bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing across a corporate and product brand portfolio: evidence from a large South African service organization
Authors: Sevel Louise , Abratt Russell , Kleyn Nicola
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand how a large service organisation with a brand portfolio manages its corporate brand relative to its portfolio of product brands.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use an interpretivist research paradigm to investigate four research questions concerning the relative roles of corporate and product brands, the role of the CEO, the structures and capabilities that support the development of brand equity (including the role of the marketing function) and the role of employees in building corporate brand equity. A case study design was used, and the Tsogo Sun, one of the largest hotel and casino organisations in Africa, was the focus of the investigation.

Findings

The findings highlight the important role of both the CEO and the marketing department in optimising brand equity and managing across corporate and product brands. Employees were found to play a critical role and the need to clarify their relative roles as both recipients and expressors of brand identity across corporate and product brands emerged as an important theme.

Originality/value

Although the corporate brand has received much attention in recent years, much of literature remains conceptual. In addition to responding to calls for empirical research, the paper also contributes to deepening understanding about how to manage a corporate brand alongside a number of product brands.
CSR and corporate branding effect on brand loyalty: a study on Indian banking industry
Authors: Pratihari Suvendu Kumar , Uzma Shigufta Hena
Published: December 2017

Purpose

The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate branding (CB) and brand loyalty (BL) in the Indian Banking industry. The study further intends to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on BL when CSR becomes an integral part of CB.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured questionnaire using seven-point Likert’s scale is the instrument for data collection. Stratified random sampling is used to collect the cross-sectional data from 430 savings bank customers in India. A new scale is developed and used to measure the CB as a single construct. A multi-model path using structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses. Direct and indirect model path analysis is used to examine the integrated effect of CSR and CB on BL.

Findings

The results of the study show that there is a significant impact of CSR components (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) on CB to enhance customer BL. The study offers new insight into the relationship between CSR and BL by introducing CB as the mediating factor. However, the relationship between “legal responsibility to CB” and “philanthropy responsibility to BL” demonstrate a negative coefficient in the path analysis. Further, the result of the direct and indirect model path analysis confirms that customers’ BL can be enhanced more efficiently when CSR becomes an integral part of CB.

Practical implications

The strategic incorporation of CSR tools as an integral part of CB strategy can help the managers in the banking industry to enhance their customers’ BL. Besides economic and legal responsibilities, managers need to give more emphasis on the ethical and philanthropic responsibilities as critical positioning tools to develop firm’s corporate brand followed by enhancing BL.

Originality/value

Scale development and validation of CB as a single construct is an original move in this study. Additionally, the study is a pioneer to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on customers’ BL using CB as a key mediating factor.
Consumers’ identification with corporate brands: Brand prestige, anthropomorphism and engagement in social media
Authors: Tuškej Urška , Podnar Klement
Published: December 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to examine relationships between consumer-brand identification (CBI), brand prestige (BP), brand anthropomorphism (BA) and consumers’ active engagement in brand activities on social media in corporate brand settings.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected with an online survey on a sample randomly drawn from an online panel of consumers were used to test the proposed theoretical model.

Findings

Anthropomorphism and prestige of corporate brands were found to positively influence consumer-brand identification. Also, CBI positively affects consumers’ active engagement and fully mediates the effect of BP and BA on consumers-brand engagement (CBE) with corporate brands.

Research limitations/implications

Further research in other markets and on a broader set of corporate brands would additionally validate results and enable comparisons of impacts among different brand categories. The data were gathered in one country, so further research in other markets would additionally validate results of this study.

Practical implications

Chief executives responsible for corporate brand management are provided with some insights on how appropriate corporate brand identity management can strengthen CBI and stimulate CBE on social media.

Originality/value

This paper provides some novel insights into the research on consumer-brand identification. It is the first study (to the authors’ knowledge) that empirically supports the positive influence of brand anthropomorphism on CBI in corporate brand settings. It also contributes to the clarification of previously inconsistent results of the influence of BP on CBI. By showing that consumers’ identification with a corporate brand plays a vital role in increasing consumers’ active engagement on social media, the study contributes to the relatively sparse body of research on CBE.
Insect temperature–body size trends common to laboratory, latitudinal and seasonal gradients are not found across altitudes
Authors: Horne Curtis R. , Hirst Andrew G. , Atkinson David
Published: December 2017

Body size affects rates of most biological and ecological processes, from individual performance to ecosystem function, and is fundamentally linked to organism fitness. Within species, size at maturity can vary systematically with environmental temperature in the laboratory and across seasons, as well as over latitudinal gradients. Recent meta‐analyses have revealed a close match in the magnitude and direction of these size gradients in various arthropod orders, suggesting that these size responses share common drivers.

As with increasing latitude, temperature also decreases with increasing altitude. Although the general direction of body size clines along altitudinal gradients has been examined previously, to our knowledge altitude–body size (A–S) clines have never been synthesised quantitatively, nor compared with temperature–size (T–S) responses measured under controlled laboratory conditions.

Here we quantitatively examine variation in intraspecific A–S clines among 121 insect species from 50 different global locations, representing 12 taxonomic orders. While some taxa were better represented in the literature than others, our analysis reveals extensive variation in the magnitude and direction of A–S clines. Following the assumption that temperature on average declines by 1°C per 150 m increase in altitude, order‐specific A–S clines in the field appear to deviate from laboratory T–S responses. Specifically, the magnitude of A–S clines and T–S responses are more closely matched in some taxonomic orders (e.g. Diptera) than others (e.g. Orthoptera). These findings contrast with the strong co‐variation observed between latitude‐size clines and T–S responses, and between laboratory and seasonal T–S responses.

The lack of clear size relationships with elevation, and hence temperature, is likely due to the counteracting effects of other major drivers with altitude, including season length and oxygen partial pressure. Switches in voltinism within species across altitude, and the dispersal of individuals across different elevations, may also obscure trends.

A plain language summary is available for this article.
Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems
Authors: Sah Pratha , Mann Janet , Bansal Shweta
Published: December 2017

The disease costs of sociality have largely been understood through the link between group size and transmission. However, infectious disease spread is driven primarily by the social organization of interactions in a group and not its size.

We used statistical models to review the social network organization of 47 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects by categorizing each species into one of three social systems, relatively solitary, gregarious and socially hierarchical. Additionally, using computational experiments of infection spread, we determined the disease costs of each social system.

We find that relatively solitary species have large variation in number of social partners, that socially hierarchical species are the least clustered in their interactions, and that social networks of gregarious species tend to be the most fragmented. However, these structural differences are primarily driven by weak connections, which suggest that different social systems have evolved unique strategies to organize weak ties.

Our synthetic disease experiments reveal that social network organization can mitigate the disease costs of group living for socially hierarchical species when the pathogen is highly transmissible. In contrast, highly transmissible pathogens cause frequent and prolonged epidemic outbreaks in gregarious species.

We evaluate the implications of network organization across social systems despite methodological challenges, and our findings offer new perspective on the debate about the disease costs of group living. Additionally, our study demonstrates the potential of meta‐analytic methods in social network analysis to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses on cooperation, group living, communication and resilience to extrinsic pressures.
Loving recognition: a proposal for the practical efficacy of love as a public virtue
Authors: Rapport Nigel
Published: December 2017

The anthropology of love has tended to focus on the romantic, and to explore its universality. In this article I ask a different kind of question of love. How might love be recruited as a moral force and deployed as a public virtue? I conceive of love not solely or principally as a private and domestic virtue but as a public and civil practice: a structuring of social interaction by means of affective appreciation of individual others. I understand love as the human capacity and the human practice of respecting the individuality of other lives. The desirous appreciation and affirmation of another ‘I’ – the loving attention – serves to surmount the customary ‘category‐thinking’ by which the world is normally apprehended: the generalizing, homogenizing, and stereotyping that characterize a culture's symbolic identification of the world. Loving recognition is such that the individuality of another life, its precious integrity and uniqueness, may be socially accommodated.
Managing alterity from within: the ontological turn in anthropology and indigenous efforts to shape shamanism
Authors: Erazo Juliet , Jarrett Christopher
Published: December 2017

The ontological turn is gaining momentum among many anthropologists today, evidenced by multiple debates and symposia in recent years addressing the role of ontological approaches within the discipline. Equal to the force of the ontological turn are the growing number of passionate critiques that question everything from the ethnographic and historical integrity of this body of work to its intellectual motivations and political effects. This article commends ontologists for bringing greater attention to the crucial role of spirits in many people's lives and for their efforts to gain deeper understandings of different realities. Yet we also agree with critics in their identification of various troubling tendencies in prominent ontologists’ analyses. We highlight how many of these disturbing inclinations emerge through ontologists’ attempts to connect their ethnographic analyses to Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's theory of multinaturalist perspectivism. Finally, we analyse one of the favourite research topics of those associated with the ontological turn – shamanism – in one of the regions most often heralded as an oasis of radical alterity – the Amazon – in a way that specifically aims to avoid the problematic orientations we identify. Specifically, we describe a series of historical changes in the relationships between shamans and indigenous leaders to draw attention to how relationships to shamanic power/knowledge are unevenly distributed, actively debated, and co‐constructed through changing historical and political contexts.
Stillbirth: understand, standardise, educate – time to end preventable harm
Authors: Siassakos Dimitrios , Silver Robert , Dudley Donald , Flenady Vicki , Erwich Jan Jaap , Joseph KS
Published: December 2017

Executive Scientific Editor, Dr Dimitrios Siassakos, discusses his top articles from this issue in an audio podcast available at: https://soundcloud.com/bjog/stillbirth-issue.
Rheumatic diseases are associated with a higher risk of dementia: A nation‐wide, population‐based, case‐control study
Authors: Chen Kuan‐Ting , Chen Yen‐Chung , Fan Yu‐Hsi , Lin Wen‐Xiu , Lin Wun‐Cin , Wang Yu‐Hsun , Lin Lichi , Chiou Jeng‐Yuan , Wei James C.‐C.
Published: December 2017

Aim

Previous research demonstrated the possible relevance of dementia and rheumatic diseases. This population‐based study aims to investigate the association of rheumatic diseases and dementia.

Methods

The data of this case‐control study was extracted from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Diagnosis of dementia and rheumatic diseases mentioned in this study were retrieved by the International Classification of Diseases‐9 code. We recruited cases (n = 10 180) with dementia and controls (n = 61 080) during 2000–2010, by matching on age, gender and index date with a match ratio 1 : 6. The Chi‐square test was used to calculate the baseline characteristics of the cases and controls for categorical variables such as age and gender. Simple conditional and multivariable conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios.

Results

Statistical significance was observed in Sjögren's syndrome (SS), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and osteoarthritis (OA) among females (P < 0.05 for SS and SLE; P < 0.01 for OA), and in SS, psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and OA among males (P < 0.01 for SS; P < 0.05 for PsA and OA). Further, we also demonstrated a significant difference in SLE and OA among the younger group (age = 40–64) (P < 0.01 for SLE and OA), and in SS and OA among the older group (age ≧ 65) (P < 0.01 for SS and OA).

Conclusion

In this population‐based case‐control study, we found that patients with rheumatoid arthritis, SS, SLE, PsA and OA are significantly associated with a higher risk of dementia than those without rheumatic diseases. We hypothesized that inflammation and medications are two possible mechanisms.
Maternal history of recurrent pregnancy loss is associated with increased risk for long‐term pediatric gastrointestinal morbidity in the offspring
Authors: Lichtman Yael , Sheiner Eyal , Wainstock Tamar , Segal Idit , Landau Daniella , Walfisch Asnat
Published: December 2017

Problem

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) potentially involves an abnormal maternal inflammatory response. We investigated whether children of mothers with a history of RPL are at an increased risk for childhood gastrointestinal (GI) morbidity, with a specific focus on inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

Method of study

A population‐based cohort analysis comparing the risk for long‐term GI morbidity in children born to mothers with and without a history of RPL. Gastrointestinal (GI) morbidity included hospitalizations involving a pre‐defined set of ICD‐9 codes.

Results

During the study period, 242 186 newborns met the inclusion criteria; 5% of which were offspring to mothers with a history of RPL. Gastrointestinal morbidity was significantly more common in the RPL group (6.6% vs 5.3%). Specifically, offspring to mothers with a history of RPL had significantly higher rates of IBD (2.1% vs 1.7%).

Conclusion

Maternal history of RPL is associated with an increased risk for pediatric GI morbidity in the offspring.
The highest mortality rates in childhood dilated cardiomyopathy occur during the first year after diagnosis
Authors: Fadl Shalan , Wåhlander Håkan , Fall Katja , Cao Yang , Sunnegårdh Jan
Published: December 2017

Aim

The aim of the study was to assess the incidence, mortality and morbidity of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and noncompaction of the left ventricle (LVNC) in Swedish children.

Methods

We reviewed hospital records of all children with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) or left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) up to the age of 18 in the healthcare region of western Sweden from 1991 to 2015.

Results

In total, 69 cases (61% males) were identified. The combined incidence of DCM and LVNC was 0.77 (95% CI 0.59‐0.96) per 100 000 person years. Children were divided into six groups, and their outcomes were analysed depending on their aetiology. Idiopathic DCM was reported in 43%, and familial dilated and left ventricular noncompaction aetiology was present in 32%. DCM due to various diseases occurred in 8%. DCM associated with neuromuscular diseases was present in 16%. The overall risk of death or receiving transplants in children with idiopathic and familial DCM was 30% over the study period, and 21% died in the first year after diagnosis.

Conclusion

The combined incidence of DCM and LVNC was similar to previous reports. Most children with idiopathic DCM presented during infancy, and mortality was highest during the first year after diagnosis.
Effect of maturity and infection on the rate of relaxation of the respiratory muscles in ventilated, newborn infants
Authors: Dassios Theodore , Kaltsogianni Ourania , Dixon Paul , Greenough Anne
Published: December 2017

Aim

To assess the respiratory muscle time constant of relaxation (τ), an index of respiratory muscle function in ventilated newborns.

Methods

Sixty‐two infants (42 born prematurely) with a median gestational age of 29 [interquartile range (IQR) 26–37] weeks were prospectively studied. Measurement of τ was taken during spontaneous breathing on endotracheal continuous positive airway pressure prior to extubation, and τ was calculated from the reciprocal of the slope of the airway pressure decline versus time. Infants were classified as having had systemic or respiratory infection (positive microbiology) if they had any positive bacterial blood or respiratory culture prior to measurement.

Results

Measurement of τ was taken at a median post‐natal age of 6 (IQR 3–29) days. The median τ was higher in premature infants [17.4 (IQR 7.7–28.3) sec/cmH2O] compared to term infants [6.8 (IQR 4.4–8.7) sec/cmH2O, p < 0.001]. The median τ was higher in infants who had had positive microbiology [17.6 (IQR 9.9–29.1) sec/cmH2O] compared to infants with negative microbiology [8.0 (IQR 6.3–17.9) sec/cmH2O, p = 0.034]. τ was related to gestational age (r = −0.265, p = 0.003) and weight at measurement (r = −0.269, p = 0.002).

Conclusion

Respiratory muscle function in ventilated newborns is negatively affected by prematurity and previous systemic or respiratory infection.
DISTRIBUTION OF CYSTICERCUS BOVIS IN LIGHTLY INFECTED YOUNG CATTLE
Authors: McCool C. J.
Published: December 2017

Sixty‐seven young cattle grazed on a sewage farm since birth were slaughtered and the carcases finely dissected in search of Cysticercus bovis. Forty‐seven (70%) were infected, but only 49% of infected cattle had cysts in tissues considered to be sites of predilection and only 19.8% of all cysts found were located in these sites. Most of the remaining cysts were distributed randomly throughout the masculature.
BROMOSULPHOPHTHALEIN CLEARANCE RATES IN SHEEP WITH PYRROLIZIDINE LIVER DAMAGE
Authors: LANIGAN G. W. , PETERSON J. E.
Published: December 2017

Sheep fed a ration containing 50% of dried Heliotropium europaeum showed a marked decline in bromosulphophthalein (BSP) fractional clearance rate during the first 3 months feeding. Thereafter, the response of individual animals varied widely on a time basis, although 3 groups could be identified. In the terminal stages, mean clearance rates were below 20% of initial values, with some sheep showing a decline in excess of 90%. Loss of liver functional capacity was generally much greater than indicated by the degree of damage revealed by histopathology. Thus, a suitably modified test could have considerable prognostic value in the field. In this investigation, all sheep with clearance rates below 0.15 died when exposed to a further period of H. europaeum feeding.
RESISTANCE TO THIABENDAZOLE IN A FIELD POPULATION OF OSTERTAGIA CIRCUMCINCTA FROM SHEEP
Authors: HALL C. A. , CAMPBELL N. J. , CARROLL S. N.
Published: December 2017

A population of Ostertagia circumcincta from sheep has been found which, in field and laboratory trials, showed a lack of response to the recommended dose (44 mg/kg) of thiabendazole, suggesting that a degree of resistance exists to this anthelmintic.

Preliminary experiments indicated a less than expected response to levamisole. This was not confirmed in a laboratory trial and therefore resistance to this anthelmintic has not been shown conclusively.
The Movember Foundation's GAP3 cohort: a profile of the largest global prostate cancer active surveillance database to date
Authors: Bruinsma Sophie M. , Zhang Liying , Roobol Monique J. , Bangma Chris H. , Steyerberg Ewout W. , Nieboer Daan , Van Hemelrijck Mieke ,   Movember Foundation's Global Action Plan Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance (GAP3) consortium
Published: December 2017

Objectives

The Movember Foundation launched the Global Action Plan Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance (GAP3) initiative to create a global consensus on the selection and monitoring of men with low‐risk prostate cancer (PCa) on active surveillance (AS). The aim of this study is to present data on inclusion and follow‐up for AS in this unique global AS database.

Patients and Methods

Between 2014 and 2016, the database was created by combining patient data from 25 established AS cohorts worldwide (USA, Canada, Australasia, UK and Europe). Data on a total of 15 101 patients were included. Descriptive statistics were used to report patients' clinical and demographic characteristics at the time of PCa diagnosis, clinical follow‐up, discontinuation of AS and subsequent treatment. Cumulative incidence curves were used to report discontinuation rates over time.

Results

At diagnosis, the median (interquartile range [IQR]) patient age was 65 (60–70) years and the median prostate‐specific antigen level was 5.4 (4.0–7.3) ng/mL. Most patients had clinical stage T1 disease (71.8%), a biopsy Gleason score of 6 (88.8%) and one tumour‐positive biopsy core (60.3%). Patients on AS had a median follow‐up time of 2.2 (1.0–5.0) years. After 5, 10 and 15 years of follow‐up, respectively, 58%, 39% and 23% of patients were still on AS. The current version of GAP3 has limited data on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), quality of life and genomic testing.

Conclusions

GAP3 is the largest worldwide collaboration integrating patient data from men with PCa on AS. The results will allow individual patients and clinicians to have greater confidence in the personalized decision to either delay or proceed with active treatment. Longer follow‐up and the evaluation of MRI, new genomic markers and patient‐related outcomes will result in even more valuable data and eventually in better patient outcomes.
Finding the needle in the haystack: systematic identification of psychobiotics
Authors: Bambury Aisling , Sandhu Kiran , Cryan John F , Dinan Timothy G
Published: December 2017

The brain–gut–microbiota axis is increasingly viewed as a novel paradigm in neuroscience with the capacity to generate innovative therapies for patients with psychiatric illnesses. Psychobiotics, defined as live bacteria, which when ingested in adequate amounts, confer mental health benefits, are increasingly of interest, as preclinical trials continue to show promising results. Particularly in stress‐related, anxiety and depressive disorders, there is potential for psychobiotics to deliver new therapies. The question of which microbes may prove to be the most promising psychobiotic in delivering such therapies at a clinical level is of great importance. Here we look at the characteristics of psychobiotics, in an attempt to present an outline from which the identification of potential new psychobiotics may be possible.

Linked Articles

This article is part of a themed section on When Pharmacology Meets the Microbiome: New Targets for Therapeutics? To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v175.24/issuetoc
Shikonin inhibits myeloid differentiation protein 2 to prevent LPS‐induced acute lung injury
Authors: Zhang Yali , Xu Tingting , Pan Zheer , Ge Xiangting , Sun Chuchu , Lu Chun , Chen Hongjin , Xiao Zhongxiang , Zhang Bing , Dai Yuanrong , Liang Guang
Published: December 2017

Background and Purpose

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a challenging clinical syndrome, which manifests as an acute inflammatory response. Myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD2) has an important role in mediating LPS‐induced inflammation. Currently, there are no effective molecular‐based therapies for ALI or viable biomarkers for predicting the severity of disease. Recent preclinical studies have shown that shikonin, a natural naphthoquinone, prevents LPS‐induced inflammation. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms.

Experimental Approach

The binding affinity of shikonin to MD2 was analysed using computer docking, surface plasmon resonance analysis and elisa. In vitro, the anti‐inflammatory effect and mechanism of shikonin were investigated through elisa, real‐time quantitative reverse transcription PCR, Western blotting and immunoprecipitation assay. In vivo, lung injury was induced by intratracheal administration of LPS and assessed by changes in the histopathological and inflammatory markers. The underlying mechanisms were investigated by immunoprecipitation in lung tissue.

Key Results

Shikonin directly bound to MD2 and interfered with the activation of toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) induced by LPS. In cultured macrophages, shikonin inhibited TLR4 signalling and pro‐inflammatory cytokine production. These effects were produced through suppression of key signalling proteins including the NF‐κB and the MAPK pathway. We also showed that shikonin inhibits MD2–TLR4 complex formation and reduces LPS‐induced inflammatory responses in a mouse model of ALI.

Conclusions and Implications

Our studies have uncovered the mechanism underlying the biological activity of shikonin in ALI and suggest that the targeting of MD2 may prove to be beneficial as a treatment option for this condition.
Bayesian molecular dating: opening up the black box
Authors: Bromham Lindell , Duchêne Sebastián , Hua Xia , Ritchie Andrew M. , Duchêne David A. , Ho Simon Y. W.
Published: December 2017

Molecular dating analyses allow evolutionary timescales to be estimated from genetic data, offering an unprecedented capacity for investigating the evolutionary past of all species. These methods require us to make assumptions about the relationship between genetic change and evolutionary time, often referred to as a ‘molecular clock’. Although initially regarded with scepticism, molecular dating has now been adopted in many areas of biology. This broad uptake has been due partly to the development of Bayesian methods that allow complex aspects of molecular evolution, such as variation in rates of change across lineages, to be taken into account. But in order to do this, Bayesian dating methods rely on a range of assumptions about the evolutionary process, which vary in their degree of biological realism and empirical support. These assumptions can have substantial impacts on the estimates produced by molecular dating analyses. The aim of this review is to open the ‘black box’ of Bayesian molecular dating and have a look at the machinery inside. We explain the components of these dating methods, the important decisions that researchers must make in their analyses, and the factors that need to be considered when interpreting results. We illustrate the effects that the choices of different models and priors can have on the outcome of the analysis, and suggest ways to explore these impacts. We describe some major research directions that may improve the reliability of Bayesian dating. The goal of our review is to help researchers to make informed choices when using Bayesian phylogenetic methods to estimate evolutionary rates and timescales.
Regulation of c‐MYC transcriptional activity by transforming growth factor‐beta 1‐stimulated clone 22
Authors: Zheng Ling , Suzuki Hiroyuki , Nakajo Yuka , Nakano Akinobu , Kato Mitsuyasu
Published: December 2017

c‐MYC stimulates cell proliferation through the suppression of cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors including P15 (CDKN2B) and P21 (CDKN1A). It also activates E‐box‐mediated transcription of various target genes including telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) that is involved in cellular immortality and tumorigenesis. Transforming growth factor‐beta 1 (TGF‐β1)‐stimulated clone 22 (TSC‐22/TSC22D1) encodes a highly conserved leucine zipper protein that is induced by various stimuli, including TGF‐β. TSC‐22 inhibits cell growth in mammalian cells and in Xenopus embryos. However, underlying mechanisms of growth inhibition by TSC‐22 remain unclear. Here, we show that TSC‐22 physically interacts with c‐MYC to inhibit the recruitment of c‐MYC on the P15 (CDKN2B) and P21 (CDKN1A) promoters, effectively inhibiting c‐MYC‐mediated suppression of P15 (CDKN2B) and also P21 (CDKN1A) promoter activities. In contrast, TSC‐22 enhances c‐MYC‐mediated activation of the TERT promoter. Additionally, the expression of TSC‐22 in embryonic stem cells inhibits cell growth without affecting its pluripotency‐related gene expression. These results indicate that TSC‐22 differentially regulates c‐MYC‐mediated transcriptional activity to regulate cell proliferation.
Whole exome sequencing to identify genetic markers for trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity
Authors: Udagawa Chihiro , Nakamura Hiromi , Ohnishi Hiroshi , Tamura Kenji , Shimoi Tatsunori , Yoshida Masayuki , Yoshida Teruhiko , Totoki Yasushi , Shibata Tatsuhiro , Zembutsu Hitoshi
Published: December 2017

Although trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity is an important determinant to limit the use of this drug, the molecular mechanism of risk for this toxicity is not well understood. To identify genetic variants determining the risk of trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity, we carried out whole exome sequencing of germline DNA samples from 9 patients with trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity, and conducted a case‐control association study of 2258 genetic variants between 9 cases (with trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity) and general Japanese population controls registered in the Human Genetic Variation Database (HGVD). The top variant which showed the lowest P‐value in the screening study was rs139503277 in PHD Finger Protein 3 (Pmin = .00012, odds ratio [OR] = 51.23). To further validate the result of screening study, we carried out a replication study of 10 variants showing Pmin < .001 in the screening study using 234 independent patients treated with trastuzumab, including 10 cases and 224 controls (without trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity). In the replication study, we observed that three variants had an effect in the same direction as in the screening study (rs78272919 in exon 2 of Keratin 15, rs5762940 in exon 2 of zinc and ring finger 3, and rs139944387 in exon 44 of Eyes shut homologs [EYS]). A combined result of the screening and the replication studies suggested an association of a locus on chromosome 6q12 with trastuzumab‐induced cardiotoxicity (rs139944387 in EYS, combined Pmin = .00056, OR = 13.73). This finding provides new insights into personalized trastuzumab therapy for patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)‐positive cancer.
IgE promotes type 2 innate lymphoid cells in murine food allergy
Authors: Burton O. T. , Medina Tamayo J. , Stranks A. J. , Miller S. , Koleoglou K. J. , Weinberg E. O. , Oettgen H. C.
Published: December 2017

Background

Mast cells serve an important sentinel function at mucosal barriers and have been implicated as key early inducers of type 2 immune responses in food allergy. The generation of Th2 and IgE following food allergen ingestion is inhibited in the absence of mast cells. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells are also thought to play an important early role in nascent allergic responses.

Objective

To test whether IgE‐mediated mast cell activation promotes intestinal ILC2 responses following ingestion of food allergens and whether ILC2 amplify food allergy.

Methods

Two different mouse models of food allergy, one using intraperitoneally ovalbumin (OVA)‐primed BALB/c animals and the other using enterally peanut‐sensitized inherently atopic IL4raF709 mice, were applied to test the contributions of IgE antibodies and mast cells to ILC2 responses. The effect of ILC2 on mast cell activation and on anaphylaxis was tested.

Results

ILC2 responses were significantly impaired in both models of food allergy in Igh7−/− mice harbouring a targeted deletion of the gene encoding IgE. A similar reduction in food allergen‐induced ILC2 was observed in mast cell‐deficient Il4raF709 KitW‐sh mice, and this was partially corrected by reconstituting these animals using cultured bone marrow mast cells. Mast cells activated ILC2 for IL‐13 production in an IL‐4Rα−dependent manner. Activated ILC2 amplified systemic anaphylaxis by increasing target tissue sensitivity to mast cell mediators.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance

These findings support an important role for IgE‐activated mast cells in driving intestinal ILC2 expansion in food allergy and reveal that ILC2, in turn, can enhance responsiveness to the mediators of anaphylaxis produced by mast cells. Strategies designed to inhibit IgE signalling or mast cell activation are likely to inhibit both type 2 immunity and immediate hypersensitivity in food allergy.
Progestin‐primed ovarian stimulation with or without clomiphene citrate supplementation in normal ovulatory women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection: A prospective randomized controlled trial
Authors: Liu Yali , Chen Qiuju , Yu Sha , Wang Yun , He Wen , Chang Hannah Ya‐Ning , Wang Bian , Gao Hongyuan , Long Hui , Wang Li , Lyu Qifeng , Ai Ai , Kuang Yanping
Published: December 2017

Objective

To compare the endocrinological profiles, cycle characteristics and pregnancy outcomes of progestin‐primed ovarian stimulation (PPOS) with or without clomiphene citrate (CC) supplementation in normal ovulatory women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Design

Prospective randomized controlled study.

Patient(s)

A total of 320 infertile women undergoing IVF/ICSI. Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) were simultaneously administered on menstrual cycle day 3. The women were randomized into 2 equal groups with or without CC supplementation.

Measures

The primary outcome measure was the percentage of women with profound pituitary suppression (luteinizing hormone [LH] <1.0 IU/L on the trigger day). The secondary outcomes were endocrinological profiles, cycle characteristics and pregnancy outcomes.

Results

The percentage of women with profound pituitary suppression was significantly lower in the study group (hMG + MPA + CC) than in the control group (hMG + MPA) (1.9% vs 33.1%, P < .001). The mean LH level during controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) was higher in the study group than in the control group (P < .001), but none of the patients in either group exhibited a premature LH surge. The doses of Gn in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group (1334.06 ± 212.53 IU vs 1488.28 ± 325.08 IU, P < .001). The number of oocytes retrieved was similar between the 2 groups (10.03 ± 5.97 vs 10.34 ± 7.52, P > .05). No significant differences were observed in either the number of viable embryos or the pregnancy outcomes between the 2 groups.

Conclusion(s)

Clomiphene citrate is an effective adjuvant to alleviate pituitary suppression in the PPOS protocol; however, it has no impact on clinical outcomes.
Presenting symptoms and long‐term survival in head and neck cancer
Authors: Douglas C.M. , Ingarfield K. , McMahon A.D. , Savage S.A. , Conway D.I. , MacKenzie K.
Published: December 2017

Objectives

To assess how type and number of symptoms are related to survival in patients with head and neck cancer.

Design

Patients were followed up for over 10 years from the Scottish Audit of Head and Neck Cancer (national cohort of head and neck cancer patients in Scotland 1999‐2001). September 2013, cohort was linked to national mortality data. First, second and third presenting symptoms were recorded at diagnosis.

Setting

National prospective audit—Scotland.

Participants

A subset of 1589 patients, from the original cohort of 1895, who had cancer arising from one of the four main subsites; larynx, oropharynx, oral cavity and hypopharynx.

Main outcome measures

Median survival in relation to patients’ presenting symptoms.

Results

A total of 1146 (72%) males and 443 (28%) females, mean age at diagnosis 64 years (13‐95). There was a significant difference in survival in relation to the number of the patient's presenting symptoms; one symptom had a median survival of 5.3 years compared with 1.1 years for three symptoms. Patients who presented with weight loss had a median survival of 0.8 years, compared to 4.2 years if they did not (P < .001). Patients who presented with hoarseness had a median survival of 5.9 years compared to 2.6 years without (P < .001). There was no significant difference in long‐term survival for patients who presented with an ulcer, compared to those that did not (P = .105).

Conclusions

This study highlights the importance of patients’ presenting symptoms, giving valuable information in highlighting appropriate “red flag” symptoms and subsequent treatment planning and prognosis.
Biodiversity in World Heritage Cultural Landscapes: Possibilities and Problems for Communicating Climate Change and Mobilizing Mitigation
Authors: Samuels Kathryn Lafrenz
Published: December 2017

When biodiversity is recognized not simply as a natural quality but as a cultural concept and product, it highlights human agency in fostering and promoting biodiversity. Mobilizing human agency becomes particularly important in the face of significant threats to biodiversity, such as those posed by global climate change. UNESCO World Heritage Sites offer an ideal platform for communicating global conservation challenges like climate change, and therefore for mobilizing social action for climate change mitigation. The World Heritage category of cultural landscapes is particularly well suited to presenting biodiversity as a joint natural‐cultural product, and likewise demonstrating both the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and the social possibilities for climate action.
Freezing Seeds and Making Futures: Endangerment, Hope, Security, and Time in Agrobiodiversity Conservation Practices
Authors: Harrison Rodney
Published: December 2017

This paper considers the temporal practices inherent in the work of global agrobiodiversity conservation, drawing on ongoing research with the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It contrasts the distinctive, future‐making practices inherent in the work of ex situ cold seed storage, with the normative, entropic view of the relationship of species diversity with time that arises from the field of biodiversity conservation more generally. These differences point to the value of comparative studies of natural and cultural heritage conservation practices that focus on their politics and ontologies to reveal the heterogeneity of approaches across these fields, and the different worlds they each produce in conserving their endangered objects for the future.
Ancient DNA as a Tool for Navigating the Anthropocene
Authors: Hambrecht George
Published: December 2017

Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has led to significant breakthroughs in our understanding of the origin of our own species as well as that of many commensal and wild species. New approaches in aDNA research promise to make it a major tool for adaptation to and mitigation of the impacts of the rapidly changing climates of the Anthropocene. This article reviews a number of these new lines of research and their current and potential future contributions to responding to climate change, particularly in two areas: the generation of deeper baseline data on ecological and environmental change, and the tracking and recovery of lost genetic diversity to strengthen the resilience of living species. The article argues that aDNA analysis is creating a powerful new pathway for archeology to engage with the challenges of the Anthropocene.
Effects of Customers' Environmental Awareness and Environmental Regulations on the Emission Intensity and Price of a Product
Authors: Hammami Ramzi , Nouira Imen , Frein Yannick
Published: December 2017

We study the effects of customers' environmental awareness (CEA) and environmental regulations on the emission intensity and price of a product with a price‐ and carbon emission‐sensitive demand. First, we consider a continuous setting where the production policy can be adjusted to reach any desired level of emission intensity while considering either a carbon tax or a carbon cap policy. Second, we consider a discrete framework where each production policy is defined by a given amount of emission intensity, a unit production cost, and a fixed investment cost. Under both settings, we study the joint effect of CEA and environmental regulations on a firm's optimal policy. We compare the customer‐driven model (when demand is sensitive to price and emissions but without a carbon tax) to the taxation‐only model (when a carbon tax applies but demand is only sensitive to price).

Our main results indicate that CEA is an efficient driver for better environmental performance, acting as a substitute for a carbon tax but, unlike a carbon tax, leading to a lower price for the customers. In addition, we demonstrate that the nonmonotonous effect of a carbon tax on production policy selection, which is a known result in the literature, is no longer valid if one considers CEA. From a social welfare perspective, we show that simultaneously increasing the carbon tax and CEA generally leads to a reduction of social welfare. We perform robustness tests and show that most of our findings are valid under different assumptions regarding demand and cost functions.
Expression of six3 and otx in Solenogastres (Mollusca) supports an ancestral role in bilaterian anterior‐posterior axis patterning
Authors: Redl Emanuel , Scherholz Maik , Wollesen Tim , Todt Christiane , Wanninger Andreas
Published: December 2017

The homeodomain transcription factors six3 and otx are involved in patterning the anterior body and parts of the central nervous system (CNS) in bilaterians. Their similar expression patterns have been used as an argument for homology of heads, brains, segmentation, and ciliated larvae. We investigated the developmental expression of six3 and otx in the aplacophoran mollusk Wirenia argentea. Six3 is expressed in subepithelial cells delimiting the apical organ of the solenogaster pericalymma larva. Otx is expressed in cells of the prototroch and adjacent regions as well as in posterior extensions of the prototrochal expression domain. Advanced larvae also show pretrochal otx expression in the developing CNS. Comparative analysis of six3 and otx expression in bilaterians argues for an ancestral function in anterior‐posterior body axis patterning but, due to its presence in animals lacking a head and/or a brain, not necessarily for the presence of these morphological structures in the last common ancestor (LCA) of bilaterians. Likewise, the hypothesis that the posterior border of otx expression corresponds to the border between the unsegmented head and the segmented trunk of the LCA of protostomes is not supported, since otx is extensively expressed in the trunk in W. argentea and numerous other protostomes.
The evolution of floral ontogenetic allometry in the Andean genus Caiophora (Loasaceae, subfam. Loasoideae)
Authors: Strelin Marina Micaela , Benitez‐Vieyra Santiago , Fornoni Juan , Klingenberg Christian Peter , Cocucci Andrea
Published: December 2017

The astounding variety of angiosperm flower morphologies has evolved in response to many selective forces. Flower development is highly coordinated and involves developmental associations between size and shape, ontogenetic allometry, which in turn affect the morphology of mature flowers. Although ontogenetic allometries can act as a developmental constraint and may influence adaptive evolution, allometries can evolve themselves and may change rapidly in response to selection. We explored the evolution of ontogenetic allometry in the flowers of 11 species of Loasoideae. Seven species belong to Caiophora, which radiated recently in the central Andes, and contains species that are pollinated by bees, hummingbirds, and small rodents. According to a previous study, the diversification of Caiophora involved departures from simple allometric scaling, but the changes to allometry that enabled flower diversification have not been explored yet. We characterized the ontogenetic allometry of each species with the methods of geometric morphometrics. We studied the evolution of allometries by constructing allometric spaces, in which the allometry of each species is represented by a point and the arrangement of points indicates the relations among allometric trajectories. To examine the history of changes of ontogenetic allometries, we projected the phylogeny into the allometric spaces. Inspection of allometric spaces suggests that ontogenetic variation is limited to a few dominant features. The allometries of the two main functional flower parts under study differ in their evolutionary labilities, and patterns of variation reflect pollination systems, differences in structural organization, and abiotic environmental factors.