Bioinformatics tools and databases for the study of human growth hormone

Advances in novel molecular biological diagnostic methods are changing the way of diagnosis and study of metabolic disorders like growth hormone deficiency. Faster sequencing and genotyping methods require strong bioinformatics tools to make sense of the vast amount of data generated by modern laboratories. Advances in genome sequencing and computational power to analyze the whole genome sequences will guide the diagnostics of future. In this chapter, an overview of some basic bioinformatics resources that are needed to study metabolic disorders are reviewed and some examples of bioinformatics analysis of human growth hormone gene, protein and structure are provided.

Changes in Psychological Characteristics of Working Adults in Different Stages of Economic Transition in Lithuania

Global economic changes have psychological consequences and Mr. Lepeska set out to assess these changes in working adults in Lithuania between 1993 and 1997. He surveyed two groups of working adults, with a total of 200 people, randomly selected and representing different organisations and professions. In both groups around 30% of participants were managers, with the remainder working in non-managerial positions. The participants were surveyed twice, once in 1993 and the second time in 1997,using various psychodiagnostic tools to measure their psychological characteristics. The results showed that strategies for coping with stress have changed, with problem solving strategies being used more often, and avoidance behaviour or seeking social support less. Men tended to have rejected these strategy more radically than women. Attitudes towards work had become more positive, with managers' attitudes having changed more significantly than those of employees from lower levels of organisations. Younger people were more positive towards work-related changes, while situational anxiety tended to increase with age, although overall it remained low. Mr. Lepeska found that while there were some indications of an increasing individualist in relation to peers, the traditional collective orientation of Lithuanian adults had if anything increased. People have become more accepting of an unequal distribution of power, making it difficult to increase the participation of subordinates in decision making. He also noted a tendency for Lithuanians to see their organisations as traditional families, expecting them to take care of them physically and economically in return for loyalty. The strong feminine orientation with its stress on interpersonal relations and overall quality of life has also strengthened, but the ability of Lithuanians to take initiative and control their environment was relatively low. Mr. Lepeska concludes that organisations should seek to recruit people who are able to adjust more easily to changes and consider measuring dominance, individualism, and attitudes to work-related change and situational anxiety in the process of professional selection. There should also be more emphasis on team building and on training managers to maintain closer relationships with their subordinates so as to increase the latter's participation in decision making. Good interpersonal relations can be a strong work motivator, as may be special attention to the security needs of older employees.

Separation of Ownership from Control and Discretionary Managerial Behaviour in a Transition Economy

This study was the final stage of a four-year study of managerial behaviour and company performance in Bulgaria and examined the influence of changing ownership and control structures of companies on managerial behaviour and initiative. It provides a theoretical summary of the specific types of ownership, control, governance structures and managerial strategies in the Bulgarian transitional economy during 1992-1996. It combines two theoretical approaches, the property-rights approach to show concentrated property-rights structure and private and majority types of control as determinants of efficient enterprise risk bearing and constrained managerial discretion, and the agency theory approach to reveal the efficient role of direct non-market governance mechanisms over managers. Mr. Peev also used empirical information collected from the Central Statistical office in Bulgaria, three different enterprise investigations of corporatised state-owned enterprises between 1992 and 1994, and his own data base of privatised and private de novo industrial companies in 1996-1996. The project gives a detailed description of the main property-rights structures in Bulgaria at the present time and of the various control structures related to these. It found that there is a strong owner type of control in private and privatised firms, although, contrary to expectations, 100% state -owned enterprises tended to be characterised by a separation of ownership from control, leaving scope for managerial discretion. Mr. Peev predicts that after the forthcoming mass privatisation, many companies will acquire a dispersed ownership structure and there will be a greater separation of ownership from control and potential or inefficient managerial behaviour. The next aspect considered in detail was governance structures and the influence of the generally unstable macroeconomic environment in the country during the period in question. In examining managerial strategies, Mr. Peev divided the years since 1990 into 3 periods. Even in the first period (1990-1992) there were some signs of a more efficient role for managers and between 1992 and 1994 the picture of control structures and different managerial behaviour in state-owned companies became more diversified. Managerial strategies identified included managerial initiatives for privatisation, where managers took initiative in resolving problems of property rights and introducing restructuring measures and privatisation proposals, managerial initiatives for restructuring without privatisation, and passive adjustment and passive management, where managers seek outside services for marketing, finance management, etc. in order to adjust to the new environment. During 1995-1996 some similarities and differences between the managerial behaviour of privatised and state-owned firms emerged. Firstly, the former have undergone many changes in investment and technology, while managers of state-owned companies have changed little in this field, indicating that the private property-rights structure is more efficient for the long-term adaptation of enterprises. In the area of strategies relating to product quality, marketing, and pricing policy there was little difference between managers of private, privatised and state-owned firms. The most passive managerial behaviour was found in non-incorporated state-owned firms, although these have only an insignificant stake in the economy.

Depicting community perspectives: repeat photography and participatory research as tools for assessing environmental services in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal

Efforts have been made to provide a scientific basis for using environmental services as a conceptual tool to enhance conservation and improve livelihoods in protected mountain areas (MtPAS). Little attention has been paid to participatory research or locals’ concerns as environmental service (ES) users and providers. Such perspectives can illuminate the complex interplay between mountain ecosystems, environmental services and the determinants of human well-being. Repeat photography, long used in geographical fieldwork, is new as a qualitative research tool. This study uses a novel application of repeat photography as a diachronic photo-diary to examine local perceptions of change in ES in Sagarmatha National Park. Results show a consensus among locals on adverse changes to ES, particularly protection against natural hazards, such as landslides and floods, in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. We argue that our methodology could complement biophysical ecosystem assessments in MtPAS, especially since assessing ES, and acting on that, requires integrating diverse stakeholders’ knowledge, recognizing power imbalances and grappling with complex social-ecological systems.

Transfection of drug-specific T-cell receptors into hybridoma cells: tools to monitor drug interaction with T-cell receptors and evaluate cross-reactivity to related compounds

In the context of drug hypersensitivity, our group has recently proposed a new model based on the structural features of drugs (pharmacological interaction with immune receptors; p-i concept) to explain their recognition by T cells. According to this concept, even chemically inert drugs can stimulate T cells because certain drugs interact in a direct way with T-cell receptors (TCR) and possibly major histocompatibility complex molecules without the need for metabolism and covalent binding to a carrier. In this study, we investigated whether mouse T-cell hybridomas transfected with drug-specific human TCR can be used as an alternative to drug-specific T-cell clones (TCC). Indeed, they behaved like TCC and, in accordance with the p-i concept, the TCR recognize their specific drugs in a direct, processing-independent, and dose-dependent way. The presence of antigen-presenting cells was a prerequisite for interleukin-2 production by the TCR-transfected cells. The analysis of cross-reactivity confirmed the fine specificity of the TCR and also showed that TCR transfectants might provide a tool to evaluate the potential of new drugs to cause hypersensitivity due to cross-reactivity. Recombining the alpha- and beta-chains of sulfanilamide- and quinolone-specific TCR abrogated drug reactivity, suggesting that both original alpha- and beta-chains were involved in drug binding. The TCR-transfected hybridoma system showed that the recognition of two important classes of drugs (sulfanilamides and quinolones) by TCR occurred according to the p-i concept and provides an interesting tool to study drug-TCR interactions and their biological consequences and to evaluate the cross-reactivity potential of new drugs of the same class.

Snake venom C-type lectins as tools in platelet research

The snake C-type lectins are a major group of proteins present in venoms that fold to a structure with similarities to classic C-type lectins. The loop that would be involved in calcium and sugar binding is truncated and heterodimers are linked by a disulphide bond and by swapping loop domains between the subunits. M any of these C-type lectins interact with platelet receptors to inhibit or induce platelet activation. The use of these C-type lectins to investigate platelet function is discussed and illustrated with specific examples.