Association of the T allele of an intronic single nucleotide polymorphism in the colony stimulating factor 1 receptor with Crohn's disease: a case-control study

BACKGROUND: Polymorphisms in several genes (NOD2, MDR1, SLC22A4) have been associated with susceptibility to Crohn's disease. Identification of the remaining Crohn's susceptibility genes is essential for the development of disease-specific targets for immunotherapy. Using gene expression analysis, we identified a differentially expressed gene on 5q33, the colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) gene, and hypothesized that it is a Crohn's susceptibility gene. The CSF1R gene is involved in monocyte to macrophage differentiation and in innate immunity. METHODS: Patients provided informed consent prior to entry into the study as approved by the Institutional Review Board at LSU Health Sciences Center. We performed forward and reverse sequencing of genomic DNA from 111 unrelated patients with Crohn's disease and 108 controls. We also stained paraffin-embedded, ileal and colonic tissue sections from patients with Crohn's disease and controls with a polyclonal antibody raised against the human CSF1R protein. RESULTS: A single nucleotide polymorphism (A2033T) near a Runx1 binding site in the eleventh intron of the colony stimulating factor 1 receptor was identified. The T allele of this single nucleotide polymorphism occurred in 27% of patients with Crohn's disease but in only 13% of controls (X(2 )= 6.74, p < 0.01, odds ratio (O.R.) = 2.49, 1.23 < O.R. < 5.01). Using immunohistochemistry, positive staining with a polyclonal antibody to CSF1R was observed in the superficial epithelium of ileal and colonic tissue sections. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the colony stimulating factor receptor 1 gene may be a susceptibility gene for Crohn's disease

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

Contributions to relationship marketing on - satisfaction & customer-company identification

Die vier Artikel dieser Dissertation betrachten die Relevanz von Zufriedenheit und Identifikation für Kundenbeziehungen. Artikel 1 untersucht den nichtlinearen Zusammenhang von Zufriedenheit und Loyalität. Artikel 2 analysiert den Einfluss kritischer Ereignisse auf die Zufriedenheit und das Vertrauen von Kunden. Artikel 3 geht der Frage nach, ob mit einem Unternehmen identifizierte Kunden eine stärkere Bindung an das Unternehmen haben und zeigt, dass die Identifikation indirekt diverse Verhaltensweisen fördert, die mitunter nicht über eine Steigerung der Zufriedenheit erreicht werden können. Artikel 4 zeigt zudem, dass die Identifikation des Kunden mit dem Unternehmen sein Kaufverhalten begünstigt und vom Unternehmen gefördert werden kann.This dissertation consists of four articles which analyze the relevance of satisfaction and customer-company identification for customer relationships. Article 1 investigates the nonlinear effects of satisfaction on loyalty. Article 2 examines the influence of critical incidents on building customer trust and satisfaction. Article 3 demonstrates that customer-company identification leads to higher commitment which in turn fosters distinct supportive behaviors towards the company that are sometimes not attainable by increasing satisfaction. Article 4 shows that customers’ purchase behavior is positively influenced by customer-company identification and demonstrates that companies can increase their customers’ level of identification

Understanding Customer-Company Identification and its Impact on Customer In- and Extra-Role Behaviours in a Retail Setting

Drawing on the evolving research on customers’ identification with companies, our study explores the mechanism by which customer-company identification generates customer loyalty in a retail setting. We demonstrate that customers’ identification with the retailer is a central element to establish strong emotional ties i.e. affective commitment between customers and the retailer. These emotional ties or affective commitment to the retailer in turn (a) motivate loyalty intentions, i.e. repurchase intention but also (b) motivate so-called customer extra-role behaviours, behaviours which are neither expected by definition nor financially rewarded by the organization such as customers suggesting improvement chances or customers giving other customers a helping hand. We empirically demonstrate that while all of these extra-role behaviours are strongly levered by customer-company identification (through the resulting affective commitment), only some are driven by the classic relationship construct satisfaction. We additionally show which image perceptions of the retailer form the basis for identification by highlighting those stereotypes that are most salient in triggering customer-company identification. These findings are of high managerial relevance as they uncover a mechanism to strengthen the emotional relationship between the retailer and its customers that goes beyond the ubiquitous primarily economic bonding approaches through e.g. customer loyalty cards or bonus systems

Multiple Moderators of the Trust-Loyalty Relationship in Business-to-Business Relationships

Trust has become of increasing interest in many scientific domains, including economics, social psychology, sociology, and marketing (Blois 1999). Marketing studies have demonstrated that trust is an essential ingredient for successful relationship marketing (Doney and Cannon 1997; Morgan and Hunt 1994). In fact, Berry states: “Relationship marketing is based on the foundations of trust” (1995, p. 242). Theorizing that successful relational exchanges are motivated by trust and commitment, relational theory implicitly assumes that transactional and weak relational exchanges are not similarly motivated. According to this assumption, Garbarino & Johnson (1999) have proposed and confirmed that in business relationships for customers with a weak relational orientation trust is a peripheral evaluation and not predictive of repurchase intent. This finding contrast with the impact of trust for customers with a strong relational orientation, where trust is a key determinant of repurchase intent. Extending the work from Garbarino & Johnson (1999) we take a different approach and investigate different facets of risk as moderators of the trust – repurchase intention relation. Furthermore building on the embeddedness notion we propose and show that close personal relationships between boundary personnel of interacting companies are a key determinant of trust. Several marketing scholars (Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995; Witkowski and Thibodeau 1999) have argued for the relevance of close interpersonal relationships specifically in a business-to-business context. Consequently building close personal relationships with key customers was proposed as a way to achieve competitive advantage (e.g., Gremler and Gwinner 2000; Reichheld 1993). However our results imply that the strategy to build close personal relationships with key customers is not effective in conditions in which trust is not important; notably in situations with low risk. Our notion of risk as a moderator for the trust-loyalty relation can also explain the negligible relevance of personal relationships in Wathne, Biong and Heide's (2001) study, where risk was essentially zero