bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Critical role of WNK1 in MYC-dependent early thymocyte development
Authors: Köchl Robert , Vanes Lesley , Sopena Miriam Llorian , Chakravarty Probir , Hartweger Harald , Fountain Kathryn , White Andrea , Cowan Jennifer , Anderson Graham , Tybulewicz Victor L. J. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractWNK1, a kinase that controls kidney salt homeostasis, also regulates adhesion and migration in CD4+T cells.Wnk1is highly expressed in thymocytes, and since migration is important for thymocyte maturation, we investigated a role for WNK1 in thymocyte development. We find that WNK1 is required for the transition of double negative (DN) thymocytes through the β-selection checkpoint and subsequent proliferation and differentiation into double positive (DP) thymocytes. Furthermore, we show that WNK1 negatively regulates LFA1-mediated adhesion and positively regulates CXCL12-induced migration in DN thymocytes. Despite this, migration defects of WNK1-deficient thymocytes do not account for the developmental arrest. Instead, we show that in DN thymocytes WNK1 transduces pre-TCR signals via OXSR1 and STK39 kinases and the SLC12A2 ion co-transporter that are required for post-transcriptional upregulation of MYC and subsequent proliferation and differentiation into DP thymocytes. Thus, a pathway regulating ion homeostasis is a critical regulator of thymocyte development.
A study on the appropriate use of topdown approach for stepping up economic activities in districts of different States/Union Territories in India
Authors: Chakraborty Arindom , Das Kalyan 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAt the beginning of phase 4.0 of lockdown, every State /Union Territories(UT) needs to take appropriate mitigation efforts (lockdown and testing) that may change red zones to orange and even to green zones by May 31, 2020. On the contrary, negligence in following the guidelines (for interventions) strictly, may be alarming and may change green zone status to even the worst red zone status. This has been established through a Statistical model based study here. From the present investigation, the Government can decide the right measures to take up so as to reduce the transmission of the virus and to open partial economic activities in different districts of a state. The whole idea can also be extended to containment zones in a district with sufficient data at hand.
Renin-angiotensin system blockers and susceptibility to COVID-19: a multinational open science cohort study
Authors: Morales Daniel R. , Conover Mitchell M. , You Seng Chan , Pratt Nicole , Kostka Kristin , Duarte-Salles Talita , Fernández-Bertolín Sergio , Aragón Maria , DuVall Scott L. , Lynch Kristine , Falconer Thomas , van Bochove Kees , Sung Cynthia , Matheny Michael E. , Lambert Christophe G. , Nyberg Fredrik , Alshammari Thamir M. , Williams Andrew E. , Park Rae Woong , Weaver James , Sena Anthony G. , Schuemie Martijn J. , Rijnbeek Peter R. , Williams Ross D. , Lane Jennifer C.E. , Prats-Uribe Albert , Zhang Lin , Areia Carlos , Krumholz Harlan M. , Prieto-Alhambra Daniel , Ryan Patrick B. , Hripcsak George , Suchard Marc A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractIntroductionAngiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) could influence infection risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Observational studies to date lack pre-specification, transparency, rigorous ascertainment adjustment and international generalizability, with contradictory results.MethodsUsing electronic health records from Spain (SIDIAP) and the United States (Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Department of Veterans Affairs), we conducted a systematic cohort study with prevalent ACE, ARB, calcium channel blocker (CCB) and thiazide diuretic (THZ) users to determine relative risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and related hospitalization outcomes. The study addressed confounding through large-scale propensity score adjustment and negative control experiments.ResultsFollowing over 1.1 million antihypertensive users identified between November 2019 and January 2020, we observed no significant difference in relative COVID-19 diagnosis risk comparing ACE/ARB vs CCB/THZ monotherapy (hazard ratio: 0.98; 95% CI 0.84 - 1.14), nor any difference for mono/combination use (1.01; 0.90 - 1.15). ACE alone and ARB alone similarly showed no relative risk difference when compared to CCB/THZ monotherapy or mono/combination use. Directly comparing ACE vs. ARB demonstrated a moderately lower risk with ACE, non-significant for monotherapy (0.85; 0.69 - 1.05) and marginally significant for mono/combination users (0.88; 0.79 - 0.99). We observed, however, no significant difference between drug-classes for COVID-19 hospitalization or pneumonia risk across all comparisons.ConclusionThere is no clinically significant increased risk of COVID-19 diagnosis or hospitalization with ACE or ARB use. Users should not discontinue or change their treatment to avoid COVID-19.
Optimizing the COVID-19 Intervention Policy in Scotland and the Case for Testing and Tracing
Authors: Grothey Andreas , Mckinnon Ken 
Published: June 2020

AbstractUnlike other European countries the UK has abandoned widespread testing and tracing of known SARS-CoV-2 carriers in mid-March. The reason given was that the pandemic was out of control and with wide community based spread it would not be possible to contain it by tracing any longer. Like other countries the UK has since relied on a lockdown as the main measure to contain the virus (or more precisely the reproduction numberℛ) at significant economic and social cost. It is clear that this level of lockdown cannot be sustained until a vaccine is available, yet it is not clear what an exit strategy would look like that avoids the danger of a second (or subsequent waves).In this paper we argue that, when used within a portfolio of intervention strategies, widespread testing and tracing leads to significant cost savings compared to using lockdown measures alone. While the effect is most pronounced if a large proportion of the infectious population can be identified and their contacts traced, under reasonable assumptions there are still significant savings even if the fraction of infectious people found by tracing is small.We also present a policy optimization model that finds, for given assumptions on the disease parameters, the best intervention strategy to contain the virus by varying the degree of tracing and lockdown measure (and vaccination once that option is available) over time. We run the model on data fitted to the published COVID-19 outbreak figures for Scotland. The model suggests an intervention strategy that keeps the number of COVID-19 deaths low using a combination of tracing and lockdown. This strategy would only require lockdown measures equivalent to a reduction ofℛto about 1.8–2.0 if lockdown was used alone, at acceptable economic cost, while the model finds no such strategy without tracing enabled.
Risk Factors for Developing Diabetic Foot Ulcer with Nephropathy, Diabetic Kidney Disease and Renal Failure Statistical Analysis of 10,680 Patients’ Cohort
Authors: Aziz Kamran Mahmood Ahmed 
Published: June 2020

ABSTRACTIt has been cited in the research that patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and foot ulcer have poor prognosis; and foot ulceration is associated with kidney dysfunction. However, no study have found association of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) with diabetic kidney dysfunction and their co-existing risk factors including blood pressure, serum creatinine, microalbumin, spot urine protein, HbA1c and associations of nephropathy and DKD with low ankle brachial index (ABI). We monitored, collected and analyzed the data for 10,680 patients for a duration of more than 13 years. 12% of patients demonstrated DFU. Nephropathy was observed in 39% of patients; 43% was hypertensive while 15% demonstrated DKD or CKD. Levels of HbA1c, creatinine,, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, microalbuminuria, spot urine protein, and spot urine protein to creatinine ratio were higher among the groups with foot ulcers (p-value < 0.0001 for all). Average ABI was observed to be lower among the groups demonstrating nephropathy and DKD with significant p-values (p=0.025 and 0.022 respectively). Pearson’s χ2and logistic regression with odds ratio were also analyzed for DFU with HTN, nephropathy and DKD. DFU was significantly associated with HTN (odds ratio 2.2 ; 95% CI 1.66 to 2.9; p < 0.0001), nephropathy (odds ratio 4.77 ;95% CI 3.53 to 6.5; p < 0.0001) and DKD (odds ratio 4.77 and 6.83; 95% CI 4.6 to 10.2; p < 0.0001). ROC was used to find out cutoff values, sensitivity and specificity. HbA1c of 7.8% was 60% sensitive and 52% specific for the development of DFU (AUC = 0.58; 95% CI 0.521 to 0.624; p < 0.0006). Creatinine of 1.2 mg/dl was 75% sensitive and 48% specific for DFU (AUC = 0.58; 95% CI 0.640 to 0.715; p < 0.0001). Spot urine protein excretion from nephrons of 35 mg/dl was 88% sensitive and 90% specific for the development of DFU (AUC = 0.585; 95% CI 0.555 to 0.616; p < 0.0001). Our data has demonstrated the first time such associations and confirmed that nephropathy or renal failure are risk factors for the development of DFU. HbA1c should be optimal and near to the targets to improve wound healing. Our study has prompted diabetologists for regular and routine assessment of the feet and early screening of diabetic patients for neuropathy, nephropathy, hypertension, dyslipidemia and other diabetic complications as well.
Patterns and Predictors of Weight Loss with Exenatide Treatment in Overweight and Obese Women
Authors: Dushay Jody , Flier Eleftheria Maratos , Gerzsten Robert E , Rodgers Megan , Heineman Brent , Migdal Alexandra , Kasid Natasha , Ghorbani Tahereh , Toschi Elena , Tripaldi Juliet , Nath Anjali , Chen Zsu Zsu , Phan Minh , Ngo Long 
Published: June 2020

AbstractIn the medical management of obesity, treating physicians observe significant heterogeneity in responses to pharmacotherapy. Indeed one of the most important clinical questions in obesity medicine is whether we can predict how an individual will respond to a particular pharmacotherapeutic agent. The present study examines patterns and predictors of weight loss among overweight and obese women who demonstrated early robust response to twice daily exenatide treatment.182 women were assigned using single-blind randomization to either treatment with twice daily exenatide injections or to matched placebo injections with dietary counseling. Women who demonstrated > 5% weight loss after 12 weeks of treatment were deemed high responders and remained on study treatment for up to 52 weeks; women who lost < 5% body weight at 12 weeks were deemed low responders and stopped study treatment. We additionally characterized individuals who lost > 10% of body weight as super responders. Our primary outcome was change in body weight; secondary outcomes included changes in metabolic parameters including lipids, waist circumference, resting energy expenditure, and response to a meal tolerance test. We also performed an exploratory metabolomic analysis.Consistent with published literature, we observed individual heterogeneity in the weight loss response to exenatide and diet/placebo. Although there was no significant difference between treatment groups in the percentage of participants who achieved > 5% weight loss (56% of exenatide group and 76% of diet/placebo group), or those who achieved > 10% weight loss (43% of exenatide group and 55% of diet/placebo group), in both cases there was a trend toward a higher response rate in the group that received placebo with dietary counseling. In addition to achieving similar average weight loss, both treatment groups also demonstrated similar maximum weight loss. The range of maximum weight loss was greater in the diet/placebo group and there was more weight regain among individuals in the exenatide group compared to the diet/placebo group. In our exploratory metabolomic analysis, we observed lower baseline circulating cysteine concentrations in the exenatide responder group and we also found a trend toward higher baseline levels of serotonin, aminoisobutyric acid, anandamide, and sarcosine in the exenatide super responder group. We did not identify any metabolic predictors of weight loss in either the exenatide or the diet/placebo treatment group.
Early epidemic spread, percolation and Covid-19
Authors: Oliveira Gonçalo 
Published: June 2020

AbstractHuman to human transmissible infectious diseases spread in a population using human interactions as its transmission vector. The early stages of such an outbreak can be modeled by a graph whose edges encode these interactions between individuals, the vertices. This article attempts to account for the case when each individual entails in different kinds of interactions which have therefore different probabilities of transmitting the disease. The majority of these results can be also stated in the language of percolation theory.The main contributions of the article are: (1) Extend to this setting some results which were previously known in the case when each individual has only one kind of interactions. (2) Find an explicit formula for the basic reproduction numberR0which depends only on the probabilities of transmitting the disease along the different edges and the first two moments of the degree distributions of the associated graphs. (3) Motivated by the recent Covid-19 pandemic, we use the framework developed to compute theR0of a model disease spreading in populations whose trees and degree distributions are adjusted to several different countries. In this setting, we shall also compute the probability that the outbreak will not lead to an epidemic. In all cases we find such probability to be very low if no interventions are put in place.
Dynamic stall of an airfoil with different mounting angle of gurney flap
Authors: Masdari Mehran , Mousavi Milad , Tahani Mojtaba 
Published: June 2020

Purpose
One of the best methods to improve wind turbine aerodynamic performance is modification of the blade’s airfoil. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of gurney flap geometry and its oscillation parameters on the pitching NACA0012 airfoil.

Design/methodology/approach
This numerical solution has been carried out for different cases of gurney flap mounting angles, heights, reduced frequencies and oscillation amplitudes, then the results were compared to each other. The finite volume method was used for the discretization of the governing equations, and the PISO algorithm was used to solve the equations. Also, the “SST” was adopted as the turbulence model in the simulation.

Findings
In this paper, the different parameters of gurney flap were investigated. The results showed that the best range of gurney flap height are between 1 and 3.2% of chord and the best ratio of lifting to drag coefficient is achieved in gurney flap with an angle of 90° relative to the chord direction. The dynamic stall angle of the airfoil with gurney flap decreases were compared to without gurney flap. Earlier LEV formation can be one of the main reasons for decreasing the dynamic stall angle of the airfoil with gurney flap. Increasing the reduced frequency and oscillation amplitude causes rising of maximum lift coefficient and consequently lift curve slope. Moreover, gurney flap with mounting angle has a lower hinge moment than the gurney flap without mounting angle but with the same vertical axis length. So, there is more complexity in structural design concerning the gurney flap without mounting angle.

Practical implications
Improving aerodynamic efficiency of airfoils is vital for obtaining more output power in VAWTs. Gurney flaps are one of the best mechanisms to increase the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil and increases the efficiency of VAWTs.

Originality/value
Investigating the hinge moment on the connection point of the airfoil, gurney flap and try to compare the gurney flap with and without angle.
Lifelong activism and women’s entrepreneurship: how a social movement organization improves conditions for self-employed women in India
Authors: Colovic Ana , Mehrotra Sonia 
Published: June 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how a local trade union improves living conditions for women entrepreneurs in India and how its activities have evolved over time.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a longitudinal case study of the self-employed women’s association (SEWA) in India. Founded in 1972, this organization fosters and supports women’s entrepreneurship. The approach of this study combines qualitative face-to-face interviews and secondary data analysis.FindingsThe findings highlight the fact that SEWA, which combines the features of a trade union and a social movement, improves women’s conditions in several different ways. The study shows that the organization’s main role has evolved from creating a community to expanding it and finally to becoming an agent of societal change.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by analyzing how locally grown organizations fight social exclusion and improve the conditions of deprived groups in emerging economies.
The impact of workplace change of a private jet company on employee satisfaction
Authors: Riratanaphong Chaiwat , Chaiprasien Bovornpak 
Published: June 2020

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of a private jet company’s change of workplace on employees’ satisfaction using specific variables from a conceptual framework of workplace change appraisal. Another purpose of the study is to identify the relationships between staff characteristics and satisfied aspects of a work environment.Design/methodology/approachA case study was conducted at MJets – a company in the aviation and private jet sector. The research methods included field surveys, document analysis and a set of questionnaires on employee satisfaction, which were then analysed and discussed.FindingsThe findings show that organisational contexts, work processes and implementation processes have an impact on workplace change and employees’ needs and preferences, which affect their responses to the work environment. The most satisfied aspects of a work environment include the ceiling height of each floor, the square-metre area of buildings and the amount of light in the work area. Despite the new work environment, employees are scarcely satisfied with building accessibility, storage, archive facilities and privacy. The relationships between staff characteristics (i.e. working hours, job functions, mode of transport and duration of employment) and employee satisfaction with the work environment are statistically tested. The study shows statistically significant results including the following: mode of transport and satisfaction with parking spaces, job functions and satisfaction with building accessibility and job functions and satisfaction with storage and archive facilities.Research limitations/implicationsAccording to a business type, the provision and arrangement of the work environment of a private jet company that is different from other office organisations affect both the generalisation and the generalisability of the study. This study was conducted in Thailand. The impact of the national culture may have also influenced the outcomes.Practical implicationsThe findings and the reflections upon them help understand the complex relationships of variables influencing workplace change appraisal. The focus is on employee involvement; communication with employees in the preparation and implementation processes may be an effective way to promote workplace change objectives and help facility managers reduce negative impacts of workplace change.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to prior research on workplace change appraisal and provides evidence for both positive and negative impacts of workplace change on employee satisfaction with the work environment. Identifying the impact of workplace change on employee satisfaction through the conceptual framework contributes to the body of research on facilities management. In addition, the conceptual framework of workplace change appraisal can be applied by practitioners in the field of workplace design and management.
The most livable city selection in Turkey with the grey relational analysis
Authors: Kose Erkan , Vural Danışment , Canbulut Gulcin 
Published: June 2020

PurposeThis study has two main objectives: (1) to expand the application areas of grey system theory and (2) to select the most livable city in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachChoosing the most livable city is a complex problem that requires many criteria to be considered. It is important to select decision points according to which the criteria selection will be made and to what extent the criteria will affect the evaluation. For this purpose, a questionnaire was prepared to determine the criteria to be used in the assessment. The survey results were evaluated by the factor analysis (FA) and it was found that the criteria included in the survey were grouped under seven factors. Then, criteria weights were assigned to the determined criteria using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). At the last stage, Turkey's six most popular cities are graded using the grey relational analysis (GRA) to reduce the uncertainty existing in the process of evaluation.FindingsThe obtained results indicated that the most livable city in Turkey is Istanbul. Istanbul is followed by Izmir, Antalya, Eskisehir, Bursa and Ankara, respectively. Considering that Istanbul is a center of attraction in many respects, this result is not a surprise for many people. It is also observed that the results obtained overlap with similar studies in the literature.Originality/valueGrey system theory and grey numbers have not been previously used to select the most livable city. With this aspect, this study has expanded the application of grey system theory and made an important contribution to the literature.
Stimulating employee creativity by providing developmental feedback
Authors: Thuan Le Cong 
Published: June 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of task-efficacy and information exchange in linking the relationship between developmental feedback and employee creativity. In addition, this current paper tests the moderating role of innovative climate in reinforcing the effects of task-efficacy and information exchange on employee creativity.Design/methodology/approachThis current research used a time-lagged questionnaire survey to reduce the potential problem of common method variance. The sample size of this study was 305 employees from information technology companies in southern Vietnam. This research undertook a hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results found that task-efficacy and information exchange fully meditated the relationship between developmental feedback and employee creativity. Furthermore, innovative climate positively moderated the effects of task-efficacy and information exchange on employees’ creative performance.Originality/valueThis current paper is one of the first studies to examine task-efficacy as a motivational mechanism and information exchange as a cognitive mechanism for understanding the relationship between developmental feedback and employee creativity. This paper is also one of the first attempts to investigate whether innovative climate reinforces the effects of task-efficacy and information exchange on employee creativity.