Comment on "Antibodies to influenza nucleoprotein cross-react with human hypocretin receptor 2".

Did hypocretin receptor 2 autoantibodies cause narcolepsy with hypocretin deficiency in Pandemrix-vaccinated children, as suggested by Ahmed et al.? Using newly developed mouse models to report and inactivate hypocretin receptor expression, Vassalli et al. now show that hypocretin neurons (whose loss causes narcolepsy) do not express hypocretin autoreceptors, raising questions to the interpretation of Ahmed et al.'s findings

The Effects of Information Technology and Service-Oriented Architectures on Joint Venture Value

Alliances represent a variety of governance contexts, and hence provide a rich empirical setting for studying the value-creation mechanisms of Information Technology (IT). We examine the influence of IT investment and flexible IT infrastructure, through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), in the effect of alliance activity on firm performance. We find that the marginal contribution of each joint venture to intangible firm value increases with investment in IT and in SOA. We also find that the impacts of IT and SOA are greater in the case of joint ventures than in non-equity alliances. Given that the hierarchical controls built into joint ventures may be offsetting many of the transaction and coordination costs inherent in joint venture activities, our results suggest that IT and SOA, through enhancement of flexibility, are likely to be reducing the costs of reconfiguration of firm resources. We test our hypotheses using data from 375 firms that are publicly listed in the United States and that span multiple industries; these firms have collectively engaged in more than 8,000 alliances over a period of 10 years

ERK signaling pathway regulates sleep duration through activity-induced gene expression during wakefulness.

Wakefulness is accompanied by experience-dependent synaptic plasticity and an increase in activity-regulated gene transcription. Wake-induced genes are certainly markers of neuronal activity and may also directly regulate the duration of and need for sleep. We stimulated murine cortical cultures with the neuromodulatory signals that are known to control wakefulness in the brain and found that norepinephrine alone or a mixture of these neuromodulators induced activity-regulated gene transcription. Pharmacological inhibition of the various signaling pathways involved in the regulation of gene expression indicated that the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is the principal one mediating the effects of waking neuromodulators on gene expression. In mice, ERK phosphorylation in the cortex increased and decreased with wakefulness and sleep. Whole-body or cortical neuron-specific deletion of Erk1 or Erk2 significantly increased the duration of wakefulness in mice, and pharmacological inhibition of ERK phosphorylation decreased sleep duration and increased the duration of wakefulness bouts. Thus, this signaling pathway, which is highly conserved from Drosophila to mammals, is a key pathway that links waking experience-induced neuronal gene expression to sleep duration and quality

Patomorfološke značajke mijaze uzrokovane ličinkama štrka Przhevalskiana silenus u koza.

Myiasis due to Przhevalskiana silenus infestation is an economic and health problem in most goat breeding countries. In the present study, the skin, subcutaneous tissues and internal organs of eighty-five local breed goats naturally infested by Przhevalskiana silenus larvae were examined grossly and histopathologically. Macroscopically, variable numbers of different larval stages (first, second and third) were observed in the subcutaneous tissues and the skin of the back and flanks. Abscess formation, perforated ulcers and also a number of holes due to migratory tracts and emerging mature larvae were observed in the affected skins. No larvae or any suspected lesions were found in other parts of the body. Microscopically, two main pathological lesions were diagnosed in the path of migration or around remnant fragments of alive or dead larvae in subcutaneous tissues, including purulent to non-purulent and granulomatous to pyogranulomatous dermatitis. The cross section of the larvae showed a thick eosinophilic cuticle associated with a number of outer short tiny spikes, various internal organs, such as the digestive system, were lined by tall simple columnar epithelium and full of digested inflammatory cells. Degenerated or dead larvae or fragments of the live larvae cuticle induced granulomatous or pyogranulomatous inflammatory reactions during molting.Mijaza uzrokovana štrkom Przhevalskiana silenus od velikoga je gospodarskoga i zdravstvenoga značenja u većini zemalja s razvijenim kozarstvom. U radu su patomorfološki i patohistološki bili pretraženi uzorci tkiva kože, potkožja i unutarnjih organa 85 koza lokalne pasmine prirodno infestiranih ličinkama štrka Przhevalskiana silenus. Makroskopski je ustanovljen različiti broj ličinaka prvoga, drugoga i trećega stupnja u koži i potkožnom tkivu u području slabina i leđa. Na zahvaćenom dijelu kože javili su se apscesi, perforirani čirevi i velik broj otvora zbog migracije i dozrijevanja ličinaka. Na ostalim dijelovima tijela nisu bile ustanovljene ni ličinke ni ikakve promjene. Mikroskopski su bile ustanovljene promjene na putovima migracije ili na mjestu ostataka uginulih ili živih ličinaka u potkožnom tkivu, koje su se očitovale u obliku gnojne ili negnojne granulomatozne upale kože. Ličinke su na presjeku pokazivale debelu eozinofilnu kutikulu povezanu s velikim brojem vanjskih kratkih, tankih izdanaka te različitim unutarnjim organima kao što su probavni organi s visokim stupčastim epitelom ispunjeni upalnim stanicama. Degenerativne ili uginule ličinke ili dijelovi odljuštene kutikule živih ličinaka uzrokovali su granulomatoznu ili piogranulomatoznu upalnu reakciju

Patomorfološke značajke mijaze uzrokovane ličinkama štrka Przhevalskiana silenus u koza.

Myiasis due to Przhevalskiana silenus infestation is an economic and health problem in most goat breeding countries. In the present study, the skin, subcutaneous tissues and internal organs of eighty-five local breed goats naturally infested by Przhevalskiana silenus larvae were examined grossly and histopathologically. Macroscopically, variable numbers of different larval stages (first, second and third) were observed in the subcutaneous tissues and the skin of the back and flanks. Abscess formation, perforated ulcers and also a number of holes due to migratory tracts and emerging mature larvae were observed in the affected skins. No larvae or any suspected lesions were found in other parts of the body. Microscopically, two main pathological lesions were diagnosed in the path of migration or around remnant fragments of alive or dead larvae in subcutaneous tissues, including purulent to non-purulent and granulomatous to pyogranulomatous dermatitis. The cross section of the larvae showed a thick eosinophilic cuticle associated with a number of outer short tiny spikes, various internal organs, such as the digestive system, were lined by tall simple columnar epithelium and full of digested inflammatory cells. Degenerated or dead larvae or fragments of the live larvae cuticle induced granulomatous or pyogranulomatous inflammatory reactions during molting.Mijaza uzrokovana štrkom Przhevalskiana silenus od velikoga je gospodarskoga i zdravstvenoga značenja u većini zemalja s razvijenim kozarstvom. U radu su patomorfološki i patohistološki bili pretraženi uzorci tkiva kože, potkožja i unutarnjih organa 85 koza lokalne pasmine prirodno infestiranih ličinkama štrka Przhevalskiana silenus. Makroskopski je ustanovljen različiti broj ličinaka prvoga, drugoga i trećega stupnja u koži i potkožnom tkivu u području slabina i leđa. Na zahvaćenom dijelu kože javili su se apscesi, perforirani čirevi i velik broj otvora zbog migracije i dozrijevanja ličinaka. Na ostalim dijelovima tijela nisu bile ustanovljene ni ličinke ni ikakve promjene. Mikroskopski su bile ustanovljene promjene na putovima migracije ili na mjestu ostataka uginulih ili živih ličinaka u potkožnom tkivu, koje su se očitovale u obliku gnojne ili negnojne granulomatozne upale kože. Ličinke su na presjeku pokazivale debelu eozinofilnu kutikulu povezanu s velikim brojem vanjskih kratkih, tankih izdanaka te različitim unutarnjim organima kao što su probavni organi s visokim stupčastim epitelom ispunjeni upalnim stanicama. Degenerativne ili uginule ličinke ili dijelovi odljuštene kutikule živih ličinaka uzrokovali su granulomatoznu ili piogranulomatoznu upalnu reakciju

How Human Resource and Information Systems Practices Amplify the Returns on Information Technology Investments

This study examines the important roles that human resources (HR) for information technology (IT) professionals and information systems (IS) practices for all workers in an organization play in shaping returns on firms’ IT investments. In particular, we consider how incentives, autonomy, and training for IT professionals can enable a firm to better leverage the value of its IT investments. We argue that well-trained, motivated, and empowered IT professionals can help firms make better strategic choices in allocating IT investments and implementing IT projects. We also demonstrate how this moderating relationship depends upon collaborative IS and autonomy-enhancing IS practices that affect other knowledge workers in the firm. We leverage archival data for 228 firms with 736 firm-year observations and document two key findings. We find (1) that empowering HR practices for IT professionals positively moderate the effect of IT investments on firm performance, and (2) that the alignment between empowering HR practices for IT professionals and firm-wide collaborative IS practices enhances the value that firms derive from IT investments. Our results suggest that the business value of IT investments is linked to the rewards and opportunities offered to IT professionals, who have a pivotal role in the effective deployment of IT in organizations