bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Residential properties with green living concept: what drives consumers to buy?
Authors: Sivadasan Rames , Quoquab Farzana , Mohammad Jihad , Basiruddin Rohaida
Published: August 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers’ buying intentions (BIs) towards sustainable properties with green living concept (GLC). It also aims to examine the dynamic relationships between environmental advertisements (EAd), green brand positioning (GBP), attitude towards environmental responsibility (ER) and consumers’ sustainable properties BI in the Malaysian context.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected via online questionnaire survey, which yielded 143 completed usable responses. Structural equation modelling–partial least squares (Smart PLS, version 3) was used to analyse the data.

Findings

The findings of this study revealed that EAd and GBP significantly affect consumers’ attitude towards ER, which in turn affects consumers’ BI of the sustainable properties with GLC.

Practical implications

This study suggests that without inculcating a positive attitude towards the environment among consumers, it becomes a daunting task to drive consumers to purchase sustainable properties in Malaysia. Thus, the marketers should focus on green promotional activities to attract more customers to buy sustainable properties with GLCs. Moreover, it is suggested to target the right market segment to secure more sales.

Social implications

The findings of this study will enable the government and the social marketers to understand the drivers of buying sustainable properties with GLC, which in turn will contribute to the higher environmental welfare.

Originality/value

This study is among the pioneers to examine consumers’ sustainable property purchase intention. It provides significant insights for the social marketers and policymakers to understand how to motivate consumers to purchase sustainable properties with GLCs. Moreover, this study has investigated few comparatively new links such as the direct effect of EAd and GBP on attitude towards environmental responsibility and the mediating effect of attitude towards environmental responsibility between environmental stimuli and consumer’s sustainable properties BI.
The dark side of sustainable dairy supply chains
Authors: Glover Jane
Published: August 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dark side of supermarket-driven sustainable dairy supply chains. This paper raises questions about the unintended consequences of implementing sustainable supply chain management in the dairy food supply chain. It critically questions whether unintended consequences were actually, anticipated, as the course of action taken by retailers reinforces the dominant profitability discourse.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a critical management studies approach, this paper challenges the dominant discourse to shed light on the social consequences of the win-win sustainable supply chain management in the dairy food supply chain. The focus of this paper is on the experiences of farmers, taking their viewpoint of sustainable supply chains rather than taking the perspective of the multinationals who have traditionally been the focus of supply chain management research (e.g. McCarthy et al., 2018; Quarshie et al., 2016).

Findings

The study illuminates how retailers have bolstered their dominant position through using sustainable supply chains to exert further control over their suppliers. The management of sustainable supply chains has been a further catalyst in economically and socially dividing rural communities and creating tensions between dairy farmers.

Originality/value

This paper uses an ethnographic study to provide in-depth stories of the changes that took place within one farming community. It exposes the hidden ways in which the introduction of a sustainable dairy supply chain has created social and economic division, further reducing the collective power of dairy farmers through creating a dual supply chain.
The effect of supermarket service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and disloyalty dimensions
Authors: Slack Neale , Singh Gurmeet , Sharma Shavneet
Published: August 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction on customer repurchase intention, word-of-mouth, complaining behaviour and price sensitivity, as well as the effect of service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

A public intercept survey collected data from 480 supermarket customers. Statistical package for the social sciences was used to provide descriptive and inferential analysis.

Findings

Results reveal the predominance and magnitude of effect of empathy positively on customer satisfaction, customer repurchase intention and word-of-mouth, and negatively on customer complaining behaviour and price sensitivity. Customer satisfaction also significantly affects these customer loyalty and disloyalty dimensions.

Research limitations/implications

This research was conducted in the supermarket sector of only one country.

Practical implications

Insights have been provided to increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty outcomes, and negate customer disloyalty outcomes, in the supermarket sector.

Originality/value

This study provides suggestions to supermarket executives regarding the significance of empathetic, customer-oriented behaviour by front-line supermarket service employees.
Comprehensive study of skid-steer wheeled mobile robots: development and challenges
Authors: Khan Rameez , Malik Fahad Mumtaz , Raza Abid , Mazhar Naveed
Published: August 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive and unified presentation of recent developments in skid-steer wheeled mobile robots (SSWMR) with regard to its control, guidance and navigation for the researchers who wish to study in this field.

Design/methodology/approach

Most of the contemporary unmanned ground robot’s locomotion is based upon the wheels. For wheeled mobile robots (WMRs), one of the prominent and widely used driving schemes is skid steering. Because of mechanical simplicity and high maneuverability particularly in outdoor applications, SSWMR has an advantage over its counterparts. Different prospects of SSWMR have been discussed including its design, application, locomotion, control, navigation and guidance. The challenges pertaining to SSWMR have been pointed out in detail, which will seek the attention of the readers, who are interested to explore this area.

Findings

Relying on the recent literature on SSWMR, research gaps are identified that should be analyzed for the development of autonomous skid-steer wheeled robots.

Originality/value

An attempt to present a comprehensive review of recent advancements in the field of WMRs and providing references to the most intriguing studies.
A system dynamics investigation of knowledge collaboration in online encyclopedias based on activity theory
Authors: Liu Fengjun , Lin Zhengkui , Qu Yi
Published: August 2020

Purpose

Although researchers have demonstrated a keen interest in knowledge collaboration in online encyclopedias, previous studies have seldom explored the dynamic interrelations in online encyclopedias over time that involve the iteratively melding of individual cognitive system and knowledge collaboration system. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the structure and dynamics of knowledge collaboration in online encyclopedias from a perspective of system dynamics (SD).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes a general activity system of knowledge collaboration in online encyclopedias based on Engeström’s activity theory. According to the SD methodology proposed by Forrester, this study develops a holistic SD model by identifying interactions of knowledge collaboration factors based on behavioral theories; validating the SD model by structural tests and behavior tests involving historical data of English Wikipedia; and conducting simulation to capture the interactive dynamics of the salient factors of knowledge collaboration.

Findings

According to the SD methodology, this study develops and validates an SD model to explore interesting dynamic interrelations among core factors (contributors, conflicts, discussions, entries quantity and entries quality) that are neglected by previous research. The results show that there is a significant negative feedback relationship between inactive contributors and entries quality, between contributors and conflicts and between edit conflicts and entries quality. There is a complicated nonlinear feedback relationship between active contributors and entries quality, and between edit conflicts and discussions.

Originality/value

Different from prior empirical studies that normally investigate the unidirectional linear relationships among prominent factors of knowledge collaboration in online encyclopedias from a static perspective, this study captures a dynamic picture of their interrelations by unfolding their behavior patterns over time. The main contribution of this study is to develop a holistic SD model and to reveal and elaborate on the complex dynamics involved online encyclopedias based on activity theory.
Early viewers or followers: a mathematical model for YouTube viewers’ categorization
Authors: Aggrawal Niyati , Arora Anuja , Anand Adarsh , Dwivedi Yogesh
Published: August 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study/paper is to propose a mathematical model that is able to predict the future popularity based on the view count of a particular YouTube video. Since the emergence of video-sharing sites from early 2005, YouTube has been pioneering in its performance and holds the largest share of internet traffic. YouTube plays a significant role in popularizing information on social network. For all social media sites, viewership is an important and vital component to measure diffusion on a video-sharing site, which is defined in terms of the number of view counts. In the era of social media marketing, companies demand an efficient system that can predict the popularity of video in advance. Diffusion prediction of video can help marketing firms and brand companies to inflate traffic and help the firms in generating revenue.

Design/methodology/approach

In the present work, viewership is studied as an important diffusion-affecting parameter pertaining to YouTube videos. Primarily, a mathematical diffusion model is proposed to predict YouTube video diffusion based on the varying situations of viewership. The proposal segregates the total number of viewers into two classes – neoterics viewers, i.e. viewers those viewing a video on a direct basis, and followers, i.e. viewers those watching under the influence.

Findings

The approach is supplemented with numerical illustration done on the real YouTube data set. Results prove that the proposed approach contributes significantly to predict viewership of video. The proposed model brings predicted viewership and its classification highly close to the true value.

Originality/value

Thereby, a behavioral rationale for the modeling and quantification is offered in terms of the two varied and yet connected classes of viewers – “neoterics” and “followers.”
But they promised! How psychological contracts influence the impact of felt violations on job-related anxiety and performance
Authors: De Clercq Dirk , Azeem Muhammad Umer , Haq Inam Ul
Published: August 2020

Purpose

This study unpacks the relationship between violations of organizational promises, as perceived by employees and their job performance, considering the mediating effects of job-related anxiety and moderating effects of psychological contract type.

Design/methodology/approach

Multi-source, multi-wave data were collected from employees and their supervisors in Pakistan.

Findings

Feelings of organizational betrayal may reduce job performance due to the higher anxiety that employees experience in their daily work. This mediating role of enhanced job-related anxiety in turn is stronger to the extent that employees believe that their psychological contract contains relational obligations but weaker when it contains transactional obligations.

Practical implications

The study gives organizational decision makers pertinent insights into how they can mitigate the risk that employees who are angry about broken organizational promises stay away from performance-enhancing work activities, namely, by managing the expectations that come along with psychological contracts. In so doing, they can avoid imposing dual harms on employees, from both a sense that they have been betrayed and the risk of lower performance ratings.

Originality/value

This study offers expanded insights into the process that underpins the translation of psychological contract violations into diminished job performance, by pinpointing the simultaneous roles of experienced job-related anxiety and beliefs about employer obligations.
Heritage destination love
Authors: Andriotis Konstantinos , Foroudi Pantea , Marvi Reza
Published: August 2020

Purpose

Although love has received considerable attention in the marketing literature, there is limited past research on love in a tourism context. This study aims to overcome past research negligence by proposing the concept of heritage destination love.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was undertaken, face-to-face in-depth interviews with 35 respondents in London to discuss about the concept of heritage destination love antecedents and its consequences, tourists’ behavior and tourists’ feeling, passion and love about the destinations as playing a magnificent role in tourism development.

Findings

The outcome reveals that heritage destination love has three elements – passion, emotional attachment and identification.

Originality/value

Despite its limitations, the current study offers theoretical insights of the psychological theory of the love triangle in relation to heritage destination love.
Histamine‐ or vascular endothelial growth factor‐induced tissue factor expression and gap formation between vascular endothelial cells are synergistically enhanced by lipopolysaccharide, tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin (IL)‐33 or IL‐1β
Authors: Kamegashira Akiko , Yanase Yuhki , Takahagi Shunsuke , Saito Ryo , Uchida Kazue , Kawaguchi Tomoko , Ishii Kaori , Tanaka Akio , Ozawa Koichiro , Hide Michihiro
Published: August 2020

The pathogenesis of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), also called chronic idiopathic urticaria, has been considered to be associated with the activation of the extrinsic blood coagulation cascade. However, the trigger for the extrinsic coagulation cascade in patients with CSU remains unclear. We previously reported that histamine and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) synergistically induced the expression of tissue factor (TF), a trigger for the extrinsic coagulation cascade, in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Because the elevation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, interleukin (IL)‐33, IL‐1β and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in serum has also been observed in patients with CSU, we examined the effects of LPS, TNF‐α, IL‐33, IL‐1β, VEGF and histamine on TF expression in HUVEC by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry, as well as examining the activity that triggers the extrinsic coagulation cascade and induces intercellular gap formation of HUVEC in the presence of plasma by Actochrome® TF activity assay and impedance sensor, respectively. The expression of TF mRNA and surface protein of TF on HUVEC in response to histamine or VEGF were synergistically enhanced by the treatment with LPS, TNF‐α, IL‐33 or IL‐1β. Moreover, the activation of the extrinsic coagulation pathway and intercellular gap formation of HUVEC in response to histamine or VEGF were also synergistically increased in the presence of TNF‐α and LPS. Thus, TF expression on vascular endothelial cells was strongly enhanced by co‐stimulation with CSU‐related molecules in blood. Blocking a common pathway of LPS, TNF‐α, IL‐33 and IL‐1β, and/or that of VEGF and histamine may be an effective therapeutic measure for patients with severe and refractory CSU.
Embedding graduate attributes during occupational therapy curriculum development: A scoping review and qualitative research synthesis
Authors: Plastow Nicola Ann , Bester Juanita
Published: August 2020

Introduction

Graduate attributes are the personal qualities, skills and competencies, and values that students develop during their time at university to prepare them for work, and enable them to contribute to their communities. Occupational therapy education may foster well‐rounded individuals if the development of graduate attributes is embedded within curriculum design and delivery.

Methods

This study identifies and synthesises existing knowledge on how graduate attributes are embedded in occupational therapy curricula. We conducted a scoping review following PRISMA extension for scoping review guidelines, and a qualitative research synthesis to reach a new conceptual understanding of the process of developing desired graduate attributes during occupational therapy curriculum development.

Results

Ten discipline‐specific occupational therapy graduate attributes were identified. Three themes from the analysis of 15 papers explained how these attributes are embedded in curricula: Using a theoretical framework, a Graded process of active learning, and Collaborative curriculum design.

Conclusion

Occupational therapy education is enhanced by being explicit about the desired graduate attributes that underpin curriculum design and delivery. Further work is needed to understand the benefits of including service users' perspectives and the value of clinical fieldwork education.
Exhibitions and the Market for Modern British Art: Independent Art of Today at Agnew's Gallery, 1906
Authors: Shaw Samuel , Pezzini Barbara
Published: August 2020

A full account of the inception, reception, and cultural economics of Independent Art of To’day, a major show at Agnew’s London gallery in 1906, illuminates a crucial – but often overlooked – moment in the story of modern art in Britain. Its analysis nuances our understanding of artistic practice, the art market, and viewers’ exposure to and understanding of modern art. The exhibition, which featured work by forty living artists united by their resistance to the Royal Academy and their adoption of a ‘modern’ aesthetic, was at the time seen by many critics to present a pivotal moment in the history of British art. This essay examines the exhibition’s criticism and its financial records to shed new light on current debates surrounding the relationship between economic and symbolic value, on the relationship between critics and dealers, and on the development of modern art and the modern art market in Britain.
US State Policies, Politics, and Life Expectancy
Authors: MONTEZ JENNIFER KARAS , BECKFIELD JASON , COONEY JULENE KEMP , GRUMBACH JACOB M. , HAYWARD MARK D. , KOYTAK HUSEYIN ZEYD , WOOLF STEVEN H. , ZAJACOVA ANNA
Published: August 2020

Policy Points

Changes in US state policies since the 1970s, particularly after 2010, have played an important role in the stagnation and recent decline in US life expectancy.

Some US state policies appear to be key levers for improving life expectancy, such as policies on tobacco, labor, immigration, civil rights, and the environment.

US life expectancy is estimated to be 2.8 years longer among women and 2.1 years longer among men if all US states enjoyed the health advantages of states with more liberal policies, which would put US life expectancy on par with other high‐income countries.

Context

Life expectancy in the United States has increased little in previous decades, declined in recent years, and become more unequal across US states. Those trends were accompanied by substantial changes in the US policy environment, particularly at the state level. State policies affect nearly every aspect of people's lives, including economic well‐being, social relationships, education, housing, lifestyles, and access to medical care. This study examines the extent to which the state policy environment may have contributed to the troubling trends in US life expectancy.

Methods

We merged annual data on life expectancy for US states from 1970 to 2014 with annual data on 18 state‐level policy domains such as tobacco, environment, tax, and labor. Using the 45 years of data and controlling for differences in the characteristics of states and their populations, we modeled the association between state policies and life expectancy, and assessed how changes in those policies may have contributed to trends in US life expectancy from 1970 through 2014.

Findings

Results show that changes in life expectancy during 1970‐2014 were associated with changes in state policies on a conservative‐liberal continuum, where more liberal policies expand economic regulations and protect marginalized groups. States that implemented more conservative policies were more likely to experience a reduction in life expectancy. We estimated that the shallow upward trend in US life expectancy from 2010 to 2014 would have been 25% steeper for women and 13% steeper for men had state policies not changed as they did. We also estimated that US life expectancy would be 2.8 years longer among women and 2.1 years longer among men if all states enjoyed the health advantages of states with more liberal policies.

Conclusions

Understanding and reversing the troubling trends and growing inequalities in US life expectancy requires attention to US state policy contexts, their dynamic changes in recent decades, and the forces behind those changes. Changes in US political and policy contexts since the 1970s may undergird the deterioration of Americans’ health and longevity.
Power and Purchasing: Why Strategic Purchasing Fails
Authors: GREER SCOTT L. , KLASA KATARZYNA , VAN GINNEKEN EWOUT
Published: August 2020

Policy Points

Strategically purchasing health care has been and continues to be a popular policy idea around the world.

Key asymmetries in information, market power, political power, and financial power hinder the effective implementation of strategic purchasing.

Strategic purchasing has consistently failed to live up to its promises for these reasons. Future strategies based on strategic purchasing should tailor their expectations to its real effectiveness.

Context

Strategic purchasing of health care has been a popular policy idea around the world for decades, with advocates claiming that it can lead to improved quality, patient satisfaction, efficiency, accountability, and even population health. In this article, we report the results of an inquiry into the implementation and effects of strategic purchasing.

Methods

We conducted three in‐depth case studies of England, the Netherlands, and the United States. We reviewed definitions of purchasing, including its slow acquisition of adjectives such asstrategic, and settled on a definition of purchasing that distinguishes it from the mere use of contracts to regulate stable interorganizational relationships. The case studies review the career of strategic purchasing in three different systems where its installation and use have been a policy priority for years.

Findings

No existing health care system has effective strategic purchasing because of four key asymmetries: market power asymmetry, information asymmetry, financial asymmetry, and political power asymmetry.

Conclusions

 Further investment in policies that are premised on the effectiveness of strategic purchasing, or efforts to promote it, may not be worthwhile. Instead, policymakers may need to focus on the real sources of power in a health care system. Policy for systems with existing purchasing relationships should take into account the asymmetries, ways to work with them, and the constraints that they create.
Maitland's Challenge for Administrative Legal Theory
Authors: Weinrib Jacob
Published: August 2020

This paper challenges the familiar strategy for theorising about administrative law. Theories of administrative law typically take the existence of administrative bodies for granted, and then ask, all things considered, what moral aim they should serve. The resulting approaches are committed to varying moral aims ranging from the rule of law to efficiency, but converge on the shared idea that the purpose of administrative law is to promote aims that could, in principle, be realised apart from it. As a critical matter, this paper argues that the familiar strategy opens the door to a devastating sceptical challenge. Because the benefits that administrative law brings can be realised without it, administrative law may be rightly abandoned. As a constructive matter, this paper defends the idea that administrative law has a moral purpose that is inseparable from it: administrative law constitutes the exclusive means of realising what positive rights demand.
Epidemiology, treatment and outcome of patients with lower respiratory tract infection presenting to emergency departments with dyspnoea (AANZDEM and EuroDEM studies)
Authors: Rousseau Geoffroy , Keijzers Gerben , van Meer Oene , Craig Simon , Karamercan Mehmet , Klim Sharon , Body Richard , Kuan Win Sen , Harjola Veli‐Pekka , Jones Peter , Verschuren Franck , Holdgate Anna , Christ Michael , Golea Adela , Capsec Jean , Barletta Cinzia , Graham Colin A , Garcia‐Castrillo Luis , Laribi Said , Kelly Anne‐Maree
Published: August 2020

Objective

Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a frequent cause of dyspnoea in EDs, and is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. We described and compared the management of this disease in Europe and Oceania/South‐East Asia (SEA) cohorts.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cohort study with three time points in Europe and Oceania/SEA. We included in this manuscript patients presenting to EDs with dyspnoea and a diagnosis of LRTI in ED. We collected comorbidities, chronic medication, clinical signs at arrival, laboratory parameters, ED management and patient outcomes.

Results

A total of 1389 patients were included, 773 in Europe and 616 in SEA. The European cohort had more comorbidities including chronic heart failure, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and smoking. Levels of inflammatory markers were higher in Europe. There were more patients with inflammatory markers in Europe and more hypercapnia in Oceania/SEA. The use of antibiotics was higher in SEA (72.2% vs 61.8%, P < 0.001) whereas intravenous diuretics, non‐invasive and invasive ventilation were higher in Europe. Intensive care unit admission rate was 9.9% in Europe cohort and 3.4% in Oceania/SEA cohort. ED mortality was 1% and overall in‐hospital mortality was 8.7% with no differences between regions.

Conclusions

More patients with LRTI in Europe presented with cardio‐respiratory comorbidities, they received more adjunct therapies and had a higher intensive care unit admission rate than patients from Oceania/SEA, although mortality was similar between the two cohorts.
Impact of COVID‐19 State of Emergency restrictions on presentations to two Victorian emergency departments
Authors: Mitchell Rob D , O'Reilly Gerard M , Mitra Biswadev , Smit De Villiers , Miller Jean‐Philippe , Cameron Peter A
Published: August 2020

Objective

To determine if COVID‐19 State of Emergency (SOE) restrictions were associated with a reduction in presentations to two urban EDs in Melbourne, Victoria.

Methods

This retrospective observational study included adult patients presenting to The Alfred and Sandringham Hospital EDs during the first month of stage 2 and 3 SOE restrictions (26 March–25 April 2020). Patients transferred from other hospitals or diagnosed with COVID‐19 were excluded. The primary outcome was the average number of presentations per day. Secondary outcomes included the average daily number of presentations for pre‐specified subgroups defined by triage category and diagnosis. The independent impact of SOE restrictions, adjusted for underlying trends in attendance, was determined using negative binomial regression and reported as an incident rate ratio (IRR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results

Average daily attendance during the exposure period was 174.7. In the absence of SOE restrictions, 278.8 presentations per day were predicted, a reduction of 37.3% (IRR 0.63, 95% CI 0.59–0.67). Attendance was lower than anticipated for all triage categories (especially category 5 [IRR 0.51, 95% CI 0.44–0.59]) and diagnostic groups (including circulatory problems [IRR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50–0.76] and injury [IRR 0.58, 95% CI 0.53–0.63]). There were fewer than predicted presentations for several sentinel diagnoses, including gastroenteritis (IRR 0.27, 95% CI 0.17–0.42) and renal colic (IRR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33–0.92).

Conclusions

SOE restrictions were associated with a significant reduction in ED presentations across a range of triage categories and diagnoses. Public health messaging should emphasise the importance of timely ED attendance for acute illness and injury.
A comprehensive landscape genomics approach for seed sourcing strategies in landscapes under varying degrees of habitat disturbance
Authors: Rico Yessica
Published: August 2020

As most ecosystems around the world are threatened by anthropogenic degradation and climate change, there is an increasing urgency to implement restoration strategies aiming at ensuring ecosystem self‐sustainability and resilience. An initial step towards that goal relies on selecting the most suitable seed sources for a successful revegetation, which can be extremely challenging in highly degraded landscapes. The most common seed sourcing strategy is to select local seeds because it is assumed that plants experience strong adaptations to their natal sites. An alternative strategy is the selection of climate‐adapted genotypes to future conditions. While considering future climatic projections is important to account for spatial shifts in climate to inform assisted gene flow and translocations, to restore highly degraded landscapes we need a comprehensive approach that first accounts for species adaptations to current at‐site environmental conditions. In this issue of Molecular Ecology Resources, Carvalho et al. present a novel landscape genomics framework to identify the most appropriate seed sourcing strategy for moderately and highly degraded sites by integrating genotype, phenotype and environmental data in a spatially explicit context for two native plant species with potential to help restore iron‐rich Amazonian savannas. This framework is amenable to be applicable and adapted to a broad range of restoration initiatives, as the dichotomy between focusing on the current or future climatic conditions should depend on the goals and environmental circumstances of each restoration site.
Allergic rhinitis and risk of systemic lupus erythematosus: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Wongtrakul Wasit , Charoenngam Nipith , Ponvilawan Ben , Ungprasert Patompong
Published: August 2020

Objective

The current study was conducted to comprehensively investigate whether patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) are at a higher risk of incident systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with individuals without AR by using systematic review and meta‐analysis techniques to combine data from all available studies.

Methodology

Systemic literature review was performed using EMBASE and MEDLINE databases up to March 2020. Eligible studies could be either case‐control or cohort studies. Cohort studies had to evaluate whether patients with AR have a higher risk of incident SLE than comparators. Relative risk (RR) with associated 95% confidence intervals (CI) comparing the incidence of SLE between participants with and without AR had to be provided. Eligible case‐control studies had to provide odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI comparing the prevalence of AR between cases with SLE and controls without SLE. Point estimates and standard errors from each eligible study were combined together using the generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird.

Results

A total of 21 486 articles were retrieved. After 2 rounds of review, 1 cohort study and 7 case‐control studies with 3 326 171 participants were included into the meta‐analysis. The pooled analysis found that patients with AR had a significantly higher risk of SLE than individuals without AR with the pooled OR of 1.36 (95% CI 1.08‐1.72; I2 of 80%).

Conclusions

A significantly increased 1.4 fold risk of SLE among patients with AR was observed in this systematic review and meta‐analysis.
Is there a role for 5α‐reductase inhibitors in transgender individuals?
Authors: Irwig Michael S.
Published: August 2020

This commentary will explore the important clinical question regarding whether the antiandrogen class of 5α‐reductase inhibitors should be considered as an effective and safe treatment option for transfeminine and/or transmasculine individuals. The use of finasteride in transfeminine individuals is based upon the theory that the goal of medical treatment is to reduce the concentrations of androgens, including dihydrotestosterone. Nonetheless, it is unclear that finasteride will have any additive clinical benefit once testosterone levels have already been lowered with standard treatment regimens (i.e. estrogen with spironolactone or cyproterone acetate). For transmasculine individuals, 5α‐reductase inhibitors may be a potential treatment option for a subset with androgenetic alopecia but may come at the expense of impairing virilization driven by dihydrotestosterone. In the absence of efficacy and safety data on 5α‐reductase inhibitors in gender diverse populations, clinicians should discuss this issue with patients who request or are contemplating their use.
An overview of smell and taste problems in paediatric COVID‐19 patients
Authors: Erdede Ozlem , Sarı Erdal , Uygur Külcü Nihan , Uyur Yalçın Emek , Sezer Yamanel Rabia Gönül
Published: August 2020

At the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic in March 2020, fever and respiratory symptoms were the indications for virus testing in our hospital. As data have continued to accumulate worldwide, gastrointestinal, neurological, cardiovascular, cutaneous and ocular symptoms have been reported for confirmed COVID‐19 cases. There have been few case reports on problems with taste and smell in paediatric COVID‐19. However, new symptoms can provide diagnostic and testing criteria for patients with no other clinical presentation, especially in older children.

Conclusion

This paper looks at the taste and smell problems reported in paediatric patients and shares insights from our hospital.
Heterogeneity decreases as time since fire increases in a South American grassland
Authors: López‐Mársico Luis , Lezama Felipe , Altesor Alice
Published: August 2020

Questions

Disturbances change the fundamental properties of grasslands on different spatio‐temporal scales. Uruguay is part of the Río de la Plata grasslands, and 60% is occupied by native grasslands dominated by perennial species. In plant communities dominated by tall tussock grasses, patchy and asynchronous field burns are a traditional practice among ranchers. We asked: how do the structural characteristics of vegetation vary in patches with different time since the last fire?

Location

Grassland of the Eastern Hills, Uruguay.

Methods

We selected 18 grazed sites in order to obtain a spatial chronosequence with four age categories since the last fire: 6, 18, 30, and more than 60 months before sampling. Plant composition, species richness, coverage of each species, bare soil, and standing dead biomass were determined in plots of 25 m2. We used non‐metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and the multiresponse permutation procedure (MRPP) to determine differences in community composition, and the ANOVA or the Kruskal–Wallis test to compare structural variables between patches of different burning ages.

Results

Patches of different burning age had different species compositions. Species richness, Shannon diversity index, evenness, and bare soil decreased, whereas plant coverage, standing dead biomass, and vegetation strata increased as time since the last fire increased.

Conclusions

Our study confirmed occasional and localized field‐burns as major driver of vegetation change and structural diversity in a grazed native grassland dominated by a tall tussock grass. On a larger scale, we observed the coexistence of patches in different successional stages and differences in species composition between patches belonging to early stages. These grasslands require asynchronous burning of patches to generate structural changes that maximize both the spatial and temporal heterogeneity.
A tailored next‐generation sequencing panel identified distinct subtypes of wildtype IDH and TERT promoter glioblastomas
Authors: Higa Nayuta , Akahane Toshiaki , Yokoyama Seiya , Yonezawa Hajime , Uchida Hiroyuki , Takajo Tomoko , Kirishima Mari , Hamada Taiji , Matsuo Kei , Fujio Shingo , Hanada Tomoko , Hosoyama Hiroshi , Yonenaga Masanori , Sakamoto Akihisa , Hiraki Tsubasa , Tanimoto Akihide , Yoshimoto Koji
Published: August 2020

Central nervous system tumors are classified based on an integrated diagnosis combining histology and molecular characteristics, including IDH1/2 and H3‐K27M mutations, as well as 1p/19q codeletion. Here, we aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of a glioma‐tailored 48‐gene next‐generation sequencing (NGS) panel for integrated glioma diagnosis. We designed a glioma‐tailored 48‐gene NGS panel for detecting 1p/19q codeletion and mutations in IDH1/2, TP53, PTEN, PDGFRA, NF1, RB1, CDKN2A/B, CDK4, and the TERT promoter (TERTp). We analyzed 106 glioma patients (grade II: 19 cases, grade III: 23 cases, grade IV: 64 cases) using this system. The 1p/19q codeletion was detected precisely in oligodendroglial tumors using our NGS panel. In a cohort of 64 grade Ⅳ gliomas, we identified 56 IDH‐wildtype glioblastomas. Within these IDH‐wildtype glioblastomas, 33 samples (58.9%) showed a mutation in TERTp. Notably, PDGFRA mutations and their amplification were more commonly seen in TERTp‐wildtype glioblastomas (43%) than in TERTp‐mutant glioblastomas (6%) (P = .001). Hierarchical molecular classification of IDH‐wildtype glioblastomas revealed 3 distinct groups of IDH‐wildtype glioblastomas. One major cluster was characterized by mutations in PDGFRA, amplification of CDK4 and PDGFRA, homozygous deletion of CDKN2A/B, and absence of TERTp mutations. This cluster was significantly associated with older age (P = .021), higher Ki‐67 score (P = .007), poor prognosis (P = .012), and a periventricular tumor location. We report the development of a glioma‐tailored NGS panel for detecting 1p/19q codeletion and driver gene mutations on a single platform. Our panel identified distinct subtypes of IDH‐ and TERTp‐wildtype glioblastomas with frequent PDGFRA alterations.
Coming to Rest: Aesthetics of Cosmopolitanism and Mobility in Marseille
Authors: Cohen Camille
Published: August 2020

This article traces the history of cosmopolitanism in Marseille as well some of the major aesthetic developments in its Vieux Port over the last century. I consider a series of moments from the Vichy government’s destruction of the Vieux Port in an effort to stamp out resistance during WWII, to the transformation of La Criée aux Poissons from a fish market to a theater in the 1970s, to the recent pedestrianization of the shoreline and the construction of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. The Vieux Port’s aesthetic transformations have reflected prevailing sentiments about the meaning of Marseille’s past and its hope for the future. While the recent prevalence of cosmopolitanism in Marseille’s year as European Capital of Culture and its urban revitalization efforts is striking, the concept has been used as a narrative for the city’s revitalization since at least the 1970s. Whereas some have argued that the spaces of cosmopolitanism are hyper‐mobile, abstract non‐spaces, I argue that Marseille’s cosmopolitanism is historical and linked as much to spaces of immobility as spaces of mobility. Far from distancing itself from history and tradition, Marseille has incorporated its ancient past into a cosmopolitan culture‐led urban renewal project. Ethnographically examining pedestrian traffic around the port reveals that the spaces where people come to rest are as essential as the spaces of constant movement and flow in charting cosmopolitanism in the city.
Audiological Performance in Children with Inner Ear Malformations Before and After Cochlear Implantation: A Cohort Study of 274 Patients
Authors: Ozkan Hilal Burcu , Cicek Cinar Betul , Yucel Esra , Sennaroglu Gonca , Sennaroglu Levent
Published: August 2020

Background and Objective

Inner ear malformations (IEMs) are common in children with hearing loss. The different types of IEMs form a unique subgroup of cochlear implant (CI) candidates. We aimed to evaluate the auditory perception outcomes of CI in children with different types of IEMs and compare them with CI users without IEMs.

Methods

The study included 274 CI users with and without IEMs as two groups (n = 137, each). Both groups’ chronological age at implantation and duration of CI usage was matched (± 8 months). All subjects were evaluated pre‐operatively and post‐operatively by the Ling's sound test and the auditory perception test battery, which includes the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), closed‐set Pattern Perception Test (PPT) and open‐set Sentence Recognition Test (SRT). Besides, children with IEMs were assessed for language development.

Results

Progress in the IEMs’ group differed according to the type of ear anomaly. CI users with enlarged vestibular aqueduct had the highest scores, while users with common cavity had the lowest. Children with IEMs performed well on the closed‐set test while having difficulty with the open‐set test.

Conclusion

Cochlear implantation outcomes are favourable in IEMs’ patients with a cochlear nerve visible on magnetic resonance imaging. Our results indicate that it is critical to take the anatomical differences into account during follow‐up and rehabilitation programmes. Each CI user should be evaluated according to his or her individual needs.
Post‐conflict disaster governance in Nepal: one‐door policy, multiple‐window practice
Authors: Melis Samantha
Published: August 2020

The response to the earthquakes in Nepal on 25 April and 12 May 2015 was as overwhelming as the magnitude of the events themselves. Tensions between the humanitarian imperative and the post‐conflict state‐building agenda soon became evident. Many actors offered support by creatively complying with the state's approach, whereas others bypassed official channels completely. In post‐conflict settings such as Nepal, the situation is especially complicated because of the contradiction between policies underscoring the importance of the state in the response and the reality of the fragility of the state, which often leads to the significant involvement of aid organisations. The post‐conflict political landscape of Nepal shaped the contours of the response, as well as how actors decided to operate within them. This paper, based on empirical findings from four months of research, contributes to a better understanding of the intricacies of the post‐conflict and post‐disaster nexus in the context of a state‐led response.
Examining if the relationship between BMI and incident type 2 diabetes among middle–older aged adults varies by race/ethnicity: evidence from the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
Authors: Rodriguez L. A. , Bradshaw P. T. , Shiboski S. C. , Fernandez A. , Vittinghoff E. , Herrington D. , Ding J. , Kanaya A. M.
Published: August 2020

Aims

Disparities persist on the prevalence of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes in racial/ethnic minorities in the USA. This study evaluated the association between BMI and incident type 2 diabetes risk by racial/ethnic group, to determine whether BMI and presence of type 2 diabetes risk factors may help clinicians better target type 2 diabetes screening.

Methods

This prospective cohort analysis included 5659 adults free of type 2 diabetes at baseline from the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population‐based cohort (2000–2011). BMI was measured at baseline and time‐updated at subsequent visits. Incident type 2 diabetes was defined as fasting glucose ≥ 7.0 mmol/l, or use of any diabetes medications.

Results

The mean (sd) age was 62 (10) years and 42% of participants were white, 26% African American, 20% Hispanic and 12% Chinese American. During follow‐up, 696 (12%) new type 2 diabetes cases were observed. In age‐ and sex‐adjusted models, in the presence of one or more type 2 diabetes risk factors (the most common scenario), a 10% risk of incident type 2 diabetes was observed at a BMI of 21.7 kg/m2 [95% confidence interval (CI) 20.1 to 22.8] in Chinese Americans, 23.8 kg/m2 (22.7 to 24.9) in Hispanics, 24.7 kg/m2 (23.7 to 25.6) in African Americans and 26.2 kg/m2 (25.1 to 26.9) in white participants.

Conclusions

This study supports including BMI and presence of type 2 diabetes risk factors as action points for clinicians to prioritize which adults aged ≥ 45 years should be screened. The application of race/ethnicity‐specific BMI thresholds may reduce the disparity of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes observed in minority groups.
Matching the forecast horizon with the relevant spatial and temporal processes and data sources
Authors: Adler Peter B. , White Ethan P. , Cortez Michael H.
Published: August 2020

Most phenomenological, statistical models used to generate ecological forecasts take either a time‐series approach, based on long‐term data from one location, or a space‐for‐time approach, based on data describing spatial patterns across environmental gradients. However, the magnitude and even the sign of environment–response relationships detected using these two approaches often differs, leading to contrasting predictions about responses to future environmental change. Here we consider how the forecast horizon determines whether more accurate predictions come from the time‐series approach, the space‐for‐time approach or a combination of the two. As proof of concept, we use simulated case studies to show that forecasts for short and long forecast horizons need to focus on different ecological processes, which are reflected in different kinds of data. First, we simulated population or community dynamics under stationary temperature using two simple, mechanistic models. Second, we fit statistical models to the simulated data using a time‐series approach, a space‐for‐time approach or a weighted average. We then forecast the response to a temperature increase using the statistical models, and compared these forecasts to temperature effects simulated by the mechanistic models. We found that the time‐series approach made accurate short‐term predictions because it captured initial conditions and effects of fast processes such as birth and death. The space‐for‐time approach made more accurate long‐term predictions because it better captured the influence of slower processes such as evolutionary and ecological selection. The weighted average made accurate predictions at all time scales, including intermediate time‐scales where the other two approaches performed poorly. A weighted average of time‐series and space‐for‐time approaches shows promise, but making this weighted model operational will require new research to predict the rate at which slow processes begin to influence dynamics.