Measuring the integrated effectiveness of regional development : directions for regional government

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify the proper economic tools to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a regional development policy. Design/Methodology/Approach: The proposed methodology consists of three stages. At the first stage, the indicators are analyzed, allowing pointing the level of particular development dimensions in the self government strategy. At the second stage, indicators characterizing the efficiency of Opolskie Regional Operating Programme (OROP) and Development Strategy of Opole Voivodeship are examined. The third final stage is the analysis of the integrated effectiveness of regional development policy. The research methodology is based on the use of the following methods: desk research, the method of grouping statistical data, and the method of effectiveness analysis. Findings: The proposed methodology let us to find the need of redefining the tool enabling the measure of the degree of imbalance as the result of leading the regional development policy, as well as the uneven development potentials. Practical Implications: The authors purpose a new approach to the regional development policy by defining the complementary tools for regional self government evaluation. Originality/Value: The authors propose the new approach to the regional development policy programming, especially by redefining regional needs included into regional strategies.peer-reviewe

The complex genetic basis of simple behavior

Genetic approaches to dissecting complex traits in animal models increasingly use transcript levels as a molecular phenotype and as validation for predictions of gene function. A recent study in BMC Biology using these approaches shows the complexity of the genetic contribution to aggressive behavior in Drosophila

Innovation capability development in regional entrepreneurship : the case of economies in transition

Purpose: The first purpose of this study is to identify and explore IT professionals’ innovation capability (IC) in terms of two dimensions: organizational and individual, in regional, micro-sized, and small organizations (RMSOs) in Poland, a transition economy. The second goal is to find demographic and organizational factors which may influence IC. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors unites an analysis comprised multiple-case studies based on mixed methods. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods such as the method of competent judges, in-depth interviews and a structured survey as well as a combination of random and snowball sampling. On the basis of a survey among 60 IT professionals (supervisors and subordinates) the authors identified individual IC factors such as social competences, knowledge and skills, as well as organizational dimensions, such as the type of innovative change and ICT innovations. Factors influencing IC on an individual basis include position, education, age, and gender, while organizational determinants are related to organization size and location. Findings: The proposed methodology let to find the benefits for management practices in transition economies, an underestimated problem within RMSOs. Practical Implications: The current research expands the existing knowledge stream on ICT innovation capability in relation to individual socio-demographic factors and organizational factors, affecting its development in RMSOs in transition economies. This study adds potential to the implementation of the management practices in transition economies, an underestimated problem within RMSOs. Originality/Value: The authors purpose, as the novelty, the new approach of ICT innovation capability at the organizational and individual levels of an enterprise tool. We developed our previous tool – the Questionnaire of Innovation Capability (QIC). The authors defined its two dimensions, as organizational innovation capability and individual innovation capability. The use of RMSOs in transition economies yielded rich data for further research.peer-reviewe

Immunosuppressive effect and global dysregulation of blood transcriptome in response to psychosocial stress in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus).

Psychosocial stressors - life events that challenge social support and relationships - represent powerful risk factors for human disease; included amongst these events are relocation, isolation and displacement. To evaluate the impact of a controlled psychosocial stressor on physiology and underlying molecular pathways, we longitudinally studied the influence of a 28-day period of quarantine on biomarkers of immune signalling, microbial translocation, glycaemic health and blood transcriptome in the wild-born vervet monkey. This event caused a coordinated, mostly transient, reduction of circulating levels of nine immune signalling molecules. These were paralleled by a massive dysregulation of blood transcriptome, including genes implicated in chronic pathologies and immune functions. Immune and inflammatory functions were enriched among the genes downregulated in response to stress. An upregulation of genes involved in blood coagulation, platelet activation was characteristic of the rapid response to stress induction. Stress also decreased neutrophils and increased CD4 + T cell proportions in blood. This model of psychosocial stress, characterised by an immune dysregulation at the transcriptomic, molecular and cellular levels, creates opportunities to uncover the underlying mechanisms of stress-related diseases with an immune component, including cardiovascular diseases and susceptibility to infections

Seroprevalence of Zika virus in wild African green monkeys and baboons

ABSTRACT Zika virus (ZIKV) has recently spread through the Americas and has been associated with a range of health effects, including birth defects in children born to women infected during pregnancy. Although the natural reservoir of ZIKV remains poorly defined, the virus was first identified in a captive “sentinel” macaque monkey in Africa in 1947. However, the virus has not been reported in humans or nonhuman primates (NHPs) in Africa outside Gabon in over a decade. Here, we examine ZIKV infection in 239 wild baboons and African green monkeys from South Africa, the Gambia, Tanzania, and Zambia using combinations of unbiased deep sequencing, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), and an antibody capture assay that we optimized using serum collected from captive macaque monkeys exposed to ZIKV, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. While we did not find evidence of active ZIKV infection in wild NHPs in Africa, we found variable ZIKV seropositivity of up to 16% in some of the NHP populations sampled. We anticipate that these results and the methodology described within will help in continued efforts to determine the prevalence, natural reservoir, and transmission dynamics of ZIKV in Africa and elsewhere. IMPORTANCE Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus originally discovered in a captive monkey living in the Zika Forest of Uganda, Africa, in 1947. Recently, an outbreak in South America has shown that ZIKV infection can cause myriad health effects, including birth defects in the children of women infected during pregnancy. Here, we sought to investigate ZIKV infection in wild African primates to better understand its emergence and spread, looking for evidence of active or prior infection. Our results suggest that up to 16% of some populations of nonhuman primate were, at some point, exposed to ZIKV. We anticipate that this study will be useful for future studies that examine the spread of infections from wild animals to humans in general and those studying ZIKV in primates in particular. Podcast: A podcast concerning this article is available

Sequencing strategies and characterization of 721 vervet monkey genomes for future genetic analyses of medically relevant traits

Background We report here the first genome-wide high-resolution polymorphism resource for non-human primate (NHP) association and linkage studies, constructed for the Caribbean-origin vervet monkey, or African green monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus), one of the most widely used NHPs in biomedical research. We generated this resource by whole genome sequencing (WGS) of monkeys from the Vervet Research Colony (VRC), an NIH-supported research resource for which extensive phenotypic data are available. Results We identified genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by WGS of 721 members of an extended pedigree from the VRC. From high-depth WGS data we identified more than 4 million polymorphic unequivocal segregating sites; by pruning these SNPs based on heterozygosity, quality control filters, and the degree of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between SNPs, we constructed genome-wide panels suitable for genetic association (about 500,000 SNPs) and linkage analysis (about 150,000 SNPs). To further enhance the utility of these resources for linkage analysis, we used a further pruned subset of the linkage panel to generate multipoint identity by descent matrices. Conclusions The genetic and phenotypic resources now available for the VRC and other Caribbean-origin vervets enable their use for genetic investigation of traits relevant to human diseases

Genetic variation and gene expression across multiple tissues and developmental stages in a non-human primate

By analyzing multitissue gene expression and genome-wide genetic variation data in samples from a vervet monkey pedigree, we generated a transcriptome resource and produced the first catalog of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in a nonhuman primate model. This catalog contains more genome-wide significant eQTLs per sample than comparable human resources and identifies sex- and age-related expression patterns. Findings include a master regulatory locus that likely has a role in immune function and a locus regulating hippocampal long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), whose expression correlates with hippocampal volume. This resource will facilitate genetic investigation of quantitative traits, including brain and behavioral phenotypes relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders

The cerebellum ages slowly according to the epigenetic clock

Studies that elucidate why some human tissues age faster than others may shed light on how we age, and ultimately suggest what interventions may be possible. Here we utilize a recent biomarker of aging (referred to as epigenetic clock) to assess the epigenetic ages of up to 30 anatomic sites from supercentenarians (subjects who reached an age of 110 or older) and younger subjects. Using three novel and three published human DNA methylation data sets, we demonstrate that the cerebellum ages more slowly than other parts of the human body. We used both transcriptional data and genetic data to elucidate molecular mechanisms which may explain this finding. The two largest superfamilies of helicases (SF1 and SF2) are significantly over-represented (p=9.2x10-9) among gene transcripts that are over-expressed in the cerebellum compared to other brain regions from the same subject. Furthermore, SNPs that are associated with epigenetic age acceleration in the cerebellum tend to be located near genes from helicase superfamilies SF1 and SF2 (enrichment p=5.8x10-3). Our genetic and transcriptional studies of epigenetic age acceleration support the hypothesis that the slow aging rate of the cerebellum is due to processes that involve RNA helicases

Zoonotic potential of simian arteriviruses

Wild nonhuman primates are immediate sources and long-term reservoirs of human pathogens. However, ethical and technical challenges have hampered the identification of novel blood-borne pathogens in these animals. We recently examined RNA viruses in plasma from wild African monkeys and discovered several novel, highly divergent viruses belonging to the family Arteriviridae. Close relatives of these viruses, including simian hemorrhagic fever virus, have caused sporadic outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever in captive macaque monkeys since the 1960s. However, arterivirus infection in wild nonhuman primates had not been described prior to 2011. The arteriviruses recently identified in wild monkeys have high sequence and host species diversity, maintain high viremia, and are prevalent in affected populations. Taken together, these features suggest that the simian arteriviruses may be “preemergent” zoonotic pathogens. If not, this would imply that biological characteristics of RNA viruses thought to facilitate zoonotic transmission may not, by themselves, be sufficient for such transmission to occur

Identification of brain transcriptional variation reproduced in peripheral blood: an approach for mapping brain expression traits

Genome-wide gene expression studies may provide substantial insight into gene activities and biological pathways differing between tissues and individuals. We investigated such gene expression variation by analyzing expression profiles in brain tissues derived from eight different brain regions and from blood in 12 monkeys from a biomedically important non-human primate model, the vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus). We characterized brain regional differences in gene expression, focusing on transcripts for which inter-individual variation of expression in brain correlates well with variation in blood from the same individuals. Using stringent criteria, we identified 29 transcripts whose expression is measurable, stable, replicable, variable between individuals, relevant to brain function and heritable. Polymorphisms identified in probe regions could, in a minority of transcripts, confound the interpretation of the observed inter-individual variation. The high heritability of levels of these transcripts in a large vervet pedigree validated our approach of focusing on transcripts that showed higher inter-individual compared with intra-individual variation. These selected transcripts are candidate expression Quantitative Trait Loci, differentially regulating transcript levels in the brain among individuals. Given the high degree of conservation of tissue expression profiles between vervets and humans, our findings may facilitate the understanding of regional and individual transcriptional variation and its genetic mechanisms in humans. The approach employed here—utilizing higher quality tissue and more precise dissection of brain regions than is usually possible in humans—may therefore provide a powerful means to investigate variation in gene expression relevant to complex brain related traits, including human neuropsychiatric diseases