116 research outputs found
TRUSTING REVIEW MECHANISMS IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: ANTECEDENTS, OUTCOMES, AND THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED RISK
In recent years, the success of social media in the private realm has entailed an increasing awareness of opportunities that are linked to user-generated content in knowledge management systems. Alongside the benefits in terms of knowledge quantity, new quality risks arise from an unregulated knowledge contribution. Considering that, review mechanisms have been implemented to monitor the content and provide a basis to distinguish between good and poor quality knowledge assets. This paper proposes a model to uncover the role of trust in expert and peer reviews during the knowledge application process by considering its antecedents, its outcomes, and the influnce of perceived risk. The model suggests that trust in expert and peer reviews is based on the ability, benevolence, and integrity of the respective group and is positively influnced by a higher trustorÂŽs propensity to trust. Perceived risk in a particular situation influnces the decision whether to apply knowledge based on trust in expert or in peer reviews. It is assumed that high-risk decisions are based on expert reviews more likely because the organizational and individual risk is perceived to be lowered, whereas peer reviews can only mitigate organizational risk
The Use of Social Media in Enterprises for Communication, Collaboration, and Knowledge Management
Der Erfolg von Social Media im Internet hat dazu gefĂŒhrt, dass diese Technologie zunehmend auch in Unternehmen eingesetzt, oder ĂŒber deren Implementierung nachgedacht wird. Durch die erwartete Verbesserung der Kommunikation und Interaktion zwischen Mitarbeitern auf der einen Seite und des Wissensmanagements auf der anderen Seite er-hoffen sich EntscheidungstrĂ€ger in Unternehmen einen erheblichen betriebswirtschaftlichen Nutzen. Obwohl es einige Beispiele erfolgreicher Enterprise-Social-Media(ESM)-Implementierungen gibt und mehr als 90% der Fortune 500 Unternehmen ESM eingefĂŒhrt haben oder dies planen, verfehlen 80% der ESM-Projekte die eingangs definierten Ziele. WĂ€hrend die Entscheidung, die Software einzukaufen, zentral getroffen wird, hĂ€ngt deren Erfolg von der aktiven Partizipation der Mitarbeiter ab â wie sich anhand der genannten Statistiken zeigt, ist beides nicht zwangslĂ€ufig korreliert. Im Gegensatz zu organischem Wachstum, wie es in Social-Media-Anwendungen im Internet in den vergangenen Jahren beobachtet werden konnte (z.B. bei Facebook), ist die Nutzungsrate von internen ESM oft zu gering, um den Fortbestand der Community zu sichern. Es zeigt sich dabei verstĂ€rkt, dass passive Roll-Out-Strategien, die darauf vertrauen, dass es ein vergleichbares organisches Wachstum auch bei ESM gibt, zum Scheitern verurteilt sind. Viel-mehr mĂŒssen Analysen im Vorhinein das fĂŒr einen spezifischen Anwendungsbereich geeignete Tool identifizieren, und Strategien entwickelt werden, wie Mitarbeiter fĂŒr die Interaktion ĂŒber die neuen Anwendungen gewonnen werden können.
Da Ausgaben fĂŒr Informationstechnologien bei einem geringen Nutzungsgrad nicht zu-rechtfertigen sind, trĂ€gt die vorliegende Dissertation in acht Essays dazu bei, verschiedene Facetten der ESM-Nutzung nĂ€her beleuchten und so zu einem besseren VerstĂ€ndnis des Themas und damit einhergehend einer effektiveren und effizienteren Implementierung von ESM beitragen. Sowohl die Analyse von Einflussfaktoren auf verschiedene Nutzungstypen von ESM, die Optimierung von Enterprise-Suchalgorithmen als auch die Neuinterpretation von Online-Produkt-Ratings können dabei helfen, die VerĂ€nderungen der internen und externen Kommunikation, Kollaboration und des Wissensmanagements, die sich durch den Einsatz von ESM ergeben, besser zu erklĂ€ren und bedarfs-gerechter einzusetzen. Die theoretischen und praktischen Implikationen, welche sich konkret aus den einzelnen Essays ergeben, werden in den entsprechenden Abschnitten der jeweiligen Papiere erlĂ€utert
Verlaufsbeurteilung der Intima-Media-Dicke bei Patienten mit primÀrem Hyperaldosteronismus
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Intima-Media-Dicke und deren Verlauf ĂŒber den Zeitraum eines Jahres unter spezifischer Therapie bei Patienten mit primĂ€rem Hyperaldosteronismus in den Untergruppen des Aldosteron produzierenden Adenoms sowie der bilateralen adrenalen Hyperplasie verglichen. Untersucht wurden verschiedene Einflussfaktoren und deren Auswirkung auf die Intima-Media-Dicke. DarĂŒber hinaus wurde die Mirkoalbuminurie in Hinblick auf die Eignung als Surrogatmarker fĂŒr den Therapieerfolg evaluiert.
Die Kohorte bestand aus 60 Patienten mit gesichertem primĂ€rem Hyperaldosteronismus, welche sich ĂŒber den Zeitraum von Oktober 2008 bis Februar 2013 im Rahmen des Conn-Registers in MĂŒnchen vorstellten.
Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass bezĂŒglich der Hypertonie in beiden Untergruppen durch die spezifische Therapie innerhalb eines Jahres, in der Mehrzahl der FĂ€lle, eine Normalisierung des Blutdrucks erreicht werden konnte. Bei der Untergruppe des Aldosteron produzierenden Adenoms konnte hĂ€ufig auch eine biochemische Komplettremission erzielt werden.
Nichtsdestotrotz nahm die Intima-Media-Dicke in der Gesamtkohorte im gleichen Zeitraum zu. Die Subtypen waren in Hinblick auf die kardiovaskulĂ€ren Risikofaktoren homogen. Der Ausgangswert der Intima-Media-Dicke lag bei den Patienten mit einem Aldosteron produzierendem Adenom nicht signifikant höher. Jedoch konnte fĂŒr die Untergruppen kein signifikanter Unterschied in der Zunahme der Intima-Media-Dicke, der Optimierung des Blutdrucks oder der Verringerung der Mikroalbuminurie aufgezeigt werden. Die Intima-Media-Dicke zeigte sich sehr abhĂ€ngig von unbeeinflussbaren Faktoren wie Alter und auch Geschlecht.
Die Mikroalbuminurie hingegen zeigte in beiden Kohorten im Vergleich zur Intima-Media-Dicke den Therapieerfolg hinsichtlich der Blutdruckeinstellung durch eine Normalisierung der Messwerte an. Auch prĂ€sentierte sie sich nicht so abhĂ€ngig von Alter, Geschlecht sowie den ĂŒblichen kardiovaskulĂ€ren Risikofaktoren.
Aus diesem Grund könnte die Mikroalbuminurie als Surrogatmarker fĂŒr das Therapieansprechen herangezogen werden. Eine Aussage ĂŒber das kardiovaskulĂ€re Langzeitergebnis erlaubt sie jedoch nicht
T Cell Phenotype and T Cell Receptor Repertoire in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder
While a link between inflammation and the development of neuropsychiatric
disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD) is supported by a growing
body of evidence, little is known about the contribution of aberrant adaptive
immunity in this context. Here, we conducted in-depth characterization of T
cell phenotype and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire in MDD. For this cross-
sectional caseâcontrol study, we recruited antidepressant-free patients with
MDD without any somatic or psychiatric comorbidities (n = 20), who were
individually matched for sex, age, body mass index, and smoking status to a
non-depressed control subject (n = 20). T cell phenotype and repertoire were
interrogated using a combination of flow cytometry, gene expression analysis,
and next generation sequencing. T cells from MDD patients showed significantly
lower surface expression of the chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR6, which are
known to be central to T cell differentiation and trafficking. In addition, we
observed a shift within the CD4+ T cell compartment characterized by a higher
frequency of CD4+CD25highCD127low/â cells and higher FOXP3 mRNA expression in
purified CD4+ T cells obtained from patients with MDD. Finally, flow
cytometry-based TCR VÎČ repertoire analysis indicated a less diverse CD4+ T
cell repertoire in MDD, which was corroborated by next generation sequencing
of the TCR ÎČ chain CDR3 region. Overall, these results suggest that T cell
phenotype and TCR utilization are skewed on several levels in patients with
MDD. Our study identifies putative cellular and molecular signatures of
dysregulated adaptive immunity and reinforces the notion that T cells are a
pathophysiologically relevant cell population in this disorder
Association of Variants at UMOD with Chronic Kidney Disease and Kidney StonesâRole of Age and Comorbid Diseases
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health problem that is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. To search for sequence variants that associate with CKD, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) that included a total of 3,203 Icelandic cases and 38,782 controls. We observed an association between CKD and a variant with 80% population frequency, rs4293393-T, positioned next to the UMOD gene (GeneID: 7369) on chromosome 16p12 (ORâ=â1.25, Pâ=â4.1Ă10â10). This gene encodes uromodulin (Tamm-Horsfall protein), the most abundant protein in mammalian urine. The variant also associates significantly with serum creatinine concentration (SCr) in Icelandic subjects (Nâ=â24,635, Pâ=â1.3Ă10â23) but not in a smaller set of healthy Dutch controls (Nâ=â1,819, Pâ=â0.39). Our findings validate the association between the UMOD variant and both CKD and SCr recently discovered in a large GWAS. In the Icelandic dataset, we demonstrate that the effect on SCr increases substantially with both age (Pâ=â3.0Ă10â17) and number of comorbid diseases (Pâ=â0.008). The association with CKD is also stronger in the older age groups. These results suggest that the UMOD variant may influence the adaptation of the kidney to age-related risk factors of kidney disease such as hypertension and diabetes. The variant also associates with serum urea (Pâ=â1.0Ă10â6), uric acid (Pâ=â0.0064), and suggestively with gout. In contrast to CKD, the UMOD variant confers protection against kidney stones when studied in 3,617 Icelandic and Dutch kidney stone cases and 43,201 controls (ORâ=â0.88, Pâ=â5.7Ă10â5)
HLA Ligand Atlas: a benign reference of HLA-presented peptides to improve T-cell-based cancer immunotherapy
BACKGROUND
The human leucocyte antigen (HLA) complex controls adaptive immunity by presenting defined fractions of the intracellular and extracellular protein content to immune cells. Understanding the benign HLA ligand repertoire is a prerequisite to define safe T-cell-based immunotherapies against cancer. Due to the poor availability of benign tissues, if available, normal tissue adjacent to the tumor has been used as a benign surrogate when defining tumor-associated antigens. However, this comparison has proven to be insufficient and even resulted in lethal outcomes. In order to match the tumor immunopeptidome with an equivalent counterpart, we created the HLA Ligand Atlas, the first extensive collection of paired HLA-I and HLA-II immunopeptidomes from 227 benign human tissue samples. This dataset facilitates a balanced comparison between tumor and benign tissues on HLA ligand level.
METHODS
Human tissue samples were obtained from 16 subjects at autopsy, five thymus samples and two ovary samples originating from living donors. HLA ligands were isolated via immunoaffinity purification and analyzed in over 1200 liquid chromatography mass spectrometry runs. Experimentally and computationally reproducible protocols were employed for data acquisition and processing.
RESULTS
The initial release covers 51 HLA-I and 86 HLA-II allotypes presenting 90,428 HLA-I- and 142,625 HLA-II ligands. The HLA allotypes are representative for the world population. We observe that immunopeptidomes differ considerably between tissues and individuals on source protein and HLA-ligand level. Moreover, we discover 1407 HLA-I ligands from non-canonical genomic regions. Such peptides were previously described in tumors, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), healthy lung tissues and cell lines. In a case study in glioblastoma, we show that potential on-target off-tumor adverse events in immunotherapy can be avoided by comparing tumor immunopeptidomes to the provided multi-tissue reference.
CONCLUSION
Given that T-cell-based immunotherapies, such as CAR-T cells, affinity-enhanced T cell transfer, cancer vaccines and immune checkpoint inhibition, have significant side effects, the HLA Ligand Atlas is the first step toward defining tumor-associated targets with an improved safety profile. The resource provides insights into basic and applied immune-associated questions in the context of cancer immunotherapy, infection, transplantation, allergy and autoimmunity. It is publicly available and can be browsed in an easy-to-use web interface at https://hla-ligand-atlas.org
Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Patients with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity or Oropharynx and Solitary Ipsilateral Lymph Node Metastasis (pN1) : A Prospective Multicentric Cohort Study
(1) Background: Evaluation of impact of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) in patients with
oral squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity/oropharynx (OSCC) of up to 4 cm (pT1/pT2) and
solitary ipsilateral lymph node metastasis (pN1). A non-irradiated group with clinical follow-up was
chosen for control, and survival and quality of life (QL) were compared; (2) Methods: This prospective
multicentric comprehensive cohort study included patients with resected OSCC (pT1/pT2, pN1,
and cM0) who were allocated into adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) or observation. The primary
endpoint was overall survival. Secondary endpoints were progression-free survival and QL after
surgery; (3) Results: Out of 27 centers, 209 patients were enrolled with a median follow-up of 3.4 years.
An amount of 137 patients were in the observation arm, and 72 received adjuvant irradiation. Overall
survival did not differ between groups (hazard ratio (HR) 0.98 [0.55â1.73], p = 0.94). There were fewer
neck metastases (HR 0.34 [0.15â0.77]; p = 0.01), as well as fewer local recurrences (HR 0.41 [0.19â0.89];
p = 0.02) under adjuvant RT. For QL, irradiated patients showed higher values for the symptom scale
pain after 0.5, two, and three years (all p < 0.05). After six months and three years, irradiated patients
reported higher symptom burdens (impaired swallowing, speech, as well as teeth-related problems
(all p < 0.05)). Patients in the RT group had significantly more problems with mouth opening after
six months, one, and two years (p < 0.05); (4) Conclusions: Adjuvant RT in patients with early SCC of
the oral cavity and oropharynx does not seem to influence overall survival, but it positively affects
progression-free survival. However, irradiated patients report a significantly decreased QL up to
three years after therapy compared to the observation group
Impact of the first COVID lockdown on accident- and injury-related pediatric intensive care admissions in Germany - a multicenter study
Childrenâs and adolescentsâ lives drastically changed during COVID lockdowns worldwide. To compare accident- and injury-related admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) during the first German COVID lockdown with previous years, we conducted a retrospective multicenter study among 37 PICUs (21.5% of German PICU capacities). A total of 1444 admissions after accidents or injuries during the first lockdown period and matched periods of 2017â2019 were reported and standardized morbidity ratios (SMR) were calculated. Total PICU admissions due to accidents/injuries declined from an average of 366 to 346 (SMR 0.95 (CI 0.85â1.05)). Admissions with trauma increased from 196 to 212 (1.07 (0.93â1.23). Traffic accidents and school/kindergarten accidents decreased (0.77 (0.57â1.02 and 0.26 (0.05â0.75)), whereas household and leisure accidents increased (1.33 (1.06â1.66) and 1.34 (1.06â1.67)). Less neurosurgeries and more visceral surgeries were performed (0.69 (0.38â1.16) and 2.09 (1.19â3.39)). Non-accidental non-suicidal injuries declined (0.73 (0.42â1.17)). Suicide attempts increased in adolescent boys (1.38 (0.51â3.02)), but decreased in adolescent girls (0.56 (0.32â0.79)). In summary, changed trauma mechanisms entailed different surgeries compared to previous years. We found no evidence for an increase in child abuse cases requiring intensive care. The increase in suicide attempts among boys demands investigation
Using polymeric materials to control stem cell behavior for tissue regeneration
Patients with organ failure often suffer from increased morbidity and decreased quality of life. Current strategies of treating organ failure have limitations, including shortage of donor organs, low efficiency of grafts, and immunological problems. Tissue engineering emerged about two decades ago as a strategy to restore organ function with a living, functional engineered substitute. However, the ability to engineer a functional organ is limited by a limited understanding of the interactions between materials and cells that are required to yield functional tissue equivalents. Polymeric materials are one of the most promising classes of materials for use in tissue engineering, due to their biodegradability, flexibility in processing and property design, and the potential to use polymer properties to control cell function. Stem cells offer potential in tissue engineering because of their unique capacity to selfârenew and differentiate into neurogenic, osteogenic, chondrogenic, and myogenic lineages under appropriate stimuli from extracellular components. This review examines recent advances in stem cellâpolymer interactions for tissue regeneration, specifically highlighting control of polymer properties to direct adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of stem cells, and how biomaterials can be designed to provide some of the stimuli to cells that the natural extracellular matrix does. (Part C) 96:63â81, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90582/1/21003_ftp.pd
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