bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing long supply chain networks: some emerging issues and challenges
Authors: Jain Vipul , Benyoucef Lyes
Published: May 2008

Purpose

The emergence of new manufacturing technologies, spurred by intense competition, will lead to dramatically new products and processes. New management systems, organizational structures, and decision‐making methods will also emerge as complements to new products and processes. This paper attempts to investigate technologies, systems and paradigms for the effective management of networked enterprise (supply chain networks), especially long supply chains. In doing so, the paper presents not only an exhaustive literature review to identify the complexities, gaps and challenges associated with long supply chains but also the emerging enabling technologies to support these gaps and challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of an interview of industrials, researchers and a literature review.

Findings

“Competition in the future will not be between individual enterprises but between competing supply chains.” Business opportunities are captured by groups of enterprises in the same enterprise network. This is due to the global competition that forces enterprises to focus on their core competences.

Practical implications

The paper presents a vision of the future technical issues relating to long supply chains and an insight into the future scientific and industrial advances required to meet future market and public demands.

Originality/value

This research work highlights the research issues and discusses the key enabling features, which will need to evolve and be perfected in industry in the future manufacturing networked enterprises and especially long manufacturing supply chains.
Unlocking the black box: line managers and HRM‐Performance in a call centre context
Authors: Harney Brian , Jordan Claire
Published: May 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show the way to unlock the black box of HRM and performance linkages by exploring one of the key variables that mediates the link, namely whether line managers can stimulate improvements in firm performance by eliciting appropriate employee outcomes in a call centre context.

Design/methodology/approach

The research draws on Purcell's “People‐Performance Model” as a sensitising framework to inform an in‐depth case study of a call centre. This provides a mechanism to unlock the HRM‐Performance black box by focusing on the ability, motivation and opportunities for line managers to perform and any subsequent impact on employee outcomes. Data were collected over multiple site visits by means of multi‐level interviews and a survey of telesales representatives (TSRs).

Findings

Research findings indicate that one large client exerted significant control over the HRM policies developed within the call centre. Evidence suggests, however, that line managers' interventions ameliorated some of the negative aspects of work tasks and the HRM imposed by this dependency relationship.

Research limitations/implications

This research is an exploratory attempt to better understand HRM‐Performance linkages in one specific context. Results are not generalisable across contexts or even within call centres, which can vary extensively. Nonetheless, the research suggests that exploring line management behaviour is a promising avenue for more extensive research.

Originality/value

This paper considers HRM‐Performance linkages in a service context. Results indicate that both external relations and line managers are critical mediating variables conditioning HRM‐Performance linkages, thereby lending support to the notion that hard and soft HRM practices are not necessarily irreconcilable.
Enhancing productivity in manual electronics assembly and inspection through illumination design
Authors: Quintana Rolando , Leung Mark T. , Chen An‐Sing
Published: May 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify, study and quantify the effects of lighting on yield and productivity in manual electronics assembly (MEA) and inspection as a limiting work design criterion. The study also examines the potential interactions among lighting option, workers' age, and years of experience.

Design/methodology/approach

A three‐factor full factorial experiment is adopted to statistically evaluate the independent variables (process yield and assembly time) versus randomly selected levels of three factors: type of light (low pressure sodium, mercury vapor lamps, and metal halide lamps measured in foot‐candle luminaries), operator age, and years on the job. A residual analysis is also conducted to complement and corroborate the ANOVA findings.

Findings

The study finds that metal halide lamps, based on the ANSI recommended ranges of 186‐464 foot‐candles, lead to significant increases in labor productivity and through‐put, irrespective of operators' age and years of experience. Although these lamps have a significantly shorter life span than that of low‐pressure sodium and mercury vapor lamps, the realized benefits far exceed the incremental cost of illumination devices. The results indicate that a modest capital investment is able to generate solid improvements in yield and processing time in a typical MEA environment.

Originality/value

The relations between productivity and lighting intensity and type have never been studied in the area of MEA. This empirical study uncovers the effects through a systematic experimentation of this essential relationship in a typical MEA environment. The findings, which can be generalized to other facilities, are validated by an array of statistical procedures and proved to be significant. The paper contributes useful knowledge to the fields of engineering management and facility design.
Coaching for results
Authors: Ulrich Dave
Published: May 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to help coaches better understand their approach to coaching and to help those being coached to have a sense of options in selecting a coach. And, to overview the field of coaching and offer a typology of approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper lays out the purposes of coaching, then review two models or approaches to coaching: behavior vs. results. Then goes through the steps for doing each.

Findings

This study finds that there are two ways to approach coaching, each with pros and cons and a clear methodology.

Research implications

We could study these two approaches.

Practical implications

We could help coaches do their work better and help those selecting coaches make more informed decisions.

Originality/value

No one has contrasted these two approaches to coaching and laid out the methodologies for doing each approach. This should help coaching move to a more rigorous definition of models and approaches.
REGISTER OF CURRENT RESEARCH
Authors: Mann James
Published: May 2008

This Register of Current Research in Britain in the field of marketing has been compiled from the response to a request for such information made to educational institutes. It is intended to publish amendments and additions at regular intervals in this journal. Each issue will contain up‐dating material, and the complete register will be published each year. The present issue contains the first such up‐dating.
REGISTER OF EXPORT RESEARCH
Authors: Tookey Douglas
Published: May 2008

This register was completed by circularising universities and other organisations thought to be conducting research in this field, and by referring to ‘Scientific Research in British Universities and Colleges’, 1966–67, Volume III Social Sciences. The information was collected in the second half of 1967, and it is planned to bring this up to date periodically. It is hoped that the publication of this register will help to encourage new projects in this important and developing field by showing where the gaps are, and making it possible to avoid duplication of effort. All projects in the export field have been included except for market research. Recently completed as well as current projects have been included. In future issues of the Journal this Register will be combined with the General Register of Research.
Overcoming the Peter Principle: Successful Transitions to a New Management Role
Authors: Flamholtz Eric G.
Published: May 2008

Introduction What do the following people each have in common:
An Approach to Employee Motivation
Authors: Wilde Edwin
Published: May 2008

Some individuals are strongly motivated by personal pride in their achievements. A school teacher, for example, may feel a special glow of satisfaction when, through his or her coaching, a star pupil wins an important scholarship. This pleasure may, in fact, be great enough to erase any resentment which may have been aroused through inadequate pay or employment conditions. It may, indeed, give rise to new energy in the day‐to‐day chore of teaching less gifted students, in the hope that other successes may be achieved.
How to achieve targets: 2 Audit in a Consultancy
Authors: O'Neill Hugh
Published: May 2008

The organisation provided financial and general consultancy services to The City and to industry. In size and coverage it was outside the ‘top ten’ and had a total staff of 115. It was clear to the Partners that they would have difficulty in achieving the targets for the year and a major reappraisal was necessary. A structured Organisation Audit approach was adopted with a Manager (Consultancy) chosen to act as Analyst.
MANUFACTURING MODERNIZATION: U.S. COMPETITIVENESS IN THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE
Authors: Strumar Albert J.
Published: May 2008

Since 1980, I have been heavily involved in manufacturing modernization. For much of that time, I ran a consulting business, in General Electric, that concentrated on factory modernization. We served such clients as Boeing, General Dynamics, GTE, Chrysler, and Italtel, the Italian phone company. For Chrysler, we designed “Chrysler Electronic City,” a state‐of‐the‐art factory for the manufacture of automotive electronics. For the last five years, I have been responsible for planning the manufacturing modernization activities of Black & Decker's U.S. Power Tools operations. My objective, in this article, is to share with you some of what I have learned on the subject of manufacturing modernization. In addition, I will suggest an approach to factory modernization.
MANUFACTURING STRATEGY AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS
Authors: Helms Marilyn M.
Published: May 2008

Manufacturing strategy is an often overlooked aspect of strategic planning in organizations. However, as this article illustrates, firms must move from departmental optimization toward overall organization optimization using a system's approach to best utilize the manufacturing benefits for global competitive success. While the ideas are not new, management continually needs a reminder of the potential of manufacturing to strengthen an organization's competitive ability. Specific examples of integrating manufacturing and the possible positive results are presented. Avenues for future research are also discussed.
A FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Authors: Rodrigues Carl A.
Published: May 2008

Total Quality Management (TQM), this framework proposes, can be achieved only when the organization develops the ability to cater to customers' needs, monitor the internal and external environments on an ongoing basis to obtain and disseminate information needed by empowered group decision makers, establish and maintain an atmosphere where there is strong vertical and horizontal communication, collaboration, and cooperation among individuals in internal units, as well as among individuals in external units, develop and maintain a bond and a “sense of ownership” among employees; and develop and maintain ongoing training programs.
The Management Exercise—A Practical Training Method
Authors: Despres David
Published: May 2008

Part of my philosophy of training is based on a Chinese proverb: What you hear you forget ‐ What you see you remember ‐ What you do you understand. This proverb emphasises the Hallmark of Training ‐ the necessity of the trainee to understand. It also indicates two vital areas of training ‐ presentation and participation: the visual and the active. The credibility of training depends on the quality of its presentation. Poor presentation gives the trainee the impression of a slovenly approach and in no way is this more important than in the introduction to any course. You never have a second chance to make a first impression. This is never more true than in training. A poor start produces a poor course and this is not the fault of the trainee. The trainer controls the introduction of any training. It should be carried out by the best member of the team, even if he is not a prominent tutor.
How to Survive as a Trainer
Authors: Bennett Roger
Published: May 2008

Being effective is more than just having good ideas. You've got to be able to put those ideas into practice and, more important, those ideas must be relevant to the needs of the organisation. In this company, the previous approach to training was highly programmed. Courses were scheduled in a number of topic areas, nomination forms sent out, participants registered and trainers booked. It was so highly programmed you could tell which participant was doing what particular session on which course at any given moment. This was a successful approach but times have changed. We now need trainers to become more actively involved in helping and supporting line managers. In trying to put across this view, I came across some resistance, particularly from my immediate boss. I recognised that I had to start playing the politics game. I was able to set up an informal relationship with the chairman, who although not supporting my approach in writing, took every available opportunity to support it verbally. But this was not until I had demonstrated the relevance of my approach by talking in the language of the business, for example, costing out training activities and showing that they could be cost‐effective. My aim was actively to convince managers about the real value of training by demonstrating actual situations where training would have saved the organisation money. For example, I have collected statistics about the cost involved when company engineers lost time due to inadequate knowledge of new products when servicing equipment. It's taken me several years to convince people that the approach is relevant to the situation we are now facing, but I think I have got there.
Strategic Resource Allocation and Performance Measurement in Higher Education
Authors: Raimond Paul
Published: May 2008

The pressing problem of resource allocation between subject areas within education in Britain was further emphasised by the publication at the end of May 1985 of the Government's Green Paper on the future of higher education. The Green Paper predicts that some departments, and perhaps whole universities, will have to close as demand and resources decrease in the next decade. The Green Paper does not say which subjects, which departments or which universities will close. Nor as yet do we have an adequate or satisfactory mechanism for making such choices. The current Green Paper is the latest step in a series of moves designed by Government to force educational establishments to select some subjects for priority in resources, and some subjects for diminished resources. The University Grants Commission (UGC) advised Government on how to allocate large cuts in funding among British universities. Some universities suffered cuts of up to 30 per cent, while others were granted small increases in funds. The criteria on which such judgments were made by UGC were never published. In the absence of published criteria, the judgments themselves were fiercely attacked:
BUDGEN: The suburban located multiple
Authors: Tanburn Jennifer
Published: May 2008

Booker McConnell's supermarket and food store chain trades under the name of Budgen. In total, however, Booker's UK Food Distribution Division covers a wide range of food distribution activities; its wholesale division delivers to members of the Mace voluntary group and also operates over 50 cash and carry warehouses; the division's turnover is around £180m.
Financial modelling in retail organisations
Authors: Jones Gil
Published: May 2008

Not very much work has so far been done by retail organisations in the building of computer‐based financial models, but it is neither complex nor necessarily expensive. Financial parameters would include such items as forecasted sales, rents and rates of shop locations, and gross margins; values calculated might include VAT, bank charges or commissions. The writer discusses the use of models at three different levels: as a simple tool, as a full company financial model, and as a management interactive model.
Galt before Galsworthy
Authors: Scott‐Moncrieff George
Published: May 2008

LAST week I received a bookseller's catalogue. Working my way slowly and pleasantly to G, I found two names in interesting juxtaposition. The first of these was that of GALSWORTHY. A first edition of In Chancery (“Nice, but upper cover a little spotted”) is offered for 12s 6d: the highest price asked is for a copy of Soames and the Flag—first, limited, de luxe, signed by author, edition, at 16s 6d. Ten years ago when I was, in a small way, buying and selling books, there was a Galsworthy “first” that fetched seventy pounds, if my memory serves me right. There were certainly many at ten to twenty pounds. And what were these books but indifferent modern productions, neither good nor bad to look at, nor for the most part could they be called rare: they had not been long printed, and they had often been issued in impressions of several thousands. Those were crazy days, in which book values were extraordinarily ill‐founded. No doubt Galsworthy's large sales and widespread popularity made it seem as though he were an aspirant to supreme fame to a public less judicious than that of Shaw and other writers whose prices were never so considerable. Stevenson, of course, had brought high prices: he was perhaps the first of the moderns to become largely collected: but for this there was rather more reason. Barrie had realised some ridiculous prices. I remember a bookseller telling me of a Barrie “first” that had been put into a safe on the day on which it was bought, and kept there twenty years, then sold, “in mint state,” for two hundred pounds: surely a record interest on a safe deposit!
Administration of out‐patient records
Authors: Mason Audrey
Published: May 2008

Effective management of costly facilities is of prime importance to all concerned with the delivery of health care. Outpatient services, always a major source of demand on hospital facilities, are increasing in importance as the swing towards day cases, pre‐admission investigations and day care gathers momentum. Outpatient records, an essential tool of clinical management and patient care, can also be the means of acquiring knowledge of the use of hospital facilities by outpatient services.
How much high technology should there be?
Authors: Jennett Bryan
Published: May 2008

People are ambivalent about high technology medicine. Unnecessary deaths and preventable disability are sometimes blamed on access to technology having been delayed or denied. But when used to extend only briefly the lives of the hopelessly ill technology is sometimes held to have caused needless distress to patients and families. Such use is also a waste of resources, as is the unnecessary use of diagnostic technology. So health authorities are often accused of under‐provision of high technology, while doctors are more often criticised for over‐use of what has been provided.
Doctors' contracts: For life or subject to renewal?
Authors: Maynard Alan
Published: May 2008

In the British National Health Service and most other health care systems the medical market place, in particular the terms and conditions of the doctors’ contract, is highly regulated. In the UK, for instance, a powerful monopoly organisation, the British Medical Association, seeks to ensure tenure and a high rate of return over the life cycle to a largely publicly financed investment in medical education by doctors. A potentially powerful monopsony (sole buyer) organisation, the Department of Health and Social Security seeks, often weakly for fear of political (electoral) consequences, to hold down the price paid for a doctors' services and thereby contain the costs of the NHS.
The British Medical Association's reply to the Government's ‘Agenda for Discussion’ on primary health care
Authors: Ellis Norman
Published: May 2008

The UK Government's ‘Agenda for Discussion’ is a political tract, written by a combination of politicians, philosophers and economists without any direct input from the professions providing primary care. There was no consultation with the medical profession prior to its publication. The document is not based on carefully researched and tested ideas for developing primary care. Nevertheless, the British Medical Association's response attempts to apply logic and rationality to a debate which has thus far been heavily influenced by political opportunism.
The role of insurance in the law of negligence
Authors: Rea Karen
Published: May 2008

Insurance tends to be one of those areas which we tolerate and sometimes begrudgingly pay into because we fear the consequences if we do not — usually a loss of money/value of the stolen object. So what is the point of having insurance schemes? Why do doctors and nurses have to be insured and, if they do, what choice is offered?
Will My Examiners Ask Me About Management?
Authors: Fox Nick
Published: May 2008

This paper argues, from the perspective of a medical student, for management training in medicine. The author suggests that medical students in the UK are ill‐prepared for working — as a house officer in the first instance, or as a manager at any level. Training should include administrative skills and personal organisation, financial management and the management of work relationships. In order to remedy these weaknesses, medical education will need to include learning to be part of management and doctors will have to train in a system which takes management seriously.
Health Care in the USSR
Authors: Mortimer Sue
Published: May 2008

In May 1989 a party of 11 senior UK health service managers visited a number of health care facilities in the USSR. The party urns drawn from all levels within the National Health Service: The Department of Health, regions, districts and units were all represented, and the group included planners and managers of services. The facilities visited were based in Leningrad and Moscow, and covered a wide range of health provision.
Medical Negligence — 1
Authors: Tribe Diana M.R. , Korgaonkar Gill
Published: May 2008

This, the first of three papers, provides an overview of the law of negligence as it affects medical practitioners in the UK. The standard of care owed by doctors to patients is considered in the light of recent increases in malpractice claims, the escalating cost of medical insurance and current Government proposals for Crown indemnity.
Use of Variable Costs in Laboratory Management
Authors: Gama R. , Nightingale P.G. , Broughton P.M.G.
Published: May 2008

The use and limitations of variable costs in predicting the financial effects of changing workloads in clinical chemistry are illustrated and discussed. The study identified the 10 tests with the highest annual variable expenditure in clinical chemistry laboratories of a district general hos‐pital and a teaching hospital. Six tests were common to both laboratories. The differences were due to the demands of specialised depart‐ments on the laboratory in the teaching hospital. In the laboratories studied, a very small group of commonly requested inexpensive tests (blood gases, plasma glucose, creatinine, urea, sodium and potassium) accounted for a large proportion (36–54 per cent) of the variable expenditure. Establishing glucose, the test with the highest variable expenditure, as a discretionary test in the district general hospital decreased the total number of tests by 6.9 per cent but revenue expenditure fell by only 1 per cent. However, efforts to save money by reducing workload would be most productive if directed at tests with a high variable expenditure.
The Introduction of Capital Charges in the NHS
Authors: Masters Sheila
Published: May 2008

The first part of this paper outlines the reasons for introducing capital charges in the National Health Service (the NHS) in England and the aims and objectives of the scheme. The second part of the paper outlines how capital charges will operate and addresses some specific common issues which have been raised. This section also refers to the methodology for developing the scheme and disseminating information on its implementation. The third section of the paper examines the current and future implications of capital charges for the NHS.
The Shallow end
Authors: Shallow Robert
Published: May 2008

Scene: A tastelessly furnished and expensively decorated Lecturer's study in a stainless, expensive, provincial university.
NLW 1000: From one to a thousand
Authors: Munford W A
Published: May 2008

A thousand is a good old age; even Methuselah failed to achieve it. It is even a good age for a journal. I have spent many a happy hour in the Cambridge University Library's department of dead periodicals and I know that those that have failed to achieve the present magic number are indeed many. James Duff Brown did better than he knew when, in July 1898, his new sixpenny monthly found its way into the libraries. Its pre‐history also is not without interest but as I discussed this in fair detail in LW 800 (February 1967) and subsequently in James Duff Brown (pp 51–58) a few sentences of summary may now suffice. JDB founded LW primarily to assure himself of a continuing and regular journalistic medium on the justified assumption that MacAlister's Library was unlikely to remain the LA ‘organ’ after 1898 and that Henry Guppy (1861–1948) as volunteer editor of the projected new LAR was most unlikely to offer him comparable scope. For by 1894 JDB had become MacAlister's right‐hand man for the public library side of the Library; after 1894, when the open access revolution began in Clerkenwell, he had also become a very controversial one. It is far from easy now to visualise a state of affairs in which public library readers were not themselves admitted to the shelves. Nevertheless, the early libraries issued books only on request and after they had been found by members of the staff. Civil wars frequently follow revolutions and the open access one was no exception; until his death in 1914 JDB faced much well‐entrenched opposition.
Commonplaces
Authors: Dudley Edward
Published: May 2008

Metropolitan miseries ‐ 1 City of Westminster. We received in November a short sharp letter signed by most of the library staff protesting about cuts in the service. These were attributed to ‘one man's report’, a citation vague enough to account for a mild grumble from Barnes (M). ‘Trouble is’, he said in some sorrow, ‘they think it was my report.’ It wasn't. It was the doing of a councillior now elevated to chair the committee to run (down) the library service. Further misery: Harrison (K C) is reported to have bewailed the disappearance of the title ‘City Librarian’, for when Barnes (M) goes the library service gets submerged in a leisure directorate. Barnes (M) is now (at the time of reading) Guildhall Librarian, City of London. They have their own miseries there, but they are well gilded and guilded by centuries of mediaeval floohflah under a heavy top dressing of well‐established City ways with money and the making thereof. And in case you haven't noticed, the City of London is listed with all those naughty places like Hackney and Sheffield and the glc as an over‐spending local authority. It's enough to make City Common Councilmen stand guard at Temple Bar and turn back ministers and royal persons.
Early growth response‐1 mediates downregulation of telomerase in cervical cancer
Authors: Akutagawa Osamu , Nishi Hirotaka , Kyo Satoru , Terauchi Fumitoshi , Yamazawa Koji , Higuma Chinatsu , Inoue Masaki , Isaka Keiichi
Published: May 2008

Early growth response (Egr)‐1 is a transcription factor that triggers transcription of downstream genes within 15–30 min of various stimulations. These genes are expressed rapidly through specific promoter activation and mediate cell growth and angiogenesis. Following the previous computational identification of a site that was thought to be an Egr‐1 consensus binding site at –273 to –281 in the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter region, the present study was conducted to evaluate the role of Egr‐1 in the regulation of hTERT and telomerase in uterine cervical cancer. First, the expression of Egr‐1 and hTERT at the mRNA level was examined in cervical cancer tissues. Egr‐1 and hTERT were expressed much higher in cervical cancer tissues than in the normal cervix. However, a negative correlation was noted in the expression between Egr‐1 and hTERT. By luciferase assay using hTERT promoter constructs, hTERT transcriptional activation was shown to be inhibited when Egr‐1 was overexpressed. Furthermore, Egr‐1 overexpression decreased hTERT protein production as well as hTERT mRNA as observed by western blotting analysis and real‐time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The present study suggests that Egr‐1 plays an important regulatory role in the transcriptional activation of hTERT. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 1401–1406)
Role of the WWOX gene, encompassing fragile region FRA16D, in suppression of pancreatic carcinoma cells
Authors: Nakayama Shunji , Semba Shuho , Maeda Naoko , Aqeilan Rami I. , Huebner Kay , Yokozaki Hiroshi
Published: May 2008

The WW‐domain‐containing oxidoreductase (WWOX) gene spans the common chromosomal fragile site FRA16D (16q23.2) and is believed to be a tumor suppressor in various human malignancies. We have previously shown frequent down‐modulation of Wwox expression in pancreatic carcinoma (PC); however, biological function of Wwox in pancreatic duct carcinogenesis remains unknown. In PANC‐1 (Wwox‐negative) PC‐derived cells, restoration of recombinant WWOX gene expression with adenoviral gene delivery (Ad‐WWOX) effectively increased the number of cells with subG1 DNA contents in a multiplicity of infection‐dependent manners: Ad‐WWOX infection up‐regulated caspase‐3 activity and reduced procaspase‐3 and procaspase‐8 levels. We also confirmed that restoration of WWOX gene suppressed cell growth in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo. In addition, transduction of wild‐type WWOX‐expressing vector inhibited PANC‐1 colony formation; however, substitution of Y33 of Wwox with arginine did not lead to inhibition of colony formation, suggesting the biological significance of the WW1 domain of Wwox for its tumor‐suppressing activity. In PC tissue samples, abundant cytoplasmic Wwox expression was detected in the normal pancreatic duct epithelium, whereas Wwox expression was frequently reduced not only in a large fraction of PC but also in precancerous lesions in accord with the pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) grade, which was closely correlated with patients’ poorer outcome. Interestingly, the existence of Wwox expression was associated with elevated mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (Smad4) protein levels in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that down‐modulation of Wwox expression is an early event and may be associated with the down‐regulation of Smad4 protein levels during pancreatic duct carcinogenesis. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 1370–1376)
BPOZ‐2 directly binds to eEF1A1 to promote eEF1A1 ubiquitylation and degradation and prevent translation
Authors: Koiwai Kotaro , Maezawa So , Hayano Takahide , Iitsuka Michiko , Koiwai Osamu
Published: May 2008

Bood POZ containing gene type 2 (BPOZ‐2), which contains ankyrin repeats, NLS, BTB/POZ domains and LXXLL motifs, is an adaptor protein for the E3 ubiquitin ligase scaffold protein CUL3. We isolated a cDNA encoding eukaryotic elongation factor 1A1 (eEF1A1) as a BPOZ‐2 binding protein by screening a human thymus cDNA library using a yeast two‐hybrid system. eEF1A1 is essential for translation and is also involved in the 26S proteasome‐dependent degradation of misfolded or unfolded proteins. The binding between BPOZ‐2 and eEF1A1 was confirmed by pull‐down and immunoprecipitation assays in vitro and in vivo, respectively. BPOZ‐2 binds to eEF1A1 through the ankyrin repeats and both BTB/POZ domains in BPOZ‐2 and Domains I and III in eEF1A1. BPOZ‐2 and eEF1A1 over‐expressed in HEK 293T cells co‐localized as speckles within the cytoplasm. BPOZ‐2 promoted eEF1A1 ubiquitylation and degradation, suggesting that eEF1A1 is a substrate of BPOZ‐2. BPOZ‐2 inhibited GTP binding to eEF1A1 and prevented translation in in vitro translation assay using rabbit reticulocytes.
Regulation of apoptosis and neurite extension by FKBP38 is required for neural tube formation in the mouse
Authors: Shirane Michiko , Ogawa Masaharu , Motoyama Jun , Nakayama Keiichi I.
Published: May 2008

FKBP38 (also known as FKBP8) is a transmembrane chaperone protein that inhibits apoptosis by recruiting the anti‐apoptotic proteins Bcl‐2 and Bcl‐xL to mitochondria. We have now generated mice harboring a loss‐of‐function mutation in Fkbp38. The Fkbp38−/– mice die soon after birth manifesting defects in neural tube closure in the thoraco‐lumbar‐sacral region (spina bifida) as well as skeletal defects including scoliosis, rib deformities, club foot and curled tail. The neuroepithelium is disorganized and that formation of dorsal root ganglia is defective in Fkbp38−/– embryos, likely as a result of an increased frequency of apoptosis and aberrant migration of neuronal cells. Furthermore, the extension of nerve fibers in the spinal cord is abnormal in the mutant embryos. To explore the mechanisms underlying these characteristics, we screened for proteins that interact with FKBP38 in the yeast two‐hybrid system and thereby identified protrudin, a protein that promotes process formation by regulating membrane trafficking. Protrudin was found to be hyperphosphorylated in the brain of Fkbp38−/– mice, suggesting that FKBP38 regulates protrudin‐dependent membrane recycling and neurite outgrowth. Together, our findings suggest that FKBP38 is required for neuroectodermal organization during neural tube formation as a result of its anti‐apoptotic activity and regulation of neurite extension.
Evaluation of the terrestrial carbon cycle, future plant geography and climate‐carbon cycle feedbacks using five Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs)
Authors: SITCH S. , HUNTINGFORD C. , GEDNEY N. , LEVY P. E. , LOMAS M. , PIAO S. L. , BETTS R. , CIAIS P. , COX P. , FRIEDLINGSTEIN P. , JONES C. D. , PRENTICE I. C. , WOODWARD F. I.
Published: May 2008

This study tests the ability of five Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs), forced with observed climatology and atmospheric CO2, to model the contemporary global carbon cycle. The DGVMs are also coupled to a fast ‘climate analogue model’, based on the Hadley Centre General Circulation Model (GCM), and run into the future for four Special Report Emission Scenarios (SRES): A1FI, A2, B1, B2. Results show that all DGVMs are consistent with the contemporary global land carbon budget. Under the more extreme projections of future environmental change, the responses of the DGVMs diverge markedly. In particular, large uncertainties are associated with the response of tropical vegetation to drought and boreal ecosystems to elevated temperatures and changing soil moisture status. The DGVMs show more divergence in their response to regional changes in climate than to increases in atmospheric CO2 content. All models simulate a release of land carbon in response to climate, when physiological effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on plant production are not considered, implying a positive terrestrial climate‐carbon cycle feedback. All DGVMs simulate a reduction in global net primary production (NPP) and a decrease in soil residence time in the tropics and extra‐tropics in response to future climate. When both counteracting effects of climate and atmospheric CO2 on ecosystem function are considered, all the DGVMs simulate cumulative net land carbon uptake over the 21st century for the four SRES emission scenarios. However, for the most extreme A1FI emissions scenario, three out of five DGVMs simulate an annual net source of CO2 from the land to the atmosphere in the final decades of the 21st century. For this scenario, cumulative land uptake differs by 494 Pg C among DGVMs over the 21st century. This uncertainty is equivalent to over 50 years of anthropogenic emissions at current levels.
Evaporation and carbonic anhydrase activity recorded in oxygen isotope signatures of net CO2 fluxes from a Mediterranean soil
Authors: WINGATE LISA , SEIBT ULLI , MASEYK KADMIEL , OGÉE JÉRÔME , ALMEIDA PEDRO , YAKIR DAN , PEREIRA JOAO S. , MENCUCCINI MAURIZIO
Published: May 2008

The oxygen stable isotope composition (δ18O) of CO2 is a valuable tool for studying the gas exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. In the soil, it records the isotopic signal of water pools subjected to precipitation and evaporation events. The δ18O of the surface soil net CO2 flux is dominated by the physical processes of diffusion of CO2 into and out of the soil and the chemical reactions during CO2–H2O equilibration. Catalytic reactions by the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, reducing CO2 hydration times, have been proposed recently to explain field observations of the δ18O signatures of net soil CO2 fluxes. How important these catalytic reactions are for accurately predicting large‐scale biosphere fluxes and partitioning net ecosystem fluxes is currently uncertain because of the lack of field data. In this study, we determined the δ18O signatures of net soil CO2 fluxes from soil chamber measurements in a Mediterranean forest. Over the 3 days of measurements, the observed δ18O signatures of net soil CO2 fluxes became progressively enriched with a well‐characterized diurnal cycle. Model simulations indicated that the δ18O signatures recorded the interplay of two effects: (1) progressive enrichment of water in the upper soil by evaporation, and (2) catalytic acceleration of the isotopic exchange between CO2 and soil water, amplifying the contributions of ‘atmospheric invasion’ to net signatures. We conclude that there is a need for better understanding of the role of enzymatic reactions, and hence soil biology, in determining the contributions of soil fluxes to oxygen isotope signals in atmospheric CO2.
The role of proteomics in understanding sperm cell biology
Authors: Aitken R. John , Baker Mark A.
Published: May 2008

The advent of enhanced methods for the pre‐fractionation of proteins, improved high speed, high resolution, high sensitivity mass spectrometry hardware and superior informatics/bioformatics software is heralding a new era in our capacity to analyse the proteomic composition of human spermatozoa. Parallel improvements in our capacity to compare proteomic profiles from spermatozoa in different functional states (immature vs. mature, uncapacitated vs. capacitated, normal vs. defective) is also helping to define which specific elements of the proteome are of functional significance. The ultimate aim of such studies will be to integrate the proteome with the sperm metabolome so that we shall not only understand the cascade of post‐translational modifications (e.g., phosphorylation, glycosylation, proteolytic cleavage) involved in generating a functional spermatozoon but also determine how these physiological changes are brought about. This fundamental information will then create a basis for identifying key points in the post‐testicular maturation of spermatozoa that might be targeted for contraceptive purposes or implicated in the defective sperm function observed in a significant proportion of infertile males.
Psychometric properties of the MacNew heart disease health‐related quality of life instrument in patients with heart failure
Authors: Höfer Stefan , Schmid Jean‐Paul , Frick Matthias , Benzer Werner , Laimer Herbert , Oldridge Neil , Saner Hugo
Published: May 2008

Rationale, aims and objectives  Heart failure (HF) is a severe chronic disease and impairs health‐related quality of life (HRQL). While validated specific HRQL instruments are required for evaluation of treatment and rehabilitation in patients with HF, a single validated measure to document changes in HRQL for patients with different heart disease diagnoses would be invaluable. The purpose of this analysis was the psychometric analysis of the German MacNew Heart Disease Questionnaire (MacNew) in HF patients, which has previously been shown to be reliable and valid in patients with myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and arrhythmia.

Methods  We recruited 89 patients (61.7 ± 11.5 years; 84.3% male) in two Austrian and one Swiss cardiology department with documented HF (effect sizes 28.9 ± 10.1%). The self‐administered MacNew, the Short Form‐36 (SF‐36) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were completed. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α), discriminative and evaluative validity were assessed.

Results  Cronbach's α exceeded 0.80. Each MacNew scale differentiated between patients with and without anxiety (3.9 ± 1.0 vs. 5.3 ± 0.8, all P < 0.001), with and without depression (4.2 ± 1.2 vs. 5.2 ± 0.9 all P < 0.03) and by the SF‐36 health transition item (deteriorate = 4.39, no change = 4.95, improve = 5.45, all P < 0.02). Evaluative validity was demonstrated with effect sizes >0.70 for a subsample attending a 12‐week outpatient rehabilitation programme.

Conclusions  The German language version of the MacNew demonstrates consistently acceptable psychometric properties of reliability, validity and responsiveness in patients with documented HF. Together with previous documentation of reliability, validity and responsive, these findings strengthen the argument for the MacNew as a potential ‘core’ HRQL measure, at least in the German language.
A review of the current evidence base for significant event analysis
Authors: Bowie Paul , Pope Lindsey , Lough Murray
Published: May 2008

Objective  To review the literature on the perceived benefits and disadvantages associated with significant event analysis (SEA) and identify reported barriers and facilitating factors.

Method  A comprehensive search of electronic databases and peer reviewed journals was conducted during June 2006. Studies which explored or measured perceptions or attitudes in relation to SEA or assessed its impact on health care quality were included.

Results  27 studies were identified with most undertaken in UK general practice. Perceived benefits include: improved communication, enhanced team‐working and awareness of others' contributions. SEA has a strong emotional resonance which may lead to a greater commitment to change. Multiple but unverifiable changes in practice and improvements in service quality were reported through participation. Disadvantages include concerns about litigation, reprisal, embarrassment and confidentiality. The reliability of SEA is questioned because it lacks a robust, standard structured method. Evidence of its impact on health care is severely limited. Barriers include a lack of training, poor team dynamics, failings in facilitation and leadership, selective topic choice and associated emotional demands. Facilitating factors include: effective practice in meetings; protected meeting time; a structured methodical approach; and strong team dynamics and leadership.

Conclusion  A chasm exists between the high expectations for SEA and the lack of evidence of its impact. SEA may have some merit as a team‐based educational tool. However, it may not be a reliable technique for investigating serious or complex safety issues in general practice. Policy makers need to be more explicit about the actual purpose of SEA.
Clinician attitudes towards prescribing and implications for interventions in a multi‐specialty group practice
Authors: Fortuna Robert J. , Ross‐Degnan Dennis , Finkelstein Jonathan , Zhang Fang , Campion Francis X. , Simon Steven R.
Published: May 2008

Background  Prescribing decisions are subject to a myriad of external forces, including patient requests for advertised medications. Although numerous factors influence prescribing, resources to support unbiased evidence‐based prescribing are not widely available.

Methods  To guide future interventions, we surveyed clinicians about influences on prescribing, awareness of pharmaceutical costs and attitudes towards computerized decision support. A 21‐item survey was sent to 604 prescribing clinicians in a large multi‐specialty group practice that employs a robust electronic medical record.

Results  Surveys were returned from 405 clinicians (67%). Most respondents (87%) felt that direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) advertising prompts patients to request inappropriate medications, and more than one in five clinicians (22%) reported difficulty declining patients' requests for advertised medications. Providers with more clinical sessions per week reported greater difficulty. Although 93% of clinicians felt they have access to the information needed to guide prescribing, only about half (54%) reported they are aware of how much patients pay for prescription medications. Clinicians' awareness of medication costs varied considerably by specialty, with behavioural health clinicians being the most aware. The majority of providers (79%) stated that computerized prescribing alerts are a clinically useful source of information.

Conclusions  Although the majority of clinicians reported that DTC advertising leads many patients to request medications that are inappropriate for their condition, a sizable proportion of clinicians reported difficulty declining these requests, and many are unaware of medication costs. Interventions to support prescribing decisions should provide the busiest clinicians with up‐to‐date, specialty‐specific evidence and cost information.
Achieving changes in practice from national audit: national audit of the organization of services for falls and bone health in older people
Authors: Husk Janet
Published: May 2008

Aims  Falls in older people are associated with increased mortality, physical injury, loss of function and independence. The extent to which trusts had met the requirements to implement an integrated falls service for older people by April 2005 was assessed by the performance of a national organizational audit.

Method  A report was produced for each participating site, containing their local audit results compared to the national picture. A scoring system was devised so that each site could be attributed an ‘organizational’ score and section scores. Thus, plans for a workshop developed to: learn from ‘High Performers’ regarding how they achieved services; use ‘expert’ knowledge and gain understanding about how to formulate action points.

Results  To complete the audit process, chief executives were asked to provide their action plans. Some sites had clearly used their audit results and their scores. This was identified by statements such as ‘recognised that performance was well below the national average in two sector scores’, as a result of which, an immediate action plan was drawn up.

Conclusion  The results of a national audit, especially when linked to a scoring system, can help local services benchmark themselves which, in association with action planning workshops and commitment from trusts, can achieve changes in practice.