Rethinking Industrial Relations revisited

This article traces the origins and consequences of the book Rethinking Industrial Relations and then explores some of the conceptual and empirical issues raised since its publication

Effect of BRCA2 sequence variants predicted to disrupt exonic splice enhancers on BRCA2 transcripts

Background: Genetic screening of breast cancer patients and their families have identified a number of variants of unknown clinical significance in the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. Evaluation of such unclassified variants may be assisted by web-based bioinformatic prediction tools, although accurate prediction of aberrant splicing by unclassified variants affecting exonic splice enhancers (ESEs) remains a challenge

Phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives to promote growth and enhance host health

There are heightened concerns globally on emerging drug-resistant superbugs and the lack of new antibiotics for treating human and animal diseases. For the agricultural industry, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to replace antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. The 2nd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics was held at the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, France, December 12-15, 2016 to discuss recent scientific developments on strategic antibiotic-free management plans, to evaluate regional differences in policies regarding the reduction of antibiotics in animal agriculture and to develop antibiotic alternatives to combat the global increase in antibiotic resistance. More than 270 participants from academia, government research institutions, regulatory agencies, and private animal industries from >25 different countries came together to discuss recent research and promising novel technologies that could provide alternatives to antibiotics for use in animal health and production; assess challenges associated with their commercialization; and devise actionable strategies to facilitate the development of alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) without hampering animal production. The 3-day meeting consisted of four scientific sessions including vaccines, microbial products, phytochemicals, immune-related products, and innovative drugs, chemicals and enzymes, followed by the last session on regulation and funding. Each session was followed by an expert panel discussion that included industry representatives and session speakers. The session on phytochemicals included talks describing recent research achievements, with examples of successful agricultural use of various phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives and their mode of action in major agricultural animals (poultry, swine and ruminants). Scientists from industry and academia and government research institutes shared their experience in developing and applying potential antibiotic-alternative phytochemicals commercially to reduce AGPs and to develop a sustainable animal production system in the absence of antibiotics.Fil: Lillehoj, Hyun. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Yanhong. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Calsamiglia, Sergio. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Fernandez Miyakawa, Mariano Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Chi, Fang. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Cravens, Ron L.. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Oh, Sungtaek. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Gay, Cyril G.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentin

Genome-Wide Identification of Alternative Splice Forms Down-Regulated by Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay in Drosophila

Alternative mRNA splicing adds a layer of regulation to the expression of thousands of genes in Drosophila melanogaster. Not all alternative splicing results in functional protein; it can also yield mRNA isoforms with premature stop codons that are degraded by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. This coupling of alternative splicing and NMD provides a mechanism for gene regulation that is highly conserved in mammals. NMD is also active in Drosophila, but its effect on the repertoire of alternative splice forms has been unknown, as has the mechanism by which it recognizes targets. Here, we have employed a custom splicing-sensitive microarray to globally measure the effect of alternative mRNA processing and NMD on Drosophila gene expression. We have developed a new algorithm to infer the expression change of each mRNA isoform of a gene based on the microarray measurements. This method is of general utility for interpreting splicing-sensitive microarrays and high-throughput sequence data. Using this approach, we have identified a high-confidence set of 45 genes where NMD has a differential effect on distinct alternative isoforms, including numerous RNA–binding and ribosomal proteins. Coupled alternative splicing and NMD decrease expression of these genes, which may in turn have a downstream effect on expression of other genes. The NMD–affected genes are enriched for roles in translation and mitosis, perhaps underlying the previously observed role of NMD factors in cell cycle progression. Our results have general implications for understanding the NMD mechanism in fly. Most notably, we found that the NMD–target mRNAs had significantly longer 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) than the nontarget isoforms of the same genes, supporting a role for 3′ UTR length in the recognition of NMD targets in fly

Secondary crystalline phases identification in Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin films: contributions from Raman scattering and photoluminescence

In this work, we present the Raman peak positions of the quaternary pure selenide compound Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) and related secondary phases that were grown and studied under the same conditions. A vast discussion about the position of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) reflections of these compounds is presented. It is known that by using XRD only, CZTSe can be identified but nothing can be said about the presence of some secondary phases. Thin films of CZTSe, Cu2SnSe3, ZnSe, SnSe, SnSe2, MoSe2 and a-Se were grown, which allowed their investigation by Raman spectroscopy (RS). Here we present all the Raman spectra of these phases and discuss the similarities with the spectra of CZTSe. The effective analysis depth for the common back-scattering geometry commonly used in RS measurements, as well as the laser penetration depth for photoluminescence (PL) were estimated for different wavelength values. The observed asymmetric PL band on a CZTSe film is compatible with the presence of CZTSe single-phase and is discussed in the scope of the fluctuating potentials’ model. The estimated bandgap energy is close to the values obtained from absorption measurements. In general, the phase identification of CZTSe benefits from the contributions of RS and PL along with the XRD discussion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Activism and willingness to help in union organizing : who are the activists?

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com” Copyright SpringerResearch on union renewal often cites a critical role for lay activism. This study examines determinants of activism and activism intentions among a broadly representative sample of U.S. union members. Hypotheses are developed from theory and previous research on union commitment and participation. Results for current activism are generally consistent with prior work. Extending the model to future intentions to help with organizing, an interesting contrast is that pro-union attitude influences appear much more important than do union instrumentality perceptions. This suggests that “covenant” rather than “exchange” concerns are more salient for this form of activism. Findings for ideological orientation support this interpretation.Peer reviewe