bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Concomitant chemotherapy increases radiotherapy-mediated DNA-damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes
Authors: Lorat Yvonne , Fleckenstein Jochen , Görlinger Patric , Rübe Christian , Rübe Claudia E. 
Published: February 2019

Abstract53BP1-foci detection in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) by immunofluorescence microscopy (IFM) is a sensitive and quantifiable DNA-double-strand-break (DSB) marker. In addition, high-resolution transmission-electron-microscopy (TEM) with immunogold-labeling of 53BP1 and DSB-bound phosphorylated Ku70 (pKu70) can be used to determine the progression of the DNA-repair process. Here, we analyzed whether different modes of irradiation influence the formation of DSBs in the PBLs of patients with cancer, and whether accompanying chemotherapy influences the DSB-appearance.We obtained 86 blood samples before and 0.1, 0.5 and 24 h after irradiation from patients with head and neck, or rectal cancers receiving radiotherapy (RT) or radio-chemotherapy (RCT). 53BP1-foci were quantified by IFM. In addition, TEM was used to quantify gold-labelled pKu70-dimers and 53BP1-clusters within euchromatin and heterochromatin of PBLs. During radiotherapy, persisting 53BP1-foci accumulated in PBLs with increasing numbers of administered RT-fractions. This 53BP1-foci accumulation was not influenced by irradiation technique applied (3D-conformal radiotherapy versus intensity-modulated radiotherapy), dose intensity per fraction, number of irradiation fields, or isodose volume. However, more 53BP1-foci were detected in PBLs of patients treated with accompanying chemotherapy. TEM analyses showed that DSBs, indicated by pKu70, were present for longer periods in PBLs of RCT-patients than in PBLs of RT-only-patients. Moreover, not every residual 53BP1-focus was equivalent to a remaining DSB, since pKu70 was not present at every damage site. Persistent 53BP1-clusters, visualized by TEM, without colocalizing pKu70 likely indicate chromatin alterations after repair completion, or possibly, defective repair. Therefore, IFM-53BP1-foci analyses alone are not adequate to determine individual repair capacity after irradiation of PBLs, as a DSB may be indicated by a 53BP1-focus but not every 53BP1-focus represents a DSB.The level of DNA-damage during RT is influenced by the presence of accompanying chemotherapy.
A study on the influence of factors associated with organizational readiness for change in healthcare organizations using TISM
Authors: Vaishnavi V. , Suresh M. , Dutta Pankaj 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and develop a model to measure the interactions among different factors of organizational readiness for change in service sector specific to healthcare organization. The total interpretive structural modeling (TISM)-based readiness for change is to build a theoretical framework to understand the mutual interactions among the factors and to identify the driving and dependence power of these factors.

Design/methodology/approach
TISM is used to identify factors that contribute to analyze the readiness state before starting a change implementation process in healthcare. Matrice d’Impacts croises-multiplication applique´ a classement analysis is used to find the driving and dependent factors of change in healthcare.

Findings
This paper identified 12 factors of readiness for change from literature review followed by expert interview to understand the inner connection of factors and study inner relationships. The result says that state of affairs, recent trends in healthcare sector, technology advancement and interdependence among departments are key factors for readiness of change.

Research limitations/implications
This research mainly focused on readiness factors for change in the healthcare sector.

Practical implications
This study will be useful for researcher and practitioners to understand the readiness factors for change.

Originality/value
In this research work, TISM-based readiness for the change framework structural model has been proposed for healthcare organizations which is a new effort in the area of organizational change management in this sector.
When elephants fight: South African washing powder wars
Authors: Chipp Kerry , Maphalala Jabu 
Published: February 2019

Learning outcomes
An understanding of the competitive landscape and consumer dynamics of an emerging market, especially how a small local company learns to take on and deal with global players. Similarly, embeddedness within a market leads to increasing the competitiveness of local brands as they understand local consumers better than international ones. Local brands are also more likely to use home-based and innovative marketing strategies.

Case overview/synopsis
Bliss Chemicals, through their flagship brand, MAQ washing powder, captured market share from global multinationals during a price war. Nevertheless, their competitive landscape and their customer base are dynamic; the company cannot afford to rest on its laurels for long. The case provides insight into the marketing activities of both large and medium enterprises in an emerging market. It also demonstrates the type of marketing activation that engenders strong consumers’ response.

Complexity academic level
The case can be used in undergraduate, MBA and executive education courses on marketing, consumer behaviour, bottom of the pyramid or international marketing courses. It could also be used in business strategy courses on market entry, dealing with stronger competitors, price wars and doing business in Africa.

Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code
CSS 8: Marketing
From baby boomer to millennials: the changing flavor of entrepreneurial traits
Authors: Pillai Deepa , Dam Leena B. 
Published: February 2019

Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are as follows: decision-making in the areas of business plan, business strategy, financial management, profit planning and marketing, learning from outer business environment, succession planning for first-generation entrepreneur and choosing appropriate source of financing and drivers for diversification.

Case overview/synopsis
Immersed in sipping green tea in his capacious office lounge, the octogenarian Arjun Mehta introspected on the trials and tribulations of his journey as an entrepreneur, the voyage which started four decades ago. From 1976 to 2018, the business has now traversed three generations. Starting with Spice Mart (Sole Proprietor) to Hindware and Lament Construction (partnership firms) to Starlite Homes Pvt. Ltd. (corporate entity), Mr Mehta witnessed transformation and restructuring in organization with every new generation which characterized the evolution of family business. Handholding children to take up the reins of Spice Mart was not a calculated choice. Yet it is remarkable to study the growth in organizational structure of the regional family business. As a self-made entrepreneur, morals, ethics and value system are vital ingredients steering the organic growth story. Third-generation Mehta’s are enterprising, aspiring and visionary. With the incorporation of a corporate entity, they convinced themselves to bring inorganic growth in their business. Arjun Mehta gleamed with pride as Spice Mart partakes an organized structure which had lost prominence with the second-generation entrepreneurs. But he is equally hammered with juxtaposed thoughts. He contemplates whether the integration of retail business with real estate corroborates sustainable innovation. Will independent businesses create the brand’s footprints perpetually? Should the millennial confine business natively or should they grow internationally and become a conglomerate?

Complexity academic level
The case can be exclusively taught to masters and executive education class of students pursuing entrepreneurship and business management courses. The case will supplement understanding of theories of entrepreneurship and dimensions of family businesses in emerging economies.

Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
Developer constraints on housing supply in urban Ghana
Authors: Owusu-Ansah Anthony , Soyeh Kenneth W. , Asabere Paul K. 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
This study aims to document the major underlying forces prohibiting housing development in urban Ghana. Previous studies in Ghana have not empirically examined these constraints, but an empirical examination of these factors would help to formulate proper policies to address the housing shortage problems in Ghana. This paper fills this gap.

Design/methodology/approach
Using a purposive sampling technique, the authors surveyed the chief executive officers (CEOs) of private real estate development companies within Accra and Tema with a Likert scale questionnaire to measure the severity of the factors hindering housing development in these areas.

Findings
The results show that real estate developers consider the supply problems in housing to be driven mainly by formal and informal institutional factors. A large percentage of the CEOs reported that land tenure arrangements, lengthy procedure involved in securing building permits and process of land acquisition and registration in Ghana were the major factors that significantly affected housing supply. The difficulty in accessing development funds, underdeveloped mortgage market and high interest rates were some of the market-based factors constraining housing development.

Originality/value
This study empirically examines the factors that hinder housing development in Ghana, making a clear distinction between the market and institutional forces. The paper proposes policy recommendations for a more effective and direct government intervention to improve urban housing supply.
Teleworkers in Italy: who are they? Do they make more?
Authors: Pigini Claudia , Staffolani Stefano 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the probability of being a teleworker and the extent of earnings differentials between teleworkers and traditional employees.

Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is grounded on a theoretical framework depicting endogenous telework assignment and wage variations based on individual bargaining. The empirical strategy allows for non-random telework assignment, generating from individual- and job-specific observed as well as unobserved factors.

Findings
Results are based on the Italian labor force survey and uncover a key role of gender, higher education and family composition as determinants of the probability of teleworking. Furthermore, teleworkers enjoy a wage premium ranging between 2.7 and 8 percent.

Originality/value
Accounting for observed individual and job-specific effects, by both standard linear regression and propensity score matching, largely reduces the extent of wage premium emerging from unconditional descriptives; the results of an endogenous switching regression model however suggest that failing to properly care for unobserved factors leads to the underestimation of returns to telework.
Statistical analysis of failure data for estimating reliability, availability and maintainability of an automated croissant production line
Authors: Tsarouhas Panagiotis 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compute reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) indices to measure and improve the performance of an automated croissant production line under real working conditions. Based on this study, the authors demonstrate how RAM analysis is very useful for deciding maintenance intervals and for planning and organizing the adequate maintenance strategy.

Design/methodology/approach
The present work is carried out by analyzing failure and repair data based on statistical techniques. Descriptive statistics of the failure and repair data at workstation and line level were carried out. Trend and serial correlation tests validated the assumption of independence and identical distribution of the failure data were conducted. Moreover, the reliability and maintainability of both the croissant production line and its workstations have been estimated at different mission times with their best fit distribution.

Findings
The main objectives of the applied method are to understand the nature of the failure patterns, and to estimate the reliability and maintainability characteristics of the croissant production system in precise quantitative terms. The analysis identifies the critical points of the production line that require further improvement through effective maintenance strategy.

Originality/value
This study is anticipated to serve as an illuminating effort in conducting a complete RAM analysis and its effect on the performance of the system that works under real conditions. The advantage of the methodology is the continuous monitoring of the production process through appropriate indices, the utilization of which leads to a continuous cycle of improvement.
Peripheral blood eosinophilia is associated with the presence of skin ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis
Authors: Hara Tomoyuki , Ikeda Takaharu , Inaba Yutaka , Kunimoto Kayo , Mikita Naoya , Kaminaka Chikako , Kanazawa Nobuo , Yamamoto Yuki , Tabata Kayoko , Fujii Takao , Jinnin Masatoshi 
Published: February 2019

AbstractThe role of eosinophil in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is still controversial. In the present study, the relationship between skin ulcers and peripheral blood eosinophilia were analyzed in patients with SSc. We retrospectively investigated the clinical records of all patients who were diagnosed with SSc on the basis of American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism 2013 criteria, and were followed up for more than 2 years at Wakayama Medical University. As a result, maximum eosinophil counts during the 2‐year follow‐up period were 20–983/mm3 (median, 270), whereas maximum eosinophil percentages were 0.5–14.1% (median, 5.3%) in peripheral blood of 47 SSc patients. On the other hand, patients with skin ulcers during the 2‐year follow up showed significantly increased maximum eosinophil counts compared with those without (median, 520 vs 228/mm3; P = 0.0001). Maximum eosinophil percentage was also significantly higher in patients with skin ulcers (median, 9.7% vs 4.6%; P = 0.00001). To note, in four of the nine patients with skin ulcers, the timing of emerging of the maximum eosinophil counts was associated with the ulcer development during the 2‐year follow up. These results suggest that eosinophils are involved in the pathogenesis of vascular dysfunction of SSc. Larger studies should be performed to clarify the exact mechanism of ulcer formation caused by eosinophilia in SSc patients in the future.
Energy of acoustic signals in a borehole
Authors: Markova I. , Ronquillo Jarillo G. , Markov M. 
Published: February 2019

ABSTRACTIn the present article, the dependencies of the acoustic signal total energy and the energies of the wave packets of different types of the waves on the elastic parameters and permeability of rocks have been studied. We have considered traditional logging tools containing acoustical monopole source. Calculations were performed in a frequency range of dozens of kilohertz, typical for acoustic well logging. It was shown that in a typical high‐velocity formation (vs > vf, where vs and vf are the velocities of the shear wave in the rock and of the compressional wave in the borehole fluid, respectively), the pseudo‐Rayleigh waves, whose elastic properties depend mainly on the shear modulus of the rock, contributed significant energy to the total signal energy in the borehole. The energies of different wave packets depend on the permeability in different ways. The greatest sensitivity to permeability change has been shown by the acoustic signal total energy and the energy of the low‐velocity part of the pseudo‐Rayleigh wave packet. The theoretical analysis was illustrated by real sonic log data.
Dantrolene sodium increases calcium binding by human recombinant cardiac calsequestrin and calcium loading by sheep cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum
Authors: Loescher Christine Margaret , Gibson Lynne Michelle , Stephenson Dimitrie George 
Published: February 2019

AbstractAimDantrolene interacts with ryanodine receptors in skeletal and cardiac muscle affecting sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release. Since dantrolene is lipophilic it could also affect intra‐sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium handling proteins such as calsequestrin. This study investigated whether dantrolene (1‐30 µmol/L) alters the polymerization state and the calcium binding capacity of recombinant cardiac calsequestrin and cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium handling.MethodsHuman recombinant cardiac calsequestrin was used to make simultaneous measurements of turbidity (to indicate calsequestrin polymerization) and calcium binding to calsequestrin in the presence and absence of dantrolene. Caffeine‐induced Ca2+ transients were used to investigate the effects of dantrolene on sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium loading and release in saponin‐permeabilized cardiomyocytes laid down in monolayers in 96‐well array plates.ResultsDantrolene (1‐30 µmol/L) increased the polymerization state of calsequestrin and its calcium binding capacity. In the presence of dantrolene, calsequestrin‐dependent turbidity increased 2.5‐11.5‐fold at 1.0 mmol/L calcium added to unbuffered Ca2+ solutions and 3‐10‐fold when calcium was raised from 0.06 to 30 µmol/L. The dantrolene‐dependent increase in turbidity at 30 µmol/L dantrolene was associated with a 3‐fold increase in the number of calcium ions bound per calsequestrin molecule at 30 and 100 µmol/L calcium. The caffeine‐induced releasable calcium loaded by the sarcoplasmic reticulum at 0.63 µmol/L free calcium in permeabilized cardiomyocytes was also increased in the presence of 30 µmol/L dantrolene.ConclusionDantrolene alters the polymerization state and the calcium binding properties of cardiac calsequestrin and increases sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium loading in permeabilized cardiomyocytes.
Similar burden of type 2 diabetes among adult patients with sickle cell disease relative to African Americans in the U.S. population: a six‐year population‐based cohort analysis
Authors: Zhou Jifang , Han Jin , Nutescu Edith A. , Galanter William L. , Walton Surrey M. , Gordeuk Victor R. , Saraf Santosh L. , Calip Gregory S. 
Published: February 2019

SummaryConflicting evidence exists on the epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). This study measured the prevalence, incidence and clinical outcomes associated with T2DM in a large US population of commercially‐insured adults aged ≥20 years with SCD between 2009 and 2014. Among 7070 patients with SCD, the mean age (median) was 39 (37) years and 60·8% were female. The standardized prevalence of T2DM among patients with SCD showed a modest increase, from 15·7% to 16·5% (P trend = 0·026), and was comparable to African‐American respondents to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (18·2%). Over 17 024 person‐years, the crude incidence rate for T2DM was 25·4 per 1000 person‐years. Incident T2DM was associated with comorbid hypertension (hazard ratio [HR] = 1·45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1·14–1·83), and dyslipidaemia (HR = 1·43, 95%CI 1·04–1·96). Compared to SCD patients without T2DM, more SCD patients with T2DM had diagnoses of nephropathy (28·0% vs. 9·5%; P < 0·001), neuropathy (17·7% vs. 5·2%; P < 0·001) and stroke (24·1% vs. 9·2%; P < 0·001). Prevalence of T2DM in SCD patients is similar to the general African American population with an increasing trend in recent years. These trends support routine screening for T2DM in aging patients with SCD, especially those with comorbid hypertension and/or dyslipidaemia.
Targeting amyloid clearance in Alzheimer's disease as a therapeutic strategy
Authors: Nalivaeva Natalia N. , Turner Anthony J. 
Published: February 2019

Targeting the amyloid‐β (Aβ) peptide cascade has been at the heart of therapeutic developments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research for more than 25 years, yet no successful drugs have reached the marketplace based on this hypothesis. Nevertheless, the genetic and other evidence remains strong, if not overwhelming, that Aβ is central to the disease process. Most attention has focused on the biosynthesis of Aβ from its precursor protein through the successive actions of the β‐ and γ‐secretases leading to the development of inhibitors of these membrane proteases. However, the levels of Aβ are maintained through a balance of its biosynthesis and clearance, which occurs both through further proteolysis by a family of amyloid‐degrading enzymes (ADEs) and by a variety of transport processes. The development of late‐onset AD appears to arise from a failure of these clearance mechanisms rather than by overproduction of the peptide. This review focuses on the nature of these clearance mechanisms, particularly the various proteases known to be involved, and their regulation and potential as therapeutic targets in AD drug development. The majority of the ADEs are zinc metalloproteases [e.g., the neprilysin (NEP) family, insulin‐degrading enzyme, and angiotensin converting enzymes (ACE)]. Strategies for up‐regulating the expression and activity of these enzymes, such as genetic, epigenetic, stem cell technology, and other pharmacological approaches, will be highlighted. Modifiable physiological mechanisms affecting the efficiency of Aβ clearance, including brain perfusion, obesity, diabetes, and sleep, will also be outlined. These new insights provide optimism for future therapeutic developments in AD research.Linked ArticlesThis article is part of a themed section on Therapeutics for Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease: New Directions for Precision Medicine. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v176.18/issuetoc