bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Relative contribution of TARPs γ-2 and γ-7 to cerebellar excitatory synaptic transmission and motor behavior
Authors: Yamazaki Maya , Le Pichon Claire E. , Jackson Alexander C. , Cerpas Manuel , Sakimura Kenji , Scearce-Levie Kimberly , Nicoll Roger A. 
Published: January 2015

Significance
AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs) are the primary means through which the CNS carries out rapid, excitatory postsynaptic signaling. Members of the transmembrane AMPAR regulatory protein (TARP) family of AMPAR auxiliary proteins are essential for the localization and function of AMPARs. Yet TARP family members differ in the ways in which they regulate AMPAR function. Much is known about the function of “typical” TARPs such as γ-2, but little about “atypical” TARPs such as γ-7. Using the cerebellar cortex as a model system, in which well-defined neuronal cell types exhibit differential expression of both γ-2 and γ-7, we examined the relative roles of these two TARP family members in both excitatory synaptic transmission and motor behavior related to cerebellar function.
The butterfly effect in cancer: A single base mutation can remodel the cell
Authors: Hart Jonathan R. , Zhang Yaoyang , Liao Lujian , Ueno Lynn , Du Lisa , Jonkers Marloes , Yates John R. , Vogt Peter K. 
Published: January 2015

Significance
A single base substitution in one allele of the PIK3CA gene (encoding the catalytic subunit p110α of PI3K) in a human breast epithelial cell induces a gene expression profile that closely resembles the gene expression profile of basal breast cancer. The mutation also causes extensive remodeling of gene signatures that are not known to be connected to the activity of PI3K. The data show that a cancer-specific mutation that induces a gain of function in PI3K has an unexpectedly deep and broad impact on the phenotypic properties of the cell.
Caribbean spiny lobsters equally avoid dead and clinically PaV1-infected conspecifics
Authors: Candia-Zulbarán Rebeca I. , Briones-Fourzán Patricia , Lozano-Álvarez Enrique , Barradas-Ortiz Cecilia , Negrete-Soto Fernando 
Published: January 2015

Abstract
Social behaviour in Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) is mediated by conspecific chemical cues. These lobsters can be attracted to shelters emanating chemical cues from conspecifics but tend to avoid shelters emanating chemical cues from injured conspecifics, dead conspecifics, and conspecifics with visible signs of a potentially lethal disease caused by the pathogenic Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1). However, previous studies have not controlled for the presence of PaV1 (i.e. subclinical infection) in grossly “healthy” lobsters, although visible signs of disease do not appear until several weeks after infection. We conducted a controlled experiment using a set of 2 m-long Y-mazes to examine and contrast the response of P. argus lobsters to shelters emanating chemical cues from conspecifics in four different conditions: uninfected, subclinically PaV1-infected (i.e. infected but not diseased), clinically PaV1-infected (i.e. infected and diseased), and dead. Using polymerase chain reaction, we tested for PaV1 in all grossly healthy lobsters and used exclusively uninfected lobsters in intermolt as focal lobsters. Focal lobsters similarly avoided shelters emanating chemical cues from clinically infected (80% avoidance) and from dead conspecifics (85% avoidance), but their response to chemical cues from uninfected and from subclinically infected conspecifics did not differ significantly from random. These results indicate that PaV1-diseased lobsters produce chemical cues that are as repellent to conspecifics as are chemicals emanating from dead conspecifics, and that subclinically infected lobsters either do not emit the repellent chemicals or they do so at sub-threshold levels. However, the nature of the repellent chemicals and whether they originate from the pathogen or the host remains to be determined.
Government-led critical success factors in PPP infrastructure development
Authors: Wibowo Andreas , Alfen Hans Wilhelm 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify 30 government-led critical success factors (CSFs) from both the meso and micro levels in public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure development, measured the importance of these factors, and evaluated the government performance within the Indonesian context.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors used weighted gap analysis, the Mann-Whitney test, and the Holland and Copenhaver procedure to support the analysis.

Findings
– The agreement-adjusted mean scores suggest that the identified CSFs are essential, but that these CSFs underperform in Indonesia. The tests indicated that the gap between performance and importance was significant on both the individual and aggregate level, and no respondent-background bias was observed in the data sets.

Practical implications
– This paper provides valuable information for prospective international investors who might be interested in alternative PPP investment opportunities in Indonesia.

Originality/value
– This paper enriches the existing body of knowledge on Indonesia’s PPP activities. This is important as, despite the fact that Indonesia offers one of the largest opportunities in Asia for investment in the national infrastructure sector, studies on Indonesia’s PPPs are rarely reported in the literature. This paper also offers a simple, practical, and replicable approach with a sound theoretical basis that can assist governments in identifying and evaluating PPP-specific determinant factors under their control, as well as in measuring their performance on these factors.
Assessment of the healthy dietary diversity of a main meal in a self-service restaurant
Authors: Bernardo Greyce Luci , Proença Rossana Pacheco da Costa , Calvo Maria Cristina Marino , Fiates Giovanna M.R. , Hartwell Heather 
Published: January 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to present a first proposal of a healthy dietary diversity index to evaluate meals in self-service restaurants.Design/methodology/approach– This was a cross-sectional, descriptive pilot study in a Brazilian buffet-style restaurant. The study group was selected by systematic sampling and consisted of 678 individuals aged 16-81 years, who were regular diners at a selected restaurant during lunchtime. Photographs were used to assess food choices and a sociodemographic questionnaire was administered to the subjects. A healthy dietary diversity model was created following WHO recommendations and the Brazilian Food Guide. A consensus workshop was conducted with experts to discuss and classify certain dishes as more or less healthy (high/low energy density). The model attributed negative (−3.0-0.0) and positive (0.0-12.0) scores to different food groups. Higher scores meant greater diversity on the plate, and therefore a greater chance of a healthy meal (=9.0), while a lower score reflected a higher variety of energy-dense foods, such as fried dishes (=6.0).Findings– Most diner’s plates (65.3 per cent) obtained low diversity score indexes (=6) and were considered inadequate, represented the dishes where intake should be controlled from a nutritional viewpoint (over caloric meal). There was a significant association between healthy diversity scores (=9.0) and low variety of high energy density dishes on the plates.Originality/value– This method of assessing the healthy dietary diversity of a main meal could be tested as an innovative model for investigating the food choices of individuals who eat away from home.
The effect of stress and visible health problems on the intent to continue health food consumption
Authors: Wang Edward S.-T. , Li Yeah-Luen 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The increasing importance of health food sales and the growing number of consumers purchasing health foods necessitates that marketers develop enhanced understanding of health food consumers. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical extension to the health belief model (HBM) that integrates personal stress and environmental cues (visible health problems) with its constructs.

Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected through a quantitative face-to-face survey of 384 health food consumers in Taiwan, and structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

Findings
– The results show that the perceived benefits and barriers of health foods are critical antecedents of continued-consumption intention. Personal stress and visible health problems substantially influence consumers’ perceived susceptibility to and severity of health problems, and perceived susceptibility consequently leads to consumer continued consumption. However, the results indicate an irrelevant relationship between perceived severity of health problems and continued-consumption intentions.

Originality/value
– Based on the HBM, the authors integrated perceived stress and visible health problems into the health food consumer research. The findings can improve the understanding of managers in the health food market regarding the role that stress and visibility play in consumer decisions.
Consumers’ mental model of food safety for fresh vegetables in Nairobi
Authors: Lagerkvist Carl Johan , Okello Julius J. , Karanja Nancy 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers’ perception of food safety for vegetables at traditional urban market outlets in a developing country context and test whether curiosity-motivated information acquisition and personal control over choice of stimuli influence consumer involvement, resulting in more differentiated mental models.

Design/methodology/approach
– The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) in standard and modified form was used to develop consumers’ mental models for food safety.

Findings
– The cognitive content and structure of aggregated consumers’ mental models were identified and mapped. The maps included negative and positive meanings, indicating a need to tackle the hygiene problems prevailing in most traditional markets. ZMET generated a more differentiated map when people were empowered with a camera to collect stimuli.

Research limitations/implications
– Using ZMET to understand food safety perceptions avoids consumers being led in their responses, views and feelings about food safety.

Practical implications
– Policy, regulatory frameworks and marketing actions by value chain actors in the fresh vegetable subsector should give priority to tackling the hygiene problem prevalent in most traditional markets in developing countries.

Originality/value
– This paper provides novel needs-driven theoretical and practical insights into the actual meaning representation of food safety, which actually drives consumer thoughts and behaviour. Making use of a camera in the collection of self-provided images for the ZMET interview led to higher levels of involvement and further differentiation of mental models.
The determinants for sustainability of an employee suggestion system
Authors: Lasrado Flevy , Arif Mohammed , Rizvi Aftab 
Published: January 2015

Purpose– Although the corporations widely use the suggestion schemes to elicit the creative ideas of their employee, sustaining a suggestion scheme is still a challenge. Employee suggestion schemes have been studied from many perspectives to illustrate its objectives, nature, content, process, significance and the benefits. Arguments have also been made with respect to the success and failures of the suggestion schemes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors to assess the sustainability of a suggestion system.Design/methodology/approach– This paper thus explores the critical success factors of suggestion scheme through a literature review and filters the critical determinants for sustainability of suggestion using factor analysis. The data collection was done using a survey technique.Findings– The results identity the five major factors as determinants to sustainability of a suggestion system as reported in the paper.Originality/value– This paper has made an attempt to explore the determinants to assess the sustainability of a suggestion system and has contributed toward the new knowledge in terms of sustainability of a suggestion system.
Utilizing lean tools to improve value and reduce outpatient wait times in an Indian hospital
Authors: Miller Richard , Chalapati Nirisha 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to demonstrate how lean tools were applied to some unique issues of providing healthcare in a developing country where many patients face challenges not found in developed countries. The challenges provide insight into how lean tools can be utilized to provide similar results across the world.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper is based on a qualitative case study carried out by a master’s student implementing lean at a hospital in India.

Findings
– This paper finds that lean tools such as value-stream mapping and root cause analysis can lead to dramatic reductions in waste and improvements in productivity. The problems of the majority of patients paying for their own healthcare and lacking transportation created scheduling problems that required patients to receive their diagnosis and pay for treatment within a single day. Many additional wastes were identified that were significantly impacting the hospital’s ability to provide care. As a result of this project, average outpatient wait times were reduced from 1 hour to 15 minutes along with a significant increase in labor productivity.

Practical implications
– The results demonstrate how lean tools can increase value to the patients. It also provides are framework that can be utilized for healthcare providers in developed and developing countries to analyze their value streams to reduce waste.

Originality/value
– This paper is one of the first to address the unique issues of implementing lean to a healthcare setting in a developing country.
The Medical Motorway: improving the quality of care in the context of an ageing population
Authors: Suchak Shreena 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this article is to improve quality in health care.

Design/methodology/approach
– This article developed the concepts of the health-care services in the form of a Medical Motorway.

Findings
– Different conceptual approaches to providing efficiency of services whilst improving quality of patient care in the context of an ageing population are presented.

Originality/Value
– Personal viewpoint.
A reflexive account on my positionality in a collaborative action research project in a Seychelles secondary school
Authors: Simeon Jemma 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The paper is based on a doctoral action research project in which three ESL teachers and the author in one secondary school in the Seychelles focused on strategy instruction in the process approach to writing instruction with the aim of helping students become effective writers. The project enabled the author to establish relationships with the participating teachers as educator, facilitator and collaborator. To ensure the trustworthiness of the research, the author needed to clarify and explore the complex relationships to the setting and participants being studied. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– In this paper, the author reflexively discusses the development nature of my research: language learning strategies (LLS) and draw upon my experience of working with three ESL Seychellois teachers in the reflection and planning stage of the Core Action Research project to critically reflect on the negotiation of my position in practice.

Findings
– Reflecting on the author’s positionality in relation to how the teacher participants constructed the identity has helped the author to be more reflexive and engage with the research process in a more meaningful way.

Originality/value
– The author’s experience suggests that one’s positionality is never fixed and stable, but rather may be characterized as changing and fluctuating according to the context, content, feelings and ideas expressed.
Acne patients frequently associated with abnormal plasma lipid profile
Authors: Jiang Hao , Li Chang Yi , Zhou Lu , Lu Bin , Lin Yinghui , Huang Xiaoqi , Wei Bin , Wang Qiang , Wang Leping , Lu Jianqi 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThis study was designed to investigate the relationship between plasma lipid profile and acne. Acne patients (n = 181) and healthy volunteers (n = 130) matched in terms of both age and sex were enrolled. Plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) and lipoprotein (LP)(a) levels were measured. TC, LDL‐C and LP(a) levels in male and female patients with severe acne were significantly higher than in the healthy control group (P < 0.05). TG in male patients with severe and moderate acne was significantly higher than in the healthy control group (P < 0.05). LP(a) in male and female patients with mild, moderate and severe acne was significantly higher than in the healthy control group (P < 0.05). The constituent ratio of male and female patients with TC, TG, LDL‐C and LP(a) over the normal range was signi‐ficantly higher than in the healthy control group. In this study, acne patients were frequently associated with abnormal lipid profile, providing a new basis for further exploration of the pathogenesis, as well as new treatments, of acne vulgaris.
Efficacy of statins on sirtuin 1 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression: the role of sirtuin 1 gene variants in human coronary atherosclerosis
Authors: Kilic Ulkan , Gok Ozlem , Elibol‐Can Birsen , Uysal Omer , Bacaksiz Ahmet 
Published: January 2015

SummaryStatins are 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors and are used to reduce the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) due to their pleiotropic effects. Recently, greater focus has been placed on the role of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in cardiovascular disease research. However, insufficient data exist on the relationships between statins, SIRT1 protein levels, and SIRT1 gene variants. In the present study, we investigated the effects of statins, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin, in CAD patients by analysing the associations between SIRT1 gene variants, rs7069102C>G and rs2273773C>T, and SIRT1/endothelial nitric oxide (eNOS) expression, as well as total antioxidant and oxidant status, and the oxidative stress index. SIRT1 expression was significantly higher, and eNOS expression was significantly lower in CAD patients when compared with controls. Statin treatment reduced SIRT1 expression and increased eNOS expression, similar to the levels found in the control population, independent from the studied SIRT1 gene variants. Oxidative stress parameters were significantly increased in CAD patients, and were decreased by statin treatment, demonstrating the antioxidative effects of statins on atherosclerosis. These results indicate that statin treatment could produce its protective effect on cardiovascular disease through the inhibition of SIRT1 expression. This is the first study reporting on the effect of statins, specifically atorvastatin and rosuvastatin, on SIRT1 expression in CAD patients.
Language ability, executive functioning and behaviour in school‐age children
Authors: Karasinski Courtney 
Published: January 2015

AbstractBackgroundMany children with language impairment present with deficits in other areas, including executive functioning (EF), attention and behaviour. Similarly, many children receiving services for attention or behaviour problems have deficits in language ability.AimsTo evaluate the relations among EF, language ability and behaviour problems in a sample of school‐age children with a wide range of language and behaviour profiles. The following research questions were addressed: Does performance on EF tasks predict language ability? Do language ability and EF predict problems with attention, internalizing and/or externalizing?Methods & ProceduresEF was defined as referring to the separable, yet related, processes of shifting, updating working memory and inhibition as specified in the latent variable model of EF. Children aged 8–11 years recruited from an urban school district completed standardized language and cognitive assessments and a computerized task assessing EF. Their parents completed standardized questionnaires assessing the children's EF and problem behaviours. Regression analyses were conducted.Outcomes & ResultsRegression analyses revealed that EF did not contribute to language ability beyond the variance accounted for by nonverbal reasoning. Language ability contributed to attention problems when entered as a single predictor, but was no longer significant when the EF measures were added to the model. Language ability did not significantly contribute to internalizing or externalizing behaviour problems. Parent‐reported inhibition was a robust predictor of attention, internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems.Conclusions & ImplicationsIn this sample of school‐age children, language ability was related to attention problems, but not to internalizing or externalizing. Children with behaviour problems may have particular difficulty with inhibition.
Microbiological and Physicochemical Analysis of Pumpkin Juice Fermentation by the Basidiomycetous Fungus Ganoderma lucidum
Authors: Zhao Jing , Liu Wei , Chen Dong , Zhou Chunli , Song Yi , Zhang Yuyu , Ni Yuanying , Li Quanhong 
Published: January 2015

AbstractA new protocol for processing of pumpkin juice was set up which included fermentation by the basidiomycete Ganoderma lucidum at 28 °C for 7 d. The growth curve of G. lucidum in pumpkin juice was successfully (R2 = 0.99) fitted by a 4‐parameter logistic model and the ideal highest biomass was estimated to be 4.79 g/L. G. lucidum was found to have a significant acidification effect on pumpkin juice. The lowest pH (4.05 ± 0.05) and highest total titratable acidity (14.31 ± 0.16 mL 0.1 M NaOH/100 mL) were found on the 4th day during fermentation. Sugars in pumpkin juice fermented with G. lucidum showed a significant decrease, especially glucose and fructose. On the contrary, the release of exo‐polysaccharides and free amino acids greatly enriched the pumpkin juice. The variation of color index and viscosity also mirrored the above behavior. Based on headspace solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry, 68 volatile compounds were identified, including 17 esters, 14 alcohols, 13 phenyl compounds, 11 aldehydes, 8 ketones, 3 acids, 1 furan, and 1 benzothiazole. The pumpkin juices fermented for different days were markedly differentiated with principal component analysis and the fermentation process was tentatively divided into 3 periods: the booming (from the 1st to 4th day), steady (from the 5th to 6th day), and decline (the 7th day) period.