bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A framework for stakeholder engagement and sustainable development in MNCs
Authors: Rhodes Jo , Bergstrom Bruce , Lok Peter , Cheng Vincent
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The aim of this study is to determine key factors and processes for multinational companies (MNCs) to develop an effective stakeholder engagement and sustainable development (SD) framework.

Design/methodology/approach

– A qualitative multiple-case approach was used. A triangulation method was adopted (interviews, archival documents and observations) to collect data on three global firms (MNCs). Nine senior executives were interviewed for this study (three from each firm). An initial literature review was conducted to explore possible practices and factors (the deductive approach) to SD. Interview data were analysed using Nvivo to obtain appropriate nodes and themes for the framework. A comparison of findings from interview data, archival data, factors, themes and cross cases comparison were used to develop the final conceptual framework (the inductive approach).

Findings

– The results suggested that stakeholder engagement is a key mediator between “stakeholder network” (internal and external factors) and outcomes (corporate social responsibility, social capital, shared value and SD). Key internal factors such as human capital/talent, technology, culture, leadership and processes such as collaboration, knowledge sharing and co-creation of value with stakeholders were identified. These internal factors and processes must be integrated and aligned with external factors such as social, political, cultural, environment and NGOs to achieve effective stakeholder engagement.

Originality/value

– This study has captured the insight of how MNCs developed their SD strategies. Accessing internal data from MNCs is always a challenge and in-depth qualitative approach is warranted here to obtain underlying strategies, processes and meaning to SD in MNCs.
The global public health issue of pharmaceutical waste: what role for pharmacists?
Authors: A. Singleton Judith , M. Nissen Lisa , Barter Nick , McIntosh Malcolm
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– Pharmaceuticals have played an important role in improving the quality of life of the human population in modern times. However, it must also be acknowledged that both the production and use of pharmaceuticals have a significant, negative impact on the environment and consequently, a negative impact on the health of humans and wildlife. This negative impact is due to the embedded carbon in pharmaceuticals' manufacture and distribution and the waste generated in their manufacture, consumption and disposal. Pharmaceutical waste is comprised of contaminated waste (unwanted pharmaceuticals and their original containers) and non-contaminated waste (non-hazardous packaging waste). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The article is a literature review.

Findings

– The article identified a gap in the literature around pharmacist attitudes and behaviour toward the environmentally responsible handling of pharmaceutical waste.

Originality/value

– Pharmacists, with their professional commitment to the quality use of medicines and their active participation in the medicines management pathway, already play an important role in the more sustainable use of pharmaceuticals. Even so, they have the potential to play an even greater role with the environmentally responsible disposal of pharmaceutical waste (including packaging waste) and the education of other health professionals and the general public on this topic.
Bringing theory to practice: how to extract value from corporate social responsibility
Authors: Federica Izzo Maria
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– This contribution aims to clarify the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an issue of governance and a strategic tool more than a mere communication activity, with a potential impact on both organizations and their economic and financial performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper provides an overview of the literature contribution on CSR and its impact on value, offering a new conceptual model useful both for managers and relevant stakeholders in assessing, through an integrated approach, the company performance.

Findings

– The analysis focuses on how CSR investments can create value for companies and for stakeholders in general. This can occur if the related benefits exceed the related costs, generating a favorable balance toward what we called the virtuous cycle of CSR. This cycle is made up of four steps – decision, design, action and result – that define a potential value creation path that a responsible firm can take, assuming that it integrates a social agenda into its competitive strategy and assuming that the market appreciates real and effective social efforts of companies.

Research limitations/implications

– Because the descriptive chosen approach, the research could be enriched with a quantitative analysis to test the proposed propositions further.

Originality/value

– This paper fulfils the need, identified in the major literature, of a temporary ceasefire on corporate social performance and its link to financial performance, focusing on tools and instruments that can practically modify the companies' approach to CSR and the evaluation processes of its impact on business, strategy and disclosure.
Ethical issues of human enhancement technologies
Authors: Greguric Ivana
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to focus on the modern development of bionics and linking new technologies with the human nervous system or other biological systems that cause changes of the human biological structure.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper is a discursive evaluation of technological progress and new systems where computers and machines integrate, making a single matrix entity – the cyborg. Here fundamental questions arise, such as what it means to be human and what is (descriptive aspect) and what should be (normative aspect) a human being?

Findings

– The paper argues for the value of twenty-first century human enhancement techniques and other emerging technologies that promised to “help” humans become “more than human”, trying to create human beings with greatly enhanced abilities, to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities. Modern man is gradually disappearing as a natural being and increasingly turning into an artificial creature “cyborg” that leads into the question, what will ultimately remain human in a human body?

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to the existing debates about further development of cyborgisation and examines boundaries that will strictly divide man from a cyborg in the near future. In order to protect man from the omnipotence of technology and its unethical application is necessary to establish cyborgoethics that would determine the implementation of an artificial boundary in the natural body.
Intellectual capital and performance of listed companies: empirical evidence from Italy
Authors: Celenza Domenico , Rossi Fabrizio
Published: April 2014

Purpose

–The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate performance and Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAICTM) on the one hand, and the relationship between the variations in market value and the variations in VAIC on the other hand.

Design/methodology/approach

–Starting from the VAIC model, 23 Italian listed companies were examined with the aim of investigating the relationship between VAIC and the performance of the firms in the sample. The analysis was divided into two stages. In the first stage, eight models of linear regression were estimated to verify the presence of a positive and statistically significant relationship between M/BV and VAIC and between accounting performance indicators (ROE, ROI, ROS) and the VAIC. In the second stage, six other models were tested, considering as an independent variable the variations in VAIC and the variations in profitability indicators.

Findings

–The outcomes of the application stress the importance of VAIC in the explanation of the variations in MV and its role as “additional coefficient” in the analysis of equity performance.

Originality/value

–This methodology highlights some very interesting aspects. In particular, whereas the relationship between M/BV and VAIC and between profitability indicators (ROI, ROE, ROS) and VAIC is statistically insignificant, the subsequent analysis highlights the importance of VAIC as a variable capable of increasing the explanatory power of the regression in a cross-sectional perspective.
Managers' workplace attitudes, tolerance of ambiguity and firm performance
Authors: K. Katsaros Kleanthis , N. Tsirikas Athanasios , S. Nicolaidis Christos
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The aim of the research is to investigate how managers' personal traits, emotions and attitudes shape their tolerance of ambiguity (TOA); and consequently, the influence of managers' ambiguity tolerance in organizations' financial performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey data were collected from 54 Greek banks. A total of 412 senor-level managers completed questionnaires examining TOA, personal traits, emotions and attitudes in the workplace. Principal components analysis and ordinary least-squares regressions were used to explore the hypotheses of the paper.

Findings

– Three factors characterize managers' emotions in the workplace, namely pleasure, arousal and dominance; and, respectively, two factors their involvement, namely importance and interest. Further,locusof control, importance, job satisfaction, pleasure and organizational commitment critically affect managers' TOA, which, in turn, seems to influence positively organizations' profitability.

Research limitations/implications

– Further research is required in Greek banking industry regarding the influence of managers' emotional and cognitive attributes in organizations' financial performance. Likewise, this research should be expanded to other industries.

Practical implications

– The findings provide further support on the significance of emotional and cognitive attitudes in the workplace; the paper suggests policies to enhance managers' TOA, and thus, organizations' profitability.

Originality/value

– The originality of this study lies in the finding that emotional and cognitive characteristics affect managers' TOA, which, in turn, influences significantly organizations' profitability. Another significant contributing factor is that the study is carried out in Greece, where few studies have been conducted in this area.
The service revolution and its marketing implications: service logic vs service-dominant logic
Authors: Grönroos Christian , Gummerus Johanna
Published: April 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this conceptual paper is to analyse the implications generated by a service perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

– A conceptual analysis of two approaches to understanding service perspectives, service logic (SL) and service-dominant logic (SDL), reveals direct and indirect marketing implications.

Findings

– The SDL is based on a metaphorical view of co-creation and value co-creation, in which the firm, customers and other actors participate in the process that leads to value for customers. The approach is firm-driven; the service provider drives value creation. The managerial implications are not service perspective-based, and co-creation may be imprisoned by its metaphor. In contrast, SL takes an analytical approach, with co-creation concepts that can significantly reinvent marketing from a service perspective. Value gets created in customer processes, and value creation is customer driven. Ten managerial SL principles derived from these analyses offer theoretical and practical conclusions with the potential to reinvent marketing.

Research limitations/implications

– The SDL can direct researchers’ and managers’ views towards complex value-generation processes. The SL can analyse this process on a managerial level, to derive customer-centric, service perspective-based opportunities to reinvent marketing.

Practical implications

– The analysis and principles help marketing break free from offering only value propositions and become an organisation-wide responsibility. Firms must organise service-influenced marketing and create a customer focus among all employees, beyond conventional marketing.

Originality/value

– A service perspective on business has key managerial implications and enables researchers and managers to find new, customer-centric, service-influenced marketing approaches.
Disentangling, again, the drivers of population decline for two harvested species: a response to Prasad et al. ()
Authors: Ticktin Tamara , Ganesan Rengaian , Paramesha Mallegowda , Setty Siddappa
Published: April 2014

Ticktin et al. (2012) (Journal of Applied Ecology, 49, 774) assessed the dynamics of two Indian tree species (Phyllanthus emblica and P. indofischeri) and showed that although fruit harvest can decrease long‐term population growth rates (λ), the principal drivers of decline are mistletoe infestation and invasion of an exotic shrub. Prasad et al. (2014) (Journal of Applied Ecology, 51, doi: 10.1111/1365‐2664.12170) questioned Ticktin et al.'s approach, showed that P. emblica λ values increased when fruit harvest was banned and concluded that fruit harvest has a significant negative effect. We demonstrate that Prasad et al.'s analysis is fundamentally flawed and that our conclusions hold firm.

We clarify that our models are built from empirical data collected from field plots. We use life table response experiments to demonstrate that the increase in P. emblica λs after the fruit harvest ban is due to higher adult survival and unrelated to fruit harvest. P. indofischeri populations show no such increase.

We demonstrate that our results and the literature strongly back up our management recommendations to control mistletoe and the invasive shrub, and protect amla saplings.

Synthesis and applications. Prasad et al. (2014) confound the effects of time and treatment and therefore reach erroneous conclusions. This highlights the importance of careful analyses to disentangle the effects of multiple drivers of decline for species at risk.
Survivors’ experiences of dysphagia‐related services following head and neck cancer: Implications for clinical practice
Authors: Nund Rebecca L. , Ward Elizabeth C. , Scarinci Nerina A. , Cartmill Bena , Kuipers Pim , Porceddu Sandro V.
Published: April 2014

Background

It is known that people with dysphagia experience a number of negative consequences as a result of their swallowing difficulties following head and neck cancer management (HNC). However their perceptions and experiences of adjusting to dysphagia in the post‐treatment phase, and the services received to assist this process, has not been studied.

Aims

To explore the lived experience of people with dysphagia following non‐surgical treatment for HNC and examine their perceptions of service needs.

Methods & Procedures

A demographically diverse group of 24 people who had received radiotherapy for HNC in the past five years, and experienced dysphagia as a result of treatment, were recruited using maximum variation sampling. Each participant took part in a semi‐structured, in‐depth interview, where they reflected on their adjustment to, and recovery from dysphagia following treatment for HNC, as well as the dysphagia‐related services they received during their treatment. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcripts and to identify key themes that emerged from the data.

Results

The main integrative theme was the desire for ongoing access to dysphagia‐related services in order to adequately manage dysphagia. Within this integrative theme were five additional themes including: (1) entering the unknown: life after treatment for HNC; (2) making practical adjustments to live with dysphagia; (3) making emotional adjustments to live with dysphagia; (4) accessing support outside the hospital services; and (5) perceptions of dysphagia‐related services.

Conclusions & Implications

The interviews revealed the need for both greater access to services and a desire for services which address the multitude of issues faced by people with dysphagia following HNC in the post‐treatment period. Speech and language therapists managing this caseload need to ensure post‐treatment services are available and address not only the physical but also the emotional and psychosocial changes impacting people with dysphagia in order to assist them to adjust to, and live successfully with dysphagia. Further research should be conducted to support the development of innovative services and to highlight dysphagia‐related survivorship issues to governing bodies/policy makers.
2 Post‐industrial times and the unexpected: endurance and sustainability in Germany's fastest‐shrinking city
Authors: Ringel Felix
Published: April 2014

This paper investigates the impact of recent politico‐economic changes on contemporary experiences of time from the perspective of the future. By discussing endurance, permanence, and sustainability in Germany's fastest‐shrinking city, I present a set of future‐orientated practices which are post‐industrial, but unexpectedly so: namely, hopeful and not subject to the widely attested phenomenon of ‘enforced presentism’. I subsequently position the temporal logics of endurance and sustainability against current academic responses to accelerated change, captured in the misleading uses of the Deleuzian concepts of emergence and becoming. My informants' epistemic investments in the future allow for a different understanding of what I describe as post‐industrial temporal agency and the conflictive politics that shape these otherwise unexpected temporal relations.
3 For labour: Ajeet's accident and the ethics of technological fixes in time
Authors: Bear Laura
Published: April 2014

This paper uses an ethnography of river pilots who navigate container ships on the Hooghly to argue for a focus on labour as an act of mediation in the timespaces of global workplaces. A new approach to capitalist time is developed that seeks to combine recent emphasis on knowledge practices with an older Marxist emphasis on the mediating role of labour. Bureaucrats driven by the rhythms of repayment of public deficit have taken on an extractive role on the Hooghly, producing a declining infrastructure. Moreover, the contradictions produced by government policies are making it increasingly difficult to navigate the river, climaxing in frequent accidents. River pilots ‘fix’ these through technological interventions shaped by the ethics or ‘senses of workmanship’ that emerge from their acts of labour in specific timespaces. Capital on the Hooghly continues to circulate through these small, piecemeal moves in which time is an ethical, affective, and technical problem rather than through the large‐scale temporal fixes described by Harvey and Castree. Therefore, we need radically to rethink our approaches to time in capitalism, moving beyond existing accounts of it as an abstract measure of value or source of time‐discipline. Capitalist time is heterochronic and provokes attempts to reconcile diverse, recalcitrant rhythms and representations through our ethical and physical labour.
6 The time it takes: temporalities of planning
Authors: Abram Simone
Published: April 2014

State planning has been a defining means for modern subjects to regulate the passage of time. In practice, it is the focus of multiple conflicts and doubts, which planners attempt to mediate. In this paper, I address the regimes of time that planning both promotes and encounters, and tease out what these imply for anthropology. Using ethnography of Norwegian and Swedish planning offices and their encounters with participatory planning, I question recent claims that there has been an evacuation of the near future or a retreat of administrative intervention. I also suggest that recent anthropological concerns with time have been confined by their attempts to characterize the changing timescapes of specific modal shifts, such as from the modern to the neoliberal. Instead, in my ethnography, I focus not on tracking epochal breaks in time, but on demonstrating how time is manipulated, and how multiple temporalities are performed in ongoing projects of democratic planning.
Gelling Properties of Chia Seed and Flour
Authors: Coorey Ranil , Tjoe Audrey , Jayasena Vijay
Published: April 2014

Healthy oil profile of chia has been well established. Chia could also be a good source of gel. The characteristics of chia gel were studied and compared to guar gum and gelatin which are commonly used in the food industry. The properties tested were water and oil holding capacities, viscosity, line‐spread; emulsification activity and freeze–thaw stability. The extracted chia gels from seeds and flour were analyzed for moisture, ash, protein, crude fiber, oil, and fatty acid profile. Water‐holding capacity, oil‐holding capacity, viscosity, emulsion activity, and freeze–thaw stability of the extracted chia seed gel were similar to guar gum, and gelatin. Chia gel is a polysaccharide based gel mainly consists of crude fiber (58%) and carbohydrate (34%). Extracted chia seed gel has a great potential in food formulations as thickening agent, emulsifying agent, and as a stabilizer.

Practical Application

Extracted chia seed gel has good water‐holding capacity, oil‐holding capacity, viscosity, emulsion activity, and freeze–thaw ability. Chia seed gel has potential application in food formulation as a thickening agent, emulsifying agent, and as a stabilizer in frozen food product.
Radiotherapy in fascial fibromatosis: A case series, literature review and considerations for treatment of early‐stage disease
Authors: Grenfell Solveig , Borg Martin
Published: April 2014

Introduction

Palmar and plantar fascial fibromatoses are benign hyperproliferative disorders of the deep fascia of the palm and sole. This study seeks to examine the role of radiotherapy in the management of fascial fibromatosis.

Method

Six consecutive cases of early‐stage fascial fibromatosis treated with radiotherapy at the Adelaide Radiotherapy Centre between July 2008 and May 2011 were analysed. The results of the case series were compared with a systematic review of the literature.

Results

All six cases regressed or showed a reduction of symptoms following radiotherapy. Treatment was well tolerated with minor toxicities. Median follow‐up for the case series was 38.5 months. The systematic review identified seven studies describing the use of radiotherapy as primary treatment for fascial fibromatosis between 1946 and 2013. The literature indicates that radiotherapy can prevent disease progression and improve symptoms for early‐stage disease, with low likelihood of significant toxicities.

Conclusion

Early results from our case series are consistent with the literature, showing that radiotherapy can provide an effective management option for patients with early‐stage fascial fibromatosis, and justify consideration of radiotherapy as a primary treatment for early‐stage disease.
Serum concentrations of HE4 change little during in vitro fertilization
Authors: Hallamaa Marianne , Huhtinen Kaisa , Suvitie Pia , Perheentupa Antti
Published: April 2014

Objective

Human epididymal secretory protein 4 (HE4) is a biomarker for ovarian cancer. The effect of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) stimulation during in vitro fertilization (IVF) on HE4 was evaluated to determine whether substantial hormonal stimulation of the ovaries affects the serum levels of this marker. Findings were compared with serum concentrations of cancer antigen 125 (CA125), currently the most commonly used marker for ovarian cancer.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

University hospital infertility clinic.

Population

Infertility patients undergoing IVF treatment.

Methods

We determined the serum concentration of HE4 and CA125 in serial blood samples in 20 women treated with IVF. Samples were taken following gonadotrophin‐releasing hormone agonist suppression, two to three times during FSH stimulation, at ovum pick‐up and 2 weeks following embryo transfer at the time of the pregnancy test. Ovarian follicles were counted and serum estradiol concentrations measured throughout treatment.

Main outcome measures

Serum HE4, CA125 and estradiol concentrations.

Results

Serum HE4 levels did not increase significantly during the FSH stimulation. The majority of values remained below the normal reference range (<70 pm) throughout the treatment. Serum CA125 concentration also remained low during stimulation. Serum estradiol concentration reflected the severity of ovarian stimulation during IVF, increasing 3.9‐fold with stimulation.

Conclusions

Serum HE4 concentrations respond little if at all to supraphysiological ovarian stimulation, suggesting that the amount of circulating HE4 in women with normal ovaries is independent of gonadotropin stimulation. Hormonal stimulation of the ovaries is unlikely to affect the differential diagnosis of ovarian tumors with HE4.
Granulomas obstruct lymphatics in all layers of the intestine in Crohn's disease
Authors: Van Kruiningen Herbert J. , Hayes Aaron W. , Colombel Jean‐Frederic
Published: April 2014

After an earlier study defining immunolabeled lymphoid follicles, obstructed lymphatics, and granulomas of the diseased ilea of 24 Crohn's disease patients, we chose to trace the lymphatics of these cases and 10 additional by serial sectioning. Particular attention was given to establishing physical continuity between granuloma‐obstructed lymphatics and lymphatics with ‘lymphocytic thrombi’. Formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded tissue blocks from resected diseased ilea and proximal colons from 34 patients were reviewed. Patients were 13 men and 21 women, aged 14–60 years. Duration of disease ranged from 1 month to 10 years. Immunohistochemistry employed D2‐40 antibody to label lymphatics and anti‐CD68 to label granulomas. Twenty‐nine of the 34 (85%) resection tissues had lymphangectasia, in mucosa, submucosa, and subserosa. In 53% of the specimens, lymphatics of the various layers were obstructed by granulomas that filled the lumina. In 44%, 15/34, there were also distended lymphatics that were totally plugged with lymphocytes. In 10 of the 15, serial sections revealed continuity between the lymphocyte‐plugged lymphatics and the endolymphatic granulomatous obstruction downstream. In 5 of the cases, D2‐40 immunostaining revealed redundant lymphatic endothelium interwoven with the granuloma cells. Granulomas totally obstruct lymphatics in all layers of the intestine in Crohn's disease. Upstream of these obstructions, lymphatics are distended with lymphocytes. The degree and extent of this potentially irreversible ‘lymphangitis nodosa’ have undoubtedly confounded treatment regimens and clinical trials. There currently are no imaging methods to demonstrate the lymphangitis, nor treatments to resolve it.
Establishment and characterization of immortalized bovine endometrial epithelial cells
Authors: Bai Hanako , Sakurai Toshihiro , Bai Rulan , Yamakoshi Sachiko , Aoki Etsunari , Kuse Mariko , Okuda Kiyoshi , Imakawa Kazuhiko
Published: April 2014

Bovine primary uterine endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) are not ideal for long‐term studies, because primary EECs lose hormone responsiveness quickly, and/or they tend to have a short life span. The aims of this study were to establish immortalized bovine EECs and to characterize these cells following long‐term cultures. Immortalized bovine EECs were established by transfecting retroviral vectors encoding human papillomavirus (HPV) E6 and E7, and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) genes. Established bovine immortalized EECs (imEECs) showed the same morphology as primary EECs, and could be grown without any apparent changes for over 60 passages. In addition, imEECs have maintained the features as EECs, exhibiting oxytocin (OT) and interferon tau (IFNT) responsiveness. Therefore, these imEECs, even after numbers of passages, could be used as an in vitro model to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms, by which the uterine epithelium responds to IFNT stimulation, the event required for the maternal recognition of pregnancy in the bovine species.
Maximum likelihood estimation of semiparametric mixture component models for competing risks data
Authors: Choi Sangbum , Huang Xuelin
Published: April 2014

In the analysis of competing risks data, the cumulative incidence function is a useful quantity to characterize the crude risk of failure from a specific event type. In this article, we consider an efficient semiparametric analysis of mixture component models on cumulative incidence functions. Under the proposed mixture model, latency survival regressions given the event type are performed through a class of semiparametric models that encompasses the proportional hazards model and the proportional odds model, allowing for time‐dependent covariates. The marginal proportions of the occurrences of cause‐specific events are assessed by a multinomial logistic model. Our mixture modeling approach is advantageous in that it makes a joint estimation of model parameters associated with all competing risks under consideration, satisfying the constraint that the cumulative probability of failing from any cause adds up to one given any covariates. We develop a novel maximum likelihood scheme based on semiparametric regression analysis that facilitates efficient and reliable estimation. Statistical inferences can be conveniently made from the inverse of the observed information matrix. We establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators. We validate small sample properties with simulations and demonstrate the methodology with a data set from a study of follicular lymphoma.
The Kleinian Tradition
Authors: Spensley Sheila
Published: April 2014

This paper traces the history of the Kleinian contribution to psychoanalysis, from Melanie Klein's first controversial developments of Freudian theory to the paradigmatic shift of clinical focus introduced by Wilfred Bion. A major advance in psychoanalytic theory was initiated by Klein's discovery of more primitive roots of the anxiety which Freud had identified as crucial to the formation of the superego. Whereas Freud attributed considerable significance to parental influences in the early formation of the superego, Klein accorded greatest pathogenic significance to projective and introjective processes, which she saw as rooted in the biological functions of the organism: biologically determined, internal patterns of relationship thus laid down, like a blueprint, as the shapers of all subsequent personal relationships. In the theory of projective identification, Bion found a tool with which to investigate the nature of human thinking. His aim was to formulate a unifying theory, which would account for neurotic and psychotic pathology. He added a new dimension to Klein's ideas about the significance of early infantile experience, by signalling the critical importance of the early infantile capacity to tolerate frustration. Tolerance of primitive frustration is critical in allowing thought to precede action and determines psychotic or non‐psychotic developmental pathways. Two clinical vignettes illustrate the use of these constructs in my clinical work.
Nanotechnology applications in urology: a review
Authors: Maddox Michael , Liu James , Mandava Sree Harsha , Callaghan Cameron , John Vijay , Lee Benjamin R.
Published: April 2014

The objectives of this review are to discuss the current literature and summarise some of the promising areas with which nanotechnology may improve urological care. A Medline literature search was performed to elucidate all relevant studies of nanotechnology with specific attention to its application in urology. Urological applications of nanotechnology include its use in medical imaging, gene therapy, drug delivery, and photothermal ablation of tumours. In vitro and animal studies have shown initial encouraging results. Further study of nanotechnology for urological applications is warranted to bridge the gap between preclinical studies and translation into clinical practice, but nanomedicine has shown significant potential to improve urological patient care.
Dynamin 2 regulates actin‐mediated spindle migration in mouse oocytes
Authors: Wang Qiao‐Chu , Liu Jun , Wang Zhen‐Bo , Zhang Yu , Duan Xing , Cui Xiang‐Shun , Kim Nam‐Hyung , Sun Shao‐Chen
Published: April 2014

Background information

During meiosis, a bipolar spindle forms in the central cytoplasm of an oocyte and then moves to the cortex to extrude the first polar body. This is dependent on the regulation of actin and actin‐related molecules. Dynamin 2, a large guanosine triphosphatases (GTPase) known to regulate clathrin‐mediated endocytosis, is involved in actin recruitment and actin‐based vesicle mobility. In this study, we investigated the role of Dynamin 2 in oocyte meiosis.

Results

Dynamin 2 was localised at the cortex and around the spindles of oocytes. Disrupting Dynamin 2 activity by RNAi or an inhibitor resulted in polar body extrusion failure. Using time‐lapse microscopy to monitor aberrant oocyte cytokinesis, the chromosomes were first separated, but then re‐joined. Actin expression in oocytes was decreased; and actin cap formation was disrupted, which was confirmed by the disappearance of cortical‐granule‐free domains. In addition, live cell imaging showed that spindle migration had failed and that spindles were arrested centrally in oocytes. This may have been due to the Dynamin‐binding protein Profilin and actin‐related protein 2/3 (ARP2/3) complexes, which exhibited dispersed signals after disrupting Dynamin 2 activity.

Conclusions

Thus, our results indicate that Dynamin 2 regulates spindle migration and polar body extrusion during mouse oocyte meiosis through an actin‐based pathway.
Tree Species Distribution along Environmental Gradients in an Area Affected by a Hydroelectric Dam in Southern Amazonia
Authors: Moser Pamela , Oliveira Washington L. , Medeiros Marcelo B. , Pinto José R. , Eisenlohr Pedro V. , Lima Isabela L. , Silva Glocimar P. , Simon Marcelo F.
Published: April 2014

We describe the patterns of composition and abundance of tree species and their relationships to environmental factors in an area affected by the Jirau hydroelectric dam on the Madeira River in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Trees were sampled in 20 1‐ha forest plots distributed among areas affected and unaffected by the hydroelectric reservoir. Predictors of species distribution included in the analyses were soil fertility (sum of bases) and texture, slope, and the vertical distance from the nearest drainage. We sampled 8504 individuals belonging to 909 species/morphospecies. Floristic differences occurred throughout the reservoir area and between the sides of the river, and were strongly associated with edaphic and geological factors. The predictor with the greatest effect on the floristic changes was the sum of bases, coupled with the vertical distance from the nearest drainage, the latter reflecting the influence of the riparian zone. The forests sampled were heterogeneous and included transitional formations between unfloodedterra firmeand seasonally inundated (varzea,campinarana) forests. Although a considerable number of species (253) were restricted to plots affected by the reservoir, most of these species have a widespread distribution in the Amazon region. However, conservation measures are required in order to preserve species associations and ecosystems processes similar to those most affected by the reservoir such as the river floodplains. Our study reinforces the need to consider the heterogeneity of habitats affected by reservoirs when making decisions concerning the building of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon.
A novel protocol allowing oral delivery of a protein complement inhibitor that subsequently targets to inflamed colon mucosa and ameliorates murine colitis
Authors: Elvington M , Blichmann P , Qiao F , Scheiber M , Wadsworth C , Luzinov I , Lucero J , Vertegel A , Tomlinson S
Published: April 2014

While there is evidence of a pathogenic role for complement in inflammatory bowel disease, there is also evidence for a protective role that relates to host defence and protection from endotoxaemia. There is thus concern regarding the use of systemic complement inhibition as a therapeutic strategy. Local delivery of a complement inhibitor to the colon by oral administration would ameliorate such concerns, but while formulations exist for oral delivery of low molecular weight drugs to the colon, they have not been used successfully for oral delivery of proteins. We describe a novel pellet formulation consisting of cross-linked dextran coated with an acrylic co-polymer that protects the complement inhibitor CR2-Crry from destruction in the gastrointestinal tract. CR2-Crry containing pellets administered by gavage, were characterized using a therapeutic protocol in a mouse model of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Oral treatment of established colitis over a 5-day period significantly reduced mucosal inflammation and injury, with similar therapeutic benefit whether or not the proton pump inhibitor, omeprazole, was co-administered. Reduction in injury was associated with the targeting of CR2-Crry to the mucosal surface and reduced local complement activation. Treatment had no effect on systemic complement activity. This novel method for oral delivery of a targeted protein complement inhibitor will reduce systemic effects, thereby decreasing the risk of opportunistic infection, as well as lowering the required dose and treatment cost and improving patient compliance. Furthermore, the novel delivery system described here may provide similar benefits for administration of other protein-based drugs, such as anti-tumour necrosis factor-α antibodies.
Antibiotic prescription patterns among Swedish dentists working with dental implant surgery: adherence to recommendations
Authors: Khalil Dalia , Hultin Margareta , Andersson Fred Linda , Parkbring Olsson Nina , Lund Bodil
Published: April 2014

Objectives

To investigate antibiotic prophylaxis prescription behaviors among Swedish dentists working with dental implant surgery and the influence of scientific reviews.

Material and methods

An observational questionnaire study was conducted in 2008 and 2012. Dental clinic addresses were found through online search services of Swedish telephone directories. The questionnaires were posted to eligible dentists (120 in 2008, 161 in 2012) in the Stockholm region, Sweden. Absolute frequencies were used to describe the data. Chi‐square tests were applied to assess statistically significant differences.

Results

The response rate was 75% in 2008 and 88% in 2012. In 2008, 88% of the dentists routinely prescribed antibiotic prophylaxis when performing implant surgery and 74% in 2012 (P = 0.01). There was a significant reduction in the dentists prescription patterns as 65% prescribed a single dose in 2012, compared to 49% in 2008 (P = 0.04). Amoxicillin was the drug of choice for 47% of the respondents in 2012, and 21% in 2008 (P = 0.01). Dentists without postgraduate clinical training were significantly more prone to extend antibiotic administration after surgery (P < 0.009).

Conclusions

There is a wide variation in the choice of compound and prescription patterns of prophylactic antibiotic prior to implant insertion. A reduction in antibiotic prescription to a single dose was observed comparing 2008 and 2012, probably influenced by scientific reviews. Dentists with postgraduate education are more likely to limit antibiotic usage.
Politicians and Preferences of the Voter Majority: Does Gender Matter?
Authors: Stadelmann David , Portmann Marco , Eichenberger Reiner
Published: April 2014

Does the gender of political representatives affect the extent to which they adhere to the voter majority's preferences? By matching individual male and female representatives' votes on legislative proposals with real referendum outcomes on the same issues, we obtain a direct measure of divergence. We find that female and male representatives adhere equally close to the majority's preferences if party affiliations are taken into account. This suggests that observed gender differences with respect to the national majority of voters may be reduced to an ideological left–right dimension.
Elevation and experimental snowmelt manipulation affect emergence phenology and abundance of soil‐hibernating arthropods
Authors: LEINGÄRTNER ANNETTE , KRAUSS JOCHEN , STEFFAN‐DEWENTER INGOLF
Published: April 2014

1. Effects of climate change, such as higher average temperatures and earlier snowmelt, are already apparent, especially in alpine regions. However, community responses of functionally important arthropod taxa to changing climatic conditions are mostly unknown.

2. In this study, an earlier snowmelt was simulated at 15 plots along an elevational gradient in the German Alps. At each study site, soil emergence traps were established for sampling soil‐hibernating arthropods on earlier and control snowmelt treatments during the growing season. The abundance and emergence phenology of the five most common arthropod orders (Araneae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera) were analysed, as well as the species richness of Coleoptera.

3. There was increasing abundance and species richness of Coleoptera along the elevational gradient, indicating that at higher altitudes more individuals and species hibernate in the soil. Abundances of Diptera also increased with elevation. By contrast, abundances of Hemiptera declined with increasing elevation, while abundances of Araneae and Hymenoptera did not show significant elevational patterns. Arthropods at higher elevations emerged, on average, 5 weeks later than arthropods at lower elevations, because of a longer‐lasting snow cover. The earlier snowmelt treatment resulted in higher abundances of Araneae and Hymenoptera compared with the control plots, indicating that the time of snowmelt influenced the abundance of predators, such as spiders or parasitic wasps, more than that of herbivores.

4. An earlier emergence of certain arthropod guilds and a change in relative abundance of guilds might desynchronise species interactions, leading to a possible loss of biodiversity.
Toward an Anthropology of the Imaginary: Specters of Disability in Vietnam
Authors: Gammeltoft Tine M.
Published: April 2014

In this article, I discuss the analytical potential that the notion of the imaginary holds for anthropology as a concept that may capture some of the more subdued, yet socially vigorous, moods and sensations that hover where personal experience and socially salient forms of power merge. The ethnographic occasion for my inquiry is the eager uptake of new technologies for selective reproduction in Vietnam; technologies that are actively promoted by the party‐state as an element in efforts to enhance “population quality.” Drawing on nearly three years of fieldwork conducted in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, I frame selective reproduction as an issue of power and politics, investigating how people's fantasies, fears, and imaginings blend with the workings of state power in this realm. Attention to imaginary constructions of self and society, I argue, can further anthropological understanding of the ways in which state policies are shaped, implemented, justified, and received.
Capsular hyaluronic acid of equine isolates of Streptococcus zooepidemicus is upregulated at temperatures below 35°C
Authors: Velineni S. , Timoney J. F.
Published: April 2014

Reasons for performing study

Streptococcus zooepidemicus causes opportunist respiratory and other infections in the horse. Capsule expression is highly variable and known to affect resistance to phagocytosis. Most clinical isolates producing small, dry colonies at 37°C produce mucoid colonies at temperatures below 35°C.

Objectives

The aim was to understand the molecular basis of increased capsule expression by equine isolates of S. zooepidemicus at temperatures lower than 35°C.

Study design

Cross‐sectional observational study.

Methods

Capsule production by groups of equine S. zooepidemicus strains was determined at 23, 30, 35 and 37°C. Hyaluronidase (HylC) at 23 and 37°C was measured by quantitative enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Expressions of hasA and hylC at 23 and 37°C were measured by quantitative reverse transcriptase‐PCR. The covRS genes in representative S. zooepidemicus were sequenced and checked for mutations.

Results

Colonies of randomly selected S. zooepidemicus strains became mucoid or showed marked increase in colony mucoidy following the change in temperature to 23°C. Expression of hasA at 23°C was 45‐ to 700‐fold greater than at 37°C. Transcription of hylC at 23°C was 2.5‐ to 200‐fold greater than at 37°C, yet enzyme concentrations in cultures were significantly higher at 37°C (P<0.05), suggesting that production of HylC is regulated post transcriptionally. The covRS gene in S. zooepidemicus was not mutated as seen in isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes with increased capsule production at 25°C.

Conclusions

Sensitivity of capsule expression to temperature above 35°C but not HylC by the general population of equine S. zooepidemicus indicates that capsule is not required for extended colonisation nor for opportunist invasion. Instead, capsule production at lower than body temperature may reflect adaptation to life on skin and mucosal surfaces, where hyaluronic acid contributes to adhesion and resistance to desiccation. Pathogenicity of S. zooepidemicus following opportunist invasion is possibly dependent on factors other than capsule that may be co‐regulated with HylC.

The Summary is available in Chinese – see Supporting information.
Trait of routinization and adaptation to life in continuing care communities among older adults inIsrael
Authors: Zisberg Anna , Kaabiya Waheed , Siegel Elena O
Published: April 2014

Aim

To examine the relationship between levels of adaptation to independent living in continuing care communities and the personality trait, routinization.

Methods

Using a correlative design, structured face‐to‐face interviews were carried out with 120 older adults residing in independent housing units across six continuing care facilities inIsrael, using theIndex ofRelocationAdjustment and theVarietyAssessmentScale questionnaires.

Results

In a mixed model, one of the two routinization subscales (disliking disruption) was moderately associated with adaptation, controlling for decision to enter the facility, satisfaction with the facility, family relationship, functional status, education, family status and type of setting. Residents who expressed high levels of disliking disruption, higher functional status and less involvement in the decision to enter the facility reported poorer adaptation to their living conditions.

Conclusion

Our findings point out the complexity and intricacy of personal attributes as factors associated with adaptation to transitions in older age, and highlight the potential contribution of the trait of routinization to adaptation. Further research is required to identify ways to best support older adult transitions to institutional environments, considering different personality traits and environments.Geriatr Gerontol Int 2015; 15: 501–507.