bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Initiating nascent entrepreneurial activities
Authors: Bayon Manoj Chandra , Vaillant Yancy , Lafuente Esteban
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct effect of two individual-level resources, one subjective and the other objective, and their interaction in influencing the business entry decision. By distinguishing perceived ability from actual ability and using theoretical underpinnings from the human capital theory and self-efficacy theory, the proposed hypotheses are tested on a data set comprising respondents from the adult population.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using 20,046 observations from the adult population survey (APS) collected according to the global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) methodology, a logistic regression analysis controlling for robust interaction term is used to determine the direct and interaction effect of perceived entrepreneurial ability and actual ability in influencing the decision to initiate nascent entrepreneurial activities.

Findings

– The results reveal that perceived entrepreneurial ability has a distinct positive influence on the decision to initiate entrepreneurial activities and its impact is greater than that of actual abilities. Furthermore, the authors find evidence of a positive interaction effect suggesting that perceived entrepreneurial ability is a key determinant of entrepreneurial initiatives among those with high actual ability.

Originality/value

– The main contribution of the study is to highlight the role of subjective judgements of ability in influencing entrepreneurial behaviour. Whereas prior research has found that actual ability influences new venture performance, its influence on new business entry was inconclusive. By including perceived entrepreneurial ability to the model the authors not only establish a link between objective (observable) abilities and subjective (unobservable) abilities of individuals but also suggest the mechanism through which subjective ability perception drive the business entry decisions of individuals.
Foreign direct investment and the SME sector
Authors: Thompson Piers , Zang Wenyu
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– Although foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship are potential routes to recovery (Girma and Wakelin, 2001; Lyonet al., 2002), existing literature is divided on the relationship between the two. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of foreign investment on the local SME sector after the 2008 financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

– Local authority district data from Great Britain is used to examine the influence of foreign firm employment on the size of the local SME sector as a proportion of all firms, and foreign firm influence on firm births in the locality. In order to control for local geographical, infrastructural and economic conditions regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between foreign business employment and indigenous business activities.

Findings

– The potential for technological spillovers and spinout activities appears to dominate with firm birth rates higher where there is greater foreign firm employment. However, there is also evidence of crowding out in relation to the existing SME sector, which is found to be reduced in size where foreign influence through employment is greater.

Research limitations/implications

– The results here indicating a complementarity relationship between foreign influence on employment and firm births is important for policy makers looking to revive struggling local economies. However, the relevant support needs to be in place to maximise the benefit from the supply of new entrepreneurs generated.

Originality/value

– Unlike many other studies the relationship between the SME sector, firm births and foreign influence is considered at a local level and where economic conditions are more uncertain and economic recovery is less taken for granted. A better understanding of the relationship allows more appropriate policy to be developed in order to aid local economies to recover.
Developing and evaluating guidelines for patient and public involvement (PPI) in research
Authors: Pollard Katherine , Donskoy Anne-Laure , Moule Pamela , Donald Christine , Lima Michelle , Rice Cathy
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– A growing literature reports the benefits and challenges of patient and public involvement (PPI) in research; nevertheless, understanding PPI in research design remains under-developed. The purpose of this paper is to report learning experiences from involving service users as research partners in two projects that developed and evaluated guidelines for good practice in this regard. The main objective was to evaluate these guidelines.

Design/methodology/approach

– PPI research guidelines were developed through five workshops involving service users/patients, carers, health and social care professionals/managers and academics. Using a participatory qualitative approach, these guidelines were evaluated through mapping them against the two service user research partners’ experience within another project.

Findings

– The guidelines were found to be fit for purpose, as they allowed problems to be easily identified and reassurance that required standards were being met. Both academic and service user research partners learned and gained relevant skills. Two service user research partners also found their daily living skills unexpectedly enhanced by project participation.

Originality/value

– The PPI guidelines, the authors developed were produced by consensus involving several stakeholders. Service users involved as research partners in the project experienced unanticipated personal benefits.
Facilitating a just and trusting culture
Authors: Pattison Jill , Kline Theresa
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify managerial and organizational characteristics and behaviors that facilitate the fostering of a just and trusting culture within the healthcare system.

Design/methodology/approach

– Two studies were conducted. The initial qualitative one was used to identify themes based on interviews with health care workers that facilitate a just and trusting culture. The quantitative one used a policy-capturing design to determine which factors were most likely to predict outcomes of manager and organizational trust.

Findings

– The factors of violation type (ability vs integrity), providing an explanation or not, blame vs no blame by manager, and blame vs no blame by organization were all significant predictors of perceptions of trust.

Research limitations/implications

– Limitations to the generalizability of findings included both a small and non-representative sample from one health care region.

Practical implications

– The present findings can be useful in developing training systems for managers and organizational executive teams for managing medical error events in a manner that will help develop a just and trusting culture.

Social implications

– A just and trusting culture should enhance the likelihood of reporting medical errors. Improved reporting, in turn, should enhance patient safety.

Originality/value

– This is the first field study experimentally manipulating aspects of organizational trust within the health care sector. The use of policy-capturing is a unique feature that sheds light into the decision-making of health care workers as to the efficaciousness of particular managerial and organizational characteristics that impact a just and trusting culture.
HoNOS – their utility for payment by results in mental health
Authors: Speak Barry L , Hay Paula , Muncer Steven J
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present findings from two studies exploring the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale’s (HoNOS) utility within a new payment by results (PbR) system for mental health services in England.

Design/methodology/approach

– In the first study principal axis factoring extraction was used to explore a sample of 23,641 HoNOS ratings. In a second study confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate four subscale structures on a new sample of 34,716 HoNOS ratings.

Findings

– No HoNOS factor structure evaluated in this study demonstrated adequate fit statistics across several clinical presentations. A new four-factor model was the only structure to achieve fit statistics across all clinical populations, but can only be championed on a “best fit” basis as opposed to “good fit” at the present time.

Research limitations/implications

– Data used in the current studies relate to six NHS mental health service providers. Replication using a national sample is recommended. Exploration of different HoNOS factor structures for different mental health clusters within the PbR system in England is also recommended. However, it is also possible that removing redundant or adding new items may result in a more stable HoNOS generic factor structure.

Originality/value

– This is the first HoNOS evaluation as a generic outcome measure for use within a PbR system and provides important insights into its mental health utility and limitations. The findings have significant implications for those developing the national PbR quality and outcomes framework for England’s mental health services. However, there are also implications for all nations in which HoNOS is used to report mental health outcomes.
Flipped learning in the workplace
Authors: Nederveld Allison , Berge Zane L.
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to serve as a summary of resources on flipped learning for workplace learning professionals. A recent buzzword in the training world is “flipped”. Flipped learning and the flipped classroom are hot topics that have emerged in K-12 education, made their way to the university and are now being noticed by the corporate world. Unfortunately many learning professionals have misconceptions about what it really means to flip a learning experience, and little literature exists to support implementation of flipped learning in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology adopted in this article is a literature review.

Findings

– The paper presents several tools for moving lecture outside of the classroom and for making class time more student-centered through active learning techniques.

Practical implications

– This paper discusses the benefits and challenges of a flipped learning approach, both in general and specifically in the workplace. Additionally, the paper explores several case studies of flipped learning use in the workplace.

Originality/value

– The paper is a literature review that explores the definition of flipped learning as a learner-centered approach to education and looks at two models of flipped learning with applicability to workplace settings.
Towards an automatic user profiling system for online information sites
Authors: De Andrés Javier , Pariente Beatriz , Gonzalez-Rodriguez Martin , Fernandez Lanvin Daniel
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify demographic differences based on how users interact with web applications. The research is needed to develop future systems able to adapt the representation of online information to the user’s specific needs and preferences improving its usability. The following question guides this quest: is there a direct relationship between age and/or gender and interaction?

Design/methodology/approach

– GOMS (goals, operators, methods, and selection rules) analysis was used to reduce complex interaction tasks into basic operators like pointing, dragging, typing, etc. An experiment was designed to analyse the user performance in the use of these operators through five complex tasks: point-and-click, drag-and-drop, text selection, text edition and menu selection. The sample comprises 592 individuals which took part in the experiment. The performance was analysed using multivariate regression analysis. User laterality and the the user experience were used as control variables.

Findings

– The factors studied are significant enough to support user classification. The analysis evidenced that men performed significantly better than women when executing interaction pointing and dragging GOMS’s operators, but no significant differences arose with regard to the performance in the typing operators. Older users performed worse in all the interaction tasks. No significant performance differences were detected between left and right-handed users.

Research limitations/implications

– The study pretends to lay the ground for developing artificial intelligence-based classification systems (e.g. neural networks, decision trees, etc.) able to detect significant differences in user performance, classifying users according to their age, gender and laterality.

Practical implications

– This user profiling would drive the organisation, selection and representation of the online information according to the specific preferences and needs of each user. This would allow the design of new personalisation algorithms able to perform dynamic adaptation of user interfaces in order to improve the usability of online information systems.

Originality/value

– This work extends previous research on user performance under a new approach and improved accuracy. First, it relies on the combined and simultaneous analysis of ageing and gender and the use of user laterality and experience as control variables. Second, the use of the GOMS analysis allowed the design of tests that closely resemble the user interaction in online information systems. Third, the size of the sample used in this analysis is much bigger than those used in previous works, allowing a more thorough data analysis which includes the estimation of an advanced model which is quantile regression.
Measuring the effectiveness of answers in Yahoo! Answers
Authors: Chua Alton Y.K , Banerjee Snehasish
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which effectiveness of answers in Yahoo! Answers, one of the largest community question answering sites (CQAs), is related to question types and answerer reputation. Effective answers are defined as those that are detailed, readable, superior in quality and contributed promptly. Five question types that were studied include factoid, list, definition, complex interactive and opinion. Answerer reputation refers to the past track record of answerers in the community.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data set comprises 1,459 answers posted in Yahoo! Answers in response to 464 questions that were distributed across the five question types. The analysis was done using factorial analysis of variance.

Findings

– The results indicate that factoid, definition and opinion questions are comparable in attracting high quality as well as readable answers. Although reputed answerers generally fared better in offering detailed and high-quality answers, novices were found to submit more readable responses. Moreover, novices were more prompt in answering factoid, list and definition questions.

Originality/value

– By analysing variations in answer effectiveness with a twin focus on question types and answerer reputation, this study explores a strand of CQA research that has hitherto received limited attention. The findings offer insights to users and designers of CQAs.
Worker stress and the prospect of job loss in a fragmented organisation
Authors: Snell Darryn , Schmitt David , Glavas Audra , Bamberry Larissa
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to advance research on job loss-related stress through a critical realism framework which considers the interplay between organisational context and personal agency and its implications for worker stress in the pre-lay-off stage.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper adopts a qualitative case study approach and considers two groups of workers confronted with the prospects of job loss in Australia’s power generation industry – permanent employees working for power stations and workers employed by associated contractors. Field research and semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 35 power industry workers including power station employees and contract workers.

Findings

– The research shows permanent employees expressing higher levels of stress than contract workers. The different emotional responses expressed by the two groups are accounted for by differences in organisational circumstances and the conditioning of personal agency within these organisational contexts.

Research limitations/implications

– One of the implications is that “vulnerable” workers are better prepared for plant closure and less prone to stress. Additional research involving different types of industries, organisational forms, and workforces and involving different stages of the job loss experience, however, is needed to more full advance the understanding of the complexities between organisational structure, worker agency, and the stress implications.

Practical implications

– This study assists the authors in better understanding worker emotional experience in the pre-lay-off stage. These findings have important implications for workers, unions and social support agencies and how they can appropriately approach, prepare and assist different categories of workers confronted with job redundancy situations.

Social implications

– This study assists the authors in better understanding worker emotional experience in the pre-lay-off stage. The study has implications for the design and implementation of assistance packages for displaced workers.

Originality/value

– Unlike other studies which focus on the lay-off, unemployment or re-employment stage of job loss, this study focuses on the pre-lay-off stage. Conceptually, the study departs from the positivist paradigm which dominates much of the stress literature and adopts a nuanced approach inspired by critical realist understandings of the structure-agency relationship.
Partnerships with the police – logics and strategies of justification
Authors: Rolandsson Bertil
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– Political reforms call for new types of public-private or community partnerships, in which public services are shaped in collaboration with networks of public, business or non-governmental organizations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how municipal partners justify and thereby maintain partnerships with the police.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical material comprises documents and 26 semi-structured interviews with civil servants, politicians, and police staff. This qualitative study investigates three Swedish municipalities engaged in partnerships with the same police authority.

Findings

– Based on Boltanski and Thévenot’s order of worth, the paper describes how municipal partners manage two partly contradictory arrangements; one constituted by industrial and civic logics, and one constituted by domestic and industrial logics. Guided by these two different arrangements, they justify and thereby maintain their partnership with the police by alternating between a compromising strategy promoting adaptation to the police and a compensating strategy stating that they are independent partners with demands on the police.

Research limitations/implications

– This is a qualitative study that needs further confirmation before general conclusions can be drawn. Still, it suggests that partners justify themselves by making claims on being both collaborative and independent within these partnerships.

Originality/value

– Unlike research investigating how authorities initiate partnerships to organize integrated and cost-efficient public services, the paper highlights how partners justify their participation by alternating between two rather different but linked justifying strategies. The study applies a justificatory logic perspective that helps us understand that complex and sometimes contradictory arrangements of logics, which could threaten partner participation, also enable them to justify and thereby maintain their partnership with the police. Unlike institutional studies describing how tensions challenge organizational legitimacy this study describes how justificatory strains remain even when partners are able to justify their participation.
Targets’ coping with workplace bullying: a qualitative study
Authors: Karatuna Isil
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore targets’ coping strategies in dealing with workplace bullying and to determine the possible contributing effects of these strategies to the escalation or de-escalation of bullying process.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on a qualitative design, 20 self-reported targets were interviewed in-depth and data were analysed using the content analysis method.

Findings

– Five main themes were identified in the targets’ coping with workplace bullying: first, underestimation of the problem – avoidance; second, losing patience – confrontation; third, perceiving threats to personal health – seeking support; fourth, despair – destructive coping; and fifth, giving up – exit. The use of coping strategies both influenced the course of workplace bullying and were affected by the escalating nature of the bullying process itself. The most effective strategies included problem-solving strategies like coping collectively with colleagues, seeking support of managerial staff and filing complaints to management.

Originality/value

– The present study contributed to the workplace bullying research by describing workplace bullying as a process in which targets’ coping strategies and their consequences were evaluated and by providing data in a new national context (Turkey).
Understanding environmentally sensitive consumer behaviour: an integrative research perspective
Authors: Onel Naz , Mukherjee Avinandan
Published: February 2015

Purpose

– The potential underlying causal factors of environmental behaviours have been examined from various theoretical angles by mostly focusing on individual motivations in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model based on an integrative approach to better understand eco-sensitive consumer behaviours and their predictors.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper reviews distinct theoretical approaches and, based on the integrative perspective, develops a model using the framework of the goal framing theory (GFT).

Findings

– On the basis of the GFT, the authors propose that 12 variables influence the pro-environmental behaviours of consumers: biospheric values, egoistic values, altruistic values, environmental concern, awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, subjective norms, attitudes towards behaviour, perceived behavioural control, personal norms, affect, and behavioural intention. Furthermore, the authors categorize environmental behaviours based on three different stages of the consumption process of consumers: purchase, usage, and post-use.

Originality/value

– The proposed model will offer future studies a holistic understanding of the factors that predict environmentally sensitive behaviours of consumers and the extent to which such behaviours depend on moral considerations, feelings, or self-interest motives.
Effect of infrared radiation A on photoaged hairless mice harboring eumelanin and pheomelanin in the epidermis
Authors: Okazaki Shizuka , Funasaka Yoko , Wakamatsu Kazumasa , Kawana Seiji , Saeki Hidehisa
Published: February 2015

Infrared radiation A (IRA) is absorbed by melanin and generates heat. Therefore, the effect of IRA could be well analyzed using skin, which contains melanin in the epidermis. Hairless mice harboring epidermal melanocytes that produce eumelanin, pheomelanin, or non‐melanin were generated by backcrossing K14‐stem cell factor mice, recessive yellow mice, and then albino hairless mice. High‐dose IRA was irradiated over 18 weeks after the establishment of photoaged mice by irradiation with ultraviolet B (UVB) three times a week for 14 weeks. Tumor formation was assessed every week. The formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer and apoptotic cells by the irradiation of IRA and UVB was evaluated. Repetitive irradiation of IRA did not promote tumor formation in all types of mice. Pre‐irradiation of IRA to UVB, but not post‐irradiation, accelerated the elimination of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and enhanced apoptosis; these effects were most obvious in eumelanin‐producing mice. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction analysis showed downregulation of FLICE (cellular caspase 8)‐like inhibitory protein and B‐cell lymphoma‐extra large and upregulation of Bcl‐2‐associated X protein by UVB, but further enhancement of these molecules by pre‐irradiation of IRA was not observed. These results indicate that IRA does not confer the promotion of UVB‐induced carcinogenesis in photoaged mice harboring epidermal melanocytes and that photochemical reaction between IRA and melanin might be involved in the induction of apoptosis and the elimination of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers by UVB. The enhancement of apoptosis by pre‐irradiation of IRA to UVB might be induced by mechanisms other than the modification of the mRNA expression of FLICE (cellular caspase 8)‐like inhibitory protein, B‐cell lymphoma‐extra large, and Bcl‐2‐associated X.
Multiple milia formation induced by dovitinib
Authors: Shin Dongyun , Seo Jimyung , Kim Soo Min , Kim Do Young
Published: February 2015

Dovitinib is a novel multi‐target tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐1–3, platelet‐derived growth factor receptor‐β, Fms‐like tyrosine kinase 3, c‐Kit and fibroblast growth factor receptor‐1–3. This compound is currently being assessed clinically for treatment of various malignancies. In phase I and II clinical trials of dovitinib treatment for renal cell carcinoma, 20% of patients experienced cutaneous adverse events, although the specific type of skin rash was not documented. Here, we report two cases of multiple milia formation induced by dovitinib. We believe our cases are the first report mainly showing non‐inflammatory cystic structure.
No influence of water limitation on the outcome of competition between diploid and tetraploidChamerion angustifolium(Onagraceae)
Authors: Thompson Ken A. , Husband Brian C. , Maherali Hafiz
Published: February 2015

Polyploid plants often occupy different geographic ranges than their diploid progenitors, but the causes of this segregation are poorly understood. Differential competitive abilities of cytotypes across an environmental gradient could be responsible for these observed geographic range differences.

Cytotypes ofChamerion angustifolium(Onagraceae) are mostly allopatric, and prior research indicates that tetraploids are more physiologically tolerant of water limitation and occupy drier habitats than diploids. We hypothesized that tetraploids are stronger competitors than diploids in soils where water is limited, which allows them to persist in dry habitats while diploids cannot.

We grew both cytotypes together in competition under water‐limited and well‐watered conditions. We varied both total plant density and the relative frequency of cytotypes among pots, which allowed us to separate the effects of intra‐cytotypic and inter‐cytotypic competition.

Both diploid and tetraploid plants were smaller in the water‐limited treatment than in the well‐watered treatment. Nevertheless, there were no differences in the relative strength of intra‐cytotypic and inter‐cytotypic competition experienced by either cytotype across the watering treatments, indicating that diploids and tetraploids had equal competitive abilities in both treatments.

Synthesis. Competition for limiting resources is often proposed as a mechanism causing ecological and geographic segregation between diploid and polyploid cytotypes. Our results do not support the hypothesis that tetraploidChamerion angustifoliumplants are stronger competitors than diploids when water is limited. A differential ability to compete for water is likely not responsible for the observed ecological and geographic segregation between cytotypes in this species. Competition may not be a general mechanism that causes segregation between diploid and polyploid cytotypes in nature.
Family and systemic psychotherapists' experiences of personal therapeutic consultations as a tool for personal and professional development in training
Authors: Williams Bob , Carpenter John , Timms Jo
Published: February 2015

This study investigated family therapists' experiences of personal therapeutic consultations during their training and how this related to personal and professional development (PPD). Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyse one semi‐structured interview with each of four participants. Results: The personal consultations provided a unique and powerful learning opportunity, including learning about the interactional elements of family therapy, therapeutic relationship factors and relational roles. The personal consultations also affected the lives of family members who attended, and in some cases, those who did not. The results raise several ethical considerations including, confusion about the boundary between the personal therapeutic consultations and family therapy, preparedness, and considerations about what we are asking of our families. It is argued that this is a valuable learning, training and PPD opportunity and should be repeated as long as attention is paid to the ethical points highlighted.

Practitioner points

Trainees' participation in personal therapeutic consultations with members of their own family may have a powerful effect on their learning and subsequent practice.

Training institutions and future trainees should be aware of the affect that personal therapeutic consultations can have on relationships.

Training institutions should consider personal therapeutic consultations as a tool for PPD as long as attention is paid to the ethical implications highlighted in this study.
Contagion Channels between Real Estate and Financial Markets
Authors: Hoesli Martin , Reka Kustrim
Published: February 2015

The recent crisis has demonstrated the linkages between asset classes within a country as well as the association between assets internationally. We provide for a better understanding of some of these linkages by conducting an empirical investigation of the channels underlying the risk of contagion between real estate investment trusts (REITs) and stocks in the United States. We test for three financial mechanisms potentially driving contagion. A behavioral dimension in the crisis propagation is also examined by considering investor sentiment and panic risk. We find that contagion prevails between REITs and stocks and that this phenomenon is driven by behavioral and liquidity mechanisms.
Macroeconomic Risk Factors and the Role of Mispriced Credit in the Returns from International Real Estate Securities
Authors: Pavlov Andrey , Steiner Eva , Wachter Susan
Published: February 2015

We examine the canonical influence of global market, currency and inflation risks on the returns from international real estate securities. In addition, we study how mispricing of credit in the local banking systems is related to the returns from these securities. We analyze a global sample of real estate securities over the period 1999 to 2011 to test our hypotheses. We find support for the anticipated relationships between macroeconomic risk factors and the returns from international real estate securities. Our evidence also supports the expected link between local credit market conditions and the performance of international real estate securities.
Integrating Geomorphological Assessments and Oral Histories in Catchment Management: Implications for the Mulgrave River, Northeastern Australia
Authors: LEONARD SONIA , NOTT JONATHAN
Published: February 2015

The dramatic decline in the integrity of Australian river systems in recent decades has seen the development of landcare and catchment management groups across the continent as the main facilitators of river rehabilitation works. There is growing concern for the need to develop adaptive management frameworks that assist informed decision making through the integration of social and geomorphological knowledge into catchment planning. In the Mulgrave River Catchment of northeastern Queensland, difficult management decisions have to be made with limited access to knowledge of natural processes and baseline geomorphological data. To date management decisions have been based almost exclusively on oral histories that state that point bars are accreting and the river is becoming shallower due to bank erosion. As a result bank stabilisation and removal of sand from within the channel have been recommended in the absence of any geomorphological assessments. This study compares oral histories of river bank erosion in the Mulgrave River with geomorphic evidence to highlight the need for integrated landscape scenario planning. The results of grain size analysis of bank and bed material from 27 locations, involving 47 samples, suggest that bank erosion cannot be delivering sediments to point bars. Furthermore, qualitative analysis of historic parish maps and aerial photographs shows that there has only been moderate bank erosion at three locations along the Mulgrave River since European settlement. The study demonstrates the important role that geomorphological investigations have for catchment management and the need for management frameworks that integrate geomorphological processes and landholder priorities for sustainable river management.
Multiple diguanylate cyclase‐coordinated regulation of pyoverdine synthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Authors: Chen Yicai , Yuan Mingjun , Mohanty Anee , Yam Joey Kuok Hoong , Liu Yang , Chua Song Lin , Nielsen Thomas E. , Tolker‐Nielsen Tim , Givskov Michael , Cao Bin , Yang Liang
Published: February 2015

The nucleotide signalling molecule bis‐(3'‐5’)‐cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate (c‐di‐GMP) plays an essential role in regulating microbial virulence and biofilm formation. C‐di‐GMP is synthesized by diguanylate cyclase (DGC) enzymes and degraded by phosphodiesterase (PDE) enzymes. One intrinsic feature of c‐di‐GMP signalling is the abundance of DGCs and PDEs encoded by many bacterial species. It is unclear whether the different DGCs or PDEs coordinately establish the c‐di‐GMP regulation or function independently of each other. Here, we provide evidence that multiple DGCs are involved in regulation of c‐di‐GMP on synthesis of the major iron siderophore pyoverdine in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Constitutive expression of the WspG or YedQ DGC in P. aeruginosa is able to induce its pyoverdine synthesis. Induction of pyoverdine synthesis by high intracellular c‐di‐GMP depends on the synthesis of exopolysaccharides and another two DGCs, SiaD and SadC. SiaD was found to boost the c‐di‐GMP synthesis together with constitutively expressing YedQ. The exopolysaccharides and the SiaD DGC were found to modulate the expression of the RsmY/RsmZ ncRNAs. Induction of the RsmY/RsmZ ncRNAs might enhance the pyoverdine synthesis through SadC. Our study sheds light on a novel multiple DGC‐coordinated c‐di‐GMP regulatory mechanism of bacteria.
Low Apgar score, neonatal encephalopathy and epidural analgesia during labour: a Swedish registry‐based study
Authors: TÖRNELL S. , EKÉUS C. , HULTIN M. , HÅKANSSON S. , THUNBERG J. , HÖGBERG U.
Published: February 2015

Background

Maternal intrapartum fever (MF) is associated with neonatal sequelae, and women in labour who receive epidural analgesia (EA) are more likely to develop hyperthermia. The aims of this study were to investigate if EA and/or a diagnosis of MF were associated to adverse neonatal outcomes at a population level.

Methods

Population‐based register study with data from the Swedish Birth Register and the Swedish National Patient Register, including all nulliparae (n = 294,329) with singleton pregnancies who gave birth at term in Sweden 1999–2008. Neonatal outcomes analysed were Apgar score (AS) < 7 at 5 min and ICD‐10 diagnosis of neonatal encephalopathy (e.g. convulsions or neonatal cerebral ischaemia). Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results

EA was used in 44% of the deliveries. Low AS or encephalopathy was found in 1.26% and 0.39% of the children in the EA group compared with 0.80% and 0.29% in the control group. In multivariate analysis, EA was associated with increased risk with low AS, AOR 1.27 (95% CI 1.16–1.39), but not with diagnosis of encephalopathy, 1.11 (0.96–1.29). A diagnosis of MF was associated with increased risk for both low AS, 2.27 (1.71–3.02), and of neonatal encephalopathy, 1.97 (1.19–3.26).

Conclusion

Diagnosis of MF was associated with low AS and neonatal encephalopathy, whereas EA was only associated with low AS and not with neonatal encephalopathy. The found associations might be a result of confounding by indication, which is difficult to assess in a registry‐based population study.
Bupivacaine inhibits endothelin‐1‐evoked increases in intracellular calcium in model sensory neurons
Authors: Makdessi M. J. , Barr T. P. , Xue W. , Strichartz G. R.
Published: February 2015

Background

Endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) induces pain‐like behavior in animals and man by activating the Gq protein‐coupled receptor endothelin‐A (ETA). Activation of ETA receptors on nociceptor membranes evokes intracellular calcium transients and alters membrane Na+ and K+ channel and TRPV1 currents, leading to neuronal hyper‐excitability manifested by spontaneous and evoked pain behaviors in vivo. In addition to blocking sodium channels, local anesthetics inhibit the Gq protein‐coupled signaling of several inflammatory and pro‐algesic mediators. In this study, we aimed to investigate the actions of local anesthetics on ETA‐mediated increases in intracellular calcium in ND7/104 model sensory neurons.

Methods

Increases in intracellular calcium were measured by the fluorescent indicator fura‐2 in a sensory neuron‐derived cell line (ND7/104), which endogenously expresses ETA receptors. Effects of lidocaine and bupivacaine, along with their respective membrane‐impermeant derivatives QX‐314, LEA‐123 and LEA‐124, on peak calcium responses to ET‐1 were measured.

Results

Bupivacaine suppressed ET‐1 responses in a concentration‐dependent and non‐competitive manner with an IC50 of 3.79 ± 1.63 mM. Bupivacaine (6 mM) reduced the Emax for ET‐1 from 50.07 ± 1.91 mM to 27.30 ± 2.92 mM. The actions of bupivacaine occurred quickly and were rapidly reversible. Membrane‐impermeant analogs of bupivacaine (LEA‐123 and LEA‐124, 6 mM) were without effect, as was lidocaine (10 mM) and its quaternary derivative QX‐314 (10 mM).

Conclusion

Bupivacaine inhibits ETA‐mediated calcium transients at clinically relevant concentrations through an intracellular target. The anti‐inflammatory and analgesic actions of bupivacaine may be at least partially due to its inhibitory action on Gq‐coupled receptors, including ETA.
Stn1 is critical for telomere maintenance and long‐term viability of somatic human cells
Authors: Boccardi Virginia , Razdan Neetu , Kaplunov Jessica , Mundra Jyoti J. , Kimura Masayuki , Aviv Abraham , Herbig Utz
Published: February 2015

Disruption of telomere maintenance pathways leads to accelerated entry into cellular senescence, a stable proliferative arrest that promotes aging‐associated disorders in some mammals. The budding yeast CST complex, comprising Cdc13, Stn1, and Ctc1, is critical for telomere replication, length regulation, and end protection. Although mammalian homologues of CST have been identified recently, their role and function for telomere maintenance in normal somatic human cells are still incompletely understood. Here, we characterize the function of human Stn1 in cultured human fibroblasts and demonstrate its critical role in telomere replication, length regulation, and function. In the absence of high telomerase activity, shRNA‐mediated knockdown of hStn1 resulted in aberrant and fragile telomeric structures, stochastic telomere attrition, increased telomere erosion rates, telomere dysfunction, and consequently accelerated entry into cellular senescence. Oxidative stress augmented the defects caused by Stn1 knockdown leading to almost immediate cessation of cell proliferation. In contrast, overexpression of hTERT suppressed some of the defects caused by hStn1 knockdown suggesting that telomerase can partially compensate for hStn1 loss. Our findings reveal a critical role for human Stn1 in telomere length maintenance and function, supporting the model that efficient replication of telomeric repeats is critical for long‐term viability of normal somatic mammalian cells.
Acute Ethanol Withdrawal Impairs Contextual Learning and Enhances Cued Learning
Authors: Tipps Megan E. , Raybuck Jonathan D. , Buck Kari J. , Lattal K. Matthew
Published: February 2015

Background

Alcohol affects many of the brain regions and neural processes that support learning and memory, and these effects are thought to underlie, at least in part, the development of addiction. Although much work has been done regarding the effects of alcohol intoxication on learning and memory, little is known about the effects of acute withdrawal from a single alcohol exposure.

Methods

We assess the effects of acute ethanol withdrawal (6 hours postinjection with 4 g/kg ethanol) on 2 forms of fear conditioning (delay and trace fear conditioning) in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. The influence of a number of experimental parameters (pre‐ and post training withdrawal exposure; foreground/background processing; training strength; and nonassociative effects) is also investigated.

Results

Acute ethanol withdrawal during training had a bidirectional effect on fear‐conditioned responses, decreasing contextual responses and increasing cued responses. These effects were apparent for both trace and delay conditioning in DBA/2J mice and for trace conditioning in C57BL/6J mice; however, C57BL/6J mice were selectively resistant to the effects of acute withdrawal on delay cued responses.

Conclusions

Our results show that acute withdrawal from a single, initial ethanol exposure is sufficient to alter long‐term learning in mice. In addition, the differences between the strains and conditioning paradigms used suggest that specific learning processes can be differentially affected by acute withdrawal in a manner that is distinct from the reported effects of both alcohol intoxication and withdrawal following chronic alcohol exposure. Thus, our results suggest a unique effect of acute alcohol withdrawal on learning and memory processes.
Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Exposure Produces Persistent Anxiety in Adolescent and Adult Rats
Authors: Van Skike Candice E. , Diaz‐Granados Jaime L. , Matthews Douglas B.
Published: February 2015

Background

Ethanol (EtOH) dependence and tolerance in the adult are marked by increased function of NMDA receptors and decreased function of GABAA receptors, which coincide with altered receptor subunit expression in specific brain regions. Adolescents often use EtOH at levels greater than adults, yet the receptor subunit expression profiles following chronic intermittent EtOH (CIE) exposure in adolescents are not known. Persistent age‐dependent changes in receptor subunit alterations coupled with withdrawal‐related anxiety may help explain the increase in alcohol abuse following adolescent experimentation with the drug.

Methods

Adolescent and adult rats received 10 intraperitoneal administrations of 4.0 g/kg EtOH or saline every 48 hours. At either 24 hours or 12 days after the final exposure, anxiety‐like behavior was assessed on the elevated plus maze and tissue was collected. Western blotting was used to assess changes in selected NMDA and GABAA receptor subunits in whole cortex and bilateral hippocampus.

Results

CIE exposure yields a persistent increase in anxiety‐like behavior in both age groups. However, selected NMDA and GABAA receptor subunits were not differentially altered by this CIE exposure paradigm in adolescents or adults.

Conclusions

CIE exposure produced persistent anxiety‐like behavior, which has important implications for alcohol cessation. Given the reported behavioral and neuropeptide expression changes in response to this dose of EtOH, it is important for future work to consider the circumstances under which these measures are altered by EtOH exposure.
Is there a link between per capita alcohol consumption and youth drinking? A time–series analysis for Sweden in 1972–2012
Authors: Norström Thor , Raninen Jonas
Published: February 2015

Aims

To estimate the relationship between per capita alcohol consumption and youth drinking in Sweden during the last 40 years and to estimate the relationship between female and male youth drinking during the 40‐year study period.

Design, setting, participants and measurements

Per capita alcohol consumption was proxied by official sales data, supplemented by data on unrecorded consumption. Youth consumption was measured by a question on heavy episodic drinking (HED) included in an annual school survey of alcohol and drug habits among Swedish 9th ‐grade students (15–16 years of age). The annual samples comprise approximately 5000 individuals (with roughly equal numbers of boys and girls) with response rates in the range 80–93%. The study spans the period 1972–2012. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time–series analysis was used to estimate the relation between per‐capita alcohol consumption and youth drinking. Ocular inspection of the time–series data suggested a stronger synchronization between the two series in the early period, before the mid‐1990s, than in the later period, indicating a structural shift in the relation at issue. We therefore conducted period specific time–series analyses with 1995 as the year of division.

Results

There was a statistically significant relation between per capita alcohol consumption and HED among youth for 1972–94. A 1% increase in per capita alcohol consumption was associated with an increase in HED of 1.52% (P = 0.008). The estimate for 1995–2012 (0.12) was well below statistical significance (P = 0.580). The estimated elasticity of the association between boys’ and girls’ HED during 1972–94 was close to unity (0.98, P < 0.001), suggesting proportional changes in boys’ and girls’ drinking. When controlling for per capita consumption, the association was halved (to 0.55) but still significant in table 3 (P = 0.045).

Conclusions

Adult and youth drinking in Sweden were synchronized closely during the two last decades of the 20th century, but youth drinking developed an independent trajectory shortly before 2000.