bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Experiences of Specialist Nurses Working Within the Uro-oncology Multidisciplinary Team in the United Kingdom
Authors: Punshon Geoffrey , Endacott Ruth , Aslett Phillippa , Brocksom Jane , Fleure Louisa , Howdle Felicity , Masterton Morven , O’Connor Anita , Swift Adrian , Trevatt Paul , Leary Alison 
Published: June 2017

Purpose:
United Kingdom prostate cancer nursing care is provided by a variety of urology and uro-oncology nurses. The experience of working in multidisciplinary teams (MDT) was investigated in a national study.

Design:
The study consisted of a national survey with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Methods:
A secondary analysis of a data subset from a UK whole population survey was undertaken (n = 285) of the specialist nursing workforce and the services they provide. Data were collected on the experience of working in the MDT.

Results:
Forty-five percent of the respondents felt that they worked in a functional MDT, 12% felt that they worked in a dysfunctional MDT, and 3.5% found the MDT meeting intimidating. Furthermore, 34% of the nurses felt that they could constructively challenge all members of the MDT in meetings. Themes emerging from open-ended questions were lack of interest in nonmedical concerns by other team members, ability to constructively challenge decisions or views within the meeting, and little opportunity for patients’ wishes to be expressed.

Conclusions:
Despite expertise and experience, nurses had a variable, often negative, experience of the MDT. It is necessary to ensure that all participants can contribute and are heard and valued. More emphasis should be given to patients’ nonmedical needs.
Facilitators and Barriers for Interprofessional Rounding
Authors: Hendricks Susan , LaMothe Virginia Julie , Kara Areeba , Miller Joan 
Published: June 2017

Purpose:
The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the barriers and facilitators for interprofessional patient-centered rounding across 4 acute care units in a large urban hospital.

Design:
A qualitative descriptive method that included data gathered over an 18-month period was used.

Methods:
Three data sources were included: participant observation of rounding activities, focused meetings related to interprofessional practice, and exit interviews with key informants representing multiple professions and roles. The data were analyzed, and the findings were developed through an extensive transcription, coding, and discussion process.

Results:
The facilitators and barriers related to the team included high versus low turnover of team membership, structured versus unstructured rounding, valuing versus skepticism about interprofessional practice, and confidence versus hesitancy about skills. Facilitator/barrier pairs related to the environment included rounding aligned versus mismatched with hospital’s mission, time for rounding versus competing demands, geographically cohorted versus distributed teams, and readiness for change and innovation versus saturation.

Conclusion:
Factors associated with the members of the interprofessional team were important in successful implementation of interprofessional rounding. The organizational context and structure were also important. Leaders who anticipate implementing interprofessional rounding may incorporate knowledge of these facilitators and barriers into their planning process.
Transcriptome and histone epigenome ofPlasmodium vivaxsalivary-gland sporozoites point to tight regulatory control and potential mechanisms for liver-stage differentiation
Authors:   Vivax Sporozoite Consortium, Muller Ivo , Jex Aaron R. , I. Kappe Stefan H. , Mikolajczak Sebastian A. , Sattabongkot Jetsumon , Patrapuvich Rapatbhorn , Lindner Scott , Flannery Erika L. , Koepfli Cristian , Ansell Brendan , Lerch Anita , Emery-Corbin Samantha J , Charnaud Sarah , Smith Jeffrey , Merrienne Nicolas , Swearingen Kristian E. , Moritz Robert L. , Petter Michaela , Duffy Michael , Chuenchob Vorada 
Published: June 2017

ABSTRACTPlasmodium vivaxis the key obstacle to malaria elimination in Asia and Latin America, largely attributed to its ability to form resilient hypnozoites (sleeper-cells) in the host liver that escape treatment and cause relapsing infections. The decision to form hypnozoites is made early in the liver infection and may already be set in sporozoites prior to invasion. To better understand these early stages of infection, we undertook a comprehensive transcriptomic and histone epigenetic characterization ofP. vivaxsporozoites. The salivary-gland sporozoite transcriptome is heavily composed of transcripts associated with functions needed for early infection of the vertebrate host and development within hepatocytes. Through comparisons to recently published proteome data for theP. vivaxsporozoite, our study finds that although highly transcribed, these transcripts are not detectable as proteins and may be regulated through translational repression; a finding we test for a small subset of transcripts and proteins through immunofluorescent microscopy of sporozoites and liver stages in humanized mice. We identify differential transcription between the sporozoite and published transcriptomes of asexual blood-stages and mixed versus hypnozoite-enriched liver stages. These comparisons point to multiple layers of transcriptional, post-transcriptional and post-translational control that appear active in sporozoites and to a lesser extent hypnozoites, but largely absent in replicating liver schizonts or mixed blood-stages. Common transcripts up-regulated in sporozoites and hypnozoites compared to mixed (i.e., schizont) liver-stages identify genes linked to dormancy/persistence in bacteria, amoebae and plants. We also characterise histone epigenetic modifications in theP. vivaxsporozoite and explore their role in regulating transcription. Collectively, these data support the hypothesis that the sporozoite as a tightly programmed stage primed to infect the human host and identifies potential mechanisms for hypnozoite-formation that may be further explored in liver stage models.
Genome-wide quantification of the effects of DNA methylation on human gene regulation
Authors: Lea Amanda J. , Vockley Christopher M. , Johnston Rachel A. , Del Carpio Christina A. , Barreiro Luis B. , Reddy Timothy E. , Tung Jenny 
Published: June 2017

AbstractChanges in DNA methylation are important in development and disease, but not all regulatory elements act in a methylation-dependent (MD) manner. Here, we developed mSTARR-seq, a high-throughput approach to quantify the effects of DNA methylation on regulatory element function. We assay MD activity in 14% of the euchromatic human genome, identify 2,143 MD regulatory elements, and predict MD activity using sequence and chromatin state information. We identify transcription factors associated with higher activity in unmethylated or methylated states, including an association between pioneer transcription factors and methylated DNA. Finally, we use mSTARR-seq to predict DNA methylation-gene expression correlations in primary cells. Our findings provide a map of MD regulatory activity across the human genome, facilitating interpretation of the many emerging associations between methylation and trait variation.
Theoretical analysis of the distribution of isolated particles in the TASEP: Application to mRNA translation rate estimation
Authors: Dao Duc Khanh , Saleem Zain H. , Song Yun S. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe Totally Asymmetric Exclusion Process (TASEP) is a classical stochastic model for describing the transport of interacting particles, such as ribosomes moving along the mRNA during translation. Although this model has been widely studied in the past, the extent of collision between particles and the average distance between a particle to its nearest neighbor have not been quantified explicitly. We provide here a theoretical analysis of such quantities via the distribution of isolated particles. In the classical form of the model in which each particle occupies only a single site, we obtain an exact analytic solution using the Matrix Ansatz. We then employ a refined mean field approach to extend the analysis to a generalized TASEP with particles of an arbitrary size. Our theoretical study has direct applications in mRNA translation and the interpretation of experimental ribosome profiling data. In particular, our analysis of data fromS. cerevisiaesuggests a potential bias against the detection of nearby ribosomes with gap distance less than ~ 3 codons, which leads to some ambiguity in estimating the initiation rate and protein production flux for a substantial fraction of genes. Despite such ambiguity, however, we demonstrate theoretically that the interference rate associated with collisions can be robustly estimated, and show that approximately 1% of the translating ribosomes get obstructed.
1/fNeural Noise and Electrophysiological Indices of Contextual Prediction in Normative Aging
Authors: Dave S. , Brothers T.A. , Swaab T.Y. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractPrediction during language comprehension has increasingly been suggested to play a substantive role in efficient language processing. Emerging models have postulated that predictive mechanisms are enhanced when neural networks fire synchronously, but to date, this relationship has been investigated primarily through oscillatory activity in narrow frequency bands. A recently-developed measure proposed to reflect broadband neural activity – and thereby synchronous neuronal firing – is 1/fneural noise extracted from EEG spectral power. Previous research (Voytek et al., 2015) has indicated that this measure of 1/fneural noise changes across the lifespan, and these neural changes predict age-related behavioral impairments in visual working memory. Using a cross-sectional sample of young and older adults, we examined age-related changes in 1/fneural noise and whether this measure would predict ERP correlates of successful lexical prediction during discourse comprehension. 1/fneural noise across two different language tasks revealed high within-subject correlations, indicating that this measure can provide a reliable index of individualized patterns of neural activation. In addition to age, 1/fnoise was a significant predictor of N400 effects of successful lexical prediction, but noise did not mediate age-related declines in other ERP effects. We discuss broader implications of these findings for theories of predictive processing, as well as potential applications of 1/fnoise across research populations.
Genetic variation in human drug-related genes
Authors: Schärfe Charlotta P.I. , Tremmel Roman , Schwab Matthias , Kohlbacher Oliver , Marks Debora S. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractVariability in drug efficacy and adverse effects are observed in clinical practice. While the extent of genetic variability in classical pharmacokinetic genes is rather well understood, the role of genetic variation in drug targets is typically less studied. Based on 60,706 human exomes from the ExAC dataset, we performed an in-depth computational analysis of the prevalence of functional-variants in in 806 drug-related genes, including 628 known drug targets. We find that most genetic variants in these genes are very rare (f < 0.1%) and thus likely not observed in clinical trials. Overall, however, four in five patients are likely to carry a functional-variant in a target for commonly prescribed drugs and many of these might alter drug efficacy. We further computed the likelihood of 1,236 FDA approved drugs to be affected by functional-variants in their targets and show that the patient-risk varies for many drugs with respect to geographic ancestry. A focused analysis of oncological drug targets indicates that the probability of a patient carrying germline variants in oncological drug targets is with 44% high enough to suggest that not only somatic alterations, but also germline variants carried over into the tumor genome should be included in therapeutic decision-making.
A Programmable Optical Stimulator for theDrosophilaEye
Authors: Chen Xinping , Leon-Salas Walter D. , Zigon Taylor , Ready Donald , Weake Vikki 
Published: June 2017

AbstractA programmable optical stimulator forDrosophilaeyes is presented. The target application of the stimulator is to induce retinal degeneration in fly photoreceptor cells by exposing them to light in a controlled manner. The goal of this work is to obtain a reproducible system for studying age-related changes in susceptibility to environmental ocular stress. The stimulator uses light emitting diodes and an embedded computer to control illuminance, color (blue or red) and duration in two independent chambers. Further, the stimulator is equipped with per-chamber light and temperature sensors and a fan to monitor light intensity and to control temperature. An ON/OFF temperature control implemented on the embedded computer keeps the temperature from reaching levels that will induce the heat shock stress response in the flies. A custom enclosure was fabricated to house the electronic components of the stimulator. The enclosure provides a light-impermeable environment that allows air flow and lets users easily load and unload fly vials. Characterization results show that the fabricated stimulator can produce light at illuminances ranging from 0 to 16000 lux and power density levels from 0 to 7.2 mW/cm2for blue light. For red light the maximum illuminance is 8000 lux which corresponds to a power density of 3.54 mW/cm2. The fans and the ON/OFF temperature control are able to keep the temperature inside the chambers below 28.17°C. Experiments with white-eye male flies were performed to assess the ability of the fabricated simulator to induce blue light-dependent retinal degeneration. Retinal degeneration is observed in flies exposed to 8 hours of blue light at 7949 lux. Flies in a control experiment with no light exposure show no retinal degeneration. Flies exposed to red light for the similar duration and light intensity (8 hours and 7994 lux) do not show retinal degeneration either. Hence, the fabricated stimulator can be used to create environmental ocular stress using blue light.Specifications table
Impact of parenthood on women’s careers in the IT sector – a study in the Indian context
Authors: Shanmugam Merlin Mythili 
Published: June 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of certain factors (such as working mothers’ attitudes towards career role salience, notion of career success, work-life balance and the impact of organisational support systems available for childcare) on career persistence, despite parenthood, and career re-entry after parenthood. It is conducted in relation to new age, young working mothers of the booming IT sector in India.

Design/methodology/approachA survey questionnaire was administered to 138 working mothers in the IT sector to analyse the impact of working mothers’ career role salience, notion of career success, work-life balance and the impact of organisational support systems available for childcare on career persistence, despite parenthood.

FindingsThe findings state that re-entry is also a growing phenomenon, in as much as career breaks are an accepted reality. Career role salience and notions of career success are important predictors of career re-entry of young mothers. Most importantly, this study highlights the significant role of the trusted, extended family support system, that is characteristically unique to Indian social fabric, in enabling women’s career persistence and career re-entry after motherhood.

Research limitations/implicationsLike most survey research, this study’s validity is also limited to the findings on the self-reported responses. Nevertheless, the study points to new areas to be researched, such as the possibility of the same findings with older mothers who have spent considerable years in their careers, or whether the same sample would answer differently after a few years.

Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for society and organisations, concerning opting out, and for undertaking genuine initiatives to enable and support women to re-enter their careers after breaks, so that the decision to persist, exit or re-enter their careers remains the privileged choice of women employees.

Originality/valueThe paper fulfils an identified need to study how parenthood affects women’s careers in the IT sector and need for organisations in India to understand the practicality of women employees’ needs to integrate work and life.
Non-profit organizations’ use of tools and technologies for knowledge management: a comparative study
Authors: Rathi Dinesh , Given Lisa M. 
Published: June 2017

PurposeThis paper aims to present findings from a study conducted with non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Canada and Australia, focusing on the use of tools and technologies for knowledge management (KM). NPOs of different sizes and operating in different sectors were studied in two large-scale national surveys. The paper is useful to both practitioners in NPOs for understanding tool use for KM activities and to scholars to further develop the KM-NPO domain.Design/methodology/approachTwo nation-wide surveys were conducted with Canadian and Australian NPOs of different sizes (i.e. very small to large-sized organizations) and operating in different sectors (e.g. animal welfare, education and research, culture and arts). An analysis of responses explores the use of tools and technologies by NPOs. Respondents identified the tools and technologies they used from nine pre-determined themes (quantitative data) plus an additional category of “other tools” (qualitative data), which allowed for free text responses. The quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques and the qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.FindingsQuantitative data analysis provides key findings including the popularity of physical, print documents across all NPO sizes and sectors. Statistical tests revealed, for example, there is no significant difference for the same-sized organizations in Canadian and Australian NPOs in the use of tools and technologies for KM activities. However, there were differences in the use of tools and technologies across different sizes of NPOs. The qualitative analysis revealed a number of additional tools and technologies and also provided contextual details about the nature of tool use. The paper provides specific examples of the types of tools and technologies NPOs use.Originality/valueThe paper has both practical and academic contributions, including areas for future research. The findings on the use of KM tools and technologies by NPOs contribute to the growing body of literature in the KM domain in general and also build the literature base for the understudied KM-NPO domain. NPOs will also find the paper useful in better understanding tools and technological implementation for KM activities. The study is unique not only in the content focus on KM for NPOs but also for the comparative study of activities in two countries.
Knowledge retention and aging workforce in the oil and gas industry: a multi perspective study
Authors: Sumbal Muhammad Saleem , Tsui Eric , See-to Eric , Barendrecht Andrew 
Published: June 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies are handling the issue of knowledge retention from old age retiring workers in the oil and gas sector. This is achieved by providing a detailed insight on the challenges and strategies related to knowledge retention through study of companies from different geographical locations across the globe.

Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative research methodology and 20 semi-structured interviews, with open-ended and probing questions, were conducted to gain an in-depth insight into the knowledge retention phenomena.

Findings
Knowledge retention activities tend to be inconsistent in majority of the oil and gas companies, with not much work being done regarding knowledge loss from old employees, partly because of the fall in oil prices and layoffs. Oil prices turn out to be a decisive factor in oil and gas industry regarding workforce and knowledge retention activities. The political situation and geographical locations of the companies also affect the knowledge retention activities. Moreover, the aging workforce and retirement issue is more acute in the upstream sector.

Research limitations/implications
The focus of the study was on the oil and gas sector, and thus the research results may lack generalizability.

Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified need for investigating the issues and challenges of knowledge retention regarding old age retiring employees by taking into account a global perspective and providing a comparison among different companies in different geographical locations.
Effects of knowledge management on unit performance: examining the moderating role of tacitness and learnability
Authors: McIver Derrick , Lepisto Douglas A. 
Published: June 2017

PurposeThis paper aims to examine and test the moderating influence of the type of knowledge underlying work – known as the knowledge in practice (KIP) perspective – on the relationship between knowledge management (KM) activities and unit performance. KIP proposes that the knowledge underlying work varies according to two dimensions: tacitness and learnability. This theory proposes that aligning KM activities with tacitness and learnability results in increased performance. However, to the authors’ knowledge, there exists no direct empirical tests of these propositions outlined in KIP theory. This study examines the empirical support for the theoretical predictions outlined by KIP.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a multiple survey, multiple respondent survey design to measure KM activity sets, the tacitness and learnability involved in work contexts and unit performance. Regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.FindingsIn line with previous research, the authors find support for a direct relationship between some KM activity sets and unit performance. Surprisingly, the authors did not find support for the predictions offered by KIP theory. Specifically, the degree of tacitness or learnability did not moderate the relationship between KM activity sets and unit performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe lack of findings to support the moderating effects of tacitness and learnability on the relationship between KM activity sets and unit performance challenges the adequacy of existing formulations of KIP theory. The authors discuss several important future research directions to examine this puzzling finding.Practical implicationsThis paper reinforces the suggestion that managers at all levels of organizations should engage in KM activities to increase performance. These findings also suggest that considering the type of knowledge underlying a unit’s work should not be a consideration in implementing KM activities.Originality/valueThis is the first study to empirically test a KIP perspective. That is, how the type of knowledge involved in work moderates the relationships between KM activity sets and unit performance.