How managers can build trust in strategic alliances: a meta-analysis on the central trust-building mechanisms

Trust is an important driver of superior alliance performance. Alliance managers are influential in this regard because trust requires active involvement, commitment and the dedicated support of the key actors involved in the strategic alliance. Despite the importance of trust for explaining alliance performance, little effort has been made to systematically investigate the mechanisms that managers can use to purposefully create trust in strategic alliances. We use Parkhe’s (1998b) theoretical framework to derive nine hypotheses that distinguish between process-based, characteristic-based and institutional-based trust-building mechanisms. Our meta-analysis of 64 empirical studies shows that trust is strongly related to alliance performance. Process-based mechanisms are more important for building trust than characteristic- and institutional-based mechanisms. The effects of prior ties and asset specificity are not as strong as expected and the impact of safeguards on trust is not well understood. Overall, theoretical trust research has outpaced empirical research by far and promising opportunities for future empirical research exist

Anatomical heterogeneity of tendon: Fascicular and interfascicular tendon compartments have distinct proteomic composition

This study was funded by the BBSRC (BB/K008412/1)

Systems analysis of apoptosis protein expression allows the case-specific prediction of cell death responsiveness of melanoma cells.

Many cancer entities and their associated cell line models are highly heterogeneous in their responsiveness to apoptosis inducers and, despite a detailed understanding of the underlying signaling networks, cell death susceptibility currently cannot be predicted reliably from protein expression profiles. Here, we demonstrate that an integration of quantitative apoptosis protein expression data with pathway knowledge can predict the cell death responsiveness of melanoma cell lines. By a total of 612 measurements, we determined the absolute expression (nM) of 17 core apoptosis regulators in a panel of 11 melanoma cell lines, and enriched these data with systems-level information on apoptosis pathway topology. By applying multivariate statistical analysis and multi-dimensional pattern recognition algorithms, the responsiveness of individual cell lines to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) or dacarbazine (DTIC) could be predicted with very high accuracy (91 and 82% correct predictions), and the most effective treatment option for individual cell lines could be pre-determined in silico. In contrast, cell death responsiveness was poorly predicted when not taking knowledge on protein-protein interactions into account (55 and 36% correct predictions). We also generated mathematical predictions on whether anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members or x-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) can be targeted to enhance TRAIL responsiveness in individual cell lines. Subsequent experiments, making use of pharmacological Bcl-2/Bcl-xL inhibition or siRNA-based XIAP depletion, confirmed the accuracy of these predictions. We therefore demonstrate that cell death responsiveness to TRAIL or DTIC can be predicted reliably in a large number of melanoma cell lines when investigating expression patterns of apoptosis regulators in the context of their network-level interplay. The capacity to predict responsiveness at the cellular level may contribute to personalizing anti-cancer treatments in the future

Anatomical and Functional Deficits in Patients with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Anatomical and functional deficits have been studied in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, it is unclear whether and how the anatomical deficits are related to the functional alterations. Present study aims to characterize the association between anatomical and functional deficits in MCI patients. Methods: Seventeen amnestic MCI patients and 18 healthy aging controls were scanned using a T1 Weighted MPRAGE sequence and a gradient-echo echo-planar imaging sequence. Clinical severity of MCI patients was evaluated by usin

Resting state cortico-thalamic-striatal connectivity predicts pesponse to dorsomedial prefrontal rTMS in major depressive disorder

Despite its high toll on society, there has been little recent improvement in treatment efficacy for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The identification of biological markers of successful treatment response may allow for more personalized and effective treatment. Here we investigate whether resting state functional connectivity predicted response to treatment with rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Twenty five individuals with treatment-refractory MDD underwent a 4-week course of dmPFC-rTMS. Before and after treatment, subjects received resting state functional MRI scans and assessments of depressive symptoms using the Hamilton Depresssion Rating Scale (HAMD17). We found that higher baseline cortico-cortical connectivity (dmPFC-subgenual cingulate and subgenual cingulate to dorsolateral PFC) and lower cortico-thalamic, cortico-striatal and cortico-limbic connectivity were associated with better treatment outcomes. We also investigated how changes in connectivity over the course of treatment related to improvements in HAMD17 scores. We found that successful treatment was associated with increased dmPFC-thalamic connectivity and decreased sgACC-caudate connectivity, Our findings provide insight into which individuals might respond to rTMS treatment and the mechanisms through which these treatments work

Cerebrospinal fluid levels of opioid peptides in fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain

BACKGROUND: The mechanism(s) of nociceptive dysfunction and potential roles of opioid neurotransmitters are unresolved in the chronic pain syndromes of fibromyalgia and chronic low back pain. METHODS: History and physical examinations, tender point examinations, and questionnaires were used to identify 14 fibromyalgia, 10 chronic low back pain and 6 normal control subjects. Lumbar punctures were performed. Met-enkephalin-Arg(6)-Phe(7 )(MEAP) and nociceptin immunoreactive materials were measured in the cerebrospinal fluid by radioimmunoassays. RESULTS: Fibromyalgia (117.6 pg/ml; 85.9 to 149.4; mean, 95% C.I.; p = 0.009) and low back pain (92.3 pg/ml; 56.9 to 127.7; p = 0.049) groups had significantly higher MEAP than the normal control group (35.7 pg/ml; 15.0 to 56.5). MEAP was inversely correlated to systemic pain thresholds. Nociceptin was not different between groups. Systemic Complaints questionnaire responses were significantly ranked as fibromyalgia > back pain > normal. SF-36 domains demonstrated severe disability for the low back pain group, intermediate results in fibromyalgia, and high function in the normal group. CONCLUSIONS: Fibromyalgia was distinguished by higher cerebrospinal fluid MEAP, systemic complaints, and manual tender points; intermediate SF-36 scores; and lower pain thresholds compared to the low back pain and normal groups. MEAP and systemic pain thresholds were inversely correlated in low back pain subjects. Central nervous system opioid dysfunction may contribute to pain in fibromyalgia

Dysconnectivity of the medio-dorsal thalamic nucleus in drug-naïve first episode schizophrenia:diagnosis-specific or trans-diagnostic effect?

Converging lines of evidence implicate the thalamocortical network in schizophrenia. In particular, the onset of the illness is associated with aberrant functional integration between the medio-dorsal thalamic nucleus (MDN) and widespread prefrontal, temporal and parietal cortical regions. Because the thalamus is also implicated in other psychiatric illnesses including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), the diagnostic specificity of these alterations is unclear. Here, we determined whether aberrant functional integration between the MDN and the cortex is a specific feature of schizophrenia or a trans-diagnostic feature of psychiatric illness. Effective connectivity (EC) between the MDN and rest of the cortex was measured by applying psychophysiological interaction analysis to resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 50 patients with first episode schizophrenia (FES), 50 patients with MDD, 50 patients with PTSD and 122 healthy controls. All participants were medication-naïve. The only significant schizophrenia-specific effect was increased EC between the right MDN and the right pallidum (p < 0.05 corrected). In contrast, there were a number of significant trans-diagnostic alterations, with both right and left MDN displaying trans-diagnostic increased EC with several prefrontal and parietal regions bilaterally (p < 0.05 corrected). EC alterations between the MDN and the cortex are not specific to schizophrenia but are a trans-diagnostic feature of psychiatric disorders, consistent with emerging conceptualizations of mental illness based on a single general psychopathology factor. Therefore, dysconnectivity of the MDN could potentially be used to assess the presence of general psychopathology above and beyond traditional diagnostic boundaries