bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EZH2 inhibition in glioblastoma stem cells increases the expression of neuronal genes and the neuronal developmental regulators ZIC2, ZNF423 and MAFB
Authors: Kader Bnar Abdul , Distefano Rebecca , West Katherine L. , West Adam G.
Published: November 2021

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer with a very poor prognosis. It has been shown that GBM stem cells within a GBM tumour have increased resistance to standard therapies, so new approaches are needed to increase the range of treatment options available. Here we use two GBM stem cell lines, representing the classical/pro-neural and mesenchymal GBM subtypes, to investigate the effects of three different EZH2 inhibitors on GBM stem cell survival and gene expression: EPZ6438, GSK343 and UNC1999. EZH2 is the catalytic component of the PRC2 chromatin repressor complex, which represses transcription through methylation of histone H3 at lysine 27. Both cell lines showed significantly reduced colony formation after 48-hour exposure to the inhibitors, indicating they were sensitive to all three EZH2 inhibitors. RNA-seq analysis revealed that all three EZH2 inhibitors led to increased expression of genes related to neurogenesis and/or neuronal structure in both GBM stem cell lines. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-Seq) was used to identify potential direct targets of the histone methylation activity of EZH2 that might be driving the increase in neuronal gene expression. Three genes were identified as candidate regulatory targets common to both cell lines: MAFB, ZIC2 and ZNF423. These transcription factors all have known roles in regulating neurogenesis, brain development and/or neuronal function. Through analysis of three different EZH2 inhibitors and two GBM stem cell lines, this study demonstrates a common underlying mechanism for how inhibition of EZH2 activity reduces GBM stem cell proliferation and survival.
In vitroassessment of elevated soil iron on germinability and germination characteristics ofSorghum bicolor(L.) Moench after chemo-priming
Authors: Ikhajiagbe Beckley , Onawo Owalum Linus
Published: November 2021

The commercial importance of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench) has attracted breeders to increase its seed yield using various breeding approach. Adverse soil factors however hampered progress made in crop development, especially micronutrient toxicity. Plant growth stimulators (PGS) have a significant role in enhancing growth parameters in Sorghum. In the present study, seeds were primed in 50, 150, and 250 ppm of each of gibberellic acid, indole acetic acid, and ascorbic acid respectively for 1 hr before sowing in Petri dishesmoistened with 10 ml of the iron-rich solution obtained as filtrate from a mix of distilled water and ferruginous soil (1:1 v/w). Results showed that although germination percentage in ferruginous medium was significantly reduced, there was enhancement in germination percentagewhen the seeds were primed in gibberellic acid (GA). Germinability in the iron-rich medium was 31.2 hrs; this was significantly reduced to 19.6 to 21.1hrs when these seeds were primed with growth stimulators.Although, shoot length was significantly reduced in plants exposed to ferruginous solutions, the root parameters were however enhanced. They were no significant changes in the total number of root branches regardless of ferrugenic status or use of growth stimulating agents. The utilization of growth stimulators as priming agents is called for to reduce stress impacts imposed by ferruginous soils during germination.
Single-cell dissection of obesity-exercise axis in adipose-muscle tissues
Authors: Yang Jiekun , Vamvini Maria , Nigro Pasquale , Ho Li-Lun , Galani Kiki , Alvarez Marcus , Tanigawa Yosuke , Laakso Markku , Agudelo Leandro , Pajukanta Päivi , Middelbeek Roeland J. W. , Grove Kevin , Goodyear Laurie J. , Kellis Manolis
Published: November 2021

Regular physical exercise has long been recognized to reverse the effects of diet-induced obesity, but the molecular mechanisms mediating these multi-tissue beneficial effects remain uncharacterized. Here, we address this challenge by studying the opposing effects of exercise training and high-fat diet at single-cell, deconvolution and tissue-level resolutions across 3 metabolic tissues. We profile scRNA-seq in 204,883 cells, grouped into 53 distinct cell subtypes/states in 22 major cell types, from subcuta-neous and visceral white adipose tissue (WAT), and skeletal muscle (SkM) in mice with diet and exercise training interventions. With a great number of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) profiled, we compared depot-specific adipose stem cell (ASC) states, and defined 7 distinct fibro-adipogenic progenitor (FAP) states in SkM including discovering and validating a novel CD140+/CD34+/SCA1-FAP population. Exercise- and obesity-regulated proportion, transcriptional and cell-cell interaction changes were most strongly pronounced in and centered around ASCs, FAPs, macrophages and T-cells. These changes reflected thermogenesis-vs-lipogenesis and hyperplasia-vs-hypertrophy shifts, clustered in pathways including extracellular matrix remodeling and circadian rhythm, and implicated complex single- and multi-tissue communication including training-associated shift of a cytokine from binding to its decoy receptor on ASCs to true receptor on M2 macrophages in vWAT. Overall, our work provides new insights on the metabolic protective effects of exercise training, uncovers a previously-underappreciated role of MSCs in mediating tissue-specific and multi-tissue effects, and serves as a model for multitissue single-cell analyses in physiologically complex and multifactorial traits exemplified by obesity and exercise training.
Comprehensive annotation of 3′UTRs from primary cells and their quantification from scRNA-seq data
Authors: Fansler Mervin M. , Mitschka Sibylle , Mayr Christine
Published: November 2021

Approximately half of human genes generate mRNA isoforms that differ in their 3′UTRs while encoding the same protein. 3′UTR and mRNA length is determined by 3′ end cleavage sites (CS). Here, we mapped and categorized mRNA 3′ end CS in more than 200 primary human and mouse cell types, resulting in a 40% increase of CS annotations relative to the GENCODE database. We incorporated these annotations into a novel computational pipeline, called scUTRquant, for rapid, precise, and accurate quantification of gene and 3′UTR isoform expression from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. When applying scUTRquant to data from 474 cell types and 2,134 perturbations, we discovered extensive 3′UTR length changes across cell types that are as widespread and dynamically regulated as gene expression changes. Our data indicate that mRNA abundance and mRNA length are two independent axes of gene regulation that together determine the amount and spatial organization of protein synthesis.
Individualized VDJ recombination predisposes the available Ig sequence space
Authors: Slabodkin Andrei , Chernigovskaya Maria , Mikocziova Ivana , Akbar Rahmad , Scheffer Lonneke , Pavlović Milena , Bashour Habib , Snapkov Igor , Mehta Brij Bhushan , Weber Cédric R. , Gutierrez-Marcos Jose , Sollid Ludvig M. , Haff Ingrid Hobæk , Sandve Geir Kjetil , Robert Philippe A. , Greiff Victor
Published: November 2021

The process of recombination between variable (V), diversity (D), and joining (J) immunoglobulin (Ig) gene segments determines an individual's naive Ig repertoire and, consequently, (auto)antigen recognition. VDJ recombination follows probabilistic rules that can be modeled statistically. So far, it remains unknown whether VDJ recombination rules differ between individuals. If these rules differed, identical (auto)antigen-specific Ig sequences would be generated with individual-specific probabilities, signifying that the available Ig sequence space is individual specific. We devised a sensitivity-tested distance measure that enables inter-individual comparison of VDJ recombination models. We discovered, accounting for several sources of noise as well as allelic variation in Ig sequencing data, that not only unrelated individuals but also human monozygotic twins and even inbred mice possess statistically distinguishable immunoglobulin recombination models. This suggests that, in addition to genetic, there is also nongenetic modulation of VDJ recombination. We demonstrate that population-wide individualized VDJ recombination can result in orders of magnitude of difference in the probability to generate (auto)antigen-specific Ig sequences. Our findings have implications for immune receptor–based individualized medicine approaches relevant to vaccination, infection, and autoimmunity.
Different trajectories of polyploidization shape the genomic landscape of theBrettanomyces bruxellensisyeast species
Authors: Eberlein Chris , Abou Saada Omar , Friedrich Anne , Albertin Warren , Schacherer Joseph
Published: November 2021

Polyploidization events are observed across the tree of life and occur in many fungi, plant, and animal species. During evolution, polyploidy is thought to be an important source of speciation and tumorigenesis. However, the origin of polyploid populations is not always clear, and little is known about the precise nature and structure of their complex genome. Using a long-read sequencing strategy, we sequenced 71 strains from theBrettanomyces bruxellensisyeast species, which is found in anthropized environments (e.g., beer, contaminant of wine, kombucha, and ethanol production) and characterized by several polyploid subpopulations. To reconstruct the polyploid genomes, we phased them by using different strategies and found that each subpopulation had a unique polyploidization history with distinct trajectories. The polyploid genomes contain either genetically closely related (with a genetic divergence <1%) or diverged copies (>3%), indicating auto- as well as allopolyploidization events. These latest events have occurred independently with a specific and unique donor in each of the polyploid subpopulations and exclude the knownBrettanomycessister species as possible donors. Finally, loss of heterozygosity events has shaped the structure of these polyploid genomes and underline their dynamics. Overall, our study highlights the multiplicity of the trajectories leading to polyploid genomes within the same species.
Recovering local structure information from high-pressure total scattering experiments
Authors: Herlihy Anna , Geddes Harry S. , Sosso Gabriele C. , Bull Craig L. , Ridley Christopher J. , Goodwin Andrew L. , Senn Mark S. , Funnell Nicholas P.
Published: November 2021

High pressure is a powerful thermodynamic tool for exploring the structure and the phase behaviour of the crystalline state, and is now widely used in conventional crystallographic measurements. High-pressure local structure measurements using neutron diffraction have, thus far, been limited by the presence of a strongly scattering, perdeuterated, pressure-transmitting medium (PTM), the signal from which contaminates the resulting pair distribution functions (PDFs). Here, a method is reported for subtracting the pairwise correlations of the commonly used 4:1 methanol:ethanol PTM from neutron PDFs obtained under hydrostatic compression. The method applies a molecular-dynamics-informed empirical correction and a non-negative matrix factorization algorithm to recover the PDF of the pure sample. Proof of principle is demonstrated, producing corrected high-pressure PDFs of simple crystalline materials, Ni and MgO, and benchmarking these against simulated data from the average structure. Finally, the first local structure determination of α-quartz under hydrostatic pressure is presented, extracting compression behaviour of the real-space structure.
[rac-1,8-Bis(2-carbamoylethyl)-5,5,7,12,12,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane]copper(II) diacetate tetrahydrate: crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis
Authors: Yasmin Sabina , Rabi Saswata , Chakraborty Avijit , Kwong Huey Chong , Tiekink Edward R. T. , Roy Tapashi Ghosh
Published: November 2021

The title CuII macrocyclic complex salt tetrahydrate, [Cu(C22H46N6O2)](C2H3O2)2·4H2O, sees the metal atom located on a centre of inversion and coordinated within a 4 + 2 (N4O2) tetragonally distorted coordination geometry; the N atoms are derived from the macrocycle and the O atoms from weakly associated [3.2048 (15) Å] acetate anions. Further stability to the three-ion aggregate is provided by intramolecular amine-N—H...O(carboxylate) hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonding is also prominent in the molecular packing with amide-N—H...O(amide) interactions, leading to eight-membered {...HNCO}2 synthons, amide-N—H...O(water), water-O—H...O(carboxylate) and water-O—H...O(water) hydrogen bonds featuring within the three-dimensional architecture. The calculated Hirshfeld surfaces for the individual components of the asymmetric unit differentiate the water molecules owing to their distinctive supramolecular association. For each of the anion and cation, H...H contacts predominate (50.7 and 65.2%, respectively) followed by H...O/O...H contacts (44.5 and 29.9%, respectively).
Why do people eat alone? An international comparison
Authors: Yen Chang-Hua , Tsai Frank C. , Tzeng Jiun-Chi , Tai Chung-Yuan
Published: November 2021

Purpose

The solitary consumption market has grown in the hospitality industry. However, research on the behavior of solitary consumers and differences between solitary consumers of different nationalities is rare. The relationships between solo dining motivations and customer satisfaction were investigated for consumers in Taiwan and the United States.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted among Taiwanese and American consumers; 628 valid questionnaires were retrieved. Structural equation modeling was performed to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Significant differences were observed between Taiwanese and American consumer motivations. Higher solo dining motivation was positively associated with customer satisfaction; in particular, “escape and relaxation” and “enjoyment” were both positively associated with customer satisfaction. American consumers had a stronger relationship between motivation for social interaction and customer satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

Only solo diners in Taiwan and the United States were investigated. The results might not be generalizable to solo diners in other regions.

Originality/value

The study's findings on the associations between solo dining motivations and consumption experience contribute to food consumption research. Furthermore, the results enable an understanding of differences in the motivations and behaviors of solitary consumers in different countries.
Does board gender diversity affect capital structure decisions?
Authors: Ben Saad Sourour , Belkacem Lotfi
Published: November 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the indirect relationship between board gender diversity and capital structure decisions and to examine whether the capital structure is affected by the type of approach used to promote women’s participation in the boardroom.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a sample of French non-financial listed companies over the period 2006–2019, this paper uses structural equations modeling, difference-in-differences using propensity score matching and chow test to highlight these effects.

Findings

This paper finds that the relationship between the board gender diversity and the capital structure is mediated through the information transparency channel and firm risk taking channel. Furthermore, the results show that the effect of board gender diversity on capital structure decisions varies through the approach adopted (voluntary, enabling or coercive).

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the study is to the knowledge the first to examine whether and how board gender diversity affects capital structure decisions through two mediations channels, namely, the information transparency and the firm risk taking. Second, the study is one of the first to examine whether the capital structure is affected by the type of approach used to promote women’s participation in the boardroom: coercive, enabling or voluntary approach.
Too much of a good thing? The nonlinear influence of noncontrolling large shareholders on corporate innovation
Authors: Wan He , Peng Qiuping , Zhong Xi
Published: November 2021

Purpose

Noncontrolling large shareholders can reduce the agency problem of executives and can reduce the expropriation or tunneling behavior of controlling shareholders, thereby promoting corporate innovation. However, too many noncontrolling large shareholders may also lead to excessive supervision, thereby inhibiting innovative activities that contribute to the long-term value of the firm. Research to date, however, has not examined the nonlinear impact of noncontrolling large shareholders on corporate innovation. Based on principal–agent theory and the too-much-of-a-good-thing (TMGT) effect, the authors discuss the inverted U-shaped influence of noncontrolling large shareholders on corporate innovation and the moderating effect of industry competition and corporate product diversification on the above relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the empirical data of Chinese listed companies from 2003 to 2017, the authors use the bidirectional fixed effects model to conduct empirical testing and robustness testing of the research hypotheses.

Findings

There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between noncontrolling large shareholders and corporate innovation; type I and type II agency costs play a mediating role between noncontrolling large shareholders and corporate innovation. In addition, firm product diversification weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between noncontrolling large shareholders and corporate innovation, but industry competition has no significant moderating effect on the above relationship.

Practical implications

This research has important implications for policy makers, to better activate corporate innovation vitality, and investors, to better choose investment targets. Specifically, investors and policy makers should be aware that an appropriate increase in larger noncontrolling shareholders can maximize the enthusiasm of firms for innovation and enhance corporate value, but they should also realize that having too many noncontrolling large shareholders may backfire.

Originality/value

This research helps the authors to understand the pros and cons of increasing the number of noncontrolling large shareholders more comprehensively and also helps to understand corporate innovation more comprehensively from a supervisory perspective. In addition, this research also enhances the explanatory and predictive power of the TMGT effect.
Entrepreneurial prospects and challenges for women amidst COVID-19: a case study of Delhi, India
Authors: Kumar Sanjeev , Singh Neha
Published: November 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to encapsulate the gendered support and hindering factors along with the role of the state experienced by Delhi-based women entrepreneurs in setting up/operating their enterprises amidst the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used mixed methods to explore the challenges faced and recovery mechanisms adopted by women entrepreneurs with special reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 50 Delhi-based young women entrepreneurs (42 actual entrepreneurs + 8 prospective/struggling entrepreneurs) selected using snowball/purposive sampling were studied through both a semi-structured questionnaire and personal interviews. National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) were consulted for the government’s policy documents and data. The SPSS package was used for quantitative data analysis.

Findings

Low-budget/very small-scale women entrepreneurs face common as well as gender-based challenges in the context of the market, finance, social capital, family support and awareness in addition to accessing the state’s resources/policies in both their startups and crisis situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Although gender sensitization, entrepreneurial family background, and equal access to technology and the Internet has enabled women entrepreneurs to initiate, adapt, and scale their enterprises, male domination within the family, society, market, and state apparatuses is omnipresent and has served as a bottleneck for women-owned startups while hindering the recovery of their enterprises amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

The study was limited to exploring the challenges and prospects of Delhi-based women entrepreneurs at the beginning of their enterprises and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the study had access to data and facts announced by the Indian government. No data were available on the implementation of policies and programs, and therefore specific policy analysis was not attempted. However, the reachability and accessibility of government resources and policies were employed.

Practical implications

The study highlights the complexity of patriarchy, which hampers women entrepreneurs in all family, society, market and state domains. Therefore, policy enactment and implementation and further research on women entrepreneurship are suggested to focus more deeply on the gender dimension.

Originality/value

The data used in this work comprised inputs from government sources as well as insights from fieldwork that have not been used by any other publication.
A critical review of smart hospitality and tourism research
Authors: Law Rob , Ye Huiyue , Chan Irene Cheng Chu
Published: November 2021

Purpose

This study aims to build a comprehensive knowledge structure of smart hospitality and tourism research.

Design/methodology/approach

Content analysis is carried out on the themes of pertinent research from the perspectives of customers, suppliers, technology and policymakers.

Findings

Results show that over half of the reviewed articles are carried out from the perspective of customers, while those of suppliers, technology and policymakers are less discussed. The unbalanced number of articles reveals an evident mismatch between the supply and demand.

Practical implications

Findings provide theoretical and practical implications from different perspectives. Collaboration among various stakeholders is also advocated to achieve sustainable and balanced development of the smart hospitality and tourism industry.

Originality/value

This study contributes to smart hospitality and tourism research through an in-depth review of relevant literature. Based on the findings, the identified research gaps provide potential directions for future knowledge development.
The effect of international intrapreneurship on firm export performance with driving force of organizational factors
Authors: Dung Luu Tien , Giang Huynh Thi Thuy
Published: November 2021

Purpose

This study aims to reveal the effect of the two international intrapreneurship activities of employee strategic renewal behaviour and new business venture behaviour on small and medium enterprises (SMEs)’s export performance with the direct and indirect effects of transformational leadership, international entrepreneurial orientation and internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample consists of 461 employees at 168 Vietnamese import and export SMEs in the Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. The data is analysed by structural equation modelling.

Findings

The paper reveals that the two international intrapreneurship activities of employee strategic renewal behaviour and new business venture behaviour significantly contribute to SMEs’ export performance. Transformational leadership, internal CSR practice and international entrepreneurial orientation positively and significantly direct influence the two international intrapreneurship activities. The effects of transformational leadership on international intrapreneurial behaviours are partially mediated by firm internal CSR practices and international entrepreneurial orientation.

Research limitations/implications

Firms would have to form the architecture and mechanisms to apply internal CSR and international entrepreneurship orientation for supporting the dedication of international intrapreneurship with a transformational leadership base.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the body of knowledge on international business by integrating resource-based view theory and dynamic capabilities theory in a way that benefits entrepreneurship and SMEs’ export performance.
Does bad gossiping trigger for targets to hide knowledge in morally disengaged? New multi-level insights of team relational conflict
Authors: Khan Abdul Gaffar , Li Yan , Akram Zubair , Akram Umair
Published: November 2021

Purpose

Despite the recent extending research on knowledge hiding, there is still scant research on social stressor phenomena-related contextual antecedent factors and new cognitive mechanisms of knowledge hiding behaviors. To shed new light on this unexplored gap, this research explores the multi-level moderated mediation model that examines how and when negative gossip experienced by targets in the workplace induces their knowledge hiding from coworkers drawing from the lens of social learning and cognitive theories. More specifically, this study aims to evaluate the relationship between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding via moral disengagement, and this mediation effect is also moderated by team relational conflict as a novel boundary condition.

Design/methodology/approach

This study collected multi-wave 338 employees’ data from 68 teams of cross-sectional industries in China, which were nested within teams. The collected nested nature data were analyzed by employing multi-level analysis based on hierarchical linear modeling.

Findings

The results suggested that negative workplace gossip first triggers moral disengagement and thereby, leads to knowledge hiding. Furthermore, the direct positive association between negative workplace gossip and moral disengagement was strengthened by increasing intra-team relational conflict. In addition, the mediation effect of moral disengagement between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding was also strengthened through increasing intra-team relational conflict.

Originality/value

This study first empirically examines the multi-level model using a new underlying mechanism (moral disengagement) and team-level boundary condition (relational conflict) and enriches the current literature on knowledge management and workplace gossip. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings and future research lines are also discussed, which will facilitate practitioners and academicians to curb counterproductive knowledge behavior.
Collecting channel selection and information value of a closed-loop supply chain with corporate social responsibility
Authors: Chen Kebing , Wang Qi , Wang Shengbin
Published: November 2021

Purpose

The paper aims to explore how the participants in the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) select collecting strategies under the scenarios of information symmetry and asymmetry, and to investigate the value of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cost information for participants.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper constructs a two-echelon CLSC Stackelberg game consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer, where the manufacturer undertakes CSR and is responsible for the remanufacturing of used products. First, the authors establish two collecting models under information symmetry: manufacturer-collecting and retailer-collecting. Second, the authors construct two collecting models under information asymmetry and propose a two-part tariff contract to coordinate the participants’ profits. Finally, the authors make a numerical analysis to verify the results.

Findings

Under information symmetry, the profit of the participant who does not undertake collecting is positively related to the collecting rate, and the other participant may not benefit from the increase in the collecting rate. Under information asymmetry, the manufacturer will still select the retailer-collecting channel. Asymmetric information only affects the retailer’s selection. In addition, the manufacturer’s private CSR cost information is always valuable to the retailer.

Originality/value

This paper first explores the influence of the CSR cost information value on the selection of collecting channel under information asymmetry in the CLSC. The results can help company managers choose optimal collecting channel under information symmetry or under information asymmetry.
A makeover for Dudley’s Q+
Authors: Glackin Caroline , Altobello Suzanne
Published: November 2021

Theoretical basis

The Dudley Beauty case illustrates a contemporary branding, management and marketing challenge facing many companies that are 50 plus years old. Movahhed (2016) highlights the six elements to consider during brand strategy: the target audience, the brand promise, brand perception (past, current and future), brand values, brand voice and brand positioning. The times have changed with changing macroenvironmental factors including political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and other environmental (PESTLE) changes that affect a business but which the business does not directly control.

Research methodology

The case is based upon an interview with Dudley Beauty CEO and President Ursula Dudley Oglesby and secondary sources.

Case overview/synopsis

The “A Makeover for Dudley’s Q+” case explores the challenges of a second-generation textured hair care and personal care company in the direct selling channel as it faces an aging market and changing business and economic environment. A Black-owned company, begun in 1967 by her parents, Dudley Beauty is led by the founders’ daughter, Harvard College and Harvard Law School-educated, Ursula Dudley Oglesby. At over 50 years old, the company has continually created new textured hair products and has high brand awareness among older Black consumers but has not adequately addressed changing hair trends and shifting communication preferences of younger consumers. The company is at a critical point needing to reach a younger, larger market to survive. The business situation supports marketing, management, strategy, and/or entrepreneurship undergraduate students in understanding how macroenvironmental forces and internal structures affect businesses.

Complexity academic level

This case is intended primarily for use by undergraduates in a variety of courses. It is suitable for courses in Principles of Marketing, Entrepreneurial Marketing, general Entrepreneurship and Marketing Strategy courses covering topics such as direct selling, the role of environmental factors in business, rebranding efforts using digital and social media marketing and women/minority business owners.
Exporting by Private Equity‐Backed Portfolio Companies
Authors: Wilson Nick , Uddin Moshfique , Wright Mike
Published: November 2021

Private equity (PE) funds typically invest in and acquire established companies (via buyout mechanisms) and implement value creation strategies that realize efficiency improvements and exploit entrepreneurial growth opportunities. This paper explores the relationships between PE backing of bought‐out companies and their post‐acquisition strategy to stimulate sales growth through exporting. Importantly, we explore the routes through which PE funds, as ‘active investors’, affect the acquired companies’ ability to enter and expand export markets. First, through providing access to financial resources, increasing capital and operational expenditure, to boost both efficiency and improve managerial processes; and second, by bringing expertise and relational capital via managerial change and board representation to their acquisitions. Using a panel dataset covering the period 1998–2013, involving 2.6 million company‐level observations of which around 10% are actively engaged in exporting, we find that PE‐backed firms are more likely to engage in exporting (export propensity) and be internationalized post‐buyout than a control sample and that the effect is larger than for listed companies. Moreover, in relation to export performance we find a positive export performance differential (export intensity) for PE‐backed buyouts.
Electronic Health Records as Biased Tools or Tools Against Bias: A Conceptual Model
Authors: ROZIER MICHAEL D. , PATEL KAVITA K. , CROSS DORI A.
Published: November 2021

Policy Points

Electronic health records (EHRs) are subject to the implicit bias of their designers, which risks perpetuating and amplifying that bias over time and across users.

If left unchecked, the bias in the design of EHRs and the subsequent bias in EHR information will lead to disparities in clinical, organizational, and policy outcomes.

Electronic health records can instead be designed to challenge the implicit bias of their users, but that is unlikely to happen unless incentivized through innovative policy.

Context

Health care delivery is now inextricably linked to the use of electronic health records (EHRs), which exert considerable influence over providers, patients, and organizations.

Methods

This article offers a conceptual model showing how the design and subsequent use of EHRs can be subject to bias and can either encode and perpetuate systemic racism or be used to challenge it. Using structuration theory, the model demonstrates how a social structure, like an EHR, creates a cyclical relationship between the environment and people, either advancing or undermining important social values.

Findings

The model illustrates how the implicit bias of individuals, both developers and end‐user clinical providers, influence the platform and its associated information. Biased information can then lead to inequitable outcomes in clinical care, organizational decisions, and public policy. The biased information also influences subsequent users, amplifying their own implicit biases and potentially compounding the level of bias in the information itself. The conceptual model is used to explain how this concern is fundamentally a matter of quality. Relying on the Donabedian model, it explains how elements of the EHR design (structure), use (process), and the ends for which it is used (outcome) can first be used to evaluate where bias may become embedded in the system itself, but then also identify opportunities to resist and actively challenge bias.

Conclusions

Our conceptual model may be able to redefine and improve the value of technology to health by modifying EHRs to support more equitable data that can be used for better patient care and public policy. For EHRs to do this, further work is needed to develop measures that assess bias in structure, process, and outcome, as well as policies to persuade vendors and health systems to prioritize systemic equity as a core goal of EHRs.
Flipped laboratory classes: Student performance and perceptions in undergraduate food science and technology
Authors: Mshayisa Vusi Vincent , Basitere Moses
Published: November 2021

In STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses, undergraduate laboratory classes are vital for students to develop competencies such as critical observation, collaboration, critical thinking, technical, and problem‐solving skills. Thus, for students to successfully acquire these competencies, preparation for laboratory classes is essential. This study aimed to explore the students' performance and perceptions of online pre‐laboratory videos and quizzes in undergraduate food science and technology. Quantitative data on student usage statistics of the videos, student performance in online quizzes and practical reports scores and student perceptions were analysed to provide a detailed perspective of the course. The students' performance was above 60% in all pre‐lab quizzes for both the 2018 and 2019 cohorts. The average pre‐lab video views were higher in the 2019 cohorts compared to the 2018 cohort. The majority of the students felt that the topics were well explained in the videos (M = 4.25 ± 0.84) and it was easy to learn from the videos (M = 4.31 ± 0.76). In terms of students perceptions, a strong positive correlations were found between course organisation and motivation and self‐efficacy (r = 0.86, p < 0.05); course engagement and motivation and self‐efficacy (r = 0.82, p < 0.05). The strongest positive correlation was between course organisation and online engagement (r = 0.95, p < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that the introduction of multimodal/digital preparation resources (pre‐lab videos and online quizzes) was positively received and benefited the students. Students have engaged enthusiastically with these resources and completed the majority of the tasks set. These findings will further expand research directed towards student perception of the lab experience and aid in the adaptation of food science and technology curriculums to accommodate both student and university needs.
The dynamic effects of price support policy on price volatility: The case of the rice market in China
Authors: Li Jian , Chavas Jean‐Paul , Li Chongguang
Published: November 2021

This study examines the economic and welfare effects of a commodity price support policy. It conceptually and empirically evaluates the effects of the domestic pricing policy on the distribution of commodity prices, with an application to the price support program in the Chinese rice market. The empirical analysis relies on a Censored Quantile Autoregression (CQAR) model, which provides a refined and flexible representation of the evolving distribution of prices under a price support program. Based on monthly data over the period 2000–2018, we develop and estimate an econometric model documenting the price effects of policy interventions. We study how a price support program affects price distribution both in the short term and long term. We find that such a program has reduced the domestic rice price volatility, evidenced by lowered variation and increased right‐skewness of the price distribution. We also show how China's rice programs' high price support level during the period 2008–2015 caused significant censoring effects and price enhancement with adverse impacts on consumer welfare across all income levels. We further examine alternative situations where a moderate price support level can reduce the long‐term mean price without generating consumer welfare losses. Our analysis and findings have implications for the implementation of agricultural price support policies in many developing countries.
Screening and surveillance for gastric cancer: Does family history play an important role in shaping our strategy?
Authors: Luu Mai Ngoc , Quach Duc Trong , Hiyama Toru
Published: November 2021

Family history is an important risk factor of gastric cancer. No guidelines have been developed that target gastric cancer with a family history; only hereditary familial gastric cancer is targeted. We review the available evidence regarding the familial aggregation mechanisms of gastric cancer and a strategy of screening and surveillance for gastric cancer in individuals with a positive family history of the disease. As there is a synergic effect of Helicobacter pylori infection and family history on the increased risk of gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori eradication should be considered in all infected individuals with a family history of gastric cancer. Currently, there is weak evidence indicating that suitable timing to initiate eradication therapy is at the age of 20, when precancerous lesions, including significant gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia, have not been established. Reasonable timing to initiate screening for gastric cancer in individuals with a family history of gastric cancer is 10 years prior to the age of onset of gastric cancer in affected relatives. A 2‐year surveillance interval, instead of the 3‐year interval recommended in the present guidelines, may be better to detect early gastric cancer in those individuals who have already developed precancerous gastric lesions.
Proportional inverse Gaussian distribution: A new tool for analysing continuous proportional data
Authors: Liu Pengyi , Tian Guo‐Liang , Yuen Kam Chuen , Zhang Chi , Tang Man‐Lai
Published: November 2021

Outcomes in the form of rates, fractions, proportions and percentages often appear in various fields. Existing beta and simplex distributions are frequently unable to exhibit satisfactory performances in fitting such continuous data. This paper aims to develop the normalised inverse Gaussian (N‐IG) distribution proposed by Lijoi, Mena & Prünster (2005, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 100, 1278–1291) as a new tool for analysing continuous proportional data in (0,1) and renames the N‐IG as proportional inverse Gaussian (PIG) distribution. Our main contributions include: (i) To overcome the difficulty of an integral in the PIG density function, we propose a novel minorisation–maximisation (MM) algorithm via the continuous version of Jensen's inequality to calculate the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters in the PIG distribution; (ii) We also develop an MM algorithm aided by the gradient descent algorithm for the PIG regression model, which allows us to explore the relationship between a set of covariates with the mean parameter; (iii) Both the comparative studies and the real data analyses show that the PIG distribution is better when comparing with the beta and simplex distributions in terms of the AIC, the Cramér–von Mises and the Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests. In addition, bootstrap confidence intervals and testing hypothesis on the symmetry of the PIG density are also presented. Simulation studies are conducted and the hospital stay data of Barcelona in 1988 and 1990 are analysed to illustrate the proposed methods.
Direct oral anticoagulants versus vitamin K antagonists in epistaxis patients: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Stanković Petar , Hoch Stephan , Rudhart Stefan , Obradović Danilo , Dagres Nikolaos , Wilhelm Thomas
Published: November 2021

Objective

Epistaxis is the most common otolaryngological emergency and up to one third of patients in treated on an inpatient basis take oral anticoagulants (OAC). Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC), an OAC subgroup, have been on the market since 2010 and are being increasingly prescribed due to the cardiological and haematological guidelines that favour them over vitamin K antagonists (VKA), the older of the OAC subgroups. The present study aims to investigate which subgroup of epistaxis patients taking OACs has a more favourable outcome.

Design/setting

A systematic review and meta‐analysis were performed according to the PRISMA 2020 statement using the PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. Continuous data were analysed and standardised mean difference (SMD) was calculated according to Hedges' g. Dichotomous data were analysed, and the Mantel‐Haenszel method was applied to establish the odds ratio (OR). Heterogeneity was assessed according to the I
2 statistics.

Main outcome/results

A total of eight reports covering 1390 patients were included in the final synthesis. The pooled analysis demonstrated significantly shorter hospital stays in the DOAC group (SMD = −0.22, 95% CI−0.42 to −0.02, p = .03) and a significantly higher rate of posterior bleeding in the VKA group (OR = .39, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.68, p = .001). No statistically significant differences with regard to recurrence rates, admission rates, the need for transfusion or surgical intervention (p = .57, .12, .57 and .38 respectively) were found.

Conclusion

According to this meta‐analysis, epistaxis patients taking DOACs have a more favourable outcome than patients taking VKAs.
The COVID‐19 Pandemic and Consumption of Food away from Home: Evidence from High‐frequency Restaurant Transaction Data
Authors: Zhu Chen , Lopez Rigoberto A. , Gao Yuan , Liu Xiaoou
Published: November 2021

This article investigates how the COVID‐19 pandemic and related public health measures affected the consumption of food away from home (FAFH) among Chinese consumers. We obtained access to the complete sales records from a major restaurant chain in China, for 111 sites located in 12 cities, covering over 5.6 million high‐frequency dining transactions made between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2020. By applying a high‐dimensional fixed‐effects model, we found that, on average, consumers spent more and ordered more calories (as well as carbohydrates, protein, fat, and sodium) after the COVID‐19 outbreak than in the pre‐COVID‐19 period. Our results do not support the hypothesis that COVID‐19 led to healthier eating behaviors during and after the pandemic. Our results underline the importance of nutrition education and awareness programs to mitigate unhealthy eating habits generated by the pandemic and of the continued role of FAFH after the pandemic.
The Impacts of Trade Restrictions on World Agricultural Price Volatility during the COVID‐19 Pandemic
Authors: Yan Wenshou , Cai Yan , Lin Faqin , Ambaw Dessie Tarko
Published: November 2021

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, countries applied trade restrictions to insulate their domestic markets from the world market. However, these trade policies could have amplified international market price fluctuations. This paper explores the effects of trade restrictions on international agricultural price volatility. A theoretical model is developed to quantify how trade policies amplify the initial shock. Using panel data covering 71 countries from January 2020 to July 2021, we examine empirically the effects of trade policies on world agricultural price volatility. The results show that trade distortions further induced volatility of world agricultural prices by around 22 percent during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The multiplier effects are much more substantial in agricultural exporting countries than in importing countries. Large countries like China and the US could make significant contributions to stabilizing world prices by limiting the extent of unilateral trade policy interventions.
Charakteristika von Dermatomyositis‐Patienten mit und ohne Malignom‐Assoziation
Authors: Lauinger Julia , Ghoreschi Kamran , Volc Sebastian
Published: November 2021

Hintergrund

Die Dermatomyositis gehört zur Gruppe der seltenen, idiopathischen, inflammatorischen Myositiden. Für die paraneoplastische Form der Dermatomyositis wurde in der Vergangenheit ein Zusammenhang mit Malignomen erkannt. Faktoren, die für eine Malignom‐Assoziation sprechen, werden bis heute untersucht.

Patienten und Methodik

Es wurden retrospektiv über einen Zeitraum von 15 Jahren die Daten von 63 Patienten mit Dermatomyositis analysiert.

Ergebnisse

Folgende Faktoren gaben einen Hinweis für eine Dermatomyositis mit Malignom‐Assoziation: ein höheres Patientenalter (> 52 Jahre [P = 0,001], > 65 Jahre [P = 0,002], ≥ 75 Jahre [P = 0,002]), eine kürzere Zeit zwischen Erstmanifestation und Erstdiagnose (Malignom‐Gruppe: 59 Tage vs. Nicht‐Malignom‐Gruppe: 137 Tage [P = 0,022]), eine Hautbeteiligung in Form von Gottron‐Zeichen (P = 0,045), zentrofazialen Erythemen (P = 0,036) oder typischen Erythemen an den Ober‐/Unterarmen (P = 0,019), eine oropharyngeale Beteiligung (P = 0,015) und eine GPT‐Erhöhung (P = 0,031). Folgende Faktoren sprachen eher gegen eine Malignom‐Assoziation: ein jüngeres Patientenalter (≤ 52 Jahre [P = 0,001], 40–65 Jahre [P = 0,045]) und Juckreiz (P = 0,026).

Schlussfolgerungen

In der Literatur finden sich heterogene Ergebnisse zu den genannten Faktoren hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung als Marker für eine Malignom‐Assoziation. Erschwert ist die Faktorenfindung aufgrund kleiner Studienpopulationen, wenigen prospektiven und kontrollierten Studien, die Einordnung von Populationen als Myositis‐Patienten ohne Differenzierung und eine inkonsistente Verwendung der Nomenklatur. Mit unserer Studie wollen wir einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Identifizierung von Risikofaktoren bei Dermatomyositis mit Malignom‐Assoziation leisten.