A new point of view in the IS reference discipline discussion

Information Systems scholars continuously debate about the nature of the IS discipline. Recently a series of articles have discussed whether the IS field has reached the status of a reference discipline. We address this issue by examining the application of the theory of sensemaking in IS research. Our findings show that the prospects for IS as a reference discipline are not promising. Based on these findings we suggest that IS scholars hallucinate when they a) assume that to become a 'real' academic discipline, IS has to become a reference discipline, and b) believe that IS will become a reference discipline in time. Hence, we describe the IS reference discipline discussion as a misconception, which should be abandoned in the pursuit of a stronger IS discipline. Academic legitimacy, information systems research, reference disciplines, theory application, theory of sensemakin

Samproduktion, offentlige tiltag og servicebrugernes motivation til at deltage

Offentlige serviceydelser tilvejebringes ofte via samproduktion, dvs. gennem et miks af input fra offentligt ansatte og de brugere, som modtager serviceydelserne. Eftersom brugernes bidrag kan føre til en forbedring af kvaliteten og mængden af de offentlige serviceydelser, bliver der i stigende omfang iværksat offentlige samproduktionstiltag, som har til formål at øge brugernes bidrag. På baggrund af den eksisterende forskning ved vi meget lidt om, hvilken effekt sådanne tiltag har på servicebrugernes motivation til at samproducere. Ved brug af et empirisk eksempel fra folkeskoleområdet tester vi effekten af et samproduktionstiltag på forældrenes intrinsiske og ekstrinsiske motivation. Hovedresultatet er, at samproduktionstiltaget navnlig for lavtuddannede forældre har en negativ effekt på deres intrinsiske motivation. Dette resultat understreger vigtigheden af, at offentlige myndigheder, som iværksætter tiltag af denne art, er opmærksomme på eventuelle utilsigtede motivationseffekter, som kan betyde, at den tilsigtede adfærdsændring ikke indfries

A caspase-6-cleaved fragment of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein as a potential serological biomarker of CNS injury after cardiac arrest

Blood levels of Glial Fibrillary Acidic protein (GFAP) reflect processes associated with different types of CNS injury. Evidence suggests that GFAP is cleaved by caspases during CNS injury, hence positioning GFAP fragments as potential biomarkers of injury-associated processes. We set out to develop an assay detecting the neo-epitope generated by caspase-6 cleavage of GFAP (GFAP-C6), and to assess the ability of GFAP-C6 to reflect pathological processes in patients suffering a cardiac arrest and subsequent global cerebral ischemia. Anti-GFAP-C6 antibodies recognized their specific target sequence, and dilution and spike recoveries in serum were within limits of ±20% reflecting high precision and accuracy of measurements. Intra- and inter-assay CVs were below limits of 10% and 15%, respectively. Serological levels of GFAP-C6 were significantly elevated 72 hours after CA (Mean±SD) (20.39±10.59 ng/mL) compared to time of admission (17.79±10.77 ng/mL, p<0.0001), 24 hours (17.40±7.99 ng/mL, p<0.0001) and 48 hours (17.87±8.56 ng/mL, p<0.0001) after CA, but were not related to neurological outcome at day 180. GFAP-C6 levels at admission, 24, 48, and 72 hours after cardiac arrest correlated with two proteolytic fragments of tau, tau-A (r = 0.30, r = 0.40, r = 0.50, r = 0.53, p < 0.0001) and tau-C (r = 54, r = 0.48, r = 0.55, r = 0.54, p < 0.0001), respectively. GFAP-C6 levels did not correlate with other markers of CNS damage; total tau, NSE and S100B. In conclusion, we developed the first assay detecting a caspase-6 cleaved fragment of GFAP in blood. Increased levels at 72 hours after cardiac arrest as well as moderate correlations between GFAP-C6 and two other blood biomarkers of neurodegeneration suggest the ability of GFAP-C6 to reflect pathological processes of the injured brain. Investigations into the potential of GFAP-C6 in other types of CNS injury are warranted

Benchmark datasets of immune receptor-epitope structural complexes

Background: The development of accurate epitope prediction tools is important in facilitating disease diagnostics, treatment and vaccine development. The advent of new approaches making use of antibody and TCR sequence information to predict receptor-specific epitopes have the potential to transform the epitope prediction field. Development and validation of these new generation of epitope prediction methods would benefit from regularly updated high-quality receptor-antigen complex datasets. Results: To address the need for high-quality datasets to benchmark performance of these new generation of receptor-specific epitope prediction tools, a webserver called SCEptRe (Structural Complexes of Epitope-Receptor) was created. SCEptRe extracts weekly updated 3D complexes of antibody-antigen, TCR-pMHC and MHC-ligand from the Immune Epitope Database and clusters them based on antigen, receptor and epitope features to generate benchmark datasets. SCEptRe also provides annotated information such as CDR sequences and VDJ genes on the receptors. Users can generate custom datasets based by selecting thresholds for structural quality and clustering parameters (e.g. resolution, R-free factor, antigen or epitope sequence identity) based on their need. Conclusions: SCEptRe provides weekly updated, user-customized comprehensive benchmark datasets of immune receptor-epitope structural complexes. These datasets can be used to develop and benchmark performance of receptor-specific epitope prediction tools in the future. SCEptRe is freely accessible at http://tools.iedb.org/sceptre.Fil: Mahajan, Swapnil. La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology; Estados UnidosFil: Yan, Zhen. La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology; Estados UnidosFil: Jespersen, Martin Closter. Technical University of Denmark; DinamarcaFil: Jensen, Kamilla Kjærgaard. Technical University of Denmark; DinamarcaFil: Marcatili, Paolo. Technical University of Denmark; DinamarcaFil: Nielsen, Morten. Technical University of Denmark; Dinamarca. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Sette, Alessandro. La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology; Estados UnidosFil: Peters, Bjoern. La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology; Estados Unido

Mind the gut:Genomic insights to population divergence and gut microbial composition of two marine keystone species

BACKGROUND: Deciphering the mechanisms governing population genetic divergence and local adaptation across heterogeneous environments is a central theme in marine ecology and conservation. While population divergence and ecological adaptive potential are classically viewed at the genetic level, it has recently been argued that their microbiomes may also contribute to population genetic divergence. We explored whether this might be plausible along the well-described environmental gradient of the Baltic Sea in two species of sand lance (Ammodytes tobianus and Hyperoplus lanceolatus). Specifically, we assessed both their population genetic and gut microbial composition variation and investigated not only which environmental parameters correlate with the observed variation, but whether host genome also correlates with microbiome variation. RESULTS: We found a clear genetic structure separating the high-salinity North Sea from the low-salinity Baltic Sea sand lances. The observed genetic divergence was not simply a function of isolation by distance, but correlated with environmental parameters, such as salinity, sea surface temperature, and, in the case of A. tobianus, possibly water microbiota. Furthermore, we detected two distinct genetic groups in Baltic A. tobianus that might represent sympatric spawning types. Investigation of possible drivers of gut microbiome composition variation revealed that host species identity was significantly correlated with the microbial community composition of the gut. A potential influence of host genetic factors on gut microbiome composition was further confirmed by the results of a constrained analysis of principal coordinates. The host genetic component was among the parameters that best explain observed variation in gut microbiome composition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have relevance for the population structure of two commercial species but also provide insights into potentially relevant genomic and microbial factors with regards to sand lance adaptation across the North Sea-Baltic Sea environmental gradient. Furthermore, our findings support the hypothesis that host genetics may play a role in regulating the gut microbiome at both the interspecific and intraspecific levels. As sequencing costs continue to drop, we anticipate that future studies that include full genome and microbiome sequencing will be able to explore the full relationship and its potential adaptive implications for these species