bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The development and validation of the Business Cultural Intelligence Quotient
Authors: Alon Ilan , Boulanger Michele , Meyers Judith , Taras Vasyl
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a new instrument for measuring cultural intelligence in the business context (BCIQ).

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper describes the process of the conceptualization of the model and the development of the instrument, the sample, as well as the validation of the instrument. Directions on the use of the instrument and future research are discussed.

Findings

– The instrument shows good psychometric properties and good predictive power and outperforms other publicly available CQ measures on a number of dimensions.

Originality/value

– The unique features and advantages of the present instrument are as follows: first, a refined factor structure compared to existing CQ instruments; second, use of objective cultural knowledge measures; third, applicability in the business and workplace contexts, thus rendering the instrument suitable for assessing cultural intelligence among expatriates, employees, and global virtual team members; and fourth, improved reliability and validity as compared to other Cultural Intelligence Quotient measures.
An analytic hierarchy process for school quality and inspection
Authors: Al Qubaisi Amal , Badri Masood , Mohaidat Jihad , Al Dhaheri Hamad , Yang Guang , Al Rashedi Asma , Greer Kenneth
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytic hierarchy planning-based framework to establish criteria weights and to develop a school performance system commonly called school inspections.

Design/methodology/approach

– The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model uses pairwise comparisons and a measurement scale to generate the weights for the criteria. The validity of the approach is confirmed by comparing the outputs of school inspection and the outputs of the model in a sample of schools.

Findings

– The framework proposed enables school management to address several issues pertaining to its competitive advantage with other schools, the two most important being establishing its performance ranking in the marketplace and identifying the service elements that most require improvement. This study develops a cohesive approach to identify which quality attributes or dimensions require attention.

Research limitations/implications

– For school inspections, the data collection and computational problems would increase with the increase in the number of criteria and sub-criteria, as well as the number of schools considered in the selection. Although the range of reported AHP applications is extensive in many disciplines, examples in school quality and inspection remain still rare; as a result, this study could not compare its results with other AHP applications in school inspection or assessment.

Practical implications

– The AHP method has the distinct advantage that it decomposes a decision problem into its constituent parts and builds hierarchies of criteria. AHP enables assessors to capture both subjective and objective evaluation measures of school quality. By providing a useful mechanism for assessing the consistency of the evaluation measures and alternatives, the AHP reduces bias in decision making.

Social implications

– The AHP model also provides a more systematic evaluation of a given school’s qualitative performance criteria. The proposed AHP model is attractive to assessors and decision makers because its pairwise comparison procedure enables them to offer a relative (rather than absolute) individual criterion assessment on those qualitative factors.

Originality/value

– The AHP model could become a sustainable component of overall school system quality improvement by maturing over time. The AHP annual scores could be used as realistic and measureable gauges for measuring school improvement.
Assessing collaboration networks in educational research
Authors: Munoz David Andres , Queupil Juan Pablo , Fraser Pablo
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze collaboration networks and their patterns among higher education institutions (HEIs) in Chile and the Latin American region. This will provide evidence to educational managements in order to properly allocate their efforts to improve collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

– This quantitative study examines collaboration using a social network analysis (SNA) approach. The main source used to quantify collaboration is co-authorship of scholarly publications retrieved from the Web of Science scientific search engine.

Findings

– The paper provides evidence that there is a low collaboration rate within-country as well cross-country among HEIs in Latin America. The collaboration network in Chile is highly dependent on two institutions; Pontificia Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile. These institutions are considered leaders of opinion and knowledge facilitators. The density of the whole network is relatively low; only 5 percent of the potential connections exist in the current network.

Research limitations/implications

– The main limitation of this paper is that it does not take into account other possible collaborative efforts such as books, manuscripts, or other types of collaboration that do not result in tangible documents. However, co-authorship based on publications has been considered to be a good estimator of collaboration.

Practical implications

– Collaboration is critical to promote research and increase its capacity. The approach presented in this study is helpful for educational managers in charge of allocating resources to effectively have an impact on collaboration. Decision makers will benefit from the evidence-based results generated by the SNA framework.

Originality/value

– An understanding of the current status of research collaboration in Latin America allows researchers to detect the main areas of opportunity, which in turn serve to improve future decision making in this area.
Exploring the service quality in the e-commerce context: a triadic view
Authors: Lin Yong , Luo Jing , Cai Shuqin , Ma Shihua , Rong Ke
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the quality factors influencing customer satisfaction in the electronic commerce (e-commerce) context using a triadic view of customer-e-retailer-third-party logistics provider, and to investigate the impacts of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty in the e-retailing supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

– A literature review is used to determine the conceptual model and develop the measurement scales. Data are collected through a web survey mainly conducted in China. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the collected data and test the research hypotheses.

Findings

– The results verify the proposed service quality framework, consisting of two dimensions (electronic service (e-service) quality and logistics service quality), in the e-commerce context. The results indicate that e-service quality and logistics service quality are strongly linked to customer satisfaction; that is, with e-service and logistics service, respectively. e-Service quality positively impacts customer satisfaction with logistics services, but logistics service quality negatively impacts customer satisfaction with e-services. Moreover, customer satisfaction with e-services is positively associated with customer loyalty for both e-services and logistics services. However, customer satisfaction with logistics services has no direct impact on related customer loyalty, and negatively impacts customer loyalty with e-services.

Research limitations/implications

– The survey focusses only on China; future data should verify whether different cultural backgrounds will impact the research results.

Practical implications

– The results show that e-retailers should not only focus on e-service quality, but also logistics service quality, which is critical to the success of e-commerce.

Originality/value

– A two-dimensional (e-service and logistics) service quality framework is proposed and empirically assessed in the context of the e-retailing supply chain. These impacts of the path of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty are highlighted.
Academic capital and the world of work: experiences of mature students
Authors: Ronnie Linda
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of the pursuit of academic capital – a form of cultural capital – on the working lives of mature students. The paper highlights the uneven educational conversion experience across class and gender for a group of mature students and argues that the higher education environment needs to be and do more for students in terms of support.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 42 in-depth individual interviews were conducted over an 18 month period with 13 mature students located at a South African university. The students in the study – all in full-time employment – were enroled on a part-time management programme.

Findings

– Through focusing on the narratives of mature students attending a South African university, the findings show that class trajectory and gender work differently for mature students, shaping both reasons for entry into higher education and influencing the relationships between mature individuals and significant others in their working lives.

Practical implications

– The findings highlight the need for awareness regarding the role educational institutions can and should play in addressing the challenges faced by these non-traditional students. The world of work should also create an enabling environment where support and encouragement are provided.

Originality/value

– Although several articles discuss the experiences of mature students, few delve into the issue of mature students’ ability to convert or exchange their academic capital to something of value within the world of work. The reasons for returning to study as mature individuals are also explored in the paper.
Immigration causes American businesses to fail and that is a good thing
Authors: Murphy Ryan H , Weber Rick
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between immigration rates and business failure, where business failure is viewed as a proxy for the presence of entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

– It employs a panel data approach to the USA, using the percentage of the population that is foreign born as the explanatory variable for the business failure rate ten years later.

Findings

– The authors find the effect to be large, with a one standard deviation increase in the foreign born population corresponding to a 1.09 standard deviation increase in business failure rate, and the authors argue, entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

– The effect the authors find is very large though perhaps also counterintuitive.
Factors affecting building security cost sustainability using PCA
Authors: Maroof Anifowose Opeyemi , Said Ilias , Ismail Radzi
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to evaluate built environment experts’ perception of factors affecting the building security cost for sustainable development. It examines the effects of building characteristics and protective measures on the cost of building security within the built environment.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study uses a quantitative research technique, using questionnaires to source relevant information from respondents. Of the 333 questionnaires administered, 293 usable responses were returned, giving an 88 per cent response rate. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to examine the suitability of these data for factor analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to extract the factors.

Findings

– Components 1, 2 and 3 reflect concern for procurement of security devices, design process of security requirements and safety of life and property and fear of crime, respectively. The communalities represented by R2 are relatively strong across the variables. Aesthetics is significant with an R2 value of 0.71, which shows that this factor should be given due consideration when procuring building security devices. Also, height, location and use of building are significant with R2 values of 0.70, 0.63 and 0.71, respectively. These factors positively influence the building security cost and should be given due consideration when designing protective buildings.

Practical implications

– The findings would assist in the evaluation, planning and control of the rising cost of building security.

Social implications

– This study serves to sensitize built environment experts, criminologists and policymakers of the design implication of protective requirements of building security.

Originality/value

– This study provides empirical evidence that the various factors considered have an effect on the building security cost and contribute immensely towards sustainable the building security cost within the built environment.
Estimating Google’s search engine ranking function from a search engine optimization perspective
Authors: Luh Cheng-Jye , Yang Sheng-An , Huang Ting-Li Dean
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to estimate Google search engine’s ranking function from a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper proposed an estimation function that defines the query match score of a search result as the weighted sum of scores from a limited set of factors. The search results for a query are re-ranked according to the query match scores. The effectiveness was measured by comparing the new ranks with the original ranks of search results.

Findings

– The proposed method achieved the best SEO effectiveness when using the top 20 search results for a query. The empirical results reveal that PageRank (PR) is the dominant factor in Google ranking function. The title follows as the second most important, and the snippet and the URL have roughly equal importance with variations among queries.

Research limitations/implications

– This study considered a limited set of ranking factors. The empirical results reveal that SEO effectiveness can be assessed by a simple estimation of ranking function even when the ranks of the new and original result sets are quite dissimilar.

Practical implications

– The findings indicate that web marketers should pay particular attention to a webpage’s PR, and then place the keyword in URL, the page title, and snippet.

Originality/value

– There have been ongoing concerns about how to formulate a simple strategy that can help a website get ranked higher in search engines. This study provides web marketers much needed empirical evidence about a simple way to foresee the ranking success of an SEO effort.
Sense of belonging based on novel posting
Authors: Guo Tian-Chao , Cheng Zhi-Chao
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– Although novel posting is a universal phenomenon in virtual communities (VCs), few studies have addressed the benefits of novel posting for group members. The purpose of this paper is to identify the social and psychological outcomes of novel posting, particularly whether and how sense of belonging can be produced by it. Sense of belonging implies an individual’s integration or assimilation into virtual groups.

Design/methodology/approach

– To assess the theoretical model, a survey was administered in an internet discussion community (Baidu Post Bar in China), and structural equation modeling was then used to test the model.

Findings

– Novel posting can produce social and psychological outcomes, such as social interaction ties, group-based self-esteem and sense of belonging. Novel posting is an individualized behavior, which some studies consider to conflict with sense of belonging; however, via the mediating effects of social interaction ties and group-based self-esteem, sense of belonging can also arise based on novel posting.

Practical implications

– VC operators should focus on differentiating between irrational posts and novel posts and encourage the latter. Additionally, to satisfy members’ needs, VC operators should strengthen the degree of social interaction ties and members’ self-esteem by providing attractive topics and virtual rankings.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the social and psychological outcomes of novel posting and, more importantly, whether and how sense of belonging arises on the basis of individualized behavior.
Emphasising the political and emotional dimensions of organisational change politics with Laclauian discourse theory
Authors: MacKillop Eleanor
Published: March 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore power-resistance plays, or organisational change (OC) politics, from a discourse theory perspective to deepen our understanding of the political and emotional dimensions of these phenomena.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper deploys Laclauian concepts of hegemony, fantasmatic narrative and empty signifiers alongside a recently-developed logics of critical explanation approach in the case study of an English local authority formulating a project of integrated commissioning in response to austerity.

Findings

– The paper demonstrates how OC politics are played out in multiple ways, from social and political negotiations over the meaning of commissioning to the refuelling of the authority’s fantasmatic narrative.

Originality/value

– The paper’s key value is to illustrate how and why discourse theory can contribute, alongside other discursive frameworks, to the in-depth qualitative and political study of organisational issues such as change.
Cumulative effects of volcanic ash on the food preferences of two Orthopteran species
Authors: Fernández‐Arhex Valeria , Amadio Maria E. , Bruzzone Octavio A.
Published: March 2016

Inert dusts are an early form of insecticide which is still in use. One of the most common inert dusts is volcanic ash. In order to study the reaction of rangeland grasshoppers,Dichroplus vittigerum(Acrididae) and a katydid,Burgilis mendosensis(Phaneropteridae), to the presence of volcanic ash in their food sources and how this reaction changed as a function of time, we conducted paired preference tests between clean leaves of their preferred host plant and leaves exposed to volcanic ash of different grain size. The behavioral response was measured as the rating on the Thurstonian preference scale of leaves with ash in relation to clean leaves. The results showed that the avoidance of volcanic ash increased as a function of time in both species. Both species studied are occasionally exposed to volcanic activity, and come from an area in which a volcanic eruption had recently occurred. As their populations did not decrease after the ash fall, we propose that some behavioral responses such as avoidance of places with ash, works as tolerance mechanism to inert dusts exposure.
Is contrast‐enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) helpful in differentiating diabetic mastopathy from breast carcinoma?
Authors: Travieso Aja María del Mar , Santana López Gloria , Rodríguez Rodríguez Mario , Luzardo Octavio P
Published: March 2016

Diabetic mastopathy (DM) is a rare benign inflammatory disease of the breast, which nevertheless gives suspicious image of malignancy by breast ultrasound and mammography. MRI studies of this disease have indicated both nonspecific enhancement and non‐enhancement of the lesion, depending on its degree of lymphocytic infiltration. This is the first case report discussing the appearances of DM on CESM, a novel mammographic technique.
Psychotic symptoms and smoking in 44 countries
Authors: Koyanagi A. , Stickley A. , Haro J. M.
Published: March 2016

Objective

To assess the association between psychotic symptoms and smoking among community‐dwelling adults in 44 countries.

Method

Data from the World Health Survey (WHS) for 192 474 adults aged ≥18 years collected in 2002–2004 were analyzed. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to identify four types of past 12‐month psychotic symptoms. Smoking referred to current daily and non‐daily smoking. Heavy smoking was defined as smoking ≥30 tobacco products/day.

Results

The pooled age–sex‐adjusted OR (95% CI) of psychotic symptoms (i.e., at least one psychotic symptom) for smoking was 1.35 (1.27–1.43). After adjustment for potential confounders, compared to those with no psychotic symptoms, the ORs (95% CIs) for smoking for 1, 2, and ≥3 psychotic symptoms were 1.20 (1.08–1.32), 1.25 (1.08–1.45), and 1.36 (1.13–1.64) respectively. Among daily smokers, psychotic symptoms were associated with heavy smoking (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.10–1.92), and individuals who initiated daily smoking at ≤15 years of age were 1.22 (95% CI = 1.05–1.42) times more likely to have psychotic symptoms.

Conclusions

An increased awareness that psychotic symptoms are associated with smoking is important from a public health and clinical point of view. Future studies that investigate the underlying link between psychotic symptoms and smoking prospectively are warranted.
Why we should consider sex (and study sex differences) in addiction research
Authors: Sanchis‐Segura Carla , Becker Jill B.
Published: March 2016

Among mammals, every cell has a biological sex, and the sex of an individual pervades its body and brain. In this review, we describe the processes through which mammals become phenotypically male or female by organizational and activational influences of genes and hormones throughout development. We emphasized that the molecular and cellular changes triggered by sex chromosomes and steroid hormones may generate sex differences in overt physiological functions and behavior, but they may alternatively promote end‐point convergences between males and females. Clinical and pre‐clinical evidences suggest that sex and gender differences modulate drug consumption as well as of the transition towards drug‐promoted pathological states such as dependence and addiction. Additionally, sex differences in drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics will also influence dependence and addiction as well as side effects of drugs. These effects will further interact with socially gendered factors to result in sex differences in the access to, engagement in and efficacy of any therapeutic attempt. Finally, we maintain that ‘sex sameness’ is as important as ‘sex differences’ when building a complete understanding of biology for both males and females and provide a framework with which to classify and guide investigation into the mechanisms mediating sex differences and sex sameness.
Incidence of esophageal cancer in Sri Lanka: Analysis of cancer registry data and comparison with other South Asian populations
Authors: Wickramasinghe Dakshitha P , Samarasekera Dharmabandhu N
Published: March 2016

Introduction

The objectives of this study were to report the incidence of Carcinoma of Esophagus (CaE) in Sri Lanka and to compare these values with other cancer registry data of the region and with migrant populations.

Materials and Methods

We compared the data published by the National Cancer Control Program over the last two decades with data from the National Cancer Registry Programme of the Indian Council of Medical Research and Karachi Cancer Registry. SEERstat was used to analyze the surveillance, epidemiology and end results database to analyze data on Indian migrant population.

Results

CaE was the fourth most common cancer overall and among females and third most common cancer among males. The incidence of CaE rises with age in both sexes, with a peak in the 70–74 year age group. There was a disproportionately higher number of CaE in the Tamil population (chi‐square test, P < 0.00001). The commonest type of CaE in Sri Lanka was squamous cell carcinoma, Not otherwise specified (NOS) (n = 750, 70.5%), followed by adenocarcinoma, NOS (n = 83, 7.8%). India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have comparable age‐adjusted incidence and age distribution of CaE. All migrant populations had lower incidence of CaE than original population or population in their present country. Both cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are more prevalent in Sri Lankan males than females.

Discussion and Conclusions

The incidence of CaE and its distribution among age groups in Sri Lanka was comparable to other countries of the region. Persons of Tamil ethnicity have a higher risk of developing CaE.
An evaluation of exact methods for the multiple subset maximum cardinality selection problem
Authors: Brusco Michael J. , Köhn Hans‐Friedrich , Steinley Douglas
Published: March 2016

The maximum cardinality subset selection problem requires finding the largest possible subset from a set of objects, such that one or more conditions are satisfied. An important extension of this problem is to extract multiple subsets, where the addition of one more object to a larger subset would always be preferred to increases in the size of one or more smaller subsets. We refer to this as the multiple subset maximum cardinality selection problem (MSMCSP). A recently published branch‐and‐bound algorithm solves the MSMCSP as a partitioning problem. Unfortunately, the computational requirement associated with the algorithm is often enormous, thus rendering the method infeasible from a practical standpoint. In this paper, we present an alternative approach that successively solves a series of binary integer linear programs to obtain a globally optimal solution to the MSMCSP. Computational comparisons of the methods using published similarity data for 45 food items reveal that the proposed sequential method is computationally far more efficient than the branch‐and‐bound approach.
That's My Art: A Case Study on Children's Views of Cultural Policy
Authors: Vanhaeght Anne‐Sofie , Bauwens Joke
Published: March 2016

How do children experience a participatory TV cultural policy project and, related to that, which views do they share on cultural policy matters? These questions guided a case study on a TV show aired on the Flemish children's public service channel, which staged children as cultural experts. Although the programme was presented as a participatory project, we found that the children's views were minimally involved in the production process. The children also expressed concerns about how (their) art and cultural practices were represented. Yet, from a cultural policy perspective, the children accepted adults’ authority in art and cultural matters.
Effects of an invasive ant on land snails in the Ogasawara Islands
Authors: Uchida Shota , Mori Hideaki , Kojima Tsubasa , Hayama Kayo , Sakairi Yuko , Chiba Satoshi
Published: March 2016

We investigated how Pheidole megacephala has affected endemic achatinellid snails because these snails are excellent indicators of the impact of ants and they have high conservation value in Ogasawara. In 2015 we surveyed the Minamizaki area of Hahajima Island of Ogasawara, designated a core zone of the World Heritage Site, for P. megacephala. In Minamizaki, we determined the distribution and density of achatinellid snails in 2015 and compared these data with their distribution and density in 2005. Land cover in the survey area was entirely forest. We also tested whether P. megacephala preyed on achatinellid snails in the laboratory. P. megacephala was present in the forested areas of Minamizaki. Achatinellid snails were absent in 19 of 39 sites where P. megacephala was present, whereas in other areas densities of the snails ranged from 2 to 228 individuals/site. In the laboratory, P. megacephala carried 6 of 7 achatinellid snails and a broken shell was found. Snail distribution and density comparisons and results of the feeding experiments suggest that the presence of P. megacephala has contributed to the decline of achatinellid snails in forests in the survey area. Yet, P. megacephala is not on the official list of invasive non‐native species. Stakeholders using the list of invasive species to develop conservation programs should recognize that invasiveness of non‐native species differs depending on the ecosystem and that official lists may not be complete.
Species‐level persistence probabilities for recovery and conservation status assessment
Authors: Che‐Castaldo Judy P. , Neel Maile C.
Published: March 2016

Recovery planning for species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act has been hampered by a lack of consistency and transparency, which can be improved by implementing a standardized approach for evaluating species status and developing measurable recovery criteria. However, managers lack an assessment method that integrates threat abatement and can be used when demographic data are limited. To help meet these needs, we demonstrated an approach for evaluating species status based on habitat configuration data. We applied 3 established persistence measures (patch occupancy, metapopulation capacity, and proportion of population lost) to compare 2 conservation strategies (critical habitat designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service's Carbonate Habitat Management Strategy) and 2 threat scenarios (maximum limestone mining, removal of all habitat in areas with mining claims; minimum mining, removal of habitat only in areas with existing operations and high‐quality ore) against a baseline of existing habitat for 3 federally listed plant species. Protecting all area within the designated critical habitat maintained a similar level (83.9–99.9%) of species persistence as the baseline, whereas maximum mining greatly reduced persistence (0.51–38.4% maintained). The 3 persistence measures provided complementary insights reflecting different aspects of habitat availability (total area, number of patches, patch size, and connectivity). These measures can be used to link recovery criteria developed following the 3 R principles (representation, redundancy, and resilience) to the resulting improvements in species viability. By focusing on amount and distribution of habitat, our method provides a means of assessing the status of data‐poor species to inform decision making under the Endangered Species Act.
Disentangling the effects of race and socioeconomic factors on liver transplantation rates for hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Sarpel Umut , Suprun Maria , Sofianou Anastasia , Berger Yaniv , Tedjasukmana Andreas , Sekendiz Zennur , Bagiella Emilia , Schwartz Myron E.
Published: March 2016

Introduction

Liver transplantation is the most effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in eligible patients, but is not accessed equally by all. We explored the effects of race and socioeconomic factors on transplantation for HCC while controlling for stage, resection status, and transplant candidacy.

Patients and methods

All HCC patients, 2003–2013, were retrospectively analyzed using multivariate analysis to explore differences in transplantation rates among cohorts.

Results

Of 3078 HCC patients, 754 (24%) were considered transplant eligible. Odds of transplantation were significantly higher for those with commercial insurance (OR = 1.99, 95% CI [1.42, 2.79]) and lower for black patients (OR = 0.55, 95% CI [0.33, 0.91]). Asians were more likely to be resected than white patients with similarly staged tumors and transplant criteria (p < 0.001). Patients not listed for transplantation for non‐medical reasons were more likely to be government‐insured (p = 0.02) and not white (p = 0.05). No step along the transplantation pathway was identified as the dominant hurdle.

Discussion

Patients who are black or government‐insured are significantly less likely to undergo transplantation for HCC despite controlling for tumor stage, resection status, and transplant eligibility. Asian patients have higher rates of hepatic resection, but also appear to have lower transplantation rates beyond this effect.
A rare complication after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: post‐transplant erythrocytosis
Authors: Atilla Erden , Topcuoglu Pervin , Ataca Pinar , Pekcan Gultekin , Bozdag Sinem Civriz , Yuksel Meltem Kurt , Ozcan Muhit , Gurman Gunhan , Toprak Selami Kocak
Published: March 2016

Post‐transplant erythrocytosis is an infrequent complication and has been reported after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo‐HSCT) in aplastic anemia, acute myeloid leukemia, and chronic myeloid leukemia. The pre‐disposing factors and treatment are not clearly defined. We present 11 post‐transplant erythrocytosis cases. More studies should be conducted to distinguish the pathogenesis and follow‐up for this rare complication.
Shelf life: neritic habitat use of a turtle population highly threatened by fisheries
Authors: Snape Robin T. E. , Broderick Annette C. , Çiçek Burak A. , Fuller Wayne J. , Glen Fiona , Stokes Kimberley , Godley Brendan J.
Published: March 2016

Aim

It is difficult to mitigate threats to marine vertebrates until their habitat use is understood. We report on a decade of satellite tracking loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from an important nesting site to determine priority habitats for their protection in a region where they are known to be heavily impacted by fisheries.

Location

Cyprus, Eastern Mediterranean.

Method

We tracked 27 adult female loggerheads between 2001 and 2012 from North Cyprus nesting beaches. To eliminate potential biases, we included females nesting on all coasts of our study area, at different periods of the nesting season and from a range of size classes.

Results

Foraging sites were distributed over the continental shelf of Cyprus, the Levant and North Africa, up to a maximum distance of 2100 km from nesting sites. Foraging sites were clustered in (1) near‐shore waters of Cyprus and Syria, (2) offshore waters of Egypt and (3) offshore and near‐shore regions of Libya and Tunisia. The North Cyprus and west Egypt/east Libyan coasts are important areas for loggerhead turtles during migration. Movement patterns within foraging sites strongly suggest benthic feeding in discrete areas. Early nesters visited other rookeries in Turkey, Syria and Israel where they likely laid further clutches. Tracking suggests minimum annual mortality of 11%, comparable to other fishery‐impacted loggerhead populations.

Main conclusions

This work further highlights the importance of neritic habitats of Libya and Tunisia as areas likely used by loggerhead turtles from many of the Mediterranean rookeries and where the threat of fisheries bycatch is high. Our tracking data also suggest that anthropogenic mortalities may have occurred in North Cyprus, Syria and Egypt; all within near‐shore marine areas where small‐scale fisheries operate. Protection of this species across many geopolitical units is a major challenge and documenting their distribution is an important first step.
Dissecting heterogeneity in paediatric Type 1 diabetes: association of TCF7L2 rs7903146 TT and low‐risk human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes
Authors: Redondo M. J. , Grant S. F. A. , Davis A. , Greenbaum C. ,   the T1D Exchange Biobank
Published: March 2016

Aims

To test the hypothesis that non‐obese individuals with childhood‐onset Type 1 diabetes and the rs7903146 TT genotype would be less likely to have high‐risk human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes and alleles.

Methods

We studied a cohort of 105 non‐obese participants in the T1D Exchange Biobank Residual Insulin Study who had childhood‐onset Type 1 diabetes [mean (sd) age at onset and recruitment, respectively, 9.9 (4.15) and 14.4 (4.13) years; 84.8% non‐Hispanic white]. We analysed islet autoantibodies (glutamic acid decarboxylase 65, islet cell autoantigen 512/islet antigen‐2 and zinc transporter 8), non‐fasting random C‐peptide levels, HLA type and TCF7L2 single nucleotide polymorphism rs7903146 in this cohort.

Results

None of the 13 individuals with the rs7903146 TT genotype carried the highest Type 1 diabetes risk HLA genotype, i.e. DRB1*03:01/DR4 (DRB1*0401, *04:05 or *04:02), compared with 29.4% (27/92) of those without it (P=0.023). The DRB1*03:01 allele was present in 15.4% (2/13) of individuals with the single nucleotide polymorphism, compared with 59.8% (55/92) of those without it (P=0.003). Analyses restricted to autoantibody‐positive individuals (n=80) yielded similar results. The HLA DRB1*15:01 allele, which affords dominant protection against Type 1 diabetes, was found in one participant, who had multiple islet autoantibodies and carried the rs7903146 TT genotype.

Conclusions

These findings further support the hypothesis that TCF7L2 gene variation contributes to diabetogenesis in a subset of young people with Type 1 diabetes, opening possible new pathways for therapy and prevention.
Glycaemic control and risk of incident urinary incontinence in women with Type 1 diabetes: results from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial and Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (DCCT/EDIC) study
Authors: Lenherr S. M. , Clemens J. Q. , Braffett B. H. , Dunn R. L. , Cleary P. A. , Kim C. , Herman W. H. , Hotaling J. M. , Jacobson A. M. , Brown J. S. , Wessells H. , Sarma A. V. ,   the DCCT/EDIC Research Group
Published: March 2016

Aims

To study the impact of glycaemic control on urinary incontinence in women who participated in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT; 1983–1993) and its observational follow‐up study, the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC; 1994–present).

Methods

Study participants were women who completed, at both years 10 (2003) and 17 (2010) of the EDIC follow‐up, the urological assessment questionnaire (UroEDIC). Urinary incontinence was defined as self‐reported involuntary leakage of urine that occurred at least weekly. Incident urinary incontinence was defined as weekly urinary incontinence present at EDIC year 17 but not at EDIC year 10. Multivariable regression models were used to examine the association of incident urinary incontinence with comorbid prevalent conditions and glycaemic control (mean HbA1c over the first 10 years of EDIC).

Results

A total of 64 (15.3%) women with Type 1 diabetes (mean age 43.6 ± 6.3 years at EDIC year 10) reported incident urinary incontinence at EDIC year 17. When adjusted for clinical covariates (including age, DCCT cohort assignment, DCCT treatment arm, BMI, insulin dosage, parity, hysterectomy, autonomic neuropathy and urinary tract infection in the last year), the mean EDIC HbA1c was associated with increased odds of incident urinary incontinence (odds ratio 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.06 per mmol/mol increase; odds ratio 1.41, 95% CI 1.07–1.89 per % HbA1c increase).

Conclusions

Incident urinary incontinence was associated with higher HbA1c levels in women with Type 1 diabetes, independent of other recognized risk factors. These results suggest the potential for women to modify their risk of urinary incontinence with improved glycaemic control. (Clinical Trials Registry no: NCT00360815 and NCT00360893).
Temporal spawning migration patterns of landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in a constructed stream
Authors: Loughlin Kristin G. , Clarke Keith D. , Pennell Curtis J. , McCarthy James H. , Sellars Brent
Published: March 2016

Landlocked Atlantic salmon (ouananiche, Salmo salar) spawning migration timing varies throughout its range and is influenced by a variety of environmental variables. This study examined the spawning migration time of landlocked Atlantic salmon in a small (4 ha) constructed stream linked to a large reservoir (32,600 ha) in Newfoundland, Canada. Salmon use of the stream was passively monitored using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Tags from 2006 to 2012. Of the salmon tagged throughout the reservoir, 48% entered the stream during the spawning season and remained there for 18–36 days from late September to November before they returned to the reservoir. Most fish entered the stream at dusk (32%). The lunar cycle influenced the timing of migration each year. Mean stream discharge (cubic metres per second) influenced migration timing in some years, and water temperature appeared to have minimal impact on migration timing. Twenty per cent of fish migrated to the stream in multiple years and 51% of these individuals appeared to use the stream on a biennial or alternate year cycle. These results demonstrate that small constructed streams can attract salmon from throughout a large reservoir and can provide valuable habitat in areas where spawning habitat is limited.
Termination of seizure clusters is related to the duration of focal seizures
Authors: Ferastraoaru Victor , Schulze‐Bonhage Andreas , Lipton Richard B. , Dümpelmann Matthias , Legatt Alan D. , Blumberg Julie , Haut Sheryl R.
Published: March 2016

Objective

Clustered seizures are characterized by shorter than usual interseizure intervals and pose increased morbidity risk. This study examines the characteristics of seizures that cluster, with special attention to the final seizure in a cluster.

Methods

This is a retrospective analysis of long‐term inpatient monitoring data from the EPILEPSIAE project. Patients underwent presurgical evaluation from 2002 to 2009. Seizure clusters were defined by the occurrence of at least two consecutive seizures with interseizure intervals of <4 h. Other definitions of seizure clustering were examined in a sensitivity analysis. Seizures were classified into three contextually defined groups: isolated seizures (not meeting clustering criteria), terminal seizure (last seizure in a cluster), and intracluster seizures (any other seizures within a cluster). Seizure characteristics were compared among the three groups in terms of duration, type (focal seizures remaining restricted to one hemisphere vs. evolving bilaterally), seizure origin, and localization concordance among pairs of consecutive seizures.

Results

Among 92 subjects, 77 (83%) had at least one seizure cluster. The intracluster seizures were significantly shorter than the last seizure in a cluster (p = 0.011), whereas the last seizure in a cluster resembled the isolated seizures in terms of duration. Although focal only (unilateral), seizures were shorter than seizures that evolved bilaterally and there was no correlation between the seizure type and the seizure position in relation to a cluster (p = 0.762). Frontal and temporal lobe seizures were more likely to cluster compared with other localizations (p = 0.009). Seizure pairs that are part of a cluster were more likely to have a concordant origin than were isolated seizures. Results were similar for the 2 h definition of clustering, but not for the 8 h definition of clustering.

Significance

We demonstrated that intracluster seizures are short relative to isolated seizures and terminal seizures. Frontal and temporal lobe seizures are more likely to cluster.
Can we use subchondral bone thickness on high‐field magnetic resonance images to identify Thoroughbred racehorses at risk of catastrophic lateral condylar fracture?
Authors: Tranquille C. A. , Murray R. C. , Parkin T. D. H.
Published: March 2016

Reasons for performing study

Fractures of the lateral condyle of the third metacarpus (MC3) are a significant welfare concern in horseracing worldwide.

Objectives

The primary aim of this work was to identify magnetic resonance (MR) image‐detectable prefracture markers that have the potential for use as a screening tool to identify horses at significant risk of catastrophic fracture.

Study design

Case‐control study of bone‐level risk factors for fracture in racehorses.

Methods

A total of 191 MC3s from horses, with and without lateral condylar fracture of MC3, were subjected to MR imaging. The depth of dense subchondral/trabecular bone was measured at several sites around the distal end of the bone and regression analyses were conducted to identify differences in this depth between horses with and without lateral condylar fracture.

Results

Greater depth of dense subchondral/trabecular bone in the palmar half of the lateral parasagittal groove of distal MC3 was associated with an increased likelihood of being from a horse that had sustained a fracture. Receiver operator characteristic analysis was used to identify the optimal cut‐off in the depth of dense subchondral/trabecular bone at this site to best discriminate fracture status. Positive and negative predictive values were calculated using the prevalence of fracture within the current study and also a prevalence estimate for the wider racehorse population.

Conclusions

There is a requirement to identify suitable prescreening test(s) to eliminate many true negative horses and increase the prevalence of prefracture pathology in the sub population that would be screened using MR imaging, in turn maximising the positive predictive value of this test.
A coupled FE–EFG approach for modelling crack growth in ductile materials
Authors: Shedbale A. S. , Singh I. V. , Mishra B. K.
Published: March 2016

In this work, a coupled finite element–element free Galerkin approach has been used to model crack growth in ductile materials under monotonic and cyclic loads. In this approach, a small discontinuous domain near crack is modelled by EFG method, whereas the rest of the domain is modelled by FEM to exploit the advantages of both the methods. A ramp function has been used in the transition region to maintain the continuity between FE and EFG domains. Two plasticity models (GTN and von‐Mises) and three hardening rules (isotropic, kinematic and mixed) have been used to model the nonlinear material behaviour. Four different problems, i.e. single edge notched tension specimen, double edge notched tension specimen, compact tension specimen and three‐point bend specimen, are solved under plane strain condition using J–R curve approach. Finally, a CT specimen problem is also solved by coupled approach using three hardening rules and two plasticity models under cyclic loading.
Microbe‐like inclusions in tree resins and implications for the fossil record of protists in amber
Authors: Thiel V. , Lausmaa J. , Sjövall P. , Ragazzi E. , Seyfullah L. J. , Schmidt A. R.
Published: March 2016

During the past two decades, a plethora of fossil micro‐organisms have been described from various Triassic to Miocene ambers. However, in addition to entrapped microbes, ambers commonly contain microscopic inclusions that sometimes resemble amoebae, ciliates, microfungi, and unicellular algae in size and shape, but do not provide further diagnostic features thereof. For a better assessment of the actual fossil record of unicellular eukaryotes in amber, we studied equivalent inclusions in modern resin of the Araucariaceae; this conifer family comprises important amber‐producers in Earth history. Using time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS), we investigated the chemical nature of the inclusion matter and the resin matrix. Whereas the matrix, as expected, showed a more hydrocarbon/aromatic‐dominated composition, the inclusions contain abundant salt ions and polar organics. However, the absence of signals characteristic for cellular biomass, namely distinctive proteinaceous amino acids and lipid moieties, indicates that the inclusions do not contain microbial cellular matter but salts and hydrophilic organic substances that probably derived from the plant itself. Rather than representing protists or their remains, these microbe‐like inclusions, for which we propose the term ‘pseudoinclusions’, consist of compounds that are immiscible with the terpenoid resin matrix and were probably secreted in small amounts together with the actual resin by the plant tissue. Consequently, reports of protists from amber that are only based on the similarity of the overall shape and size to extant taxa, but do not provide relevant features at light‐microscopical and ultrastructural level, cannot be accepted as unambiguous fossil evidence for these particular groups.