced sublethal infection. Sublancin could modulate innate immunity by inducing the production of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and nitric oxide, enhancing phagocytosis and MRSA-killing activity in both RAW264.7 cells and peritoneal macrophages. The enhanced macrophage function by the peptidein vitrocorrelated with stronger protective activityin vivoin the MRSA-invasive sublethal infection model. Macrophages activation by sublancin was found to be mediated through the TLR4 and the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. Moreover, oral administration of sublancin increased the frequencies of CD4+and CD8+T cells in mesenteric lymph nodes. The protective activity of sublancin was associated within vivoaugmenting phagocytotic activity of peritoneal macrophages and partly improving T cell-mediated immunity. Macrophages thus represent a potentially pivotal and novel target for future development of innate defense regulator therapeutics againtS. aureusinfection.
Repurposing cytarabine for treating primary effusion lymphoma by targeting KSHV latent and lytic replications
Authors: Gruffaz Marion , Zhou Shenghua , Vasan Karthik , Rushing Teresa , Michael Qing Liu , Lu Chu , Jung Jae U. , Gao Shou-Jiang
Published: April 2018

Oncogenic Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is etiologically linked to primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), an aggressive and non-treatable malignancy commonly found in AIDS patients. In this study, we performed a high throughput screening of 3,731 characterized compounds, and identified cytarabine approved by FDA for treating numerous types of cancer as a potent inhibitor of KSHV-induced PEL. We showed the high efficacy of cytarabine in the growth inhibition of various PEL cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Cytarabine inhibited host DNA and RNA syntheses and therefore induced cellular cytotoxicity. Furthermore, cytarabine inhibited viral DNA and RNA syntheses and induced the the rapid degradation of KSHV major latent protein LANA, leading to the suppression of KSHV latent replication. Importantly, cytarabine effectively inhibited active KSHV replication and virion production in PEL cells. Finally, cytarabine treatments not only effectively inhibited the initiation and progression of PEL tumors, but also induced regression of grown PEL tumors in a xenograft mouse model. Together, our study has identified cytarabine as novel therapeutic agent for treating PEL as well as eliminating KSHV persistent infection.

Importance

Primary effusion lymphoma is an aggressive malignancy caused by Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. The outcome of primary effusion lymphoma is dismal without specific treatment. Through a high throughput screening of characterized compounds, we identified a FDA-approved compound cytarabine as a potent inhibitor of primary effusion lymphoma. We showed that cytarabine induced regression of PEL tumors in a xenograft mouse model. Cytarabine inhibited host and viral DNA and RNA syntheses, resulting in the induction of cytotoxicity. Of interest, cytarabine induced the degradation of KSHV major latent protein LANA, hence suppressing KSHV latent replication, which is required for PEL survival. Furthermore, cytarabine inhibited KSHV lytic replication program, preventing virion production. Our findings identified cytarabine as novel therapeutic agent for treating PEL as well as for eliminating KSHV persistent infection. Since cytarabine is already approved by the FDA, it might be an ideal candidate for repurposing for PEL therapy and for further evaluation in advanced clinical trials.
A pool of postnatally-generated interneurons persists in an immature stage in the olfactory bulb
Authors: Benito Nuria , Gaborieau Elodie , Sanz Diez Alvaro , Kosar Seher , Foucault Louis , Raineteau Olivier , De Saint Jan Didier
Published: April 2018

Calretinin (CR)-expressing periglomerular (PG) cells are the most abundant interneurons in the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb. They are predominately generated postnatally from the septal and dorsal sub-ventricular zones that continue producing them well into adulthood. Yet, little is known about their properties and functions. Using transgenic approaches and patch-clamp recording we show that CR(+) PG cells of both septal and dorsal origin have homogenous morphological and electrophysiological properties. They express a surprisingly poor repertoire of voltage-activated channels and fire, at most, one action potential. They also receive little synaptic inputs and NMDA receptors predominate at excitatory synapses. These properties, that resemble those of immature neurons, persist over time and limit the contribution of CR(+) PG cells in network activity. Thus, postnatally-generated CR(+) PG cells continuously supply a pool of latent neurons that unlikely participate in olfactory bulb computation but may provide a so far unsuspected reservoir of plasticity.
Visual salience of the stop-signal affects neural dynamics of controlled inhibition
Authors: Pierpaolo Pani , Franco Giarrocco , Margherita Giamundo , Roberto Montanari , Emiliano Brunamonti , Stefano Ferraina
Published: April 2018

The countermanding or stop-signal task is broadly used to evaluate response inhibition: it sporadically requires to inhibit a movement upon an incoming salient stop-signal.

To study the neural basis of arm movements inhibition we combined the approach typically employed for the study of perceptual-decision making with the countermanding task, that is broadly used to evaluate response inhibition

To this aim we modified the salience of the stop-signal and we found that this modulation affected the ability to inhibit in macaque monkeys: coherently to what already observed in humans, we found that less salient stimuli deteriorate inhibitory performance. These behavioural results were subtended by neural modulations representing an inhibitory process that started later in time and showed a less steeper dynamic for stimuli difficult to be processed.

This study shows that the neural patterns observed when deciding to stop are broadly similar to the neural patterns observed when deciding to act in the literature; thus it is a first step in investigating the perceptual decision making process involved in movement inhibition.
Compartmentalized lymph node drainage dictates intestinal adaptive immune responses
Authors: Esterházy Daria , Canesso Maria CC , Muller Paul A , Lockhart Ainsley , Mesin Luka , Faria Ana MC , Mucida Daniel
Published: April 2018

The intestinal immune system has the challenging task of tolerating foreign nutrients and the commensal microbiome, while excluding or eliminating ingested pathogens. Failure in such balance leads to a range of severe intestinal and systemic diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases, food allergies or invasive gastrointestinal infections1,2. Multiple innate and adaptive immune mechanisms are therefore in place to maintain tissue integrity, including efficient peripheral generation of effector T (TH) cells and FOXP3+ regulatory T (pTreg) cells, which mediate resistance to pathogens and regulate excessive immune activation, respectively2–5. The gut-draining mesenteric lymph nodes (mLNs) are critical sites for orchestrating adaptive immunity to luminal perturbations6–8. However, how they manage to simultaneously support tolerogenic and inflammatory reactions is incompletely understood. Here we report that individual mLNs are anatomically and immunologically distinct according to the functional gut segment they drain. Dendritic cell gene signatures and adaptive T cell polarization against the same luminal antigen differed between mLNs along the intestine, the proximal small intestine–draining mLNs preferentially giving rise to tolerogenic and the distal mLNs to pro-inflammatory T cell responses. This compartmentalized dichotomy could be perturbed by duodenal infection, surgical removal of select distal mLNs, dysbiosis, or ectopic antigen delivery, impacting both lymphoid organ and tissue immune responses. Our findings reveal that the conflict between tolerogenic and inflammatory adaptive responses is in part resolved by discrete mLN drainage, and encourage gut segment-specific antigen targeting for therapeutic immune modulation.
Integrated culturing, modeling and transcriptomics uncovers complex interactions and emergent behavior in a synthetic gut community
Authors: D’hoe Kevin , Vet Stefan , Faust Karoline , Moens Frédéric , Falony Gwen , Gonze Didier , Lloréns-Rico Verónica , Gelens Lendert , Danckaert Jan , Vuyst Luc De , Raes Jeroen
Published: April 2018

Whereas the composition of the human gut microbiome is relatively well resolved, predictive understanding of its response to perturbations such as diet shifts is still lacking. Here, we followed a bottom-up strategy to explore human gut community dynamics. We established a synthetic community composed of three representative human gut isolates in well-controlled conditionsin vitro.We then explored species interactions by performing all mono- and pair-wise fermentation experiments and quantified with a mechanistic community model how well tri-culture dynamics was predicted from mono-culture data. With the model as a reference, we demonstrated that species grown in co-culture behaved differently than in mono-culture and confirmed their altered behavior at the transcriptional level. In addition, we showed with replicate tri-cultures and in simulations that dominance in tri-culture sensitively depends on initial conditions. Our work has important implications for gut microbial community modeling as well as ecological interaction detection from batch cultures.
Genetic sequences are two-dimensional
Authors: Erives Albert J
Published: April 2018

In attempting to align divergent homologs of a conserved developmental enhancer, a flaw in the homology concept embedded in gapped alignment (GA) was discovered. To correct this flaw, we developed a methodological approach called maximal homology alignment (MHA). The goal of MHA is to rescue internal microparalogy of biological sequences rather than to insert a pattern of gaps (null characters), which transform homologous sequences into strings of uniform size (1-dimensional lengths). The core operation in MHA is the “cinch”, whereby inferred tandem microparalogy is represented in multiple rows across the same span of alignment columns. Thus, MHAs have a second (vertical) paralogy dimension, which re-categorizes most indel mutations as replication slippage and attenuates the indel problem. Furthermore, internally-cinched, inferred microparalogy in a self-MHA can later be relaxed to restore uniformity to 2-dimensional widths in a multiple sequence alignment. This de-cinching operation is used as a first resort before artificial null characters are used. We implement MHA in a program called maximal, which is composed of a series of modules for cinching and cyclelizing divergent tandem repeats. In conclusion, we find that the MHA approach is of higher utility than GA in non-protein-coding regulatory sequences, which are unconstrained by codon-based reading frames and are enriched in dense microparalogical content.
TraceSpecks: a software for automated idealization of noisy patch-clamp and imaging data
Authors: Shah Syed Islamuddin , Demuro Angelo , Mak Don-On Daniel , Parker Ian , Pearson John E. , Ullah Ghanim
Published: April 2018

Experimental records of single molecules or ion channels from fluorescence microscopy and patch-clamp electrophysiology often include high-frequency noise and baseline fluctuations that are not generated by the system under investigation and have to be removed. More-over, multiple channels or conductance levels can be present at a time in the data that need to be quantified to accurately understand the behavior of the system. Manual procedures for removing these fluctuations and extracting conducting states or multiple channels are laborious, prone to subjective bias, and hinder the processing of often very large data-sets. We introduce a maximum likelihood formalism for separating signal from a noisy and drifting background such as fluorescence traces from imaging of elementary Ca2+ release events called puffs arising from clusters of channels and patch-clamp recordings of ion channels. Parameters such as the number of open channels or conducting states, noise level, and back-ground signal can all be optimized using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. We implement our algorithm following the Baum-Welch approach to EM in the portable java language with a user-friendly graphical interface and test the algorithm on both synthetic and experimental data from patch-clamp electrophysiology of Ca2+ channels and fluorescence microscopy of a cluster of Ca2+ channels and Ca2+ channels with multiple conductance levels. The resulting software is accurate, fast, and provides detailed information usually not available through manual analysis. Options for visual inspection of the raw and processed data with key parameters, and exporting a range of statistics such as the mean open probabilities, mean open times, mean close times, and dwell time distributions for different number of channels open or conductance levels, amplitude distribution of all opening events, and number of transitions between different number of open channels or conducting levels in asci format with a single click are provided.
Adenosine hypodiphosphate ester, an analogue of ADP: analysis of the adenine–hypodiphosphate interaction mode in hypodiphosphate nucleotides and adenine salts
Authors: Otręba Marta , Budzikur Daria , Górecki Łukasz , Ślepokura Katarzyna A.
Published: April 2018

Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) plays a crucial role in cell biochemistry, especially in metabolic pathways and energy storage. ADP itself, as well as many of its analogues, such as adenosine hypodiphosphate (AhDP), has been studied extensively, in particular in terms of enzymatic activity. However, structural studies in the solid state, especially for AhDP, are still missing. An analogue of ADP, i.e. adenosine hypodiphosphate ester, has been synthesized and characterized in the crystalline form as two hydrated sodium salts of 2′:3′-isopropylideneadenosine 5′-hypodiphosphate (H3AhDP, C13H19N5O9P2 for the neutral form), namely pentasodium tetrakis(2′:3′-isopropylideneadenosine 5′-hypodiphosphate) tetracosahydrate, 5Na+·3C13H18N5O9P2
−·C13H17N5O9P2
2−·24H2O or Na5(H2AhDP)3(HAhDP)·24H2O, (I), and sodium tetrakis(2′:3′-isopropylideneadenosine 5′-hypodiphosphate) pentadecahydrate, Na+·C13H20N5O9P2
+·2C13H18N5O9P2
−·C13H19N5O9P2·15H2O or Na(H4AhDP)(H3AhDP)(H2AhDP)2·15H2O, (II). Crystal structure analyses of (I) and (II) reveal two nucleoside hypodiphosphate ions in the asymmetric units with different ionization states of the hypodiphosphate unit and adenine base. For all AhDP nucleotides, the same anti conformation about the N-glycosidic bond and similar puckering of the ribose ring have been found. AhDP geometry and interactions have been compared to ADP nucleotides deposited in the Cambridge Structural Database. The adenine–hypodiphosphate interactions, identified as defining nucleotide self-assembly, have been analysed in model systems, i.e. the adenine (Ade) salts of hypodiphosphoric acid, namely bis(adeninium) hypodiphosphate dihydrate, 2C5H6N5
+·H2P2O6
2−·2H2O or (AdeH)2(H2P2O6)·2H2O, (III), and bis(adeninium) hypodiphosphate, 2C5H6N5
+·H2P2O6
2− or (AdeH)2(H2P2O6), (IV).
Unanticipated formation of a novel octaazacyclodecane ring upon oxidation of a 1,1-bis-urazole
Authors: Breton Gary W. , Martin Kenneth L.
Published: April 2018

Tetrahydrotetrazoles are a little-explored class of five-membered heterocycles with four contiguous singly-bonded N atoms. Recent work in our labs has demonstrated that urazole radicals are amenable to N—N bond formation via radical combination to form such a chain of four N atoms. Previously described 1,1-bis-urazole compounds appeared to be convenient precursors to the target tetrazoles via their oxidation to intermediate urazole diradicals, which upon N—N bond formation would complete the tetrazole framework. While oxidation proceeded smoothly, the novel 10-membered octaaza heterocycle 7,7,18,18-tetraacetyl-4,10,15,21-tetraphenyl-1,2,4,6,8,10,12,13,15,17,19,21-dodecaazapentacyclo[17.3.0.02,6.08,12.013,17]docosan-3,5,9,11,14,16,20,22-octone, C42H32N12O12, was obtained (36% yield) instead of the expected tetrazole product, as confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Calculations at the (U)B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory suggest that the desired tetrazoles have weak N—N bonds connecting the two urazole units.
Active users’ knowledge-sharing continuance on social Q&A sites: motivators and hygiene factors
Authors: Kang Minhyung
Published: April 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on active users who are key contributors to online social question-and-answer (Q&A) sites, and examine antecedents of their knowledge-sharing continuance intention, based on expectation-confirmation theory and organizational justice theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Sample data were gathered via an online survey from active users of Naver Knowledge-iN, a popular online social Q&A site in South Korea. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was adopted for data analysis. Moreover, a multi-group analysis was conducted to identify the motivators and hygiene factors of the responders’ knowledge-sharing continuance.

Findings

Except for perceived self-worth, all the antecedents – perceived playfulness, confirmation, perceived justice with sites, and perceived justice with askers – seemed to have a considerable influence on active users’ satisfaction, and therefore their continuance intention. Among them, perceived playfulness was proven to be a motivator, and perceived justice with sites a hygiene factor.

Research limitations/implications

Despite the limitations of a cross-sectional study, this research successfully illustrated that active users’ continuance intention is influenced by perceived playfulness, and not by perceived self-worth. In addition, perceived justice with social Q&A sites was proven to decrease dissatisfaction (i.e. hygiene factor), while perceived playfulness was proven to increase satisfaction (i.e. motivator).

Originality/value

This study differentiates itself from prior research by focusing specifically on active users of social Q&A sites, since their motivating mechanisms are different from normal users. Additionally, the antecedents of knowledge-sharing continuance were categorized into motivators and hygiene factors. This approach affords detailed guidelines to facilitate active users’ knowledge-sharing continuance and to prevent their defection.
CEO inside debt and firm debt
Authors: Beavers Randy
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to examine jointly the CEO inside debt and firm debt to further investigate the compensation incentives on risky decision-making and the resulting financial policy decisions concerning the debt structure of the firm.

Design/methodology/approach

Using S&P 1500 data from CRSP, Compustat, Execucomp and Capital IQ between 2006 and 2011, statistical analysis and regression models are used to determine potential correlations between the variable of interest, inside debt and debt control variables, including specialization.

Findings

Firms with high inside debt specialize in commercial loans and drawn credit lines. Larger firms diversify their debt holdings among commercial instruments and senior bonds. As firm size increases with inside debt, the effects are counteracted. Larger firms with high CEO inside debt have lower interest rates on these debt instruments and shorter maturities, suggesting a more conservative financing policy with regards to debt.

Research limitations/implications

Debt diversification is partially affected by compensation in the form of inside debt. Future studies of debt diversification should include CEO compensation controls.

Practical implications

For struggling companies or for those that want to return to a conservative financial policy, they can influence the CEO to make this decision by deferring his compensation to retirement.

Originality/value

This paper considers debt policy through the lens of a key decision maker, the CEO, and uses compensation as an incentive to determine what choices are made concerning debt.
The readiness of construction contractors and consultants to adopt e-tendering
Authors: Wimalasena Nipuni Nilakshini , Gunatilake Sachie
Published: April 2018

Purpose

Tendering is a process undertaken to obtain offers from interested contractors to carry out specific packages of construction work. Presently, most construction stakeholders in developing countries use a paper-based tendering method, which is time-consuming, costly and labour-intensive. It may be argued that considering increased calls towards efficiency improvements in the construction industry, adopting e-tendering can bring about several benefits by allowing electronic exchange of information and avoiding the errors of traditional tendering. However, the question of readiness of construction stakeholders to embrace this change remains. The aim of this study is to investigate the readiness of Sri Lankan construction contractors and consultants (who are the two key parties involved in the tendering process) to adopt e-tendering.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-methods research approach was used to achieve the aim. Initially, a literature review was used to compare typical conventional and e-tendering processes. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the current level of usage of e-tendering and to investigate the readiness levels of consultants and contractors to implement e-tendering. Finally, seven expert interviews were conducted to propose suitable solutions to achieve a successful e-tendering implementation.

Findings

The analysed data revealed that both consultants and contractors used electronic media in the tendering process but they were still not ready for complete e-tendering implementation. However, consultants were more hesitant than contractors. The main barrier that limited e-tendering implementation was the lack of legal rules to cover e-tendering.

Originality/value

E-tendering implementation should be initiated from the government sector. Therefore, it is recommended to update the procurement guideline and required legal policies to enrich the current usage level of e-tendering among construction stakeholders.
The effect of corporate governance on carbon emission disclosures
Authors: Kılıç Merve , Kuzey Cemil
Published: April 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether corporate governance characteristics impact the voluntary disclosure of carbon emissions.

Design/methodology/approach

This empirical research was carried out in two stages. Initially, the carbon disclosures data were sourced from the annual and stand-alone sustainability reports of Turkish non-financial companies listed on Borsa Istanbul during 2011-2015. Later, the corporate governance characteristics that influence carbon disclosures were examined using panel data regression models.

Findings

The empirical findings of this study suggested that entities with a higher number of independent directors on their boards were more likely to respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project. In addition, board nationality diversity and the existence of a sustainability committee had a significant positive impact on the propensity to disclose carbon emissions and the extent of those disclosures.

Originality/value

This research provides empirical evidence of the determinants of carbon emission disclosures, which could be useful for organizations and regulatory bodies. Such an understanding is crucial to specify necessary policies that will provide emission reduction practices and policies for entities. This paper fills some of the gap in the literature by concentrating on the association between corporate governance characteristics and disclosures of a more specific environmental issue, being carbon emissions.
“Natural allies”
Authors: Poole Alex H. , Garwood Deborah A.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

In Digging into Data 3 (DID3) (2014-2016), ten funders from four countries (the USA, Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands) granted $5.1 million to 14 project teams to pursue data-intensive, interdisciplinary, and international digital humanities (DH) research. The purpose of this paper is to employ the DID3 projects as a case study to explore the following research question: what roles do librarians and archivists take on in data-intensive, interdisciplinary, and international DH projects?

Design/methodology/approach

Participation was secured from 53 persons representing eleven projects. The study was conducted in the naturalistic paradigm. It is a qualitative case study involving snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews, and grounded analysis.

Findings

Librarians or archivists were involved officially in 3 of the 11 projects (27.3 percent). Perhaps more importantly, information professionals played vital unofficial roles in these projects, namely as consultants and liaisons and also as technical support. Information and library science (ILS) expertise helped DID3 researchers with issues such as visualization, rights management, and user testing. DID3 participants also suggested ways in which librarians and archivists might further support DH projects, concentrating on three key areas: curation, outreach, and ILS education. Finally, six directions for future research are suggested.

Originality/value

Much untapped potential exists for librarians and archivists to collaborate with DH scholars; a gap exists between researcher awareness and information professionals’ capacity.
How do career satisfaction and life satisfaction associate?
Authors: Hagmaier Tamara , Abele Andrea E. , Goebel Kyra
Published: April 2018

Purpose

Life satisfaction is an ultimate goal in human existence, and it is also an important factor in the work domain. It may both trigger work-related outcomes and be influenced by work-related factors. The authors are here concerned with career satisfaction and its association with life satisfaction. From a bottom-up perspective, career satisfaction should enhance life satisfaction; from a top-down perspective, the influence should work in the reverse direction; and from an interactionist perspective reciprocal influences are conceivable. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors tested these perspectives in two longitudinal studies with three points of measurement each. Study 1 (n=517) covered a period of five years and Study 2 an eight-week period (n=99). The authors analyzed the data by means of latent growth curve modeling and cross-lagged analysis.

Findings

Both studies revealed that life satisfaction and career satisfaction are positively associated both within and across time. The directional association between both constructs is well-represented by a top-down model; further, by a reciprocal influence model. The bottom-up model received least support. Study 2 additionally showed that work centrality is a moderator.

Research limitations/implications

The authors discuss these findings with respect to both the relevance of life satisfaction in the work domain and the relationship between global and domain-specific life satisfaction.

Originality/value

The present research is the first one that investigates the association between career satisfaction and life satisfaction using two longitudinal studies.
Discipline-specific competency-based curricula for leadership learning in medical specialty training
Authors: Turner Sandra , Chan Ming-Ka , McKimm Judy , Dickson Graham , Shaw Timothy
Published: April 2018

Purpose

Doctors play a central role in leading improvements to healthcare systems. Leadership knowledge and skills are not inherent, however, and need to be learned. General frameworks for medical leadership guide curriculum development in this area. Explicit discipline-linked competency sets and programmes provide context for learning and likely enhance specialty trainees’ capability for leadership at all levels. The aim of this review was to summarise the scholarly literature available around medical specialty-specific competency-based curricula for leadership in the post-graduate training space.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature search method was applied using the Medline, EMBASE and ERIC (education) online databases. Documents were reviewed for a complete match to the research question. Partial matches to the study topic were noted for comparison.

Findings

In this study, 39 articles were retrieved in full text for detailed examination, of which 32 did not comply with the full inclusion criteria. Seven articles defining discipline-linked competencies/curricula specific to medical leadership training were identified. These related to the areas of emergency medicine, general practice, maternal and child health, obstetrics and gynaecology, pathology, radiology and radiation oncology. Leadership interventions were critiqued in relation to key features of their design, development and content, with reference to modern leadership concepts.

Practical implications

There is limited discipline-specific guidance for the learning and teaching of leadership within medical specialty training programmes. The competency sets identified through this review may aid the development of learning interventions and tools for other medical disciplines.

Originality/value

The findings of this study provide a baseline for the further development, implementation and evaluation work required to embed leadership learning across all medical specialty training programmes.
Effects of reporting relationship and type of internal control deficiency on internal auditors’ internal control evaluations
Authors: Gramling Audrey , Schneider Arnold
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to explore whether an internal auditor’s evaluation of internal control deficiencies are influenced by the party with primary influence over the internal audit function and by the type of internal control deficiency.

Design/methodology/approach

A behavioral experiment is conducted with internal auditors as participants in a 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design.

Findings

Results indicate that internal auditors are less likely to evaluate a pervasive control deficiency related to “tone at the top” as a material weakness than a process-specific control deficiency. Furthermore, internal auditors are somewhat less likely to evaluate a process-specific internal control deficiency as a material weakness when management has primary influence over the internal audit function than when the audit committee has primary influence. It is also found that the best practice of internal audit oversight (i.e., primary oversight of internal auditors by the audit committee) may lead to potential internal under-reporting of instances where the audit committee represents a material weakness in internal control.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of this research include lack of economic consequences (e.g. future pay and job loss) associated with the internal control decisions made by the participants; less concise information provided to the participants than would generally be available to them; and lack of generalizability of the findings beyond the specific company setting and internal control scenario portrayed in the case materials.

Practical implications

Not evaluating a pervasive control deficiency related to “tone at the top” as a material weakness seems to not fully align with relevant professional guidance and can possibly result in inaccurate internal information about the quality of internal controls. Furthermore, having an internal auditor’s evaluation of a process-specific internal control deficiency influenced by the party with primary influence over the internal audit function would not appear to align with relevant professional guidance. Finally, primary oversight by the audit committee of the internal auditors may lead to potential internal under-reporting of instances where the audit committee represents a material weakness in internal controls and, thus, possible communication of inaccurate internal control information.

Originality/value

This study is the first to address whether the party with primary influence over the internal audit function influences an internal auditor’s evaluation of internal control deficiencies.
Effect of gravity on generalized thermoelastic diffusion due to laser pulse using dual-phase-lag model
Authors: Othman Mohamed I.A. , Eraki Ebtesam E.M.
Published: April 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to obtain a general solution to the field equations of generalized thermo-diffusion in an infinite thermoelastic body under the effect of gravity in the context of the dual-phase-lag (DPL) model. The half space is considered made of an isotropic homogeneous thermoelastic material. The boundary plane surface is heated by a non-Gaussian laser beam.

Design/methodology/approach

An exact solution to the problem is obtained using the normal mode analysis.

Findings

The derived expressions are computed numerically for copper and the results are presented in graphical form.

Originality/value

Comparisons are made with the results predicted by Lord-Shulman theory and DPL model for different values of time and in the presence and absence of gravity as well as diffusion.
Building a sponsor’s equity through brand personality: perceptions of fans and rivals
Authors: Tsordia Charitomeni , Papadimitriou Dimitra , Apostolopoulou Artemisia
Published: April 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of perceived fit and brand personality as means of building the brand equity of the sponsor in a basketball sponsorship setting both for team fans (fans) and fans of a rival team (rivals).

Design/methodology/approach

The sponsorship deal between Microsoft (X-BOX), a global software company, and Panathinaikos BC, a popular basketball team located in Athens, Greece, was selected for this examination. Empirical data were collected through self-administered questionnaires from 222 fans and 271 rivals. Structural equation modeling was run to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

Results provided evidence that brand personality mediates the effect of fans’ perceived fit evaluations on brand equity variables. No mediation of brand personality was found for rivals, as perceived fit did not significantly affect either positively or negatively any of the brand equity variables for those study participants.

Research limitations/implications

The timing of data collection, which took place a short period after the sponsorship deal was announced, the low degree of rivalry reported as well as the fact that sponsorship activation initiatives were not taken into consideration are seen as limitations of this study. Suggestions for future research that would address each of these limitations are offered.

Practical implications

The study contributed theoretically to sport sponsorship literature by introducing the concept of brand personality as a means to enhance sponsors’ brand equity in a basketball sponsorship setting for both team fans and rivals. Interesting managerial implications have emerged for marketing managers of both sponsors and sponsees.

Originality/value

This is one of the very few studies that propose a process by which sponsors can deal with rivals’ negative associations, uncovering opportunities that may exist for companies in sponsoring competing teams.
Creating tourism experiences combining food and culture: an analysis among Italian producers
Authors: Garibaldi Roberta , Pozzi Andrea
Published: April 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to understand how food and drink producers have combined food and culture into the tourism experience through an explorative analysis on a sample of Italian enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper opted for a two-stage analysis. An explorative study has been carried out to identify producers with this offering and assess their main characteristics. A direct survey has been carried out to acquire detailed information about the profile of the enterprises as well as to assess motivations, results achieved and satisfaction concerning the experience offered.

Findings

Food can be alternatively the main subject (e.g. food museums) or be combined with other cultural expression (e.g. music festivals inside wineries), and the choice appears to mainly depend on personal interest of entrepreneurs. The production of the food tourism experience not only increases the tourist attractiveness but also generates other benefits, such as improving brand visibility and relationship with local stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the sample chosen, the research results may lack generalizability. Furthermore, it may be important to deeply investigate some issues that remain partly unanswered.

Practical implications

The paper sheds lights on characteristics of tourism experiences combining food and culture and hopefully aims at increasing awareness among producers about their current attractiveness.

Originality/value

This paper tries to contribute to improve the knowledge on a topic of current interest such as tourism experiences combining food and culture.
Impact of US monetary policy rate shock and other external shocks on the Hong Kong economy: A factor‐augmented vector autoregression approach
Authors: Chen Hongyi , Tsang Andrew
Published: April 2018

This paper uses the factor‐augmented vector autoregression framework to study the impact on the Hong Kong economy of the diverging monetary policies by the Fed, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan as well as the slowdown of the Mainland economy. The empirical results show that shocks in US monetary policy rate mainly affect interest rate‐sensitive sectors in Hong Kong and that monetary easing from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan somewhat offsets the impact of tightening of the Fed. The transmission of external shocks is through trade and capital markets. Real variables such as real GDP growth and the unemployment rate are more sensitive to the economic slowdown in Mainland China. It is estimated that the combined effect of the four external shocks will on average lower Hong Kong's quarterly GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points and quarterly inflation by 0.2 percentage points in the first four quarters. However, Hong Kong's financial stability, particularly with regard to loan quality, banks’ capital and liquidity, is well maintained by macroprudential policies, suggesting that Hong Kong's financial system is resilient to external shocks.
Associations of Number Line Estimation With Mathematical Competence: A Meta‐analysis
Authors: Schneider Michael , Merz Simon , Stricker Johannes , De Smedt Bert , Torbeyns Joke , Verschaffel Lieven , Luwel Koen
Published: April 2018

The number line estimation task is widely used to investigate mathematical learning and development. The present meta‐analysis statistically synthesized the extensive evidence on the correlation between number line estimation and broader mathematical competence. Averaged over 263 effect sizes with 10,576 participants with sample mean ages from 4 to 14 years, this correlation was r = .443. The correlation increased with age, mainly because it was higher for fractions than for whole numbers. The correlation remained stable across a wide range of task variants and mathematical competence measures (i.e., counting, arithmetic, school achievement). These findings demonstrate that the task is a robust tool for diagnosing and predicting broader mathematical competence and should be further investigated in developmental and experimental training studies.
Sotagliflozin: a dual sodium‐glucose co‐transporter‐1 and ‐2 inhibitor for the management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Sims H. , Smith K. H. , Bramlage P. , Minguet J.
Published: April 2018

Aims

To evaluate the evidence for the novel dual sodium‐glucose co‐transporter‐1 (SGLT1) and ‐2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, sotagliflozin, which may enhance the efficacy of SGLT2 inhibitors by additionally reducing intestinal glucose absorption.

Methods

The search terms ‘sotagliflozin’, ‘LX4211’, ‘SGLT’ and ‘diabetes’ were entered into PubMed. Evidence for the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety and efficacy of sotagliflozin in Type 1 and 2 diabetes was extracted from the retrieved literature, critically evaluated, and contextualized in relation to data on existing SGLT2 inhibitors.

Results

There is convincing evidence from a range of phase II and III clinical trials that sotagliflozin significantly improves glycaemic control in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Additional benefits, such as smaller postprandial plasma glucose excursions, lower insulin requirements, appetite suppression and weight loss have been documented. While this is encouraging, several safety concerns remain; a dose‐dependent increase in the rate of diabetic ketoacidosis, diarrhoea and genital mycotic infection is apparent, although statistical exploration of the data regarding such events is currently lacking. Speculatively, use of a 200‐mg rather than a 400‐mg dose may help to limit unwanted effects.

Conclusions

The current evidence for sotagliflozin in diabetes appears promising. Further studies sufficiently powered to assess present and emerging safety concerns, as well as to identify individuals for whom sotagliflozin may be of particular benefit/harm would now be informative for regulatory decision‐making. Direct comparisons with existing SGLT2 inhibitors are also needed to determine relative safety/efficacy profiles for the different indications.
Ethnic Group Differences in Bullying Perpetration: A Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Vitoroulis Irene , Vaillancourt Tracy
Published: April 2018

We examined ethnic differences in bullying perpetration in order to assess whether ethnic group membership was associated with higher involvement among (1) nonimmigrant and immigrant youth; and (2) White and visible minority youth (i.e., Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, and Biracial). Fifty‐three studies (N = 740,176; 6‐18‐year‐olds) were included in the meta‐analysis. Results yielded very small and nonsignificant effect size differences across all group comparisons. Methodological moderator analyses indicated several differences across groups. Our findings provide initial support that the assessment of ethnicity as a descriptive variable is not sufficient to account for group differences in bullying perpetration.