Exploring How Complexity Leader Behaviors Shape the Connectivity of Agents within a Complex Adaptive System: A Case Study

This case study explored how specific behaviors shape the connections between people within an inter-sector health collaborative as an important antecedent to achieving collaborative outcomes. The primary research question guiding this study was, “How do individual complexity leader behaviors—a subset of complexity leadership behaviors—shape the connectivity of agents within a complex adaptive system made up of elected, unpaid volunteers immediately following their annual strategic planning retreat?” Methods included observations, interviews, and document review. Individual complexity leader behaviors (CLBs) were found to shape the connectivity of agents within this complex adaptive system in a variety of ways that depended on the extant level of connectivity between agents. Specifically, when experiencing low-negative connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in a negative manner. When experiencing low-neutral connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in either a negative or a positive manner, or in a manner that reinforced the status quo. When experiencing moderate connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in a manner that reinforced the status quo or the behavior made no impact on the extant connectivity. Lastly, when experiencing high/deep connectivity, the utility of CLBs shaped the extant connectivity in a positive manner, in a manner that reinforced the status quo, or the behavior made no impact on the extant connectivity. There were also a number of additional findings related to the nature of both CLBs and the indices of connectivity. These findings are critical given that the relative connectivity of agents within a complex adaptive system is predictive of that system’s capacity to achieve outcomes. This study empirically supports and extends several core assumptions of complexity leadership theory; it also demonstrates that individual CLBs are identifiable and influential; that anybody can utilize CLBs; and that CLBs should be intentionally and mindfully utilized. Moreover, this study empirically supports the existence of non-linearity and (inter)connectivity in complex adaptive systems; it also demonstrates the versatility of connectivity and its indices. The results of this study have practical implications for inter-sector collaboratives—particularly related to how they utilize complexity leadership behaviors and achieve outcomes—and for capacity-building practitioners—specifically related to re-framing their conceptualization of leadership for their students

Choice of cyclodextrin for cellular cholesterol depletion for vascular endothelial cell lipid raft studies: Cell membrane alterations, cytoskeletal reorganization and cytotoxicity

329-341The use of cyclodextrins as tools to establish the role of cholesterol rafts in cellular functions has become a widely accepted procedure. However, the adverse effects of cyclodextrins as the cholesterol-depleting agents on cellular structure and functions are not reported in detail. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated the membrane-perturbing actions and cytotoxicity of the two widely used cellular cholesterol-depleting cyclodextrins methyl-b-cyclodextrin (MbCD) and hydroxypropyl-b-cyclodextrin (HPCD) in our well-established bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cell (BPAEC) in vitro model system. BPAECs treated with different concentrations of MβCD and HPCD (2% and 5%, wt/vol.) for 15-180 min showed significant loss of membrane cholesterol, cytotoxicity, cell morphology alterations, actin cytoskeletal reorganization, alterations in cellular proteins and membrane fatty acid composition, and decrease in trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TER). MbCD induced a marked loss of cellular proteins, as compared to that caused by HPCD under identical conditions. More noticeably, MbCD caused a drastic loss of membrane lipid fatty acids in BPAECs, as compared to HPCD which failed to cause such alteration. Removal of cholesterol by cyclodextrin (especially MβCD) treatment apparently caused loss of fluidity of the cell membrane and leakage of vital cellular molecules including proteins and fatty acids, and thus caused cytotoxicity and loss of cell morphology in BPAECs. Replenishment of cells with cholesterol following its depletion by MbCD treatment significantly attenuated the depletion of cellular cholesterol, cytotoxicity and morphological alterations in BPAECs, indicating the importance of membrane cholesterol in vascular EC integrity. Also, the current study offered a safer method of cholesterol removal from membranes and lipid rafts by HPCD, suggesting its use in studies to investigate the role of lipid raft-associated cholesterol in cellular functions