bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lower urinary tract symptoms in systemic sclerosis: a detailed investigation
Authors: Pacini Greta , Paolino Sabrina , C. Trombetta Amelia , Goegan Federica , Pizzorni Carmen , Alessandri Elisa , Patanè Massimo , Gotelli Emanuele , Ferrari Giorgia , Cattelan Francesco , Ghio Massimo , Casabella Andrea , Smith Vanessa , Cutolo Maurizio 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Objectives
Urinary tract involvement is a seldom-reported manifestation of SSc that could compromise patients’ quality of life. This study compares lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in SSc patients and in healthy subjects and their association with clinical and diagnostic parameters.

Methods
LUTS were assessed through self-reported questionnaires in 42 SSc patients and 50 matched healthy subjects. Statistical analyses were performed to explore LUTS in the two populations and their association with SSc variables, including nailfold videocapillaroscopy patterns, SSc-related antibodies and DXA parameters.

Results
SSc patients showed significantly higher prevalence and severity of urinary incontinence (UI) and overactive bladder (OAB) than healthy controls (P &lt; 0.005, P &lt; 0.01). SSc was a strong predictor of LUTS, independent of demographic data, comorbidities and treatments (odds ratio 5.57, 95% CI 1.64–18.88). In SSc patients OAB positively correlated with sarcopenia (P &lt; 0.001), and both OAB and UI significantly correlated with reduced BMD (P &lt; 0.05, P = 0.001). UI positively correlated with Scl70 antibodies (P &lt; 0.05) and ciclosporin treatment (P = 0.001) and negatively with RNA polymerase III antibodies (P &lt; 0.05); OAB positively correlated with calcinosis (P &lt; 0.005) and negatively with methotrexate treatment (P &lt; 0.05). Nailfold videocapillaroscopy ‘active’ and ‘late’ patterns were predominant among SSc patients presenting urinary symptoms, although no statistical correlation was found.

Conclusion
For the first time urinary tract involvement was found to be significantly higher in SSc patients than in healthy matched controls. In addition, sarcopenia, bone damage and calcinosis appeared significantly correlated with LUTS, suggesting a possible interplay.
APPLES: Scalable Distance-Based Phylogenetic Placement with or without Alignments
Authors: Balaban Metin , Sarmashghi Shahab , Mirarab Siavash 
Published: September 2019

AbstractPlacing a new species on an existing phylogeny has increasing relevance to several applications. Placement can be used to update phylogenies in a scalable fashion and can help identify unknown query samples using (meta-)barcoding, skimming, or metagenomic data. Maximum likelihood (ML) methods of phylogenetic placement exist, but these methods are not scalable to reference trees with many thousands of leaves, limiting their ability to enjoy benefits of dense taxon sampling in modern reference libraries. They also rely on assembled sequences for the reference set and aligned sequences for the query. Thus, ML methods cannot analyze data sets where the reference consists of unassembled reads, a scenario relevant to emerging applications of genome skimming for sample identification. We introduce APPLES, a distance-based method for phylogenetic placement. Compared to ML, APPLES is an order of magnitude faster and more memory efficient, and unlike ML, it is able to place on large backbone trees (tested for up to 200,000 leaves). We show that using dense references improves accuracy substantially so that APPLES on dense trees is more accurate than ML on sparser trees, where it can run. Finally, APPLES can accurately identify samples without assembled reference or aligned queries using kmer-based distances, a scenario that ML cannot handle. APPLES is available publically at github.com/balabanmetin/apples.
Unraveling the Complexity of Amyloid Polymorphism Using Gold Nanoparticles and Cryo-EM
Authors: Cendrowska Urszula , Silva Paulo Jacob , Ait-Bouziad Nadine , Müller Marie , Guven Zekiye Pelin , Vieweg Sophie , Chiki Anass , Radamaker Lynn , Thangaraj Senthil , Fändrich Marcus , Tavanti Francesco , Menziani Maria Cristina , Alexander-Katz Alfredo , Stellacci Francesco , Lashuel Hilal A. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThe misfolding and self-assembly of proteins into β-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils of various structures and morphologies is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative and systemic diseases. Increasing evidence suggests that amyloid polymorphism gives rise to different strains of amyloids with distinct toxicity and pathology-spreading properties. Validating this hypothesis is challenging due to a lack of tools and methods that allow for the direct characterization of amyloid polymorphism in hydrated and complex biological samples. Here, we report on the use of 11-mercapto-1-undecanesulfonate-coated gold nanoparticles (NPs) to label the edges of synthetic, recombinant and native amyloid fibrils to assess amyloid morphological polymorphism using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The fibrils studied were derived from amyloid proteins involved in disorders of the central nervous system (amyloid-β, tau, α-synuclein) and in systemic amyloidosis (a fragment of an immunoglobulin λ light chain). The labeling efficiency enabled imaging and characterization of amyloid fibrils of different morphologies under hydrated conditions using cryo-EM. These NPs allowed for the visualization of morphological features that are not directly observed using standard imaging techniques, including TEM with use of the negative stain or cryo-EM imaging. We also demonstrate the use of these NPs to label native paired helical filaments (PHFs) from the postmortem brain of an Alzheimer’s disease patient, as well as amyloid fibrils extracted from the heart tissue of a patient suffering from systemic amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis. Analysis of the cryo-EM images of amyloids decorated with NPs shows exceptional homogeneity across the fibrils derived from human tissue in comparison to fibrils aggregated in vitro. The use of these NPs enabled us to gain novel insight into the structural features that distinguish amyloid fibrils formed in vivo from those formed in cell-free in vitro systems. Our findings demonstrate that these NPs represent a powerful tool for rapid imaging and profiling of amyloid morphological polymorphism in different types of samples, including those derived from complex biological aggregates found in human tissue and animal models of amyloid diseases. These advances should not only facilitate the profiling and characterization of amyloids for structural studies by cryo-EM but also pave the way to elucidate the structural basis of amyloid strains and toxicity and possibly the correlation between the pathological and clinical heterogeneity of amyloid diseases.
Identification of FMRP target genes expressed in corticogenesis: implication for common phenotypes among neurodevelopmental disorders
Authors: Casingal Cristine R. , Kikkawa Takako , Inada Hitoshi , Osumi Noriko 
Published: September 2019

ABSTRACTFragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) is encoded byFMR1gene that is responsible for Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) showing intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. FMRP is an RNA binding protein highly expressed in the brain. Although several target genes for FMRP have been identified, limited studies have suggested the role of FMRP in corticogenesis. Here we performed RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing against the murine embryonic neocortex, and identified 124 genes as potential FMRP mRNA targets. We found 48 of these genes as overlapped with autism-related genes, which were categorized in four functional groups: “transcriptional regulation”, “regulation of actin cytoskeleton”, “ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis” and “calcium signaling pathway”. Four of these genes showed significant difference in expression in the cortical primordium ofFmr1-KO mice;Huwe1andKat6aincreased, whileKmt2candApcdecreased. Although the change in expression of these four genes was relatively small, these subtle changes due to dysregulated transcription could collectively contribute to impaired corticogenesis to cause phenotypes of FXS. Investigating the transcriptional control of FMRP on its mRNA targets may provide new insight to understand neurodevelopmental pathogenesis of FXS.
Inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition exerts sex-specific stimulatory effect on fracture repair
Authors: Shares Brianna H. , Sheu Tzong-Jen , Schilling Kevin , Sautchuk Rubens , Paine Ananta , Beutner Gisela , Shum Laura C. , Smith Charles O. , Gira Emma , Brown Edward , Awad Hani , Eliseev Roman A. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBone fracture is accompanied by mechanical stresses and inflammation – conditions that impair mitochondria via the phenomenon of permeability transition. This phenomenon occurs due to opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) promoted by cyclophilin D (CypD). MPTP opening exacerbates inflammation and cell death and, thus can disrupt fracture repair. Here we tested a hypothesis that protecting mitochondria from MPTP opening via inhibition of CypD improves fracture repair. Our data indicate that osteoblast activity, bone formation, and biomechanical properties of repaired bones were significantly increased in CypD knock-out mice when compared to controls during fracture repair. These effects were observed in male but not female mice, thus showing sexual dimorphism. Pharmacological inhibition of CypD with NIM811 in male mice also stimulated fracture repair. In addition, CypD knock-out or pharmacological inhibition produced pro-osteogenic effect in isolated bone marrow osteoprogenitors. This in vitro effect was associated with higher mitochondrial respiration and increased β-catenin activity regulated by mitochondria-dependent acetylation. Our findings implicate a sex-specific role of MPTP in bone fracture and suggest CypD inhibition as a modality to promote fracture repair.
Precision calcium imaging of dense neural populations via a cell body-targeted calcium indicator
Authors: Shemesh Or A. , Linghu Changyang , Piatkevich Kiryl D. , Goodwin Daniel , Gritton Howard J. , Romano Michael F. , Siciliano Cody , Gao Ruixuan , Yu Chi-Chieh (Jay) , Tseng Hua-An , Bensussen Seth , Narayan Sujatha , Yang Chao-Tsung , Freifeld Limor , Gupta Ishan , Noamany Habiba , Pak Nikita , Yoon Young-Gyu , Ullmann Jeremy F.P. , Guner-Ataman Burcu , Sheinkopf Zoe R. , Park Won Min , Asano Shoh , Keating Amy E. , Trimmer James S. , Reimer Jacob , Tolias Andreas , Tye Kay M. , Han Xue , Ahrens Misha B. , Boyden Edward S. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractMethods for one-photon fluorescent imaging of calcium dynamics in vivo are popular due to their ability to simultaneously capture the dynamics of hundreds of neurons across large fields of view, at a low equipment complexity and cost. In contrast to two-photon methods, however, one-photon methods suffer from higher levels of crosstalk between cell bodies and the surrounding neuropil, resulting in decreased signal-to-noise and artifactual correlations of neural activity. Here, we address this problem by engineering cell body-targeted variants of the fluorescent calcium indicator GCaMP6f. We screened fusions of GCaMP6f to both natural as well as engineered peptides, and identified fusions that localized GCaMP6f to within approximately 50 microns of the cell body of neurons in live mice and larval zebrafish. One-photon imaging of soma-targeted GCaMP6f in dense neural circuits reported fewer artifactual spikes from neuropil, increased signal-to-noise ratio, and decreased artifactual correlation across neurons. Thus, soma-targeting of fluorescent calcium indicators increases neuronal signal fidelity and may facilitate even greater usage of simple, powerful, one-photon methods of population imaging of neural calcium dynamics.
Organizational changes, trust and information sharing: an empirical study
Authors: Ahmad Farhan , Huvila Isto 
Published: September 2019

PurposeWhile there is relatively plenty of evidence for the positive impact of communication on the perceptions of organizational change, how organizational changes affect information sharing is relatively unknown. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a favorable perception of ongoing organizational changes has a positive impact on information sharing and whether trust mediates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire (n=317) was administered to the employees of a large Finnish multinational organization. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses based on earlier research findings.FindingsThe results show that a positive perception of recent organizational changes improves information sharing both directly and indirectly, mediated by trust. Consequently, when changes are perceived negatively, employees recoil from information sharing which is known to have negative implications for organizations.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected in a single organization. The nature of the specific changes in the studied organization and its particularities undoubtedly had an effect on respondents’ perceptions.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to organizational information management research by elaborating on the relationship between organizational changes and interpersonal information sharing between employees. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study confirming the impact of the perception of organizational changes on employee information-sharing behavior.
The impact of pension governance practices on the public defined benefit pension performance
Authors: Xu Guoquan , Liu Fang-Chun , Hsu Hsiao-Tang , Lin Jerry W. 
Published: September 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the public pension governance practices on the public defined benefit pension (DBP) fund performance.Design/methodology/approachTo provide a holistic evaluation of public DBP performance, this study first employs the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to construct a relative performance measure that simultaneously takes into account the association between investment inputs and performance outputs across DBPs in our sample. A DEA regression model is then constructed to empirically examine the impact of pension governance on public DBP performance.FindingsUsing 1,544 hand-collected observations in the USA from 2002 to 2013, the findings show that the public DBP plans with a small board, appointed board trustees, and a separate investment council exhibit better performance.Practical implicationsThe effectiveness of pension governance has increasingly drawn public attention, as it affects the performance of the public DBP plans that especially matter to public employees. The empirical findings of this research offer insights into recent calls to reexamine public DBP management practices and to carry out related public pension fund policy reforms.Originality/valueThe examination of public DBP governance practices in this study enriches the governance literature, particularly research on public pension funds, by using public sector data. Second, by applying the DEA method to evaluate the relative performance of public DBP funds, this study obtains a more comprehensive analysis of the public pension governance.
Analyzing the corporate social responsibility disclosures of selected companies in India
Authors: Sekhon Amritjot Kaur , Kathuria Lalit Mohan 
Published: September 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent, quantity and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures made by the top Indian companies in their annual reports.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes the annual reports of the top 137 companies from CNX-500, over ten years, from 2008 to 2017. The technique of content analysis has been employed manually to examine the number of CSR activities disclosed, quantity and quality of CSR disclosures made by the selected companies in their annual reports. Also mean, percentages, trend analysis and analysis of variance have been employed to analyze the disclosures.FindingsThis study highlights that there is a continuous increase in the quantity of disclosures and the number of CSR activities disclosed by Indian companies over the selected period. It also observed that among the selected themes, most disclosed CSR activities are from “customer theme” and “community development theme.” Findings regarding the quality of CSR disclosures revealed that the “qualitative disclosures with specific information” are preferred most by the companies within India. Also, there is a significant variation in the quantity of CSR disclosures across the selected eight themes.Originality/valueAs most of the prior literature on CSR disclosures focused on developed countries in comparison to developing ones, this study contributes to the existing literature by carrying out an extensive investigation of this concept among the Indian companies. Moreover, there are very few studies addressing such a scientific inquiry in the Indian context, especially after the introduction of amendments in the Companies Act, 2013. Furthermore, this study utilizes a comprehensive research instrument consisting of a total of 178 CSR activities, divided across eight themes for collecting data on disclosures from the annual reports. This instrument can be used in the future studies on CSR disclosures in other developing countries as well.
“The junkie abuses, the psychonaut learns”: a qualitative analysis of an online drug forum community
Authors: Rolando Sara , Beccaria Franca 
Published: September 2019

Purpose
Drug-related web forums have been argued to be an effective way to investigate the latest generation of drug users. The purpose of this paper is to explore discussions about drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) on an Italian psychonauts’ online community in order to gain a better understanding of the psychonauts’ profiles by scrutinising their main motives for consumption, which is mainly addressed to psychedelic drugs.

Design/methodology/approach
To collect data, a keywords list was used in the forum search engine. The first five most recent conversations (threads) for each of ten most frequently mentioned substances were selected. In addition, ten posts written by new forum members to introduce themselves were added to the data set, bringing the total number of threads to 60. The data were coded using Atlas.ti 7 applying a template model analysis (King, 1998).

Findings
The forum members present themselves as well-educated, informed drug users, and connoisseurs of the pharmacological properties of chemical compounds: accordingly, they claim to be aware of drug effects and possible risks. The analysis of the motives for using psychedelic drugs substantially confirms previous studies, indicating that the main reasons include spiritual needs, self-exploration and self-treatment. The shift from a recreational use towards more “committed” aims such as self-development is seen as a step forward in a drug user’s career. A generalised interest in harm reduction suggests that the psychonauts’ attitude may be a protective factor against adverse consequences of drug use. The most problematic users represented in the data are those who use drugs for self-treatment, since their discourse focusses on suffering rather than on pleasure.

Originality/value
Most efforts to analyse and monitor drug-related forums have focussed on “leading edge” English-language international websites. No studies have dealt with Italian forums. Furthermore the study address a misleading use of the term e-psychonauts recently introduced by some scholars whose’s studies were focussed on NPS.
Design-driven innovation: exploring enablers and barriers
Authors: De Goey Heleen , Hilletofth Per , Eriksson David 
Published: September 2019

PurposeThis study aims to explore the enablers and barriers to design-driven innovation, defined as the innovation of product meanings, in the product-development process. Previous research provides some insights into what enables and hinders design-driven innovation; however a detailed understanding of these factors is missing.Design/methodology/approachA long-term case study was conducted at a furniture company between 2009 and 2016. Interviews were conducted with respondents within the company, as well as with partners such as retailers and designers.FindingsThis paper presents an overview of the identified enablers and barriers. The results demonstrate that enablers and barriers occur in all phases of the product-development process. Second, the connections between enablers and barriers are presented. These are found both within and across different phases, and extend beyond the company’s influence.Research limitations/implicationsThis study demonstrates how the innovation of product meanings is influenced throughout all phases of the product-development process. Therefore, there is a need to go beyond the mere identification of enablers and barriers. More is gained from generating a thorough understanding of the causes and connections of these factors, including the changes over time.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates the need for companies to be able to map what enables and hinders design-driven innovation in their product-development process, where a distinction needs to be made between internal and external factors, to enhance value creation.Originality/valueThis study presents a rare long-term case study on design-driven innovation. This study provides new knowledge on the enablers and barriers a company faces while adapting its product-development process to accommodate design-driven innovation.
Measuring the performance of private higher education institutions in Malaysia
Authors: Yaakub Muhammad Hafiz , Mohamed Zainal Abidin 
Published: September 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive model using balanced scorecard (BSC) approach instead of the current ranking system to measure the performance of private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in Malaysia as the ranking system is deemed inaccurate and certain items in the system are redundant.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 105 academicians from seven PHEIs in Malaysia. The data were analyzed for factor analysis using Principal Axis method with Promax rotation in IBM SPSS Statistics Version 20.FindingsThe result demonstrates that 22 items were successfully extracted into four dimensions that suited the BSC approach with acceptable range of composite reliability and factor loading values.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper reveals the issues of ranking system of the current method in measuring performance of PHEIs. The proposed BSC model should be tested on more PHEIs to increase its validity and reliability.Practical implicationsThis research analyzes the performance of PHEIs from academicians’ perspectives based on the four BSC perspectives. It can be considered as an alternative model for PHEIs’ managers to measure performance of PHEIs in Malaysia rather than the current ranking system.Social implicationsIn the midst of intense competition in private higher education industry in Malaysia, it is crucial to understand that a high performance PHEI is expected to deliver quality tertiary education. This research assists the society to evaluate the strength of a particular PHEI in Malaysia, and further enable them to make a deliberate choice on which PHEI to enter.Originality/valueA growing concern for sustainability of PHEIs requires a method to be undertaken by the authority to measure PHEIs’ performance. This paper addresses this concern by offering 22 items to measure PHEIs’ performance and dictating the need to manage PHEIs in a strategic manner, not by ranking systemper se.