bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of commercial mouth-rinses on SARS-CoV-2 viral load in saliva: Randomized Control Trial in Singapore
Authors: Seneviratne Chaminda J. , Balan Preethi , Ki Karrie Ko Kwan , Udawatte Nadeeka S , Lai Deborah , Lin Dorothy Ng Hui , Venkatachalam Indumathi , Sit Jay Lim Kheng , Lin Ling Moi , Oon Lynette , Tin Goh Bee , Ying Jean Sim Xiang 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe presence of high SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) titres in saliva may result in transmission of the virus and increase the risk of COVID-19 infection. This is particularly important as significant amounts of aerosols are generated during dental procedures, posing risk to dental care personnel and patients. Thus, reducing the titres of SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva of infected patients could be one of the key approaches to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission during dental procedures. In this randomised control trial, the efficacy of three commercial mouth-rinse viz. povidone-iodine (PI), chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), in reducing the salivary SARS-CoV-2 viral load in COVID-19 positive patients were compared with water. A total of 36 COVID-19 positive patients were recruited, of which 16 patients were randomly assigned to four groups— PI group (n=4), CHX group (n=6), CPC group (n=4) and water as control group (n=2). Saliva samples were collected from all patients at baseline and at 5 min, 3 h and 6 h post-application of mouth-rinses/water. The samples were subjected to SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR analysis. The fold change of Ct values were significantly increased in CPC group at 5 minutes and 6 h time points (p<0.05), while it showed significant increase at 6 h time point for PI group (p<0.01). Considering Ct values as an indirect method of arbitrarily quantifying the viral load, it can be postulated that CPC mouth-rinse can decrease the salivary SARS-CoV-2 levels within 5 minutes of use, compared to water rinsing. The effect of decreasing salivary load with CPC and PI mouth-rinsing was observed to be sustained at 6 h time point. Within the limitation of the current study, it can be concluded that use of CPC and PI formulated commercial mouth-rinses, with its sustained effect on reducing salivary SARS-CoV-2 level, may be useful as a pre-procedural rinse to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
First detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the vicinity of COVID-19 isolation centre through wastewater surveillance in Bangladesh
Authors: Ahmed Firoz , Islam Md. Aminul , Kumar Manish , Hossain Maqsud , Bhattachariya Prosun , Islam Md. Tahmidul , Hossen Foysal , Hossain Md. Shahadat , Uddin Md. Main , Islam Md. Nur , Bahadur Newaz Mohammed , Didar-ul-Alam Md. , Reza Hasan Mahmud , Jakariya Md. 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTIn the course of a COVID-19 pandemic, 0.33 million people got infected in Bangladesh, we made the first and successful attempt to detect SARS-CoV-2 viruses’ genetic material in the vicinity wastewaters of an isolation centre i.e. Shaheed Bhulu Stadium, situated at Noakhali. The idea was to understand the genetic loading variation, both temporal and distance-wise in the nearby wastewater drains when the number of infected COVID-19 patients is not varying much. Owing to the fact that isolation center, in general, always contained a constant number of 200 COVID-19 patients, the prime objective of the study was to check if several drains carrying RNA of coronavirus are actually getting diluted or accumulated along with the sewage network. Our finding suggested that while the temporal variation of the genetic load decreased in small drains over the span of 50 days, the main sewer exhibited accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Other interesting finding displays that probably distance of sampling location in meters is not likely to have a significant impact on gene detection concentration, although the quantity of the RNA extracted in the downstream of the drain was higher. These findings are of immense value from the perspective of wastewater surveillance of COVID-19, as they largely imply that we do not need to monitor every wastewater system, and probably major drains monitoring may illustrate the city health. Perhaps, we are reporting the accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material along the sewer network i.e. from primary to tertiary drains. The study sought further data collection in this line to simulate conditions prevailed in the most of south Asian country and to shed further light on the temporal variation and decay/accumulation processes of the genetic load of the SARS-COV-2.HIGHLIGHTSFirst detection report of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the wastewaters of Bangladesh.We traced the genetic load in the vicinity of the isolation center with 200 COVID-19 patients.About 75% of positive samples were found during the monitoring period.Main sewer and canal exhibit temporal accumulation of genetic load of SARS-CoV-2In general, shredding shows a variable trend during the sampling tenure.
Gaussian graphical modeling of the serum exposome and metabolome reveals interactions between environmental chemicals and endogenous metabolites involved in critical metabolic processes
Authors: Bessonneau Vincent , Gerona Roy R. , Trowbridge Jessica , Grashow Rachel , Lin Thomas , Buren Heather , Morello-Frosch Rachel , Rudel Ruthann A. 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTGiven the complex exposures from both exogenous and endogenous sources that an individual experiences during life, exposome-wide association studies that interrogate levels of small molecules in biospecimens have been proposed for discovering causes of chronic diseases. We conducted a study to explore associations between environmental chemicals and endogenous molecules using Gaussian graphical models (GGMs) of non-targeted metabolomics data measured in a cohort of California women firefighters and office workers. GGMs revealed many exposure-metabolite associations, including that exposures to mono-hydroxyisononyl phthalate, ethyl paraben and 4-ethylbenzoic acid were associated with metabolites involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were linked to bile acids – hormones that regulate cholesterol and glucose metabolism – and inflammatory signaling molecules. Some hypotheses generated from these findings were confirmed by analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Taken together, our findings demonstrate a novel approach to discovering associations between chemical exposures and biological processes of potential relevance for disease causation.
Adherence to the test, trace and isolate system: results from a time series of 21 nationally representative surveys in the UK (the COVID-19 Rapid Survey of Adherence to Interventions and Responses [CORSAIR] study)
Authors: Smith Louise E , Potts Henry WW , Amlȏt Richard , Fear Nicola T , Michie Susan , Rubin G James 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTObjectivesTo investigate rates of adherence to the UK’s test, trace and isolate system over time.DesignTime series of cross-sectional online surveys.SettingData were collected between 2 March and 5 August 2020.Participants42,127 responses from 31,787 people living in the UK, aged 16 years or over, are presented (21 survey waves, n≈2,000 per wave).Main outcome measuresIdentification of the key symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, high temperature / fever, and loss of sense of smell or taste), self-reported adherence to self-isolation if symptomatic, requesting an antigen test if symptomatic, intention to share details of close contacts, self-reported adherence to quarantine if alerted that you had been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case.ResultsOnly 48.9% of participants (95% CI 48.2% to 49.7%) identified key symptoms of COVID-19. Self-reported adherence to test, trace and isolate behaviours was low (self-isolation 18.2%, 95% CI 16.4% to 19.9%; requesting an antigen test 11.9%, 95% CI 10.1% to 13.8%; intention to share details of close contacts 76.1%, 95% CI 75.4% to 76.8%; quarantining 10.9%, 95% CI 7.8% to 13.9%) and largely stable over time. By contrast, intention to adhere to protective measures was much higher. Non-adherence was associated with: men, younger age groups, having a dependent child in the household, lower socioeconomic grade, greater hardship during the pandemic, and working in a key sector.ConclusionsPractical support and financial reimbursement is likely to improve adherence. Targeting messaging and policies to men, younger age groups, and key workers may also be necessary.WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPICTest, trace and isolate systems are one of the cornerstones of COVID-19 recovery strategy.The success of the test, trace and isolation system depends on adherence to isolating if symptomatic, getting a test if symptomatic, passing on details of close contacts if infection is confirmed, and quarantining of contacts.Rates of adherence to test, trace and isolate behaviours in the UK need to be systematically investigated.WHAT THIS STUDY ADDSSelf-reported adherence to test, trace and isolate behaviours is low; intention to carry out these behaviours is much higher.Identification of COVID-19 symptoms is also low.Practical support and financial reimbursement are likely to improve adherence to test, trace and isolate behaviours.
Time course of homeostatic structural plasticity in response to optogenetic stimulation in mouse anterior cingulate cortex
Authors: Lu Han , Gallinaro Júlia V. , Normann Claus , Rotter Stefan , Yalcin Ipek 
Published: September 2020

AbstractPlasticity is the mechanistic basis of development, aging, learning and memory, both in healthy and pathological brains. Structural plasticity is rarely accounted for in computational network models, due to a lack of insight into the underlying neuronal mechanisms and processes. Little is known about how the rewiring of networks is dynamically regulated. To inform such models, we characterized the time course of neural activity, the expression of synaptic proteins, and neural morphology employing anin vivooptogenetic mouse model. We stimulated pyramidal neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex of mice and harvested their brains at 1.5 h, 24 h, and 48 h after stimulation. Stimulus-induced cortical hyperactivity persisted up to 1.5 h and decayed to baseline after 24 h, indicated by c-Fos expression. The synaptic proteins VGLUT1 and PSD-95, in contrast, were upregulated at 24 h and downregulated at 48 h, respectively. Spine density and spine head volume were also increased at 24 h and decreased at 48 h. This specific sequence of events reflects a continuous joint evolution of activity and connectivity that is characteristic of the model of homeostatic structural plasticity. Our computer simulations thus corroborate the observed empirical evidence from our animal experiments.
Rotational dynamics versus sequence-like responses
Authors: Lebedev Mikhail A , Ninenko Ivan , Ossadtchi Alexei 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIn a recent review, Vyas et al. commented on our previous observations regarding the presence of response sequences in the activity of cortical neuronal population and the contribution of such sequences to rotational dynamics patterns revealed with jPCA. Vyas et al. suggested that rotations generated from sequence-like responses are different from the ones arising from empirical neuronal patterns, which are highly heterogeneous across motor conditions in terms of response timing and shape. Here we extend our previous findings with new results showing that empirical population data contain plentiful neuronal responses whose shape and timing persist across arm-movement conditions. The more complex, heterogeneous responses can be also found; these response patterns also contain temporal sequences, which are evident from the analysis of cross-condition variance. Combined with simulation results, these observations show that both consistent and heterogeneous responses contribute to rotational patterns revealed with jPCA. We suggest that the users of jPCA should consider these two contributions when interpreting their results. Overall, we do not see any principal contradiction between the neural population dynamics framework and our results pertaining to sequence-like responses. Yet, questions remain regarding the conclusions that can be drawn from the analysis of low-dimensional representations of neuronal population data.
Top management team meetings and firm performance
Authors: Harymawan Iman , Nasih Mohammad , Nowland John 
Published: September 2020

PurposeHow do shareholders know if corporate managers are doing their jobs? This paper aims to propose using top management team meetings as a measure of the behavior of company managers. More meetings may indicate effective effort by top management to enhance company performance. Alternatively, more meetings may reflect procrastination and decision paralysis.Design/methodology/approachUsing top management team meeting data publicly disclosed by Indonesian companies during 2010–2017, this study tests for these hypothesized relationships between top management team meeting frequency and firm performance.FindingsThis study found that top management team meetings are positively related to firm performance, indicating that more meetings do represent more effective effort by top management teams. Further analysis shows that only firms that consistently hold more meetings than their peers perform better, particularly during periods of poor performance.Originality/valueThis study highlights top management team meetings as a valid signal of management effort and suggests there should be louder calls for disclosure of these types of executive performance metrics around the world.
The paradox of surprise: empirical evidence about surprising gifts received and given by close relations
Authors: Vanhamme Joëlle , Lindgreen Adam , Beverland Michael 
Published: September 2020

PurposeThis study aims to explore surprising gifts received and given by close relations to identify the variables involved in creating surprising gifts. The analysis of the viewpoints of the giver and the recipient, reflecting their profiles, leads to recommendations for retailers.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory, small-scale, open-ended questionnaire (48 respondents) produces 43 (38) accounts of surprising gifts given (received), informed further by in-depth interviews (eight informants, both givers and recipients of surprising gifts).FindingsThis study identifies and elaborates on the variables (why, when, what, where, who and how, and their combinations) that define surprising gift giving, from both giver and recipient perspectives. The findings indicate a paradox: even if givers or recipients prefer a surprising gift, they might give or wish for an unsurprising gift to avoid disappointment.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research should confirm the findings using representative samples. Moreover, gender differences in surprising gift giving should be investigated further. Finally, the exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.Practical implicationsThe discussion has relevant implications for manufacturers and retailers. For example, if recipients are surprised, happy and satisfied, they likely exhibit higher brand recall. The recipient’s (happy versus not happy) emotions also have spillover effects on the giver’s. Thus, retailers should provide assistance in the store and advertise their salespeople as experts who can offer advice about selecting appropriate gifts. The exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.Originality/valueThe systematic account of all six variables, not previously analyzed in the literature, provides rich insights into surprising gift giving. The discussion of the study of givers and recipients supplements these insights.
Optimisation of a chuck for cardboard can seaming – part 1: surface engineering and tribological evaluation
Authors: Velkavrh Igor , Ausserer Florian , Klien Stefan , Voyer Joel , Vorlaufer Georg , Abbrederis Alexander 
Published: September 2020

PurposeDuring the production of cardboard food cans, the packaging bottom and the cylindrical wall are joined in the seaming process. In order to achieve a high-quality, crack-free surface of the cardboard seam, low friction between the seaming chuck and the cardboard must be ensured. The goal of this study was to minimise the friction between the seaming chuck and the cardboard can surface.Design/methodology/approachTribological properties of the seaming chuck were optimised by adjusting its material properties, surface topography and surface energy followed by measurements of the resulting friction response in sliding contact with a representative paper sample.FindingsA strong correlation between the surface free energies of the tribological samples and their measured coefficients of friction was observed, indicating that in tribological tests, adhesion was the dominating friction mechanism. Furthermore, the fact that the smoother samples yielded higher friction values than the rougher ones is most likely also correlated with the higher adhesion of the smoother samples originating from their larger contact area.Research limitations/implicationsThe existing results indicate that for tribological optimisation of paper and cardboard contacts primarily the adhesive friction component should be considered – by either reducing the surface free energy of the counter-body or optimising its surface topography.Practical implicationsBy applying the selected solution concept, a friction reduction of more than 50% as compared to the benchmark was achieved.Originality/valueThe present study provides a guideline for tribological optimisation of paper and cardboard contacts.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at:https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-02-2020-0064/
Foreign institutional investors and the contribution of cash and dividend to firm's value
Authors: Karim Saima , Ilyas Muhammad 
Published: September 2020

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the effect of foreign institutional investors (FII) on the contribution of cash and dividend to firm's value in the context of Japan.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a sample of 1,929 nonfinancial firms listed in Tokyo Stock Exchange in the period from 2002 to 2016. For data analysis, pooled OLS regression with firm and year fixed effect is applied. Further, the p-value of difference is used to test the null hypothesis of equal coefficients.FindingsThe findings depict that cash holdings contribute more to firm's value when ownership by FII is high. Contrarily, dividends contribute more to firm's value when ownership by FII is low. The results remain consistent after using excess cash holdings instead of cash holdings and after re-estimating the main regression model in the presence of top 30% and bottom 30% ownership level.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to Japanese nonfinancial sector. The results implied that firms where the probability of managerial agency cost and expropriation of cash is high, the presence of FII mitigates the agency cost and positively influences the contribution of cash to firm's value. Overall, this research highlighted the disciplinary and monitoring role of FII in Japan.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights on the monitoring and governance role of foreign institutions, showing that FII promote better cash management and utilization, which significantly affects the contribution of cash holdings to firm's value.
Do new ways of working increase informal learning at work?
Authors: Gerards Ruud , de Grip Andries , Weustink Arnoud 
Published: September 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a first investigation of how new ways of working (NWW) and their various facets relate to employee informal learning at work, while accounting for a range of known antecedents of informal learning.Design/methodology/approachThe job demand–control model and the job demands–resources model underpin our hypotheses on how NWW would relate to informal learning. The hypotheses are tested using the Preacher and Hayes (2008) bootstrap method for mediation analysis, accounting for the potential mediating effect of the frequency with which employees receive feedback.FindingsThe analyses show that NWW positively relate to informal learning at work. This relation is mediated by the frequency with which employees receive feedback. Further analysis shows that one particular NWW facet – access to organizational knowledge – is an independent driver of informal learning, hardly mediated by receiving feedback.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that managers who seek new ways to stimulate informal learning can do so by giving their employees more access to organizational knowledge, for instance, by leveraging the potential of modern ICT.Originality/valueThis empirical paper is the first study on the impact of NWW on informal learning at work. Using data on the Dutch working population, it provides novel insights for several strands of literature as well as for practitioners.
Environmental awareness, consumption of organic products and gender
Authors: do Prado Nágela Bianca , Moraes Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de 
Published: September 2020

PurposeIt was aimed to propose and test a theoretical model to evaluate how some dimensions of environmental awareness influence the intention of consuming organic products using gender as a control variable.Design/methodology/approachThe research was developed through quantitative methodology with the use of multivariate data analysis (PLS-SEM). The model uses a second-order construct. Although, it was conducted in a nonprobabilistic way using a convenience sample, with 213 university students.FindingsIt was confirmed the relation between the environmental awareness dimensions' influence and the intention to buy organic products that is also influenced according to the consumers' gender. There is a more positive effect and intensity in the organics' purchase by women.Research limitations/implicationsThe nonprobabilistic nature in addition to the use of the convenience sample, factors that do not allow the generalization of the results, are some limitations. Moreover, the dimensions of environmental awareness proposed do not include all of the motivators about the organic consumption.Practical implicationsThe results identified the factors that motivate the intention to consume organic products in Brazilian context and can contribute to managerial strategies formulation in order to increase the value perceived by the customer in relation to the consumption of these products.Originality/valueThis paper presents a deeper understanding about the dynamics between the factors that can guide the choice for organic products, besides providing a greater theoretical and empirical support tested by the use of a second-order construct.
Societal religiosity and the gender gap in political interest, 1990–2014
Authors: Fernández Juan J. , Jaime‐Castillo Antonio M. , Mayrl Damon , Valiente Celia 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThis manuscript examines the structural causes of the gender gap in political interest. In many countries, men are more interested in politics than women. Yet, in others, men and women prove equally interested. We explain this cross‐national variation by focusing on the effects of societal religiosity. Since religion sustains the traditional gender order, contexts where societal religiosity is low undermine the taken‐for‐grantedness of this order, subjecting it to debate. Men then become especially interested in politics to try to reassert their traditional gender dominance, or to compensate for their increasingly uncertain social status. A secular environment thus increases political interest more among men than among women, expanding this gender gap. Using the World and European Values Survey, we estimate three‐level regression models and test our religiosity‐based approach in 96 countries. The results are consistent with our hypothesis.