Role of Iron and Copper in the Pathogenesis of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an old age disorder of basal ganglia which involves oligomerization of α-synuclein protein and formation of intercellular inclusions known as “Lewy bodies” in substantia nigra and caudate nuclei in brain which is progressive in nature. It is second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremor at rest, muscle rigidity, slowness of movement (bradykinesia, akinesia), and changes in posture (instability). Both excess and deficiency in levels of transition metals (especially iron, copper) can be detrimental to the central nervous system. Abnormalities in iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) metabolism have been reported to produce oxidative stress which is one of the major cause in pathogenesis of PD. In the present study 35 PD patients and 33 controls of Northern Indian population were included and serum levels of Fe, Cu and ceruloplasmin (Cp) were measured. Serum Fe (p < 0.01) and Cu (p < 0.01) levels were found to be significantly decreased in PD, whereas there was no significant change in Cp levels in PD patients as compared to controls. These results suggest the existence of a defect in iron which over the time, may hasten the entry of iron into the brain and decrease iron in the extracellular compartment in PD patients.     

Usefulness of ferroxidase activity of ceruloplasmin in the diagnosis of Wilson’s disease

Serum ceruloplasmin is one of the most commonly used screening tests for Wilson’s disease. However immunological assays for ceruloplasmin are not recommended for diagnosis and management of Wilson’s disease through calculation of free copper index. Enzymatic methods using non-physiological substrates have toxicity and stability problems, making them difficult to automate. Ferroxidase assays may be a satisfactory alternative for measuring serum ceruloplasmin. The o-dianisidine hydrochloride manual method for estimation of serum ceruloplasmin enzyme activity was compared with an automated method using the ferroxidase activity of ceruloplasmin in measurement in a double blind study in 91 consecutive patients screened for Wilson’s disease. The o-dianisidine and ferroxidase methods both successfully identified 7 patients with Wilson’s disease. Values for these 7 patients in the o-dianisidine and ferroxidase methods were median 5.0 (range 0–16.0 U/L) and median 45.0 (range 4–166 U/L) respectively. There were 7 other positive values (<62 U/L) with the o-diansidine method and 2 (<200 U/L) with the ferroxidase method, where WD was not confirmed. ROC curves for both methods showed area under the curve of 0.998 for o-dianisidine and 0.997 for ferroxidase. Using literature cut off values of 62 U/L and 200 U/L respectively both methods had 100% sensitivity and specificity was 91.7% (o-dianisidine) and 97.6% (ferroxidase). For the o-dianisidine assay, specificity was improved to 98.8% using a cut off of 22.5 U/L. In the 84 persons (46 adults and 38 children) in whom the diagnosis of Wilson’s disease was not established, the mean value for ceruloplasmin activity by the o-dianisidine and ferroxidase methods was 124.7 ± 48.7 U/L and 571.4 ± 168.1 U/L respectively. There were no significant differences between sex or age of patients (p > 0.29). In a subsequent evaluation with 372 specimens, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the assays was 0.908, p < 0.01, slope 4.06, intercept 265.8, with the manual assay as the x-axis. The ferroxidase assay is a suitable replacement for the o-dianisidine assay in detecting patients with Wilson’s disease.     

China’s Top 10 S&T Advances in the News of 2005

Under the joint auspices of CAS, the ChineseAcademy of Engineering (CAE) and the edito-rial office of the newspaper Science Times, theTop 10 S&T achievements in China in 2005 have beenelected by 570 CAS and CAE members. The event wasparticipated in by celebrated Chinese scientists includingCAS President LU Yongxiang and CAE president XUKuangdi.CAS Executive Vice President BAI Chunli and CAEVice President DU Xiangwan made commentaries and an-swered questions regarding the de…     

Development of a holistic model for the management of an enterprise’s information assets

Organisations increasingly realise that they must transform into true digital enterprises to create competitive advantage and ensure corporate survival. However, many organisations do not realise that successful digital transformation (DT) requires much more than technology; it can only succeed if they manage their data, information and knowledge as true business assets. This paper describes collaborative research conducted by academic and industry partners, a mutually beneficial journey spanning the past ten years. The aim was to develop a Holistic Information Asset Management (HIAM) model indicating the important areas of information asset management (IAM) that support the DT journey. Interviews were conducted with C-level executives in organisations from all industries on three continents to investigate their IAM practices, the barriers to good IAM and the benefits of managing information assets (IAs) well. This paper proposes that organisations should focus on ten domains in their quest for effective IAM: i) business benefits, ii) business environment, iii) executive awareness, iv) leadership and management, v) information environment, vi) information systems, vii) information behaviour, viii) information attributes/quality, ix) information performance and x) justification.     

Issues in the management of embedded knowledge in project-based organizations: the project actor’s role

Knowledge management (KM) in project-based organizations has received substantial attention in recent years, as knowledge processes are insufficiently supported within the organization as a whole. This study specifically focuses on the project actor’s role in managing knowledge. From an actor’s perspective, the problems raised by knowledge embeddedness are identified as a key issue to link project knowledge and organizational knowledge. A conceptual framework is developed that addresses three different aspects of knowledge embeddedness: a relational dimension, a temporal dimension and a structural dimension. Three cases are studied, covering varying forms of organizations in different areas (a consulting firm, an R&D department and an industrial business unit). The results concerning the relational dimension indicate that project actors re-build the network of relationships supporting knowledge. Regarding the temporal dimension, and specifically in their professional field, actors frame professional knowledge related to their project experience. However, actors fail to surmount the problems raised by the structural dimension of knowledge embeddedness. The resulting recommendations for KM concern both Human Resource Management practices and organizational design.     

How does openness influence the impact of a scholar’s research? An analysis of business scholars’ citations over their careers

How do the effects of cognitive openness and structural openness on the research impact of business scholars vary over their careers? By analysing a longitudinal sample of 35,296 scholars who published in business and management journals, we show that the cognitive openness and the structural openness of business scholars have non-linear relationships with their research impact. In particular, we found that, whereas moderate levels of cognitive openness and structural openness are desirable for increasing young scholars’ citations, a high level of cognitive openness and a low level of structural openness contribute to senior scholars’ citations. This study contributes to our understanding of different search behaviour across business scholars’ career paths and its implications for scholars’ research impact.     

Spatial differences in the quality of university patenting: Do regions matter?

This paper uses patent citation data to analyze the quality of university technology across European regions. The empirical analysis draws on a panel dataset of 4580 European university-owned patents classified by 202 European regions over the period 1998-2004. The methodology involves a multilevel framework to identify the effects of factors at three hierarchical levels (individual, university, and regional) on the quality of university patenting. The results suggest that regional factors, such as the level of development, industrial potential, and regional higher education R&D expenditure, do not play any significant role in determining the quality of European university patents. We instead find that the factors affecting patent quality stem from their specific characteristics. We also find that university size does not explain the quality of patents. However, there is significant unobserved heterogeneity at the university level in all models, suggesting that differences in other university characteristics explain a substantial part of the variance in patent quality.