Interkulturelles Handeln in Management, Marketing und Personalentwicklung will gelernt sein. Die dritte Auflage des Bandes greift aktuelle Entwicklungen einer interkulturellen Wirtschaftskommunikationsforschung auf, die stärker an nachhaltiger globaler Zusammenarbeit als an nationalkulturellen Differenzen orientiert ist. Im theoretischen Teil werden Gegenstandsbereiche wie Kommunikation, Kultur, Wahrnehmungsprozesse und (inter)kulturelles Handeln diskutiert. Der anwendungsorientierte Teil befasst sich mit interkultureller Organisationslehre und Personalentwicklung sowie mit interkulturellem Marketing. Zahlreiche Abbildungen, Übungsaufgaben und Praxisbeispiele sorgen für eine lehr- und abwechslungsreiche Lektüre.
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"Alle reden von Innovation und der Bedeutung des Wissens. Von Arbeit hingegen ist nurmehr die Rede, wenn es um Arbeitsplätze geht. Doch Wissen und Innovation werden in Arbeitsprozessen erzeugt. Der Zusammenhang von innovativer Arbeit und Innovationsfähigkeit in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft ist enger denn je. Wie können innovative Arbeit und zur Innovationsfähigkeit in Deutschland beitragen? Der vorliegende Band zieht aus sozial-, wirtschafts- und ingenieurwissenschaftlicher Perspektive ein Resümee zum Stand der Arbeitsforschung und schlägt programmatisch die Brücke zur Innovationsforschung. Zu den Themen Innovationsarbeit, Innovations- und Wertschöpfungspartnerschaften, nachhaltige Nutzung von Humanressourcen und Veränderungskulturen werden neue Modelle, Methoden und empirische Befunde vorgestellt." (Autorenreferat). Inhaltsverzeichnis: Die Verbindung von Arbeits- und Innovationsforschung: Manfred Moldaschl, Joachim Ludwig, Klaus Schmierl: Arbeitsforschung und Innovationsfähigkeit in Deutschland (11-19); Martin Schmauder: Innovation: Arbeitsforschung - ingenieurwissenschaftliche Sichtweise (21-22); Ursula Zahn-Elliott: Die Förderinitiative "Zukunftsfähige Arbeitsforschung" (23-29); Friedrich Fürstenberg: Thesen zur zukunftsorientierten Arbeitsforschung (31-34); Werner Fricke: Wie muss eine zukunftsfähige Arbeitsforschung inhaltlich, methodisch und organisatorisch ausgerichtet sein? (35-40); Volker Volkholz: Capability for Innovation (41-49); Manfred Moldaschl: Innovationsfähigkeit durch nachhaltiges Ressourcenmanagement und institutionelle Reflexivität (51-59); Heike Jacobsen: Anforderungen an sozialwissenschaftliche Arbeitsforschung (61-65); Eva Bamberg: Zukunftsfähige Arbeitsforschung (67-73); Norbert Baszenski: Statement im Rahmen der Podiumsdiskussion (75-76); Innovations- und Wertschöpfungspartnerschaften: Organisation und Arbeit: Klaus Schmierl, Nick Kratzer, Wolfgang Dunkel, Norbert Huchler: Innovations- und Wertschöpfungspartnerschaften: Organisation und Arbeit (79-84); Andreas Boes, Katrin Trinks: Internationale Innovationspartnerschaften in der IT-Industrie (85-94); Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen: Innovationspartnerschaften in Unternehmensnetzwerken (95-102); Klaus Schmierl: Internationalisierte Arbeitswelt: Arbeitspolitik, Interessenregulierung und Arbeitsforschung (103-111); Wolfgang Dunkel, Kerstin Rieder: Innovationspartnerschaften in neuen Unternehmen-Kunden-Beziehungen (113-117); Nils Stegemann: Wie Kompetenzen von Dienstleistern und Kunden innovative Mobilitätsdienstleistungen ermöglichen (119-124); Harald Wolf: Ergebnisse und Perspektiven vernetzter Arbeitsforschung (125-132); Innovationsarbeit: Manfred Moldaschl: Innovationsarbeit (135-146); Erich Latniak, Anja Gerlmaier: Belastung bei kooperativer Innovationsarbeit (147-156); Jan de Leede, Jan Kees Looise: Cooperative Innovation Work and HRM: Towards an integrated framework (157-171); Ernst-H. Hoff: Kurzfristige Verausgabung oder langfristiger Erhalt von Innovationsfähigkeit? Forschungsfragen zu individuellen und organisationalen Zielkonflikten (173-176); Manfred Moldaschl: Zusammenfassung des Workshops (177-178); Humanressourcen und Nachhaltigkeit: Martin Schmauder, Silke Paritschkow: Humanressourcen und Nachhaltigkeit (181-192); Birgit Benkhoff, Vicky Hermet: Zur Frage der Nachhaltigkeit beim Einsatz geringfügiger Beschäftigung (193-196); Frank Pietzcker: Aufwandsarme Methoden des Wissensmanagements in KMU: Der Aufgabenbezogene Informationsaustausch (AI) - eine Methode der partizipativen Wissensarbeit (197-204); Susanne Schade: Alternsgerechte Arbeitsgestaltung durch selbstgesteuerte Lernarrangements - Gesundheitsförderung im öffentlichen Personennahverkehr (205-212); Helmut Lutzmann: Humanressourcen und Nachhaltigkeit - ein Beitrag zur Steigerung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit (213-222); Andreas Pohlandt, Kati Masuhr: Entwicklung von Kompetenz und Innovationsfähigkeit lohnt sich für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen (223-230); Martin Schmauder: Zusammenfassung des Workshops (231-233); Wissenstransfer und neue Veränderungskulturen: Joachim Ludwig: Wissenschaftstransfer, Wissenstransfer und neue Veränderungskulturen (237-247); Alexander Frevel: Dialoge verändern - Partizipative Arbeitsforschung in Organisationen und professionellen Systemen (249-256); Julia Lepperhoff: Gender- und Praxiskompetenz in der Arbeitsforschung (257-266); Gerda Jasper, Karin Denisow: Veränderungskulturen im Spannungsfeld zwischen externen Beratungsimpulsen und internen Ressourcen (267-273); Martin Elbe: Verstehen und Beraten betrieblicher Handlungsproblematik (275-284); Werner Fricke: Arbeitsforschung und Aktionsforschung. Perspektiven einer wünschenswerten produktiven Beziehung (285-296); Joachim Ludwig: Zusammenfassung des Workshops (297-299).
PurposeThe article challenges the narrow view in scholarship which presents disengagement as passive and simply the absence of condition of engagement and explores how food retail employees articulate their disengagement within the intensified customer-centric service work. The article adopts the term "active disengagement", as presented by Ackroyd and Thompson (2016) and empirically examines this as a form of oppositional voice towards managerial norms and behavioural expectations.Design/methodology/approachThe article draws on qualitative data from two case study organisations in the Cypriot food retail sector. Forty-six interviews took place with participants across different departments, including front-line employees and front-line and senior managers, to better understand the research problem through different perspectives.FindingsThe data show that disengagement is an integral part of organisational life and it is expressed in an individual and less-risky way. The data also reveal a variation in disengagement actions across departments, depending on employees' mobility on the shop floor and the intensity of interaction with the customers and the line manager. Shop floor employees enjoyed a wider "space of disengagement", in comparison to those working on the front-end/checkouts. Nevertheless, checkout employees have developed sophisticated actions to express disengagement.Research limitations/implicationsThis research provides a refined understanding of active disengagement in organisations. It empirically contributes to the existence of a spectrum of engagement and expands Ackroyd and Thompson's (2016) "active disengagement" framework, discussing it as a form of oppositional voice towards corporate values and the customer-centric work intensification.Practical implicationsThe research provides empirical evidence that employee disengagement is not merely the absence of engagement, as HRM scholars and practitioners have argued, but entails further social meanings. This article will be useful for practitioners to rethink, revisit and revise employee engagement programmes in organisations, as well as to re-write corporate values, mission and vision, to also consider employees' experiences within the workplace. This will allow the provision of social support by management to address active disengagement in service organisations.Originality/valueThe study provides an important insight in employees' individual actions to express disengagement towards corporate values and managerial expectations related to customer service. It highlights the variation of dynamics across the food retail shop floor, which has been treated as a contextual periphery within the disengagement debate. Applying a broader lens on retail work heterogeneity, it provides further understanding of the diversity of how frontline service workers express disengagement within the triadic employment relationship. This study offers ground for future research to examine active disengagement in various contexts for better conceptual and practical understanding of this behaviour in organisations.
The growing competition in the service industry insists the management be attentive to managing human resources, training and appoint innovative talent to help the organization to be the successful hospitality industry. And the frontline employees are maintaining the essential role to provide the top level of service to the customers in the competitive service atmosphere. But unfortunately, frontline employees faced favoritism and incivilities from customer, coworker, and supervisor because of the organizational unfair environment, inequality treatment. Therefore this research focuses on effects of favoritism on turnover intention of frontline employees in Dhaka hotel industry. The deductive approach (quantitative method) was used to measure the result. The results of this study demonstrate that to do proper use of frontline employees, HRM needs to develop the situation through awareness, punishment and proper training of organizational behavior, as well as government should apply rules and regulation to prevent uncivil behaviors in organizational and control favoritism. In addition, management implications are provided based on the results of the study, and information regarding the limitations of the study as well as implications for future researchers are presented in the thesis. Keywords: Favoritism, customer incivilities, coworker incivilities, supervisor incivilities, turnover intention, human resource management, Dhaka, Bangladesh ; ÖZ: Hizmet endüstrisindeki artan rekabet, yönetimin insan kaynaklarını yönetmeye dikkat etmesine ve yenilikçi yetenekler belirleyerek organizasyonun başarılı konukseverlik endüstrisi olmasına yardımcı olmaktadır. Sınır birimi çalışanları, rekabetçi hizmet ortamında müşterilere üst düzey hizmet sunmak için önemli bir rol oynamaktadırlar. Fakat, ne yazık ki Sınır birimi çalışanları, örgütsel haksız ortam ve eşitsizlik muamelesi yüzünden müşteriler, iş arkadaşları ve yöneticileri tarafından taraf tutma ve kaba davranışlara maruz kalmaktadırlar. Bu nedenle, bu araştırma ihtimasın, Dhaka otel endüstrisindeki sınır birimi çalışanlarının işten ayrılma niyeti üzerindeki etkilerine odaklanmaktadır. Araştırmanın sonucunu ölçmek için tümdengelim yaklaşımı (niceliksel yöntem) kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışmanın sonuçları göstermektedir ki, sınır birimi çalışanların doğru bir şekilde kullanılması için insan kaynakları yönetiminin bilinçlendirme, cezalandırma ve örgütsel davranışın doğru bir şekilde eğitimi yoluyla durumu geliştirmesi gerektiğini, ayrıca devlet, örgütlerde kurallar ve düzenlemeler uygulayarak nezaket dışı davranışları önlemeli ve iltiması denetim altına almalıdır. Buna ek olarak, yönetimsel içerikler çalışmanın sonuçlarına dayanarak sağlanmıştır ve, çalışmanın kısıtlılıklarına ilişkin bilgiler ile gelecek araştırmalar için içerikler tezde sunulmaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: İltimas, müşteri kaba davranışı, iş arkadaşı kaba davranışı, yönetici kaba davranışı, işten ayrılma eğilimi, insan kaynakları yönetimi, Dhaka, Bangladeş ; Master of Science in Tourism Management. Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of Tourism, 2017. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Araslı.
Despite the tremendous increase in number of SMEs, little research exists that examines challenges and opportunities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries, especially in Ethiopia. SMEs occupy a prominent position in the development agenda of many developing countries like Ethiopia. SMEs are long recognized as important vehicles of economic diversification, employment creation, income generation and distribution, and poverty alleviation. The number of SMEs in Ethiopia is steadily growing. But, much more important than their number is their current status, stage and pace of development The government of Ethiopia has been promoting the development of SMEs through the formulation and implementation of Micro and Small Enterprises Development Strategy as of November 1997. The purpose of the study is to identify the challenges and opportunities of the SMEs in Arda sub city and to give recommendations based on the problems. Primary data were collected from 115 SMEs in Arada Sub city of the capital city; Addis Ababa. The study covers almost all sectors that identified by Addis Ababa city administration SMEs office. Therefore the study identifies the major factors towards the success of the SMEs by considering all sectors The findings indicated that SMEs face different problems. These problems are financial factors, marketing, management and HRM factors, environmental factors and the like. Inadequacy and costly of credit facilities and sources is the major problem of the SMEs in the sub city. More over Shortage of working capital, intensity of competition, like lack of business development services, collateral requirement by financial institutions, conflict with neighbors and lack of transparency among SMEs office at the time of allocating the working place were the major problems identified in the study. The study shows that sole proprietorship form of SMEs is most common in Arda sub city. All of the sample firms were owned by citizens only. The findings indicated that SMEs use informal sources finance than formal sources. The sources of capital for SMEs in the sub city falls under the two traditional sources; borrowing from friends & relatives and personal saving. Other informal sources like "Equib" play the great role than the formal sources like microfinance. Most of SMEs prepare business plan but they did not have business associations. The findings of the study have important implications for SMEs, support agencies and future research by academics, consultants and researchers.
Why have the social sciences in general failed to produce results with the ever-increasing explanatory power and predictive strength of the natural sciences? In seeking an answer to this question, Alexander Rosenberg, a philosopher of science, plunges into the controversial discipline of sociobiology. Sociobiology, Rosenberg asserts, deals in those forces governing human behavior that traditional social science has unsuccessfully attempted to slip between: neurophysiology, on the one hand, and selective forces, on the other. Unlike previous works in the two fields it straddles, Rosenberg's book brings thinking about the nature of scientific theorizing to bear on the most traditional issues in the philosophy of social science. The author finds that the subjects of conventional social science do not reflect the operation of laws that social scientists are equipped to discover. The author argues that much of the debate surrounding sociobiology is irrelevant to the issue of its ultimate success. Although largely conceptual, the book is an unequivocal defense of this new theory in the explanation of human behavior.
It is alarming that hormonally active substances are regularly detected in surface waters worldwide. Until now, few studies have been conducted on the role of agriculture as a potential source for endocrine disrupting substances, such as the natural estrogens 17α-estradiol (E2α), 17β-estradiol (E2β), estrone (E1), and estriol (E3), in surface waters. This could be of particular concern because female livestock animals excrete natural estrogens during different stages of the estrous cycle and pregnancy through urine and feces. The majority of urinary and fecal livestock excretions are collected in the form of slurry. The fate of these estrogens in slurry is not yet fully understood. Slurries are applied in large amounts on agricultural areas as fertilizer. The export of slurry derived natural estrogens from agricultural areas is a potential source for estrogenic pollution in surface waters. Even at low nanograms per liter concentrations in surface waters, estrogens exert endocrine disrupting effects in fish – the most important, but not the only, recipient class of organisms. The aim of this doctoral thesis was to better understand the occurrence and fate of agriculturally derived natural estrogens in the environment and to evaluate their risk as pollutants for the aquatic environment. Specifically, the three main objectives were: 1) to determine concentrations of natural estrogens in slurry and to investigate their fate during slurry storage, 2) to quantify natural estrogen emissions to subsurface tile drains from agricultural areas fertilized with livestock slurry, and 3) to assess the prevalence of natural estrogens in surface waters with agriculturally dominated catchments. The occurrence and fate of natural estrogens was studied in cattle and pig slurries. The effect of on farm slurry storage on natural estrogen concentrations in cattle slurry was investigated first by collecting and analysing slurry samples in different compartments of a dairy housing over four months. This study was complemented with a nationwide cattle and pig slurry pit monitoring, which aimed to determine average natural estrogen concentrations in Swiss livestock slurries. Natural estrogens in slurry were extracted with an adapted QuEChERS method and quantified with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). During storage, natural estrogen concentrations remained relatively constant in different compartments of the dairy housing. Mean natural concentrations ranged from 138 to 861 ng/L and from 54 to 244 ng/L in Swiss cattle and pig slurries, respectively. 17α-Estradiol predominated in cattle slurries and E3 was most abundant in pig slurries. In Switzerland, the estimated annual load of total natural estrogens applied on agricultural areas through slurry applications was 36 mg/ha. The majority of the total natural estrogens (E2α+E2β+E1+E3) is emitted to the environment through wastewater treatment plant effluents (i.e., 68 %) and not through slurry applications. Natural estrogens were applied on tile-drained experimental fields in the form of cattle slurry, pig slurry or dissolved in water, and quantified in flow-proportionally collected drainage water. A liquid-liquid extraction followed by derivatization with dansyl chloride and the same LC-MS/MS method as for estrogens in slurry extracts were used for extraction and quantification of natural estrogens in drainage water. After pig and cattle slurry applications, concentration maxima in drainage water occurred immediately after rain events, with 73, 8, 37, and 60 ng/L for E2α, E2β, E1, and E3, respectively. The fractions of individual natural estrogens exported to tile drains after cattle and pig slurry applications were on average 0.26% and 0.18%, respectively. Lower exported fractions for estrogens applied in aqueous solution point at particle facilitated transport when applied in slurry. Preferential flow was proposed as main natural estrogen transport pathway to tile drains. Our estimation shows that in Switzerland annually 6.3 g of E2α, 0.6 g of E2β, 7.4 g of E1, and 7.7 g of E3 are emitted to surface waters through subsurface tile drains. Natural estrogen emissions from WWTPs were estimated to be three to four orders of magnitude higher than those from tile drains, i.e., 1.5 kg of E2β, 9.7 kg of E1, and 51.1 kg of E3. The prevalence of natural estrogens (derived from farming livestock) in streams and ponds was studied in the catchment of Lake Baldegg, which is a livestock farming dominated catchment in Switzerland. Passive samplers were deployed in one tributary, daily time-proportional water samples were collected in five tributaries for 30 days, and grab samples were taken in 12 ponds in the catchment. All monitoring campaigns were conducted at the beginning of the vegetation period, when slurry applications are most frequent. Aqueous samples were chemically analysed in the same way as drainage water samples and stream water samples additionally with ERα-CALUX – a bioassay for assessing total estrogenic activity. Certain natural estrogens were frequently detected and their mean concentrations were between below limit of detection (0.10 ng/L) and 0.55 ng/L for E2β and E1, respectively. Both passive sampling and bioassay results largely supported these findings. A Monte Carlo simulation underestimated measured mean natural estrogen concentrations by a factor of three to 11. Temporal estrogen occurrence patterns point to preferential flow from agricultural areas as the main emission process to surface waters. In ponds, natural estrogens were occasionally detected up to 8.6 ng/L for E2α. Overall, our results showed that agriculture is a source for natural estrogens in surface waters. Slurry derived estrogens caused temporarily elevated estrogen concentrations in drainage and stream water, but in streams the European Union environmental quality standards (EU EQS) (0.4 ng/L for E2β and 3.6 ng/L for E1) were never exceeded for longer than a day. Our estimation demonstrated however, that in a stream impacted by agriculture and an effluent of a WWTP estrogen concentrations that exceed the threshold values might occur and human derived estrogens were the predominating estrogen source. Critical E1 concentrations for aquatic organisms occurred in one pond. Consequently, the risk for estrogen concentrations above the EU EQS seems to be elevated in ponds surrounded by agricultural landscapes as well as in small and medium sized streams impacted by both agriculture and WWTP effluents.
Worldwide air quality has worsened in the last decades as a consequence of increased anthropogenic emissions, in particular from the sector of power generation. The evidence of the effects of atmospheric pollution (and particularly fine particulate matter, PM 2.5 ) on human health is unquestionable nowadays, producing mainly cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, morbidity and even mortality. These effects can even enhance in the future as a consequence of climate penalties and future changes in the population projected. Because of all these reasons, the main objective of this contribution is the estimation of annual excess premature deaths (PD) associated to PM 2.5 on present (1991–2010) and future (2031–2050) European population by using non-linear exposure-response functions. The endpoints included are Lung Cancer (LC), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Low Respiratory Infections (LRI), Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease (CEV) and other Non-Communicable Diseases (other NCD). PM 2.5 concentrations come from coupled chemistry-climate regional simulations under present and RCP8.5 future scenarios. The cases assessed include the estimation of the present incidence of PD (PRE-P2010), the quantification of the role of a changing climate on PD (FUT-P2010) and the importance of changes in the population projected for the year 2050 on the incidence of excess PD (FUT-P2050). Two additional cases (REN80-P2010 and REN80-P2050) evaluate the impact on premature mortality rates of a mitigation scenario in which the 80 % of European energy production comes from renewables sources. The results indicate that PM 2.5 accounts for nearly 895,000 [95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) 725,000-1,056,000] annual excess PD over Europe, with IHD being the largest contributor to premature mortality associated to fine particles in both present and future scenarios. The case isolating the effects of climate penalty (FUT-P2010) estimates a variation +0.2 % on mortality rates over the whole domain. However, under this scenario the incidence of PD over central Europe will benefit from a decrease of PM 2.5 (−2.2 PD/100,000 h.) while in eastern (+1.3 PD/100,000 h.) and western (+0.4 PD/100,000 h.) Europe PD will increase due to increased PM 2.5 levels. The changes in the projected population (FUT-P2050) will lead to a large increase of annual excess PD (1,540,000, 95 % CI 1,247,000-1,818,000), +71.96 % with respect to PRE-P2010 and +71.67 % to FUT-P2010) due to the aging of the European population. Last, the mitigation scenario (REN80-P2050) demonstrates that the effects of a mitigation policy increasing the ratio of renewable sources in the energy mix energy could lead to a decrease of over 60,000 (95 % CI 48,500-70,900) annual PD for the year 2050 (a decrease of −4 % in comparison with the no-mitigation scenario, FUT-P2050). In spite of the uncertainties inherent to future estimations, this contribution reveals the need of the governments and public entities to take action and bet for air pollution mitigation policies.
Ba Hieu Tran,1–3 Ying Yu,1,4 Lingling Chang,1 Bo Tan,5 Wanwan Jia,1 Ying Xiong,1 Tao Dai,1 Rui Zhong,1 Weiping Zhang,6 Van Minh Le,7 Peter Rose,8 Zhijun Wang,1,2 Yicheng Mao,1,* Yi Zhun Zhu1,2,* 1School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 2School of Pharmacy, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau; 3Institute of Biomedicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam; 4Department of Cardiology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 5Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 6Department of Hematology, Institute of Hematology of PLA, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, People's Republic of China; 7NTT Institute of Hi-Technology (NIH), Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; 8School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yicheng Mao; Yi Zhun ZhuSchool of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201203, People's Republic of ChinaTel +86 21 5198 0041; +853 8897 2880Fax +853 2882 3575Email maoyc@fudan.edu.cn; yzzhu@must.edu.moPurpose: S-propargyl-cysteine (SPRC; alternatively known as ZYZ-802) is a novel modulator of endogenous tissue H2S concentrations with known cardioprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. However, its rapid metabolism and excretion have limited its clinical application. To overcome these issues, we have developed some novel liposomal carriers to deliver ZYZ-802 to cells and tissues and have characterized their physicochemical, morphological and pharmacological properties.Methods: Two liposomal formulations of ZYZ-802 were prepared by thin-layer hydration and the morphological characteristics of each liposome system were assessed using a laser particle size analyzer and transmission electron microscopy. The entrapment efficiency and ZYZ-802 release profiles were determined following ultrafiltration centrifugation, dialysis tube and HPLC measurements. LC-MS/MS was used to evaluate the pharmacokinetic parameters and tissue distribution profiles of each formulation via the measurements of plasma and tissues ZYZ-802 and H2S concentrations. Using an in vivo model of heart failure (HF), the cardio-protective effects of liposomal carrier were determined by echocardiography, histopathology, Western blot and the assessment of antioxidant and myocardial fibrosis markers.Results: Both liposomal formulations improved ZYZ-802 pharmacokinetics and optimized H2S concentrations in plasma and tissues. Liposomal ZYZ-802 showed enhanced cardioprotective effects in vivo. Importantly, liposomal ZYZ-802 could inhibit myocardial fibrosis via the inhibition of the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.Conclusion: The liposomal formulations of ZYZ-802 have enhanced pharmacokinetic and pharmacological properties in vivo. This work is the first report to describe the development of liposomal formulations to improve the sustained release of H2S within tissues.Keywords: liposome, S-Propargyl-cysteine, SPRC, ZYZ-802, hydrogen sulfide, heart failure, myocardial fibrosis, TGF-β1/Smad pathway
Solar panels can be found practically all over the world and represent a standard surface that can be colonized by microbial communities that are resistant to harsh environmental conditions, including high irradiation, temperature fluctuations and desiccation. These properties make them not only ideal sources of stress-resistant bacteria, but also standard devices to study the microbial communities and their colonization process from different areas of Earth. We report here a comprehensive description of the microbial communities associated with solar panels in Berkeley, CA, United States. Cultivable bacteria were isolated to characterize their adhesive capabilities, and UV- and desiccation-resistance properties. Furthermore, a parallel culture-independent metagenomic and metabolomic approach has allowed us to gain insight on the taxonomic and functional nature of these communities. Metagenomic analysis was performed using the Illumina HiSeq2500 sequencing platform, revealing that the bacterial population of the Berkeley solar panels is composed mainly of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, as well as lower amounts of Deinococcus-Thermus and Firmicutes. Furthermore, a clear predominance of Hymenobacter sp. was also observed. A functional analysis revealed that pathways involved in the persistence of microbes on solar panels (i.e., stress response, capsule development, and metabolite repair) and genes assigned to carotenoid biosynthesis were common to all metagenomes. On the other hand, genes involved in photosynthetic pathways and general autotrophic subsystems were rare, suggesting that these pathways are not critical for persistence on solar panels. Metabolomics was performed using a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approach. When comparing the metabolome of the solar panels from Berkeley and from Valencia (Spain), a very similar composition in polar metabolites could be observed, although some metabolites appeared to be differentially represented (for example, trigonelline, pantolactone and 5-valerolactone were more abundant in the samples from Valencia than in the ones from Berkeley). Furthermore, triglyceride metabolites were highly abundant in all the solar panel samples, and both locations displayed similar profiles. The comparison of the taxonomic profile of the Californian solar panels with those previously described in Spain revealed striking similarities, highlighting the central role of both selective pressures and the ubiquity of microbial populations in the colonization and establishment of microbial communities. ; Financial support from the Spanish Government (Grant Helios, Reference: BIO2015-66960-C3-1-R co-financed by FEDER funds and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades) is acknowledged. Work performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the Office of Science Early Career Program (awarded to TN) and at the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility, and with use of resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231. ; Peer reviewed
39 Pags.- 4 Tabls.- 4 Figs. The defintive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01678809 ; There is a strong need to identify the combination of tillage and N fertilization practices that reduce the amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions while maintaining crop productivity in dryland Mediterranean areas. We measured the fluxes of N2O in two field experiments with 3 and 15 years since their establishment. In the long-term experiment, two types of tillage (NT, no-tillage, and CT, conventional intensive tillage) and three mineral N fertilization rates (0, 60 and 120 kg N ha−1) were compared. In the short-term experiment, the same tillage systems (CT and NT) and three N fertilization doses (0, 75 and 150 kg N ha−1) and two types of fertilizers (mineral N and organic N with pig slurry) were compared. N2O emissions, water-filled pore space, soil mineral N content, grain yields, N-biomass inputs and soil total nitrogen (STN) stocks were quantified and the N2O yield-scaled ratio as kg of CO2 equivalents per kg of grain produced was calculated. In both experiments tillage treatments significantly affected the dynamics of N2O fluxes. Cumulative losses of N as N2O were similar between tillage treatments in the long-term field experiment. Contrarily, although not significant, cumulative N losses were about 35% greater under NT than CT in the short-term experiment. NT significantly increased the production of grain and the inputs of N to the soil as above-ground biomass in both experiments. Averaged across fertilizer treatments, CT emitted 0.362 and 0.104 kg CO2 equiv. kg grain−1 in the long-term and the short-term experiment, respectively, significantly more than NT that emitted 0.033 and 0.056 kg CO2 equiv. kg grain−1, respectively. Nitrogen fertilization rates did not affect the average N2O fluxes or the total N losses during the period of gas measurement in the long-term experiment. Contrarily, in the short-term experiment, N2O emissions increased with application rate for both mineral and organic fertilizers. The use of pig slurry increased grain production when compared with the mineral N treatment, thus reducing the yield-scaled emissions of N2O by 44%. Our results showed that in rainfed Mediterranean agroecosystems, the use of NT and pig slurry are effective means of yield-scaled N2O emissions reduction. ; D. Plaza-Bonilla was awarded with a FPU fellowship by the Spanish Ministry of Education. This research was supported by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain (grants AGL 2007-66320-C02-01 and AGL 2010-22050-C03-01/02), the Aragon Government and La Caixa (grant GA-LC-050/2011), the Department of Agriculture of the Catalonia Government (grant 2012 AGEC 00012) and the European Union (FEDER funds). ; Peer reviewed
Studies examining associations between purine metabolites and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are limited. We prospectively examined associations between plasma levels of purine metabolites with T2D risk and the modifying effects of transcription factor-7-like-2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 polymorphism on these associations. This is a case-cohort design study within the PREDIMED study, with 251 incident T2D cases and a random sample of 694 participants (641 non-cases and 53 overlapping cases) without T2D at baseline (median follow-up: 3.8 years). Metabolites were semi-quantitatively profiled with LC-MS/MS. Cox regression analysis revealed that high plasma allantoin levels, including allantoin-to-uric acid ratio and high xanthine-to-hypoxanthine ratio were inversely and positively associated with T2D risk, respectively, independently of classical risk factors. Elevated plasma xanthine and inosine levels were associated with a higher T2D risk in homozygous carriers of the TCF7L2-rs7903146 T-allele. The potential mechanisms linking the aforementioned purine metabolites and T2D risk must be also further investigated. ; This study was supported by research grant R01-DK-102896 from the National Institutes of Health. The Prevención con DietaMediterránea (PREDIMED) trial was supported by the official funding agency for biomedical research of the Spanish government, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, through grants provided to research networks specifically developed for the trial [grant RTIC G03/140 (to Ramón Estruch); grant RTIC RD 06/0045 (to Miguel A. Martínez-González)] and through the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición and by grants from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (grant CNIC 06/2007), the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grants PI04–2239, PI 05/2584, CP06/00100, PI07/0240, PI07/1138, PI07/0954, PI 07/0473, PI10/01407, PI10/02658, PI11/01647, P11/02505, and PI13/00462), the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grants AGL-2009–13906-C02 and AGL2010–22319-C03), the Fundación Mapfre 2010, Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (grant PI0105/2007), the Public Health Division of the Department of Health of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, Generalitat Valenciana (grants ACOMP06109, GVA-COMP2010–181, GVACOMP2011–151, CS2010-AP-111, and CS2011-AP-042), and the Regional Government of Navarra (grant P27/2011). Genotyping of the TCF7L2-rs7903146 polymorphism was supported by PROMETEO17/2017 from the Generalitat Valenciana, and 538/U/2016 from Fundacio la Marato-TV3. Dr. Christopher Papandreou was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship granted by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (PERIS 2016-2020 INCORPORACIÓ DE CIENTÍFICAS I TECNÒLEGS, SLT002/0016/00428). Dr Marta Guasch-Ferré was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship granted by the Lilly Foundation European Association of Diabetes (EASD) through the Institut d'Investigacions Sanitàries Pere i Virgili (IISPV), Tarragona, Spain. The authors are indebted to George A. Fragkiadakis (Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Technological Education Institute of Crete, Greece) for his intellectual contributions to this manuscript.
Unsere Lebensmittel haben eine zweifache, auch vom Gesetz vorgegebene Zweckbestimmung, d.h. sie dienen einerseits dem Genuss und andererseits der Ernährung. Aktuelle For-schungsstrategien in der Lebensmittelchemie auf diesen Gebieten lassen sich dahingehend zusammenfassen, dass im ersten Bereich die Suche nach wirksamen Aromastoffen und deren Vorläufern sowie auch zunehmend Probleme der Herkunftsanalytik im Vordergrund stehen. Auf dem Gebiet der Ernährung spiegeln die Schlagworte "Funktionalität" und "Bioaktivität" die derzeitigen Entwicklungen wider. Für alle Bereiche bilden instrumentell-analytische Techniken die Grundlage für Bewertungen. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit haben wir daher das uns zur Verfügung stehende analytische Potential genutzt, in den oben genannten Gebieten einschlägige Beiträge zu leisten, d.h. die Suche nach wertgebenden Aromastoffen fortzuführen, Zuckerkonjugate zu untersuchen, die sowohl als Aromavorläufer als auch im Hinblick auf Bioaktivitätsstudien von Bedeutung sein können, und schließlich Methoden zur Herkunftsanalytik zu forcieren. Zu diesen Studien sind als attraktive und wirtschaftlich be-deutsame Rohwaren Rucola (Eruca sativa Mill.) und Kaffee (Coffea arabica) eingesetzt worden. Mit Hilfe der Kopplung aus S-selektiver Detektion und strukturselektiver massen-spektro-metrischer Analytik sind in Extrakten von Rucolablättern 22 schwefelhaltige Verbindungen strukturell charakterisiert worden. Darunter befanden sich neben Minorkomponenten wie 3-Sulfanyl-1-hexanol, Glucosinolatabbauprodukte wie 4-Methylthiobutylnitril, 4-Methylthiobutylthiocyanat und 4-Methylthiobutylisothiocyanat. Mit [1,3]-Thiazepan-2-thion ist eine bislang nicht bekannte Komponente erstmals beschrieben wor-den. Das Vorkommen von 3-Sulfanyl-1-hexanol, welches im Übrigen anhand von MDGC-MS-Analytik in nahezu racemischer Form (44:56 Prozent, R:S) in Rucola gefunden wurde, forderte dazu heraus, in einer Modellstudie eine allgemeine Methode zur Bestimmung der Absolutkonfiguration azyklischer 2- und 3-Sulfanyl-1-alkanole mittels der ECCD-Methode zu entwickeln. Dabei wurden in einer Ein-Schritt-Synthese die funktionellen Grup-pen der 2- und 3-Sulfanyl-1-alkanole (in der Studie handelte es sich um enantiomerenreine 2- und 3-Sulfanyl-1-hexanole) jeweils mit dem Chromophor 9-Anthroylflourid derivatisiert. Die ent-sprechenden CD-Splitkurven erlaubten eine eindeutige Zuordnung der Konfiguration. Die entwickelte Mikro-Maßstab-Methode wurde ebenfalls er-folgreich zur Bestimmung der Absolutkonfiguration von in der Studie als zusätzliche Modellverbindungen eingesetzten 1,2- und 1,3-Diolen angewendet. 3-Sulfanyl-1-hexanol wurde abschließend in einer Zwei-Schritt-Synthese mit 9- und 2-Anthroylflourid derivatisiert, auch diese Variation erlaubte eine eindeutige Zuordnung der Absolutkonfiguration. Mittels präparativer HPLC-Techniken wurden drei neue Flavonoidglykoside aus Rucolablättern isoliert. Deren Charakterisierung erfolgte mittels Tandemmassenspektrometrie sowie ein- und zweidimensionalen NMR-Messungen. Die Verbindungen sind als Quercetin-3,3',4'-tri-O-beta-D-glucopyranosid, Quercetin-3'-(6-sinapoyl-O-beta-D-gluco-py-ra-nosyl)-3,4'-di-O-beta-D-gluco-pyranosid und Quercetin-3-(2-sinapoyl-O-beta-D-gluco-pyranosyl)-3'-(6-sina-poyl-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-4'-O-beta-D-gluco-py-rano-sid identifiziert worden. Diese Quercetin-Derivate zeigten sowohl hinsichtlich der Glucosilierung des Aglykons (an den Positionen 3, 3' und 4') als auch bezüglich der Acylierung ungewöhnliche Strukturen. Bei Rohkaffee hat man bislang keine Studien über das Vorkommen von Zuckerkonjugaten als Aromastoffvorläufer durchgeführt. Wir konnten diese Lücke anhand der Strukturaufklärung der nachfolgend aufgeführten Verbindungen schließen. Durch Kombination verschiedener präparativer Techniken (CCC, LC und HPLC) mit verschiedenen Methoden der Strukturaufklärung (HRGC-MS, HPLC-MS/MS, ein- und zweidimensionale NMR) sind aus Rohkaffee fünf Aromastoffprekursoren isoliert und identifiziert worden. Für die beiden aus Rohkaffee isolierten Linalyldisaccharide wurden als Strukturen 3(S)-Linalyl-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-6)-alpha-L-arabinofuranosid (AK1) und 3(S)-Linalyl-3-O-beta-D-gluco-pyranosyl-(1-6)-beta-D-apiofuranosid ermittelt. Weiterhin sind erstmals drei neue Aromastoffprekursoren in Form von Zuckerestern, d.h. (3-Methylbutanoyl)-1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-beta-D-apiofuranosid, (3-Methylbuta-noyl)-6-O-alpha-D-gluco-pyranosyl-(1-2)-beta-D-fructofuranosid und (3-Methyl-2-butenoyl)-O-beta-D-gluco-pyranosyl-beta-D-apio-furanosid in Rohkaffee charakterisiert worden. Die Kenntnis der Herkunft bestimmter Lebensmittel bzw. einzelner In-haltstoffe spielt für die Lebensmittelindustrie eine wichtige Rolle. Für die Zuordnung der geographischen Herkunft von Rohkaffee wurden in dieser Arbeit die 13C/12C-, 2H-/1H- und 18O/16O-Verhältnisse von extrahiertem Coffein mittels Elementaranalysator-Isotopen-massen-spektro-metrie (EA-IRMS) bestimmt. Zur Bewertung der Multielement-Messwerte wurden diese statistischen Berechnungen unterzogen. Zur Anwendung kamen die Lineare Diskrimi-nanzanalyse (LDA) und die Auswertung mittels sog. "Classification and Regression Trees" (CART). In der Anpassung wurde dabei eine Probe aus der Klasse 1 (Provenienz Afrika) der Klasse 2 (Provenienz Amerika) zugeordnet und eine Probe der Klasse 2 der Klasse 1 zugeordnet (Fehlerrate von 5,1 Prozent). Bei Kreuzvalidierung wurden drei der 39 Proben falsch zugeordnet (jeweils zwei der Klasse 1 und eine der Klasse 2), die Fehlerrate betrug hier somit 7,7 Prozent. Die Proben der Klasse 3 (synthetisches Coffein) ließen sich zu 100 Prozent von denjenigen natürlichen Ursprungs unterscheiden. ; Our foods exhibit two functions defined by legislation, too, i.e. to provide pleasure and nutri-tive effects. Current research strategies in food chemistry in these areas can be summarized as follows, i.e. that in the first-mentioned area the search for effective aroma substances and their precursors as well as, increasingly, also problems of authenticity assessments predominate. In the area of nutrition, the highlights "functionality" and "bioactivity" reflect the actual research trends. In all areas instrumental-analytical techniques form the fundament of evaluations. Thus, we used our analytical potential to provide new informations in the above-mentioned areas, i.e. to continue the search for valuable aroma compounds, to study sugar conjugates being important as flavour precursors and for bioactivity studies, as well as, finally, to strengthen methods for authenticity assessment. For these studies rocket salad (Eruca sativa Mill.) and green coffee (Arabica coffea), both known as attractive industrially important raw materials, were used. In flavour extracts of rocket salad leaves we characterized 22 sulphur-containing constituents by means of HRGC-MS/SCD analysis. This analytical tool allows parallel detection of com-pounds eluting from the GC column by mass spectrometry (to get structural information) and by chemiluminescence (to get selectively signals of sulphur-containing substances). Among the identified constituents we detected minor compounds such as 3-sulfanyl-1-hexanol, by-products of myrosinase hydrolysis such as 4-methylthiobutyl nitrile, 4-methylthio-butyl thiocyanate and 4-methylthiobutyl isothiocyanate as well as [1,3]-thiazepan-2-thion, the latter described for the first time. By means of multidimensional GC-MS (MDGC-MS) the enantiomeric ratio of 3-sulfanyl hexanol was determined as 44 per cent (R) to 56 per cent (S). In addition, a method for the determination of the absolute configuration of chiral 2- and 3-sulfanyl-1-alkanols (and 1,2 diols and 1,3 diols as model compounds) was developed. We demonstrated for the first time that the CD exciton chirality method can be extended to acyclic 2- and 3-sulfanyl-1-alkanols. The simple one-step derivatization using the 9-anthroate chromophore provided a general microscale method for the determination of the absolute configuration. Exciton coupling between the two 9-anthroate chromophores led to intense positive split CD curves for the (R)-configured 2-sulfanyl-1-alkanols and the (S)-configured 3-sulfanyl-1-alkanols as well as vice versa. The developed method was also useful for the stereochemical assignment of 1,2- and 1,3-diols. Furthermore, the application of the two step-derivatization using two different chromophores for both functional groups (2- and 9-anthroate) also resulted in mirror image split CD curves for both enantiomers, allowing the stereochemical assignment of 3-sulfanyl-1-alkanols. Three novel flavonoid glycosides were isolated of leaves of rocket salad by means of preparative techniques. Structural elucidation was performed using LC-MS/MS as well as one and two dimensional NMR experiments. The compounds were identified as quercetin 3',4'-tri-O-beta-D-gluco-py-ra-no-side, quercetin 3'-(6-sinapoyl-O-beta-D-gluco-pyra-no-syl)-3,4'-di-O-beta-D-gluco-py-ra-no-side and quercetin 3-(2-sinapoyl-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-3'-(6-sinapoyl-O-beta-D-gluco-pyra-no-syl)-4'-O-beta-D-gluco-py-rano-side. These quercetin derivatives exhibited unusual structures as to the glucosylation of the aglycones (at positions 3, 3' and 4') and the type of acylation. Studies of bound flavour precursors in green coffee beans (Coffea arabica) have not been carried out to date. We were able to fill out this gap by means of structural analysis of the following compounds. By combination of different preparative analytical steps (CCC, LC and HPLC) with several analytical methods of structural elucidation (HRGC-MS, HPLC-MS/MS, one and two dimensional NMR experiments) five flavour precursors were isolated and identi-fied in green coffee beans. The two isolated linalool disaccharides were identified as 3(S)-linalyl-3-O-beta-D-gluco-py-ra-nosyl-(1-6)-alpha-L-arabinofuranoside and 3(S)-linalyl-3-O-beta-D-gluco-pyra-no-syl-(1-6)-beta-D-apiofuranoside. In addition, three novel flavour precursors were identified as sugar esters, i.e. (3-methyl-butanoyl)-1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-beta-D-apiofuranoside, (3-methylbutanoyl)-6-O-alpha-D-gluco-pyranosyl-(1-2)-beta-D-fructo-furano-side and (3-Methyl-2-buteno-yl)-O-beta-D-gluco-pyranosyl-beta-D-apio-furanoside. The knowledge of the origin of food and its ingredients is actually one of the major topics for the food industry. For the assignment of the geographic origin of green coffee we determined the ratios of 13C/12C, 2H/1H and 18O/16O of extracted caffeine by means of elemental analysator/isotopic mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS). To check the suitability of the analytical data obtained by EA-IRMS we used statistical calculations, i.e. (i) linear discrimination analysis (LDA) and (ii) validation via classification and regression trees (CART). In the course of adap-tion one sample of class 1 (origin Africa) was assigned to class 2 (origin middle and south America) and vice versa, resulting in an error rate of 5.1 per cent. Using cross validation three of the 39 analyzed samples were assigned incorrectly resulting in an error rate of 7.7 per cent. Samples of class 3 (synthetic caffeine) were discriminated from that of natural origin at a rate of 100 per cent.
