Exploring the Role of Enterprise Architecture in IS-enabled Ot: An EA Principles Perspective

© 2016 IEEE. Although EA principles have received considerable attention in recent years, there is still little known about how EA principles can be used to govern the transformation of the Information Systems enabled organization. In this research-in-progress paper, we communicate our initial step towards answering the sub-question: how do enforcing EA principles contribute to IS-enabled OT? Based on a comprehensive literature review, we initially propose five testable hypotheses and a research model, which is a pre-requisite to developing a data-driven theory for this important area of research. It is anticipated that the ensuing theory will provide a basis for further research studying the impact of EA on IS-enabled OT. The tested research model will also provide guidance to practitioners on how to effectively design and use EA principles in managing transformative changes caused by IS within their organizations and overall industry sectors

Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem sells for the generation of high-order kidney organoids

Our understanding in the inherent properties of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have made possible the development of differentiation procedures to generate three-dimensional tissue-like cultures, so-called organoids. Here we detail a stepwise methodology to generate kidney organoids from hPSCs. This is achieved through direct differentiation of hPSCs in two-dimensional monolayer culture toward the posterior primitive streak fate, followed by induction of intermediate mesoderm-committed cells, which are further aggregated and cultured in three-dimensions to generate kidney organoids containing segmented nephron-like structures in a process that lasts 20 days. We also provide a concise description on how to assess renal commitment during the time course of kidney organoid generation. This includes the use of flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry analyses for the detection of specific renal differentiation markers

A random cell motility gradient downstream of FGF controls elongation of amniote embryos

Vertebrate embryos are characterized by an elongated antero-posterior (AP) body axis, which forms by progressive cell deposition from a posterior growth zone in the embryo. Here, we used tissue ablation in the chicken embryo to demonstrate that the caudal presomitic mesoderm (PSM) has a key role in axis elongation. Using time-lapse microscopy, we analysed the movements of fluorescently labelled cells in the PSM during embryo elongation, which revealed a clear posterior-to-anterior gradient of cell motility and directionality in the PSM. We tracked the movement of the PSM extracellular matrix in parallel with the labelled cells and subtracted the extracellular matrix movement from the global motion of cells. After subtraction, cell motility remained graded but lacked directionality, indicating that the posterior cell movements associated with axis elongation in the PSM are not intrinsic but reflect tissue deformation. The gradient of cell motion along the PSM parallels the fibroblast growth factor (FGF)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) gradient1, which has been implicated in the control of cell motility in this tissue2. Both FGF signalling gain- and loss-of-function experiments lead to disruption of the motility gradient and a slowing down of axis elongation. Furthermore, embryos treated with cell movement inhibitors (blebbistatin or RhoK inhibitor), but not cell cycle inhibitors, show a slower axis elongation rate. We propose that the gradient of random cell motility downstream of FGF signalling in the PSM controls posterior elongation in the amniote embryo. Our data indicate that tissue elongation is an emergent property that arises from the collective regulation of graded, random cell motion rather than by the regulation of directionality of individual cellular movements

Hospital Admissions Due to Ischemic Heart Diseases and Prescriptions of Cardiovascular Diseases Medications in England and Wales in the Past Two Decades

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the trend of ischemic heart disease (IHD) admission and the prescriptions of IHD medications in England and Wales. Methods: A secular trends study was conducted during the period of 1999 to 2019. We extracted hospital admission data for patients from all age groups from the Hospital Episode Statistics database in England and the Patient Episode Database for Wales. Prescriptions of IHD medications were extracted from the Prescription Cost Analysis database from 2004 to 2019. The chi-squared test was used to assess the difference between the admission rates and the difference between IHD medication prescription rates. The trends in IHD-related hospital admission and IHD-related medication prescription were assessed using a Poisson model. The correlation between hospital admissions for IHD and its IHD medication-related prescriptions was assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: Our study detected a significant increase in the rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) medication prescriptions in England and Wales, representing a rise in the CVD medications prescription rate of 41.8% (from 539,334.95 (95% CI = 539,286.30–539,383.59) in 2004 to 764,584.55 (95% CI = 764,545.55–764,623.56) in 2019 prescriptions per 100,000 persons), with a mean increase of 2.8% per year during the past 15 years. This increase was connected with a reduction in the IHD hospital admission rate by 15.4% (from 838.50 (95% CI = 836.05–840.94) in 2004 to 709.78 (95% CI = 707.65–711.92) in 2019 per 100,000 persons, trend test, p < 0.01), with a mean decrease of 1.02% per year during the past 15 years and by 5% (from 747.43 (95% CI = 745.09–749.77) in 1999 to 709.78 (95% CI = 707.65–711.92) in 2019 per 100,000 persons, trend test, p < 0.01) with a mean decrease of 0.25% per year during the past two decades in England and Wales. Conclusion: The rate of hospitalisation due to IHD has decreased in England and Wales during the past two decades. Hospitalisation due to IHD was strongly and negatively correlated with the increase in the rates of dispensing of IHD-related medications. Other factors contributing to this decline could be the increase in controlling IHD risk factors during the past few years. Future studies exploring other risk factors that are associated with IHD hospitalisation are warranted

The Incidence of Common Respiratory Viruses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From the Louisville COVID-19 Epidemiology Study

Introduction: Social distancing has been utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, which is also expected to reduce the spread of common respiratory viruses. Methods: This retrospective, descriptive study assessed the rate of positivity of common respiratory viruses from commercially available respiratory pathogen panel, across a five-hospital health-system, during four-week periods within March to April of 2019 and 2020. Results: During the four-week period in 2019, the percent positivity of common respiratory viruses from week one to week four decreased from 6 to 32% among the four included viruses. In the comparator period in 2020, a decrease ranging from 74 to 100% was observed from week one to week four. Conclusions: These data indicate that the social distancing efforts implemented in Louisville, Kentucky, may be associated with a decrease in incidence of common respiratory viruses. This decrease in positivity of common respiratory viruses may serve as a surrogate marker for the effect of social distancing on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Cardiac afferent activity modulates the expression of racial stereotypes

Negative racial stereotypes tend to associate Black people with threat. This often leads to the misidentification of harmless objects as weapons held by a Black individual. Yet, little is known about how bodily states impact the expression of racial stereotyping. By tapping into the phasic activation of arterial baroreceptors, known to be associated with changes in the neural processing of fearful stimuli, we show activation of race-threat stereotypes synchronized with the cardiovascular cycle. Across two established tasks, stimuli depicting Black or White individuals were presented to coincide with either the cardiac systole or diastole. Results show increased race-driven misidentification of weapons during systole, when baroreceptor afferent firing is maximal, relative to diastole. Importantly, a third study examining the positive Black-athletic stereotypical association fails to demonstrate similar modulations by cardiac cycle. We identify a body–brain interaction wherein interoceptive cues can modulate threat appraisal and racially biased behaviour in context-dependent ways