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Current Perspective (current + perspective)
Selected AbstractsPerformance Measurement: Current Perspectives and Future ChallengesPERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Article first published online: 22 FEB 200 First page of article [source] Pediatric Laryngotracheal Obstruction: Current Perspectives on StridorTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 7 2006John Bent MD Abstract Objectives/Hypothesis: To assess how medical advances have impacted the diagnosis, management, and outcomes of pediatric laryngotracheal obstruction, and to describe the advantages of audio-video documentation of stridorous children. Study Design and Methods: Retrospective. Methods and Materials: 268 patients were referred for suspected laryngotracheal obstruction during the 30 months between September 1, 1995 and March 1, 1998: 173 had 206 flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopies, and 160 had 273 direct laryngoscopies. One hundred and forty-one children were identified with laryngotracheal obstruction, yielding 40 different diagnoses that could be classified into 9 major categories. Thirty-six children (25.5%) had multiple sites of upper airway obstruction. Results: 138 children had follow-up >1 month. Twelve children died (8.7%), leaving 126 survivors (mean follow-up = 21.1 months). Outcomes were classified as resolved (44.2%), improved (37.0%), stable (9.4%), failed (0.7%), or death (8.7%). Better outcomes were seen in more readily treated diagnostic categories, such as tracheobronchial foreign body, chronic laryngitis, and suprastomal granulation tissue; laryngeal stenosis, tracheomalacia, and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, had less favorable outcomes (P <.001). The former group also showed superior outcome compared to laryngomalacia (P <.001) and vocal cord mobility disorders (P = .004). Ninety-four patients (68.1%) had comorbidities complicating their management. Comorbid conditions were universal among deceased patients and least common in the resolved outcomes category (56.7%), supporting the premise that patients with poor outcomes are more likely to have comorbidities than patients with resolution of laryngotracheal symptoms (P = .034). Conclusions: Audio-video recording of pediatric laryngotracheal obstruction offers numerous advantages. Children classified into an array of diagnostic categories usually have favorable outcomes, but opportunities for continued advances exist, particularly regarding management of comorbidity and chronic obstruction. [source] Changing Public Service Organizations: Current Perspectives and Future ProspectsBRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2003Ewan Ferlie As governments and public service organizations across the globe engage in strategies of institutional and organizational change, it is timely to examine current developments and a future research agenda for public governance and management. The paper commences with reflections on the state of the field, based on an analysis of papers published in the British Journal of Management over the last decade. While there was some variation apparent across the set, the ,typical' article was found to be influenced by the discipline of organizational behaviour, set within the health-care sector, using case-study methods within field-based studies, and investigating shifts in roles and relationships and the management of change. It has also in the past been UK-centric, though the journal editorial policy and our own article call for a stronger international and comparative focus in the future. The second section of the article summarizes the articles and themes contained in this collection of papers on public service organizations. The third section explores a possible research agenda for the future, arguing for the significance of public sector research for the understanding of management more generally, and for examining the interface between private and public organizations (an increasingly common phenomenon). We suggest the need to set public services research in policy and political contexts, and suggest this may reveal organizational processes of wide interest. We call for a wider set of disciplines to engage in public management research, and to engage in moving the agenda from the study of efficiency to effectiveness as defined by a variety of stakeholders. We address the issue of how far public management researchers should become directly engaged with the world of policy and suggest that whether researchers engage in Mode 1 or Mode 2 research, their work would benefit from a stronger theoretical base. [source] Current perspectives on the treatment of venous thromboembolism: need for effective, safe and convenient new antithrombotic drugsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 3 2004D.F. O'Shaughnessy Summary Treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) has evolved significantly over the last decade. Low-molecular-weight heparins have largely replaced unfractionated heparin in the treatment of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) but the majority of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) continue to be treated with unfractionated heparin. Fondaparinux is the first synthetic selective inhibitor of factor Xa. It has recently been proved to be more effective than, and as safe as, a low-molecular-weight heparin for the prevention of VTE after major orthopaedic surgery. The two large randomised MATISSE trials demonstrated that fondaparinux was at least as effective and as safe as previous reference heparin therapies in the treatment of VTE. Fondaparinux should further simplify the treatment of this frequent disease since a single once-daily fixed dosage regimen may effectively and safely treat both DVT and PE, an important point especially considering the frequent though clinically silent concomitance of these two thrombotic events. [source] Proteomic profiling of exosomes: Current perspectivesPROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 19 2008Richard J. Simpson Professor Abstract Exosomes are 40,100,nm membrane vesicles of endocytic origin secreted by most cell types in vitro. Recent studies have shown that exosomes are also found in vivo in body fluids such as blood, urine, amniotic fluid, malignant ascites, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, synovial fluid, and breast milk. While the biological function of exosomes is still unclear, they can mediate communication between cells, facilitating processes such as antigen presentation and in trans signaling to neighboring cells. Exosome-like vesicles identified in Drosophila (referred to as argosomes) may be potential vehicles for the spread of morphogens in epithelia. The advent of current MS-based proteomic technologies has contributed significantly to our understanding of the molecular composition of exosomes. In addition to a common set of membrane and cytosolic proteins, it is becoming increasingly apparent that exosomes harbor distinct subsets of proteins that may be linked to cell-type associated functions. The secretion of exosomes by tumor cells and their implication in the transport and propagation of infectious cargo such as prions and retroviruses such as HIV suggest their participation in pathological situations. Interestingly, the recent observation that exosomes contain both mRNA and microRNA, which can be transferred to another cell, and be functional in that new environment, is an exciting new development in the unraveling exosome saga. The present review aims to summarize the physical properties that define exosomes as specific cell-type secreted membrane vesicles. [source] A self-motives perspective on feedback-seeking behavior: Linking organizational behavior and social psychology researchINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 3 2007Frederik Anseel Both the feedback-seeking literature in management and the self-motives domain in social psychology have focused on how motives affect the way in which people acquire information for self-evaluation purposes. Despite apparent conceptual similarities, the implications of research in these domains have not been fully integrated. This paper aims to link research on feedback-seeking behavior to recent theoretical developments in social psychology. First, the current perspective in management on feedback-seeking motives is depicted. Second, a well-established framework of self-motives in social psychology is introduced. Third, similarities and differences between these two motivational perspectives are discussed and a first step towards integration is proposed. Fourth, it is demonstrated how a self-motives perspective might guide future research on six key issues. Self-motives might be useful in identifying new antecedents of feedback-seeking behavior, resolving inconsistencies in the feedback-seeking literature, understanding the interplay among feedback-seeking motives, integrating feedback-seeking and feedback reactions research, examining attitudinal outcomes of feedback-seeking motives, and enhancing the feedback,performance relationship. [source] Catchlike property of skeletal muscle: Recent findings and clinical implicationsMUSCLE AND NERVE, Issue 6 2005Stuart Binder-Macleod PhD Abstract The catchlike property of skeletal muscle is the force augmentation produced by the inclusion of an initial, brief, high-frequency burst of two to four pulses at the start of a subtetanic low-frequency stimulation train. Catchlike-inducing trains take advantage of the catchlike property of skeletal muscle and augment muscle performance compared with constant-frequency trains, especially in the fatigued state. Literature spanning more than 30 years has provided comprehensive information about the catchlike property of skeletal muscle. The pattern of the catchlike-inducing train that maximizes muscle performance is fairly similar across different muscles of different species and under various stimulation conditions. This review summarizes the mechanisms of the catchlike property, factors affecting force augmentation, techniques used to identify patterns of catchlike-inducing trains that maximize muscle performance, and potential clinical applications to provide a historical and current perspective of our understanding of the catchlike property. Muscle Nerve, 2005 [source] A current perspective of the status of understanding BOLD imaging and its use in studying brain function: a summary of the workshop at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 26,28 October, 2000NMR IN BIOMEDICINE, Issue 7-8 2001E. Mark Haacke First page of article [source] Chronic wet cough: Protracted bronchitis, chronic suppurative lung disease and bronchiectasisPEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 6 2008A.B. Chang PhD Abstract The role of persistent and recurrent bacterial infection of the conducting airways (endobronchial infection) in the causation of chronic respiratory symptoms, particularly chronic wet cough, has received very little attention over recent decades other than in the context of cystic fibrosis (CF). This is probably related (at least in part) to the (a) reduction in non-CF bronchiectasis in affluent countries and, (b) intense focus on asthma. In addition failure to characterize endobronchial infections has led to under-recognition and lack of research. The following article describes our current perspective of inter-related endobronchial infections causing chronic wet cough; persistent bacterial bronchitis (PBB), chronic suppurative lung disease (CSLD) and bronchiectasis. In all three conditions, impaired muco-ciliary clearance seems to be the common risk factor that provides organisms the opportunity to colonize the lower airway. Respiratory infections in early childhood would appear to be the most common initiating event but other conditions (e.g., tracheobronchomalacia, neuromuscular disease) increases the risk of bacterial colonization. Clinically these conditions overlap and the eventual diagnosis is evident only with further investigations and long term follow up. However whether these conditions are different conditions or reflect severity as part of a spectrum is yet to be determined. Also misdiagnosis of asthma is common and the diagnostic process is further complicated by the fact that the co-existence of asthma is not uncommon. The principles of managing PBB, CSLD and bronchiectasis are the same. Further work is required to improve recognition, diagnosis and management of these causes of chronic wet cough in children. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2008; 43:519,531. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Dengue virus-specific suppressor T cells: current perspectivesFEMS IMMUNOLOGY & MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Umesh C. Chaturvedi Abstract Dengue virus was the first microorganism that was shown to induce generation of antigen-specific suppressor T (TS) cells in mice. The cascade of the three generations of TS cells (TS1, TS2, TS3) and their secretary products, the suppressor factors (SF1, SF2), was delineated. The TS pathway was proposed to be protective through inhibition of the production of enhancing antibody, which may enhance the severity of dengue disease. The currently second most favoured mechanism of severe dengue disease is the ,cytokine tsunami'. During the last decade, suppressor/regulatory T cells have been studied in greater detail using modern techniques in various diseases, including viral infections. This brief review discusses the role of dengue-specific suppressor T cells in protection and/or induction of severe dengue disease in view of our current understanding of suppressor/regulatory T cells. [source] Axon or dendrite? cell biology and molecular pathways for neuronal cell asymmetryJOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, Issue 3 2008Masashi Kishi Abstract Young neurons polarize by specializing axons and dendrites from immature neurites. After synapse formations, they transmit electrical activity along the axon-dendrite axis, thereby working as functional units of the neural circuits. This axon-dendrite asymmetry is referred to as neuronal polarity. Although a great number of cell biological studies in vitro had been performed, little was known about the molecular events that establish the polarity. In the last several years, rapid advancement in molecular and genetic studies has unraveled the multiple signaling pathways. This paper summarizes current perspectives on the cell and molecular biological mechanisms of the neuronal polarization, to clarify future directions in this growing research field. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Role of mitochondrial ion channels in cell deathBIOFACTORS, Issue 4 2010Shin-Young Ryu Abstract Ion channels located in the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes are key regulators of cellular signaling for life and death. Permeabilization of mitochondrial membranes is one of the most critical steps in the progression of several cell death pathways. The mitochondrial apoptosis-induced channel (MAC) and the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) play major roles in these processes. Here, the most recent progress and current perspectives about the roles of MAC and mPTP in mitochondrial membrane permeabilization during cell death are presented. The crosstalk signaling of MAC and mPTP formation/activation mediated by cytosolic Ca2+ signaling, Bcl-2 family proteins, and other mitochondrial ion channels is also discussed. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate opening and closing of MAC and mPTP has revealed new therapeutic targets that potentially could control cell death in pathologies such as cancer, ischemia/reperfusion injuries, and neurodegenerative diseases. [source] | ||||||||||||||||